Chapter 9: Second Night (2)
My heart tightened and I got up quietly.
The door had been opened at some point, apparently vandalized. I cautiously peeked out of the room. Just like yesterday, everyone seemed to be sleepwalking, wandering aimlessly through the halls with vacant eyes.
The only difference is that tonight, only people from my dormitory are outside.
I glanced at the dormitory next door. Strangely, their door was intact, but I could hear a creepy scratching sound coming from inside.
I returned to the dormitory and touched my waist bag to confirm that the equipment I prepared during the day was still there. After hesitating for a moment, I decided to go check on the dormitory next door. Of course, I didn't plan to go through the main entrance.
Just as I was about to walk out, a man wandered up to me and looked at me with lifeless eyes. In an instant, all my nerves tensed up and my hand subconsciously pressed down on the dagger on my waist bag.
However, she seemed unable to sense my presence. She stopped in front of me for a short while and then turned and walked away.
I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that as long as I didn't make too much noise, these sleepwalkers wouldn't be able to sense me. This provided some convenience for me. As long as I didn't make any noise, I could take some action to a certain extent. At least my situation was not passive.
After confirming this, I calmed myself down and walked out of the room cautiously.
Just as I guessed, there were not as many people in the hall as yesterday, and no one noticed me at all. I easily reached the window of the next room. The window of the next room faced the interior, and although it had been sealed yesterday, I could still see inside.
I looked inside through the window. Mo Junfan saw me first and nudged Jiang Wang, who was next to him, with his elbow. Jiang Wang turned his head to look in my direction and shrugged at me.
They were wearing gas masks and were still awake, but the other people in the room were sitting, standing, or pacing back and forth in the room just like yesterday, apparently because the door was locked and they couldn't get out.
But why was the door of my dormitory broken open? Could it be that there are elite monsters in our dormitory?
I didn't think too much about it. The most important thing right now was how to rescue them.
I looked around and there were not many people in the corridor. Most of those people were wandering around the hall, and would only come here from time to time.
For a moment, I wanted to leave them behind and find a way to escape, but reason told me that in the current situation, even if I was alone, it would be dangerous to take any action, and the exterior of the building was still closed. No matter how hard I hid, I could only hide inside and wait for them to return to normal.
After struggling for a while, I looked inside their room. The windows were nailed shut. It was definitely impossible to destroy the windows directly, but... the door was possible. I was outside now and could destroy the keyhole from the outside without removing the door handle.
This plan also has great risks. Perhaps the noise of me opening the door will attract other people wandering in the hall, or perhaps the moment I open the door, the people inside will rush out and eat me up.
Thinking of this, I backed off again.
I closed my eyes and turned to walk towards my original room. It is currently known that this fragrance will only appear in the evening or at night, and those who smell the fragrance will fall into hallucinations and sleepwalk around. As long as I stay awake during this period and don't make any noise, I can survive for a long time, maybe until I can find a way to escape from here.
I stood at the door of the room I was originally in, constantly trying to convince myself. My fists tightened and clenched, tightened and unclenched, and finally, I gritted my teeth and turned to walk towards the door opposite.
After looking around at the surroundings again, I squatted at the door and fumbled out a pin and a metal blade from my equipment bag. Originally, the pin was prepared for my own dormitory door, but for some reason the door was damaged, so it came in handy now.
I inserted the pin into the keyhole and twisted it carefully, but it was of no use after poking for a long time. Just when I was about to give up, I suddenly heard a slight "click" from the lock core.
I tried twisting the doorknob, but it didn't open. I kept turning the wire. After a moment's thought, I inserted the blade under the door, and in an instant, it was pulled out.
? !
I was confused and walked around to the window to look inside. Fortunately... the blade was held by Jiang Wang. He waved the blade at me and pointed at the door.
I nodded in understanding, walked back to the door, and continued turning the hairpin in my hand.
It was my first time using this method to unlock the door, and I really didn't know how to do it. Fortunately, the lock core finally made another "click" sound. I pulled out the dagger from my waist bag with my backhand to prevent emergencies, and gently pushed the door open with my other hand.
As soon as the door opened, I quickly took two steps back and hid in the dark beside me.
The first person to come out was a man without a gas mask, with dull eyes, and then he wandered to the other end of the corridor.
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Wang and Mo Junfan also quickly walked out of the room.
After a brief nod to each other, we walked towards the grocery room on the second floor.
There are a lot of sundries in the grocery room, and it is very convenient to hide even if the door is not locked. After what happened yesterday, this place has become our default temporary safe house. The three of us squatted behind the shelves and exchanged the information we got after separating. I suddenly remembered a detail that I had overlooked.
"Have you noticed that among the people sleepwalking today, none of the staff members were there. There were a few yesterday, but none today." I looked up and asked them.
"Could it be because the door is locked?" Jiang Wang touched his chin and thought.
"It doesn't make sense." Mo Junfan paused at this point, and then made a gesture to silence us.
A faint sound of footsteps was heard. Unlike the footsteps in the hall downstairs, these footsteps were very light, as if the sound was deliberately suppressed, and they slowly approached the grocery room.
The three of us immediately became alert and stared at the door.
I hid in the dark and held the dagger tightly. Mo Junfan and Jiang Wang also held their breath.
"Tap-tap-tap-"
The light footsteps seemed particularly clear at this moment, along with our heartbeats.
The footsteps stopped outside the utility room for two seconds, and our hearts were in our throats.
“Click.”
With a soft click, the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open. At the same time, the three of us grabbed our weapons and prepared to attack.
A man in protective clothing and a gas mask appeared at the door.
Jiang Wang immediately chopped down the crowbar in his hand. The person in front of him dodged and a familiar voice sounded.
"What are you doing?! It's me!"
It’s An Xiaowei.
She looked at my three men, one holding a crowbar, one holding a dagger, and one holding an engineer shovel, and seemed a little at a loss.
"You guys..." An Xiaowei asked tremblingly.
We all breathed a sigh of relief and put down our weapons. Jiang Wang and Mo Junfan continued to squat behind the shelves, while I pulled her aside and asked, "Where did you go just now?"
"I followed your advice and slept with a gas mask until midnight. I heard a noise and woke up to see..." An Xiaowei paused, glanced fearfully at the door, and lowered her voice, "These people were all walking around, and their behavior was strange. I saw that you were still asleep, so I thought I'd go out and check what was going on."
"Did you break open that door?" I asked.
"How is that possible? Even if I studied boxing, I don't have such ability. When I woke up, the door was already open, and those people were walking back and forth in the hall." An Xiaowei frowned, obviously a little puzzled by the current situation.
I sighed and briefly explained to An Xiaowei the details of what happened yesterday and today.
"That is to say, the man yesterday was killed by these people..." An Xiaowei widened her eyes in disbelief.
"This is not a solution now. I think we can take this opportunity to find a way to escape." Mo Junfan suggested.
Several people nodded. Jiang Wang handed the crowbar in his hand to An Xiaowei, and took out a slightly longer machete from somewhere. We adjusted our state and prepared to find an opportunity to go out.
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