"We cannot stay here any longer. We have to leave now!"
Liu Xianxian was completely unmoved by the urgency in Ma Yin's voice. Her slender arms curved inwards to hug her shoulders like she was suddenly feeling very cold.
"So, he really doesn't love me. I've been reading too much into this." Liu Xianxian's emotions were unravelling, and she started to cry, talking to the air. "Since he doesn't love me, then why did he give me hope? Why did he torture me?"
Ma Yin shook Liu Xianxian. "We can talk about this outside. It's not safe here."
She was about one head taller than Liu Xianxian, and she was also stronger. She forced Liu Xianxian out from behind the rack. When the two of them turned, the statue at the inner most part of the storeroom elicited the sound of teeth grinding. The tears of blood kept falling like the statue was about to come to life at any moment.
Unlike when they entered, a weird change was happening to the storeroom. The racks moved to form a maze, and the trash blocked the road, making it difficult for them to exit.
"Didn't we move the canvases to the side of the wall? Why are they still blocking the path?" Ma Yin needed to take care of Liu Xianxian, who was in the middle of a breakdown, and tried to mow their way out. She moved the heavy canvasses aside, her heart screaming, Faster, faster!
The pounding sound entered her ears. It sounded like it came from a particular corner of the storeroom. Ma Yin's forehead was covered with sweat; she had never been so fearful in her life.
After moving several canvases, she moved forward and realized that the tables and chairs that were stacked up in the corner earlier had been moved to sit in the middle of their escape route.
"Did the chairs come alive? Who could have moved so many of them in such a short amount of time without making a noise?" Ma Yin dragged Liu Xianxian forward. She did not have the time to move the tables and chairs one by one anymore. "Follow me, we're jumping over these things!"
Liu Xianxian had also noticed the differences. Even though she was devastated, she did not want to drag her roommate down with her. The two girls climbed over the teetering tables and chairs. When they reached the highest spot, Ma Yin saw that the monitor, which had been turned off, was on again. The monitor was rather obvious in the dark storeroom.
Who turned the computer on? The person that I saw earlier?
The thought had just appeared in her mind when the shape of a human face appeared on screen. It was a bald man with a bloated face.
At the same time, the photocopier beside it started to operate on its own. Paper shot out from the chute, and there was a human face printed on each page. The paper flew out, and the human face became clearer. Without any hesitation, Ma Yin jumped down from the table. The room was completely dark, and she could not see anything without the light from her phone.
"Quick! This way!" Ma Yin took out her phone to provide Liu Xianxian with some lighting. Liu Xianxian aimed for a spot that had no trash, and when she was prepared to jump, something touched Ma Yin on her back. Ma Yin jumped and immediately turned her phone around. At the same time, Liu Xianxian jumped.
The spot that was originally empty suddenly had an extra chair that only had three legs. Liu Xianxian's left leg stepped on the edge of the chair. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her arms were bruised, and she sprained her leg.
Ma Yin just turned around when Liu Xianxian screamed behind her. She felt like she was losing her mind.
"Come, I'll carry you!" Ma Yin had just picked Liu Xianxian up when she felt something touch her back. This time, she was prepared. Her fist tightened as she turned back. She missed, and she lowered her head to look. She then realized it was the paper from the photocopier that had hit her.
She shone her phone on it, and there was a faded human face on the paper. His face was bloated and ugly. His hair and brows seemed to have fallen off due to extended period of submersion in a certain type of liquid. He looked like a rubber ball.
"Why would such a thing come out from the photocopier?" She had Liu Xianxian climb onto her back and powered forward. The face on the paper became clearer, and Ma Yin ran past the monitor. When she passed the photocopier, the paper slowed down, and she turned subconsciously to the scanner on the photocopier. In the faded light of the scanner, there was a bald man smiling at her!
Her breathing became slow as Ma Yin forced herself to run faster. She was already scared, and she still needed to carry Liu Xianxian. Her energy quickly drained. She only ran for a short distance before her legs felt like lead.
"Xiao Yin! Put me down!"
"I'm fine." The two girls continued to move forward. The closer they were to the door, the louder the pounding sound.
"Will something block the door?" Fear curled around Ma Yin's heart. Various ghost stories related to cadavers and underground morgues flooded her mind, and the color drained from her face. "Impossible! That is all fake."
She ran at the door. At first, it was just a pounding sound from the door. Then there was a pounding sound from under the rack. Finally, the pounding sound came from everywhere.
"What is making that noise‽" Ma Yin's face was white. She did not dare stay. She ran through the racks to get to the door. The wooden door's lock was broken, so it could not be locked, but the pounding sound now came from the door.
"It's just outside the door!"
Just as Ma Yin hesitated whether to go out, one of the lockers beside the rack was shoved open. Following the pounding sound, something dripping wet, hairless with the shape of a human, landed on the ground and slithered toward them like a snake!
"Be careful!" Liu Xianxian screamed. Ma Yin decided to run out the door—staying in the storeroom meant death. At least out the door, she had a chance of getting to the surface.
"Hold onto me!" Ma Yin shoved the door open, and she saw something like a human bouncing on the ground. The pounding sound was its head knocking against the door
"Run!" Liu Xianxian screamed. Ma Yin carried her and ran back the way they came. However, as they turned the corner, something even more despairing happened.
Standing in the corridor was a man. His face was shrouded in darkness, but she could see the half-meter-long murder weapon he was holding in his arms!