Ma Fuqing initially persisted, sitting there repeating his belief. "Don't move, don't move, it's all an illusion..." Even when he felt the water level rising and slowly submerging his mouth and nose, he only trembled slightly, without standing up or reaching for the iron bars on top of the cage.
He tried taking a few deep breaths, and apart from a cold feeling in his chest, he didn't experience any choking or shortness of breath. He chuckled, "See? I told you, it was all an illusion, like having a nightmare."
He heard Qingmu say, "You're really amazing; you can still stay clear-headed like this. If you don't move, I really can't do anything with you. But it's about to pour downpour, and if you don't take shelter, this downpour will be enough to make you suffer."
Ma Fuqing opened his eyes and looked up. It was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything, but there were indeed large raindrops falling, sparsely, with one or two occasionally landing on his face, feeling icy cold.
Soon, the raindrops became denser, pelting the rooftop of the building like scattering broad beans, making a crackling sound.
Ma Fuqing was quickly soaked, looking like a drowned rat, with rainwater pouring down his face.
At this point, his breathing began to become labored, and with the slightest effort, rainwater was inhaled into his lungs, causing a violent cough.
He wanted to find shelter from the rain, but then he remembered that he had to stick to his belief that he "couldn't move." If he moved, he might no longer be able to distinguish between illusion and reality.
The wind howled, whipping large swaths of rain at an angle, like a distant army shooting arrows at them. Ma Fuqing felt unsteady on his feet, almost blown over by the wind. The wind and rain stung his cheeks.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, Ma Fuqing really couldn't stand it anymore.
A bolt of lightning flashed, like a silver, shimmering snake, writhing right before his eyes, nearly piercing the building's floorboards.
Using the flash of lightning, Ma Fuqing could see the situation on the rooftop. All he could see was the torrential rain; there was nothing there. The cage that had trapped him was gone, the underground river was gone, and Qingmu was nowhere to be found.
A loud clap of thunder rang in his ears, startling him so much that he jumped up from the ground.
Yes, who would be foolish enough to stay on the roof of this abandoned building and get rained on? This building has been abandoned for over twenty years; it might collapse one day in a strong wind.
Ma Fuqing took out his phone to try and get a light, but found that it was no longer working, probably because it had gotten wet in the rain. Thinking that the phone he had hidden in the pile of scrap steel bars to take pictures was probably even less usable, he didn't bother to look at it.
He had no choice but to grope his way towards the stairwell in the dark. Fortunately, he was familiar with the area, having conducted several transactions there before.
He found the stairs by the wall, tried taking a step forward, and landed on the step. He breathed a sigh of relief, patted his wet chest, and smiled easily.
He recalled how the Medicine Granny, with her delicate fingers, had struck a pose like a Buddha before him, yet she too had died at Qingmu's hands. Even the legendary Mu Ka and Wu Suotun were dead, but this Qingmu couldn't do anything to him!
Ma Fuqing became smug and careless as he went downstairs. Suddenly, he missed a step and tumbled down.
His heart clenched in fright, and he nearly had a heart attack. Luckily, he landed on his buttocks quickly, with a thud, on a pile of scrap steel bars on the floor below. His tailbone and hip felt like they were cracked from the fall.
He cried out in pain as he struggled to climb off the steel bar, then carefully groped his way to the wall.
However, the steel bars on the ground were not flat; they stood upright, blocking his way.
Ma Fuqing found it strange; he had never seen such steel bars before. He ran his hand along the upright steel bars and found that they stood upright one by one, forming a circle like a cage. He was incredibly lucky that he hadn't been impaled by the upright steel bars when he fell from above.
At the same time, he smelled a pungent odor, as if he had fallen into a pit of excrement.
At this moment, the sound of wind and rain gradually subsided, and the sky above the building began to glow with a hazy light again. The city lights in the distance also emerged from the heavy, damp fog, and the scene before us gradually began to take on a blurry outline.
After adjusting to the dim light for a while, Ma Fuqing saw that he had indeed fallen into an iron cage, but this time it wasn't submerged in water like a pig cage.
The cage's iron bars were about two meters high, with straw and a dirty mat underneath. Inside the cage were several thick iron chains that locked the cage door. In the corner of the cage was a pit, and the stench was coming from there. Ma Fuqing went closer to take a look and smelled it, and found that it was indeed a pit for people to defecate and urinate.
He quickly covered his nose and backed away, when suddenly his back bumped into something warm and soft. He seemed to hear heavy breathing and a slight whooshing sound as it flowed over the back of his neck.
He held his breath in fright, turned around abruptly, and saw a dark figure crouching behind him, the whites of its eyes shining brightly in the darkness.
Ma Fuqing was terrified. He fell backward, crawled backward a few steps on his hands, and accidentally put one hand into a pit of excrement.
The dark figure seemed pleased to see him covered in excrement and urination, and chuckled.
Ma Fuqing felt the voice was familiar, and upon closer inspection, he realized that the person squatting in front of him was his younger brother, Ma Fuquan.
"What are you doing here?" Ma Fuqing asked, puzzled.
Ma Fuquan chuckled and reached out to grab Ma Fuqing's neck, "You're the one who locked me up! You're the one who locked me up!" As he spoke, he squeezed Ma Fuqing's neck harder and slammed Ma Fuqing's head against the ground repeatedly.
Ma Fuqing tried to resist, but whether it was because he was weak from being rained on or because his brother was too strong, he couldn't muster any strength and could only watch helplessly as his brother choked him until he couldn't breathe.
He tried to pry his brother's fingers off, mumbling something he couldn't even understand himself. Then, his tongue stuck out, sticking out a very long way, like a hanged ghost. His eyes bulged out, like a dead fish.
Strangely, even though Ma Fuqing was dead, he could still see himself and everything around him, and the despair and pain of his last moments did not dissipate. He simply watched himself die, and his younger brother showed a satisfied smile.
Footsteps echoed down the stairs, not very loud, like the sound of someone walking barefoot.
Then a white figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
It was a headless woman, completely naked, her skin as white as a pig whose hair had just been scalded in boiling water. Her neck was bare, the flesh turned outwards, and dark red blood oozed from the opening, like a swarm of twisted worms crawling.
Ma Fuqing saw the headless woman walk step by step toward his already dead body, her snow-white breasts trembling, and a black mole on her left breast standing out conspicuously.
"Give me back my head!" the woman said.