The middle-aged woman’s booming voice echoed through the corridor, creating an uproar. People in the surrounding rooms secretly peeked out as though they were thieves. But the moment they heard that Lin Ya had AIDS, they slammed their doors shut as swiftly as startled rabbits, as if her illness could pass through walls and infect them too.
Lin Ya peeked through the crack in her door, feeling utterly helpless. Honestly, what was this supposed to be?!
“Old woman, if you keep shouting like that, the zombies are going to burst through the main entrance! Since she can’t serve us, why not just throw her out of the third-floor window and let the zombies outside have her for dinner?”
A teasing voice came from a nearby room. It sounded as though the speaker was joking, but the viciousness beneath his words was impossible to conceal.
Only then did Lin Ya notice that the door of the room opposite hers hadn’t been properly closed. Otherwise, how could the voice have carried so clearly into her ears? There was no need to guess. The big brother the landlady had mentioned was definitely inside.
At that moment, the landlady was feeling terribly frustrated. She had originally planned to use Lin Ya to exchange for food and protection, but now all her plans had gone up in smoke. She was both angry and conflicted, unsure whether she should believe Lin Ya’s words.
Perhaps Lin Ya was simply lying and trying to seize the opportunity to escape. But the landlady didn’t dare take that risk. If she really contracted the disease, there wouldn’t even be a hospital in this apocalypse. The consequences were easy to imagine.
“Come on, Second Brother, don’t be so heartless! Didn’t our teacher tell us to make the best use of everything? I’ve never seen what a woman with AIDS looks like before!”
A slick, oily voice came from inside the room, accompanied by the calls and announcements of people playing Dou Dizhu.
“Third Brother, elaborate!”
“Why not have the landlady strip her naked and hang her in front of that huge floor-to-ceiling window behind the building? That way, everyone could get a close-up look at how an AIDS-infected woman’s private parts change, and the zombies outside could feast their eyes on her too!”
A burst of raucous laughter followed, mixed with remarks such as, “You’re always coming up with the most devious ideas, you little rascal!”
Every now and then, the muffled moans of men and women could also be heard.
Lin Ya slammed the door shut with a bang. Her heart pounded wildly inside her chest, like a little drum being beaten at random. Pressing herself against the wall, she slowly slid down and sat on the floor, gripping the fruit knife tightly in her hand. Although it might not be much use, at least holding it gave her some peace of mind.
After resting for a while, Lin Ya got up and forcefully dragged both the table and the bed behind the door. The landlady outside heard the commotion but showed no particular reaction. Instead, one of the burly men made a mocking remark.
“Do you think she knows our big brother can shoot fire? All that dragging things around won’t make any difference. Our big brother could settle everything with a single burst of fire!”
The others burst into laughter again. Then came the sound of something striking flesh, and the miserable screams outside the door grew even louder.
Lin Ya grew increasingly uneasy. With all that noise, it was only a matter of time before the zombies broke through the door.
Afraid that the men might order her to deal with Lin Ya, that troublesome woman, the landlady hurriedly tossed out an excuse.
“I’m going downstairs to get cigarettes and drinks for the big brothers!”
With that, she scurried away in a flash.
From the situation so far, the main entrance was definitely locked tight, and it might even have been blocked by heavy objects. Going downstairs was out of the question too, since she would certainly have to pass the rooms of those burly men whose doors were left open.
She could guarantee that the moment she stepped outside her room, or whenever those men had a free hand, she would be the first person they dealt with. After all, everyone in this little inn was already under their control.
“No, I have to think of another way to escape. Going through the main entrance is definitely out of the question. I have to find a way out of this room!”
Thank goodness her room was on the back side of the building. The burly men had chosen rooms on the same side as the main entrance so they could keep an eye on what was happening there. In other words, they were all staying opposite her room.
Lin Ya strode over to the window. Outside, the zombies would occasionally stop moving. Some would suddenly turn and hurry toward the main entrance, while others continued swaying aimlessly where they stood.
Lin Ya quickly racked her brain for a way to escape while examining the room for anything she could use as a weapon. But this shabby room contained little more than a power outlet, a bed, a table, a bedside cabinet, and a chair. There was also a water purifier of unknown age, along with two five-liter buckets filled with water beside it.
With no time to think things through, she climbed onto the chair and tugged hard at the curtains. At that moment, she was extremely grateful for the innkeeper’s stinginess. With just a few forceful tugs, the curtain hooks came loose, one after another, and several of them broke.
Then Lin Ya quickly used the fruit knife in her hand to cut the curtains into long strips of fabric. Next came the bedsheet and the bath towel. She turned everything in the room that could be used into strips of cloth.
Afterward, she braided them together to make a sturdy rope. Throughout the entire process, her heart pounded like a drum, and nervous sweat seeped from her palms.
Just when she felt as though an entire century had passed, she finally finished making the rope. Lin Ya let out a long sigh of relief.
She then firmly tied one end of the rope to the bed leg and attached the two large buckets of purified water to the other end to test whether the rope was long enough.
The two buckets of water could also serve as weapons, and she could drink from them if she got thirsty. It was a convenient way to kill two birds with one stone. Besides, she didn’t have any other decent weapons at her disposal, so she would have to make do with what she had.
Next, she cautiously lowered the rope through the window.
Just then, a man’s shout came from the small alley opposite the building.
“Hey, miss! What are you doing? Are you trying to get out? Could you bring me some food while you’re at it? I’ve been hungry for half the day!”
Lin Ya was speechless. She couldn’t even see which room across the alley the man was shouting from, yet he could clearly tell what she was trying to do.
Without wasting any more time, she continued slowly lowering the buckets.
Suddenly, the second-floor window was flung open. A bespectacled man leaned out and looked up. His gaze locked onto Lin Ya, and a sly, vicious glint flashed through his eyes.
From the shape of his mouth, Lin Ya could tell that he had mouthed the words, “Stupid B!”
Her heart immediately began to race with anxiety. What if this man pulled her rope into his room? What would she do then? Or what if he alerted the group of burly men? Would she still be able to escape?
Fortunately, the bespectacled man merely glanced at her before withdrawing his head back inside.
Thank goodness she was staying on the third floor. It wasn’t too high.
Once the buckets and rope had reached the ground, she quickly climbed out of the window, gripped the rope tightly with both hands, and began making her way down one careful step at a time.
Her heart was pounding wildly, and her palms were beginning to sweat. This really was a matter of life and death, decided in a single moment!
The man in the small alley opposite was still shouting loudly, demanding food.
A thousand furious curses seemed to gallop through Lin Ya’s mind. He was complaining about not having eaten for half a day, while she, Lin Ya, hadn’t eaten anything for two whole days!
If it weren’t for the tiny bit of willpower keeping her going, she might already have become someone else’s plaything by now.
As she passed the bespectacled man’s second-floor window, she caught sight of him holding a lighter and sauntering toward the window!
Lin Ya’s heart sank. That damn four-eyed bastard was obviously planning to burn through her rope!
She immediately quickened her movements, wishing she could reach the ground that very instant.
Seeing Lin Ya rapidly climbing down from above, the bespectacled man grew anxious. He couldn’t care less about anything else and immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.
“The AIDS woman is escaping! The AIDS woman is climbing out the window!”
Lin Ya rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath.
“Damn it! You’re a grown man, so how can your voice be so high and shrill?!”