Chapter 119
Chapter 119
The three of them dragged their exhausted bodies back to the room they had been assigned.
Qingshui had just locked the door behind them with a soft click when something small suddenly flew toward her.
She caught it on instinct and looked down. It was a crumpled but intact Snickers bar.
The wrapper was badly wrinkled, but it hadn’t been torn. Even through the packaging, she could smell the cloying sweetness of chocolate.
Qingshui looked up at Chu Jingchu.
The ponytailed woman was already sprawled across the bed. She pulled another Snickers bar from her pocket, tore open the wrapper, and took a huge bite. Chewing, she mumbled, “I hid these away. Everyone who sees them gets a share.”
The former criminal police Captain had taken one out as well and was leaning against the headboard, unwrapping it at an unhurried pace. Sensing Qingshui’s gaze, she tipped her chin slightly as if to say, Take it.
Qingshui held the Snickers bar but didn’t eat it.
She stood where she was, waiting for Wen Lianfeng to speak. As usual, Wen Lianfeng would surely begin by sharing whatever she had observed.
This time, however, Wen Lianfeng stuffed the Snickers bar into her mouth, chewed a few times, then lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. She ignored everyone after that.
Qingshui: “…”
The sound of steady breathing was already coming from Chu Jingchu’s side of the bed. She was asleep. Truly asleep. It had only taken a few seconds.
Qingshui looked at the two women lying there and suddenly felt… something she couldn’t quite put into words.
It was as if something in her chest, in the place that had always been wound tight, had finally loosened a little. She lowered her head and looked at the Snickers bar in her hand, then sat down on the edge of the bed and lay back as well.
She closed her eyes.
Countless thoughts were still spinning through her mind, but as they churned, they gradually began to fade.
She fell asleep.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the building’s silence.
Qingshui’s eyes snapped open in the darkness.
Qingshui, Wen Lianfeng, and Chu Jingchu all jolted awake at almost the exact same moment. After exchanging a glance, the three of them sprang out of bed without wasting a single word and rushed for the door together.
The hallway was in chaos. Footsteps, shouts, and sobbing came from the far end.
“This way!”
Qingshui immediately changed direction and sprinted toward the room where the commotion had erupted.
Most of the doors along both sides of the hallway stood wide open, the rooms beyond already empty. The scream had roused every survivor, and they were all pouring into the corridor.
The disturbance had come from a room in the middle of the hall.
Its door was wide open, and the overpowering stench of blood rolled out to meet them.
Dark red blood snaked across the floor. Two corpses lay in the room, their eyes bulging and their faces frozen in the throes of absolute terror.
In the center of the room, several people were pinning someone down.
The person on the floor was Song Yunqing. She was drenched in blood. Her face, clothes, and hands were covered in it.
Yet she wasn’t struggling. She simply lay there on her stomach, her head slightly raised and her eyes fixed on a single spot.
A middle-aged woman stood in the direction she was staring. The woman’s usual gentle smile was gone, replaced by a twisted expression. She clutched her neck with one hand, blood seeping between her fingers, while pointing at Song Yunqing with the other. Her shrill voice pierced the air.
“Director! Director! Hurry up and kill her! She’s a Madman! She’s a murderer! Aaaaah!”
Rapid footsteps approached from beyond the crowd.
The Director had arrived. So had Xu Wenlie. Ye Que, Qi Zhi, Li Chong, and the others were all there. Meng Rui had also arrived with her people.
The crowd automatically parted to let them through.
The Director entered the room. Her gaze swept over the two corpses on the floor, then the blood covering the ground, before finally settling on Song Yunqing, who was still being pinned down.
Her brows drew together tightly.
“What happened?”
Zhou Sufen immediately launched into an accusation, her voice shrill, frantic, and nearly incoherent.
“She killed them! Director, look! She killed Zhang Xuejun and Wang Yumei! That madwoman! She’s insane! Hurry up and throw her outside for the Madmen to eat! She might already be infected! Hurry!”
The Director ignored her screaming.
She turned her gaze toward the people restraining Song Yunqing and gave them a slight nod.
They exchanged glances. Finally, one of the men spoke, his voice trembling slightly.
“Director, she… she killed Zhang Xuejun and Wang Yumei. We saw it with our own eyes.”
A woman beside Meng Rui added, “And Liu Zhipeng. His body is over by the restroom.”
Three people.
Qingshui’s heart clenched.
Song Yunqing had killed three people all by herself?
The Director narrowed her eyes.
She spoke, her voice quiet but clear enough for everyone present to hear.
“No killing here. Please leave on your own, or else-”
Before she could finish, another voice cut her off.
“Sister Xu.”
It was Wen Lianfeng. Standing at the edge of the crowd, she spoke calmly and evenly.
“Could there be some kind of misunderstanding?”
The middle-aged people behind Zhou Sufen immediately erupted.
“What misunderstanding could there possibly be?!” a man roared, his face flushing bright red. “She killed someone! What could possibly be misunderstood about that?!”
“Exactly!” a woman shrieked in agreement. “One look at her and you can tell she’s mentally ill!”
Wen Lianfeng ignored their shouting.
She swept an expressionless gaze over them. The look in her eyes was so cold that they instinctively fell silent. Only then did she continue, enunciating every word clearly. “Your rooms are nowhere near hers. If she really is a Madman killing people at random, why didn’t she attack the people closest to her? Why come all this way specifically to kill you?”
Zhou Sufen’s expression changed in an instant. Then she smiled. “A Madman needs a reason to kill? Are you blaming the victims now?”
“You’re awfully quick to accuse me of blaming the victims. Afraid I’ll uncover something?”
Wen Lianfeng slowed her words, her voice carrying an oppressive weight. “Don’t use ‘Madman’ as a shield. Meng Rui saw for herself today whether she was a Madman. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have rescued her and brought her back. Do you dare claim she wasn’t coming after you specifically?”
Her gaze was sharp as a blade, pinning Zhou Sufen in place as she watched the woman’s pupils suddenly contract.
“You know each other. What… did you do to her?”
Zhou Sufen said nothing. She simply glared at Wen Lianfeng, her eyes bloodshot and her chest heaving violently.
Then she whipped around toward the Director, her voice turning shrill with fury.
“Director, are you planning to protect her?!”
Chu Jingchu spat from the side, not loudly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Protect her from what? You expect us to blindly believe every word you say? Who do you think you are?”
Zhou Sufen’s lips began to tremble violently.
She slowly looked around at the Director, Xu Wenlie, Meng Rui, and all the survivors watching from the sidelines. Not a single person stepped forward to speak on her behalf.
Then she laughed.
There was nothing gentle about that smile. It was twisted and vicious, seething with the madness of someone who had finally snapped after suppressing it for far too long.
She took her hand away from her neck.
Then, slowly, she reached inside her clothes and pulled out a gun.
Its dark muzzle pointed straight at Song Yunqing on the floor.
Her eyes bulged as wide as they could go. Her voice was shrill and piercing, as though she meant to scream out everything she had kept buried inside.
“You goddamn bitches!”
“Director, my ass! You’re nothing but a coward hiding in here with your pack of little bastards!”
“And you, you filthy whore!” She spun toward Wen Lianfeng, the muzzle swinging with her. “A soldier’s supposed to sacrifice herself for the people, isn’t she?! So what if you die? The only reason you’re still alive is because I didn’t waste my time killing you! You should be on your knees thanking me!”
Everyone froze.
For that one instant, the room was so silent that every breath could be heard.
“Hahahaha!” Zhou Sufen continued laughing until tears streamed down her face and her features twisted grotesquely. “You worthless goddamn bitches! I’ll shoot! We can all die together!”
Her finger tightened on the trigger.
In that split second, a dark figure shot out from the corner.
It was Qingshui!
She moved like a bolt of lightning, too fast for anyone to follow. In the blink of an eye, she was already in front of Zhou Sufen.
Her left hand clamped around Zhou Sufen’s gun wrist and twisted hard.
Zhou Sufen’s wrist was wrenched around, throwing the muzzle off target. Before she could pull the trigger, Qingshui’s other hand had already ejected the magazine.
The magazine struck the floor with a crisp clatter that rang through the deathly silence.
Then Qingshui drove off her left leg and slammed her knee into Zhou Sufen’s abdomen.
“Urgh!”
Zhou Sufen folded over like a shrimp. She staggered backward, crashed into the wall, and slid to the floor. Clutching her stomach, she gaped soundlessly, able to produce nothing but ragged gasps.
The room fell utterly silent.
Everyone stared at the young woman standing in front of Zhou Sufen.
Qingshui stood there with every muscle taut, still gripping the now-empty gun.
Her voice was ice-cold, utterly devoid of warmth.
“Let her go.”