Chapter 11
Chapter 11
They quickly made it down to the first floor. The side exit was only a dozen or so meters ahead.
Hope was within reach.
But then…
A group of lunatics, drenched head to toe in blood and wearing grotesquely twisted expressions, immediately locked on to the three people who had just burst out of the stairwell!
“Hee-hee… Ahahahahahaha…”
“Fresh ones! Three of them! Bitches! Hee-hee-hee!”
Their escape route was completely blocked. Seven or eight lunatics charged toward them, bringing a nauseating reek of blood in their wake.
“Go back! Back to the second floor!” Qingshui barked. She grabbed the stunned Lin Hao and spun around, dragging him up the stairs.
The lunatics behind them erupted into even more excited howls and scrambled after them.
The chaotic pounding of feet, frenzied shrieks, and bodies slamming into the walls and railings echoed through the stairwell like a death knell.
They raced back to the second floor, but the corridor was no longer as quiet as it had been moments ago.
The deafening screams behind them had attracted more “attention.”
That earsplitting “divine song” was still blaring from the direction of the conference hall, but lunatics had already begun poking their heads out of the doorway to peer in their direction.
Their path ahead was about to be cut off, and crazed pursuers were closing in from behind.
“This way!” Qingshui swept her gaze around and spotted a door beside them that had been left slightly ajar. The faded sign on it read TOOL STORAGE.
There was no time to weigh their options!
She slammed the door open, waited for Li Wei’an and Lin Hao to get inside, then locked it behind them.
Almost the instant the lock clicked into place, something heavy crashed into the door from outside!
Bang! Bang!
“They’re hiding in here! The little mice crawled into their hole!”
“Open up! Open the door! Let us in! Hee-hee-hee!”
“Found you! Are we playing hide-and-seek?”
More footsteps converged outside. The door shuddered violently beneath an unending barrage of impacts.
More and more lunatics seemed to be gathering. Their laughter, curses, and furious shouts merged into a terrifying wave of noise that threatened to drown the tiny room.
Inside, the only light came from a dust-caked transom high on the wall, where a sliver of bleak moonlight seeped through.
The three of them leaned against the cold wall, chests heaving, their backs soaked in cold sweat.
Lin Hao collapsed onto the floor, clutching his backpack and trembling uncontrollably. Qingshui looked no better. She and Li Wei’an pressed their backs against the door, feeling the force of every blow that struck it.
Her gaze darted around the dim room. It was cramped and piled high with clutter. Right now, it felt like a grave they had chosen for themselves.
Bang…!
Bang, bang, bang…!
The blows behind them grew more violent. Qingshui and Li Wei’an could barely hold the door shut.
“Drag that cabinet over! Block the door!” Qingshui shouted.
Li Wei’an screamed in desperation, “Hurry the hell up and move it!”
“O-okay! Okay!”
Lin Hao scrambled on all fours to the cabinet packed with tools and pushed it toward the door with every ounce of strength he had. Qingshui and Li Wei’an rushed over to help, wedging it firmly against the door and buying them a brief chance to catch their breath.
Li Wei’an anxiously bit the tip of her tongue, struggling to force herself to calm down. Beside her, Lin Hao hardly dared to breathe.
Qingshui looked up at the transom.
It was nearly three meters above the floor, with discarded cardboard boxes and spare parts piled beneath it.
“There.” Qingshui pointed at it. “We’re getting out through there.”
Li Wei’an and Lin Hao followed her finger, and despair appeared in both their eyes.
It was so high and so small. Outside was nothing but darkness. How were they supposed to get out? And even if they did, where could they go?
“G-get out?” Despair filled Lin Hao’s voice. “We’ll fall to our fucking deaths!”
“I’m not telling you to jump.” Qingshui was already moving. She dragged over several toolboxes that looked sturdy enough and stacked them directly beneath the transom. Then she gathered several discarded canvas straps and a length of thick rope.
“We can pry the transom open. There are drainpipes and brackets for the air-conditioning units along the outer wall. We can edge along the sill and climb through the window of the next room.”
She spoke quickly, her voice calm.
“But what if… that window won’t open? Or if there’s something inside…” Li Wei’an could not bring herself to finish.
“We gamble.” Qingshui cut her off and began prying at the transom with a screwdriver she had found. “Come help me. Keep the boxes steady. Lin Hao, connect those straps to the rope and make sure they’ll hold.”
The pounding outside grew more frantic, accompanied by a torrent of obscenities. Li Wei’an stumbled over and braced the wobbling stack of toolboxes. Lin Hao fumbled with the straps and rope, his fingers shaking so badly they refused to cooperate.
Clang! With a dull crash, Qingshui forced the transom open.
A gust of cold, damp air rushed inside, carrying with it the faint laughter of the lunatics below.
The opening was just barely large enough for one person to squeeze through.
Qingshui stuck her head out and quickly surveyed the exterior. Just as she had expected, a concrete ledge less than thirty centimeters wide ran beneath the window. About two meters to the right, a drainpipe hugged the wall, with a triangular metal bracket for an air-conditioning unit beside it.
Roughly another two meters beyond that was a second window. Its glass reflected the faint moonlight, while the room behind it lay pitch-black.
Below the ledge was a lightless void.
“I’ll go first.” Qingshui pulled herself back inside. “Li Wei’an, you’re second. Lin Hao, you’re last. Remember, keep your body pressed flat against the wall and your weight tilted inward. Move a little at a time. Don’t look down. When you reach the pipe, hold on tight, get your footing on the bracket, and climb over to the next windowsill. Understand?”
Li Wei’an and Lin Hao nodded, their faces bloodless.
Qingshui wasted no more words. She tied one end of the joined straps and rope securely around her waist and handed the other end to Li Wei’an.
“Once I’m across, I’ll secure the rope. Hold on to it while you move. If you slip, it should at least keep you from falling.”
With that, she drew a deep breath, gripped the edges of the transom with both hands, and slowly squeezed her body through the narrow opening.
The icy night wind swallowed her in an instant. Steadying her breathing, Qingshui felt around with her toes until she found the windowsill, then shifted her weight outside and pressed herself tight against the rough, freezing wall.
The first step was a success.
Turning her head toward the dark opening, she whispered, “The rope.”
Li Wei’an hurriedly passed out the other end. Qingshui caught it, wound it several times around a sturdy iron clamp at the top of the drainpipe, and tied a secure knot. She gave it a hard tug.
“It’s secure. Li Wei’an, you’re next. Take it slow. Don’t panic.”
Li Wei’an stared at the pitch-black opening, her legs feeling as heavy as lead. Another violent crash came from outside the door, and the cabinet groaned under the strain.
“Hurry!” Qingshui urged.
Li Wei’an closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a trace of desperate resolve had entered her gaze.
Following Qingshui’s example, she gripped the edges of the opening, gritted her teeth, and began climbing out.
It was narrower than she had expected. As she forced herself through, a burning pain tore through her arm. But she had no time to care. She desperately squeezed the rest of her body outside.
When she finally stood on the windowsill with her back against the cold, solid wall, facing the endless darkness ahead and the dizzying void below, she felt an unexpected sliver of calm.
Li Wei’an began inching to the right along the sill. Seeing how quickly she steadied herself, Qingshui quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The two-meter distance felt like an abyss. By the time Li Wei’an finally reached the rough drainpipe with trembling hands, she was nearly spent.
“Hold on tight. Step on that triangular bracket. Yes, plant your foot firmly.” Qingshui guided her while edging closer to the pipe herself. “Now climb around it onto the next windowsill. Be careful.”
Li Wei’an did as instructed. With the pipe to brace herself against, the climb to the neighboring windowsill was perilous, but she managed it.
She collapsed onto the slightly wider sill, leaned against the glass, and gulped down air.
“Lin Hao! Hurry!” Qingshui turned and called softly toward the opening in the utility room.
Lin Hao’s terrified face appeared in the opening. He was taller and broader than the two girls, which made squeezing through even harder.
“Pass your bag out first! Hurry!” Qingshui ordered.
Lin Hao fumbled off his backpack and shoved it through the opening. Qingshui caught it and tossed it to Li Wei’an.
Freed of the burden, Lin Hao finally managed to squeeze through. At the same moment, an enormous crash rang out from inside the utility room as the cabinet toppled over. The madmen had broken down the door.
Lin Hao did not dare look back. He scrambled onto the windowsill.
The moment he stood upright, he glanced down. A muffled cry of alarm escaped him, and his body swayed.
“Holy…”
Since when had the second floor been this high?
“Don’t look down! Grab the rope and stay against the wall!” Qingshui barked, reaching out and clamping a hand around his arm.
Lin Hao seized the rope and Qingshui’s arm as though they were his only lifeline. Almost all his weight hung from her.
“Calm down!”
“Move slowly!” Qingshui’s voice carried tightly restrained anger. “Keep thrashing around and you’ll kill us both!”
Lin Hao nodded frantically and began edging to the right. Every move he made left Li Wei’an’s heart lodged in her throat.
Fortunately, he reached the drainpipe without incident and successfully climbed around it onto the neighboring windowsill. Squeezed beside Li Wei’an, his face was white as a sheet.
Qingshui gave the rope’s anchor one final check, then nimbly climbed over as well. All three of them were now crowded onto the windowsill of the adjacent room.
Qingshui pushed open the window, and the smell of dust washed over her. The room beyond was pitch-black and utterly silent.
She climbed in first and landed without a sound. Dropping into a crouch, she drew her military knife and swept a wary gaze through the darkness.
Moonlight filtered inside, faintly revealing a small storeroom piled with old files and miscellaneous clutter. There seemed to be no other way out besides the window they had entered through and a tightly shut door.
Li Wei’an and Lin Hao climbed in after her and set foot on the floor.
They were safe for now.
Qingshui walked over to the closed door and pressed an ear against it. Outside, something heavy seemed to be slamming into it over and over, accompanied by the overlapping howls of dozens of madmen.
Some were shouting, “Smash it open!” Others laughed maniacally for no reason, while someone shrieked an off-key nursery rhyme. The noise was pure chaos.
Qingshui turned to the two who had yet to recover from the ordeal and lowered her voice. “The place outside is crawling with madmen. We’ll need another plan.”
She glanced at the exhausted Li Wei’an and the still-shaken Lin Hao, then let out an imperceptible sigh. “Let’s rest for a while.”
Lin Hao could finally catch his breath. He cautiously glanced at Qingshui, who stood beside the window, then quietly asked Li Wei’an, “Junior Wei’an, is she your… your roommate?”
Li Wei’an could not even force a smile. She nodded expressionlessly. “Her name is Qingshui.”
Lin Hao could not shake the feeling that there was something unusual about Qingshui. It was not that he had fallen for her looks. Rather, there was something distinctive about her… her composure, perhaps?
In a situation so desperate it had nearly suffocated them, she had decided to climb out the window without the slightest hesitation. It was almost as though she was already…
Used to this?
Lin Hao shook his head. He wanted to ask more, but when he saw how utterly exhausted Li Wei’an looked, he silently closed his mouth.
Silence spread through the storeroom.
Qingshui remained beside the window, her decision already made.
Li Wei’an rose and went over to her. “Qingshui, where can we even go from here?”
She had already begun seeking Qingshui’s guidance without thinking. “The place outside is full of madmen…”
Before she could finish, a heavy thud sounded below the window, as though something had fallen. It was immediately followed by even more excited howls from the madmen.
“We’re not going anywhere.”
Under their confused, frightened gazes, Qingshui continued, “We’ll have Yuhui and Xiaolin take Lin Hao’s car keys, go to the underground garage, get his car, and drive over to pick us up.”