"Not staff? Don't joke with me. If you show me the exit, I'll give you two thousand!" the woman raised her offer.
Li Chengyi didn't respond to her request, instead asking, "How did you get here?"
"I don't know." The woman's expression was full of frustration and unease. "I just finished shopping, got on the elevator to the garage, and planned to drive home. But when I came out, I realized this wasn't the mall's garage."
"What about the elevator? Is the elevator still there?" Li Chengyi's eyes lit up as he quickly asked. If he could trace the path the woman took to enter, perhaps he could...
"I don't know!" The woman gripped the coat in her hands tighter, her face showing fear. "I turned around and couldn't see it anymore. I was in the service elevator; the doors were huge. It should've been obvious, easy to find..."
"Did you have any warnings?" Li Chengyi, now understanding her situation, asked.
"Warnings? Are you talking about the dreams?" The woman looked at him with some confusion.
"Dreams…" Li Chengyi was left speechless. Clearly, she hadn't taken the warnings seriously, thinking they were just dreams.
He paused, considering, then decided to explain some of what he knew about the Dead Corner.
As he continued speaking, the expression on the woman's face grew increasingly impatient.
When he got to the part about the two-meter tall monstrous face, she couldn't take it anymore.
"Sorry, I'm being serious here, but has anyone ever told you your story is interesting? But talking about this now is totally out of place."
"I've heard about the Dead Corner rumors. But they're all just fake stories. As far as I'm concerned, it's more like a hidden survival experiment. Anyway, now's not the time for this," she waved her hand dismissively.
She then stretched out her hand, opening her fingers.
"Five thousand. Take me out of here. What do you think?"
"…" Li Chengyi didn't speak. He thought for a moment and gestured for her to continue.
There was no point in talking to her now. Until she saw the Dead Corner for herself, he doubted she would believe it was real.
"Ten thousand!" the woman said seriously. "Don't be greedy. This place is just a bit bigger. If I had to find my own way out, you wouldn't be getting any of that money!"
"You can try," Li Chengyi replied, scanning the maintenance door where the monster had emerged earlier.
"Also, that monster comes out from these small doors. Here's a piece of advice: never touch these doors. If you see one open, run," he warned.
He knew time was running out. He couldn't afford to waste any more. The floral language ability could fail at any moment, and if it did, controlling the situation again might be impossible.
Without saying another word, he turned and headed in the direction the woman had come from.
Since she said she came from the top, it was worth checking out what was up there!
"Hey!" The woman didn't expect him to start running and chased after him for a few steps. But her platform shoes slowed her down, and in a few moments, she could only watch as Li Chengyi disappeared around the corner.
"Are you crazy? Running this fast?!" she muttered, holding onto a nearby pillar to catch her breath.
She looked around, and once again, the area seemed eerily empty, silent.
She stood there next to the pillar, her heart starting to race with unease.
But before long, Li Chengyi's figure reappeared from around the corner.
He had gone up a level to check, but couldn't find the elevator the woman had mentioned. Instead, he found a higher-level ramp.
He didn't dare continue, unsure of how many floors this place had.
So he quickly turned around and returned, deciding that at least here, there was someone else to keep an eye on. That brought him some sense of security.
From a distance, he saw the woman leaning against a pillar, muttering to herself, though he couldn't make out what she was saying. He increased his pace and walked toward her.
"Let's go together. Let's find a way out," Li Chengyi said directly.
"You really don't know the exit?" the woman asked, her surprise clear as she now noticed his appearance.
Black hair, black eyes, and a faint trace of blood at the corners of his eyes—he looked somewhat terrifying.
His build was a bit on the thin side, but he gave off a steady and composed vibe. He was holding a bag, which through the semi-transparent plastic, appeared to be filled with food and drinks.
It seemed like this man was prepared!
The woman's eyes flashed with a hint of suspicion. But that suspicion quickly turned into slight fear.
Because she had noticed the knife in his hand.
In the quiet, empty underground parking lot, the sight of a young man with bloodshot eyes, holding a bag in one hand and a knife in the other, made the scene almost like something out of a horror movie.
The woman stepped back, her face growing tense.
"Let's cooperate. We can find the exit and leave together," Li Chengyi spoke again, unaware that his appearance was intimidating the woman.
"Stay right there! If... if what you're saying is true, then how can you prove it?" she asked, her wariness reaching its peak.
Prove it?
Li Chengyi noticed her retreat and looked down at himself. He quickly realized that she had misunderstood.
He thought for a moment, then took out his phone and checked the time.
"It's 9:12 PM. I was pulled into this place about half an hour ago. I was just walking in the small park, bought some snacks, and was heading back to stock up," he said calmly.
"You don't need to be afraid. The blood in my eyes is from when I encountered that monster earlier. It's just an external injury. It should be fine…" He said, but towards the end, he wasn't so sure.
"Really?" The woman gave a forced smile but was still backing up, keeping a distance of over ten meters between them before she stopped. She watched him warily.
"Listen, there are two of us here. We can take turns resting and be on guard for any monsters that might appear," Li Chengyi said in a deep voice.
He genuinely hoped to convince her. It was exhausting for him to keep an eye out alone.
He was already feeling drained, his eyes dry and drowsy, and if someone could help him keep watch, even for just five minutes, he could regain some strength!
But what puzzled him was that this woman hadn't encountered anything unusual when she entered. He had encountered the monstrous face on his second entry.
Seeing her deliberately keep her distance confirmed that she still didn't trust him.
"Your shopping bag... Is it from the Kaynmina mall in the city center? I remember it's the most high-end mall in our city, and when I was a kid, I used to play near the Lanyun Park. I could even see the Corn Man model from Kaynmina's store," Li Chengyi added, his tone softening.
The Corn Man was a character from a childhood cartoon, a fond memory for many people his age.
Hearing him describe it in such detail, the woman's expression softened slightly.
It seemed that her fear of him was beginning to subside.
"You're also from here? What's your name? You don't have to give me your real name, just something I can call you," she asked after a moment of thought.
"Cheng Yi. You can call me Cheng Yi," Li Chengyi replied.
"Meng Dongdong," the woman responded.
"Alright, I believe you're not lying, but can you put the knife down first?" she asked.
"…" Li Chengyi then noticed that he was still holding the fruit knife.
He had been so tense that he hadn't paid attention to these details.
He exhaled, then carefully put the knife down and took out a wet wipe from his pocket to clean the blood off his face.
Once it was clean, he looked more normal.
"Is this better?"
"Mhm…" Meng Dongdong nodded, her expression much calmer now. "Let's clarify the situation first. You said you've been here for over half an hour and still haven't found the exit, right?"
"Yes."
"And which floor did you come from?" she asked.
"The bottom floor. There's probably two or three more floors below this one… but I'm not sure if there will be any more changes," Li Chengyi answered.
"Alright, let's forget about monsters for now and focus on the exit," Meng Dongdong said, taking a deep breath and gesturing for Li Chengyi to listen.
"Normally, the exits to underground garages are at the highest floor, so you've been heading up," she continued.
"But I have to tell you, there's no exit higher up," she said in a serious tone.
"Before I ran into you, I went up five floors straight, and they were all the same. That's why I decided to go down and see if there were any breakthroughs," she added.
"So why did you think I was a staff member here?" Li Chengyi asked.
"I thought I'd been kidnapped," Meng Dongdong replied, her expression weary.
"Kidnapped?"
"Yeah, some weirdos love to kidnap people for experiments, like in that movie Elevator Horror. They lock people up together and observe what they do to survive," she explained. "They're probably observing us right now."
Li Chengyi was speechless.
If he hadn't encountered the monster, he might have had the same thoughts as her.
Seeing that Meng Dongdong's emotions were calming down, he began to talk about the local scenery and public news.
These everyday topics made Meng Dongdong relax more and stop fearing him.
However, despite looking calm on the surface, Li Chengyi's eyes would often dart to the maintenance door.
Behind that door, the unknown monster was still waiting.
And as soon as the floral language ability failed, the monster could burst through and attack.
So, while he seemed calm on the outside, his nerves were constantly on edge.
After a while, he noticed that Meng Dongdong had calmed down, but his own mental state was deteriorating.
Finally, he asked.
"Could you help me? I need to find a place to rest. Can you keep an eye on the surroundings for me, in case any monsters approach?"
"You don't look well," Meng Dongdong frowned, noticing that Cheng Yi seemed exhausted and drained.
"How long do you need to rest?" she asked.
What do you think of the mysterious woman's story? Is she trustworthy or hiding something?What will happen to them now? Share your thoughts below!