Chapter 195: Dark Li
Growl!
The rune corpse lunged at Dark Li.
Dark Li hurriedly leapt backward from his crouching position and ended up tripping on the stairs. Gao Yang immediately grabbed his elbow and pulled him back, but the rune corpse managed to grab Dark Li’s calf, startling him.
“Get off!”
Dark Li stomped on the rune corpse’s face, quickly kicking it off him. However, without the protection of his boot, the heel of his right foot grazed the rune corpse’s open mouth, and the skin was scratched by its teeth.
Dark Li understood the implication immediately, and he was calmer than he expected.
He had anticipated that he could die trying to save Yellow Butterfly. In fact, he had pictured the different scenarios countless times, thinking about the kind of dangers they might run into and the different ways he might sacrifice himself for her.
He didn’t regret anything. He simply felt a little rueful. That the woman he had loved for years wasn’t here to witness his sacrifice.
Dark Li quickly climbed to his feet and shoved the inhaler into Gao Yang’s hand.
“Go!”
Gao Yang took it and helped Dark Li up. They scrambled up the stairs.
However, the noises made had already drawn the rune corpses on the fourth floor to them, and they found themselves trapped in the middle.
Dark Li rushed forward with his arms open, holding the rune corpses blocking their way at bay to make a path for Gao Yang.
Without mercy, the rune corpses bit into Dark Li’s shoulders, neck, and arms.
“Ah!” Dark Li cried out in pain, yet his hold over the rune corpses remained strong. He called out to Gao Yang, “Go! Now!”
Heart sinking, Gao Yang turned around and bolted without another look back.
Three seconds later, he heard Dark Li’s impassioned voice ringing throughout the building, “Yellow Butterfly! Stay alive!”
In less than ten seconds, Gao Yang rushed back to the fifth floor and reached the door to the broadcast room.
He knocked on the door, “Open up!”
Then he headed back to the storage room and shouted by the door, “Stop drawing their attention, Gray Bear! Let them come out!”
Gray Bear stopped cursing, and drawn by Gao Yang’s voice, the rune corpses inside the storage room turned around and dashed out. Gao Yang quickly dove into the broadcast room and shut the door.
He threw the inhaler to Black Sparrow, who took off the cap and held the inhaler to Yellow Butterfly’s lips. Yellow Butterfly took two big breaths.
It wasn’t time to relax yet. Gao Yang rushed through the broken divider to the storage room. With a glance, he confirmed that the rune corpses had gone out of the door and returned to the hallway. Then with Nine Frost’s help, he moved the one cabinet aside to make a crack. After making sure the last rune corpse had moved away, he squeezed through the crack to shut the door.
Gao Yang immediately returned and, with the help of others, toppled the barricade they made.
The pieces of furniture they had piled up collapsed, blocking off the door entirely. Only then was Gao Yang’s plan concluded.
It could’ve been perfect. If only Dark Li had made it back with him.
Gao Yang and the others returned to the broadcast room through the crack.
By then, Yellow Butterfly had recovered from the asthma attack. She stood up with Black Sparrow’s help.
Eyes misty and red, she asked Gao Yang urgently, “Where’s Dark Li? Why hasn’t he come back?”
Gao Yang’s silence was an answer in itself.
Everyone had heard Dark Li’s shout and connected the dots. That was his goodbye to Yellow Butterfly. Even at the moment of death, he didn’t have the courage to tell her his feelings.
“No, no...” Yellow Butterfly covered her mouth and broke into tears. “I got him killed. It’s all because of me...”
“It’s Dark Li’s decision,” Nine Frost said coolly, but his expression was dark. He turned away and went up to the window. Even from the back, his quiet rage was apparent; he was angry with himself for not protecting his teammates well.
Gao Yang wasn’t sure how to feel about Nine Frost. The man was prideful, arrogant, egocentric, and rude, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a good captain.
Groans could be heard from the other side of the door. Within the broadcast room, the air was silent save for the rustling sounds of Old Joe fixing the broadcast machine.
The fourth team was caught in their sorrow of losing a companion, and reminded of Lithe Snake, whose fate was still unknown, the fifth team was in a dour mood as well.
After a few minutes, Xiuyi, the quiet boy with slanted eyes, spoke up quietly. He might be addressing the others, or he might be murmuring to himself.
“When I first met Brother Li, I didn’t like him. He always had a fake smile on his face. It made me uncomfortable.”
No one said anything. Some looked up at Xiuyi, but more were looking down.
Xiuyi closed his eyes and lifted his head to rest it against the wall. “It wasn’t until later that I found out he had a condition called facial nerve paralysis. When he was little, he often got beaten by his father. Once, his father knocked his head a little too hard, and Brother Li had been suffering from the condition ever since. When he wasn’t making a certain expression, his resting face would look like a fake-looking smile.”
Yellow Butterfly lost the composure she had struggled to regain and started sobbing quietly, her hands covering her mouth.
“Brother Li’s dream was to be a martial arts star.”
Xiuyi continued in a monotone voice like he was doing a product presentation. “He liked nunchucks. He liked spicy hot pot. He was an atheist. He had been single his whole life. Recently, he started going to guitar classes because he thought it would make him more attractive. He loved Yellow Butterfly, and he thought it was a grand secret, but everyone knew.”
Xiuyi opened his slanted eyes. There were tears at the corners. “That’s all I know about Brother Li.”
How could a person’s life be summarized in a few sentences?
Silence followed.
“Done!” Just in time, Old Joe’s voice broke the heavy atmosphere. While they were wallowing in grief, he alone had been fixing the machine.
He picked up the microphone and spoke into it.
“Ahem. Hello, microphone testing...”
Nine Frost stood by the window and immediately heard Old Joe’s voice coming out from the speakers outside.
The rune corpses roaming aimlessly were drawn by the sounds and stayed in clusters, but as soon as Old Joe stopped speaking, they resumed their meandering.
Old Joe stood up and turned to the others. “Now we just have to pick a cassette.”
There were many cassettes in the room. Xiran opened the glass cabinet storing them and rummaged around. He quickly picked one.
“How about this?”
Gao Yang took a glance at it. It was a mixtape of Jay Chou’s songs. He nodded. “I’m good with it.”
Their future was uncertain. If he was going to die, at least it would be a comfort to die listening to his favorite songs.
The others didn’t disagree.
Old Joe took the cassette and rolled it to the very start to maximize playtime.
“Ready, Captain?”
Old Joe rested a finger on the play button, waiting for Nine Frost to make the order.
Nine Frost turned to Gao Yang. “What do you have to say?”
Gao Yang thought for a moment. “It’ll take at most 30 minutes for one side of the cassette to finish playing. During the 30 minutes, we need to go to the basketball court for our supplies, find Li Zhuanghu, and take him out.”
“If we realize we can’t do all that in time, we have to return to the broadcast room within the 30 minutes and flip the cassette tape before making our next move. Any questions?”
There was none.
“Then we move.” Nine Frost and Gray Bear went up to the door, ready to open it.
Click.
Old Joe took a deep breath and pressed the play button.
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