lerbook Chapter 74 Got you!
Chapter 74 Got you!
Xu Zhang... didn't even dare to look back.
Ignoring the trash-strewn ground, he scrambled to his feet and stumbled forward as he continued running.
Unfortunately, the corridor was piled with far too much clutter. During the day, Xu Zhang only thought the clutter was unsightly and complained about why Hongyi had made the corridor so messy and dirty. But now, Xu Zhang suddenly understood the reason for the design—
To serve as an obstacle for him when he escapes.
Darkness not only deprives one of sight, but also distorts the sense of distance and space; even if he tries his best to be careful, he will still occasionally kick an empty can or milk bottle placed by the door, or bump into a stack of cardboard boxes. The "clinking" or "clattering" sounds are particularly jarring in the quiet corridor.
He was like a trapped beast blindly charging in the dark, his remaining strength being drained by these trivial matters. Exhaustion, pain, fear, and the unknown woman who could catch up at any moment... were tearing at his nerves on the verge of collapse, leaving him utterly drained.
But he dared not stop. He could only rely on his senses, stumbling, falling, getting up, and falling again, using all his strength to run in a disheveled state toward the stairwell he remembered.
"Huff..."
"Huff..."
Xu Zhang didn't even dare to approach his other teammates who had entered the game with him.
He wasn't sure if they would also suddenly turn into terrifying, unrecognizable beings like Xiao Fang, so he could only run towards the stairs.
He wants to leave this place, to leave this tenement building.
Xu Zhang didn't know how long he had been running or how many flights of stairs he had descended. He only knew that on the last step, he almost tumbled down, his knees and elbows scraping against the rough cement edges, adding a few more stinging abrasions to his already scarred skin.
Fortunately, he finally made it to the first floor.
He can do it by simply walking through this corridor.
"Bang!"
He slammed his hand hard on the closed metal door, producing a dull metallic echo.
What happened?!
Xu Zhang pounded hard on the unmoving iron door.
Why is this door locked?!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Xu Zhang frantically pounded on the iron gate. The gate rattled loudly, making his hands go numb, but the lock remained firmly in place.
The iron gate, which looked like it was about to collapse when I saw it during the day, has inexplicably become incredibly sturdy.
Xu Zhang even grabbed the door lock and shook it desperately, and rammed the iron door with his body and shoulder, but the iron door remained... completely unmoved.
The key... the key... that's it, the key!
Security room!
There must be a key in the security room!
Xu Zhang suddenly turned his head and looked at the security room next to him.
empty.
The windows of the security room were still covered with a thick layer of dust, but now the room was empty. The old man who used to sit by the window and like to sleep on the table was gone, and even the big dogs behind him that would immediately start barking at any strangers were gone.
Xu Zhang then realized why he had felt something was off when he knocked on the door earlier—
It's too quiet.
The barking that should have started when he first knocked on the door didn't come. Instead, there was only his heavy, frightened breathing and the lingering buzzing sound of the iron door being pounded on, echoing in the tenement building.
it's over...
Xu Zhang sat down slowly, his back to the cold, icy iron door.
His palms were red, swollen, and hot from pounding on the door, and the wounds on his knees and elbows were still throbbing, but none of this could compare to the drowning despair that was spreading from the bottom of his heart.
It seems he can't get out, he can't escape...
However, this doesn't seem to be the worst of it—
Just when Xu Zhang was filled with despair, suddenly, with a "zzzz" sound, the light bulbs in the corridor in front of him, which he thought were completely broken, suddenly lit up without warning.
The lights went out quickly, as if the brief moment of light had been an illusion.
But in that brief, fleeting moment of light and darkness, less than half a second later, a clear outline was imprinted in the afterimage on Xu Zhang's retina.
The silhouette of a woman in red.
Bright red.
Stiff.
He was standing in the passageway opposite him, which was filled with clutter, no more than ten meters away.
Xu Zhang's heart felt as if it had been gripped by an icy hand, and suddenly stopped beating.
"Sizzle—" The lights flickered again.
This time, in the residual images on his retina, Xu Zhang found her even closer; the colors on her body were so vivid, like freshly spilled blood, that they stung Xu Zhang's eyes.
"Sizzle—"
"Sizzle—"
With each flash of the light, the red figure would suddenly and instantly move much closer. Xu Zhang even inappropriately felt that the flashing light was a conveyor belt, repeatedly cleaving through the darkness and transporting the red figure little by little to him.
The lights flashed faster and faster, each time precisely "freezing" her increasingly close figure.
Xu Zhang could only desperately curl his body backward, pressing his back against the cold iron door, wishing he could melt into the door panel.
Damn it! Damn it!
Xu Zhang cursed the woman in red in his heart: the official content of the game was clearly such a terrifying game, yet the woman in red made the promotional video so heartwarming—
Wait, the game!
Oh, right! This is a game!
Xu Zhang's eyes suddenly lit up.
This is just a game! This is just a game!
Xu Zhang didn't want to admit that the game immersion was done well by the woman in red, and just thought that he was too panicked to remember, so he hurriedly pulled up the game panel.
He didn't even have time to think about how others would react or what they would think when they found out he was no longer in the game the next day (the second day in the game). All he cared about was getting rid of that terrifying figure that was still approaching.
Thanks to the red-clothed man's extremely simple game panel, so simple that the entire panel only had one "Exit Game" button, he could find it at a glance.
He pressed the "Exit Game" button hard.
All of this can finally come to an end—
"Sizzle—"
The lights came on again.
Xu Zhang discovered that what appeared in front of him was not the game interface after exiting the game, but a red figure that had moved closer.
His hand was still in the position of pressing the button, but... nothing happened.
He did not quit the game.
"How could this happen?!"
Xu Zhang frantically clicked the "Exit Game" button, but the button was as if it were dead, unresponsive.
"Sizzle—"
"Sizzle—"
Just as Xu Zhang was struggling with the game panel and desperately trying to quit, the lights flashed twice more. When the lights came on again, he felt a cold, inhuman aura wash over him.
Xu Zhang, who finally looked up from the game panel, saw a bright red skirt in front of him.
He slowly raised his head in fear.
In the last moment before darkness fell, he saw that pale face give him a meaningful smile.
She said, "Oh, I caught you!"