Picked up a little kid
Chapter 1: Picked up a little kid
Autumn arrived quickly in Wu City, and the weather turned cold after a few rainy days. Late at night, Liang Qing got off the last subway, slung the bag containing his training clothes over his shoulder, and whistled as he walked towards home.
Her parents were away traveling for a week, leaving her home alone. Graduation season was a stressful time, and Liang Qing spent most of her time at the dojo preparing for the National Karate Championship finals in October.
Aisi Apartments is a stand-alone building, just a short walk from the subway through the alley. Usually, there are four or five barbecue stalls and convenience stores in the alley, but today, for some reason, they're all closed, leaving the alley desolate and dark. Liang Qing pulled out his phone and checked: it was five minutes to midnight.
A cool autumn breeze seeped into his collar, stirring up the still-wet sweat stains and sending goosebumps flying. Suddenly, the screen of his phone started snowing. Liang Qing frowned slightly and shook the phone. Three seconds later, the screen suddenly went dark, and the phone automatically rebooted.
At the same time, she keenly detected the sound of extremely light footsteps behind her. She immediately turned around, but in the dim darkness, she could not catch a glimpse of anything.
Liang Qing clutched his phone tightly and quickened his pace towards home. After entering the gate of the residential complex, he went straight to the elevator room at the bottom of the building. The sensor light was not on, and the elevator room was extremely dark. Liang Qing was about to open the elevator when he found that both elevators had a tattered note posted on them.
Please do not use the elevator under any circumstances!
In the dim moonlight outside, Liang Qing carefully read the words on the paper. The words were written in red pen, their shape twisted and crooked. There was no signature or date from the community management at the bottom. At first glance, it looked like a prank. She reached out and touched the seal, and her fingertips felt a layer of dust.
The uneasy feeling in his heart was magnified. After thinking for a few seconds, Liang Qing pushed open the door of the stairwell.
The sound of the spring door creaking in the darkness ripped at her nerves, making the surroundings even quieter. Liang Qing climbed up lightly and swiftly. Her home was on the fifth floor, and if nothing went wrong, she would be home in three minutes.
After reaching the third floor, Liang Qing suddenly stopped. At the same time, the sounds of other footsteps, almost synchronized with hers, became clearer. It wasn't an illusion; there were indeed sounds following her footsteps, but they didn't come from downstairs, but from above Liang Qing's head.
The luminous floor number emitted a faint light. Liang Qing looked up and saw the handrails of the stairs intertwined like a spider web above. The distant and messy footsteps were sometimes so faint that they seemed to be non-existent. Liang Qing initially judged that the sound was at least ten floors away from her.
Hasty and urgent.
However, Aisi Apartment only has 8 floors in total.
Liang Qing stopped, neither climbing up nor descending. She looked up at a certain direction in the darkness, holding her breath.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe ten seconds, maybe a few minutes, when a distant female voice suddenly came from the darkness. The man screamed, and the voice was short like a fish emerging from the water.
A second later, a black mass fell from the gap in the stair railing.
Liang Qing had excellent night vision, and she instinctively reached out to catch the object. A soft bundle landed steadily in her arms.
At the same time, the woman's scream disappeared, but it triggered another chain reaction. In the darkness, something was awakened, and from above Liang Qing's head came a continuous stream of low moans. Those sounds made Liang Qing's back chilled.
They are not of human origin.
Muffled roars, gasps, and footsteps descended from overhead. Those things were moving.
Liang Qing made a decision almost immediately. Instead of running down, she quickly ran up. After pushing open the door at the fifth floor staircase, she pushed against the door in one go and kicked the floor lock shut.
The silence around her was quickly broken by the things behind her. As she expected, the things in the stairwell quickly chased down to the 5th floor. Through the door, her heart finally began to beat wildly.
The beast's footsteps were heavy, and its sharp front claws dug into the tiles, making a harsh sound. Liang Qing held his breath and slowly moved away from the door when he sensed something approaching.
One step, two steps, three steps... There were four households on each staircase, and hers was the closest. The stairwell fell silent. Liang Qing slowly took out her key and gently opened the door.
At the last second, the old door made a "click" sound as it locked, and Liang Qing entered the house. At the same time, this faint sound also allowed the things in the stairwell to confirm the whereabouts of humans.
"Bang!" After a heart-pounding loud noise, those things began to hit the door at the stairs.
Listening to the noise, Liang Qing was certain there was more than one person. She quickly scanned the room and moved the newly purchased, unopened single massage sofa from the restaurant to the door, holding it firmly.
There were loud noises one after another. It was obvious that those things thought there was someone on this floor, and they attacked the stair door with the determination not to give up until they achieved their goal.
Liang Qing quickly pulled all the curtains in the house, found a kitchen knife, held it in his hand, and sat in the dining room waiting.
Time passed minute by minute, and the wooden door finally made a sound of breaking apart. Liang Qing frowned and stood up straight.
The door was pushed open, but it became quiet outside.
Liang Qing pricked up his ears and listened, but he could hear nothing.
She gently pried open the peephole and peeked out—the door of Room 501 was slightly ajar, letting in a ray of light from inside. It stayed that way for a few seconds, and then, noticing the silence outside, the other person poked his head out shakily.
It was a strange man, not the grandma who lived alone in 501.
Behind the man, another person urged: "Let's go? Is it safe?"
The man leading the charge nodded hesitantly, lowering the baseball bat in his hand. He reached out to touch the elevator button a meter away.
Liang Qing's heart suddenly rose to her throat - she saw clearly that in the man's blind spot, a huge black shadow slowly emerged.
That silent, dormant state was filled with a primitive, terrifying sense of aggression. Judging from its size, it was some kind of beast much larger than a tiger.
Liang Qing had no way to warn the man. She breathed heavily and stared outside.
The elevator door opened, and the white light from inside leaked out. The man in the lead happily called out to his accomplice behind him: "The elevator is working! Hurry!"
He rushed in without thinking.
Deafening sounds pierced through from all directions, and Liang Qing felt his scalp tingling—"Player No. 1760 violated the rules by using system items, triggering a system purge!"
Facing the peephole, Liang Qing watched helplessly as the bewildered man, holding a baseball bat, was rapidly blasted apart in the glare. His nearly 1.8-meter-tall body evaporated into a bloody mist, leaving no trace of flesh or bones. Only his clothes and pants fell limply from mid-air, landing on the dirty floor.
The elevator door was open, and the bloody scene before them spurred the beasts. One of them leaped out, greedily licking the blood on the floor and walls.
It was at this moment that Liang Qing saw the creature's appearance clearly. It was beyond all her nightmares: a massive body, muddy and dirty black fur matted with broken bones and blood, a hard back with sharp limbs and a long, wide tail that hung straight down.
This is a giant wolf.
The scene before them obviously scared the baseball bat man's companion, and the man who was following him and was about to come out quickly turned around and tried to close the door.
However, it was too late.
Behind the first giant wolf, a second one jumped out, stretched out its claws, and pounced on the man without any hesitation.
The initial shrill cries soon faded away. Liang Qing closed his eyes, trying his best to block out the chilling gnawing sounds and the thick smell of blood in the air.
She retreated to the sofa in a daze, fell down heavily, and tried hard to wake herself up from this nightmare.
The package in his arms moved at this moment. Liang Qing lowered his head and saw that it was a swaddling cloth made of blue plaid.
A white, tender and chubby little hand stretched out from the depths of the cradle.
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