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墨書 Inktalez
The corridor was enveloped in an eerie silence, punctuated only by the struggle of two lives teetering on the brink of death. Ziya was captivated by the flickering sound of the overhead lights. She turned her head to see a series of yellowish halos emerging from the flickering light, within which were the figures of Anqing and Liu Haoming.
"Are you okay? What are you doing?" Zhiqing exclaimed as he noticed Ziya's vacant expression and strange demeanor. He stepped out from the hidden shadows, quickly moving closer to cover her mouth with his hand, lowering his voice to whisper urgently in her ear.
The moment Ziya felt his hand over her mouth, she jolted awake. The scent of tobacco lingered on Zhiqing's fingers, and she nodded frantically to indicate that she understood.
Their heavy breathing and racing hearts plunged them into an endless atmosphere of fear. They could hear each other swallowing nervously, the sound of saliva produced by their anxiety echoing in the stillness.
Zhiqing gently released his embrace from Ziya's trembling body, raising a finger to his lips while his eyes filled with concern as he looked at her.
Ziya understood his worry and met his meaningful gaze with a determined nod. From their exploration, it became clear that this floor was circular in design, reminiscent of the honeycomb structure seen at the Beijing Olympics.
Based on Zhiqing's analysis, it was evident that this building was trapped underground. There were several possibilities for how this situation arose. The first possibility was that an earthquake a year ago caused the entire structure to collapse. The second reason could be that this building was originally a basement.
Huddled together in a dark corner, Zhiqing shared his analysis with Ziya. She accepted his reasoning without question but furrowed her brow in confusion as she looked up at him, her eyes filled with questions: How do we explain the swimming pool? What about all those dead people? How did we end up here?
Seeing the questions etched on her face, Zhiqing realized she was asking about the swimming pool and all the events that had transpired here. He recalled how he and Ziya had entered that temporary passageway, flanked by steel scaffolding and topped with a makeshift awning. The building towered twenty-eight stories high, blocking nearly all light from both sides. As soon as they stepped inside, Zhiqing sensed something was terribly wrong.
Just as he thought to turn back, a sudden dizziness struck him, followed by a sharp pain in his head. Before losing consciousness, he remembered gripping Ziya’s other hand tightly; after being ambushed, everything went black.
Yet Zhiqing hadn’t had the chance to tell Ziya any of this. He felt it wasn’t time to reveal everything to her; just like himself, he had suddenly recalled past events under specific environmental stimuli.
What troubled Zhiqing most was the motive behind their kidnapping. Was it for ransom? That seemed unlikely. Was it a joke? Even less plausible—who would joke about murder? He leaned his head back against the wall, racking his brain over who he might have offended in his line of work as a feng shui practitioner. Why such a cruel act of revenge? After thorough consideration, Zhiqing narrowed down his suspicions to a colleague named Xu Daxian—a narrow-minded individual whose poor handling of business affairs had left him struggling for six months without enough income to pay rent.
Ziya crouched in the corner, an overwhelming fatigue washing over her. She truly did not want to move another step. As she stumbled, her arm brushed against Zhiqing, pulling him back from his reverie. Turning to look at Ziya, Zhiqing felt a pang of concern and quickly supported her as she slowly crouched down beside him against the wall.
They had been out of the computer room for a while now, and time slipped away second by second. Liu Yi, still inside the computer room, was in a precarious situation as well. However, Ziya had exhausted too much energy; her spirit and state were unstable. Taking a gentle breath, Zhiqing thought it best to let Ziya rest for a moment. He gently leaned her head against his arm, trying to provide her with a comfortable support.
As Ziya rested against Zhiqing's arm, peacefully closing her eyes, he felt a deep ache in his heart at the sight of her pale, disheveled face. He reached out with his long, slightly dirty hand and gently brushed aside a few strands of hair from her ear. She was so tired; even though she could feel him playing with her hair, she merely lazily blinked her eyelashes and continued to feign sleep.
While Ziya rested, Zhiqing remained on high alert, his nerves taut and unwilling to relax even slightly. Glancing sideways, he noticed a square shape that resembled a doorframe right next to the wall they were leaning against. Could this be a hidden door?
Zhiqing looked at the dark door that closely resembled the wall and gently shook Ziya.
"What is it?"
"Shh!" Zhiqing raised a finger to his lips and pointed at the dark door.
Immediately, Ziya rolled over and climbed up from the shadow of the wall, pressing her body against the dark door. This door had no handle or any other distinguishing marks. As she felt its surface with her fingers, she noted how smooth it was; this suggested that it had been freshly painted not long ago. Otherwise, in this damp underground environment, how could it feel so slick?
Ziya nodded at Zhiqing. They exchanged tense glances before cautiously attempting to push open the dark door. Zhiqing concentrated all his strength into his palms and positioned himself protectively beside Ziya.
Upon reflection, there must be something secretive behind this dark door; otherwise, they wouldn't have gone through such trouble to match its color with that of the wall. The more they thought about it, the more cautious they needed to be—who knew what hidden dangers lurked within this room?
In this environment where speaking loudly was not an option, they could only communicate through gestures. Although Ziya's ability to express herself verbally was quite poor, she could read Zhiqing's expressions to grasp what he meant.
One push, two pushes, three pushes—none succeeded in opening the dark door. Anxiety filled Zhiqing's expression; not wanting to risk harming Ziya due to any danger behind the door, he could only watch as he attempted to push it open alone. Perhaps it would take both of their strengths to open this door! With that thought in mind, Ziya gently grasped Zhiqing's hand, signaling that she wanted to join him in the effort.
At that moment, the mysterious dark door suddenly trembled slightly. Zhiqing, with his hand still resting on the door, felt it immediately. Looking up at the shadowy entrance, he had a premonition that the door would soon be opened from the inside. With this thought racing through his mind, Zhiqing quickly shifted his focus and hurriedly grabbed Ziya, pulling her back swiftly.
Just as he finished speaking, a blinding white figure emerged from the opening of the dark door. Heaven... a ghost...
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