Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Qingshui drew a deep breath, letting the icy air quell the churning in her stomach and the horror in her heart.
She pointed decisively to the right of the bamboo grove and silently mouthed, “We’ll go around.”
But Lin Hao suddenly seized her wrist, his grip painfully tight. He leaned close to her ear, breathing hard, and whispered fearfully, “What if… there are traps?”
Clearly, he had recognized the body too.
Even someone as powerful as Song Yunting had died here. This place was anything but simple. The Madmen might have set up an ambush, just like the one they had encountered on the bridge.
Qingshui fell silent and slowly shook her head. Her gaze was calm, but tinged with exhaustion.
Even if there were traps, what could they do?
They had neither the means nor the ability to find out whether the Madmen had laid any.
There was no way back.
Whether they lived or died could only be left to… fate.
Lin Hao stared into her eyes at that almost resigned calm. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and the rigid muscles in his face twitched. “…Let’s go.”
Without another word, they used the deepening dusk and the cover of the bamboo grove to carefully make their way down and to the right, trying to give the area a wide berth.
Each step landed on soft fallen leaves. They did everything they could to keep quiet, even as their hearts hammered against their ribs.
Just as they slipped deeper into the bamboo grove–
“Hee-hee-hee… hee-hee…”
A chilling laugh suddenly rose from beneath the bamboo leaves at their feet.
They both went rigid, their blood seeming to freeze in an instant.
The fallen leaves shifted. A face abruptly rose through a gap in the withered yellow foliage.
It was a childlike Madman. Its face was deathly pale, but its eyes shone with a terrifying brightness, and its grin stretched almost to its ears.
It had no lower body. There was nothing below its waist. That did not stop it from propping itself up on two skeletal arms, tilting its head back, and giggling horribly at Qingshui and Lin Hao from mere inches away.
“Big sister… Big brother… come play with me…”
Its voice had the high, shrill pitch of a child, and its innocent words only made them more disturbing.
The next second, its giggling abruptly climbed into a piercing howl that tore through the night, brimming with malicious delight.
“Aaaaaah-!!! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! There are bitches here! Aaaaaah-!!! They’re here! Fresh bitches are here-!!!”
The instant it screamed, its bony arms pushed hard against the ground. Dragging its mutilated upper body behind it with astonishing speed, it lunged for Qingshui’s ankle!
Qingshui had no time to think. Her body reacted before her mind could. The pointed shovel in her hand plunged downward with a sharp rush of air.
Its tip sank cleanly into the skull of the childlike Madman, punching through the mouth that was still screeching.
The howl stopped dead. Its frantically writhing body spasmed a few times, then went limp among the fallen leaves.
But it was already too late.
In the next instant, the birthday song coming from the courtyard compound abruptly fell silent.
“Run!” Qingshui roared, grabbing Lin Hao. “Across the river!”
It was the only possible escape route. Only the river offered them even the faintest chance of survival!
“Happy birthday to you…”
That absurd birthday song began again from the shadows of the nearby bamboo grove.
One voice.
“Happy birthday to you…”
Then two.
“Happy birthday to you…”
The voices swelled into a chorus that made their scalps prickle.
“Happy birthday to you…”
“Happy… birth… day… to… you…”
The singing poured in from every direction, filled with the taunting amusement of a cat playing with its prey and an eager, ravenous hunger.
No longer caring how much noise they made, Qingshui and Lin Hao spent the last of their strength racing toward the increasingly distinct roar of rushing water, stumbling and scrambling as they went.
Behind them, the laughter and pounding footsteps of the Madmen, along with that haunting birthday song, closed in like a surging tide.
They burst through the last patch of brush, and a wave of cold dampness struck their faces.
A broad river stretched across their path, its rushing waters drowning out some of the uproar behind them.
Qingshui reached the bank first and threw herself into the icy river.
Bone-deep cold engulfed her instantly, but what alarmed her even more was the feeling beneath her feet.
It was too deep!
There was almost no gradual slope by the bank. The moment she stepped in, she found nothing beneath her and plunged straight down. The powerful current dragged her along as murky water flooded her nose and mouth.
She forced herself to remain calm, held her breath, and kicked hard, struggling toward the surface and trying to swim for the opposite bank. Her soaked, heavy clothes weighed her down like lead, while the frigid river rapidly sapped her body heat and strength.
Just as she fought her way upward, her fingertips nearly breaking through the surface into the open air–
Something violently yanked her clothes!
Her movements froze, and she turned around in shock.
Through the murky water, a deathly pale, bloated face with hollow eyes suddenly loomed before her!
It was so close that their noses nearly touched!
Qingshui’s pupils contracted sharply. She could never forget that ghastly face for as long as she lived.
That was… the Dorm Leader?!
Overwhelmed by shock and disbelief, Qingshui blanked out for an instant and inhaled a mouthful of river water. The water trapped her violent coughs inside her chest, searing her lungs like fire.
She thrashed wildly, trying to break free and continue toward the surface, only to find that her body had grown impossibly heavy and could barely move.
Looking down, she saw two figures clinging tightly to her arms, one on either side.
An Xiaolin was on her left, Chen Yuhui on her right.
Their faces were as pale as paper, but their hands encircled Qingshui’s arms like iron shackles.
Xiaolin… Yuhui…
What was happening?!
Qingshui began to struggle frantically, kicking and thrashing as she tried to shake off these people who should not have existed, yet whose grip was terrifyingly real. Then an even stronger pull came from below.
She looked down. The Captain she had respected more than anyone was clutching her ankle with both hands! The woman stared up at her, the rippling water distorting her resolute features until nothing remained but a cold, accusatory gaze.
More figures emerged behind the Captain.
They were the teammates who had once fought at her side, the people she had considered family. Every one of those faces belonged to someone confirmed dead. Now they hovered in the dark water, deathly pale, silently closing in around her. Hollow eyes fixed on her as they reached out, as though intent on dragging her deeper into the river.
No. No! This wasn’t real! Get away from me!!
Her survival instinct warred with her overwhelming terror. She couldn’t die here! She couldn’t let herself be dragged under for no reason!
Lin Hao was still alive! There were still Madmen on the shore!
She couldn’t… She couldn’t die like this!!!
The suffocating pressure grew stronger. Her lungs felt ready to burst, and sparks began to dance before her eyes.
She forced her eyes wide open until they nearly bulged from their sockets, veins standing out across her neck and temples. Drawing on the last reserves of strength from the depths of her soul, she fought against the countless hands pulling her downward and inched toward that faint glimmer of light.
I. Am. Getting. Out!!!!
At last, her fingertips broke through the surface and touched the cold, damp air!
She threw her head back, forcing her nose and mouth out of the water–
“Cough! Cough, cough, cough-!!”
But what she saw was not a dark bamboo forest. It was… a brightly lit laboratory.
A woman and a man in combat uniforms were gripping her shoulders and arms, desperately forcing her down!
Their eyes brimmed with grief and desperation.
“No! Let go of me!!” Qingshui instinctively struggled, but the sudden restraint caught her off guard, and a hand shoved her down with all its strength!
“Gurgle-”
She inhaled another mouthful of river water, the water once again flooding her nose. She fought desperately against the pressure, trying to reach the air and breathe again.
“Xiao Qingshui, listen to me!! You’re sick, seriously sick! You need treatment!” The young woman pinning her down had red-rimmed eyes, her tearful voice both stern and pleading. “Look at you! You’re already having severe hallucinations! You have to trust us!”
The man beside her was also streaming with tears. He helped hold her down while sobbing incoherently, “That’s right, Sister Qingshui! The Captain is already dead! Brother Nan, Sister Fang… they’re all dead! We can’t… We can’t lose you too! Please, just sit still and let us give you a full examination! It’ll only take a little while!!”
“Get off me-!!”
An overwhelming urge to survive surged through Qingshui. She erupted with astonishing strength and tore herself free of their grasp, even sending the young man stumbling backward.
But the next second, more figures in white coats crowded around her. Hands seized her from every direction, restraining her once more and forcing her relentlessly downward.
Splash!
She plunged back into the water.
Oxygen deprivation struck with brutal force. Her strength drained rapidly from the relentless struggle, and darkness spread like a tangible tide from the edges of her vision toward the center.
Yet the woman’s voice reached her with perfect clarity:
“It’ll all be over soon. Just a few minutes, Xiao Qingshui. Don’t be afraid… I’ll stay right here with you the whole time and watch over you… The examination is almost finished…”
“We’ll always be here with you…”
“Always…”
Darkness swallowed the last glimmer of light before her eyes.
But in the depths of that absolute darkness, countless faces surfaced once more. They hovered there in silence, quietly watching her.
Then she began to sink.
Down into the abyss formed by countless familiar faces, deeper and deeper still.
As she sank, surrounded by everyone she had ever cherished, her will to survive and the last of her strength to struggle slowly melted away.