Chapter 106
Mo Yi’s breathing stagnated. His heart missed a beat.
The sound of footsteps resounding in the dark corridor seemed blurry and distant, but the whimpers were gently entering and caressing the listener’s eardrums, making one’s hair stand on end.
Jiang Yuanrou’s ice cold skin was stiffening tensely under Mo Yi’s palm and the sound of her breathing changed.
Mo Yi didn’t have time to think further. He slipped his flashlight back into his pocket to free up a hand. He then gripped Jiang Yuanrou’s shoulders and forcefully pulled her up from the cold bathtub.
A painful gasp escaped from Jiang Yuanrou’s throat.
Mo Yi asked in a low voice, “Can you still walk?”
The rippling sound of water echoed in the dark room. The sound of dripping water continued to ring in the room while the footsteps in the corridor outside the door were getting louder.
Jiang Yuanrou nodded hastily. She reached out to grab Mo Yi’s arm, using it as leverage to straighten her posture and then stepped out from the bathtub.
As she had been soaked in the cold water for too long, her whole body was cold and wet, causing her to tremble unconsciously.
Mo Yi could even hear the clattering of Jiang Yuanrou’s teeth colliding against each other.
Her legs and feet were stiff and numb due to the blockage of the blood circulation. The moment she stepped out of the bathtub, her knees buckled and she nearly fell over.
Mo Yi quickly reached out to support Jiang Yuanrou by the elbow and her weight pressed down on his injury.
Mo Yi gasped, the expression on his face twisting in the darkness—most of his arm was numb under Jiang Yuanrou’s weight, but the pain radiating from his thumb joint was actually getting lighter.
This was not the first time he suffered because of his low physical fitness.
Mo Yi resisted the pain in his arm and helped Jiang Yuanrou up, then asked in a low voice, “Are you certain you can walk?”
In the darkness, he felt Jiang Yuanrou’s long hair pressed against his shoulders and neck moving slightly, as if she was nodding.
The strong smell of blood was permeating the air around his body. For a moment, Mo Yi even had the illusion that he could hear blood gushing out of her wound.
Holding each other, they stumbled forward. The light behind them was dim and weak, barely able to reflect against the edges of the bathtubs lined up in front of them.
Mo Yi didn’t dare to switch on his flashlight with the footsteps and whimpering still echoing through the corridor outside. Using the flashlight now was equivalent to revealing their position, so the two of them had no other option but to grope their way forward in the dark.
Jiang Yuanrou’s breathing was trembling and rapid, and she explained in a low voice.
“This wound is only a side effect. It will disappear in about 20 minutes.”
Mo Yi understood instantly.
This explained why the two players on the -3F who were bound to the equipment of the mental asylum were dead, but Jiang Yuanrou was still able to wake up.
He breathed a sigh of relief—fortunately, he didn’t use those useless in-game props before, otherwise if he happened to be inflicted with such a serious injury, he couldn’t be sure if he would be able to survive the remainder of this instance.
Jiang Yuanrou obviously had better physical fitness. After she got out of the cold bathtub, her body was quickly able to regain its vitality. Although she was still somewhat unsteady on her legs and feet, it was no longer necessary for her to put her whole body weight on Mo Yi.
The two soon walked all the way to the door of this room.
They stopped at the same time, leaned their bodies against the wall by the doorframe, and listened intently to the movement in the corridor.
Mo Yi suppressed his breathing to the point that it was almost hard to hear him. The gears in his head spun, visualising the map of this floor.
When he hid in the room next door just now, the cries and footsteps were coming towards the darkness on the right, but now, judging from the sound, this ‘monster’ should be coming from the left.
Furthermore, this was the first time he had heard it in a while.
According to the shape of the corridor he passed through earlier, it could be assumed that the corridor on this floor should be circular.
Also, the difference between the -3F and -2F… was that this -2F was larger than what he’d expected.
Footsteps sounded from the distance in an unhurried pace. The resulting vibrations passed through the deep and dark corridor into their eardrums, and that sound along with the faint whimper, were slowly approaching in Mo Yi’s direction.
Mo Yi held his breath and concentrated, mentally estimating the distance between them.
The other party should currently be in the corridor where he got off the elevator just now. If they walked towards their left now, there was a high chance of encountering it head-on, so walking to the right would be their only choice.
But what Mo Yi was undecided now was, should he hide again in same room?
He craned his head around and stared at Jiang Yuanrou. Her petite body was tightly pressed against the wall behind her. He could feel the slight trembling of her body through her arm—
Jiang Yuanrou’s current condition is not optimal. Mo Yi was not certain if her body could last such a potentially long walk.
After all, he has yet to explore the corridor on the right and he doesn’t know what is hidden there.
But—
Mo Yi’s brows were furrowed. His pale lips were pursed into a tight straight line, and his dark eyes were full of unsaid thoughts.
But… the room next to this was far too close.
This gave him a very bad feeling.
As the footsteps in the background gradually became louder, the accompanying whimpers also echoed in the empty corridor, which made people feel uneasy.
Mo Yi’s brows twitched—now was not the time to be indecisive, he had to make a decision immediately.
He nudged Jiang Yuanrou’s arm lightly, exerted a little force with his fingers before quickly withdrawing and making a gesture under the dim light, signalling for? her to follow him and walk to the right.
Without delay, both of them crept out from the door one after another.
The atmosphere in the corridor was gloomy and tense, and a heavy and oppressive atmosphere enveloped the two of them. They were careful not to make any sound, and crept forward in the vague darkness.
Mo Yi reflexively casted a glance over his shoulder.
There was a faint light at the fork of the corridor a short distance away, which illuminated a narrow area. A blurred shadow was at the edge of the light there while they were standing among the deeper shadows on this side.
There was a shadow was on the ground under the faint flickering light—
It seemed to be a head with long hair, which was moving forward with each sound of the footsteps, slowly approaching them.
Mo Yi’s heart tightened. His steps subconsciously quickened. He withdrew his gaze, only to freeze for a moment at the side of the dark corridor.
Over there? the room where he had hidden himself just now.
Mo Yi took a deep breath. He gritted his teeth, averted his gaze, then reached out to support Jiang Yuanrou, who was several steps behind him, and the two walked towards the dark depths of the corridor together.
The space ahead was completely dark, as if there was something unknown just quietly waiting for someone to step forward—the unknown was the most frightening thing, and the untravelled territory ahead seemed to be shrouded in countless uncertain variables, which made Mo Yi fraught.
The distinct sound of footsteps and whimpers came from behind him, accompanied by the soft rustle of cloth dragging across the ground.
Even though Mo Yi’s eyes had long been used to the darkness, the corridor without the slightest light in front of him was still impenetrable to his eyesight. Everything was only a blur, which gave Mo Yi the illusion that his eyes were still closed.
Even so, he still focused his vision at the front. While supporting Jiang Yuanrou’s cold and trembling body due to blood loss with one hand, he pressed his other hand against the wall, and cautiously strode deeper in.
After a short period of walking, Mo Yi’s palm, which had been tightly pressed against the wall, touched an edge.
His eyes lit up—a corner.
Mo Yi gripped Jiang Yuanrou’s palm slightly tighter, and the two of them tacitly increased their pace and rounded the corner.
Their vision instantly cleared up.
There was a faint light at the end of this corridor. Broken light tubes still connected to the ceiling with tangled wires were hanging in mid-air, dangling freely down into the corridor, and the casted dim light was swaying along.
However, the pale light was unable to dispel the heavy darkness in the corridor. It could only leave shaking shadows on the walls which brought a sense of discomfort to them both.
There were two rooms along this corridor, their doors closed.
Mo Yi pushed on them as he passed by—the two doors were locked tightly and could not be pushed open.
The sound of footsteps behind them seemed not to have mostly faded away after they turned the corner, which made Mo Yi feel slightly relaxed.
Both of them made their way towards the end of this corridor and soon found themselves under the broken lamp tube.
The light tube hanging in mid-air made a slight ‘buzz’. The dangling wires were hanging tightly without any slack, as if they would suddenly snap and fall without any warning.
After turning a corner, what appeared in front of them was a deeper and quieter corridor. The walls on either side here were flanking a cramped and narrow space, which made people feel suffocated.
Mo Yi lowered his eyes and pondered—
If they were able to turn one more corner at the end of this corridor, then he should be able to walk back to the place that had ‘Area B’ written in blood.
It seems that his hypothesis was right, the corridor on this floor was indeed circular.
At this moment, a sharp scream suddenly unfurled from behind!
The almost inhuman sharpness almost pierced their eardrums, akin to thousands of steel needles piercing through the dead air in the corridor and ruthlessly penetrating deep into people’s minds, and Mo Yi’s body immediately went stiff in reflex.
He reflexively turned to Jiang Yuanrou, and realised that she was looking over too. They exchanged a tacit look.
—The creature after them probably realised that their prey went missing.
Both the footsteps and whimpering got louder and faster, cutting through the silent darkness.
Mo Yi’s heart leapt, as if it was currently being held tightly in a huge palm which was squeezing all the blood inside out.
The two players quickened their pace!
It was at this time that they noticed a ward appearing on the side of the corridor in front of them.
Mo Yi subconsciously stretched out his hand and pushed it—to his surprise, the door easily opened, the panel sliding into the darkness.
The door of this ward was ajar!
They exchanged a brief glance before walking in with each other’s support. The door closed silently behind their backs.
It was pitch black.
The room was filled with a strong smell of blood and filthy rot, making the people in it feel suffocated and sick.
There was a disturbing and strange atmosphere in this room.
Mo Yi tilted his head and listened carefully to the movement outside the door for a while, before pulling out his flashlight. He ran his fingers down the cold metal tube, then carefully switched it on at the lowest brightness.
With a slight ‘crackle’, the light illuminated the scene in front of him in this closed and oppressive room—
Jiang Yuanrou took a small breath of cool air, while Mo Yi deepened his frown.
There was a corpse nailed to the wall, staring closely at the door with bloodshot grey eyes, its mutilated face distorted into a strange shape by terror and pain. There was a pool of dried blood under its feet, covering almost the entire room.
White skeleton was exposed on the upper body, with the flesh and blood fragments cut by a knife nailed to the wall behind, forming a pair of huge butterflies wings.
This body was in exactly the same state as the one he’d found on the -3F.
Mo Yi’s eyes fell on the remaining modern attire on the corpse. His eyes lingered on it for a moment and? his brows furrowed even tighter.
—This was also another player.
At this moment, he seemed to think of something. He turned his head to look at Jiang Yuanrou, and asked, “This instance…”
Jiang Yuanrou seemed to understand what he was going to ask so she shook his head with a sullen expression on her face as a bitter smile slowly formed on her lips.
“I know what you want to ask and… that’s not it.”
Her slightly astringent voice sounded in the dead silent room.
“—This was not the instance I experienced with Yuanbai last time.”
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