Chapter 109
The shart ending lilt of his yell reverberated through the surrounding walls, echoing in the empty corridor and pierced the eardrum clearly, leaving a buzzing noise—
Jiang Yuanrou was stunned for less than half a second before she immediately snapped back to attention!
The two ran towards the end of the corridor together, sprinting at a speed as though they were intending to use up all the strength in their bodies.
The howling of the wind poured into the running Mo Yi’s ears. It was as if all the other sounds were fading away the more they ran, and only the rapid beating of the heart and the noisy rush of blood filled his mind, mixing together to form a buzzing white noise.
The walls flanking their line of sight were swaying up and down with each step they took, causing the shadows in the darkness to undulate accordingly as well.
Mo Yi gritted his teeth. His chest was heaving rapidly and the pain caused by lack of oxygen was slowly accumulating in his joints.
However, he didn’t dare to slow down his pace in the slightest.
The scene he’d seen from the corner of his eye when he turned his head just now was still deeply imprinted on his retinas, burning along the optic nerve all the way to his mind—
That fuzzy shadow hidden in the darkness quickly started to move upon hearing his shout. It sped up steadily, chasing after them.
The sound of its hurried footsteps and the rustle of cloth dragging along the ground was akin to a marching drum band of despair. Mo Yi caught a glimpse of the lower half of the monster’s face under the light.
Those thin lips stretched awkwardly from ear to ear, twisted into a big arc, which resembled an odd smile.
Mo Yi did not manage to continue staring.
—Because he and Jiang Yuanrou turned their heads and ran away.
There was a small light at the end of the corridor in front, and as the two of them ran towards it desperately. The footsteps behind them were unhurried but persistently followed them like a shadow, hanging closely behind them.
The low whimpers slowly crawled up the back of the listener like a cold snake, leaving cold, slippery and sticky traces, as it nestled eerily into their ear.
They can’t get rid of it, can’t escape. It was tightly entangled around them, slowly tightening.
Mo Yi’s back was frigid. The cold sweat on his body was pouring out layer after layer, adhering the thin clothes snugly to his cold skin. A new layer appeared even before the previous dried, and the resulting bone-piercing chill slowly penetrated into his skin.
His eyes were fixed on the sight in front, his muscles were tensed up, and his teeth were clenched tightly—
He was almost there, almost there!
There were lights illuminating the bend at the end of the corridor. Mo Yi remembered that if he turned right there, it would be the fork he’d passed by earlier. There was ‘Area B’ written in bright red blood on one side of the wall.
So then… what if they went to the left?
Mo Yi flipped his flashlight on while running, and shone it into the deep darkness on the left side of the corridor ahead.
The messy beams of light swayed with his movements, dispelling the darkness a little. Within the mass of undulating shadows, he caught sight of something metallic and reflective.
The reflection was so bright in the dark that it almost hurt his eyes.
While panting for breath, Mo Yi squinted intently and noticed that the darkness on the left was not extending but instead formed a somewhat sunken shape. It was not another dark corridor…
But an iron fence!
As the two people pulled closer, the scene on the left became more and more apparent. The brass-coloured iron fence had a cold glint in the dim lighting, looking cold and silent.
There was an iron fence door in the middle, which was tightly shut, and the bout of eerie darkness visible from the narrow gap between the door and railing seemed to have no end in sight.
A flame of hope rekindled in Mo Yi’s heart.
Because it was common knowledge that such fences were commonly used to segregate the patient area from the staff area!
He inclined his head to Jiang Yuanrou who was running beside him and hissed in a low voice.
“Left!”
At this point in time, the two of them had just made it to the fork in the corridor. Jiang Yuanrou understood and ran to the left immediately. She reached out and grabbed the doorknob on the iron fence, and pulled hard—
The iron door clanged, but it did not budge.
The door was locked.
Mo Yi casted a glance at the corridor behind him amidst their struggles: the figure was approaching them rapidly. The sound of footsteps resounded in the empty corridor, each hollow step piercing their hearts.
Before Jiang Yuanrou managed to say anything, Mo Yi seemed to have had a revelation and he strode forward, speaking between breathless pants.
“Get out of the way.”
Jiang Yuanrou quickly stepped aside. Mo Yi reached out to touch Into his pocket—fingers curling around something cold and hard lying quietly at the bottom of his pocket.
His breathing shifted slightly. He pulled out the key—the light of the flashlight in his other hand briefly flashed across the brass key, and was then directed to the keyhole on the door.
The footsteps were getting closer.
The blood all over his body seemed to be surging up to the top of his head. His pounding heartbeat roared in his ears, so loud that Mo Yi could hardly hear any other noises.
Two words kept repeating in his heart.
Hurry up! Hurry up!
His cold fingers trembled nervously. The tip of the brass-coloured key missed the keyhole several times and just when it seemed as though it wasn’t possible to push the key in, a metallic clink rang out.
The whimpers were practically right next to his ears—
Mo Yi subconsciously raised his head and glanced to the side, only to see that figure was nearly right before them! Most of her face was illuminated by the faint light at the other end of the corridor, and he could clearly see her twisted lips stretching from ear to ear in the same distorted smile.
Her eyes were a thin blood-red slit, flashing with a strange and cold light.
Her ashen face was as stiff as a frozen mask, revealing a chilling malice—
Mo Yi’s fingers tightened and he thrusted them forward—the key was pushed snugly into the keyhole, making a crisp clink. He twisted it hard, and the mottled iron fence swung into the darkness inside with a rusty and hoarse squeak.
The woman stretched out her hand at an inhuman speed. However, she reached pass Mo Yii who was closer to her and went straight for Jiang Yuanrou!
In an instant, a thought flashed through Mo Yi’s mind—
Since players in this mental asylum were assigned to different floors according to their gender… then what was their connection with the same gendered monster on each floor?
After all… Jiang Yuanrou was keenly aware of the side effects of using props in the instance, but she still chose to use it.
This meant that it was forced to use her last resort.
Well, if his guess was correct… If this monster caught Jiang Yuanrou, the consequences might be irreversible.
Mo Yi gritted his teeth and steeled his heart. Reaching out, he yanked Jiang Yuanrou over and shoved her through the open iron door!
Then he rushed towards the monster with the rebound of strength.
Cold palms clasped his shoulders tightly like the sharp claws of an eagle. The nails were deeply embedded in his flesh through the thin clothes, and the piercing pain hit him instantly.
Mo Yi grunted. He could smell the strong and rancid smell of blood coming from the other party’s body, and when mixed with the cold and dry air in the corridor, rapidly eroded his senses.
The staggering Jiang Yuanrou who was pushed into the door by him, snapped her head around to look at him. Her pale face was somewhat blurred by the darkness but her light brown eyes remained surprisingly bright.
She rushed a few steps in Mo Yi’s direction and grabbed his arm, pulling him over with all of her strength—!
To her surprise, the hand clasped on Mo Yi’s shoulder seemed to have lost its strength and became relaxed, which made Jiang Yuanrou’s burst of strength rather effective.
Mo Yi was tugged over by a huge force and only managed to regain his balance after several steps.
The monster’s pale and skinny palms were still relentlessly reaching out towards Jiang Yuanrou, but it was stopped by the iron door that slammed shut, and its withered hands could only hang in mid-air in vain.
The moment the iron door was slammed shut, the lock on it was automatically activated. A huge tremor sounded in the dark and dead silence, stirring up shockwaves in the air.
Mo Yi and Jiang Yuanrou were standing in the darkness behind the door, their bodies tensed, panting vigorously, as they somehow still remained vigilantly alert for what might happen next.
The woman slowly lowered her hands in the air and grabbed the cold iron fence. Her back was turned to the light in the corridor, and her whole face was soaked in the deep darkness. They were unable to see the outlines of most of her features clearly, except for the corners of those twisted lips which were stretched from ear to ear.
She turned her head away and walked slowly back down the corridor.
Her long skirt was dragged on the ground. There was a soft rustling of fabric as well as her low whimpers, but they both gradually became weaker and weaker as she walked further away.
Mo Yi’s body relaxed a little. Blood was properly pounding through his veins again, and it made his vision blurry. He blinked vigorously, drew in several deep breaths which sent the cold and dry air down his respiratory tract and into his lungs.
As he intently watched how the woman’s back was slowly swallowed by the darkness, his eyes darkened.
It appeared that… Although she was a monster on this floor, she was unable to violate the physical laws of this floor. She couldn’t push open the door closed by Jiang Yuanrou earlier, and was unable to go through this locked iron fence this time either.
Mo Yi breathed out slowly, then turned to look at Jiang Yuanrou.
Only to find that Jiang Yuanrou was looking back at him with a solemn expression. Before Mo Yi could say anything, she stepped forward and yanked on the collar of Mo Yi, who was much taller than her, revealing his thin shoulder.
Under the faint light, she could make out a bluish handprint on the fair skin.
Jiang Yuanrou touched it hesitantly. It was only then that Mo Yi felt the burning pain, and could not help but let out a small hiss.
She frowned contemplatively. Releasing Mo Yi’s collar, she rolled up her sleeves and exposed her arm.
There was a purple-black handprint on it. This imprint that was akin black silk threads was spreading towards her upper arm which was swollen. There were bloodstains from where the nail marks were at, which looked particularly gruesome under the dim light.
Jiang Yuanrou said with some hesitation, “When she caught me before, there was no possibility of escaping at all…”
It was now that Mo Yi realised he had yet to share his discovery about the genders with Jiang Yuanrou earlier when they were interrupted by her flares of pain.
So, he told Jiang Yuanrou briefly about the clues he found and his corresponding conjectures.
After listening to Mo Yi’s words, Jiang Yuanrou’s pale face was still solemn. However, her brows were pulled into a larger grimace, and her pair of light brown eyes were fixed at a point in the void, as if she was pondering about something.
She opened her mouth hesitantly: “This…”
Jiang Yuanrou shook his head immediately, interrupting her own words, as if denying her own thoughts.
“No, it’s impossible.”
Mo Yi’s heart was constricted. He stared intently at Jiang Yuanrou, then asked in a low voice, “What is impossible?”
Jiang Yuanrou contemplated for a few long seconds and finally parted her lips as if she was ready to say something.
But at this moment, suddenly, without warning, a small but crisp sound came from the darkness behind the two of them, seemingly especially loud in this dead silence—
“Crack!”
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m