Lu Zhi was amused by his own wild imagination.
"Lu Zhi?" Luo Shiyu's voice came from upstairs.
"Coming." Lu Zhi stared at the miniature Shen Qi in his hand, finding him more and more curious, more and more peculiar, and the more he looked, the more he liked him. Although he didn't know the puppet's purpose yet, he was reluctant to put it back in his pocket.
Lu Zhi carefully pinched the miniature Shen Qi's hand with his index finger. It was stiff, indeed made of wood, but it was as realistic as human skin. The principle behind it was a mystery.
He glanced down at the pocket of his clothes. To facilitate movement before entering the cage, the clothes he was wearing were of the long-sleeved SWAT uniform type. The pockets were zippered, but there was also a hook-and-loop strip next to them.
Lu Zhi placed the small Shen Qi's body into the pocket, leaving his small hands sticking out. To ensure he wouldn't fall out while moving, Lu Zhi tore off the adjacent strip and fastened it across from the shoulders of the small figure. Only then did he happily and quickly follow Luo Shiyu and Lan Yushan.
Lu Zhi affectionately stroked the small figure's soft hair. As they walked, the small figure's tightly closed eyelids seemed to have moved slightly.
"Wait a moment." Lan Yushan raised his hand.
They had reached the entrance to the third floor. All they needed to do was gently open the door to enter, but Lan Yushan suddenly retreated a few steps, beckoned them to hide in a corner, and then whispered urgently, "Crouch down."
Lu Zhi had just stepped onto the third-floor stairs. Hearing this, he quickly hid in the corner by the door. The three of them held their breath, the surroundings so quiet that they could almost hear each other's heartbeats.
*Thump thump thump...*
The fire escape door was not completely sealed. It had a glass window at the top, through which the silhouettes of the shops on the third floor could be seen. The shop closest to the fire door sold children's clothing. The clothes with luminous patterns glowed green, making them very conspicuous in the dim environment, and exceptionally eerie.
At this moment, Lu Zhi heard a pattering sound, approaching from a distance, accompanied by a hollow, strange humming tune.
The three exchanged glances. Lan Yushan pressed himself tightly against the wall behind him and fearfully grabbed Luo Shiyu's hand for courage.
Luo Shiyu looked at the door at the entrance with a grim expression, seemingly hesitating whether to go forward and investigate.
Lan Yushan shook his head and pointed to the gap under the door.
Only then did Lu Zhi notice that the pattering sound of footsteps had stopped, and the singing had also disappeared. Under the entrance door's gap, a piece of white fabric had appeared at some point, swaying gently, like the hem of a skirt.
Lu Zhi slowly looked up at the door. The dark window seemed like a monstrous maw, ready to devour them, and something terrifying was about to burst out of the darkness at any moment.
Just then, Lu Zhi saw a mass of black hair slowly rising, as if whatever was inside was preparing to peer out of the window at the stairs.
Lu Zhi instinctively tightened his grip on the police baton, making eye contact with Luo Shiyu. Both were prepared for the worst-case scenario of being discovered.
A mannequin face suddenly pressed tightly against the glass. Its gelatinous eyes darted left and right. All three held their breath involuntarily, tension building. *Bang!*
The mannequin suddenly and furiously slammed its head against the glass. The seemingly fragile door remained as steady as a mountain under such violent impact.
Lu Zhi clenched his police baton, and the brand on his chest began to feel hot again.
The impact lasted for nearly a minute before it ceased. The white skirt vanished beneath the door gap, and the pattering sounds and the eerie singing gradually faded into the distance.
The oppressive atmosphere, which had made the three feel both danger and terror, finally eased.
"It's... it's gone," Lan Yushan said, trembling, his forehead now beaded with small drops of sweat.
Lu Zhi's taut nerves suddenly relaxed, and he frowned, "What could that thing be?"
Luo Shiyu shook his head, "I'm not sure either."
Lu Zhi furrowed his brow, "We can't deal with it, all three of us. Let's withdraw for now."
Lu Zhi was no saint. Before saving others, he had to ensure his own safety. Frankly, he didn't have the courage to sacrifice his life for others.
"I... I agree," Lan Yushan swallowed and said, "Just looking through the door, without even facing it directly, I felt like I couldn't breathe. And... I'm not sure if there are any living people inside."
Lu Zhi nodded and gave Lan Yushan a look of approval, "Let's head to the safe haven first. Let's find someone to ask? If that thing can't get out, it's very likely that someone sealed it here long ago?"
Luo Shiyu was not one to be a reckless hero, and Lu Zhi's suggestion made sense. After a moment of thought, he nodded, "Alright."
The three returned the way they came without hesitation. They safely exited the mall and, seeing the hazy sky outside, all felt a sense of relief for reasons they couldn't quite explain.
"Let's go, to the haven first." Luo Shiyu looked down at the time on his optical computer. "There are two hours left before night falls in the cage. We need to hurry."
The nights in the cage were far more terrifying than the days. The three ran towards the safe haven according to the map on their optical computer. Along the way, they encountered many living corpses. When they couldn't bypass them, they used their psionic guns to kill them, wasting no time.
Time slowly passed, and as dusk approached, the three finally reached the safe haven.
Lu Zhi looked up. A small white square was rotating on the rooftop of a tall building. Silver light enveloped the entire building. This was one of the three great treasures, the 'Square Boundary'.
"Halt. First, you must undergo testing." The sentry at the entrance, armed and vigilant, motioned for the three to go to the nearby machine for a mental pollution test.
If the mental pollution exceeded 60%, isolation would be mandatory.
The female sentry was surprised, "The pollution value is zero."
Lu Zhi asked calmly, "Is there a problem?"
The female sentry quickly replied, "No, no. This is the first time I've seen it. Under the negative energy influence of the cage, as long as it's below 60%, it's normal. You can go in."
"Thank you." Lu Zhi walked towards Luo Shiyu and Lan Yushan, who were waiting for him, and asked, "Where do we go next?"
Luo Shiyu: "First, to the personnel registration center, then find the person in charge of this district and inform them about the situation at the mall."
Lan Yushan put on his earphones with a look of discomfort and said, "It's so noisy in here."
It was indeed very noisy. Lu Zhi could hear it too; the building's lobby seemed to have turned into a marketplace, bustling with activity.
Upon entering, the nearly thousand-square-meter lobby was crowded with people. Many were still waiting to be assigned rooms, but because the management personnel of this floor disagreed, everyone was crammed into the lobby.
Here, the female police officer by Liu Chuang, the responsible person for this community, was communicating with the building's management personnel.
Luo Shiyu approached and extended his hand to Liu Chuang, "Hello, my name is Luo Shiyu. The three of us are new students sent by the school this time. Please guide us."
Liu Chuang was taken aback for a moment, then immediately reciprocated, "Hello, my name is Liu Chuang, and I am the person in charge of this community."
Luo Shiyu glanced at the administrator and the female police officer who were still negotiating and said, "Can we speak privately for a moment?"
Liu Chuang nodded and led the three to a secluded corner.
Lu Zhi guessed that Luo Shiyu would first inform Liu Chuang about the mall. The mall was not far from here, and the entity inside was too dangerous. They couldn't rest easy without clarification.
Outside the cage, 24 hours passed, but within the cage, it was equivalent to 7 days. Although food was ample, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't leave the safe haven and rashly enter the mall.
"It's good that you didn't go in." After listening to Luo Shiyu, Liu Chuang's face became serious. "After the cage descended, our team members happened to be near that mall and sealed off the third floor with an artifact."
Lu Zhi and Luo Shiyu exchanged glances, seeing the gravity in each other's eyes.
Liu Chuang said, "The monsters on the periphery are all level 1-2, which we can easily deal with. Even when facing level 3, we have a chance of winning, but the one in the mall... we suspect it's a level 4."
Lu Zhi exclaimed in surprise, "Level 4!"
"That's right. That mall is the largest shopping center in this community. It usually has many visitors. After the cage descended, a level 4 anomaly suddenly appeared and turned everyone on the third floor into mannequins." Liu Chuang's eyes were grave. "You mentioned seeing the silhouette of a child on the third floor. That was likely a lure to draw you up."
Lan Yushan shuddered in fear and cried out, "I knew something was wrong! Fortunately, we were cautious and didn't go in."
Lu Zhi nodded, then patted the hair of the small figure in his pocket with a sense of relief, liking it more and more and marveling at how soft the hair was, finding it incredibly comfortable to pet.
Had Lu Zhi looked down at the small figure, he would have noticed that its tightly closed eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of familiar silver-gray pupils.