Inside the shrine, the maniac who had just finished his ghastly feast snapped his head up, a twisted grin of supreme ecstasy plastered across his blood-drenched face.
Baring teeth flecked with bits of flesh, his frantic eyes locked onto the nearby crowd that had just scattered, scanning them like playthings.
Yet in the split second before he could coil his body and lunge, a figure darted forward.
Chen Yexun surged forth on pure instinct!
The unassuming fruit knife in his hand carved a sharp arc through the air without a shred of hesitation— *Pfft!* The blade buried itself deep into the eye socket beaming with psychotic glee, plunging all the way to the hilt!
He even gave his wrist an instinctive, violent twist!
The lunatic’s hysterical laughter froze instantly, morphing into a grotesque twitch.
His body jerked upright before collapsing limp as a rag doll, as if all his bones had vanished.
Only his limbs gave a few unconscious twitches before settling into complete stillness.
Silence descended over the shrine, broken only by the faint echoes of madness from down the mountain and the dead calm surrounding the fresh corpse before them.
Chen Yexun panted heavily as he jerked the knife free.
Thick, warm blood and bits of viscous fluid dripped from the blade.
Scenes flashed rapidly through his mind: the security guard turning after being bitten, Duan Xuan going mad after taking an injury…
*It’s a virus…
spread through blood?* A theory about these lunatics took shape in his mind.
Stabbing the neck was certainly lethal, but the arterial spray carried too high a risk of contamination.
The eyes, however…
led straight to the brain.
Just as deadly, but relatively “clean.” He squatted down, expressionlessly wiping the blood from the blade against the dead lunatic’s clothes.
Standing up, he growled at the dazed, terror-stricken crowd around him, “Is anyone hurt?!
If you’re injured, step forward so I can check!
If you’re not, stop standing there staring!
Get back to barricading the doors!
Move if you want to live!” His voice was raspy, yet it bore an unquestionable authority that bizarrely snapped several people back from the brink of total breakdown.
Just then, someone pointed behind him in sheer panic.
At the same time, Li Chengyu’s terrified scream rang out: “Yexun!
Behind you!
Watch out!!” Every hair on Chen Yexun’s body stood on end.
Without thinking, he whipped around and delivered a brutal sidekick!
*Bang!* With a dull thud, a “corpse” that had been lying motionless on the floor—presumed dead—was sent tumbling backward!
It was the man who had been bitten first, missing his nose and ears!
At some point he had woken up again, wearing that same maniacal grin as he scrambled to his feet to leap at the nearest person!
The kicked lunatic spat an enraged curse, then reached out and violently grabbed a frozen woman nearby by her long hair, pulling with enough force to rip her scalp off!
A few people who had just mustered their courage snapped to action, shouting as they rushed forward to subdue him.
But it was too late!
Laughing like a demon, the lunatic used the tension from their pulling to yank himself forward.
He opened his blood-filled mouth and clamped his teeth onto the woman’s neck like a beast!
*Splat!* Blood burst forth like a ruptured pipe, drenching the onlookers!
Screams, manic laughter, and the ghastly sound of chewing instantly flooded the cramped shrine once more!
The fragile order and courage they had barely managed to cling to shattered completely with that single bite!
Chaos exploded like a plague, far more violent and desperate than before!
“No saving this!
Move!” Chen Yexun’s eyes went utterly cold.
He knew the situation was beyond control.
He grabbed Li Chengyu, who was still trying to charge forward and save the woman, and hauled him away from that living hell, sprinting toward a room beside the shrine marked *Scenic Area Convenience Store*.
The store was in utter disarray—shelves overturned, merchandise scattered across the floor, completely deserted.
“Help me!
Lift the shelf!” Chen Yexun bellowed.
Together, he and Li Chengyu heaved a heavy metal display rack and dragged it toward the edge of the viewing platform.
Peering over the edge, he saw the lunatics swarming up the mountain stairs.
Though slowed by the falling debris, they clung to the steps like leeches on skin, the closest now merely a dozen meters from the platform!
“Throw it!” Chen Yexun and Li Chengyu shoved together, sending the heavy rack tumbling over the edge with a deafening crash, crushing another batch of lunatics.
Listening to the endless shrieks echoing from the shrine, Li Chengyu turned pale, his lips trembling.
“Yexun…
should we…
go back and…” “Help them with what?!” Chen Yexun cut him off, his voice devoid of heat.
“The maniacs from below are about to reach us!
We have to prioritize!
There are fewer infected up there, and the living are at least buying us time!
If the horde from below breaks through, we’re all dead!” He paused, keeping the rest of his thoughts to himself: *Besides, with so many people up there, we’ll never get onto the cable car.
Enough of them have to die…
Only by eliminating the competition do we stand a chance.* Li Chengyu stared at his cousin’s strangely cold eyes.
His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Silently, he turned and followed Chen Yexun back into the shop, hauling out shelf after shelf, freezers, and even the cash register counter, hurling them off the platform to buy time against the approaching swarm.
As they strained to hold the line, several blood-drenched, terrified survivors scrambled out of the shrine’s entrance on all fours!
Right behind them were four lunatics covered in fresh blood, laughing hysterically as they sauntered out as if playing a game.
One of them surged forward, grabbing a slow tourist and easily dragging them back onto the steps.
The other three immediately swarmed in, beginning a chilling display of group torture.
Screams and psychotic laughter echoed through the air once more.
Chen Yexun’s heart leaped!
He stared intently at the cable car, which had finally creaked to a stop at the platform station.
Its doors sluggishly slid open!
“Now’s our chance!
Go!” Chen Yexun slapped Li Chengyu’s shoulder.
Like wild horses breaking free, they summoned their remaining strength and sprinted recklessly toward the doorway that offered their only salvation!
They burst inside first, followed closely by a panicked young woman and a burly man in a security uniform.
The cramped interior smelled of cheap leather mixed with the metallic tang of fresh blood.
“Quick!
Get your weapons ready!
Don’t let them in before the doors close!” Chen Yexun yelled raspy-voiced, drawing his bloodied fruit knife once more.
Li Chengyu hurriedly raised a wooden bench leg he had somehow ripped off inside the shrine.
The security guard reacted quickly, snatching up the metal selfie stick Chen Yexun had dropped and holding it across the doorway.
Just then, a final man in a blood-soaked suit came running toward the cable car, crying hysterically.
“Save me!
Give me a hand!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, stretching out a hand.
Li Chengyu instinctively leaned out and grabbed his hand!
At that exact moment, the four lunatics finished with their “game” chased after him, laughing insanely as they reached the door!
Two of them pounced, grabbing hold of the man’s clothes and legs!
“Ahhh!!
Pull me up!
I’m begging you!!” the man shrieked in agony as his body was caught in a terrifying tug-of-war, nearly tearing him apart!
The man in the suit gripped Li Chengyu’s wrist like a dying man clinging to a lifeline!
Li Chengyu let out a gasp as the momentum pulled him forward toward the edge!
“Hold on!” Chen Yexun reacted instantly, wrapping his arms around Li Chengyu’s waist.
The guard leaped in to help as well, the three of them barely managing to anchor against the crushing pull from outside!
Yet almost simultaneously, the fastest lunatic reached out and snagged the back of the suit jacket!
The strain doubled!
A deadlock!
A horrifying deadlock!
Another lunatic, a playful smirk on his face, pulled a metal dining fork from his tattered pocket.
Hysterical laughter bubbled from his throat as he drove the fork into the man’s back over and over again!
*Pfft!
Pfft!
Pfft!* The man shrieked like a slaughtered pig.
The excruciating pain nearly made him pass out, but survival instinct kept his death grip locked on Li Chengyu’s wrist.
Suddenly, the two lunatics holding the man let go!
They bypassed the wrestling maniac and charged straight for the cable car door!
The guard jabbed the selfie stick straight into one lunatic’s eye socket!
But the attacker merely let out a moan of sick delight.
Blood poured down his face, only making him wilder as he grabbed the pole and refused to let go!
The other lunatic reached out to grab Li Chengyu, who was still holding onto the man in the suit!
In the blink of an eye— Chen Yexun lunged from behind Li Chengyu.
His fruit knife plunged straight into the eye socket of the lunatic reaching for his cousin!
A sharp twist of his wrist dispatched him instantly!
But the trapped man in the suit had become an anchor dragging them down, and more lunatics were closing in!
Without a beat of hesitation, Chen Yexun yanked his blade free.
His cold gaze swept over the man whose back was a mangled mess of flesh, yet who still refused to let go of Li Chengyu.
A sense of impending doom flooded the man’s eyes, giving way to absolute terror and pleading.
“No…
please…” Chen Yexun’s face remained blank as he raised the knife and brought it down hard!
Not at the lunatics, but across the wrist Li Chengyu was holding!
Tendons and arteries severed in an instant!
Shocking pain and rapid blood loss forced a final, incredulous shriek from the man.
His hand buckled, letting go against his will.
“Fuck you, you cold-blooded piece of shit bastard!!!” It was his final curse before falling into hell.
Without the counter-tension, Li Chengyu and the guard tumbled backward into the cable car cabin.
The man hit the ground hard and was swarmed by the remaining three lunatics.
They descended on him with joyous roars, beginning another round of senseless violence.
The sound of tearing flesh and satisfied laughter served as the final backdrop.
Just then, the cable car’s automatic doors chimed softly and began to slide shut!
Outside, a dense, laughing crowd poured onto the platform like ants.
They swarmed forward, hammering with blood-stained hands and even slamming their heads against the closing doors and windows, screaming filthy, vile curses at the survivors trapped inside.
“Run!
Go on and run!” “Just you wait!
Hahahaha!
We’ll find you!” “We’ll shove your heads down the toilet!
Rip out your guts and use them as jump ropes!” The cable car groaned to life, leaving that living hell behind as it glided toward the opposite cliffside.
The lunatics ran to the edge of the precipice, waving their arms and cackling, their silhouettes shrinking in the distance.
Inside the cabin, dead silence prevailed.
Leaning against the cold metal wall, Chen Yexun slowly exhaled the foul air he had been holding in his chest.
For now…
they were safe.
He looked around.
The guard sat slumped on the floor, pale as death, shaking uncontrollably with hollow, unseeing eyes, clearly unable to process the absolute horror and ruthless choice he had just witnessed.
The young woman had curled into a ball in the corner, burying her face in her knees as muffled, hopeless sobs racked her body.
And Li Chengyu…
Chen Yexun’s gaze settled on his cousin.
Li Chengyu remained where he had fallen on the floor, hands trembling slightly, head bowed so his expression was hidden.
“Are you alright?” Chen Yexun reached out to pat his shoulder.
Li Chengyu snapped his head up, gasping heavily as his chest heaved.
His eyes collided with Chen Yexun’s, his lips quivering with a complex tangle of emotions.
There was relief at surviving, an urge to say “thank you”—yet all of it froze in his throat the moment he met Chen Yexun’s unfeeling, frigid eyes.
Fear.
A primal, instinctive horror toward that decisive, ruthless slice rushed through him uncontrollably.
The person who saved him was his cousin, but…
was the person who slashed a living man’s wrist without a second thought truly that introverted college student?
The jarring rift between the two left Li Chengyu feeling alien, terrified…
shuddering with dread.
Chen Yexun’s hand froze midair.
Li Chengyu stared back at him, his lips working silently, unable to utter a single word.