Chapter 8

Jiang Mingran felt all the blood in his body turn cold.

He was about to spring up when a hand clamped over his mouth.

Shao Lan.

He’d been following right behind the woman.

She couldn’t hear his footsteps because he matched each one exactly to hers.

Shao Lan motioned for Jiang Mingran to be quiet.

The woman had gradually reached the opposite apartment. She reached out and pulled open the door.

Now!

Shao Lan yanked Jiang Mingran toward him. They turned and ran back!

Across the hall, the woman lifted a foot and stamped toward the incessant ringing on the floor.

With a crunch, the alarm clock shattered beneath her foot. The ringing stopped.

The running footsteps in the corridor suddenly became very clear.

The woman’s sightless eyes blinked, then flew wide!

She realized she’d been tricked!

Jiang Mingran heard a scream behind him, followed by a rapid pounding of heavy footsteps.

The woman was coming after them!

“Don’t look back!”

Shao Lan gave him a hard shove.

Gritting his teeth, Jiang Mingran sprinted through the security door with everything he had. Shao Lan was right behind him.

The woman lunged at them, shrieking. Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran spun around together, hauled the door shut, and slid the security chain into place.

She slammed into the door so hard that plaster shook loose from the walls.

Jiang Mingran and Shao Lan braced themselves against it.

Bang!

Bang!

Just as they were both beginning to wonder whether she’d smash the security door open, everything outside went quiet.

Gasping for breath, Jiang Mingran looked at Shao Lan in alarm and uncertainty.

Shao Lan leaned close to the peephole and looked out.

The dim corridor was empty.

The woman was gone.

“Did she go across the hall?” Jiang Mingran asked between breaths.

Shao Lan shook his head. He couldn’t be sure, either.

Looking back into the living room, they saw Uncle Bing clutching the phone. He was trembling all over, but gave them a vigorous nod.

Shao Lan let out a small breath. The call to the police had gone through.

This was the first time all three of them had worked together. Shao Lan had devised the plan.

Jiang Mingran would throw the alarm clock into the opposite apartment, lure the woman over, and hurry back.

Shao Lan would cover his return. Together, they would shut the security door and keep the woman outside.

Uncle Bing would use that time to call the police.

They knew from the last loop that the police would take some time to arrive. Uncle Bing estimated about ten minutes. They had to stay alive until then.

“This door should hold for a while.” Shao Lan examined it carefully. The woman’s two blows had slightly warped the metal bolt, but it was still usable.

Even so, deforming metal with just two impacts was the strength of a monster, pure and simple.

“Search the rooms. Bring anything we can use as a weapon,” Shao Lan said. They had no idea how long the door would hold. They needed a backup.

Jiang Mingran found a mop in the bathroom and a pointed knife in the kitchen. He tied the knife to one end to make a spear.

“Remember the rule. Don’t fight her head-on. Focus on buying time,” Shao Lan said. “She’s terrifyingly strong, but she isn’t that fast. We only have to hold out until the police arrive.”

“How about heating a pan of oil?” Uncle Bing suggested quietly. “If she breaks through, we can throw it on her.”

The older generation had its own practical wisdom. Shao Lan nodded and lifted the lid off the pot on the stove.

Herbal medicine bubbled inside, giving off an indescribably foul smell.

Following behind him, Uncle Bing happened to see part of a human finger float up in the dark brown liquid. He swayed in fright and nearly fell. Fortunately, Jiang Mingran caught him quickly.

“Uncle Bing, why don’t you watch the corridor?” Jiang Mingran said. “Lan and I can handle things in here.”

Knowing he’d only get in the way if he stayed, Uncle Bing nodded and left the kitchen.

Shao Lan put a pan of oil on the stove while Jiang Mingran tied the boning knife to the mop handle.

The flame hissed softly. White smoke began rising from the oil.

Suddenly, Shao Lan asked, “Did you hear something?”

“No,” Jiang Mingran said.

Shao Lan frowned. Perhaps his nerves were playing tricks on him, but he really thought he’d heard the faint sound of a door opening.

“Don’t get so worked up, Lan,” Jiang Mingran said. “We locked the security door from inside. Even a key won’t open it. If she tries to smash it down, she’ll make a hell of a racket. We’d definitely hear it. Besides, Uncle Bing’s out there keeping watch.”

Shao Lan’s expression didn’t improve. He picked up the pan of oil in one hand and left the kitchen. “Bring the knife.”

Jiang Mingran didn’t understand, but followed with his newly improvised weapon.

They were already familiar with the old apartment’s layout. The kitchen and security door were at opposite ends, with the living room between them. Going through the living room from the kitchen to the security door, they would pass two bedrooms and a bathroom, in that order.

They hurried to the security door. It was still securely locked.

“See, Lan? I told you, you’re just on edge.” Jiang Mingran let out a relieved breath.

But Shao Lan’s face was growing paler.

Something was wrong.

An instinct inside him was screaming that something was wrong.

“Uncle Bing?” he called softly.

No answer.

Jiang Mingran frowned, too. Hadn’t they told Uncle Bing to watch the corridor? He should have been right beside the security door.

Had the fright made him feel unwell? Had he gone back to the bedroom to lie down?

Jiang Mingran glanced over. Both bedroom doors were shut. The apartment was utterly quiet.

But if he listened closely, it wasn’t quite so quiet after all. A faint, easily overlooked background noise had actually grown much louder.

Shao Lan’s eyes suddenly widened!

He knew what was wrong!

The rain! The rain was much clearer than before!

“Run!”

He grabbed Jiang Mingran, opened the security door, and rushed out.

At the same moment, the curtains shifted. A tall, grotesque black figure lunged out.

Jiang Mingran felt as though his blood had reversed its course.

The rain sounded clearer because… the window had been opened.

The woman hadn’t used the security door. She’d climbed out of the opposite apartment’s window and crawled across the building’s exterior wall.

The sound Shao Lan had heard wasn’t a door opening. It was the window!

Shao Lan dragged Jiang Mingran along, rushing toward the apartment across the hall.

The woman lunged after them.

She spread her arms, her hands blocking the full width of the corridor as she charged forward.

“Aaah!” Jiang Mingran turned and stabbed wildly with the spear.

But she didn’t even try to dodge. She charged straight into the blade.

At the last possible moment, Shao Lan shouted, “Her belly!”

He raised the iron pan and flung hot oil toward her swollen abdomen.

This time, she dodged. One hand shielded her belly while the other shoved Shao Lan aside.

Shao Lan flew through the air, but half a pan of hot oil spilled over her as well.

Her tall, thin body lost its balance, and she fell down the stairs.

Seizing that moment, Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran rushed into the opposite apartment.

It had an iron outer door and a wooden inner one. To Jiang Mingran’s despair, the iron door’s lock was broken.

All he could do for now was lock the wooden door.

“Go… guard the window…” Shao Lan said through gritted teeth.

Only then did Jiang Mingran see that the entire right side of Shao Lan’s body was red with blood. His right arm hung limply at an unnatural angle.

The woman had only shoved him with one hand as she pulled back. But to Shao Lan, it had felt like a solid shot-put ball flying straight into his shoulder.

His right shoulder was clearly broken. The pain was excruciating, and he couldn’t lift his arm at all.

“Go to the window.” Shao Lan clenched his teeth. “Her abdomen is her weak spot. If she climbs in through the window again, stab her in the lower belly.”

Jiang Mingran nodded. He was about to head for the window with the spear when someone knocked outside.

Shao Lan tried to take a look, but as soon as he stood, blood loss made his vision go black.

Jiang Mingran hurried over instead.

The wooden door had no peephole. Fortunately, there was a pane of glass at the top. Dirty as it was, he could still make out something of what lay beyond.

He jumped up and looked through the glass.

The person outside was Uncle Bing. From Jiang Mingran’s angle, he could see his graying hair.

“It’s Uncle Bing.” Jiang Mingran looked at Shao Lan. “We should let him in, right?”

Shao Lan stared fixedly at the doorway. After a moment, he shook his head.

Jiang Mingran grew anxious.

“Lan, I know you’re cautious. But the killer isn’t here right now. We can let Uncle Bing in and lock it right away. There’s time!”

Too weak to speak, Shao Lan lowered a finger toward the floor.

Jiang Mingran followed his gaze down.

Goose bumps erupted all over him.

Beneath the wooden door was a pair of red embroidered shoes.