Sister Hua’s expression changed abruptly after hearing that.
Her eyes instinctively flicked toward the woman lying on the ground, but she quickly looked away and forced a lingering, uneasy smile.
“I didn’t really eat anything… and after getting scared like that, I didn’t feel like going anymore. Someone suddenly died—how could I dare go to the restroom alone?”
I looked at her without responding.
From behind, Lili tugged at my sleeve, frowned slightly, and shook her head.
Then she smiled at Sister Hua and said, “Chen Yang really notices the smallest things—even worrying about your stomach at a time like this. Alright, alright, if we’re going to worry about that, we should at least get out first, right? Let’s go.”
I understood what Lili meant.
This wasn’t the time to look for the killer.
Once we got out, none of this would have anything to do with us anymore.
These people wouldn’t cross paths with us again.
If we exposed everything now, it might just cause more trouble.
It was enough that we all had our suspicions—there was no need to say it out loud.
I couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile.
Shaking my head slightly, I gestured for everyone to stay close and took the lead toward the mall exit.
After going back and forth with Han Xue earlier, I was already familiar with the route and surroundings.
Even with so many people, it felt manageable.
But when I pushed open the stairwell door—thinking it would be empty like before—two walkers suddenly lunged out.
Caught off guard, I was instantly knocked to the ground by the one in front.
Chen Jiaojiao screamed, grabbing Zhang Ting and stumbling backward.
“Stop screaming!” After hearing so many shrieks today, my patience was gone.
Struggling, I pushed against the walker’s rotting face, her scream only making me more irritated.
Han Xue, Taozi, and the handsome guy rushed to deal with the other walker.
Meanwhile, I was pinned down, the stench from it so foul it made me gag uncontrollably.
It had been too long since I’d faced something this bloody—my tolerance for the stench had clearly dropped.
The walker was frenzied.
Even with me holding its head back, it kept snapping its jaws open and shut, teeth clacking loudly.
I glanced quickly at Sister Hua and the others, who stood frozen nearby, too afraid to step forward.
Gritting my teeth, I looked back at the walker—half its nose already missing—and shifted my hands slightly from its throat and forehead.
Then, turning my face aside, I jammed my fingers straight into its eye sockets.
A burst of disgusting fluid splashed onto my face.
Using that grip, I flung it aside, then rolled over and pinned it beneath me.
My knife had flown off somewhere during the fall.
Grabbing its head, I smashed it against the ground again and again.
“Die! Die! Die!”
Once someone loses themselves in killing, a kind of brutal savagery takes over—something even they wouldn’t recognize.
When I finally crushed its head into a pulp, the others—who had already dealt with the second walker—stood there staring at me, stunned by my blood-soaked, feral state.
I pulled my hands back, staring at the blood and brain matter coating them.
Slowly, my thoughts returned, my sanity settling back in.
After a long pause, I wiped my hands on the walker’s clothes, picked up my knife, and motioned to the others. “Let’s go down.”
No one responded, but they all followed.
As we headed toward the first floor, my mind was completely blank, stuck on the feeling of my fingers digging into the walker’s eye sockets.
I wiped my hands again, frowning deeply.
It was revolting.
The first floor had been thoroughly cleared by Gao and his team.
They stood only at the entrance, never stepping inside the mall.
When they saw us approaching, Gao gave me a strange look.
Before we even got close, he waved his hand.
Immediately, a group in white coats rushed forward, wrapping us from head to toe in something like plastic film.
Then several carts were pushed in, we were loaded onto them, and taken away.
From a distance, watching our vehicle leave, Gao frowned slightly and gave an order to the black-clad guards standing behind him, their faces cold and stern:
“Move in. Leave no one alive.”
Moments later, as the black-clad team stormed inside, the mall—just beginning to quiet down—erupted once again with panicked, desperate screams.
Not long after, bodies wrapped in white cloth were carried out one by one and loaded into vehicles, then quickly taken away.
By the time we left the mall, the sky had already begun to darken.
Only then did I realize—we had spent an entire day inside that place without even noticing.
Wrapped tightly and lying in the vehicle, I didn’t feel fear—only an overwhelming wave of exhaustion.
My thoughts blurred, and before long, I sank into a deep sleep.
In a hazy blur, it felt like I went through countless examinations and cleanups.
I was so exhausted that my awareness barely registered anything—just that someone changed my clothes, then I was placed into an extremely cold room.
Inside that room, it alternated between freezing and burning hot.
I slept there for what felt like a long time before being taken out again.
Then came a wave of sweat drenching my whole body.
The next moment, my mind snapped back from that daze.
I suddenly opened my eyes—blinding light filled my vision.
I squinted, closing my eyes for a moment to adjust, then slowly opened them again.
All I saw was white—pure white.
The sheets were white, the blanket was white, the room was white, the bed was white.
Everything was white… except for Suo Tian, dressed in black, standing against the wall with his arms crossed, lost in thought.
For a moment, I wondered if I was still dreaming.
Noticing my slight movement, Suo Tian looked over and walked toward me. “Anywhere feel uncomfortable?”
I froze for a second, staring at him blankly.
For some reason, it felt like I hadn’t seen him in ages.
My lips moved as I asked, “Where am I?”
“The 7th floor inspection area.” Sitting down by the bed, he reached out and checked my forehead, then straightened up.
“The others are in different rooms. In two more hours, it’ll be forty-eight hours. After that, we can leave… we’ll go home.”
I sniffed lightly and nodded at him. “We’ll go home.”
My clothes had all been changed into a clean white patient outfit—really just a simple knee-length gown that covered my body.
While waiting for the time to pass, I asked Suo Tian about what had happened.
That’s when I learned that after we fell asleep, we were brought here—the same building where Xiao Hu usually had his checkups.
The difference was that before, we’d only ever been to the underground fifth floor, but now we were on the seventh floor.
Suo Tian had rushed over as soon as Gao’s people informed him that night.
Yangyang and Uncle Gazi still didn’t know about what had happened to us.
When I mentioned the incident at the mall, Suo Tian’s brows seemed to furrow slightly.
Then he turned, pulled me into his arms, and pressed my head against his chest.
In a soft voice, almost absentmindedly, he asked, “Do you want to leave this place?”
I paused, then wrapped my arms around his waist, rubbing my head against him. “Wherever you are… that’s where I want to be.”
He didn’t speak for a long time.
In the end, he just let out a quiet sigh.
It wasn’t until someone came in from outside with a set of clothes, telling us we could leave, that he finally loosened his hold on me.
After changing, I went out with Suo Tian.
Lili and the others were coming out at almost the same time.
The hallway outside was also almost entirely white.
After glancing around briefly, someone approached Suo Tian and spoke a few words with him, then gestured for us to follow.
After winding through several corridors, the person led us to an elevator.
After saying goodbye to Suo Tian, he turned and left.
When we stepped out of the elevator and I saw Xiao Jie in the lobby waving and greeting me, I was a beat too slow to respond.
Outside, it was night again…
Suo Tian had driven over.
As he took us out of the compound, Han Xue suddenly thought of something and asked, “What about those people? Xiao Rong and the others?”
“Don’t know. We got separated as soon as we went in there,” Lili replied softly, holding Xuanxuan.
“By the way, Chen Yang—when we left the mall, those things you said to Sister Hua… were you probing her? Was she the one who killed that woman?” Taozi asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“I noticed something at the time but wasn’t sure, so I asked a few questions.”
“But honestly, you didn’t handle that very carefully,” Lili cut in, suddenly recalling it.
“We were about to leave. If you already had a pretty good idea who it was, you should’ve just kept quiet. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve spelled everything out. What if she panicked and lashed out? That would’ve just caused unnecessary trouble.”
“But I still don’t get it,” Taozi said.
“Why would she do that? Why kill that woman? If she thought the woman was a threat, she could’ve just refused to let her in from the start.”
Suo Tian, who hadn’t spoken, glanced at the rearview mirror and said, “She was scratched on the arm by that woman.”
“What?!” Han Xue exclaimed.
We all stared at him in disbelief.
After a moment, Lili finally asked, “How do you know?”
“I watched the surveillance footage later.”
“…”
“No wonder…” Han Xue seemed to realize something.
“No wonder Sister Hua didn’t want to sit with us afterward. No wonder she cried so hard after killing that woman herself—turns out she was crying for herself.”
“That explains those obvious, rage-filled knife wounds on the woman’s face,” Taozi said with a sigh.
— The end of the Chapter–
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