Chapter 128
Chapter 128
Meng Rui raced all the way back to the first basement level. Still seething from what had just happened, she curled her lip in irritation. Just as she was about to find somewhere to sit, she caught sight of a figure curled up in a corner.
The person had tucked herself into the most inconspicuous corner, her back against the cold wall and her knees pressed to her chest, making herself as small as possible. Her clothes were no different from those of the other survivors: gray, filthy, and utterly unremarkable.
But Meng Rui knew this unremarkable girl had slaughtered four people with her own hands not long ago.
Meng Rui stopped dead.
It suddenly occurred to her that Xu Yun had been making frequent trips upstairs lately. Every time, she shut the door tight and forbade anyone from going near it. Whenever anyone asked, all she gave them was the same excuse about “observation.”
Why?
Meng Rui narrowed her eyes.
She slowly turned and walked toward the corner. The person huddled there showed no reaction whatsoever. Not even her eyelashes stirred.
Meng Rui crouched in front of her.
They were so close that she could make out the scabbed wound at the corner of the girl’s mouth, as well as her own distorted reflection in those vacant eyes.
“Hey.”
Meng Rui kept her voice low enough that only the two of them could hear. She leaned forward until she was eye to eye with Song Yunqing, her fingertips rubbing lightly against the seam of her pants as if weighing her options.
Song Yunqing did not respond.
Her hollow eyes remained fixed on some nonexistent point, as though the person crouching before her were nothing but empty air.
Meng Rui stared at her for several seconds before asking, “Where did Zhou Sufen and the others go?”
With a derisive snort, Meng Rui pulled a pack of compressed biscuits from an inner pocket and waved it in front of her.
“Talk, and this is yours.”
At last, Song Yunqing’s throat bobbed almost imperceptibly. She slowly raised her gaze, her utterly lifeless eyes staring straight at Meng Rui.
“Killed.”
Who had killed them? Song Yunqing? Or Xu Yun?
Meng Rui’s instincts told her something was wrong. She was about to press for answers when an icy voice suddenly sounded beside her ear. Warm breath brushed her ear, instantly raising goose bumps all over her body.
“What are you… doing?”
Her blood froze. A deathly pale face had appeared soundlessly to her left.
It was Xu Yun.
That gentle smile still hung on her lips, but there was not a trace of warmth in her eyes.
When…
When did she get behind me?
A chill shot from the back of Meng Rui’s skull all the way down to her tailbone, leaving her entire body numb.
Her scalp prickled, and cold sweat poured down her back.
Meng Rui instinctively tried to draw away, only to realize that the Director was practically pressed against her back. They were so close that Meng Rui could see every fine line on her face.
She backed away one step at a time. Her legs felt weak, but she forced herself to maintain a calm facade.
As she looked at Xu Yun and stared into those eyes, Meng Rui suddenly felt that, to Xu Yun, she was nothing more than… a corpse.
For a moment, she truly believed she was going to die.
The Director merely stood there, watching Meng Rui retreat step by step. Only once Meng Rui had put plenty of distance between them did she slowly lower her gaze to Song Yunqing, who was clutching the compressed biscuits and devouring them ravenously.
Song Yunqing’s mouth was stuffed full, crumbs clinging to the corners of her mouth, but her eyes remained fixed on the Director. For the first time, a faint glimmer of light appeared in those dead, silent eyes.
The Director looked at her, and a trace of warmth finally entered her smile, like melting ice. She slowly crouched and gently brushed the crumbs from Song Yunqing’s cheek with her fingertips. Her voice was impossibly tender. “Did she frighten you?”
Song Yunqing shook her head, sending biscuit crumbs spilling from her mouth.
“Good girl.”
Satisfied, the Director stroked her head, her fingertip caressing the soft crown of Song Yunqing’s head. Her touch was gentle, like a mother soothing her own child.
Just as she was about to comfort her further, the radio clipped to her waist suddenly emitted a piercing burst of static, as if someone had accidentally pressed a button. It quickly fell silent again.
The Director’s eyes turned cold. She stared at the black radio for a long time, so long that even Song Yunqing stopped eating. Then she slowly reached out and pulled out the communication cord in one sharp motion.
She asked softly, “…s?”
Static crackled. The next second, a strained, trembling voice came through the radio.
“1.”
It was Xu Wenlie.
The channel fell silent again as soon as she spoke. There was no response from Li Chong’s side, no stray noise, only an unnerving stillness.
The silence stretched on… and on.
Meanwhile, in the dim warehouse, Xu Wenlie’s knuckles had turned white as she waited in vain for a response. She stared fixedly at the device in her hand, her breathing growing faster and her chest heaving violently. It was as if she had been nailed to the spot, even her fingertips trembling beyond her control.
No. No, that couldn’t be… He would be okay…
More than ten seconds passed, but the only sound on the channel was the hiss of static.
Just as Xu Wenlie’s last thread of sanity was about to snap, the radio crackled to life again.
“Hee…”
It was a laugh, mixed with ragged, heavy breathing. At last, Li Chong answered, but his voice came in broken fragments, too faint to make out clearly. “I’m sorry… Wenlie. Run… Hurry…”
The radio abruptly fell silent, as if someone had switched it off. Even the static vanished.
Xu Wenlie felt all the blood in her body freeze solid, only to surge violently into her head the next instant. Scalding and freezing at once, the shock made her tremble from head to toe. The composure she had forced herself to maintain finally shattered.
She gripped the radio so hard that the veins stood out on her hand. A scream tore from her throat.
“Li Chong! Get your fucking ass moving! Run! Don’t you dare give up!”
She shot to her feet like she’d lost her mind.
She had to get out there! She had to find him! She had to-
Thud!
A figure lunged at her and slammed her hard against the floor.
“You-mmph!”
Xu Wenlie thrashed violently. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot as she twisted with all her strength, trying to break free, but the hand clamped over her mouth held firm as an iron vise.
Qingshui pinned her down with her entire body, using every ounce of strength she had. “You can’t go out there now! You’ll die!” she growled. “Calm down!”
Xu Wenlie struggled, muffled sobs escaping her throat. But Qingshui’s warning gradually smothered the wildfire raging through her mind.
Only when Qingshui felt her stop fighting so fiercely did she slowly release her.
Xu Wenlie lay on the floor, gasping for breath. She stared at the ceiling as tears spilled uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, running into her hair and trickling into her ears.
How could this happen? How could this happen?!
Then she abruptly sat up and snatched the radio from the floor. Her fingers shook so badly that she could barely press the transmit button.
She wanted to say something. To call out to him one more time. To make sure he was still alive.
But she didn’t dare.
She was afraid of giving away his position.
Afraid those things would follow the sound and find him.
So she simply sat there clutching the radio, gripping it with all her strength. Despair consumed her chest, but she could not make a sound.
Then the radio in her hand crackled to life once more.
Xu Wenlie jerked. A voice came through the speaker.
It was Li Chong.
But that voice…
“Where are you?”
The words were slurred. Each one sounded as though it had been forced through clenched teeth, as though he were desperately suppressing something.
“Wenlie… where… are… you?”
His voice grew even less distinct, accompanied by laughter he was fighting desperately to hold back.
“Hee-hee… hee-hee…”
The laughter welled up from deep in his throat, unstoppable, spilling out in broken bursts between his words.
Xu Wenlie’s lips quivered uncontrollably. Her whole body shook so violently that the veins bulged along her neck.
She could hear her own teeth chattering.
The warehouse was deathly silent.
Qingshui’s pupils contracted sharply.
She slowly turned toward Xu Wenlie. Everyone else was staring at her too.
The voice on the radio continued, growing more frantic, more broken, less human with every second.
“Where are you where are you where are you where are you where are you where are you?! Where are all of you?!”
The voice was raw with anguish, yet threaded with uncontrollable laughter. The two extremes twisted together into something like a wail from hell and the frenzied revelry of a Madman. Then came a stream of vile curses.
The words were filthy, each one cutting like a knife. Yet every last one of them called out to her.
“Wenlie… Wenlie… Wenlie…”
Xu Wenlie seemed to hollow out completely.
Tears streamed down her face, but she still made no sound. Her mouth hung open as she gasped and convulsed silently, like a fish flung onto dry land.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to howl. But she understood with agonizing clarity that she couldn’t. She mustn’t. She couldn’t doom everyone else.
Xu Wenlie’s face twisted with savage hatred and despair as tears poured down her cheeks. On the verge of breaking, unable to hold herself back any longer, she sank her teeth into her own wrist.
“Nnngh-!”
She bit down hard. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth and ran down the back of her hand.
The frantic shouting over the radio suddenly stopped.
As if it had abruptly realized something.
As if it had finally found the answer.
“I know now-”
The words were drawn out, brimming with laughter and delight. The sound made their skin crawl.
“I know where you are now, Wenlie.”
“Wait for me.”
“Wait for me.”
Hiss-
The radio fell silent for good.