I promise

Why...

Jiang Mingran was certain that the person he had just seen through the glass was Pancake Uncle.

Why was Pancake Uncle wearing red embroidered shoes?

Shao Lan clutched his right shoulder and asked hoarsely, "Did you see Pancake Uncle's head?"

Jiang Mingran nodded.

Shao Lan looked at Jiang Mingran sorrowfully.

"Did you also... only see his head?"

A chill crept up Jiang Mingran's back, and his entire body froze.

He slowly looked up and saw that Pancake Uncle's face had somehow been pressed against the glass, silently watching the people inside.

His eyes stared blankly, his pupils already dilated.

Pancake Uncle was dead. The woman had killed him after coming in through the window.

Pancake Uncle's lifeless face rested against the glass, then was moved aside a few seconds later. That almost entirely white eye appeared in its place.

The woman had been standing in a half crouch outside the door, holding up Pancake Uncle's head. Now she straightened, bringing her face level with the glass.

Her sightless eye blinked. Then the woman smiled.

She slammed herself into the wooden door!

With a thunderous crash, the door cracked before Jiang Mingran's despairing eyes.

The wooden door was nowhere near as strong as the security door. At this rate, it would give way after just a few more hits.

"Jiang Mingran."

Jiang Mingran turned around. Shao Lan looked at him calmly.

The young man looked only a few years older than him, yet he had remained remarkably composed throughout.

Shao Lan pulled Jiang Mingran close with his still-functioning left hand and whispered his plan into his ear. "Hide in a moment. I'll..."

Once Jiang Mingran understood what Shao Lan was saying, his eyes went wide. "No! You'll die if you do that!"

Shao Lan shook his head. "I can't hide."

He pointed to his blood-soaked right shoulder. The smell of that blood was like a constant signal broadcasting his location to the woman. Wherever he hid, she would immediately sense him.

"Can you do something for me?" Shao Lan coughed. "If I die, kill yourself once you've confirmed that the police can subdue the killer."

Jiang Mingran froze.

Then he understood.

"I will," Jiang Mingran said. "I promise I'll kill myself."

Shao Lan nodded.

Given a choice, he did not like putting his life in someone else's hands.

But there was no other option now.

Only two little goldfish remained in the tank. After this round ended, everyone would have just one life left.

So in this loop, one of them had to survive long enough to witness the police arriving.

"There's no time. Hide, and don't make a sound," Shao Lan said.

His eyes red, Jiang Mingran hid off to one side.

With the woman's final blow, the wooden door splintered under the strain. A thin, withered hand punched through the wood and reached inside.

Shao Lan leaned against the windowsill, unarmed, and looked calmly at the woman.

"Your baby is adorable," he said abruptly.

The hand tearing through the door paused.

Shao Lan glanced back. The thick fog made it impossible to tell which floor they were on, but he could tell they were high up. Wind laden with rain blew inside, chilling him to the bone.

He looked at the woman. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Jiang Mingran hid behind the table, trembling all over as he struggled not to make a sound.

"You don't know?" Shao Lan said. "Then would you like me to tell you?"

He enunciated each word. "Let me tell you. It's neither."

"You don't have a baby. Your baby is a wad of cotton stuffed inside your padded jacket," Shao Lan said calmly.

Shao Lan had sensed something was wrong when he found the medicinal broth simmering in the kitchen.

According to Pancake Uncle, the prescription was meant to help her conceive. But if the woman was already pregnant, why was she still drinking it?

And when the woman had shielded her belly earlier, the way her jacket changed shape had confirmed to Shao Lan that there was a thick wad of cotton underneath.

"You don't have a baby, yet you keep protecting your belly. Is that because you've managed to fool yourself, too? Does lying to yourself like this make you happy?" Shao Lan asked coldly.

"You don't have a baby now, and you probably never will. You've killed so many people... what child would want to be reincarnated in a murderer's womb?"

The woman's eye slowly widened. A trail of bloody tears flowed from her exposed eye.

A moment later, she began to shriek.

She slammed into the door, sending the battered wood flying, and charged at Shao Lan.

She shrieked, her white eye turning blood-red.

Shao Lan fell backward.

His body disappeared into the thick fog as he fell from the window.

The woman could not see. She only knew that her blood-scented prey was just ahead. By the time she charged over and realized she was at a window, it was too late.

Her tall, thin body lost its balance, and most of it went hurtling past the windowsill.

The woman hastily tried to stop herself.

But just then, Jiang Mingran rushed out of hiding.

He threw himself against her with every ounce of strength he had.

The woman was knocked out of the window. With a tremendous shriek like the roar of a giant beast, she plunged into the thick fog.

Jiang Mingran clung to the windowsill, gasping for breath.

That was Shao Lan's plan.

Enrage her, rob her of as much reason as possible, and then... send her plunging into the abyss.

But Shao Lan had paid the price as well.

There was no other way. Though the woman had become a monster, she clearly retained some intelligence. She had even known to use Pancake Uncle's head to trick them into opening the door.

So someone had to be the bait...

The wind outside battered Jiang Mingran's face. His eyes were red.

Pancake Uncle was dead. Shao Lan was dead.

Facing the rain and fog outside all alone, he felt as though a vast hole had been torn through his heart.

"Brother Lan..."

"Mingran."

The voice was extremely faint, as though its speaker had only one last breath left.

Jiang Mingran's eyes widened.

"Mingran."

It wasn't his imagination!

Jiang Mingran looked down.

Shao Lan was hanging outside the window.

He had secured his ankle to the window with his jacket and was now dangling upside down outside.

Jiang Mingran hurriedly grabbed his leg and hauled him up.

Shao Lan lay on the floor. With every breath, bloody froth welled from his mouth.

The woman had struck him as she fell out of the window. Now he felt as though a bulldozer had run over him, leaving not a single bone intact.

"Back... go back over there." Shao Lan weakly pointed across the hall.

Although the woman had fallen, her body was utterly monstrous. There was no telling whether the fall would kill her.

If she returned, the wooden door at Brother Wang's place was already completely destroyed. The security door across the hall could still hold out for a while.

Jiang Mingran carried Shao Lan on his back to the apartment opposite and locked the security door.

Just as he locked it, police sirens sounded outside the window.

"The police are here!" Jiang Mingran almost cried with joy.

Shao Lan also let out a long breath of relief.

He was exhausted.

The blood loss had left him utterly drained. His mind seemed shrouded in fog, his thoughts painfully sluggish. If he closed his eyes, he would immediately lose consciousness. Sheer willpower was all that kept him going.

"Police! Open the door!"

Someone knocked.

Jiang Mingran hurried over and looked through the peephole. "The Special Investigation Team?"

"Yes. Is the suspect inside? Is anyone injured?" the man outside asked loudly.

"Yes!" Jiang Mingran hurriedly opened the door. "He's badly injured. He needs emergency treatment..."

Shao Lan sat against the wall on the floor, watching Jiang Mingran unfasten the Security Chain.

Suddenly, a thought flashed like lightning through his fog-shrouded mind.

Too fast.

From the moment the sirens sounded to the knock at the door, less than a minute had passed.

That's too fast.

They could have managed it if they'd taken an elevator, right?

Does this building have an elevator...?

But, but... even if it does...

We never told the police the apartment number!!

Every time they called the police, they had only said Building 7 of Happiness Residential Community. They had never given a floor or apartment number, because even they had not figured those out.

How did the police know? How could they have found the right door in less than a minute?

There was only one possibility...

"Don't open the door!" Shao Lan shouted with all his remaining strength. "That cop is a fake!!"

Too late.

Jiang Mingran's eyes widened.

The man outside wore a somewhat worn jacket. He was short, with a haggard face. He looked like an utterly ordinary, exhausted middle-aged man.

Except for one thing.

The man held a long knife. The instant the door opened, the blade thrust through the gap and plunged into Jiang Mingran's chest.