Chapter Six: The Engraved Girl: Silent Code Upon the Desk
2011 Words
NNNNRRRRKKK—!
The piercing shriek—like ten thousand ice needles—lanced through Chen Mo’s skull! The open office plunged into heart-stopping, abyssal darkness! Only the embedded surveillance screen on the wall ahead remained lit—a spectral rectangle glowing with infernal luminescence in the pitch void!
Its harsh, pixelated glare was the sole illumination in the consuming black. The image froze with cruel clarity: Zhang Hui’s gaunt frame, hunched beside a battered desk in a classroom corner. Back to the lens, she clutched a jagged shard of metal (a honed spoon handle? A sliver of shattered glass?) that glinted lethally in the close-up. With near-suicidal force, she gouged the desktop!
Scrape! Gouge! Tear!
Each strike tore wood fibers, the grating noise amplified monstrously through the screen’s tinny speaker in the silent, siren-haunted dark—hammer blows against Chen Mo’s fear-seized nerves!
The lens relentlessly pushed closer! Magnification deepened! Focusing on the emerging pattern!
In the screen’s spectral light, wood chips flew. Chaotic, frenzied lines coalesced into a horrifying shape—a bird! But no symbol of freedom! Its wings were utterly ensnared, bound by serpentine, coiling vines! Its neck—constricted by a thick, twisted tendril—was grotesquely wrenched, depicting agony, suffocation, imminent death! The entire image, carved with savage, overlapping strokes, radiated silent, explosive hysteria! It mirrored the torn sketch Li Enci had shown, the choked avian emblem hidden within… and the identical, vine-strangled insignia from the contract annex!
Fear clamped Chen Mo’s heart like an iron vise. This was no idle vandalism! It was a silent scream! A brand of despair!
"WHO'S THERE?!" Hu Qiang’s voice, grating like rusted steel, thick with naked malice, detonated from the office depths! The sound originated near Li Entai’s lit office! Heavy footfalls followed—combat boots pounding polished terrazzo like war drums—accelerating towards Chen Mo’s position! Each step vibrated with floor-shattering force!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The reek of death flooded Chen Mo’s senses!
Escape! Now!
Primordial instinct overrode terror. Amidst the thunderous approach, Chen Mo—a beast cornered—whirled and lunged blindly towards the remembered fire door! Darkness thick as tar blinded him. He navigated by memory and the siren’s wail!
His shoulder slammed into cold, unyielding concrete—stars exploded behind his eyes! Ignoring the pain, he frantically scrabbled across the icy, smooth wall—tiles! Square-edged tiles! Not the door!
The pounding steps neared—death knells! The roar vibrated with imminent annihilation: "f**k! GRAB HIM!"
Despair, a venomous serpent, struck! Wrong direction!
In that splinter of time, the screen’s image flickered! Shifted perspective!
A new feed—high-angle, a dim corridor—filled the display!
At the corridor’s end, a heavy fire door stood clear! Beneath its gap… a sliver of light from the lobby!
Chen Mo’s pupils contracted! Orientation snapped! Right!
He pivoted violently, hurling himself towards the perceived right!
RRRIIIP—! Fabric tore! His elbow scraped a protruding metal filing cabinet corner—sleeve shredded, skin burning! He ignored it! Hands clawed desperately through cold air and smooth surfaces!
Contact! Cold, curved metal—a door frame!
The door!
The heavy fire door’s handle location! He plunged his hand down—grabbed it! Cold, solid steel!
"f*****g RUN?!" Hu Qiang’s roar was point-blank! Hot breath seared his neck! A gust of wind—a clawed hand—scythed towards his nape, radiating lethal cold!
Chen Mo unleashed a death-rattle roar! Channeled every ounce into his right arm—wrenched down!
SNAP! Bolt retracted!
Simultaneously, immense, vise-like power clamped his jacket—yanking him backward! His feet left the floor!
*CRASHHHHH!*
The heavy door burst open under Chen Mo’s desperate lunge and Hu Qiang’s drag! Momentum hurled them both out—slamming onto the lobby’s icy terrazzo!
Chen Mo saw black, back screaming! No hesitation! On impact, he rolled, exploiting Hu Qiang’s momentary collision with the doorframe! Scrambled forward on hands and knees! Cold stone tore at raw elbows and knees!
"f**k!" Hu Qiang snarled, clearly jarred. But faster! A calloused hand—steel talons—lashed for Chen Mo’s ankle!
Chen Mo kicked back! His heel smashed Hu Qiang’s wrist—impact like striking gnarled oak! He propelled himself forward meters! The lobby’s blinding white lights stabbed his eyes; his heart hammered against his ribs!
*WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP!*
A new, sharper siren—demonic shrieks—erupted overhead, blaring through campus speakers! Crimson alarm lights spun wildly on the ceiling, carving the sterile hall into pulsing, bloody fragments!
"INTRUDER! SEAL ALL EXITS!" Li Entai’s voice, amplified, metallic, devoid of humanity, hailed down like ice shards!
Heavy steel shutters crashed over the main glass doors—sealed! Elevator lights died! Fire doors to corridors and stairwells flashed red—locks engaged with piercing shrieks! The annex side door—same crimson warning!
The lobby transformed instantly—a colossal, freezing cage shrieking with alarms and bathed in bloody light!
Chen Mo flung himself at the annex door—wrenched the handle!
Immobile! Deadlocked!
Hu Qiang loomed before him—a moving fortress, breathing hard, lips curled in a rictus grin. Blood smeared his mouth; one cheek swelled. His eyes held pure predation. Hands clutched shreds of Chen Mo’s jacket, knuckles cracking.
"Run! Go on, run!" Hu Qiang rasped, voice raw with bloody glee. He advanced, his hulking shadow stretching monstrously under the strobing red light, engulfing Chen Mo. "Little rat…"
Chen Mo pressed against the cold metal door—no retreat! Terror and adrenaline shook him. His neck burned where Hu Qiang’s claws had raked, leaving angry welts. He gasped, lungs burning, cold air searing his veins.
Finished? Is this the end?
Sadistic glee lit Hu Qiang’s bloodshot eyes. He reared back—a massive, mud-and-grease-caked boot lifted—aimed to crush Chen Mo’s chest!
At the precipice—an unexpected voice sliced through:
"Hu Qiang! HALT!"
Li Enci!
She stood near the main stairs, materialized from shadow. Her face, under the blood-red glare, was stark, devoid of its usual mask. Her voice, though not loud, held absolute command, piercing the siren’s wail.
Hu Qiang’s boot froze mid-air, inches from Chen Mo’s chest! The displaced air stung Chen Mo’s face! Hu Qiang jerked his head towards her, stunned.
Li Enci strode forward, heels tapping a rapid, controlled rhythm. She ignored Chen Mo’s crumpled form, her gaze—ice daggers—fixed on Hu Qiang. "External delegation! Arrival advanced! Inspection team arrives in thirty minutes for system safety audit!"
Her words were rapid-fire, laced with unprecedented urgency and iron authority! "‘Tranquility Platform’ primary fiber junction—C Wing sub-basement! Campus-wide protective circuit trip! Backup lines require manual override! Only you possess core cabinet access! NOW! IMMEDIATELY! Not one minute’s delay! If the delegation finds system failure… Director Li Entai’s displeasure—can you bear it?!"
Hu Qiang’s fury petrified, replaced by confusion and dawning dread of a greater punishment. His predatory gaze flickered—genuine uncertainty. The massive boot hovered. Li Entai’s wrath and the implied catastrophe outweighed this intruder.
"Him…" Hu Qiang rasped, gesturing at Chen Mo.
"Him?" Li Enci’s voice spiked with scathing mockery. "A newly contracted teacher, bond paid, burdened with a sick child, panicked and lost? Worth jeopardizing critical infrastructure?" Her icy glance swept Chen Mo. "Confine him to 307! Exits are sealed! Where can he flee? All deferred post-delegation! NOW—to the sub-basement! Direct order!"
A guttural snarl escaped Hu Qiang—a chained beast. His murderous eyes darted between Chen Mo, Li Enci, and the sealed exits, raw violence warring with obedience. But Li Enci’s glacial command and the specter of "Li Entai’s displeasure" prevailed.
He speared Chen Mo with a final, venomous glare, slowly lowering the lethal boot. Spat blood-flecked phlegm onto the floor. "You. Wait." The words dripped sanguinary promise. He spun, a furious bull, and charged across the lobby, vanishing into the C Wing corridor’s dark maw, his heavy tread swallowed by the sirens.
Alarms still screamed; crimson light slashed the hall.
Li Enci stood over Chen Mo. The strobing red light sculpted her face into a mask of gothic menace. She leaned down slightly, voice a poisoned needle: "Teacher Chen. Curiosity kills cats. And… far more precious things." Her gaze—twin ice spears—pierced his heart. "Now. Take your… petty maneuvers… and your worthless hide. Back to your cell. Step beyond 307 again—you will regret it." She stressed "petty maneuvers," the implication hanging like a blade.
Chen Mo hauled himself up, every muscle shrieking, blood coppery in his throat. He avoided her eyes, staggering towards the stairs. The stairwell lights pulsed crimson, casting ghastly shadows. Each step felt like treading shards of ice.
Reaching the third floor, he fumbled the 307 door handle open, stumbling into the coffin-like room.
*CLANG!* The door slammed shut.
The cramped, frigid squalor of 307 felt bizarrely like sanctuary. The alarms dulled to a muffled throb behind the thick door. Chen Mo slumped against the cold metal, sliding down to the icy floor. Sweat erupted, soaking his clothes, mingling with the sting of raw wounds. He gasped, lungs heaving like bellows.
Only the fog’s feeble grey seeped through the window. The surveillance dome in the corner hovered—a silent, mocking eye.
Zhang Hui… the carving… the strangled bird… the screams… the terror…
Hu Qiang’s brutality… Li Enci’s glacial threat… "petty maneuvers"…
Fear, humiliation, and cornered fury collided violently within him. Chen Mo clenched his fists, nails biting deep into his palms.
As he braced against the door to rise, his left hand brushed something alien!
Near the lock’s underside, on the smooth inner surface—fresh carvings! Shallow, jagged grooves!
Chen Mo’s heart lurched!
He hauled himself up, stumbled to the window. By the fog’s miserly light, he traced the marks with trembling, bloodied fingers. Not deep engravings, but frantic scratches—symbols! Brand new!
He deciphered them slowly. His heart sank into an icy abyss.
The lines—chaotic, terrified—formed an unmistakable image:
A skeletal bird’s claw! Bound by three serpentine vines to a crude, horizontal "branch" carved across the door! The claw curled impotently, talons broken—a posture of dying struggle! The ends of the binding vines sharpened into tiny arrows—all pointing towards the lock… and beyond… towards the corridor he’d fled… towards… the Art Prep Room?!
A fresh warning! A direction! A sign?!
Not Zhang Hui’s hand! These lines trembled—immature, uneven! Wood dust still pale at the edges! Minutes old!
Who?! Who had slipped into this watched cell during his panicked flight? Risked exposure? To leave this desperate, cryptic mark?!
The arrow pointed to the Art Prep Room! To the "Tranquility Platform"?!
Chen Mo slid down the cold, marked door onto the concrete floor. Outside, fog churned; night pressed in. The alarm’s throb seemed to fade, but the siren’s shriek echoed endlessly in his mind.
His fingers brushed the fresh claw carving, tracing the fractured talons. Cold seeped into his bones, yet beneath the symbol of despair, a seed—tiny, tenacious—pierced the barren soil of his heart.
Despair? No. This was a manifesto etched in desperation.
They sealed the exits? Locked the gates? Filled the air with alarms? Li Enci pronounced psychological imprisonment with her glacial stare?
Wrong. Profoundly wrong.
Chen Mo’s lips twisted into a grimace, stretching his temple wound—pain sharpening focus. This cage of iron and surveillance? It trapped only their own suffocating arrogance.
The true hunt… had only just begun.
- Writer
