Chapter 47
Under the bright light of a bulb, a girl with black-framed glasses knelt on the ground. Her fair neck was tightly gripped by a pair of hands, blocking the flow of blood and making her neck and face turn red like a congestion.
The girl's hand tightly grasped the hand strangling her neck, trying to pry it apart. But she lacked the strength, and gradually, her head began to feel congested. Her whole body felt empty, and her hand gradually lost its struggle.
Her consciousness was forcibly pulled away from her mind, and she sensed death approaching her. Even her breath slowed down.
In a daze, she seemed to see a long-lost relative smiling at her. But in an instant, the relative disappeared, and in front of her was a terrifying face.
Those hands tossed her aside like garbage.
"Ahem, ahem~"
"Ahem, ahem~"
The girl, who had been thrown aside, couldn't help but cough repeatedly, as the scratched and painful neck made her breathe. There was a faint smell of blood in her mouth.
Watching the man approach her, she instinctively tried to escape, but she was a step too late. The man kicked her stomach hard, and instantly her stomach seemed to churn.
The intense pain made her unable to stop herself from making a sound. She tightly clutched her stomach, biting down hard on her lips to prevent the sound from continuing.
Looking up at the familiar face above, all that remained was fear.
But for the man, this fear seemed insufficient. He reached out and grabbed the girl's hair, pulling it and lifting her up.
Feeling the tearing pain in her head, the girl had no choice but to rise up herself, tears filling her eyes as she looked at the person in front of her. The tears covered up the face of the person, allowing her to temporarily escape the image that was like a demon to her.
But the pain in her head reminded her that the demon existed right in front of her.
Because of the pulling of her hair, her face appeared tense and even slightly distorted.
"Tell me, why did we fail?"
The man questioned the person whose hair he was holding, his voice trembled and showed signs of anger.
"I don't know, I really don't know," the girl said, her voice hoarse. She felt that the man seemed to be increasing the strength in his hand due to her words, causing her head to be pulled tighter by the hair.
She reached out her hand, trying to grab the man's hand, but each attempt ended in failure, resulting in her being slapped again. Before long, her face was already turning red, and she gradually gave up resisting.
"Are you lying to me, is Lu Jia still alive or not?" said the man, and when he mentioned the name Lu Jia, he seemed much more excited, like he had taken some medicine.
"No, she's dead."
But the words of the person in front of him made his face once again become terrifying, he didn't mind adding more strength to the person's hair in front of him, or giving a punch to the girl's stomach.
The pain in her stomach and on her head made the girl's face turn pale, and the slap mark on her face became more visible because of the change in her complexion.
The blood on the corners of her mouth appeared even brighter.
"I'll ask you again, Lu Jia, is she dead or alive? If you don't tell the truth, don't blame me for using a knife on her."
The man's words carried a strong threat, but the girl, in an unusual state of excitement, listened and said, "I haven't found her! It's so dangerous, she must be dead. Wake up, these things are monsters, they eat people."
"Smack~"
Just as her voice fell, a crisp slap echoed on her face. This time, it was even harder than before, because the girl felt her teeth loosen and a stronger smell of blood.
But she seemed to have gained freedom from it. The man directly grabbed her hair and swung it, causing her to fall to the ground. Then her whole body started to ache, as if her entire body was breaking into pieces.
"I don't believe it, I don't believe she's dead. She's so special, how could she easily die? I don't care, even if she's really dead, I still want her body."
Looking at the man who had already gone crazy, the girl had no way to change the situation. This person and the person in her memory were not the same person at all.
While she was thinking this way, the man suddenly knelt down on the ground, grabbed her hair again, and the distance between them was so close that the girl could easily see every red blood vessel in the man's eyes.
"Listen to me, I may not care, but you lost the thing I gave to you, because they are not important, but Lu Jia, I must have her. Even if she's just a head, you must find her for me, otherwise ... I won't let her go, and you probably don't want me to use her as a sacrifice."
"You...you are insane," this was the girl's only evaluation of the man.
But upon hearing this evaluation, the man burst into loud laughter. He seemed very satisfied with this description and laughed with a ferocious yet triumphant demeanor.
"You don't understand, you don't understand."
He looked at the girl, then suddenly pulled her hair backward and swung it. With a loud "thud," the girl felt as if her whole body was floating, her ears filled with buzzing sounds, and the pain at the back of her head seemed less vivid.
Looking at the girl still alive, the man stood up.
He looked down at the person lying on the ground and said, "When one makes a mistake, they must be punished. They can't come back, so you don't need to go back today. Stay here and behave. We'll look for them again tomorrow. Remember, search well, or I won't be as nice as I am today."
After finishing speaking, the man ignored the girl. He walked to a white wall, took out a small remote control from his pants, pressed a button, and a door appeared on the white wall and opened.
As the door closed, the man disappeared inside the room.
Lying on the ground like this, the girl didn't want to move at all.
Swallowing the blood brought a faint salty taste. Even the simple act of swallowing was painful. It seemed that there was no intact part of her body. She didn't know how long she could survive like this. She even longed for death, thinking it might be better than the present situation.
However, there was someone she couldn't let go of. Thinking of the person who still needed her care, she couldn't completely give up on herself. If this was really a nightmare, then she should be the one to end it.
Looking up at the completely empty white solitary confinement room, except for herself, the girl couldn't help but laugh. However, her laughter was accompanied by pain, and tears flowed down again.
The scene in front of her became blurry again, and this time, she gradually couldn't see anything and lost consciousness.
******
The next morning, Lu Jia woke up feeling hot. She had a heavy head and was a little irritable because of the heat. As she looked at the wooden boards in front of her, Lu Jia instinctively rubbed her temples, feeling a dull pain.
This was the first time she had woken up feeling hot. In the past, she would always wake up snuggling with Su Mo, and it was impossible for her to feel hot. As she realized this, she instinctively reached out to her side, but found nothing.
At first, she didn't pay much attention to it and reached further, until her hand touched the stiff wall. Only then did she realize that something was strange.
When she turned her head to look beside her, there was no one there, only the empty sheets. It was only at this moment that she realized there was no one else in bed except for her.
Thinking about the person who should have been in bed, thinking about Su Mo's situation, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe she had left. With these thoughts, Lu Jia's heart naturally became nervous.
She sat up suddenly, but the movement was too strong, causing the earphone that was originally in her ears to be pulled off, slightly hurting Lu Jia's ear.
Looking at the earphone pulled out of her ear, she reached out to touch the other one that was still there. She remembered that yesterday they each had one earphone.
The Mp3 player she held in her hand had run out of battery after being used all night yesterday.
Thinking about Su Mo's disappearance, Lu Jia couldn't focus on anything else. She dropped what she was holding and quickly opened the mosquito net, stepping off the bed in a panic. "Su Mo," she called out.
Looking at the empty dormitory, her worries grew even stronger. She had never imagined that Su Mo would leave on her own, so if Su Mo disappeared, her instinctive reaction was that something bad had happened to Su Mo.
Until she looked through the balcony door and saw a figure sitting by the door.
Hastily rushing over, she tried to open the door. But someone outside was holding it shut, so she couldn't push the door open from the inside.
"Su Mo～"
Knocking on the door, she kept calling Su Mo's name, her tone filled with anxiety. She could feel that the person outside was Su Mo, but what worried her more was why Su Mo was sitting by the door and not responding to her calls.
Finally, after her calls, the person leaning against the door finally stirred.
Su Mo, who had been bowing her head with closed eyes, faintly heard Lu Jia's voice. This sparked a reaction in her previously empty mind and gave her the ability to return to reality.
Slowly lifting her head, the sun, already rising halfway into the sky, radiated its charm freely. The sunlight pierced her eyes, but her gray pupils showed no response.
After the events of last night, Su Mo felt tired and in pain.
When she reached the fourth floor successfully, she couldn't think anymore. She only remembered that she sensed that those people were targeting Lu Jia. In her limited thoughts, the only choice she could make was to completely eliminate the threat, so she got rid of those things until they no longer emitted any dangerous vibes.
But even after dealing with those, she still worried about the person she had been communicating with. She was afraid that those things would reappear, so she could only rely on her limited thinking and choose to keep watch at the door.
