CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 25: A FOREBODING SENSE OF EXHAUSTION

Fate always seems to enjoy teasing us, be it an unexpected encounter or a spontaneous journey.

It always happens so suddenly, catching people off guard... Of course, those moments recorded in poems or history books, the so-called great encounters or grand adventures, might have been prompted by such suddenness. Perhaps those involved never thought much of it, and most likely wouldn’t realize it.

Gu Mo didn’t know what it felt like to drink until blackout, but he could somewhat imagine it.

After all, he had experienced too many similar "blackouts" lately, almost like watching a movie where a scene is inexplicably cut out; one moment it’s this picture, and the next frame unpredictably jumps to another scene.

Without any transition, it’s as if in the blink of an eye—

Just close your eyelids, and when you reopen them in the next second, it’s already the next day...

It’s probably that kind of feeling, just like at this very moment.

...

...

Cold, trembling...

As Gu Mo felt his body’s presence anew, he also received such external information and opened his eyes. Without any lingering drowsiness, he was fully alert the instant he awoke, with both his thinking ability and will at their peak.

The scene before his eyes was the silhouette of a forest under the night sky, where a sliver of sky was visible, and brilliant stars decorated the deep night. The sky was the color of the universe, with the moonlight like water appearing indistinctly behind the clouds, casting the dense canopy into an illusion of retreating backwards.

Hmm, he’s not actually in some underground train car?

This thought flashed inexplicably in his mind, and Gu Mo breathed a slight sigh of relief. Upon awakening just now, the tactile sensations and his actual condition for a moment conjured some rather bizarre thoughts.

But it’s good not to be—in any case, he wasn’t prepared to venture two thousand feet below into Raccoon City’s underground base and play a real-life version of the survival game...

Even after facing far more terrifying demons, there shouldn’t be fear of those walking corpses, but what he was truly cautious of was the virus. Though his Constitution with thirteen points might offer some immunity, perhaps protecting him from most common diseases, it probably wouldn’t be enough to withstand the T-virus.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he was about to get up when he saw a face appear above.

With bangs in the Himemiya style, the black hair just covered the forehead, trimmed straight through the eyebrows, and the hair on both sides hung perfectly vertical to about chin level...

A pair of rose-red eyes with pupils as clear and lustrous as rubies, the lower part of the face covered by a black facecloth, veiling her true appearance. But merely seeing this half of the face and her eyes, one could somewhat imagine a doll-like exquisiteness behind it...

Coincidental or aware of something, Hidechika just happened to lean in and check on him at this moment, meeting his eyes.

"..."

"..."

Suddenly, the air went silent.

The girl showed no particular expression, maintaining a calm demeanor with eyes serene as water.

But Gu Mo was different. After a moment of daze, he suddenly recalled the previous occurrences, and the deadly awkwardness surged in like a tide, engulfing him entirely.

I’m doomed, doomed, doomed...

Why did I have to wake up now?! No, why am I still in this scenario, ahhhhh——!!

A brainstorm erupted instantly. His mind reverberated with turbulent waves, enough to make anyone toss and turn sleeplessly at midnight, filled with an embarrassment so intense it begged for immediate escape from Earth.

In such a manner, time passed silently, probably a full one or two seconds.

But in these circumstances, Gu Mo truly felt what it meant to live seconds by years, especially seeing the girl’s calm gaze, as if every second slipping away required a whole century to execute, unbearably torturous indeed.

No, this can’t continue, or my heart won’t be able to take it...

Staring into her calm eyes, Gu Mo felt his heartbeat growing increasingly irregular, but he knew for sure it wasn’t love—instead, very likely arrhythmia, ahhh!

Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath. The cold night air with a faint fragrance helped calm his mind somewhat, and then... he tried hard to put on a beaming smile while remaining lying in his original position, waving to the black-haired girl peering over at him from above—

"Hey, good evening."

"..."

"..."

Hidechika raised an eyebrow, studying him carefully once more. After confirming his breathing was steady and truly problem-free, she finally responded.

Good evening.

She nodded gently, remaining silent as if conveying this wordlessly.

"Yo, Brother Gu Mo, you’re finally awake..." A somewhat familiar loud voice came from the front; it was Fujikichiro, driving ahead, who heard the commotion at the back, glanced back, and let out a long sigh of relief. He too was worried something might be wrong.