Puzzle Madness

Chapter 170 Autumn is the Hunting Season (Part 6)

They placed the flashlights on the ground to provide some light in the room—at that moment, they desperately needed the sense of security that light and warmth could bring.

It's deep enough here, with two layers of doors blocking the way, and the corridor has curves, so light shouldn't leak out and attract anything from outside.
Hope so.

The crowd was too tired and too terrified to think much.

Big Head Hong had already dropped the rope axle during the escape, and the rope was scattered in the passageway outside—otherwise they would have definitely used the rope to tie the door securely.

The girl with burns on her face hugged her arms and leaned against the wall.

Although she was wearing a school uniform, she wasn't carrying a backpack: the long-sleeved school uniform was blue and white, and it was a sporty jacket; it was loosely wrapped around her body, with the zipper pulled up to her chin and the hem reaching her thighs.

The outfit was just right in the somewhat chilly air-raid shelter; but it was a bit too hot outside.

Whenever you look at her, you can see that her slender eyes are also looking at you: it's a strange feeling that makes you involuntarily look away.

However, the four of them were still calming down from the fear and excitement brought on by the chase, and had no time to care about anything else.

What's inside?

Eyeglasses-wearing boy sat in the corner, hugging his knees; he took off his glasses and wiped his face.

Everyone else perked up their ears: the question was clearly meant for the girl with burn scars on her face, and everyone wanted to know.

She immediately gave her answer, without any concealment:

“A person. At least he looks like a person, with two hands and two feet. He is very big and strong—his back is bent and his neck is touching the concrete beam.”

"How tall is it here? About 2.5 meters? Then it's probably about 2.75 or 2.8 meters tall. It's strong, but not fast."

"Now that you've encountered it, you should know about its aggressiveness."

An unexpected answer – both in content and detail.

Big Head Hong finally took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his wet hair—his hairline resembled the letter "M." He was showing signs of male pattern baldness; perhaps it was from wearing the cap so much.

"A person? How could it be a person? The floor was shaking when that thing ran, and it weighed at least three or four hundred kilograms."

"And—and that cleaver! Did you see that? It's outrageous, the size of a car door! And it was thrown at us, wasn't it? A giant with a cleaver. What the hell?"

Huang Youtian paced back and forth in the cramped concrete room. The flashlight cast a huge shadow on his gaunt frame.
"Then it's not actually human, but rather a monster with a human appearance. I need to think, to recall... I feel like I've seen it in 'Psychological Exploration' before."

Upon hearing the words "Super Psychological Exploration," the girl turned her gaze to him:

Are you tourists?

Huang Youtian nodded, turned his face away, and avoided the girl's gaze:

"Yeah, I just came to check things out and have some fun; and it turned out like this. The guy with glasses is a local, I'm from the mainland—"

The eyepiece suddenly interrupted, posing a new question:

"Wait a minute. Um, did you see how the door was installed? There wasn't a door when we came in."

Here's another question everyone wants to know:

The steel security door seemed to appear out of nowhere, yet it fit so perfectly; it looked as if someone had secretly installed it after they entered.

This is no small project; it would be difficult for one person to complete it in a short time.

The girl stared at the boy through the eyepiece. It was a strange, scrutinizing gaze, like a teacher staring at a student.

“I don’t know. I didn’t come in through this door—I only realized it was closed when I got here.” “But the situation is clear: we’re trapped here. If the door appeared suddenly, then it’s a trap.”

For a moment, everyone fell silent. A darker possibility lodged in their throats, rendering them speechless.

The sour soup bak kut teh involves tying the straps of platform wedge heels together and hanging the shoes around the neck.

It seems she doesn't plan to wear shoes for quite some time to come.

She stood up and walked to the girl's side:
"Let's not talk about that now. I haven't thanked you for reminding us to escape."

"Hi! I'm Sour Soup Bak Kut Teh, this is Glasses Boy, the one wearing a hat is Big Head Hong, and the one with blond hair is Wong Yau Tim. We're only a few years older than you, it's quite a coincidence that we met here. What's your name?"

“We all use pseudonyms, so can you; just give us a code name that we can use, since the situation is so dangerous right now.”

The girl hid the lower half of her face in her raised collar and flicked the zipper with her index finger.

"Ai Xi".

"Essence? You have good taste."

The man patted his shoulder bag, unzipped it, and took out a thin pack of cigarettes with a bright blue case.

"Ah—what a coincidence. Nice nickname. How did you know I had a bag with me? It's fate that we even thought of the same name."

The light blue cigarette pack has the letters [ESSE] printed on it.

"Indeed, [Aish] sounds quite like a girl's name, and [Haocai] would also be good."

"This cigarette is indeed pleasant to smoke, a menthol-based cool smoke. However, it's probably best for middle school students not to smoke."

Perhaps the sour soup bak kut teh originally hoped to gain the laughter of the person in front of it to shorten the distance—but it did not succeed.

She lowered her head, turning the cigarette in her hand over and over, rubbing the thin filter between her fingers. Suddenly, she posed a question, seemingly casually:

"Could you describe in detail what you saw? After all, you arrived earlier than us."

Ai Xi's brows furrowed as she stared at the pack of Ai Xi cigarettes in her palm—perhaps because of the dim light, her expression was complex and unreadable.

But then, she raised her hand over everyone's heads and pointed to the iron gate:
"Have you heard of the serial killer in Mong Cai? There's one here, loitering around outside."

"Serial killer? What serial killer?"

Big Head Hong clutched his forehead, his sweat-drenched face contorted in a grimace.
"There are things like that?! Like Jack the Ripper? What's that outside—a person, a monster, or a ghost?!"

He turned his head and looked at the guy with the eyeglasses—the local who should be the most familiar with the situation in the group.

But the guy with the glasses just pushed up his glasses and shook his head:
"I've never heard of that. Maybe it's something circulating among the students, but I don't know; Mong Cai is just a small place."

Huang Youtian stopped pacing and grabbed two handfuls of his blond hair.
"Holy crap, nobody's surprised? I'm totally dumbfounded; Big Head Hong was right earlier!"

"Um, this little sister Ai Xi said she looks like a human, so she must be the Surinamese all-metal big-headed savage, right? Does anyone remember what habits or weaknesses such a creature has?"

The woman, stroking her lips, seemed lost in thought. Hearing this, she looked up:

"Isn't that a pirated copy of 'Predator'? It's just that they changed the alien race to subterranean creatures, but everything else is pretty much the same."

"Impossible. The height and build don't match. I remember the magazine said they were only about 1.6 meters tall."

(End of this chapter)