Chapter 29: Embrace
In the darkness, he could barely find his bearings. It was as if an unknown, terrifying creature were crawling up his spine. His nerves were invaded by a cold, damp chill, and they hung limply, his senses blurring.
He tugged at the rough, gritty hemp rope, and the knot on his wrist loosened. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the bloody scratches on his slender, pale wrist, and endured the pain of the grit seeping into his wounds. With a firm pull, the knot came undone, and the rope fell to the ground with a thud.
Su Yu was panting heavily, the faint smell of blood spreading in the air, caught by his sense of smell. But he didn’t dare to rest for too long. He picked up the hemp rope from the ground and tied a knot that could be easily untied, then moved out of the dead corner in the shadows.
These past few days, the noisy sounds of drinking and playing cards had been ringing outside all night, always waking him up from his light and fragile sleep. They had given Su Yu a lot of food, although it was only some dry bread that was hard to swallow. But at least he had a lot of strength, and his consciousness had gradually returned. Then, the surging desire to escape was tormenting him almost all the time.
He had to escape!
The light was dim and blurry, and his cheeks were hot, spreading wildly in his body. Those people would spray him with a garden hose every few days, washing his body and the dirty and messy environment around him.
The cold water in this damp and dark space would not dry for a long time. The water dripped down from his wet hair, falling on the pale skin of his neck, and sliding into the hollow of his weak and pale collarbone. His body couldn’t stop trembling.
He didn’t know if he had a fever. His consciousness was as if it had been thrown into a furnace and roasted. But the strength that was gradually accumulating in his body made him feel at ease. He stared at the old and worn-out wooden door, praying that something would change.
He couldn’t estimate the time in the darkness. The high fever gradually made his brain fall into a state of chaos. He was drowsy and leaned against the cargo box. Just as his consciousness was about to fall into a state of depression and darkness, a few roars pulled him out of the darkness.
It was the group of hooligans who spoke with a dialect. Their cursing was sharp and harsh, and it pierced through the wooden door. The sound of their footsteps was dense and rushed. From time to time, he could hear the dull thud of a columnar object hitting something, followed by a few painful wails.
A loud bang of a wall breaking sounded. A large hole was smashed in the wall next to the wooden door. In the dim light, he vaguely saw a steel pipe with bloodstains. He was so scared that he shivered, and his breathing unconsciously quickened.
He was silent in the darkness for a while, shook off the loose hemp rope on his wrist, and slowly stood up, supporting himself with the cargo box on his side. The feeling of his feet firmly on the ground made him sigh in relief, as if he had grasped the hope of escape.
His limbs all seemed to have become a little strange. He stood up slowly, supporting himself with his legs. His unsteady steps stumbled forward a few steps, but fortunately, he didn’t fall. He was adapting to the running motion, and at the same time, he was using the light from the dim incandescent lamp to avoid the clutter on the floor, and he was approaching the wooden door that he had been thinking about day and night, step by step.
He didn’t push open the door rashly because of his excessive desire. He looked out through the hole that had been smashed by the steel pipe. The sticky and warm blood had a nauseating, fishy smell. Fortunately, the dry bread had been digested quickly, and he couldn’t vomit anything.
It seemed to be daytime. A cold white light was seeping out from the hole. He squinted his eyes to see the outside, and his heart, which was in his chest, began to beat faster uncontrollably. The hooligans, whom he still had some impression of, had completely lost their arrogant and boisterous attitude of the past few days. Their fancy clothes were all covered in blood. A few of them had already lost consciousness and were lying on the ground, and he didn’t know if they were dead or alive.
A few masked men in black had driven the remaining hooligans to a corner. The steel pipe, which was covered in blood, was dragging a long and bright red bloodstain on the ground. They were like emotionless robots, completely ignoring the hooligans’ pleas for mercy. The hard steel pipe hit the flesh and blood with a dull thud, mixed with a continuous, miserable wail. He had never seen such a bloody scene before. In a daze… he thought he had come to hell.
But he still had to escape. Those men in black didn’t seem to be after him. And besides, they had their backs to him. It wasn’t that there was no chance… as long as he was careful.
He pursed his chapped lips and swallowed a large mouthful of saliva. His palm was on the doorknob. He gently turned it, and the door slowly opened a crack. The hooligans had been too lazy to lock the door, and the chain that had been on the door had been thrown aside. They had never thought that he might escape from here.
He took a few deep breaths of the turbid air and pushed the gap open wider, until it was big enough for a person to get in and out.
His heart was pounding in his chest. He desperately tried to force his consciousness into his mind. After he had escaped their sight, he would run desperately… and not look back.
His thin body quickly squeezed out of the door. He squinted his eyes to adjust to the suddenly bright world outside. The men in black had their backs to him and were still repeating the beating motion like robots. The dull thud echoed in the empty warehouse. But he was no longer in the mood to worry about how many people would die. He avoided their sight, and his unsteady body leaned against the wall and slowly moved out.
The door of the warehouse was a folding door that opened from top to bottom. A large opening was open. His heart was pounding. He was like a thirsty fish that had met a stream. He rushed out, and his swollen limbs were not in a good condition.
He ignored the pain from his twisted joints and frantically rushed out of the warehouse. The abandoned chemical factory was in ruins. The desolate and cold wind was filled with the raw smell of rust. He didn’t know the way and could only run around the complex and winding paths.
There were no footsteps behind him. His heart was beating faster and faster because of the overload. But he felt at ease. He turned his head and looked behind him. It was still a barren field of weeds. A few huge iron frames were rusty and were lying weakly on the concrete ground, which was covered with dense cracks.
He let out a sigh of relief, as if he had survived a disaster. But he didn’t dare to slow down his steps. He hurriedly turned his head, but something suddenly appeared at the corner, which should have been empty. His vision suddenly darkened. He didn’t have time to stop and rushed forward with all his might.
There was no imagined head-on collision, or the excruciating pain from the top of his skull. He seemed to have hit a soft flower heart. He subconsciously sniffed and smelled the fresh and gentle neroli fragrance. The soothing floral fragrance was like a gentle hand, holding his hot and overloaded heart, and his heartbeat gradually calmed down.
He looked up in a daze and met the woman’s long, narrow eyes. The corners of her eyes, which had been carefully drawn, were deep and upturned. A dark red mole was dotted under them, with an indescribable alluring charm.
A peaceful and quiet life always makes people harbor malicious thoughts about others. When they are in a desperate darkness, they will humbly crave a faint hope. Even if it is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back, he will hold on to it tightly.
He subconsciously thought that the other party was here to save her. These past few days, he had had countless guesses in his mind. The role the woman was playing had been put in all possible positions, but he had never thought that the other party would appear in front of him so unexpectedly.
His gray and dark eyes were shining with a little bit of water. He was like a desperate drowning person, clinging to the other party’s skirt for survival. He whimpered with a hoarse voice, “Sister…”
“Be good… so good.”
Gu Zhi did not dislike the boy’s dirty and messy appearance at all. She slowly squatted down and welcomed this little life that she had been thinking about day and night with a warm embrace. Her warm palm was on the boy’s gradually thinning face. Her slightly closed eyes were full of love and pity. Her hot fingertips gently caressed the other party’s dark and black eyelids. She could barely suppress the crazy throbbing in her heart, and a hot breath escaped from between her lips and teeth, brushing against the boy’s face.
“Let’s go home, Xiao Chan.”
The peace on his face only lasted for a few seconds and was instantly torn to pieces.
“Xiao Chan?”
He repeated in confirmation, and a sharp pain suddenly came from his neck. It seemed that something had pierced in.
In the end, he didn’t get a response. His consciousness fell into darkness, and he could only fall weakly into that gentle embrace, which suddenly made him feel terrified.
