CH 15

Amidst his frantic running, QiLeren regained a thread of the logic he had lost. He knew for a fact that the murderer possessed astonishing stamina, so running like this wouldn’t do – he had to lose his pursuer somehow.

Not far from them was the abortion room, which from memory had a complicated floor plan that he was more than familiar with after Dr Lu both explained and led him through it. His only hope was to use this locational advantage and shake off the murderer there!

Resolve flashed in his eyes as he swerved sharply. From the moment he burst out of the patient hallway and into the abortion room, a blueprint of the layout was formulated in his mind with a speed only professionals can hope to attain.

Waste chute, patient entrance and staff entrance, forming three exits in total. The waste chute was closed, so that was out, which left the staff entrance if he wanted to leave the area. The patient entrance led to the break room, where patients can rest after their procedures. From there it’d be the operating theatre, quarantined by glass doors that were unlocked.

If QiLeren wanted to lose the murderer, he’d have to turn right immediately in the break area, go through the nurse’s station and into the closet compartment between that and the doctor’s office. There were two doors inside the closet compartment, so if he locks one of them behind him as he enters he’d be able to escape out the other, run into the doctor’s office and leave through the staff entrance passageway.

The murderer had never been here before, so chances of him circling around and blocking QiLeren’s exit were vanishingly small. Surely it’d work!

With his plan in mind, QiLeren was plunged into darkness as he ran into the abortion room. Waiting for his eyes to adjust was out of the question, so from memory he charged to the right.

His foot caught something hard that sent him sprawling onto the ground. In the instant before he hit the floor, he realised what it was – the chair he used to kill the ghost that had attacked XueYingying.

The dark irony of the situation was not lost on QiLeren.

The murderer burst into the abortion room within these few seconds of delay. QiLeren gripped the chair, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body, and swept it behind him with all the strength he could muster. The murderer fell to the ground with a dull thud and dropped his chainsaw, igniting a spray of sparks as it made contact with the flooring.

This was his chance!

QiLeren pushed himself up into a run. He could vaguely see the murderer to his right in the darkness, blocking the entrance to the nurse’s station.

He gritted his teeth and recalculated his escape – he’d have to go through the operating theatre instead. As he pushed on despite the flaring pain in his leg, the fallen murderer behind him let out a roar and hurled the chair at him.

QiLeren leapt into the operating theatre and threw the glass door closed behind him, which shuddered dangerously with a crash when the chair hit but otherwise remained intact.

If he could lock this door…

QiLeren considered this possibility for a split second before discarding it, because the murderer was quickly approaching with his chainsaw in hand. Once again he was forced to flee, making a beeline through the passageway for the staff entrance. He threw his weight into the glass door—

–and the clang of metal on metal resonated through the passageway. He looked down in disbelief at the iron chains that held the doorway firmly shut.

The staff entrance was…locked…

QiLeren felt himself turn around sluggishly to face the murderer approaching like a shadowed being of nightmares dreamt only at the crack of dawn. Delicate lighting pierced through the glass doors and caressed his handsome, twisted features as a sharp grin cleaved it in half.

“Gotcha.”

The voice was soft and husky, oozing the playful malice of a predator who had just caught its prey.

QiLeren’s eyes darted left to the wooden doors not far from where he was – the doctor’s office.

Was the door locked? There were at most four metres between him and the murderer and one between him and the door. S/L was still in cooldown – there was only one chance.

Should he risk it?

Of course.

“I give up,” QiLeren announced, throwing his hands up in a show of brilliant acting and slowly approached the murderer. “Please, make it quick.” In the face of imminent death, he ignored the pain in his knees the fact that his legs felt as though they were about to give out beneath him.

The murderer hesitated before subconsciously taking a few steps forwards, thrown for a loop by QiLeren’s actions. And then he noticed the door by QiLeren.

Now!

QiLeren yanked the handle downwards and felt the door give into his push. Not a second was wasted as he all but shot forward, elation singing in his veins, and pushed his back against the other side of the door. The murderer rushed forward at the same time and launched himself towards QiLeren – the two of them were left to their trial of strength.

Flattened against the door, QiLeren retrieved the crowbar from his inventory and weighed it in his left hand before jabbing heavily it through the gap. At the subsequent howl of pain, he quickly withdrew it, heaved the door closed and – locked!

QiLeren didn’t have time to catch his breath, however, as the unmistakable screech of a chainsaw sent him scrambling forward – the door had already been pierced by the time he looked back, and there couldn’t be more than half a minute before the murderer could break through.

QiLeren pushed himself to his feet, darting through the other office door into the closet compartment, then to the nurse’s station before fleeing through the patient entrance.

He ran. There was nothing in his mind about the murderer, running blindly forward with not a glance back. He didn’t know how much time had passed until his feet brought him to a stop in the stairway, legs giving out beneath him as he sank down onto the ground.

Another escape from death’s yearning grasp.

The dim lighting cast shadows across QiLeren’s vision as he stared blankly at the glowing green exit sign from his position on the ground. His mind wandered still, unnerved from the terror moments before.

The speeding heartbeat and gasps slowly calmed. QiLeren pushed himself up; his knees twinged in protest, but the pain was only proof that he was still alive. He breathed deeply, preparing to continue downstairs.

The tell-tale patter of footsteps passed above him. He froze and looked up.

“Leren?”

“XueYingying?”

The two locked eyes before heaving out a relieved sigh.

“Oh good, I thought I was going to die,” XueYingying said as she made her way towards QiLeren. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. I managed to lose him somehow,” QiLeren replied. “Have you Dr Lu and SuHe?”

XueYingying looked down and shook her head.

QiLeren drew in a sharp breath. The murderer had been right behind him this entire time, so Dr Lu should have been with SuHe. If there really was something wrong with SuHe…wouldn’t Dr Lu be in danger?

He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Let’s go find them,” he said, quietly, before making his way down the stairwell.

XueYingying started to fret behind him. “Isn’t he around here still? What if we run into him?”

“Well, we can’t wait here forever. I think it’d be best to hurry up and move before he’s had a chance to return to the…surveillance…” QiLeren trailed off and froze in his tracks. “SuHe?!”

The lighting in the hallway was much brighter, hollowly wrapping itself around SuHe’s silhouette. QiLeren could faintly make out his elegant features, darkened as it was with solemn resolve.

“Come here, QiLeren,” SuHe said icily, stepping towards them. “Now!”

“Don’t!” XueYingying cried, pulling QiLeren back by his arm. The grip was hard and bruising even through layers of clothes.

SuHe’s expression held no trace of its usual gentle amusement. The gaze he directed at XueYingying was cold in its serenity, but softened when it rested upon QiLeren. “Don’t listen to her. She’s not XueYingying.”

The hand around QiLeren’s arm tightened painfully as XueYingying urged panickily, “Don’t listen to him! I’m sorry I lied earlier, it wasn’t that I haven’t bumped into them, it’s that SuHe, he…he…”

SuHe extended a hand. “Come over here,” he said, velvety voice echoing in the stairwell.

“No!” XueYingying screamed. “He killed Dr Lu and wants to kill me too!”

The two voices collided in a frenzy of commands. QiLeren dazedly stared at SuHe on the steps below them, who met his gaze. “Have you heard of the one who was devoured by a tiger?”