Infinite Flow: An Invitation from World B

Chapter 15 Death Penalty Section 3

At this moment, the pain in his fingertips seemed insignificant. It wasn't that it didn't hurt, but rather that the discomfort throughout his body made Liu Runyu feel that it was nothing.

Removing the barrier almost exhausted him; he felt a tickle in his throat, a headache, and dizziness.

The lungs feel like a broken water pump; no matter how hard you try to inhale, very little air gets into them. This is because prolonged inhalation of high concentrations of mold spores triggers asthma and allergy symptoms.

His eyes stung terribly from the sweat, and he gasped for breath, looking up at the vent that could save his life, like a dying fish.

A voice in his head told him to be sleepy, that he was tired, and that perhaps a nap would be a good choice. With a sharp "slap," Liu Runyu slapped himself, a slap that barely managed to wake him up.

"I can't die..." Liu Runyu weakly moved his chapped lips, his will to live pulling him back from the brink of death once again.

After stabilizing his stance and finding the right angle to squat down and gather strength, Liu Runyu leaped upwards, squeezing out the last bit of his strength with this jump.

With his fingers barely gripping the edge of the vent, Liu Runyu bit his tongue to try and clear his head.

Concentrating all his strength in his hands, Liu Runyu gritted his teeth, his face turning red from the effort. "Damn it, if I had known this would happen, I would have practiced pull-ups properly when I was in school."

After some struggle, he managed to grab the edge of the vent with his left arm first, and with a little more leverage, he finally climbed into the ventilation duct.

Liu Runyu lay in the pipe, breathing in the relatively clean air compared to the outside. After resting for a while, he awkwardly got up.

He knew he shouldn't stay here any longer. "Next to Zone 3 is Zone 2, and next to Zone 2 is Zone 1. There shouldn't be any more buildings behind Zone 3."

After roughly sketching out a floor plan of the men's prison area in his mind, he decided to crawl to the left.

In the darkness, Liu Runyu was already in poor condition, and the place was so dark that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. He quickly lost his way.

After climbing for an unknown amount of time, at a T-shaped intersection, Liu Runyu finally saw light shining into the passageway to his left.

The light cast the shadows of the barriers into the passageway, exuding an aura of hope.

"Exit! We're finally out!"

Overwhelmed with emotion, Liu Runyu's nose tingled and tears welled up in his eyes.

He scrambled to the barrier and saw Lao Zeng and the other two cleaning up a cell from below.

"This is cell block number two!"

He knew that the other three people were doing laundry that afternoon, and Liu Runyu, who was originally listless, was overjoyed when he saw Lao Zeng and his group.

He seemed much more energetic, tapping on the barrier and shouting down, "Hey! Up there! Look up!"

The sudden noise startled the three of them, causing them to drop the sheets they were holding. Old Zeng immediately grabbed a broom and warily stared at Liu Runyu's location.

"Old Zeng, Brother Ron, Su Zixu, cough cough—don't be afraid, it's me, cough cough—I'm Liu Runyu!"

Liu Runyu couldn't make a loud sound because of his asthma, but he was trying his best, though he had already cheered himself up.

He did it. He survived on his own merits, even though he was seriously injured. But it's good to be alive. As long as you're alive, there's always a way.

"You...you're Liu Runyu? What are you doing here? What's wrong with your voice?"

Old Zeng was still carefully identifying the person in the ventilation duct on the ground. Because the gap was too narrow and there was no lighting in the passage above, he couldn't be sure for a moment.

"It really is me! I've found a very important clue! Please help me! Help me open this barrier, my fingers are all scratched up, and I don't have any tools to open it."

"Don't panic, Xiao Liu, let me find some tools. Are you sure you can't open it yourself?"

Hearing Liu Runyu's anxious voice, Lao Zeng also began to look for handy tools to help him.

"Hey... stop asking... hurry up."

Liu Runyu had collapsed inside the ventilation duct. He was exhausted and his voice was weak and feeble.

"Here it comes, here it comes."

After a series of clanging sounds as they searched, Old Zeng's voice could be heard close to the barrier.

"Squeak—squeak—"

"Don't worry, it'll be quick."

Old Zeng's words of comfort were mixed with the sound of metal scraping, making them somewhat indistinct.

"Squeak—squeak—squeak squeak squeak squeak"

The friction sound gradually changed from being steady and powerful at the beginning to becoming more and more violent, and the piercing sound became louder and louder.

"That voice... sounds so familiar." Liu Runyu, who was lying on the ground, was a little slow to react because he was not in good condition.

But at this moment, he also vaguely sensed that something was not right, so he struggled to lift his upper body and look at the position of the partition.

Upon seeing this, his heart clenched, and cold sweat soaked his already damp clothes once again.

At this moment, there was no trace of Old Zeng. Liu Runyu stared blankly at the bloodstained saw with a look of despair.

"Don't panic, I'll get you down right away."

At this point, the baffle had been sawed open on two sides, and the corner that had fallen off without being secured revealed that crazy and ferocious face.

Liu Runyu had seen this person before; he was prisoner number "607" on the sixth floor.

Liu Runyu felt a sudden "buzz" in his brain:

"This is impossible... How could this be... I clearly escaped!" He scrambled to his feet and used all the strength he had to retreat as quickly as possible.

His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably from panic and fear, and he was swallowing his saliva frantically.

Finally, the fear that had grown from the bottom of his heart could no longer be suppressed, and tears streamed down his face as Liu Runyu burst into tears.

He tried his best, he really tried his best, but... why, why did nothing change?

But none of that matters anymore, because he's about to die.

With a loud thud, the sound of metal hitting the ground struck his heart even more deeply, like the death knell tolling.

Through his misty vision, the last thing Liu Runyu saw was a distorted ghost, its body as crumpled as a piece of waste paper.

The ghost was crawling towards him at incredible speed, its limbs bared and claws outstretched. Its broken limbs slammed violently against the narrow pipe, making loud thuds.

"In my place...in my place..."

The man made indistinct sounds, saying things that Liu Runyu couldn't understand.

Liu Runyu choked back tears, slowly closing his eyes as the bloody stench rapidly approached.

............

"Thump!" With a muffled thud, the curly-haired man fell to the ground in a sorry state. Immediately afterward, several crisp slaps echoed in the empty room in front of the execution ward three.

"I think I told you to keep an eye on that Liu Runyu, right?" Edwin tapped the curly-haired man's head with his finger.

At this moment, several people were kneeling on the open ground in front of the Third District gate. The curly-haired man had just been kicked away by Edwin, and now, ignoring the pain, he quickly got up and knelt back down.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings! Useless! Where are Peter and that kid named Liu Runyu? Two grown men just vanished like that?"

"I told you to rest, but I didn't let you sleep. You bunch of idiots, you can't even keep an eye on one person."

Edwin was truly angry at this point, glaring at these useless people and cursing them fiercely.

Edwin was the first to wake up from his nap. After looking around, he suddenly woke up and realized that Peter and Liu Runyu were missing. He hurriedly ran to ask the guard, who said that neither Peter nor Liu Runyu had gone out.

A surge of anger welled up inside him, and he kicked everyone else awake.

Living people can't just disappear without a trace, so the only possibility is that the two of them entered Zone 3.

Quaid had warned him long ago that he should just sit by the door and not go inside. Although Quaid didn't think they could get in, he still gave him a heads-up.

"If Quaid finds out that two of them have entered District 3, it would be fine if those two are dead, but if they are alive... then we'd be in big trouble."

"With Quaid's keen senses, I wonder if he can keep it a secret. He needs to see him alive or dead, tsk..." Edwin bit his fingers, his expression twisted and ferocious.

"That's it!" Edwin walked out without looking back. The people kneeling on the ground silently got up and followed, not daring to breathe.