Chapter 1031 Exploration Team

Jinling, Jiangsu Province

In the early morning, the morning mist was wrapped with a faint fishy smell, sticking to Li Xiang's work clothes like a layer of wet moss that could not be washed off.

He and his teammates rode a total of five modified hybrid tricycles (human-powered + electric-powered). The fire axes, sleeping bags, dry food, etc. in the vehicle bed bumped against each other gently during the bumps, making a constant "clicking" sound, which was particularly harsh on the empty country road.

As the destination approached, the survivors Li Xiang's team subconsciously slowed down and glanced at the crooked road sign on the side of the road: "Dongba Town 3km"

The exposed metal sheet of the road sign had rusted to a dark red, like coagulated blood...

Dongba Town, where they were going, was about 50 kilometers away from the Gucheng Lake gathering place. It was the last town along the Xu River that had not been completely looted.

Over the past six months, the nearby paddy field warehouses have been turned over and the soil has been sifted three times. The supply and marketing cooperative in Yaxi Town has even had all its insect repellent bags snatched away. Only in Dongba Town, due to the backflow of the Xu River in the early days of the apocalypse, half of the streets in the town were submerged in water. Later, it was rumored that "there are horrible mutant creatures in the water", so no one dared to approach it until now.

Li Xiang brought people here this time mainly because the supply points around the gathering place had been almost looted. If he went to "sift for gold in the dirt" again, the supplies he collected after a lot of hard work would probably not be enough to cover his expenses on the way.

...

"Brother Xiang, smell it——" In the truck bed, Xiao Wu suddenly covered his nose, his voice trembling.

Hearing this, Li Xiang subconsciously sniffed hard with his nose. The next second, a strange smell mixed with rottenness and sea smell instantly penetrated his nasal cavity. The stench was so strong that his temples throbbed and he almost vomited.

This stench is not simply the stench of zombies, but more like something that has been soaked in water for too long, wrapped in the sweet and fishy smell of fermented mud, which can go straight to the human trigeminal nerve.

Following the direction Xiao Wu pointed, the surface of the Xu River nearby was an abnormal gray-green color, and the mist formed a twisted vortex on the river surface, as if something was stirring underwater.

"Don't stare at the river!" Although Li Xiang didn't know what was in the river, he knew it was definitely not something good.

When he looked at the river just now, he always felt that something was moving in the fog. It was not the flow of water, but some kind of regular, slow wriggling, like a huge worm shedding its skin.

The first rule to survive in the apocalypse: Put away your curiosity!

"Let's leave the car at the entrance of town, leave two people to watch, and the rest of us go in on foot!"

"Although the zombies here were lured away by the army a long time ago, it's inevitable that some are left behind. We should try our best to control the situation!"

Li Xiang, who retired as a scout after 12 years in the army, has experienced more than half a year of survival in the apocalypse, and his style of doing things is terrifyingly steady.

Afterwards, the team left two young armed men at the town entrance to watch over the car, and the remaining three, led by team leader Li Xiang, walked into Dongba Town in a wedge formation.

The "Dongba Old Street" archway at the entrance of the town was covered with dark green algae, with a few gray-white things entangled in the algae. Only when I got closer could I see clearly that they were human finger bones, with half a rusty ring on the knuckles.

After pausing here and glancing around, Lao Zhou took out his charcoal pencil and made a crooked mark on the metal notebook: "Area 1, no zombies, but some remaining skeletons."

The team led by Li Xiang belongs to the semi-official exploration team of the Gucheng Lake gathering place. Every time they search, they record the supply points and danger marks. In addition to being the team's responsibility, more importantly, they can use this information to exchange for valuable contribution points, in exchange for weapons, ammunition and other rare supplies that are difficult for ordinary people to obtain.

As Li Xiang and others carefully went deeper, passed through the archway, and soon arrived at the destination of this trip: the supply and marketing cooperative

The wooden door of the supply and marketing cooperative was half-open. There were several deep scratches on the door panel. They were not made by zombies, but more like scratches made by something with claws. There were also a few strands of dark green fibers embedded in the grooves. They felt smooth and tough, like the roots of some plant, but with the warmth of body temperature.

"Be careful, there might be..."

Before Li Xiang finished speaking, there was a sudden "gurgling" sound from the backyard of the supply and marketing cooperative, as if something came out of the water, followed by a "pa pa" sound, and something heavy fell to the muddy ground.

Hearing the noise, Xiao Wu, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and looked at the earthen wall in the backyard with vigilance.

A large hole had collapsed in the wall, and the hole was filled with muddy water half a meter deep. A layer of grayish-white foam was floating on the surface of the water, and in the center of the foam, a "thing" was slowly rising.

Seeing this scene, the members of the exploration team, including Li Xiang, stopped breathing for a moment.

I saw that the thing in the mud hole was definitely not any known creature!

Its trunk looked like a giant bloated catfish, but it was several times larger than a catfish, and its diameter was almost as large as the door frame of the supply and marketing cooperative.

The surface is covered with layers of shells that resemble fish scales. Pale yellow mucus seeps from the gaps in the shells, making a "sizzling" sound when it drips onto the ground, and can corrode small pits in the blue bricks.

The mutated catfish's head has a ring-shaped mouthpart, the edge of which is covered with translucent tentacles. Each tentacle is as thick as an arm, with turbid, egg-shaped flesh balls hanging at the end!

There are more than a dozen thick limbs with suction cups extending from both sides of its trunk. The inside of the suction cups are not ordinary flesh pads, but are covered with tiny, serrated teeth. When the limbs move, the teeth rub against the ground, making a "crunching" sound, as if it is grinding its teeth with bones.

It has a long tail fin behind it, which is covered with blood vessel-like bumps. Dark purple liquid flows in the bumps, emitting a strange fluorescence in the dim light.

"Mutated catfish monster?" Xiao Wu muttered to himself, his voice faint.

Just as everyone in the exploration team was looking at the mutated catfish monster, the mutant seemed to have noticed their gaze. Its ring-shaped mouthparts suddenly opened, revealing multiple layers of overlapping fangs. Sticky, fishy-smelling silk threads were wrapped between the fangs, swaying in the air as if looking for prey.

I saw it swung its tentacles violently, and one of the tentacles with a tumor slapped the water tank next to it. The water tank cracked instantly and water rushed out.

"Run! Run into the supply and marketing cooperative!" Li Xiang suddenly came to his senses, grabbed Xiao Wu's arm and retreated into the store.

He knew that this thing could not be dealt with by just a fire axe. Not to mention how weird the other party looked, the force of the blow that smashed the water tank just now would definitely break a person's bones if it hit him.

Even if they can finally take it down together, the exploration team will definitely suffer heavy losses, which will not be worth the gain.

Lao Zhou and Akai also reacted at this time and hurriedly retreated into the store, but the mutant was much faster than expected. It used its limbs to wriggle on the mud, and its body was like a huge, deformed snake, and soon it blocked the door of the supply and marketing cooperative!

A low "gurgling" sound similar to the bursting of bubbles came from the ring-shaped mouthparts. The sound seemed to have some kind of magic, which made people's hands and feet weak. As soon as Akai retreated behind the counter, his legs went weak and he almost fell down.

What’s even more terrifying is that the water in the mud pit began to surge again, as if something else was coming out!

There's more than one of these things?!