Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chen Yuhui glanced at the madman with its back to them, chewing on bloody flesh.
She couldn’t hesitate!
She looked back at An Xiaolin, her eyes cold and warning. “You get the keys. I’ll keep watch.”
“Go!”
Chen Yuhui climbed out of the manhole first, with An Xiaolin close behind.
Five meters.
The bag of keys lay beneath the bushes, barely visible as a dark lump.
The madman was crouching less than three paces away from it. With its back to them and its head bowed, it giggled as its shoulders bobbed, producing sickening chewing sounds.
Chen Yuhui lowered her body and tightened her grip on the fruit knife as she crept closer.
Just as she was about to pounce…
The madman abruptly stopped chewing.
It slowly turned its head.
Its bloodshot eyes locked onto Chen Yuhui. Its eyelids twitched violently, and one corner of its mouth crooked upward into something between a smile and a vicious sneer.
Its face lit up with the pure, cruel delight of a child discovering a new toy.
“Hello… Can I have your head?”
As soon as the madman finished speaking, it burst into laughter, as though it could already see Chen Yuhui’s face contorted in despair. It tossed aside the half-eaten thing in its hand and lunged at her.
Buzz…
Chen Yuhui’s head rang. Her heart hammered, and heat flooded her brain. Before the creature could fully rise, she charged!
The eye socket!
The madman seemed startled that she would attack first. It froze for a moment, then let out an excited, taunting laugh and spread its arms wide, making no attempt to dodge.
Chen Yuhui’s eyes reddened. She kept rushing straight at it, only to duck sharply at the last second and slip beneath its open arms. Using her momentum, she slashed the fruit knife hard across the outside of its thigh!
Shhk!
The blade cut into flesh, but not deeply enough!
The madman didn’t seem to care. If anything, the pain and blood only excited it more, twisting its grin even wider.
“That felt so good… classmate… How should I… reward you?”
It bent at the waist, craned its neck forward, and staggered toward Chen Yuhui.
Clenching her teeth, Chen Yuhui retreated while watching it carefully, her gaze sweeping over the blood streaming down its leg.
Now!
The instant the madman lunged again, Chen Yuhui surged forward instead of retreating. She plunged the knife deep into the wound she had already carved into its thigh and twisted with all her might!
“SO GOOOOD…!!!!”
The madman shrieked with inhuman ecstasy, but its body lost balance and crashed forward!
Seizing the opening, Chen Yuhui yanked out the knife and drove it into the madman’s eye socket!
Thk!
The tip burst through the back of its skull.
The madman’s roar died instantly.
Chen Yuhui released the handle and stumbled backward, nearly falling. She gasped for breath, her legs trembling uncontrollably-half from excitement, half from fear.
“Go… Hurry!” Without even looking at the corpse, she turned, grabbed the still-shaking An Xiaolin, and sprinted toward the underground parking garage entrance!
…
Elsewhere, Li Wei’an and Lin Hao were frantically turning the curtains into a rope they could use to climb down.
Lin Hao tied a tight knot and pulled hard on it with both hands. Glancing up at Li Wei’an’s solemn face, he suddenly spoke.
“Um… Junior Wei’an, have you… managed to contact your family?”
His voice was hoarse. “I’ve called mine more than a dozen times, but no one answered…”
Li Wei’an’s hands paused briefly. She didn’t answer, instead steering away from the subject. “The most important thing right now is getting out of here alive. We can worry about that afterward.”
“Y-Yeah. You’re right.” Lin Hao looked down at the makeshift rope, then glanced around the room. “What should we tie it to?”
“Outside the window.” Li Wei’an stood and pointed outside. “If we tie it to something in here, it won’t reach far enough, and we might get hurt when we drop. If we tie it to the air conditioner bracket outside, the end will only be a little over two meters above the ground. We’ll be less likely to injure ourselves.”
“Okay. I’ll tie it, Junior.” Lin Hao was tall, with long arms and legs, so he secured the rope with ease.
Listening to the obscene taunts outside the door, Li Wei’an closed her eyes for a moment.
Yuhui, Xiaolin… you have to succeed.
…
On the roof of the building, Qingshui lay pressed against the frigid concrete, doing her utmost to conceal herself beneath the framework. Below, the madmen’s crazed roars and shrill laughter surged like a tide.
“Give-it-to-her! Heeheehee!”
An exceptionally tall madman bent down and scooped up a mangled slurry of blood and flesh, then hurled it upward with all its strength!
Unfortunately for it, the throw fell short.
The bloody mass merely splattered against the wall just below the third or fourth floor.
A second madman joined in, then a third… More and more of them began taking part in this grotesque throwing game.
They picked up anything they could throw.
Half an arm, a severed head, a tangled mass of human tissue-even freshly torn body parts ripped from victims right then and there…
“Catch it, little piggy! Here’s something yummy for you! Hehehe!”
“The head! Throw that head up there! Give her something to cuddle!”
“Heeheehee, hit her! Hit her! It splashed onto her face!”
Filth rained up from below. Qingshui pressed herself even lower, but her keen eyes caught sight of a figure at the edge of the frenzied mob whose movements were somehow different from the rest.
It was a lunatic in a dark tracksuit. It had withdrawn alone to the edge of the square beside a toppled streetlamp, head lowered as if it were… fiddling with something.
Qingshui’s pupils contracted slightly.
The next second, the lunatic jerked its head up, revealing a bow in its hand! With its other hand, it pulled an arrow from a quiver on its back.
The lunatic split its mouth into a grin. Alongside its usual madness, there was now a chilling focus in its expression.
It nocked the arrow and drew the bow, its movements possessing a warped sort of fluidity.
Oh no!
Before mutating, this bastard had probably been on the school’s archery team!
Whoosh!
The sharp whistle of the arrow tore through the din!
Qingshui reacted the instant it raised the bow. She threw herself backward, nearly flattening herself against the platform floor!
Clang!
The arrow sliced through the air a hair’s breadth above her nose.
“Nice shot! Hee hee hee! Shoot her! Put an arrow through that bitch!” The lunatics below erupted into even more excited howls.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A second and third arrow followed in quick succession!
Qingshui rolled repeatedly across the narrow platform. With chunks of flesh flying at her and arrows mixed in among them, she could do nothing but dodge in a desperate scramble.
Several minutes later, the barrage began to slow as the lunatics’ attention seemed to wander. Qingshui did not dare relax. She cautiously raised her head above the edge, only to find a silver gleam in the moonlight aimed straight at her!
Whoosh!
Qingshui ducked beneath the arrow, her expression turning grave. This lunatic was smarter than she had expected!
When its shot missed, the lunatic only laughed harder and began making obscene gestures.
Qingshui ignored it. She had noticed something strange about the infected below.
“Not high enough… hee hee… not high enough…” The towering lunatic spun in place, its blood-red eyes sweeping over its companions. At last, its gaze settled on a relatively scrawny lunatic being toyed with by the others.
It tilted its head, its grin stretching even wider.
“You…” It extended a finger and pointed at the scrawny lunatic.
The scrawny lunatic looked up, its face showing nothing but feverish excitement.
The next instant, the towering lunatic lunged and clamped both hands around the smaller one’s throat.
“Huh…?” A puzzled breath escaped the scrawny lunatic’s throat, but the violent rush of pleasure immediately swept away all thought.
“Aah… that feels so good…”
“Ohhh! They’re fighting! They’re fighting!” A lunatic leaped up, waving both hands.
“Tear it apart! Tear it apart! Throw its bones! Bones fly farther!” another lunatic shrieked in excitement.
“Yes! Bones! Hee hee hee! Fresh bones!”
As if they had received some kind of permission or revelation, the previously distracted lunatics instantly converged again.
Four or five pairs of hands reached out at once and seized the scrawny lunatic by its limbs.
“One, two, three-heave!”
No one knew who started the chant.
Riiip!
The tearing sound set Qingshui’s teeth on edge!
The scrawny lunatic’s body was forcibly ripped apart at the waist. Blood and entrails burst out like a ruptured water balloon, splattering the surrounding lunatics from head to toe. Yet most horrifying of all… the scrawny lunatic’s face had never lost its deranged smile.
The revelry began.
The lunatics cheered as they fought over the fresh, steaming ammunition.
A leg was swung around and hurled at the Bell Tower like a hammer throw.
An arm with the hand still attached was flung with all their strength.
Blood-red, slippery entrails were scooped up and sent arcing through the air.
One lunatic even bounced the severed head like a ball before giving a vicious grin and hurling it with all its might toward Qingshui’s platform!
This time, the attacks had clearly gained both range and force. Bone-filled limbs slammed against the platform railing with heavy thuds, while slick masses of organs sailed directly onto the platform.
Qingshui’s pupils contracted, and she quickly rolled toward the inner side of the platform.
Splat!
Something warm and viscous skimmed past her shoulder and struck the spot where she had just been lying, spraying crimson everywhere.
It was half a lung with the esophagus still attached.
An overpowering, nauseating stench of blood instantly filled the air.
Qingshui pushed herself up and cast a cold glance at the organ, which was still twitching faintly. She quickly moved to another, more sheltered corner of the platform. After informing the group chat of everything that had just happened, she resumed observing the scene below.
The lunatics seemed to have discovered endless amusement and efficiency in harvesting ammunition from their own ranks. They cheered and cavorted as if they had found a new game. Their gazes roamed among their companions, seemingly choosing the source of their next “projectile.”
A bone-deep chill crawled up Qingshui’s spine.
These things… weren’t only cruel to humans. They had no mercy for their own kind, either. They even treated destruction and suffering themselves as fuel for their revelry. Their logic could not be judged by any standard of reason.
They were even more terrifying than… lunatics!
They were demons!
She had to leave this place as soon as possible. Once they realized their throwing game wasn’t accomplishing much, or simply grew bored of it, they might resort to even more extreme measures. Or they might give up on her as a target entirely and search for easier “prey” instead… such as Chen Yuhui and An Xiaolin, who were on their way to the garage.
By now… Li Wei’an and Lin Hao should be preparing the rope.
Hold on.
She silently sent those words to her distant companions.