Tales of Aegiceras: Cave in

Chapter 8 8. The Night Watchman (8)

Translator: Superbomb

“We have to escape from here,” Lu Xia spat out the words one by one, his expression had never been so serious.
“Escape?” Sun Zheng was confused. According to his experience, “escape” was applicable to dangerous situations where survival was still possible.
But now, this word seemed so strange to him!
Was the current situation not dangerous for him?
Or did he think he had no chance of survival?
‘For the first reason, of course!’ Sun Zheng secretly teased himself.
“But no one has ever succeeded,” Lu Xia said with a bitter smile.
“Lu Xia!” Sun Zheng was a little angry at his sick joke.
Lu Xia shrugged. It was obvious that Sun Zheng did not agree with him. However, he understood that anyone would be a little na?ve and pin his hopes on science at such a moment.
He unfolded the floor map, gesturing Sun Zheng to come and have a look.
“Do you remember what I said just now?” When Lu Xia’s index finger moved about on the drawing, a rustling sound could be heard. As it was so quite in the room, the rustling sounded very loud! Because of the darkness, his finger movement was particularly eye-catching! “We have to escape from the hospital. Let’s try if we can go down here.”
No way!
Sun Zheng thought instinctively. However, even he himself was stunned by this answer that suddenly popped into his mind.
‘Why can’t we?’
If he was as stubborn as he appeared on the surface, he would definitely answer that they could go down from there. However, he knew that he was already compromised with what Lu Xia said. Even if he wanted to stick to his guns, he could not find any evidence to support his argument. What’s more, he was shivering slightly with instinctive fear.
Hearing no response from Sun Zheng, Lu Xia showed no surprise, as if he had expected it. Pointing at the 4th floor on the drawing, he continued, “On the 4th floor, there seem to be two rooms that are temporarily safe. Have you memorized their location? If anything happens, let’s run into the room to take shelter.”
“The transfusion room… and the TCM Department?” Sun Zheng said tentatively while looking at the two rooms marked with a circle on the drawing.
The 4th floor…
Why did he feel so uneasy?
Perhaps… Perhaps he was temporarily giving in to such a situation and temporarily admitting that he was in danger.
The word “escape” struck him as strange and frightening.
“What if we encounter something and don’t have time to escape?” Sun Zheng looked up at Lu Xia.
Hearing that, Lu Xia knew that Sun Zheng was starting to waver. With a gratified smile, he said, “Trust me.”
Sun Zheng had to trust him, because except for the two of them, there seemed to be no one else in this world.
“Let’s go!” Lu Xia picked up the torch and slapped Sun Zheng on the shoulder.
Sun Zheng rose to his feet and followed Lu Xia to the door with the knob.
Lu Xia pulled away the chair against the door before he suddenly looked back at Sun Zheng.
“You have to be mentally prepared. Now, we have basically adapted to the darkness, but we have to turn on the torch if we want to find the two rooms. In other words, we’ll spend a few seconds to adapt to the light changes in the instant of turning the torch on and off. At that time, we must be extra cautious.”
Why? Sun Zheng really wanted to ask.
They had to run away, be cautious and endure fear because of an opponent that was still unidentified?
“The stairs are at the end of the corridor on both sides. We will immediately turn left as soon as we get out of the room. Follow me, but remember, trod forward quickly. Don’t make too much noise or look back.”
“We can’t even look back?”
“Because looking back only makes you more fearful,” Lu Xia said in a low voice.
Sun Zheng was aware that when he looked back, he would see nothing but utter darkness, which would make his heart instantly lose its pace.
He once heard of an “old wives” tale: the more you are afraid of something, the more likely it will appear.
One of the explanations that made sense was that fear led to the biological wavelength to change to that of the ‘spirits’ or ‘ghosts’, causing the two to attract each other.
“I don’t think ghosts exist in this world!” Sun Zheng’s mouth twitched.
“What we see may be an illusion, or it may be real,” Lu Xia said softly.
With that, he pulled open the door of the director’s office.
They were immediately wrapped by the darkness and chillness outside.
“Turn left!”
Lu Xia whispered.
Sun Zheng’s heart was beating faster. He moved forward quickly in darkness without making a sound, as if following his own heartbeat.
He started sweating in his palms.
He felt as if they were passing by a number of rooms and doors at an incredible speed.
How many secrets lay behind those tightly shut doors?
The office of the deputy director, the three archives, the cleaning room, and the lady’s room…
“Go downstairs, Zheng!” Lu Xia’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
Feeling a tug, he stumbled downstairs.
Behind them was a row of doors on the 5th floor that seemed to be looking at them with a blank stare.
These doors seemed to have lost in thought.
They had never thought that the sound of their own footsteps would make them feel so creepy!