Puzzle Madness

Chapter 172 Autumn is the Hunting Season (Part 8)

"Walk."

Ai Xi said.

Without hesitation, she opened the iron door of the dormitory, peeked out, and looked around.

Squeak squeak
The scraping sound grew louder, even piercing. The sound was definitely coming from outside the narrow path, from the main passage where the chase had taken place—
The figure holding the huge cleaver should be standing outside the rusty, thin iron door of the doorway.

What is it doing? And how did it move outside so silently?
The previous footsteps were so heavy, so earth-shaking, but this time I heard nothing at all.
Everyone covered their mouths, but their minds were filled with questions like smoke.

Ai Xi beckoned to everyone to follow, then began to stride forward. She lifted her legs high, but landed very lightly, almost silently.

In emergencies, action always precedes thought.

This path was even narrower than the main passageway outside, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side. She still didn't use a flashlight; but the hot and sour pork rib soup that followed behind her was now open, illuminating Ai Xi's silhouette.

Ai Xi moved quickly, spreading her hands slightly and placing them against the left and right walls of the walkway; her fingertips gripped the rough concrete walls and kept pushing and pulling them backward.

Her posture was strange, but also very fast: in five or six seconds, she was several steps ahead of the sour soup bak kut teh.

They covered their mouths and staggered along the path; although the rustling footsteps weren't exactly quiet, they were at least better than screaming.

Flashlight illuminates both sides of the aisle--
The other small, dormitory-like rooms had clumps of black paste on their concrete floors and walls, which were very conspicuous in the light of a flashlight; some liquid had seeped into them, leaving almost permanent marks.

Perhaps it was the association brought about by the atmosphere of horror, but these dark stains did indeed resemble bloodstains that had not been cleaned.

[Serial killer]

This word came to many people's minds because Ai Xi had just said it:

But the one outside is clearly a monster—can a monster be a serial killer?

The scraping sound stopped, and only the rustling footsteps of the people remained in the corridor.

The further you walk, the lower the ceiling becomes, almost pressing down on your head; the path also becomes narrower, like a gradually tightening funnel. When two people walk together, they can only move sideways, chest to chest.

The flashlight beam bounced off the wall immediately, the excessive brightness making people's eyes dizzy; they had to hold the flashlights above their heads and file forward, their breath almost blowing onto the back of the neck of the person in front of them.

The rooms on both sides were getting longer and longer, and the space inside was getting smaller and smaller; but gradually some miscellaneous items appeared inside—clothes, backpacks, or other personal belongings. They were scattered and not many; it was unknown who had left them inside.

It's difficult to choose between speed and stealth:
If they walked too fast, some felt apprehensive, worried that their footsteps would attract the monster; if they walked too slowly, they didn't know when they would ever finish exploring this long, gut-like cave.
But this dilemma was quickly resolved.

Bang!

A crashing sound came from behind, followed by a deafening collapse. The iron gate, like a piece of ripped rubber, flew backward, deforming, until it slammed into the concrete wall.

Accompanied by the sound of skin rubbing against concrete, something squeezed into the narrow corridor, almost crawling:
Hiss--whoosh. Hiss--whoosh. Breathing sounds rang out. This time, there was finally an exhalation sound, echoing in the narrow corridor; the echoes continued, as if a loudspeaker had been installed and was playing on a loop.

It was neither human nor inhuman; the loud noise and billowing heat made it seem as if a giant bear was behind them.

"Speed ​​up! Don't go into the room! It's narrower up ahead, it can't get in!"

Ai Xi didn't turn around, but called out loudly; she arrived faster than the others and was almost disappearing in the flashlight beam of the sour soup bak kut teh.
-
At the back of the group was Eyeglass Boy. Big Head Hong seemed to be weak in the legs due to fear, and his pace was always slow; Huang Youtian behind him pushed hard to keep up with Ai Xi's pace.

hiss--
The breathing stopped abruptly, and the monster behind seemed to be brewing something; rustling sounds echoed in the darkness of the path—
boom!
A wildly swirling "thing" suddenly flew out from behind and hit Glasses Boy squarely in the back.

Eyeglasses was hit and flew up in an inverted C-shape; he even flew over Big Head Hong and the thin Huang Youtian who were crouching down to avoid it, and crashed into the second door frame on the left, landing in the middle of the line.

Even in such a critical moment, people couldn't help but turn around and examine the projectiles.

It was a desiccated corpse, coiled and twisted into a grotesque shape; lying limp on the concrete floor. What had just been flailing about were its limbs, likely thrown at it by the monster like a baseball.

The inside of the mummified body seemed empty, with the bones removed, leaving only the skin and other fillers; because it felt shrunken to the touch, yet not as hard as a living person.

The color is dark, indicating it has undergone tanning and processing; it has a pungent chemical smell. The clothing is riddled with holes, practically reduced to strips of cloth; it offers no real concealment.

That's why it's more like an oddly shaped beanbag chair, soft and plush; not so deadly.

The boy with the eyepiece was knocked to the ground, and his eyepiece flew off somewhere; but he still struggled to get up, staggering forward, feeling his way along the wall with one hand and supporting his waist with the other, it was unclear how serious his injury was.

Before continuing their sprint, Huang Youtian and Da Tou Hong, at the back of the group, saw it—
The mummified body's eyelids and lips were sewn shut, the lines crooked and twisted; it resembled a kindergarten needlework project, like a rag doll, with some sparse hair on its head.

Although Eyeglasses Boy had lost his glasses, he was still quite fast as he fumbled around with his hands and feet; at the very back of the line, only Big Head Hong and Huang Youtian remained.

When encountering a bear in the wild, you only need to run faster than your companions to escape: although this is not the wild, the principle is always the same.

The same dilemma arose between Huang Youtian and Da Tou Hong – the moment their eyes met, they knew what the other was thinking.

Huang Youtian's cheeks bulged, clearly indicating that he had clenched his teeth; his trembling hands wavered between raising and lowering, but in the end he raised his hands with bulging veins.

Big Head Hong ripped off his baseball cap and slammed it to the ground; his eyes were bloodshot, like dark red spider webs.

Huang Youtian had just raised his elbow, seemingly intending to shove Da Tou Hong, when Da Tou Hong grabbed his collar and shoved him in front of him first. He was far more muscular than Huang Youtian, especially in moments of heightened emotion.
"No way, you go first! I'll go last! If we get stuck here, we'll both die!"

Whether driven by rational thought or some vague sense of morality, Huang Youtian was taken aback by Da Tou Hong's behavior, but then continued running despite Da Tou Hong's shoving.

"May Mazu bless me, I'll go back and offer incense. May Mazu bless me, I'll go back and offer incense—"

The girl in the sour soup bak kut teh ran with her head down, staring at her toes painted with nail polish, muttering to herself; her footprints gradually turned red, and the rough ground eventually pierced through the soles of her feet.

(End of this chapter)