Ning Zhe leaned over to look at the phone in Bai Zhi's hand. The screen showed her chat interface with a contact labeled "Mom."
The previous message was sent by Bai Zhi at 17:25 in the afternoon, telling Feng Yushu that Ning Zhe had awakened and asking when she would come over.
Feng Yushu had replied to this message just seconds ago. The reply content was:
[Is Ning Zhe beside you?]
[Find a place to hide. Don't go out, don't expose yourself!]
[Don't trust anyone except him]
[They all want to kill you!]
Feng Yushu had sent four messages in succession. After Bai Zhi quickly read them, she replied asking where she was now and how the situation was.
After waiting several minutes, no reply came.
"Not replying again..." Bai Zhi frowned.
"Maybe she also encountered a ghost and is busy fleeing for her life," Ning Zhe said. "Moreover, based on her description, the ghost Auntie encountered seems to be the same one targeting us."
Bai Zhi also nodded. "Mom should be at Qin Medical College's local branch now, over 20 kilometers from Gubei Town."
Meanwhile, Ning Zhe and Bai Zhi were at a gas station less than 5 kilometers from Gubei Town. They were nearly 20 kilometers apart, yet suspected of being affected by the same ghost.
Was this ghost's range of influence truly this large, or did two identical ghosts exist in the world?
Ning Zhe leaned toward the former, because [Gods are omnipresent].
For example, the Snake God Zhaoyu who sought fortune and avoided misfortune could radiate its influence throughout all of He Village. Comparing the two, Ning Zhe felt he somewhat understood what Bai Zhi said earlier: Gods are ghosts in macroscopic expansion.
"Let's focus on the matter at hand first..." Ning Zhe reviewed the four messages Feng Yushu sent once more.
"Mom told me not to trust anyone except you, because everyone wants to kill me."
Bai Zhi dimmed her phone screen, somewhat puzzled. "Do you think this 'everyone' includes Mom herself?"
"It should include her," Ning Zhe nodded. "Ghosts are rules. Rules are rigorous. Auntie should understand this, so what she says should also strive for rigor."
At this moment, knocking sounded again.
"Boss Zhang, are you asleep? Please open the door." A gas station employee's voice came from outside. "A pipe burst outside. Master Liu says his toolbox is in your room. Could you please open the door and let us get it?"
Ning Zhe switched to Zhang Yangxu's identity and stood up. A toolbox indeed sat in the corner. Probably left behind when employees moved things earlier, whether unintentionally forgotten or deliberately, who knew.
"What tool do you need? I'll pass it through the window," Ning Zhe walked to the corner and opened the toolbox.
The toolbox was quite large and couldn't be passed through the security bars as a whole.
Ning Zhe's attitude made the employee somewhat dissatisfied. "Just open the door. It'll only take a few minutes. Why make such a fuss?"
"I won't open the door. Don't make me repeat this a third time. What tool do you need? Just say it." Ning Zhe's expression remained unchanged.
"Goodness, you really... Could it be that girl in your room is changing clothes or something, inconvenient to open the door?" The employee still wouldn't give up, slowly persuading. "It's all right. We're not in such a huge hurry for the toolbox. You can wait until she's changed and then open the door..."
"What tool do you need? Speak." Ning Zhe's voice remained calm.
The two went back and forth at the door in a war of attrition. One earnestly urged the other to just open the door, even if just once. The other absolutely refused, saying nothing could make him open it, stubbornly holding out.
But as they wore on, Ning Zhe discovered something was wrong.
His body had unknowingly begun growing increasingly weak. His temples also began throbbing with dull pain. A dizzy sensation surged up.
Looking back, Bai Zhi had already collapsed weakly against the headboard, face pale, breathing rapid, lips showing a sickly cherry red color. She looked even worse than him.
Ning Zhe turned back, locking his gaze on the exhaust fan embedded high in the wall near the ceiling. It slowly rotated.
"The air in the room has a problem. They're feeding poison gas into the room through the exhaust fan?"
"But I didn't smell any strange odor... That toxic substance is colorless and odorless..."
Mercury poisoning? Or something else?
The feeling of chest tightness gradually intensified. Ning Zhe's breathing grew increasingly difficult. His brain grew dizzy, head aching, limbs beginning to weaken. Bai Zhi's constitution was weaker than Zhang Yangxu's. She now leaned against the headboard unable to get up.
"Boss Zhang, open the door, will you?" The employee outside shouted again.
"Fine... open the door, I'll open it for you..." Ning Zhe gasped weakly, pulling out the wrench inserted through the door handle. Due to dizziness, his eyes couldn't focus. Even removing a door bolt failed several times.
In his current state, even an elementary school student could kill him solo.
Just as he opened the door, the two gas station employees waiting outside rushed in without greeting. One wielded a fire axe, the other held a homemade short spear. They ignored the listless Ning Zhe leaning against the doorframe and charged directly toward Bai Zhi on the bed.
"Looks like Auntie was right. Everyone wants to kill you."
Ning Zhe held his breath. The slightly portly middle-aged body instantly became upright and slender. The sweat-soaked shirt clung to his stomach, outlining clear abdominal muscle lines.
Zhang Yangxu was poisoned. What did that have to do with him, Ning Zhe?
Before the short spear in the gas station employee's hand could pierce Bai Zhi's body, Ning Zhe charged forward at faster speed. Swift movements hammered the large wrench in his hand heavily against the back of his skull, shattering skull and brainstem on the spot.
The moment the spear-wielding employee died, Ning Zhe's other hand somehow already gripped a flathead screwdriver pulled from the toolbox. He released the blood-stained wrench, quickly locked his arm around the axe-wielding employee's neck, and stabbed the screwdriver into his throat.
The screwdriver entered through the Adam's apple and exited through the ear root. Blood gushed like a fountain.
However, the neck wasn't a fragile instant-death location like the back of the skull. Even with his throat pierced, the employee still had strength to struggle, throwing the axe in his hand toward Bai Zhi on the bed.
Ning Zhe's arm locked firmly around his neck. He pulled the screwdriver from the throat, then stabbed it in again.
Pull out, stab, pull out.
Repeatedly several times, copious blood sprayed fountain-like from the artery, splashing brilliant crimson across the young girl's white dress.
Ning Zhe released the lifeless gas station employee, picked up the half-meter short spear from the ground, scooped up the incapacitated Bai Zhi with his other arm, and quickly left the room filled with odorless poisonous gas.
Just as he walked out, Ning Zhe heard a cacophony of footsteps.
Several cold figures walked toward him. They were the gas station's remaining employees and owner. Their hands held various weapons: machetes, boar spears, riot batons...
And a well-oiled, gleaming homemade shotgun.
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild