Chapter 5: Caught You
2081 Words
Bo Lijue returned to Qiqi's doorstep, pushing two suitcases. He skillfully entered the door lock code.
"Beep beep, incorrect password."
He entered the code again, "Beep beep, incorrect password."
Bo Lijue's eyes instantly turned terrifyingly sinister, a violent glint flashing in his gaze.
Inside, Qiqi heard the sound of the password being entered at the door, and she immediately became alert, knowing Bo Lijue had returned.
She hid inside, not daring to make a sound, listening to the repeated incorrect password alerts. She knew Bo Lijue was persistently trying different codes.
With continuous incorrect attempts, the lock automatically disabled further entries.
Bo Lijue exploded in rage, starting to pound on the door furiously, "Bang... bang..." The deafening noise caused dust to fall from the walls.
Inside, Qiqi helplessly covered her ears, trembling in a corner.
Her eyes filled with tears of terror. If Bo Lijue broke in, her fate would be a hundred times worse than the woman across the hall.
The pounding continued for about ten minutes before gradually subsiding into silence.
Both inside and outside were eerily quiet.
Qiqi huddled in the corner, hugging her trembling body. Even though it was quiet outside, she didn't dare move.
After a long time, when her body was numb, Qiqi finally trembled as she stood up from the corner.
She moved her numb legs to the refrigerator blocking the door, opened it, and took out a bottle of cold water, gulping it down.
Her throbbing head cleared up a bit.
Qiqi put down the empty bottle, exhaling a breath of relief. Her gaze fell on the peephole on the door. She paused, then quietly climbed onto the dining table blocking the door.
Peering through the peephole, she saw the empty corridor, and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Just as she was about to look away, a gray, blurry eye suddenly appeared at the peephole.
"Ah..."
Qiqi fell off the table in fright. Ignoring the pain, she crawled behind the sofa to hide, tears streaming down her pale face.
Bo Lijue hadn't left; he was still at the door.
"Bang... bang..." A new round of door pounding began, showing Bo Lijue's extreme agitation, with low growls escaping his mouth.
He seemed desperate to break in.
Time passed, feeling like an eternity to Qiqi, until it finally quieted down outside.
Her tense body relaxed, leaning against the sofa, her sweat-soaked clothes sticking to her skin, causing her to shiver.
She didn't change her clothes, maintaining the same position for a long time, lost in thought.
"Grumble grumble..." Her stomach growled.
Qiqi finally reacted, standing up with the help of the sofa, looking at the quiet door. She sensed that Bo Lijue had left, his menacing aura gone.
The oppressive haze over her head finally lifted.
"Grumble grumble..." Her stomach growled again.
Qiqi opened the refrigerator, took out a can of eight-treasure porridge, and started eating.
While eating, she checked her phone for official updates, finding no new information, just the same notice to stay home and wait for rescue.
Disappointment flashed in her eyes. She exited the official page and opened the constantly pinging neighborhood group chat.
The group had hundreds of members, all residents of the community.
Messages flooded the chat, mostly cries for help and requests for supplies and medicine.
"My wife has a high fever, does anyone have fever medicine to lend?"
"High fever? Damn! Could it be the virus?"
"I'm out of dog food, anyone have some? I'll pay ten times the price."
"Crazy, many people have nothing to eat, and you're worried about dog food. Better to kill it and share the meat."
"Building 27, do you have any humanity? The dog is my son, why don't you kill yourself and share your meat?"
"Someone help me, there's a zombie banging on my door, it's a wooden door and won't hold much longer. I'll pay handsomely for help."
At that moment, the owner of unit 903 tagged Qiqi, the unit directly below hers.
"Young lady, are you okay? I heard noise from above for a long time, is everything alright? Need help?"
"No problem," Qiqi replied simply.
"That's good, I was worried for a while. Young lady, do you have any food? Could you spare some? We have a big family, and food runs out fast. You're just one girl, you can't eat much. You could throw it down to my balcony."
Qiqi finished the last bite of porridge, tossed the empty can into the trash, and pulled out a pack of salted chicken legs, tearing it open and taking a big bite.
Her fingers tapped on the phone, "No food, haven't eaten in a day."
Though she was a bit of a mess, she wasn't stupid. Offering help was likely just a ploy to get food. If they really wanted to help, they would have come up during the commotion.
After replying, Qiqi exited the chat, not caring what 903 thought.
Finishing the delicious chicken leg, Qiqi washed her hands and began inventorying her remaining food.
Since she couldn't cook and had swollen cheeks from wisdom teeth removal, she had stocked up on dry goods, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Though she had consumed some over the past few days, she still had a decent amount left.
Half a box of milk, a bag each of instant oatmeal and sesame paste, each containing ten small packets, a large bag of bulk bread, about ten cans of eight-treasure porridge, five self-heating rice meals, five self-heating hot pots, three packs of salted chicken legs, and various snacks like chips, spicy strips, jelly, and seaweed.
With her small appetite, she could stretch it for a month.
Hopefully, by then, rescue would arrive.
Qiqi packed all the food into a cardboard box and hid it in a secret spot.
After doing all this, Qiqi yawned.
Having woken up early and experienced the terrifying encounter with Bo Lijue, she felt sleepy now that she was relaxed.
When you're tired, sleep. Qiqi didn't care that it was daytime and went to bed.
Downstairs, the owner of 903 angrily threw his phone onto the sofa, having asked around the group but finding no one willing to share food.
"Neighbors are so cold and heartless, why don't they get bitten by zombies."
"Honey, really? In such a big community, how can there be no food to borrow?" the woman asked anxiously.
"How long can our food last?" the man asked.
"Over a pound of rice, a few eggs in the fridge, and a cabbage, that's it."
"This won't last two days. It's your fault for being stingy with groceries. Now we have no reserves."
"You give me only twenty or thirty bucks for groceries, what can I buy?"
"And you dare complain about the money I give? I cover all household expenses, and you? Just laze around eating for free."
The woman's pent-up grievances exploded, shouting, "I eat for free? I married into your family, served as a free maid for over twenty years, taking care of your parents, you, and your kids. Have I ever had a day off? Even maids get paid, what did I get?"
"You ungrateful wretch, if I hadn't married you, you'd still be in the countryside raising pigs and cows. You wouldn't have the good fortune to live in such a nice house in the city."
"You scumbag, I spit on you... If you hadn't tricked me, would I have married an old man like you and become a stepmother to your kids? You think you're so great, but you're just a quick shooter. No wonder your ex-wife left you."
"You b***h, I'll beat you to death today." The man lunged, grabbing the woman's hair and starting to hit her.
The woman, who had never fought back before, began to resist, clawing at the man's face and biting his arm, trying to tear off a piece of flesh.
"Ahhh... you crazy woman, let go." The man howled in pain, punching her head.
The commotion and crashing furniture alerted the two elders and the kids in the house.
Seeing the fight, especially the old woman, who saw the woman she brought into the family daring to bite her son, was furious, hitting the woman with her cane.
"Rebellion, how dare an outsider rebel in my house, let go of my son."
"Ahhh..." The woman cried out in pain, dodging the cane.
But the man kicked her down, followed by more severe blows.
"You b***h, really rebelling, I'll beat you to death, beat you to death..."
The woman curled up, enduring the man's violence, her swollen eyes seeing the kids she raised watching coldly.
She laughed bitterly, indeed, the offspring of scum, no matter how much you give, they remain ungrateful.
The violence lasted over thirty minutes, leaving the woman bloodied and barely alive on the floor.
"Starve her for two days, let her know who's the master of this house," the old man commanded.
"Son, don't be angry, a disobedient woman just needs a beating. Go back to your room and let her reflect."
The family returned to their rooms, leaving the woman lying on the floor, left to her fate.
The woman stared blankly at the ceiling, realizing her life of over twenty years was a joke.
"Outsider, haha..."
The bloodied woman suddenly laughed, a chilling sound.
Her eyes full of hatred turned to the heavily locked door, and she used all her strength to crawl towards it.
A trail of blood marked her path.
Without hesitation, she unlocked the door. When it was fully open, she felt no fear, only a sense of release.
Seeing the zombies drawn by the noise, she smiled, pulling the door wider to let them in.
Zombies pounced on her, tearing and biting, blood splattering the floor.
The sound of zombies growling and feeding was hair-raising.
The family inside heard the noise, came out, and saw the zombies flooding in.
Their faces turned white with fear, trying to retreat to their rooms, but it was too late, the zombies were upon them.
The slow-moving elders were the first to be caught by the vicious zombies.
They reached out to their son for help, "Son, save us."
Terrified, the man, in a panic, fled with the kids, ignoring his parents' pleas.
The elders watched their son escape, tears of regret streaming down their old faces.
"Bastard."
The next moment, the zombies tore them apart, blood pooling on the floor.
The strong scent of blood attracted more zombies.
The man used a chair to fend off the zombies, trying to escape.
"Get out of my way, you beasts, die."
Then, he heard his kids' cries for help, turning to see them cornered by zombies.
"Dad, save us, we don't want to die, please save us."
The man looked at the door, then back at his kids, gritting his teeth, "I'll find help for you." He turned and ran for the door.
The son realized his father was abandoning them, fear overwhelming him, unleashing a burst of strength, "Ah..." He pushed through the zombies, grabbing his father.
"Dad, take me with you, I don't want to die."
But the father heartlessly pushed him away, "Ahhh..." He was pounced on by zombies.
Ignoring his son's screams, the man rushed to the door, escaping, joy filling him, until a cold hand grabbed his neck.
"Ugh..." The man struggled, his face turning red, "Let... me go."
Bo Lijue's cold face remained unmoved, lifting the man with one hand.
"Cough cough..." The man dangled, suffocating, struggling to break free from the iron grip.
A stream of urine ran down his pants, the stench filling the air.
Disgust flashed in Bo Lijue's eyes, and he flung the man away.
The man hit the ground, gasping, tears and snot covering his face.
A shadow loomed over him, and he looked up, his terrified eyes reflecting the image of a zombie's gaping maw descending.
"Ahhh..."
Upstairs, Qiqi awoke from her nightmare, sitting up in bed.
Hearing the screams from below, she broke out in a cold sweat.
Her gaze fell on the open balcony door, a bad feeling rising in her heart. She rushed to close it.
Just as the door was about to close, a beautiful hand reached in, coldly gripping her wrist.
Qiqi's body trembled, watching the door open, revealing Bo Lijue's tall figure.
Her eyes widened in terror, filling with tears of fear.
(Caught you.)
- Writer
