Chapter 6
Chapter 6
As soon as darkness fell, they made their move.
Li Wei’an put away her phone. “The lunatics in the dorm across from us have moved. We can start now.”
“Lin Hao said he’ll turn on the broadcast in ten minutes.”
Qingshui nodded, leaped lightly, and used the bedsheet to slide down. She landed steadily and quickly ducked behind a vehicle.
Aside from the blood and severed limbs, there was no sign of the lunatics nearby. Qingshui hurriedly sent Li Wei’an a message.
“Come.”
An Xiaolin descended soon after, gripping her knife tightly as she took cover beside Qingshui. Li Wei’an and Chen Yuhui followed one after the other, both landing without incident.
“Let’s go.”
Qingshui took the lead and stepped out first. Li Wei’an followed behind her, An Xiaolin came third, and Chen Yuhui brought up the rear. They moved through the shadows of the buildings, blending into the night.
From time to time, screams and shrill laughter drifted out of the buildings through the darkness.
Stop.
Qingshui halted abruptly and raised a hand, stopping the others behind her.
By the hazy moonlight, they saw a bloody carnival unfolding on the main road ahead.
Thick trails of blood snaked across the pavement like rivers. Several “lunatics” stood around a crookedly crashed electric scooter, laughing shrilly.
One of them was clutching something in both hands and stuffing it into his mouth. Scarlet liquid dripped between his fingers and splattered onto the face of another person lying on the ground.
A huge hole had been torn through the man’s chest, and the contents of his rib cage had been ripped out and scattered everywhere. Yet his body was still twitching faintly.
Two other “lunatics” were tearing at each other. Their nails dug deep into flesh, and the hair they ripped out was streaked with blood. Deranged giggles bubbled from their throats.
They stomped through the bloody froth on the ground, sending it splattering in every direction. Even the bushes by the roadside were draped with bloodied scraps of flesh.
Farther away, a lunatic had wrapped a fire hose around his arm. Water mixed with blood gushed from his mangled forearm, but he seemed incapable of feeling pain. Instead, he held up his blood-spraying arm and spun around in circles, filling the air around him with a crimson mist. His piercing laughter seemed sharp enough to tear through the night.
The road was blocked.
Qingshui’s gaze shifted, and she decisively changed course, choosing the long, narrow, dimly lit bicycle shed to their left.
“Left!”
Bicycles lay toppled throughout the shed, and debris littered the ground, slowing their progress. They constantly had to watch out for unexpected obstacles.
Clatter!
Someone kicked an empty can. The harsh noise exploded through the silence.
The revelry on the nearby main road abruptly stopped.
Qingshui immediately signaled to the others. “Down! Not a sound!”
The four of them huddled behind the support columns of the bicycle shed.
Seconds later, several blood-soaked figures appeared at the entrance. They cocked their heads and sniffed the air like hunting dogs.
“Oh? Is some little bitch hiding in here? Once I catch you, I’ll peel off your skin. Hehehe…”
“Let’s… look… Where are you?”
One of the lunatics even strolled leisurely into the shed. His finger dragged across the bicycle seats beside him with a series of faint scrapes. He was less than ten feet from Chen Yuhui.
Time seemed to freeze.
Every muscle in Qingshui’s body tensed as she tightened her grip on her military spike. Just as she was about to spring into action, a lilting melody rang out.
“La la la… la la la la…”
The lunatics outside instantly became excited and rushed toward the source of the music.
“I can’t hold back anymore! Aaaaaah, I’m so lonely!”
“It’s mine! Make me feel so good!”
“Twist off the arms… twist off the legs, hehehe… Put your mouth over my hand…”
Qingshui immediately rose into a crouch. “Go!”
The other three barely dared to breathe as they scrambled forward on their hands and knees.
All they had to do was cross the open plaza ahead, and they would reach the Administrative Building. But…
“Stay along the edge and use those parked vehicles as cover.” Qingshui lowered her voice and pointed to the row of private cars and shared bicycles lining the edge of the plaza. “Be extremely careful.”
They moved like ghosts, swiftly slipping through the gaps between the vehicles’ shadows. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. The sounds of revelry from the main road now seemed impossibly far away. They had already passed most of the row, and the outline of the Administrative Building was becoming clearer in the darkness.
Then, just as they passed a black sedan…
Thud!
A muffled impact came from inside, as though something had slammed into the window.
All four of them froze. Qingshui abruptly raised a clenched fist, signaling them to stop. They held their breath and pressed themselves against the side of another car nearby.
Thud! Thud, thud!
The pounding grew faster, its rhythm increasingly impatient.
Then a crazed face suddenly smashed against the inside of the window!
“Heh heh…!!!”
The lunatic slammed its head against the car window again and again!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each muffled thud sent spiderweb cracks spreading across the glass and blood spraying through the air! It paid no heed to its battered skull. Instead, the excruciating pain only made its curses rise to an even shriller pitch, its bloodshot eyes fixed on the four girls outside the car.
Perhaps realizing it couldn’t break through, it finally lost what little patience it had left. Behind the glass, its mouth stretched into an impossibly wide grin.
Then it drew a deep breath. “Come and get them! There are piglets over here! Hehehehe! Fresh, wriggling piglets!!!”
The shrill howl, brimming with malice, instantly shattered the brief silence at the edge of the plaza.
“Run!” Qingshui didn’t hesitate. The instant she shouted, she shot forward like an arrow. “Keep going! Don’t look back! Get behind the Administrative Building!”
Li Wei’an and the other two were gripped by sheer terror, but their survival instincts overcame their paralysis. There was no plan. All they could do was run!
They followed Qingshui, sprinting for their lives!
“Oh? Where are they…? Just wait, I’ll be right there. Hehehe…”
“Don’t run! Hee hee hee!”
“Catch… them… rip them open… hehehehe!”
Excited replies rang out from the center of the plaza, the shadows of nearby buildings, and even farther away.
Chaotic footsteps, gleeful laughter, and the crash of objects being knocked over converged on them from multiple directions!
A deadly chase erupted without warning at the edge of the darkened plaza!
Qingshui led the way, glancing back every so often to bark, “Keep up! Stay together!” Li Wei’an gritted her teeth and stayed close behind, while Chen Yuhui dragged An Xiaolin, whose legs had already begun to give out, practically hauling her along as they fled.
They could hear the inhuman laughter drawing closer behind them. They could feel its icy malice almost brushing against their backs.
Just as they were about to clear the plaza and reach the relative cover of the bushes, two lunatics who had been wandering nearby charged in from the side. Arms spread wide, they lunged at the girls with ecstatic grins!
“This way!” Qingshui veered sharply and dashed into the gap between two cars that had crashed into each other. The opening was so narrow that they had to squeeze through.
“Under the cars! Hurry, get under them!” Qingshui roared. She grabbed An Xiaolin, who was closest to her, and shoved her beneath one of the cars. Li Wei’an and Chen Yuhui didn’t need to be told. They scrambled beneath the other car.
Qingshui dropped into a slide and slipped beneath the same car as An Xiaolin.
The smell of cold dirt and oil struck them, but stronger still was the crazed commotion rapidly closing in from every direction.
“Hee hee… you little bastards… hiding from us?”
“The little mice crawled into their holes! Hehehe!”
“Find them… drag them out! I’ll hang you from my body! Hahahahaha!”
Heavy footsteps and the scraping of hard objects sounded above and all around them. Some of the lunatics even began kicking the tires and crouching down to peer beneath the cars.
An Xiaolin clamped both hands over her mouth. She was too terrified even to cry, and her body shook like a leaf in the wind.
Qingshui’s heart hammered against her ribs, but her mind raced. She smelled gasoline, thick and pungent. Without hesitation, she punctured the fuel tank above her.
Hiss…
A stream of harsh-smelling liquid immediately gushed out, spreading rapidly across the ground beneath the car.
At the same time, she pulled out a phone and quickly set an alarm for thirty seconds later. Then she turned it facedown and gently slid it near the fuel tank.
Once that was done, she lowered her voice and gave a clear hand signal to Li Wei’an and Chen Yuhui beneath the other car several yards away, then to An Xiaolin beside her: Crawl forward! Get out from under the cars! Hurry!
Li Wei’an understood. Though fear had consumed her, she nodded firmly and tugged at Chen Yuhui. The two began crawling desperately across the filthy ground.
An Xiaolin looked at Qingshui. Qingshui pinned her with a fierce glare and silently mouthed, “Crawl!”
Her face crumpling, An Xiaolin began to inch forward.
Qingshui moved ahead as well, but more slowly, scanning the area beyond the edge of the car.
Li Wei’an and Chen Yuhui were the first to crawl out. Another row of vehicles stood ahead, shrouded in shadow. They were just about to duck underneath them when…
Whoosh!
Several pairs of feet in different shoes abruptly appeared on the ground directly in front of them.
Then several faces lowered into view, mouths split into cruel grins that stretched almost to their ears. Their bloodshot eyes met the girls’ horrified gazes head-on!