After dispersing, Li Wenjun and Luo Yingying went up to the seventh floor, hoping to return to the room where they had been hiding, to see if they could continue to stay hidden. However, before they could enter, Li Wenjun, being alert, took a quiet glance inside and noticed a child standing there, just about to walk out. He quickly pulled Luo Yingying away from that floor.
With nowhere else to go, they decided to head to the top floor to find the tool room that Xin Meng had mentioned, to grab some props like a mop stick. But as soon as they reached the ninth floor, they heard hurried footsteps coming from downstairs, startling them. They immediately turned into a corridor and randomly found a room to hide in.
Through the door, they could hear the footsteps of a dozen people rushing upstairs, all with a clear target, without anyone dispersing to the sides.
“What’s going on now?” Luo Yingying whispered to Li Wenjun. “Is it the same as before? Did Xin Meng and the others do something again?”
“It should be,” Li Wenjun frowned and pondered. “We can’t go up now; we won’t be able to get the props… but on the bright side, this place should be safe for a while.”
Just like during the day yesterday, the couple had been indirectly saved by Xin Meng twice. Once they drew all the children’s attention away, other places became safe.
“I hope they are safe,” Luo Yingying said anxiously. Every time they attracted so many monsters, the pressure must be immense.
“With You Yi around, they should be fine,” Li Wenjun reassured her. “And I can see that Xin Meng is not someone to be underestimated. Did you see how he glared at Dou Dou and Jie Zi? They were both sweating cold.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect Xin Meng to have that side to him,” Luo Yingying chuckled. “Dou Dou should have learned a lesson; otherwise, he seems to have no sense of crisis, just like he’s playing a computer game, having fun.”
Li Wenjun looked at his beloved wife. When she smiled, her eyes always sparkled brightly, as if they contained a universe filled with a dazzling light that mesmerized him.
He couldn’t help but reach out, gently caressing her cheek, and in a whisper-like voice said, “I’m also very happy to see your smile again.”
His voice was low and vague, as if he only wanted to say it to himself, but Luo Yingying was so familiar with him that she caught most of it, and her face immediately flushed. “You… what kind of books have you been reading? Have you been secretly reading your sister’s romance novels?”
Li Wenjun smiled, seemingly acknowledging it. Luo Yingying sighed in relief and couldn’t help but complain, “I told you, as a big man, don’t always be at odds with your sister’s novels. If she likes to read, let her read! You keep confiscating them, and now you’re secretly reading them yourself. I’m telling you, when we go back, you have to return them all!”
“Okay, okay, I will return them,” Li Wenjun said, seeing her getting more and more animated. Afraid her voice would attract the ghost children, he quickly wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders and softly coaxed, “Your sister loves her more than her brother does. Back then, when she found out… she cried for a long time…”
“What?” Luo Yingying was suddenly cut off mid-sentence, a bit confused. “Found out what? Why did she cry? I don’t remember this at all.”
“Shh, it’s nothing,” Li Wenjun changed the subject. “Don’t talk; be careful not to attract the monsters.”
Luo Yingying could only cover her mouth, and with a playful glint in her eyes, she winked at him, finally throwing him a flirtatious glance.
Li Wenjun chuckled. Even though he was almost thirty, she still acted like a little girl, making him feel both love and pity, wishing he could offer all the most beautiful things in the world to her.
Even in such a game, it was the same.
He just didn’t know how long they could continue living like this…
Standing at the door was too dangerous, so the two of them moved further into the room, hoping to find a place to hide.
Coincidentally, they entered the finance room that Xin Meng had visited before. Inside, there were several filing cabinets and an office desk. Although it couldn’t hide a person, there was a safe that could!
Luo Yingying thought that it could only hide one person, which was no different from not hiding at all. They were a unit and would never separate, so she only glanced at it before looking away, unaware that Li Wenjun had been staring at that safe for quite a while.
“Ah, what is this?” Luo Yingying suddenly felt something strange under her feet. She lifted her foot and saw that there was a cloth doll!
“When did a cloth doll get here? Was it here just now?” Luo Yingying couldn’t remember, but having been a kindergarten teacher, she was familiar with these stuffed toys and didn’t mind its dirt. She bent down to pick it up.
“It seems that no matter which world it is, these little brats have the same destructive power,” she sighed. “Look at this doll; its arm is torn, and it’s so dirty it could be used to make mud.”
A cloth doll?
Li Wenjun found it a bit strange. When he first entered, he had scanned the room, including the floor, and hadn’t seen any cloth doll.
He walked over, and as soon as he saw the cloth doll in Luo Yingying’s hand, his expression changed dramatically!
“This… isn’t this the cloth doll from the rolling barrel?!”
Without thinking, he rushed over and knocked the doll out of Luo Yingying’s hand, sending it crashing to the floor!
Luo Yingying’s face also turned pale. She knew they had found a cloth doll, and Dou Dou had even tried to hand it to her, but she had been so frightened by the sound of the doll falling that she had rejected Dou Dou, turning her head away and not looking at it. She had no idea that the one on the floor of the finance room was the same one!
“But how did it end up here?” Luo Yingying couldn’t understand. “It was just outside on the slide; how could it possibly be here in an instant? Could it just be a similar style?”
“No!” Li Wenjun was sweating, a sense of foreboding washing over him. “It’s exactly the same! Not just the style, but the position of the torn arm, the dirty spots on its face, even the color of the exposed cotton is identical!”
“Then how did it get here?” Luo Yingying asked. “Did a child bring it up when they came?”
“Don’t you remember? Before dawn, we saw all the children in this building; there wasn’t a single person outside!” Li Wenjun’s heart raced faster, and the bad feeling became more pronounced.
They had to… they had to do something, either leave or…
Li Wenjun wanted to take Luo Yingying away immediately, but his gaze fell on the safe, hesitating for a moment.
Luo Yingying didn’t know the turmoil in his heart and continued to analyze, “But those kids aren’t normal; they move so fast. Maybe they just dashed out and dashed back? That means they just came to this room, and if we continue hiding here, the safety factor is very high.”
No! It wasn’t like that!
Li Wenjun didn’t know why, but years of martial arts training had made him sensitive to danger. He sensed that the crisis was getting closer, and they were now unable to escape!
Sure enough, just as he thought of this, he heard footsteps outside the door…
One, two… eight, nine…
The footsteps of a dozen children were coming down the stairs, turning towards this corridor.
Just like when they went upstairs, they had a clear target, without the slightest hesitation.
Cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes as he held onto Luo Yingying, who was also startled by the footsteps, tightly staring at the door. The couple prayed in their hearts at the same time.
Don’t stop here, don’t stop here…
Li Wenjun’s peripheral vision accidentally swept over the cloth doll on the floor, and suddenly he thought of something, his face drained of color!
“It’s over! We can’t hide anymore!” he whispered, trembling.
“What? What do you mean we can’t hide?” Luo Yingying pulled him, “Don’t just stand there! If they push the door open, they’ll see us! Quickly find a place to hide!”
“Yingying, do you remember what You Yi said on the card?” Li Wenjun didn’t look at Luo Yingying; his gaze was fixed on the safe, and he wasn’t being pulled away by her.
Luo Yingying couldn’t move him and was getting frustrated. “What’s wrong with you? Hurry up and go! What are you asking questions for at a time like this?”
“I remember; you were shocked when you heard the content of his card. Don’t you remember?” Li Wenjun’s eyes kept scanning the room, spotting the safe and the rope tied by the window.
He finally moved, but it was to push Luo Yingying towards the safe.
“Ah, I remember! It was ‘Who is following you?’ right? Why suddenly…” Luo Yingying said up to this point, and she realized it herself, gasping in disbelief, “Could it be… could it be that ‘who’ refers to… the cloth doll?”
“Yes! It’s it!” Li Wenjun said quickly. “Everything makes sense now. The reason we couldn’t find them at night was that the cloth doll was monitoring our every move! Now that the cloth doll has appeared in this room, they have already seen us, and hiding is useless!”
“Then…” Luo Yingying also noticed that he was pushing her towards the safe and immediately struggled, “What are you doing? I don’t want to go in alone! I want to be with you; you can’t leave me behind to face danger!”
The footsteps were getting closer to the door. Li Wenjun was sweating profusely, and Luo Yingying was still uncooperative. He could only spend more effort explaining, “There’s a rope outside. I can climb down the rope and escape below. I can’t guarantee your safety if I take you with me! You go in first, close the door tightly, and I’ll come back to find you soon!”
Luo Yingying turned her head and indeed saw the rope there. She vaguely remembered that Xin Meng had mentioned tying a rope here. If they could escape smoothly, she felt a bit relieved. She was a burden, and it was better not to insist on following him during the escape.
So she squeezed into the safe, which could only fit her alone, and she had to hug her arms and lower her head.
Seeing Li Wenjun about to close the door, she quickly said, “You must come back to find me later!”
Li Wenjun paused, firmly nodded at her, then thought of something and handed her the mini flashlight he had found in another room. “Don’t be afraid; I’ll be back in half an hour at most!”
He had to come back. The air inside the safe was limited; if he died, Luo Yingying would suffocate inside too!
Fortunately, the key to the safe was hanging on the door; otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to push Luo Yingying in directly.
“Bang!” He closed the door.
At the same time, the door to the finance room was violently kicked open, slamming against the wall with a loud crash!
