Chapter 143
Chapter 143
Qi Zhi was in the courtyard when he received the news.
A frantic, chaotic voice came through the radio. “They escaped! Wen Lianfeng and the others escaped!”
His expression darkened instantly, but he didn’t panic. He calmly instructed, “Understood. Keep watch.” Then he slipped the radio into his pocket.
He turned to the survivors repairing the traps. “Keep working. I need to go inside.”
The survivors nodded, and Qi Zhi turned toward the building.
Escaped? Wen Lianfeng and the others had been thoroughly searched. How could they have gotten away?
Chen Qingshui? Impossible. There was no way she could escape.
His mind raced. Now that Wen Lianfeng and the others were free, they would definitely go looking for Chen Qingshui. And she was being held on the fourth floor.
He reached the stairwell and was about to head upstairs when he suddenly stopped.
A figure had appeared not far ahead. It was Ye Que, making her way upstairs.
Qi Zhi’s gaze turned cold.
Without a word, he raised his gun and aimed it at Ye Que’s back.
“Ye Que,” he asked coldly. “Are you going to find Qingshui?”
Ye Que stopped in her tracks.
Qi Zhi stepped forward and pressed the muzzle against the back of her head. “Go back. You don’t belong here.”
“They escaped,” Ye Que said. “I’m going to catch them.”
Qi Zhi’s expression hardened. “I don’t believe you. We don’t need you to catch them. Get the hell back!”
Ye Que didn’t move.
“Then you can…” Qi Zhi drew a deep breath and forced down his anger. “Die.”
Ye Que’s pupils contracted. She slowly turned her head. The face before her was still the one she knew, silent and dependable.
This man had always been quiet but reliable. They had survived together ever since the apocalypse began. Yet now, his face held nothing but coldness.
Ye Que’s lips moved. “Are you… really going to kill me?”
“Brother Qi.”
Something flickered in Qi Zhi’s eyes. “Go back, and I won’t kill you.”
Ye Que felt the muzzle pressed against her forehead and watched his finger slowly tighten around the trigger.
“Either kill me,” she said, “then go after Wen Lianfeng.”
Her gaze remained locked on him. “Or let me go after Wen Lianfeng.”
A complicated look entered Qi Zhi’s eyes. He felt angry and disappointed, along with something he couldn’t quite name. “You want to leave? If you’re going outside, I might as well give you a quick death myself.”
“This is your last warning. Go back.”
Ye Que stood her ground, staring him down.
The corner of Qi Zhi’s mouth began to twitch as his finger slowly squeezed the trigger.
One.
Ye Que didn’t dodge. She only stared fixedly at him.
Two.
Her gaze shifted past his shoulder to something behind him.
Three.
Then came a soft squelch.
Qi Zhi’s body went rigid.
The tip of a blade had pierced into his neck.
Qi Zhi’s mouth fell open. He tried to speak, but only a wet gurgle escaped as blood surged up his throat. Slowly, he turned his head and saw the person behind him.
It was Wu Wujie.
Big Guy stood right behind him.
His face was completely expressionless. One hand gripped the knife, while the other steadied Qi Zhi by the shoulder.
Qi Zhi’s pupils began to lose focus. His gaze drifted back to Ye Que.
His lips were still moving soundlessly, as though he were trying to say something, but in the end, he simply collapsed.
Wu Wujie supported him and slowly lowered him to the floor. “Quick… We need to hide him…”
Ye Que jolted back to her senses. She crouched down and picked up the gun Qi Zhi had dropped, then helped Wu Wujie drag the body into a nearby room.
They hauled the corpse inside and hid it behind the door.
Wu Wujie glanced at Ye Que. “Where were Wen Lianfeng and the others being held?”
For some reason, Ye Que’s voice trembled, but she forced herself to remain steady. “The second floor. But they’ve escaped. Qi Zhi was on his way to catch them.”
“What about Qingshui?”
“The fourth floor,” Ye Que said. “They’ll definitely go looking for her. Let’s go find Qingshui!”
Wu Wujie nodded. “Let’s hurry.”
The two of them rushed out of the room and began climbing upward.
Meanwhile, Qingshui began her fourth attempt to break free.
Her repeated struggles had driven the restraints deep into her wrists, rubbing bloody welts into her skin. She gritted her teeth, every muscle in her body taut and the veins at her temples bulging, but the reinforced straps refused to budge.
She couldn’t break them! She still couldn’t break them!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The chair rocked violently beneath her, its four legs slamming against the floor with heavy crashes. Like a wild beast caught in a trap, she threw every ounce of strength she had against those damned restraints.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A commotion came from outside the door: the sounds of fighting, muffled grunts, and then what sounded like someone hitting the floor.
Qingshui instantly froze. She stared fixedly at the door, her heart pounding so hard it felt ready to burst from her chest.
“Qingshui?”
A voice came from outside. Ye Que!
“It’s me! I’m in here!”
Wu Wujie breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly crouched down and began searching the corpse’s pockets. “No key!”
Ye Que fell silent for a few seconds, then raised her gun. “I’ll shoot the lock. We need to make this quick.”
“Stand back.”
Bang!
The lock exploded, and the door was kicked open!
Ye Que rushed in and hurried to Qingshui’s side, working to undo her restraints. The straps had been cinched too tightly. Her fingers trembled, and it took her several tries just to release the first one.
“Where are Wen Lianfeng and the others?” Qingshui asked urgently.
Without looking up, Ye Que worked even faster. “They escaped! We have to hurry!”
Wu Wujie swiftly undid another strap.
“Aside from the three lookouts, everyone else will probably come after you. We need to get out before they realize what’s happened-”
“Come on!” Ye Que hauled Qingshui to her feet.
Qingshui sprang up from the chair, stumbled, and nearly fell. Her head was still spinning. “How many are there?”
“Five or six,” Ye Que said quietly. “What I’m really worried about is… the Director.”
That title seemed to chill the air in the room.
Qingshui was silent for a moment. If they left, they might miss Wen Lianfeng. If they stayed, they might be captured.
“Let’s go.”
She raised her head, her gaze clear once more.
“We’ll find a room with a window on this floor and hide there first,” she said. “If they really make it here, we’ll be able to see them coming.”
The three of them rushed out of the room and sprinted down the corridor.
…
At the same time, on the third floor.
Wen Lianfeng, Chu Jingchu, and Meng Rui had reached the third floor. They had felt their way through the building, opening one door after another, but every room was empty.
“Nothing! There’s no one anywhere!” Chu Jingchu’s voice was urgent, her frustration impossible to suppress. “Searching like this is too slow!”
The moment she finished speaking, a gunshot rang out nearby.
It was so clear that they instantly realized it had come from the same building, possibly only a short distance above them.
Wen Lianfeng’s gaze sharpened. “Move!”
The three of them immediately raced toward the sound!
They had barely rounded a corner when they stopped dead.
Up ahead, a deathly pale head slowly emerged from around the corner of a passageway. Wen Lianfeng would never forget that face.
It stared at her, its lips moving. Its voice was soft and shrill, like the hiss of a venomous snake.
“Found… you…!”
It raised one hand. It was holding a gun!
“Sister Wen!”
Chu Jingchu lunged over and slammed into Wen Lianfeng, knocking her out of the way!
Bang!
The gun went off. The bullet missed Wen Lianfeng and struck Meng Rui behind them.
A bloody line appeared across Meng Rui’s face, running from the corner of her left eye all the way down to her chin. As fluid streamed from the wound, her eyeball began to change.
In the blink of an eye, the white of her eye turned scarlet.
Meng Rui’s mouth stretched wide open, the corners tearing apart as a vivid red trail of blood wound down her cheeks.
Then-
She lunged at Chu Jingchu!