Chapter 56

Xiao Ran was just about to let out a scream when Doctor Zhao immediately covered her mouth from behind.

The scream turned into a muffled groan, suppressed in her throat.

Doctor Zhao, curious about the sudden silence of the three people who had just left, came out to check and saw this bizarre scene, nearly losing his soul in fright.

None of the four people dared to make a sound, silently watching the creature in front of them that looked like a cricket.

It moved its hind legs rapidly like an insect, constantly changing direction as if searching for something, and occasionally lifted its two bloody holes to look around.

Its neck twisted in a way that was not human, but rather like an insect, with a terrifying range of motion.

A few seconds later, the creature suddenly leaped high and jumped towards the convenience store wall.

Qi Xia quickly raised the torch to illuminate, trying to follow its movements, as losing sight of the target in this dark environment was the worst thing that could happen.

But the moment the torch was raised, even Qi Xia, with his mental fortitude, almost collapsed to the ground.

The wall illuminated by the torch was densely covered with these creatures.

At a glance, there were at least a dozen of them, moving rapidly on the wall.

When the light hit them, they seemed to sense something and crawled back into the darkness.

They looked like crickets, cockroaches, and spiders.

In short, they didn't look human at all.

Qi Xia felt all the hairs on his body slowly stand up.

On their way to the convenience store, he and Lin Ping had heard the continuous chirping of insects in the dark.

Sometimes the chirping was far away, sometimes it was close.

It turned out that none of those were insects... but these creatures.

The thought that these things were all around them on the ground and on the walls as they moved forward...

This feeling couldn't even be described as "aftermath fear."

Qi Xia broke out in a cold sweat, slowly turned around, and waved at the others.

Everyone understood his meaning and slowly retreated.

Qi Xia held the torch, tightly watching the creatures on the wall, and stepped back into the room with the three people behind him.

They didn't dare to make a single sound, moving extremely slowly.

These creatures, with their eyes seemingly gouged out, could only locate by sound, and fortunately, everyone knew the importance of survival and didn't make a sound.

After closing the door, Qi Xia found a wooden board and propped it against the door. Everyone continued to retreat, all the way to the corner of the room.

The cold, peeling wall gave them a slight sense of security.

"What... what are those things...?" Xiao Ran asked, trembling.

"They are humans..." Doctor Zhao said, then immediately shook his head, "No... human bones can't make those movements, they must be insects..."

Qi Xia took a deep breath and said, "I also heard rustling sounds last night, which means these things have been around for a while."

He turned to Lin Ping with a serious face and said, "We were really lucky, we didn't step on any of these things the whole way..."

Lin Ping nodded, still shaken.

The four people fell into silence.

Before seeing this terrifying scene, perhaps they could still sleep soundly at night.

But now, no one dared to close their eyes, only leaning against the wall and staring at the door, ready to defend against any intrusion.

The night, devoid of sleep and sound, seemed especially long.

The group stood by the wall for half the night, now with sore waists and legs.

They gradually realized a problem.

The "insects" outside the door seemed to be just insects.

They had no intention of breaking into this brightly lit place.

Qi Xia was using the rules here to explain the phenomena.

No matter how bizarre they looked, no matter how much blood was flowing from their eyes, they were just insects.

If the "insects" and the "staff" were the same, they would certainly play their roles well.

Thinking this way, the insects outside the door were not very dangerous. Even if they attacked humans, they wouldn't necessarily break down the door in a group.

With this thought, Qi Xia slowly sat down and stretched his sore limbs.

Seeing someone take the lead, the other three also sat down, but they were still tense.

"Qi Xia... what should we do?" Lin Ping asked.

"Sleep," Qi Xia said, touching his chin. "Get some rest, conserve your energy." Qi Xia found a clean board and laid it next to Lin Ping. "We'll set out in the morning to find Officer Li."

"But those things outside the door..."

"Don't worry," Qi Xia said nonchalantly. "They won't come in. As long as we don't go out, we'll be safe for now."

Lin Ping nodded like a child and lay down.

Qi Xia also went to the corner, found a clean board to cover the pot, and sat on the board, pressing down on the pot.

Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao looked at each other, then at Qi Xia and Lin Ping.

How could they sleep?

Even if they could completely ignore the insects outside, Xiao Ran still felt that Qi Xia was a dangerous person.

In the story he told, he was a fraudster who had swindled two million. How could such a person be a good person?

Would they die mysteriously again in the early morning if they slept with him?

Qi Xia paid no attention to Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao's expressions, instead leaning against the wall and closing his eyes to rest.

To him, it didn't matter if these two couldn't sleep all night.

Lin Ping, lying on the board, looked at Qi Xia in the corner, feeling a bit sorry for him, and moved over. "Qi Xia, this board is big enough, you can lie down too."

Qi Xia raised an eyelid. "No, I'm used to sleeping sitting up."

"Sitting up?" Lin Ping thought for a moment, stood up, moved the board next to Qi Xia, and lay down again. "Then sleep sitting next to me."

Qi Xia didn't refuse. Compared to Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao, Lin Ping had left a better impression on him.

Lin Ping lay on the board, looking at Qi Xia curiously. "Why are you used to sleeping sitting up?"

Qi Xia raised an eyebrow, then thought about the question seriously. "Because sitting up doesn't let me enter a 'relaxed' state, allowing my brain to stay alert."

Lin Ping nodded but seemed to think of something. "You always sleep sitting up?"

"Yes."

"For many years?"

Qi Xia found Lin Ping's question strange and turned to look at her. "Is this question important?"

Lin Ping swallowed and organized her thoughts before finally asking, "But you have a wife... even if you live together, do you sit up to sleep every night?"