Chapter 56: Sitting
Just as Xiao Ran was about to scream, Dr. Zhao quickly covered her mouth from behind.
That scream turned into a muffled groan, suppressed deep in her throat.
Dr. Zhao had noticed that the three people who had just gone out had suddenly gone silent. Curious, he followed to check, only to witness such a bizarre scene, nearly scaring the soul out of him.
None of the four dared make a sound as they silently stared at the figure before them, shaped like a cricket.
They watched as it rapidly scuttled its hind legs like an insect, constantly changing direction as if searching for something, occasionally lifting the two bloody holes on its face to look around.
The twisting of its neck was nothing like a human's; instead, it was as quick as an insect's, the range of motion terrifyingly large.
A few seconds later, that "figure" suddenly leaped high into the air, jumping towards the wall of the convenience store.
Qi Xia quickly raised the torch to illuminate, trying to follow its movements—after all, in this pitch-black environment, losing track of the target was the worst thing that could happen.
But the moment the torchlight lifted, even someone with Qi Xia's mental fortitude nearly had his legs give out and crumple to the ground.
The wall illuminated by the fire was densely covered with "people."
Looking further, there were at least a dozen of them, all moving rapidly across the wall.
As the firelight hit them, as if sensing something, they scurried back into the darkness.
They were like crickets, like cockroaches, like spiders.
In short, nothing like humans.
Qi Xia felt every hair on his body slowly stand on end.
All along the way, as he and Lin Qin had groped their way to the convenience store in the dark, they had constantly heard insect chirps rising and falling.
Sometimes the chirps sounded far away, sometimes very close.
So those weren't insects at all... but one "person" after another.
The thought that while he and Lin Qin advanced, the ground beside them and the walls not far away were covered with these things...
That feeling couldn't even be described as "lingering fear" anymore.
A cold sweat trickled down Qi Xia's face as he slowly turned and waved at the others.
They understood his meaning and began to back away slowly.
Qi Xia held up the torch, keeping his eyes fixed on the "people" on the wall, and step by step, he and the other three retreated inside.
They didn't dare make a single sound throughout, moving with extreme slowness.
These things apparently had their eyes gouged out, so they could probably only locate by sound. Fortunately, everyone knew survival was the priority, so no one made a noise.
After closing the door, Qi Xia grabbed a wooden plank from the side and propped it against the door. They continued retreating until they reached the corner.
The cold, mottled walls gave them a glimmer of safety.
"What... what the hell are those things..." Xiao Ran asked, trembling.
"They're people..." Dr. Zhao said, then quickly shook his head, "No... human bones couldn't make those movements. They can only be insects..."
Qi Xia took a deep breath and said, "Last night I also heard rustling sounds. That means these things didn't just appear today; they've been here all along."
He turned to Lin Qin with a grave expression and said, "The two of us were incredibly lucky not to step on any of these things along the way..."
Lin Qin nodded, still shaken, clearly frightened badly.
The four fell into silence.
Before witnessing that horrifying sight, perhaps they could have gotten a good night's sleep.
But now, none of them dared close their eyes. They could only lean against the wall, staring fixedly at the door, constantly on guard against those things breaking in.
Deprived of sleep and sound, the night stretched on unbearably long.
They stood by the wall for half the night, now sore and aching all over.
Gradually, they noticed a problem.
The "bugs" outside the door really seemed to be just bugs.
They had no intention of barging into this brightly lit place.
Qi Xia was using the rules of this place to explain its phenomena.
No matter how bizarre they looked, no matter how much blood still flowed from their empty eye sockets, they were just bugs.
If "bugs" and "shop assistants" were the same kind of thing, they would certainly play their roles seriously.
Thinking this way, the bugs outside weren't too dangerous. Even if they could actively attack humans, they probably wouldn't come crashing through the door in swarms.
With that thought, Qi Xia slowly sat down, stretching his sore limbs.
Seeing someone take the lead, the other three also sat down, but their faces were still tight with tension.
"Qi Xia... what do we do?" Lin Qin asked.
Qi Xia rubbed his chin and said, "Sleep."
"Sleep?"
"Sleep for a while, conserve energy." Qi Xia found a clean plank and laid it beside Lin Qin. "After dawn, we'll set out to find Officer Li."
"But those things outside..."
"Relax." Qi Xia said indifferently. "They won't come in. As long as we don't go out, we're safe for now."
Lin Qin nodded carefully, like a child, and lay down.
Qi Xia went to the corner, found a clean plank, and placed it over the pot. He then sat on the plank, pressing the pot down.
Xiao Ran and Dr. Zhao exchanged glances, looking at each other, then at Qi Xia and Lin Qin.
How could they possibly sleep?
Even if they could completely ignore the bugs outside, Xiao Ran still felt Qi Xia was a dangerous person.
In the story he told at the beginning, he was a con artist who swindled two million. How could such a person be good?
If she slept near him, would she die inexplicably again by dawn the next day?
Qi Xia paid no attention to Xiao Ran or Dr. Zhao's expressions. Instead, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest.
To him, whether these two stayed awake all night had nothing to do with him.
Lin Qin, lying on the plank, looked at Qi Xia sitting in the corner. She felt a bit sorry for him, so she moved over a little and said, "Qi Xia, this plank is big enough. You can lie down here too."
Qi Xia lifted an eyelid and said, "No need. I'm used to sleeping sitting up."
"Sitting up?" Lin Qin thought about it for a moment, then stood up, moved the plank next to Qi Xia, and lay down again. She continued, "Then you can sleep sitting next to me."
Qi Xia didn't refuse. Compared to Xiao Ran and Dr. Zhao, Lin Qin had left a decent impression on him.
Lying on the plank, Lin Qin looked at Qi Xia with a bit of curiosity and asked, "Why are you used to sleeping sitting up?"
Qi Xia raised an eyebrow at that, then seriously considered the question: "Because sleeping sitting up keeps me from entering a 'relaxed' state, allowing my brain to start working at any moment."
Lin Qin nodded but seemed to think of something else: "Have you always slept sitting up?"
"Yes."
"For many years?"
Qi Xia found Lin Qin strange, so he turned to look at her: "Is this question very important?"
Lin Qin swallowed, organized her words, and finally asked, "But you have a wife... Even when the two of you live together, do you sleep sitting up every night?"