Chapter 21: Pursuit
It was the laugh of that Mad Old Man!
d*mn it, why?
I have no enmity with him, why can’t he just pretend he hasn’t seen me?
Luxianbei’s heart tightened as he looked around but couldn’t find the figure of the Mad Old Man.
Could it be…
Just as the thought flashed through his mind, a foul odor invaded his nostrils. He looked toward the edge of the balcony and heard a chilling sound.
“Sasa, Sasa…”
The sharp sound was sneaky and filled with malice, like some creature dragging long hair, crawling in, trying to make its way into a person’s heart through the ear.
Luxianbei swallowed hard and followed the direction of the sound with his gaze, slowly lowering his line of sight; then, between the gaps of the railings in the corner of the balcony, he caught sight of the Mad Old Man’s half head sticking out.
He was looking down at the Mad Old Man, who was also looking up at him, a bizarre smile hanging on the corner of his mouth, and a hint of indescribable madness and malice in his pale eyes, as if he wanted to see through his flesh layer by layer.
The two locked eyes; the atmosphere was exceedingly eerie.
In the world of martial arts, it is said that a prolonged gaze of over three seconds often leads to only two possibilities: love or enmity.
With Luxianbei’s entangled fate, which resembled a zongzi tightly wrapped in a red thread of fate, it was impossible for him to have any different feelings towards the Mad Old Man. The Mad Old Man likely had no such intentions either.
So, theoretically, their remaining option was to engage in a fight.
However, what Luxianbei didn’t expect was that a third situation arose.
After staring at each other for about three seconds, a flash of crimson fleetingly crossed Luxianbei’s eyes.
In the next moment, a hint of infatuation appeared on the Mad Old Man’s cloudy eyes and wrinkled face, as he mumbled indistinctly, “Girl, beautiful girl, hehehe!”
Luxianbei, “……” Clean up your mouth, who is the beautiful girl?
Just as he inwardly cursed, the Mad Old Man’s complexion gradually turned pale, his eyes rolled back, his body convulsed a couple of times, as if he fainted, falling down heavily onto the railing of the fifth-floor balcony.
What’s going on? Why did he suddenly faint? Is the old man’s health that poor? Did he suddenly overexert himself and go into hypoglycemic shock?
Luxianbei leaned over to take a look at the old man hanging over the railing, pondered for two seconds, turned around, and ran toward the living room without looking back.
Although he was a good boy who valued civility and morality, it was more important to leave while the Mad Old Man was still down.
This was not the time for respecting the elderly and loving the young.
He didn’t care at all about the Mad Old Man’s well-being; if conditions allowed, and if he was worried the Mad Old Man would have a moment of revival, he would even consider going downstairs to deal the finishing blow.
Leaving the balcony and crossing the living room, after a few seconds, Luxianbei realized what it meant to be too clever for his own good.
He had only thought to block the door; if someone tried to break in, he could escape through the window. However, he didn’t expect the Mad Old Man to take an unusual route and crawl onto the balcony.
But, thinking about his spider-like appearance, it was already impressive that he hadn’t crawled in directly against the outer wall.
He unlocked the door and opened the window.
Just as Luxianbei was about to climb out the window, he heard a dull sound from downstairs.
In those few seconds of opening the window, the Mad Old Man seemed to have recovered.
The soundproofing of this old apartment building was terrible; Luxianbei could clearly hear the hurried footsteps of the Mad Old Man downstairs.
“Bang, bang, bang——!”
Each sound felt like a blow to his heart, speeding up his pulse.
He paused for a second or two, snapped back to reality, and immediately took action, flipping himself out the window. Before he could steady himself, he staggered and ran toward the other end of the corridor.
“Bang, bang, bang——!”
The Mad Old Man’s frantic footsteps echoed in the corridor below, chasing after the direction of Luxianbei’s movement.
Listening to the Mad Old Man’s footsteps, Luxianbei suddenly realized something. He stopped midway down the corridor and stood still.
This apartment building’s sound insulation was poor; he could hear the Mad Old Man’s footsteps, so the Mad Old Man could naturally hear his footsteps too.
If he recklessly dashed to the other end of the corridor, he might end up like the lyrics of a song, tumbling toward the “you” at the other end.
If he wanted to leave without clashing with the Mad Old Man, he had to wait in place.
He needed to wait for the Mad Old Man to appear at some point in the corridor or to crawl through the balcony into one of the rooms.
Only then could he determine his position and move in the opposite direction.
However, just as he perked his ears, preparing to discern the Mad Old Man’s location through the footsteps, he found the hallway had fallen into a dead silence.
A gust of wind blew in, dark clouds obscuring the sun, casting a gray hue over the mottled, worn walls and the messy corridor, making everything in sight bleak, while the doors and windows creaked in the wind.
A chilling aura spread through the corridor.
Luxianbei felt goosebumps rise; a cold wind swept over him, as if someone were blowing cold air on the nape of his neck. It wasn’t just pure cold; it carried a sense of panic.
This feeling grew stronger with each beat of his heart, as if it would drown him at any moment.
The Mad Old Man had also stopped, seemingly vanishing suddenly.
However, Luxianbei could feel it; he hadn’t left yet, and he could faintly smell the foul stench emanating from him.
He might have been lying in wait like a beast, ready for its prey to stumble into a trap.
Perhaps realizing that his footsteps could be detected, he intentionally softened his steps.
Or, just like a spider, he could be crawling close to the outer wall, in an unnatural posture, approaching this way.
After a brief moment of thought, Luxianbei realized that waiting in place like this was too passive; he needed to think of a way to change the situation.
To be honest, he felt a bit admirable toward his own calmness. Perhaps it was because there were too many terrifying things in the memories of his dreams. In the past, upon encountering a situation like this, he would have already been scared to the point of trembling legs.
“…”
After pondering for two seconds, Luxianbei suddenly took a step forward, striding forcefully two steps ahead, and immediately heard footsteps from downstairs; as he stopped, the footsteps below soon ceased as well.
He was hearing my footsteps, following my direction?
The situation wasn’t too bad, if that’s the case…
Luxianbei squinted and looked towards the seventh room not far from him, rushing in decisively, followed by a sound of metal twisting and deforming from downstairs.
The door to the seventh room on the fifth floor seemed to be closed, but had the Mad Old Man directly ripped it apart to chase my footsteps?
Luxianbei felt a chill run down his spine; even if the door had rusted severely over time, it was still an iron door!
Ripping apart an iron door like that was no ordinary feat; at least, it wasn’t something a normal old man could do.
The anxiety in his heart seemed to make Luxianbei’s actions even quicker.
In a few quick steps, he darted to the corner of the seventh room, picked up the damaged globe, and swiftly retraced his steps back into the corridor. He raised the globe, gently slamming it to the ground, letting it bounce and roll toward the other end of the corridor.
“Thump—— thump thump—— thump——!”
Without a base, the globe rolled and bounced on the ground, making a muffled sound.
Luxianbei held his breath, straining to listen to the movements below, and then…
“Thump—— thump thump—— thump——!”
The Mad Old Man’s footsteps sounded again, moving in the direction of the globe, even mirroring the rhythm of the sound exactly.
Hearing the footsteps below gradually recede, as they neared the end of the corridor, Luxianbei took a deep breath, suddenly turned around, and stepped softly in the completely opposite direction.
When the sound of the globe’s bouncing completely faded, he unhesitatingly took off running.
Down the stairs, all the way down.
“Ugh—!”
As if realizing he had been deceived, the Mad Old Man let out a hoarse scream, incoherently cursing, and brandishing an iron rod in his hand, he charged toward Luxianbei’s direction.
In the stairwell.
Luxianbei raced down the stairs at a speed of three or four steps per floor, the cracked stairway shedding dust and stones with his vigorous movements.
“Bang, bang, bang——!”
The Mad Old Man’s footsteps were constantly behind him.
Luxianbei didn’t know what was happening behind him and didn’t dare to look back; he could only run for his life.
Fourth floor, third floor, second floor, first floor…
At last, the moment he burst out of the apartment building, breathing in fresh air, Luxianbei couldn’t help but exclaim, “Wuhu——!”
Thanks to Xiao Hua, who had me exercise regularly!
Thanks to Mrs. Wang Meili for giving me a healthy brain and a coordinated body, allowing me not to fall while running!
“Ugh—!”
Seeing that Luxianbei had already left the apartment building, the Mad Old Man, who had just reached the third floor, suddenly let out a bl**d-curdling scream.
Hearing this, Luxianbei’s heart tightened, and he turned around sharply, only to see the Mad Old Man’s shocking move.
He climbed onto the railing of the third-floor corridor, his murky eyes locking onto Luxianbei’s figure, his legs slightly bent as he suddenly leaped forward and plunged down.
With a loud “bang!” he crashed heavily onto the ground.
Unable to get up for a long time.
His left arm and left calf twisted into shapes that the human body shouldn’t be able to make, looking as if the bones were already broken, and beneath him, a dark red bloodstain began to spread.
“What the hell? What’s going on? Did the old man fail to catch up with me and commit s*icide in embarrassment?”
Luxianbei was stunned by the Mad Old Man’s actions, momentarily dazed.
Just then, the Mad Old Man’s body suddenly convulsed violently, the flesh in his abdomen writhing; accompanied by a dull sound of flesh tearing, two arms, as delicate as a baby’s skin, burst forth from his abdomen, extending out to support his body.
“d*mn! Are you still human?” Luxianbei exclaimed a curse, turning around to run.
Behind him, the Mad Old Man was in an exceedingly bizarre posture, propping himself up on the ground with two aberrant arms and his intact limbs, crawling at high speed like some kind of grotesque arthropod.
Five meters, four meters, three meters…
Gradually closing the distance with Luxianbei, and finally “smack!” he seized Luxianbei’s ankle, causing his body to lose balance instantly, tipping forward and crashing to the ground, the toilet plunger he was holding flying out.
