The wind slipped through the gaps between the doors, carrying a faint whimper that drifted along the dark corridor.
Sometimes it sounded like someone crying in the distance, and sometimes like a voice calling from somewhere far away.
Yu Jin ran without looking back.
Her footsteps echoed through the corridor, one after another, sharp and hurried.
The walls on both sides were old and cracked, and a dim red light seeped through the fractures, winding beneath the surface like thin streams of blood.
The farther she ran, the harder it became to breathe.
The air felt heavy, as though something were pressing down on the corridor from all sides.
Yu Jin didn’t know what was behind her, and she had no intention of finding out.
She only knew that she couldn’t stop.
Bang!
A door beside her suddenly burst apart.
Yu Jin flinched but kept running.
Before the broken pieces of wood had even hit the ground, another door exploded farther behind her, followed quickly by a third.
Bang!
Bang!
The sound chased them down the corridor.
Splintered wood flew across the passage, and sparks flashed briefly in the darkness.
Behind the shattered doors came a mixture of cries, roars, and low whispers.
There were too many voices to make out clearly, but hearing them was enough to make Yu Jin’s scalp prickle.
Something was coming out.
She didn’t know what it was, nor did she want to turn around to see.
“Jinjin!”
A boy was running behind her, his breathing already uneven.
“If we keep running like this, can we really get out?”
Before Yu Jin could answer, the girl beside him spoke as well.
“Xiao Yu…
I’m scared…”
Her voice trembled, but she was still keeping up.
Yu Jin clenched her teeth and quickened her pace.
“Don’t stop.
Keep running!”
She had no idea whether there was an exit ahead.
This corridor seemed endless, and the darkness beyond it showed no sign of changing.
But turning back was impossible, and stopping was no different from waiting to be caught.
Another door exploded behind them.
Then another.
The ground trembled beneath their feet, and cracks slowly spread across the walls.
With every door that broke open, the strange pressure in the corridor grew heavier.
Yu Jin gradually realized that the doors weren’t simply breaking.
Something behind them was being released.
She couldn’t see anything clearly, but she could feel the cold air brushing past her back.
At times, it felt as though something had reached toward her from the darkness, almost catching the edge of her clothes before she pulled away.
That feeling made her run even faster.
Her legs were beginning to ache.
Her chest burned with every breath, and sweat ran down the side of her face.
She had no idea how long they had been running.
There was nothing in the corridor that could tell her how far they had gone, only the endless doors and the explosions following behind them.
Gradually, even her footsteps became unsteady.
Yu Jin stumbled once and nearly fell.
She caught herself and continued forward, but her legs were already growing numb.
Her breathing came in short, uneven gasps, and the darkness in front of her seemed to blur together.
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep going.
Then a white light appeared ahead.
Yu Jin stared at it for a moment, almost thinking she had imagined it.
But the light was still there.
It came from an opening at the end of the corridor.
“There’s an exit!”
The moment the words left her mouth, the other two looked up.
Yu Jin forced herself to run faster.
“Jump when we get there.
You two go first!”
“What about you?” the boy asked.
“I’ll follow.
Don’t look back!”
There was no time to argue.
The corridor shook again, harder than before.
More cracks appeared along the walls, and several doors behind them burst open almost at the same time.
The three of them reached the opening.
Yu Jin slowed down just enough to move behind the other two and gave the boy a hard push.
“Go!”
He stumbled forward, regained his balance, and jumped into the white light.
The girl followed, but before jumping, she turned back.
“Xiao Yu…”
Her eyes were red.
Yu Jin pushed her toward the opening.
“Go!”
The girl bit her lip and jumped.
In the next second, she disappeared into the light.
Yu Jin was alone.
The explosions behind her were getting closer.
She didn’t turn around.
She took one last breath, ran the final few steps, and pushed herself off the ground.
The white light was right in front of her.
Just as her body left the ground, the last door behind her exploded.
Boom!
A powerful force swept through the corridor.
Yu Jin instinctively looked back.
A black vortex had opened in the darkness behind her.
It spun violently, swallowing the broken pieces of wood and dust around it as the corridor continued to shake.
Then a voice came from inside.
“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!”