Chapter 147 : Chapter 147

Chapter 147: “Obey the rules.”

Chu Zu’s lips curled up slightly in a smile.

He searched the surroundings and saw a fruit knife on a cabinet in the corner.

The knife had a few nicks.

He picked up the knife and weighed it.

He felt a bit of regret.

He should have brought the short knife from the first-floor lobby.

But there was no helping it.

Yang Mangshu and Tong Qinzhen were just students and were quite afraid of restricted knives, especially a knife that had just stabbed someone.

If he brought the short knife, they would definitely stare at him frequently.

The knife in his hand was old.

It felt dull against his fingertip.

Even with a bit of force, it couldn't make a cut... Forget it, as long as it worked.

Chu Zu said to Tong Qinzhen: “Hang in there, don't move around.”

Tong Qinzhen didn't hear him at all.

His head was half-tilted back, showing an expression of extreme pain, the veins on his face throbbing.

The two threatening-looking giants kept repeating that sentence——Get over here!

You get over here!

The voices overlapped, growing deeper and deeper, until finally becoming a low, muffled sound like a water buffalo.

At a certain moment, the voices stopped abruptly.

Tong Qinzhen hadn't yet realized what had happened.

The next moment, the male giant's massive head crashed down, and the black blood gushing from his neck splashed all over his face.

The giant released his hand and began to search for his head on the ground haphazardly.

Yang Mangshu thankfully took the opportunity to pull Tong Qinzhen back.

Tong Qinzhen's arm was dislocated, hanging at his side.

The slightest movement was agonizingly painful.

The male giant had just found his head, but before he could pick it up——his arm was also severed.

Within just a few minutes, the room was filled with only giant, severed limbs flailing about wildly.

Chu Zu held the female giant's head, threw away the broken fruit knife, and stepped on the male giant's head, asking the two: “Still alive?”

Yang Mangshu was a bit numb.

She could hardly judge reality anymore.

She only felt that the room was terrifyingly quiet.

Chu Zu's concerned voice made her a little uncomfortable, but she couldn't say why.

Yang Mangshu had heard many stories of supernatural monsters, both Eastern and Western.

She had also watched many horror movies usually, and despised the characters in the stories who would only scream and flee when encountering trouble, feeling that it was a life-and-death situation, how could they still be so useless.

When it really happened to her, she didn't do much better.

Because it was really too horrifying.

Her body didn't form a crisis reflex, and her mind completely froze.

She couldn't think of anything except escaping.

“Looks like you're still alive.”

Chu Zu's face was also covered in thick black blood.

It wasn't obvious on his black hair, until it dripped onto his face, falling drop by drop along his chin.

“Do me a favor. I'll watch the heads. One of you two go open the door and check outside.”

Yang Mangshu didn't react.

Tong Qinzhen endured the pain and did as he was told.

The door was locked from the inside and was very easy to open.

He pushed the door open.

The lighting in the corridor flickered a few times.

Tong Qinzhen took a few more glances.

Suddenly, his scalp went numb, his mind buzzed, a short gasp escaped his mouth, and he sat down on the ground.

Chu Zu: “What’s wrong outside?”

Tong Qinzhen: “It... it changed...”

Chu Zu patiently asked: “What did it change into?”

“A laboratory... It's Nancheng University's laboratory building.”

To be precise, it was the laboratory building before it was abandoned.

The corridor was narrow and straight.

Away from the windows, there was a neat row of laboratories with wooden door frames and frosted glass.

Long fluorescent light tubes hung from the center of the ceiling.

Compared to modern LED lights, the lighting from thirty years ago was dimmer and warmer.

Tong Qinzhen also smelled the familiar, faint scent of chemical reagents.

“Come back, close the door.”

Chu Zu said.

Yang Mangshu quickly asked: “Aren't we leaving this room?”

“If we follow the setting, a child can't get rid of their parents. No matter how far you run, even to other cities, they will find you.”

Chu Zu lifted the female giant's head a little higher.

The giant's face had no features.

With its throat cut, its vocal cords couldn't make a sound.

“They don't seem to die. We can leave, but I don't know if they will keep chasing you.”

Yang Mangshu was a bit resistant: “They are not my parents.”

Chu Zu didn't reply.

Yang Mangshu also realized her statement was very childish and said softly, “I'm sorry.”

“Before, we accidentally entered the room with the fire. After leaving the room, the fire disappeared.”

She hesitated, then said, “Why don't we try leaving here?”

What if it’s fine?

“Don't be afraid, this pair of parents is easier to deal with than the fire.”

Chu Zu comforted, “It's hard for a child to deal with their own parents. Luckily, I don't have parents, and I'm very happy to help others. Helping to chop up other people's ‘parents’ is just a casual thing.”

Yang Mangshu: “...”

Chu Zu: “Please look for any other information in the room——watch your step, don't get tripped.”

Tong Qinzhen shakily got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face first.

Yang Mangshu began to search for information among the scattered limbs.

She didn't know what “information” meant either... In any case, it had to be related to this room, right?

Chu Zu mentioned parents and a child, so Yang Mangshu could only think of that drawing.

Her initial judgment might have been correct.

That drawing was from the hand of a child who was domestically abused.

She didn't know if it was a boy or a girl...

That child was terrified and also very confused, not understanding why their parents wanted to harm them.

From the words repeated by the giants, it could also be known that the child seemed to have confided in a teacher at school, and the teacher had approached the parents to understand the situation.

The parents not only didn't restrain themselves, but became furious.

They returned home to “reason” with the child——the tragedy occurred at this moment.

No, actually, the tragedy should have occurred the moment the child was born.

While Yang Mangshu was rummaging through boxes and cabinets, Tong Qinzhen came out of the bathroom.

His head was soaked, like a drowned rat, looking comical.

Even so, Yang Mangshu couldn't laugh.

Tong Qinzhen's arm was still hanging, and he had a frightened look, not yet recovered, standing at the bathroom door, not knowing which leg to move first.

“Chu Brother... how... how did you know about this room?”

Tong Qinzhen asked weakly.

Chu Zu: “He said it.”

He pointed to the unconscious man on the floor.

The unconscious man had woken up once while Chu Zu was busy.

Because the female giant had torn off his leg earlier and impatiently stuffed the short leg directly into his mouth, muffling his screams.

The severed leg was much wider than his mouth. What was stuffed into his mouth was either minced flesh or broken bone——both were extremely terrible, and it also blocked the man's airway, making it difficult for him to breathe.

He had passed out again just like that.

The giant's black blood covered his flesh and blood.

If one didn't look closely, it couldn't be seen, subtly creating a mosaic effect.

Chu Zu casually recounted what the man had confessed.

The man and his two accomplices, three people in total, had kidnapped the young son of a wealthy family said to be richer than a country, and hidden him in an abandoned building.

This building used to be a high-end apartment.

It was abandoned due to a fire many years ago.

Coupled with urban planning issues, the residents moved out one after another.

The property couldn't be sold and became a deserted building in the suburbs.

There were many similar buildings nearby, with few street cameras.

Whether for hiding someone or escaping, it was barely considered safe.

At least, that's what they thought.

While waiting for the payment, police sirens suddenly sounded from outside the building.

All three people heard it.

Their expressions changed, and they proposed different opinions.

The man already had a life on his hands and wanted to escape immediately, but the other two disagreed.

They broke into a fierce argument.

From the window, they could see that a police officer had already run in quickly.

Someone was waiting outside the police car, contacting someone with a walkie-talkie...

The man was both shocked and terrified.

His accomplice clamored, “It's just one damn cop, just take him out.”

He thought, don't f*cking talk big.

What's the sentence for robbery, what's the sentence for murder, and what's the sentence for killing a cop?

These two pig brains aren't working at all.

Ignoring his accomplices, the man turned and ran.

One of his accomplices was a madman, Yang Jing.

They all called him Madman Yang.

It was completely literal.

Madman Yang's family was very rich and had other connections, but he just loved to do wicked things.

His family had cleaned up after him many times.

This time, he wanted to stir up something even his family couldn't fix.

The rich young son had been invited out by Madman Yang.

When he was being kidnapped by them, he was still crying to him, asking him, Brother Yang, where are we going.

Hearing this, Chu Zu was already getting a little impatient.

He was asking about this building, but the man insisted on starting from the beginning, as if he weren't the thug who stabbed people, but a police officer conducting an interrogation in an interrogation room.

The man said the problem was with Madman Yang from the very beginning.

At that time, the man had already run downstairs.

Suddenly, he heard a heavy thud.

“Something damn thing suddenly fell, scared me so much my legs almost went weak...”

The man shivered as he recalled, his face turning pale and dark.

It was clear he wasn't well-educated and spoke very crudely.

Under high tension, any change in vision would cause panic.

The man was no exception.

His dynamic vision was passable, a habit developed from years of evading pursuit.

After catching the movement, the man looked up.

He only took one look, and his blood almost froze.

“It wasn't the bottom of that damn abandoned building... I... I don't know what this goddamn place is. There wasn't even a street light before, but suddenly an old-fashioned street light was standing right in front of me, pretty tall, with a spike on top of the lampshade... My hometown has this kind of light, I recognized it...”

“Zhou Bo... he... he was hanging on it...”

Zhou Bo was one of the accomplices the man had mentioned.

“I... I was scared stiff at the time. The sirens outside kept wailing. I just wanted to slip away quickly. I went around and around and found a low wall to climb over. But I was still in this damn neighborhood. I couldn't get out no matter how I ran, like I'd seen a ghost.”

“Later, I wanted to try another path. When I passed by the previous place, I saw the street light that Zhou Bo was hanging on was gone, but he was lying on the ground...”

“I got closer for a look. His mouth was still open, his chin... had been pierced by the spike on top of that street light.”

The man was terrified and subconsciously backed away, wanting to keep his distance from Zhou Bo's body, but for a moment he couldn't move his legs, his heart pounding out of his throat.

He looked up.

The height of the building didn't seem to match what it was before.

He didn't know if it was because he was too nervous, but he seemed to hear someone shouting behind him.

The man pinched his thigh and, without a word, ran in the opposite direction, but ended up running into the building.

He saw Madman Yang, together with another tall young man——that person said his name was Chu Shiju.

“The moment that Madman Yang saw me, he asked in a strange tone, ‘Hey, did you see Zhou Bo's miserable state?’ His tone was just like he was watching a joke.”

“I immediately figured, damn it, it must have been him. I immediately asked him what was going on. That bastard just smirked and said something like ‘Zhou Bo deserved it’.”

“I got anxious and said he was a murderer.”

“I don't know what wire got crossed in his head, he instantly went berserk.”

“Later, he and Chu Shiju, the two of them, stuffed me into a room on the second floor. That room...”

The man's face contorted for a moment, and his bleeding abdomen twitched.

Then he closed his eyes, unwilling to recall things about that room, only saying:

“I was scared to death at the time. Luckily, Chu Shiju pulled me out. He even thumped his chest and said he could save me, help me avoid the cops.”

“I started wondering, how could there be such a good thing in this world?”

“But at that time, I couldn't be bothered to think too much. I only had one thought in my head: get out of here quickly! Even if I get caught by the police, I'd accept it. It's better than being locked up in there.”

“That ghost room... I f*cking wouldn't take half a step into it again even if it killed me!”

“Chu Shiju said, only one person who enters this place can live. As long as Madman Yang is alive, I can't get out.”

“He also said Madman Yang had already gone to deal with that little young master, and told me to think about what to do myself.”

“What else could I do? I went to find Madman Yang. Turns out, the little young master was already killed by him. That madman even asked me if I had figured it out, and if I wanted to join him in killing that police officer.”

“I saw that Chu Shiju didn't seem to have told him about being able to get out, so I wanted to take the opportunity to strike first. While we were scuffling, Chu Shiju suddenly appeared again and, amidst the chaos, pushed us into another room...”

The man gritted his teeth fiercely.

“Damn it, it was still that ghost place from before, exactly the same! Can you believe it? They were clearly two different rooms, but they looked exactly the f*cking same...”

Chu Zu simply grabbed his hair and yanked it up: “Tell me about which room.”

The man had no choice but to continue confessing.

That room was very strange.

It was narrow, the window was very high, the light was very weak, and there was a well in the room.

Several dark figures were squatting by the well.

They had no faces.

When they saw someone enter, they immediately came forward and grabbed the man and Yang Jing.

The dark figures were extremely strong.

The two of them had no strength to resist.

Before they could struggle twice, they were thrown into the well.

The well was full of rotting corpses, which had long since started to stink.

Resting a hand on them would get it covered in disgusting slime.

Before they could recover from the hard fall, a cloud of cement suddenly exploded in front of their eyes, coming from above their heads.

The man had experienced despair once.

He knew the dark figures above the well were filling it with cement, but he could do nothing but watch helplessly as he was buried alive.

The man was pressed to the bottom of the well by the overwhelming cement, embedded with those corpses.

The filling speed was just too fast.

He stepped on anything he could step on to climb up, and Yang Jing did the same.

In the end, they passed out from suffocation and lack of oxygen.

When the man woke up, he was already in the corridor.

Yang Jing was lying next to him, not yet awake.

Chu Shiju stood in front of him, looking down, and said with a half-smile: Both times it was that non-lethal well.

Your luck is really good.

“This bastard was playing me. I searched all over my body but couldn't find anything to kill Chu Shiju with. I couldn't care less anymore and lunged at him.”

Chu Shiju's skills were ridiculously good.

He pinned the man to the ground in just a few moves.

But Chu Shiju didn't continue his attack and let the man go.

Yang Jing gradually regained consciousness.

Chu Shiju briefly mentioned which room on which floor was safe, wished them success in their endeavors, and then disappeared into the stairwell.

“In the end, he was still deceived. This is not a safe room.”

Chu Zu summarized for Tong Qinzhen, “But we can deduce a few things from this.”

Tong Qinzhen was listening intently and suddenly said: “That Bo... Li Bo?”

Chu Zu: “Zhou Bo.”

“Right, right, Zhou Bo... he... fell from the building and his chin was pierced by the street light...”

Tong Qinzhen murmured, “Ran Brother's body also seemed to be... if it was hanging on the street light...”

He raised his head slightly, looking up high, and was lost in thought for a moment.

“Zhenzhen.”

Yang Mangshu raised her voice and called him.

Yang Mangshu called him several times before he snapped out of it.

He rubbed his face with one hand, took a deep breath, and looked at Chu Zu: “Chu Brother, what did you say we could deduce?”

Chu Zu: “One, safe rooms do exist. The kidnappers wouldn't have killed the hostage in the corridor or the lobby. It must have been in a room, and nothing went wrong at that time.”

Tong Qinzhen nodded.

“Two, there is a person named Chu Shiju who looks a lot like me. He is very familiar with this building and is constantly stirring up trouble, trying to make everyone who comes here die in a dangerous room.”

Yang Mangshu asked at this moment: “Then what he said, that only one person who enters can live... is that true or false?”

Chu Zu: “I don't know.”

“How can you not know...”

Chu Zu chuckled: “Why would I know?”

Yang Mangshu gave a bitter smile: “Maybe it's because you've always been very reliable... We've only known each other for a short while, but you're nothing like our peers.”

Chu Zu was noncommittal and continued with his deductions.

“Three, the dangerous rooms are random. Even someone like Chu Shiju, who is very familiar with the building, cannot be sure what is in the rooms——not all dangerous rooms are lethal, like that room with a well, or the room where you encountered the fire.”

Chu Zu thought for a moment, “But it's very strange. I can understand escaping a fire, but being thrown into a well and buried alive twice... that doesn't seem like a situation one can survive.”

He suddenly remembered what Gentleman said: Obey the rules.

——Rules.

“There might be some kind of rule... The rule for the fire was to escape safely. Jiang Ran had learned emergency escape procedures and acted according to the rules, so the room ‘let’ you leave.”

Chu Zu spoke as he thought, “Perhaps this room is the same. There are two parents who beat their child to death through domestic violence. Just chopping them up won't kill them... How to stop this domestic violence...”

The red light of a police car instantly flashed in Yang Mangshu's mind——they had noticed a police car parked outside the neighborhood when they were downstairs.

And the man had also said that they only started to panic after hearing the sirens and seeing a police officer enter.

Yang Mangshu quickly spoke up: “There's a police officer in this building! Can the police stop domestic violence?!”

Chu Zu was just about to say yes, when a sentence suddenly popped into his mind——

「When you are scared, you should run towards the police, not be scared away by them.」

It was his own voice.

Next came a firm and unfamiliar male voice:

「I will come back to save you, save both of you.」

When the voices appeared, Chu Zu's head began to throb with pain.

He didn't know if this was a new delusion, or if it came from the past and he had forgotten it.

Who would come back to save whom?

Who did “both of you” refer to?

Glancing sideways, Gentleman's back was still silent.

And when he saw him, Chu Zu's headache immediately eased a lot.

Tong Qinzhen had already chimed in: “Yes, yes, definitely yes. When you encounter trouble, finding Uncle Police is definitely right!”

Chu Zu nodded, as if agreeing.

He'd just treat it as a try.

He also needed to figure out the rules of these rooms and find the “completely blank room” that Gentleman had mentioned.

Gentleman was trying to tell him something.

He would eventually understand during the process of searching for the room.

Yang Mangshu also finally found what she was looking for among the severed limbs and miscellaneous junk.

It was an old newspaper.

【Domestic Violence Brews Tragedy: Young Child Unfortunately Passes Away, Police Intervene in Investigation, the Process Behind it is Shocking!】

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