Chapter 100
TW: Mentions of claustrophobia
It was dark inside the narrow and closed elevator. The dull air in this cramped space was oppressive, pressing down on him in all directions.
Mo Yi could almost hear the resonance between his own thundering heartbeat and groaning around him. The darkness was pressing down all around his body, making it difficult for him to breathe.
The elevator plummeted again!
It made a hoarse and violent roar, and a groaning vibration sounded in the narrow space, as the strained metal was about to break in the next second.
Mo Yi was already standing in a corner at this moment, his sweat-drenched back tightly pressed against the corner of the cold wall. His palms were resting on the metal walls and his knuckles were slightly white from the amount of force he was applying.
The elevator stopped again.
Mo Yi took several deep breaths. He moved carefully, walking along the edge of the elevator to the door.
He put his eyes to the gap in the elevator door, and peered out through the narrow gap—
A thin line of iron black stretched across his narrow and limited field of vision. Mo Yi blinked several times and belatedly realised that it was the ground of the -2F.
The light here was much more abundant than that on the -3F, and the pale light was reflected into a thin line on the ground, which was painfully dazzling.
Mo Yi could infer the current location of the elevator. It should be between the -2F and the next floor. The ground of -2F was about the midpoint of the stuck elevator and that was why he happened to be able to see the lower portion of the -3F from his perspective.
Here, there was also a long corridor. The cold light struck the empty ground. Unlike the chaos he’d seen on the previous floor, the corridor here was empty and tidy, stretching on into a branching point in the blurry distance.
—This floor was likely much larger than the previous floor.
Mo Yi narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, and a look of contemplation flashed in his eyes.
The elevator started to shake violently again, and the horizontal line of the ground in his sight shifted higher.
Mo Yi’s breathing hitched. He pushed against the elevator door harder with his palms. The icy metal door clipped his injured finger with a biting chill, entangling with the waves of pain into like a matching pair of twins as they surged up his nerves.
The all-encompassing darkness seemed even more oppressive in this cramped elevator right now. The four walls seemed to be approaching him, closing in on him, slowly squeezing out the last few traces of air inside this enclosed space.
Then, as if on cue, a thin scratching sound came from the darkness behind him.
Mo Yi’s whole body was shaken. A stuttering chill slowly crawled up his spine.
The closed space amplified the scratching throughout the entire elevator. He could feel a faint vibration under his palms, which made his scalp tingle.
It’s like…something was trying to pierce through the thin metal walls of the elevator and crawl straight in.
Mo Yi frowned tightly.
—He couldn’t wait any longer, the walls of this elevator probably wouldn’t last long.
The scratching sound in the darkness became louder, each harsh and sharp sound against the metal elevator wall making one’s back numb.
He made a decisive decision then, stuffing his fingertips into the narrow gap of the doors, and then pulled on them forcefully.
The unpleasant sound of mechanical friction rang out, the high-pitched sound piercing into his eardrums sharply, giving Mo Yi a slight headache.
His breathing grew slightly rapid, and he increased the strength in his arms—
Soon enough, the metal doors parted with a gap large enough for one person to pass through. The cold and dim light in the corridor shone in through the narrow gap, dispelling a little of the darkness in the elevator.
Mo Yi warily glanced behind him, only to see a blurry outline of a shadow protruding from the hard metal wall of the elevator, as if there was something moving in the dark…
That scratching sound which made people feel numb and uneasy steadily became clearer, as if it was coming from all directions all at once, both from afar and right by his ear, which made him feel physically uncomfortable.
Mo Yi’s heart stuttered, his breathing rate accelerated, and the hot blood surging through his blood vessels, thundering in his eardrums—
Time is running out.
He turned his head hastily and threw the backpack he was carrying through the gap into the corridor.
The bulging backpack made a clear sound on the ground, its thud echoing in the silent and empty corridor.
Mo Yi didn’t have time to think about anything else. He placed his palms on the ground which was now at chest-level, and leapt up towards it.
A distinct ‘crack’ came from the elevator wall behind him, as if it was broken, and the sound resounded like thunder in Mo Yi’s ears. The scratching sound spread in the darkness of the elevator, containing within it a deep and dense ominousness.
His breathing was a little unsteady. The sense of warning in his heart exploded all at once. Without any further hesitation, he pressed his arms down hard, pushed his legs up against the wall, and climbed up quickly.
Mo Yi’s ears were filled with the roar of his own heartbeat. Amidst the buzzing white noise, the huge sound behind him became distant and hazy, but the natural sensitivity of human beings to danger was keen in his mind, knocking into his psyche with loud ringing alarm bells.
He gritted his teeth and rolled across the ground.
Mo Yi accidentally pressed the wound on his hand under his body, causing him to involuntarily let out a low groan from his throat.
The severe pain cleared his brain and he swung his head back to look at the elevator he had just climbed out of.
The two metal doors which had been forcibly opened have now started closing slowly once again, snugly shutting in the darkness and blurred shadows in the enclosed space.
The roar of machinery and the sound of the sliding rails sounded again, followed by the return of silence after a while.
Mo Yi pushed himself halfway up on the ground, panting for breath. His body, which had heated up from exercise, quickly cooled down, and when combined with the sweat-drenched clothes sticking tightly to his skin and the icy cold wind in the corridor, caused a fine layer of goosebumps to rise.
The empty corridor was dead silent, just like a breeze-less valley filled with a lifeless coldness.
Mo Yi blinked. Salty sweat slid down the arch of his eyebrows, from the unscarred wound on his forehead to his eyes, prickling at the sensitive cornea with a burning pain.
He wiped the sweat off his face with one hand, then reached out to support himself on the wall as he stood up slowly from the ground.
His bones seemingly rattled against each other during the motion. Even his muscles felt stiff and sore.
Mo Yi moved the joints of his shoulders and neck, followed by that of his left hand. There was an inexplicable soreness which rose from every bone in his body that slowly spread to the depths of his brain.
He let out a long exhale.
Fortunately, this level of pain was still temporarily within his acceptable range.
Mo Yi bent down to pick up his backpack, slung it over his back, then raised his head.
When he was in the elevator, he didn’t have time to observe this floor carefully. In addition, his vision was narrow and limited at that time and he couldn’t see the whole corridor. Now, Mo Yi squinted his eyes and carefully checked every detail of the strange space in front of him.
There was a pale and dim light above his head, which was illuminating the cold and silent corridor in front of him. The dirty walls were covered with dust, and the mottled and peeling walls showed the years it had experienced.
There were neatly arranged rooms on both sides of the corridor. The dilapidated doors were tightly closed and their ward numbers were clearly visible under the light.
Mo Yi strode to the ward next to him and tentatively stretched out his hand to push it.
It didn’t budge.
Above the door was a small window separated by an iron railing. Mo Yi moved closer and peered in through the window.
There was no one in the room.
All there was inside was a narrow space. The mottled walls were hidden in the shadows under the dim light, while a narrow bed was tightly attached to the wall. On the bed were worn and whitish leather restraints, as well as a set of sheets in the same colour as the room. Although the sheets looked old and dirty, there were no wrinkles on them, as if no one had lived in this room prior.
Mo Yi furrowed his brows in suspicion, then backed away from the door.
Using light steps, he moved forward carefully, peering into each room he passed by.
Every room was empty and the doors could not be opened.
Mo Yi came to an abrupt stop.
At this juncture, he came to the first corner. One corridor branched out from here, leading to an area without lights.
Mo Yi stood rooted at the same spot. He leaned forward slightly to glance over and was stunned when his gaze fell on the wall on one side of the diagonally branching corridor.
There were two words written there in bright blood red:
Area B.
The sharp colour contrast pierced his vision. These blood red words on the wet and pale wall appeared to be bleeding wounds from a deep injury, and the half-coagulated blood oozing down the wall made the shape of those two characters even more distorted and ugly.
It was normal to have divisions of areas in mental hospitals. They would usually divide different types of patients into different divisions to facilitate management and treatment.
And so it begets the question… where are the other divisions?
Mo Yi took a deep look at the darkness at the end of the corridor. He paused for a while, then slowly moved away.
He frowned, not knowing why there was always a sense of uneasiness at the pit of his heart.
At this moment, his ears seemed to have captured a certain sound—
Mo Yi tensed up instinctively. His gaze turned solemn. Holding his breath, he cautiously surveyed the environment around him.
His tense nerves sensitively captured every sound in the corridor, and all the sounds in the ears seem to be infinitely amplified right now—
It seemed to be the sound of water droplets.
Drip, drip.
It dripped evenly and rhythmically onto a hard surface, tapping out a shallow vibration which echoed through the silent corridor and into his eardrums.
Drip, drip.
T/N: Thank you to maryana for the ko-fi!
Also, why does everything seem 30x scarier without the ML around
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)