Chapter 5: The Escape Plan After Awakening

  "What are you talking about? We can't understand!" Wang Xue tried to pull me away, but was tightly grasped by Zhang Yi's hand. Zhang Yi roared at Wang Xue: "Are you an idiot?! Besides Ning Xiao, we have no heartbeat and no breathing!" Wang Xue's eyes turned sharp: "Are you also one of the puppets?!"

  Zhang Yi's eyes flashed with a hint of doubt: "What man? What puppet?! I only know that after Ning Xue appeared, I could feel her body temperature. That night when she came back alone, I didn't fall asleep. I clearly heard her breathing sound. Until then, I realized an important question - I actually wasn't breathing. I touched the position of my heart, it wasn't beating. I put my fingers on my pulse, and there was no pulse either. I suspect that I'm already dead."

  Zhang Yi stared at me and said, "You also know..." I involuntarily took a step back and said. "People who have been dead for too long will forget the fact that they are already dead. Only the appearance of living people can remind them that they don't have body temperature or heartbeat." Wang Xue squeezed out a smile and said. I didn't know how to respond, nor did I know if it was better to have more or fewer awakened dead people. At this moment, I just wanted to uncover the truth behind their deaths, and other things were no longer important.

  "Please, take me out?" Zhang Yi said with a pleading expression, just as I was at a loss for what to do. At this moment, three girls rushed over, they were Wang Xue's roommates and close friends. Now they were staring seriously at Wang Xue, Zhang Yi, and me, their eyes made me feel chilled to the bone.

  Wang Xue swept a glance over them, and instead of being angry, she asked calmly: "Say what you want to say, even if you don't say it, I already understand." Qiqi's eyes suddenly turned red, and she choked out: "Yes! We've been together since elementary school, just one look and we know what the other is thinking." Zhang Xin patted Qiqi on the back and said: "Wang Xue, if there's anything going on, please don't bear it alone. That's what friends are for, to bear things together!" Liu Bei grasped Wang Xue's hand sincerely and asked: "Are we dead to you? How could you hide this from us for so long?"

  I looked at Wang Xue pursing her lips, not speaking for a long time. The warm sunlight shone on us, but the atmosphere was cold. Zhang Yi kept staring at me unfriendly, while Liu Bei, Zhang Xin and Qi Qi stared at Wang Xue. A strange aura spread in the small garden, and we gradually found that the plants were withering, and the sun was slowly setting to the west.

  Everyone had forgotten about the Cold War, and some were numbly watching these changes. Zhang Yi looked at me and said, "Wait for me a minute!" Then he rushed towards Building 5. Wang Xue raised her head and looked at the three of them, saying, "You being sober again may not be a good thing, I don't want you to die a second time." Qi Qi, Zhang Xin, and Liu Mei listened to Wang Xue's words in confusion, looking around at the withered garden and the sun that was starting to set. "We need to hurry up and hide, we might have been exposed!" Wang Xue shouted urgently. Zhang Yi had also arrived by my side, handing me my large backpack and saying, "There's food inside, right? I just heard your stomach growling."

  I looked at Zhang Yi with gratitude, still feeling guilty for my previous suspicion of her. She had already pulled up my hand and said to Wang Xue and the others: "Let's run quickly!" Wang Xue and the others nodded in agreement. We were about to head towards the gym when we unexpectedly saw Ye Zi Ke waving at us from the 8th floor window of the music building. Next to him was Zhou Wei, who shouted: "Come over here quickly!" After a moment's hesitation, we decided to run towards the music building instead.

  The sky had slowly begun to darken, and we were preparing to take the elevator to the eighth floor. However, the elevator didn't respond at all. Zhang Yi kicked it hard in frustration, and the doors opened. Zhang Yi laughed and said, "Let's go in! This broken elevator won't listen unless you kick it!" When we looked inside the elevator, we were shocked and screamed loudly. Xu Laoshi's corpse was hanging right in front of us, with a strange smile on her face. She slowly stretched out her hand towards us: "Come in! Let's take the elevator together!" Qi Qi burst into tears immediately. I took off my ring, which instantly transformed into a knife. Holding the knife, I looked at the elevator doors, and they slammed shut with a loud noise.

  Ms. Xu's hand, which was stuck in the door crack, was still waving at us, and the sound of her scratching the door came from the elevator. Zhang Xin and Liu Bei's emotions were clearly out of control, trembling constantly. "Everyone, don't take the elevator! Let's walk up the stairs!" I shouted. Wang Xue tried to pull Zhang Xin and Liu Bei away, but they were frozen in place, staring at the hand in the door crack, shaking uncontrollably.

  Xiang Xin's voice trembled as she said, "I want to run, but my legs can't move!" Listening to the increasingly loud scratching sounds from inside the elevator door, Qiqi was so scared that she wanted to pull Wang Xue away: "Let's go! If we don't leave now, we'll be caught!" Liu Bei stared at Qiqi and said, "You want to run by yourself?! Are you afraid that I and Xiang Xin will hold you back?!" Qiqi cried as she quickly moved away from the elevator door, saying: "I'm not, I'm just scared!" After that, we saw her stumbling towards the stairs. I supported Xiang Xin, while Wang Xue supported Liu Bei; they both cried and said, "I was just afraid of being unable to walk, sorry!"

  Zhang Yi slapped Zhang Xin and Liu Bei each with a slap, scolding: "We're all dead already! What's there to be afraid of? You two stop being so pretentious here! Even if we die again, I'll accompany you!" Perhaps it was really thanks to Zhang Yi's slap that Liu Bei and Zhang Xin's fear decreased a lot, at least they could walk normally now. The elevator door was no longer stuck but was kicked open, "Let's hurry up to the 8th floor!" I said, we ran quickly towards the 8th floor, the elevator door seemed to be slowly opening behind us...

  The corridor was sometimes bright and sometimes dark, my eyes were not adapted. I tripped at a corner and fell to the ground. "Are you okay?" Zhang Xin helped me up, just as I was about to say it's okay, a back appeared in front of me: "I'll carry you!" Ye Zikuo turned around to look at me, I asked in surprise: "How did you get here?!" Zhou Wei on the side said: "Hurry up and find a place to hide first, don't talk nonsense for now!"

  Ye Zi Ke picked me up and looked at Wang Xue and the others, saying: "Zhou Wei will lead the way, you must follow closely!" Zhou Wei ran towards another staircase and said: "Go this way!" We also quickly followed his direction. "Right, aren't you on the 8th floor? How did you end up on the 5th floor?" Ye Zi Ke replied while running: "I was worried that you girls would encounter something, so I thought it's better to come pick you up, and we happened to run into each other here!"

  "What's going on?!" Wang Xue looked at Zhou Wei discontentedly, asking why he had suddenly stopped. Zhou Wei just signaled for everyone to retreat, and that was when I realized it was that man, who was now slowly walking towards us while pulling QiQi by her hair. QiQi was crying with a pale face, begging for help: "Save me!" Ye Zikuo put me down and pulled me behind him, saying: "Everyone step back!" Wang Xue tried to walk towards QiQi but was held back tightly by Zhang Xin and Liu Bei. "Let me go! It's QiQi..." Wang Xue shouted at Zhang Xin and Liu Bei.

  "Have you forgotten that Qiqi just ran away by herself?! Zhang Xin furiously retorted. A loud slap landed on Zhang Xin's face, "Ten years of friendship! You're measuring it with such a small mind?!" Zhang Xin's eyes reddened as he lowered his head in silence. The man's severed arm was still beside him, only now it had Qiqi's throat in a tight grip.

  "Hahaha" The eerie laughter seemed to be mocking us, I took advantage of Ye Zikuo's unpreparedness and quickly swung the knife at the man, "Ning Lie!" A furious roar came from behind me, I didn't have time to think too much, all I wanted was to save Qiqi, I didn't want to see anyone die, even if they had already died once, but in front of me, I would never allow this to happen again.

  What a pity, I missed him, the man nimbly dodged to the side, and his long fingers were about to pierce my throat. I hastily turned my head, but my neck was still cut open, blood splattered out, and Qiqi screamed again. As I heavily fell to the ground, I raised my knife to chop at him once more, he hastily dodged, collided with the window, and fell down.

  I let out a sigh of relief, got up and suppressed the nausea in my heart, pulling down the greenish-blue severed arm from Qiqi's neck. Yezi Ke and others also rushed towards us, Qiqi hugged Wang Xue and cried bitterly, stuttering "Sorry, I was wrong..." Zhang Xin and Liu Bei also tightly hugged Qiqi, tears streaming down their faces. As I threw the severed arm out of the window, a hand appeared on the windowsill, and my heart secretly exclaimed "Oh no!" "Everyone, hurry up! This man didn't fall off!" Hearing my words, everyone stood up and continued to run towards the stairs, behind us, on the windowsill, the man's voice was heard for the first time, not a creepy laugh, but a clear, aged voice repeating: "I will never let you go!"

  When we reached the ninth floor, we couldn't find the stairs to the tenth floor no matter what. Everyone had to find a classroom to hide in. The moment the door closed, everyone sat down on the ground with a sigh of relief. I put the handcuff back on the doorknob and finally felt at ease. My neck was burning with pain, and as I gritted my teeth, Ye Zikuo tore off a piece of his shirt and said, "Let me help you bandage it." I nodded, and as Ye Zikuo bandaged my wound, he scolded, "Are you an idiot?! If your throat had really been pierced, you would have died!"

  I was still in a state of shock and irritably said, "Aren't I not dead yet?!" Ye Zikou finished bandaging with a scowl and leaned against the wall. Zhang Yi walked over to me and said, "Eat something! Here's your backpack!" Zhang Yi took off my backpack and handed it to me, and I was indeed already starving and seeing stars. As I ate the bread, my mood calmed down a bit, Wang Xue and others sat together quietly sobbing, while Zhou Wei talked to Ye Zikou about something.

  A chill ran down my neck, I took out the pendant, and my heart sank to the bottom of the valley. The white crane had completely turned into a blood crane... Nagu Yun'er's words began to echo in my mind again. What should I do? Maybe I'll really die here. My hands involuntarily clenched into fists, trembling.

  The clear sound of high heels echoed in the corridor outside, and Wang Xue and others stopped crying, hiding in the corner with a terrified face. Ye Zikai walked towards me and whispered in my ear, "No more acting rashly! Just stay behind me!" Zhou Wei and Zhang Yi nodded to each other, and before I understood what their nod meant, Ye Zikai spoke up, "They are masters of Taekwondo since primary school, now they are ready to sacrifice themselves to buy us time to escape."

  Zhang Yi took off my wristband and put it on my wrist, his face pale as he said: "Remember! Only when you leave can we truly be liberated!" Ka-chunk, the door opened, and Teacher Xu's extremely ferocious face gnashed her teeth and said: "Who pinched my hand!" After finishing speaking, she raised her right hand to show us, but it suddenly fell to the ground with a splat, turning into rotten flesh. Zhou Wei and Zhang Yi looked very uncomfortable, indicating that we should leave first.

  Wang Xue and others couldn't wait to leave through the back door, Ye Zikuo also pulled me to get ready to go, but I stared at Teacher Xu, refusing to leave. Ye Zikuo pressed my shoulder and said: "Don't let others sacrifice for you in vain!" Zhang Yi glanced at me disdainfully and said: "Useless people shouldn't stay here and drag us down!" I numbly followed Ye Zikuo as we ran towards the back door, we ran very quickly, but could still hear Zhou Wei and Zhang Yi's miserable cries. Ye Zikuo had deceived me, they weren't any Taekwondo black belts, just trying to delay time to save us. Tears swirled in the wind, for the first time I felt so useless, Wang Xue and others were crying as they ran ahead, we were like lost children, only able to keep running non-stop...