Wang Helin leaned most of his body out of the cable car.
The freezing mountain wind howled into the cabin, snapping their clothes around them.
Struggling to keep his balance, he turned back and shouted into the cabin, “When I climb up, the car might sway!
Keep it steady for me!” Chen Yexun nodded grimly.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he growled at Li Chengyu and the woman, “Quick!
Spread out, crouch down, and hold on to the seats!” The two complied at once, crouching in separate corners of the cabin and gripping the freezing metal seat frames with all their strength, trying to lend their weight to the fragile balance.
Wang Helin turned around, wedged the metal selfie stick firmly behind his belt, grabbed the upper frame of the window with both hands, took a deep breath, and heaved himself upward.
The sudden movement sent a violent shudder through the cable car, bringing the hearts of all three people inside into their throats.
His foot slipped once, nearly sending him plummeting into the valley below, but the friction between his shoes and the slick roof gave him just enough traction to regain his footing in the nick of time.
Not daring to stop, he pushed up with all the strength in his arms, hooked one foot over the edge of the roof, and took a wild gamble by letting go of the window to reach up and grab the main haulage rope—freezing, greasy, and constantly in motion.
Relying on his arms and core strength, he finally dragged his other foot up, standing unsteadily atop the cable car.
The gale nearly blew him off right then, forcing him into a low squat to lower his center of gravity.
He pulled the selfie stick from his waist, his eyes locked onto the approaching support tower ahead and the massive haulage sheave spinning rapidly atop it with a low hum.
The distance was closing fast.
And at the same time, they were drawing ever closer to the mad hell on the opposite platform.
Chen Yexun slowly poked his head out slightly from the window, craning his neck to look toward the opposite shore.
The mist had thinned further, laying bare a sight that made his scalp prickle and his blood run cold.
What those maniacs held in their hands weren’t lanterns at all.
They were human heads.
Tangled, dark hair was crudely tied at the top, and glowing little light beads were stuffed inside them.
Dim, eerie yellow light leaked out through the eye sockets and open mouths, swaying as the maniacs carried them, casting twisted, dancing shadows.
Some of the maniacs were using blood-stained blades to slice off bits of flesh left on the “lanterns” like peeling apples, stuffing the meat into their mouths to chew.
Others clutched severed, mutilated limbs, making obscene gestures while babbling insane gibberish and laughing hysterically.
Further off, headless torsos hung bound to the temple pillars with thick iron wire, swaying like cured meats left out to dry…
The modern clothing on those torsos silently testified that they were likely the passengers who had boarded the cable car one step ahead of Chen Yexun’s group!
Just then, the maniacs on the far side seemed to notice the new “toy” slowly approaching.
In unison, they turned their heads, their faces breaking into identical, distorted grins as they broke out in even louder cheers of revelry, surging like a tide toward the platform where the cable car was about to dock.
“Here come the little piglets!” an extraordinarily fat, blood-soaked maniac squealed in delight, slapping his belly as if calling out to livestock about to be released from their cage.
Chen Yexun clenched his teeth, his knuckles turning white from the pressure.
He loathed leaving his life in someone else’s hands, but right now, he had no choice.
All hope rested on the figure atop the car.
“Gag—!” With just a single glance, Li Chengyu couldn’t take it anymore.
He whipped his head away, collapsed onto the cabin floor, and began dry-heaving violently, almost spitting up bile.
Wang Helin on the roof had seen the infernal scene as well; his legs went weak, almost collapsing right there.
Forcing himself to take deep breaths, he squeezed the last drop of courage from his body and prayed silently like a mantra, *Jam it!
Please jam it!
Jam it!* Just as the cable car was about to enter the support tower zone— *BANG!* A loud bang echoed off the front windshield!
The toughened glass shattered instantly into a web of cracks!
Chen Yexun ducked instantly at the noise, his hand shooting out like lightning to slam down the heads of the dry-heaving Li Chengyu and the frozen, terrified woman.
“Get down!
Don’t look up!” he barked.
Next came a barrage of objects hailing down!
Utility knives slick with blood and bits of flesh, rusty wood saws, gleaming kitchen knives…
Laughing hysterically, the maniacs pelted their “tools” and “toys” at the cable car!
*Bang!
Clang!
Crack!* The outer walls and roof of the cabin took hit after hit with loud thuds, shaking violently as if the vehicle might fall apart at any moment.
Without raising his head, Chen Yexun strained his eyes upward, tracking the support tower just a few meters away and the rapidly spinning sheave!
His heart pounded wildly, nearly breaking through his ribs.
Could this death car bound for a slaughterhouse really be stopped?
Finally, the cable car slid under the support tower, mere inches from the giant sheave!
*Now!
Wang Helin, do it!* Chen Yexun screamed silently in his heart.
However…
The expected metallic impact, screeching friction, and violent jerk of the car…
none of it happened.
The cable car slid smoothly and effortlessly past the support tower without the slightest hitch.
It was as if Wang Helin hadn’t done a thing.
“W-What happened?!” Li Chengyu felt the abnormal smoothness too.
He raised his head, deathly pale, his voice trembling with despair.
“D-Did he fail?
Or…” Chen Yexun was horrified as a chilling wave of dread washed over him!
No!
Something was terribly wrong!
Even if he failed, an attempt to jam the mechanism would have caused the rope to jolt and the car to sway—it couldn’t possibly move this smoothly!
Unless…
Wang Helin hadn’t even tried!
He was about to tell Li Chengyu, “I’m going out to check,” but before the words left his mouth— *THUD!* A much heavier impact, like flesh slamming into glass, resounded from above the front window!
Immediately after, a body plummeted from the roof like a broken kite, hitting the cracked front windshield with a wet *SPLAT*!
It was Wang Helin!
He hadn’t fallen off yet!
His hands gripped the edge of the roof tightly as his body dangled in front of the window, blocking most of their view.
“Watch out!” Li Chengyu cried out, instinctively moving to stand up and pull him in.
But Chen Yexun was faster!
He lunged forward and grabbed Li Chengyu, stopping him from breaking a side window to reach for Wang Helin.
The moment Li Chengyu caught sight of Wang Helin’s face, he froze.
A freezing chill poured from the top of his head down to his toes!
Wang Helin raised his head with difficulty.
On his face…
hung an extraordinarily twisted grin, dripping with malice and insanity!
His mouth was stretched almost to his ears, producing a blood-curdling *giggle-giggle-giggle*.
Deeply embedded in his left forearm was a small knife coated in thick blood and bits of meat—unmistakably one of the weapons thrown by the maniacs earlier!
Blood dripped down his arm, spattering onto the windshield.
Wang Helin…
or rather, what should now be called “it”—glared into the cabin with eyes full of madness and mockery.
In a high-pitched, warped voice, it spewed vile, disgusting obscenities: “Hee-hee…
Little piglets…
Don’t rush…
One by one…” “Gonna make your heads…
into the brightest lanterns…
hang ’em all from the rafters…
Hahaha!!” The maniacs on the far shore seemed to witness this grand show, bursting into even wilder, ecstatic laughter, applause, and howls, as if enjoying a brilliant play.
Chen Yexun understood everything in an instant.
The things hurled by the maniacs weren’t just attacks.
That knife had cut him!
The virus had entered the wound and completed the infection and transformation in mere moments!
At the exact moment their last ray of hope was about to be carried out, Wang Helin had turned into their most terrifying enemy.
Their final lifeline was severed right before their eyes.
And the cable car continued, smoothly and irreversibly, toward the terminus of screaming madness hung with human head lanterns.