V1C18

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——So fast!

The red-eyed monster crawling on the ceiling leapt at him with chilling speed.

Lin Jue’s mind blanked.

Die; he was going to die.

The shadow on his eyes was like the reaper’s black cloak, about to cover him.

His mind had already given up but his body still moved.

He crouched, the wooden pole in his hands striking upwards in one desperate thrust—— under such heavy force, it almost slipped out of his hands. A shrill shriek sounded as blood splattered onto Lin Jue’s face.

In that moment of life and death, the urge to kill overwhelmed Lin Jue’s mind as it gave up on thinking and gave up on fear, leaving behind only the instinct to attack. Lin Jue roared, gathering all of his strength into his hands as he forced the monster against the wall.

It screamed as the nails found their way deep inside its body, rows after rows of teeth lined up in its mouth, stinking mucus dripping off its thick tongue. It struggled, its mutated claws grabbing onto the wood, so powerful that Lin Jue was almost flung aside.

As they fought, a little reason returned to Lin Jue’s brain. He knew that it was impossible to fight using raw power against such a monster, so he had to finish the fight fast!

Making up his mind, Lin Jue resolutely gave up on the wooden pole stuck in the monster’s body, ducked, and rolled. The monster growled and lunged at him, landing on empty air where he had dodged from. The wooden pole pierced into its body jammed between the tables and as it struggled, it dragged the tables with it, making a harsh scraping sound.

The cold wind from the creature’s leap whipped across Lin Jue’s back. He hadn’t even been half a meter from death.

Lin Jue took up a nearby chair and smashed it onto the monster like lightning following thunder—— with a bang, it let out a shriek, blood splattering everywhere.

The creature’s dirty blood dripped down from Lin Jue’s forehead, cold and pungent. The eyes meeting its were filled with heart-pounding hatred and murderous intent.

The monster struggled, roaring, shaking tables and chairs, the wooden stick jamming it between them almost breaking in half.

Expressionlessly, Lin Jue raised the chair, then brought it down once——

Twice, three times, four times…

It was only when the monster could no longer make a single sound, when the thud of impact had turned from hard bones to a pile of meat, that Lin Jue threw away the chair and wiped the blood off of his face.

The smell of rot was revolting. Lin Jue looked coldly at the now unrecognizable monster and silently tore out his polearm.

His hands were shaking, the numbness of overexertion spreading across his body, and he slowly sat down by the wall.

He knew that he should leave, that the sound of battle would have only drawn more monsters in, but his body refused to listen.

With a bang, something threw itself against the classroom door.

Like a fierce hold had grabbed onto his heart, suddenly Lin Jue couldn’t breathe. The impact was like a reaper’s knock.

Lin Jue looked towards the other door that was his only escape route. It was too far away. Littered between him and the door were pushed over chairs and desks from the previous battle, giving him no time to cross.

The second impact sounded. Lin Jue looked towards the windows, each of them tightly shut. There would be no time to open them either.

The third sound of impact was accompanied by the splintering of the wooden door. Lin Jue could already see the monster that had leapt in.

Every inch of its body was covered in rotten flesh and bulging veins, the limit of alien distortion, a hateful look.

He held his breath, holding tightly onto the wooden scraps that had fallen off the tables just then.

The monster hung itself off the wall, its perked ears shaking, bulging red eyes unfocused, but even after all this time, it still hadn’t directed them towards Lin Jue.

So… only hearing.

His frantic heartbeat had almost finished all the remaining oxygen in his lungs, but the monster was showing no sign of leaving.

Lin Jue eyed the possible escape routes. The intact door and the windows were too far away and he had too little time. The best route to escape was through the door in which the monster came in through, but…

The monster’s empty eyes turned around before meeting up suspiciously with Lin Jue’s.

Lin Jue felt his heart speed up. Was holding his breath not enough? Or was it…

His heartbeat.

Suddenly, Lin Jue realized that this monster’s hearing was so sharp that it could even hear his heart beating!

The monster crouched back, entering an attacking stance. With no time left to think, Lin Jue threw the piece of wood in his hand towards the window. With the sound, the monster immediately turned and ran towards the window, breaking it in the process.

Taking his chances, Lin Jue stood up and with his pole, ran towards the door the monster had come through. After crossing another classroom, a common room, and a bathroom, he finally felt like he had gotten rid of it and leant against a wall, panting.

Four more.

He didn’t know how to leave this maze. Maybe he had to make ‘Zhou Yuxiu’ die again.

Lin Jue covered his eyes, debilitating exhaustion swallowing him up.

Those negative feelings surged up more than ever when he was alone.

He had to think of a way to get rid of those monsters and find Zhou Yuxiu, otherwise this maze would become his burial place.

Calm down, Lin Jue told himself. Those monsters weren’t without weaknesses. Even just then he had proved that he could lie to them using other sounds.

He had to think carefully about his next step, utilizing everything that could be used in this building—— such as the broadcasting devices present in every classroom.

***

The nails on the end of the wooden pole were dripping with blood, the static of the broadcast surrounding his ears, blasting out a section of English listening test, the overly exaggerated conversation between a man and a woman echoing in the stinking classroom.

Lin Jue dragged over a chair and sat down slowly, coldy scrutinizing the dead body not far away.

Last one; that was the last one.

All that remained now was the ‘Zhou Yuxiu’.

A heavy tiredness seeped out from under his skin. Just how long would this endless darkness continue? How long would this senseless slaughter continue?

Lin Jue wiped the blood stains off his face, knowing without looking how bad he looked, like a demon crawling out of hell. Luckily, there was no need for him to use the antibody in his pocket just yet.

Before carrying out his plan, Lin Jue had prepared himself to have to open at least a hundred doors to find the main broadcast room in this building, but surprisingly, his luck was overwhelmingly good and he was able to arrive in the broadcast room in less than ten tries.

And to think that he was carrying his phone the entire time, ready to press the play button on the music app and toss it away the moment he ran into a monster. As long as there were distracting noises, Lin Jue was sure that the weak sound of his heartbeat would be covered.

Luckily, he was able to find the broadcast room fairly quickly and immediately opened all the broadcasting devices in the entire building. In the noise, the monsters’ hearing was significantly crippled, allowing Lin Jue to kill them who were unable to see or smell. The process was nothing short of painful as the zombies were simply too powerful.

Lin Jue rubbed his sore arms and after feeling that he had recovered some strength, took up arms again and softly twisted open the door handle.

Beyond the door was the rooftop.

The blood-red moon gently casted down its cold light.

The light lit up the empty roof, and the strange yet familiar figure at its edge. Clad in her human skin, Zhou Yuxiu held onto a gun in each of her hands and smiled coldly at him.

The gaping entrances of both guns faced Lin Jue, like two venomous snakes ready to lunge at him at any moment and inject the poison-like maliciousness and open hatred of their owner into his veins.

Lin Jue froze. No matter how fast he was, it was nothing compared to a gun.

“See, as long as I press down the trigger, you’ll die. It’s easy.” Zhou Yuxiu smiled eerily.

Seeing that Lin Jue didn’t answer, she continued talking to herself. “But what use would that be? You’ll die sooner or later, and such a boring death wouldn’t quench my hatred and anger.”

“Why didn’t you save me? Lin Jue, Song Hanzhang, why did you not save me? Even though you could have stopped everything, you watched as I turned into a monster. If the nightmare had landed on you but you were abandoned and killed, you would be in more despair than me!” Zhou Yuxiu became more and more worked up. With her back to the moon, her entire face was covered in shadow, only her eyes showing, burning with hatred.

She laughed eerily, waves of hatred turning into a soft accusation. “Did you know? I was conscious in those final moments. The sound of the can hitting the shelf, the low roar of the zombies as they approached me, I heard everything and saw everything, but I couldn’t move anymore. I screamed a hundred times, a thousand times, that I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to be eaten, but I could only watch as those demons ripped apart my body, took out my insides, and feasted on every piece of my flesh. I was eaten alive… It was so painful, so covered in despair… and I could only watch unwillingly as you, the murderer, ran away!”

Zhou Yuxiu’s eyes grew wider and wider, her voice growing shriller until she finally reached a scream. “Why?! Why is it that you murderers can live but I have to become such a monster? Look at me, you look at me——!”

WIth her left hand, she ripped open her thin shirt, revealing an empty shell. From below her collarbones to her lower abdomen, her body was ripped up like a doll, her open chest and stomach almost completely empty with only a few remaining scraps of organs and broken, white ribs. Her hollow body created a stark contrast with her intact face, making the unseen gore even sharper.

She started giggling, but as she laughed, tears began falling down from her face.

Did he feel sympathy? Guilt? Regret? Lin Jue questioned himself.

Even though he couldn’t answer, he still owed her an apology.

“I’m sorry,” Lin Jue looked at her empty abdomen and said quietly.

“If you really feel sorry….” Zhou Yuxiu tossed the gun in her left hand to him. “Let us… play a game.”

“Have you heard of the Russain Roulette? There are six chambers in this revolver and only one bullet. You can choose to fire it at me, but everytime you miss, you’ll lose an organ. You’ll feel the pain, but you won’t die immediately. At the same time, I will also use a revolver with only one bullet, and every time I miss, you’ll live for another round. To pay slowly for your sins, or to kill me a second time, I’ll let fate choose for you. Maybe, as you slowly lose hope, you’ll feel even just a little bit of the despair I felt before,” Zhou Yuxiu said and took out a third gun from behind her. “Of course, if you make any other moves, I wouldn’t mind using this full gun and finishing your dirty little life. There is no hammer on this gun.”

Zhou Yuxiu cocked her head to one side and revealed an innocent, cruel smile. “Let’s make a bet, Lin Jue. Let me see just how good your luck will be this time.”

***

Luci: happy valentines and chinese new year everyone.

Vera: Happy New Year’s everyone!!! It’s the start of many new things: new workloads, new quarantines, new documents… We’ve reached our third google docs translating this book now!

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