Chapter 5 : Escape

　　The monster Yumeng approached and dropped the severed hand. She bent down and picked up a rusty kitchen knife from the floor, slowly getting closer to Wu Jing.

　　It was only at this moment that I understood what she wanted to do. She intended to cut off a part of Wu Jing's body and use the blood from her own body to draw something!

　　"Kill me... please, kill me!" I heard Wu Jing's voice, hoarse to the extreme. Her final words came out in a muffled manner.

　　Just as the monster was about to strike, she paused midway. After a brief pause, she threw the knife on the ground. It turned out she remembered the blood basin!

　　She crouched down, holding the basin with one hand, and walked back!

　　The sound of footsteps echoed in the small room, mixing with Wu Jing's weak cries, reaching my ears.

　　"Ah...!"

　　It was only at this moment that I screamed.

　　I cried, struggled, and wailed while attempting to free myself.

　　"Ah...!"

　　"Ah...!"

　　My hands were tied behind me with a rope fastened to the radiator. The rope was tightly constricting, and I now realized that my hands had gone numb from being immobile for so long. As I struggled, the rope loosened slightly.

　　Gradually, the numbness in my hands subsided, but I didn't even notice. There was only one thought in my mind: "Escape!"

　　I screamed, struggled, and cried. My wrists were in pain from the tightness of the rope, but I didn't care anymore. Even if my hands were severed, I had to escape!!!

　　What made me even more desperate was that the rope was incredibly sturdy. I struggled, feeling the rope cutting into my skin, causing an excruciating pain. Yet, the rope remained intact.

　　What was even more terrifying was that the monster, who had turned her back earlier, suddenly stopped and slowly turned around. Yumeng's severed head stared straight at me.

　　The monster dropped the blood basin and slowly moved closer, step by step, towards me!!!

　　Blood basin fell to the ground with a loud clang, and blood spilled outside the basin on both sides.

　　The sound of footsteps resounded again, and this time I could see clearly that she was walking straight towards me!!

　　I let out a desperate cry, not even realizing how desperate and miserable my voice sounded, like the sound of a tortured and mangled cat.

　　"Xia Ning...!" The monster called out my name as she walked towards me, her head tilted to one side!!!

　　"Xia Ning...!"

　　I struggled fiercely and fell to the ground. I used all my strength to kick against the radiator pressed against the wall.

　　"Xia Ning..."

　　I didn't even know what had happened to my hand. Immense fear filled every nerve in my body.

　　"Xia Ning...run!"

　　Yumeng stepped into the moonlight, bending down to pick up that rusty kitchen knife!!!

　　"Xia Ning...run!"

　　Just then, there was a clatter from the radiator. I suddenly felt my hand loosen. The rope that seemed unbreakable finally snapped under my intense struggle.

　　At that moment, she also raised the rusty kitchen knife and walked towards me. She was less than three steps away from me!

　　I didn't care about anything else. I crawled backwards a few times and then turned around, using my palms to push myself up. I saw that the rope had cut into my wrist, with blood flowing out like a mountain spring. I could even see the bones in my hand, but I couldn't worry too much. I felt that if I were a fraction slower, that rusty kitchen knife would surely plunge into my body.

　　As I rushed out, I even sensed the whooshing sound of the knife behind my head. It was a hair's breadth away from meeting my demise!

　　Filled with fear, I ran out of the room. Along the way, I lost all sense of direction and only knew that after leaving the room, there was a dimly lit corridor, dirty and chaotic, with a half-open iron door at the end.

　　Arriving in front of the iron door, I looked back and saw a slender figure behind me, carrying her own severed head, slowly moving forward.

　　I covered my mouth with my bloodied and trembling hand, preventing any sound from escaping. I turned and stepped into the half-opened door. It led to a small room with stairs going upwards on one side, and directly in front of me was a wooden door.

　　My intuition told me that pushing open that door would lead me to the outside, but I still turned back and closed the iron door. I found a broken table in the room and moved it in front of the iron door to block it.

　　The iron door was slightly deformed, with a gap that couldn't be fully closed. Through that gap, I saw the slender figure carrying a severed head and a kitchen knife slowly approaching.

　　Nervously, I looked around, hoping to find something else to block the door. Finally, I noticed an iron rod near the opposite door. I rushed over, grabbed the iron rod, and ran back. I wedged the iron rod against the door, and I finally felt a sense of relief.

　　Leaning against the table, I anxiously listened for any sounds from inside the room, but I heard nothing. I got up and looked through the gap. Just then, the iron door made a loud clang, and I was so scared that I fell to the ground, my heart skipping a beat as I stared at the iron door.

　　A small hole appeared on the iron door, revealing the rusty tip of a knife.

　　"Xia Ning...!" Yumeng's icy voice came through, as if whispering in my ear, sending chills down to the core of my being.

　　"Xia Ning..."

　　"Don't call my name anymore!" I cried out, even though I knew she couldn't come over. But my body couldn't stop trembling, and the pain in my hands cast another layer of shadow over my heart.

　　"I know we've so sorry about you, we shouldn't leave you alone ！ but do you have to torment us like this?" My throat burned as I shouted.

　　"Xia Ning...don't...go...out!"

　　I hesitated for a moment, don't go outside. What does it mean? Am I supposed to wait here and die? But right after that, I heard the fading sound of footsteps, gradually walking away. Did she leave?

　　After listening for a while, I wiped away my tears and mustered the strength to stand up. Trembling, I looked through the crack, only to see that horrifying figure slowly walking back!

　　I knew I was safe, but the thought of the two living people inside the house made me slowly collapse to the ground. The pain I felt was indescribable. Zhang Yang was likely torn apart by that monster because of me, just like Wu Jing. I sat on the ground, trembling all over, crying helplessly.

　　Suddenly, the wooden door cracked open a little, and the sound of footsteps came in. It wasn't just one person; it could be something else!

　　I quickly got up and looked around. I spotted a dilapidated cabinet standing against the wall and without thinking twice, I crawled into it.

　　The footsteps grew closer, and I could hear voices near the door.

　　"This is it!" a male voice, around eighteen or nineteen years old.

　　"Oh, come on! We didn't see anything all the way here. Even the prosthetic limb at the entrance looks real. Is that enough to scare Xia Ning into the hospital??" another male voice of the same age.

　　Upon hearing these words, I finally realized that I was in a haunted house. This was the two-story building in the courtyard scene.

　　"Women, huh? More hair than brains. I bet she wet her pants from fear back then, hahaha!" another male voice chimed in.

　　His words sparked laughter among the three of them!

　　Laughing, they pushed open the wooden door and walked in.

　　I continued to watch from the crack in the tattered door.

　　As it turned out, they were my male classmates, the first was Wu Tian, the second was Guo Qiang, and the third was Yuan De. The three of them were essentially the troublemakers in class, those who slept through their studies, and always hung out together, referring to each other as brothers.. Although they weren't your ideal students, they weren't that bad—they've never been known to bully anyone.

　　Upon entering, they looked around with curiosity, like cats on a prowl.

　　Creak…! The wooden door slowly closed, and I had an odd feeling about the door.

　　How could it close on its own without any force applied? Plus, this haunted house had been abandoned for years, logically, its doors should be hard to move!

　　But the three guys' antics didn't allow me to think further —because they were trying to pry open the metal door!

　　"You…shouldn't be here!" My voice, weak and hoarse, crawled out as I slowly pushed open the battered wooden closet door.

　　My sudden appearance startled the trio who were engrossed looking at the iron door. They all swung their heads toward me in unison.

　　"Aah…!"

　　"Aah…!"

　　"Aah…A Ghost!!!"

　　Without so much as a second glance, all three scrambled out of the door in a hysterical frenzy.