Chapter 66 p1
There was no shortage of tools in the factory. Xia Weishuang found a toolbox and, with a flashlight, she walked onto the elevated wire mesh corridor.
The greased railings were very slippery, but the corridor surface was not. She walked very slowly. When she reached the part above the lye tank, she crouched down and began to destroy the painted metal mesh that served as the corridor.
This kind of thing was usually welded together. Xia Weishuang was not very strong. She had been working with pliers and a hammer for a long time before she managed to break this piece of wire mesh.
On the surface, this part was no different from the other places, but upon closer inspection, one would find that the welded parts around it had all been destroyed. If you walked on it, you would fall.
After she was done with these, Xia Weishuang’s palm was red. She went to the top of another reaction tank and also destroyed the elevated corridor in that area.
A few small blisters had formed on her hand. Xia Weishuang did not have a needle, so she used the upturned metal edge to prick the blisters.
This was not a hygienic operation, but it no longer mattered.
She put down the tools, cut open all the unopened salt bags, and poured them into another reaction tank. She introduced wastewater to make a concentrated salt water tank.
She came to the highest point of the elevated corridor, used a rope to suspend the salt bags and make a trap, and also moved the remaining half a bucket of caustic soda to a high place. Some parts of the metal equipment had been tampered with by her.
Then Xia Weishuang put on her backpack and, following a vertical ladder on a huge iron pipe whose function she did not know, she climbed to the top floor, opened the skylight, and sat on the roof.
She tied a rope tightly to the iron ladder. The high pipe was still going up, and it was probably something like a chimney.
Xia Weishuang leaned against it and sat down, facing the opposite direction of where Bai Qian and Coal Ball had left. She reached out and touched the roof, and felt a layer of crushed salt. The feeling of sitting on it was a little strange, as if she were sitting on a beach.
Xia Weishuang looked around and could only see a dark and indistinct black patch in the distance. Even the top of her head was so dark that it was suffocating. The surroundings were stuffy and windless, as if she were in a desolate and barren ghost land, or as if she had been put in a sandbox and had been isolated from all light.
The only light came from the woman beside her. She was sitting on the high roof like Xia Weishuang, her knees bent and her chin in her hands, and she was looking at Xia Weishuang gently.
“You’re very nervous.”
Xia Weishuang replied, “Yes.”
The illusory Sang Lu then reached out and gently touched her bangs. “Don’t be afraid. You’ve already prepared everything.”
Xia Weishuang smiled and took out two bottles of wine from her bag. A palm-sized glass bottle of white wine was put in her arms. The red wine was what was left from when she had poured it for Bai Qian. There was still half a bottle. Xia Weishuang shook it casually, and then tilted her head back and took two sips.
It was a common wine that she had casually taken from a small shop. It was less than fifty yuan a bottle, and there was no need to do those elegant wine-drinking rituals.
While she was slowly sipping the wine, she was whispering to Sang Lu about their past.
They had once held hands, kissed, and hugged, and had made an oath to never be separated. It was just that for three years, it could not be fulfilled.
The fictional embrace seemed to still be able to touch Xia Weishuang, but she was more and more unable to deceive herself.
“I miss you so much,” Xia Weishuang said to the woman beside her.
“Yes, I know,” she also replied softly.
“I really, really… miss you so much,” Xia Weishuang lowered her head and buried it in her knees. Her eyelids drooped, and her face was a little hot. It seemed to be the drunkenness brought by the wine, and in addition, the stuffy environment made her sweat a little.
She was like she was drunk, and she kept saying “I miss you,” but she did not get another response.
Xia Weishuang said again, “I’m sorry.”
Sang Lu put her hand on the back of her head, as gentle as a breeze. “Don’t apologize. You just need to end the mistake. If you think you are guilty, then atone for your sins.”
“I’ll end everything,” Xia Weishuang said. “Sang Lu, will you forgive me?”
A warm smile was on Sang Lu’s beautiful face, and her clear eyes were not stained with a trace of darkness. She was wearing a sacred and pure white trailing wedding dress, which illuminated Xia Weishuang’s eyes in this depressing world.
“When we meet again, I will tell you the answer.”
She didn’t know how long had passed, but the darkness in the sky had slowly dissipated a little, and there was a hint of the sun rising. It was just that the weather today was bad, and the dark clouds were hanging in the sky, covering the rising sun.
Xia Weishuang looked at the clouds behind Sang Lu, which were like cotton that had been soaked in cement, and was a little regretful. “I can’t watch the sunrise with you.”
Sang Lu held her hand and said, “It’s okay. We already have a lot.”
“It’s not enough,” at this point, Xia Weishuang realized that she was being a little greedy, so she stopped the topic.
“She’s coming soon.”
“Yes, I know.”
Xia Weishuang shook the wine bottle. There was still a little bit left inside. She took out a small bag of white powder that she had been carrying with her from the inner pocket of her clothes, poured it into the wine bottle, and shook it.
She had long since taken off her protective suit, and she was wearing a cooler summer outfit. She had put on a thin jacket, and the zipper was half-pulled up.
Xia Weishuang sat quietly on the roof, waiting for that person to arrive.
At some point, the beautiful and holy woman beside her had disappeared, and in her place was a red-clothed woman who was standing at the end of the street, with her head lowered like a resentful ghost.
In the dark, it was as if something was guiding the two of them. From a distance of several thousand meters, they looked at each other.
The zombie-like monster was injected with a soul at this moment. Her whole body trembled, and a smile appeared on her indifferent face. The distorted emotion of an insatiable desire erupted like a volcano at this time. She opened her crimson mouth and said something.
Xia Weishuang naturally could not hear her voice, but it was as if she had heard her voice.
She was calling her name, saying, “Shuangshuang, I miss you so much.”
The next second, she moved.
In this gray and dark world, she was wearing a dazzling red dress, and had transformed into a torrent of death and was rushing towards Xia Weishuang.
The low-flying birds, the chirping cicadas on the treetops, and the stray black cat were resting peacefully in this chaotic world. Only they, who were already small, did not seem to feel any fear of the sudden change in the environment. It was only when the strange woman had brushed past them that they had belatedly fled in fright.
Xia Weishuang was still sitting on the roof, watching as Sang Lu approached her bit by bit. The closer she got, the more she felt an indescribable fear.
She was looking at her.
Whether she was climbing up to the building, or walking on the ground, whether she was circling to the left or to the right, she had been looking at her all along, without a trace of distraction, greedily and stubbornly chasing after her.
Xia Weishuang knew that she was a demon who devoured human flesh and blood and snatched human souls. The so-called love was just a sweet bait to deceive her prey. If she were to be bewitched by her, she would lose everything, and could only watch as she pretended to smile and kiss her bleeding heart.
At that time, there would be no more chance to regret.
When Sang Lu had arrived outside the factory, Xia Weishuang had shaken the wine bottle and had drunk the last bit of wine that was mixed with impurities. The powder that had been mixed in had not completely dissolved, and it was like swallowing sand when it entered her mouth.
Sang Lu was looking at her with joy, as if in her entire world, all her emotions had been easily divided, and then were moved by Xia Weishuang in a monotonous way.
For a moment, a mixture of sour, bitter, and spicy tastes rushed into her throat. Xia Weishuang threw away the wine bottle, turned over and pushed open the skylight, and grabbing the rope that was tied to the top, she half-slid and half-swung down.
She had almost fallen to the ground. After she had let go, her entire palm was burning with pain, but Xia Weishuang could not care less.
A sound of being hit came from above. Sang Lu was lying at the entrance of the skylight, and her deep purple eyes had almost instantly locked onto Xia Weishuang.
So fast, so close!
Xia Weishuang trembled all over. She supported herself on the ground and got up, and then she ran forward.
The salt on the roof made Sang Lu feel uncomfortable. She grabbed the iron ladder on the high chimney and nimbly jumped down a few times. The flesh and blood behind her wriggled and a deeper shadow appeared in the shadow.
“Shuangshuang…”
Sang Lu’s voice echoed in the empty and deserted workshop, and the sound waves hit the walls and produced a wailing echo.
A few sounds of a whip cracking came from behind. Xia Weishuang did not turn her head, but it was as if she had eyes on her back. She suddenly pounced to the left, grabbed a handful of salt, and scattered it behind her.
Sang Lu asked her with a dazed look, “I don’t understand. What is Shuangshuang doing?”
She was also sliding down with the most decisive and rapid movements, trying to completely control Xia Weishuang.
Xia Weishuang rushed to a place, and in front of her was a rope. She took out a knife and cut it hard. Immediately, something from above whistled and hit in Sang Lu’s direction.
The bag, which had already been damaged and was fragile, slid over a sharp iron object, and with a whoosh, the snow-white salt scattered down from the sky.
Sang Lu did not show any extra expression. She greedily looked at Xia Weishuang, not wanting to give up every moment. When the salt was scattered, the tentacles behind her hooked onto the railing with a whoosh, preparing to jump directly in front of Xia Weishuang.
However, she had not expected that the railing was greased, and it was so slippery that she could not hold on at all.
Her strength was immediately released, and Sang Lu fell down hard. And when she was in mid-air, she reacted with extreme speed and extended a smaller tentacle, and hooked onto the wire mesh that was laid on the elevated corridor.
She was suspended in mid-air, and the places that were stained with salt were slowly oozing a transparent mucus. Xia Weishuang was standing on the other end of the workshop, looking at her in the dark light, and said the first sentence after their reunion:
“I am atoning for my sins.”
This seemed to have made Sang Lu even more confused. The surging tentacles rushed towards Xia Weishuang. Xia Weishuang gritted her teeth and ran in another direction.
She cut another rope, and another bag of salt was thrown at Sang Lu from above.
Xia Weishuang had circled to the back of the huge equipment. Sang Lu could not see her. With a pincer attack, she began to move forward in the direction that Xia Weishuang had set, hooking onto the wire mesh and suspended in mid-air.
So the trap that Xia Weishuang had painstakingly set had worked. A light sound of steel rubbing came, and the wire mesh that Sang Lu was hooked on suddenly broke, and she fell straight down!
