# Chapter 273: My Name is Shu Hua
My name is Shu Hua.
I'm so scared.
I don't know why I ended up here, but this place truly terrifies me.
The sky here is red all the time, and the smell in the air makes me want to vomit.
The kind people all died in the first few days. The ones who survived are all terrifying.
I finally found a can of food that expired a long time ago, and those people actually came after me with knives to take it.
I'm so hungry, but I can't fight those people at all…
Will I starve to death… or get beaten to death?
Clutching the can, I hid in a corner, my whole body trembling. What the hell is going on here? The brothers and sisters who came out with me—all of them died within just three days…
I miss them so much…
I wonder if Sister Qin Dingdong is okay?
She said she was going out to find food, but she hasn't come back in three days…
"Hey! I see you!"
Those words made me jump. I looked around—they hadn't spotted me at all. They were clearly trying to trick me.
A man shouted from a distance, "I'm warning you, don't make us angry, kid! Where do you think you can keep running?"
I didn't want to cry, but tears kept streaming down my face.
I have to escape… I can't stay here anymore…
But how do I shake these people off?
Turning my head, I suddenly noticed an iron door behind me.
After thinking for a moment, I gently threw the can in another direction, then opened the iron door and slipped inside.
They wanted the can. As long as I gave them the can, I'd be fine.
I picked up a stick from the ground and propped it against the iron door, then walked further in.
It was pitch black inside, and even smellier than outside… What am I supposed to do?
"I-is… is anyone here…?" I crept forward cautiously, only to hear my own echo a second later.
Seems like this room isn't very big.
I'm too scared… I need to find a place to hide.
But it's so empty in here—how am I supposed to hide…?
I kept groping around the room, but suddenly I heard footsteps outside the door.
They're here!
Startled, I ran a couple of steps but tripped over something. My foot landed on something soft and sticky.
"Hey! Are you in there?"
The iron door shuddered with impact.
"Get the hell out here!"
The door kept getting slammed, each thunderous crash hitting me like a physical blow, making my body tremble uncontrollably…
"The… the can is yours!" I tried to yell with some authority, but my voice cracked as soon as it came out. Still, I forced myself to say, "I don't have the can anymore! I… I… I won't eat… you guys eat it…"
"What stupid nonsense are you talking…" The man outside kept rattling the door. "Fuck, there are four of us! Four grown men sharing one measly can?!"
"Th-then what do you want to eat?!" I regretted asking the moment the words left my mouth.
My scalp went numb, the sensation spreading through every part of my body until I could barely stand.
So I wasn't going to be beaten to death or starve to death… I was going to be eaten by these people.
I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. I had no idea what to do.
Through my blurry, tear-filled eyes, I gradually adjusted to the darkness. Vaguely, I could make out a dark shape lying in the middle of the room.
Was it… a person?
I forced myself to stand up. I had no other option now. If there was someone else in this room… could they save me?
I groped my way over and nudged it with my foot. The body was stiff, like a mannequin.
"Hel… hello?" I asked timidly, edging closer, only to be hit by an even stronger stench.
He seemed dead. Dead for a long time.
I touched his body. He seemed to be wearing a tattered suit. But why had he died here?
"Damn… the door's blocked…" The muffled voice came again. "Move aside, I'm going to ram it open."
This is it. I'm probably going to die.
My whole body went ice cold. My hands were shaking. In my panic, my fingers brushed against something fuzzy.
A mask.
"Ah!" I screamed in fright.
I'd seen this kind of mask before. These were worn by the "Judges"!
This was my only chance. If I put on this mask, I could pretend to be a Judge!
In this dark room, this mask might give me a one-percent chance of survival…
I pulled the mask off. I could clearly see that the person's face had completely rotted. Some of the blackened skin had stuck to the mask. When the mask came off, sticky red strands tore away from his face, leaving behind a raw, reddish mess.
I couldn't think about that now. Fighting back a wave of nausea, I put the mask on my own head.
*BAM!*
With a loud crash, the iron door burst open. The dim red light from outside spilled in, and only then could I see my surroundings—an abandoned warehouse, pitifully small.
I stood frozen against the wall, not daring to speak.
I wanted to bluff my way out, to introduce myself and scare them off, but I didn't even know what animal was on the mask I was wearing.
"Rat…?" The leader squinted at me in confusion.
"Rat? Yes… rat…" I nodded vigorously. "You better leave now… I-I'm a 'Rat-Man'…"
"'Rat-Man'?" The leader blinked, then burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha!"
I knew then that even that one-percent chance was gone.
They weren't afraid of me.
"And he calls himself a 'Rat-Man'…" The leader walked slowly toward me. "Can't even pull off the act."
"P-please let me go…" My legs gave way, and I was about to collapse to the floor. "I'm begging you… I'm just an ordinary student…"
"No, no, no." The leader shook his head. "After today, you won't be ordinary anymore. First, we'll turn you into a 'woman,' then we'll use you to fill our stomachs. You're our savior."
"What…?"
At those words, I finally collapsed to the ground.
Before me stood four tall men wielding sticks and knives, blocking the warehouse's only exit. What was I supposed to do?
"Boss, do we kill her first or play with her first?" one of them asked.
"Kill her first, otherwise she'll keep moving around." The leader came at me with his knife.
Watching him approach slowly, my mind went blank. I suddenly missed my grandmother.
I hadn't gone back to cook for her yet…
Just as the knife began to fall, someone else suddenly appeared in the room.
When he materialized, he was holding a bloody head in his hand—it was the leader's.
What was going on…?
In a few flashes of movement, this completely naked man was holding four heads in his hands, dark red blood spattering all over my mask.
I looked again and saw the four headless bodies slowly toppling over.
The naked man tossed the heads aside and helped me up.
I stared at his bizarre appearance, unable to utter a single word.
He brought his face close to my body, sniffed gently a few times, then said in a very gentle voice, "Little sister, you're a 'Man-Rat,' not a 'Rat-Man.' Saying it wrong would cause trouble."