Hidden Dead Ends - Chapter 12: People (II)

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The handle of the small door was turning as though someone was twisting it and wanting to come out.

Li Chengyi held his breath, rushed a few steps, pounced, and slammed into the small door without hesitation.

Bang!

He slammed shut the small door that was about to open.

As long as the door doesn’t open, that damn thing won’t be able to come out! This was the only thought in his mind.

He pressed his body firmly against the door, blocking the cold red maintenance door from opening.

Thump, thump, thump.

In the maintenance room, a heavy object kept hitting the door, making loud thuds.

Something was trying to push the door open and come out.

But after Li Chengyi slammed into the door, it was closed and locked again. The lock and the resistance of his full strength made it impossible for the small door to open.

Thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

The collisions continued without stopping, getting heavier and heavier each time.

The heavy impacts brought about vibrations that made Li Chengyi’s eardrums buzz, and his arm and shoulder pressing against the iron door began to feel numb.

He gritted his teeth, slanted his body, and pressed against the iron door, not daring to relax.

However, the impacts were becoming bigger and heavier, and the speed at which the impacts became stronger shocked him. No! I have to think of a way! If this continues, I will definitely die!

Previously, the Flower Scale Gear had helped him block a disaster. Now that it was damaged, he only had the Flower Language Ability left and couldn’t fight a human face head-on.

Moreover, the first time was a human face. Who could be sure that the second time would be the same?

What if it was some other troublesome monster…

I absolutely can’t let it out! Li Chengyi pressed against the door firmly as all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind.

Suddenly, a thought popped up in his mind. Since I can only use the Flower Language Ability by touch, then… can I use it through touching objects?

I’m next to the door, and the monster on the other side is also next to the door. Does this count as contact?

As soon as this idea appeared, it quickly sprouted in his mind.

Should I give it a try?! He made up his mind. He quickly flipped his right hand and placed his palm on the door.

A cold and hard touch spread along his palm to his mind.

With a thought, an invisible and transparent layer of distortion quickly covered his palm.

As soon as the distortion came into contact with the iron door, it spread out evenly, seeped into the door, and disappeared.

Boom!

At the same time, another heavy impact came from behind the door.

But this time, the impact only lasted for a moment.

Li Chengyi felt that there seemed to be a line connecting his hand to the door and something behind it. It works! Next, touch what will captivate the target.

The complete effect of the Hand of Captivation had two steps.

First: Specify the target.

Second: Determine what the target is captivated with.

This was the first time Li Chengyi used it. He felt that the connection was like a thin thread that was continuously extracting his physical strength out of his body.

This extraction speed was very fast. It felt as though he were running on a track non-stop. In just half a minute, his stamina might be completely drained.

I have to be fast!

His mind was racing as his blood-stained eyes quickly scanned his surroundings. Without stopping, he pressed his right hand against the iron door in front of him again.

He was outside, so no matter what he specified, the thing inside would definitely come out.

Therefore, he might as well use this iron door as the captivation object!

Let the monster be captivated by this small door!

There was a crisp sound.

His palm hit the surface of the iron door.

At the same time, the door fell completely silent.

“Phew… Phew…” Li Chengyi closed his mouth and breathed heavily through his nostrils while staring at the iron door in front of him with wide eyes.

After he waited for maybe ten seconds, maybe a minute…

The door remained silent.

He slowly relaxed his body and stepped back.

Success? He didn’t know, but judging from the movement and reaction, it seemed to have succeeded.

Rustle…

Suddenly, a faint rubbing sound came from behind the iron door.

There seemed to be someone inside gently stroking the door.

The rubbing sound was endless. It wasn’t loud, but it was persistent.

When Li Chengyi first heard the sound, his heart skipped a beat. But then he found that the door didn’t show any signs of opening again, so his heart gradually relaxed. It seems like I succeeded… As long as I don’t open this door, it shouldn’t be a problem.

He could feel a slight, fragile connection linking the iron door and an individual in the maintenance room.

As long as there was no external interruption and separation, this captivated state could continue until the Flower Language Ability lost its effect.

He didn’t know how long it would take for the Flower Language Ability to lose its effect. He still needed to test and record this.

But at least for now, he finally had an effective way to avoid danger.

After confirming that there was no problem, he took a few steps back, picked up the bag, and ran all the way to the bend.

Even though he had stabilized the situation for the time being, he didn’t want to stay by this small door anymore.

This feeling of being close to the source of danger at any time made his hair stand on end and his heart palpitate.

If this continued, he wouldn’t be able to rest and recover his strength.

He jogged away from the small door and walked another hundred meters before stopping and sitting down behind a supporting stone pillar.

With the stone pillar behind him, he only needed to tilt his head slightly to see the small door of the maintenance room.

The cold and empty garage was empty, without a single car.

Li Chengyi was holding the white plastic bag and panting, his face turning pale.

The cold light shone on his face, making him look even paler.

Just as he was about to close his eyes and rest for a while…

“Is anyone here?!”

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

Someone was shouting.

“Is anyone here?” It was a young female voice.

The voice was full of energy, the tone was calm, and there was no sense of panic.

There’s someone?! Li Chengyi was stunned for a moment, thinking that he had heard wrongly and was hallucinating.

People would experience this phenomenon if they were in an extremely quiet environment for too long.

Because it was too quiet and the surrounding sounds were too soft, it caused the imaginary sounds in people’s minds to be confused with the faint sounds of the outside world, making it impossible to distinguish between illusion and reality.

“Anyone here? Is anyone here?” The female voice sounded again.

This time, the voice was closer and clearer.

Li Chengyi opened his eyes, finally confirming that he had not heard wrongly. It was really a second person besides him speaking!

He stood up and was about to reply.

But immediately, the sound in his throat stopped like a car breaking. No! There’s even a human face monster in this place, so it’s not surprising for there to be a monster that can imitate a human voice! I’ll wait…

His expression changed, and he dispelled the thought of replying immediately. Instead, he looked in the direction of the voice.

The female voice came from the right.

Over there was a bend leading further up.

With the shout, faint footsteps slowly came.

It seemed like this person was approaching this floor.

The footsteps were muffled, and they didn’t seem to be leather boots or hard-soled shoes but shoes with soft rubber soles.

Li Chengyi patiently hid behind the pillar, standing with his body turned sideways. He completely hid behind the grayish-white pillar with a diameter of half a meter and waited for the footsteps to get closer.

The tip of his nose was almost touching the rough surface of the stone pillar, and he could smell the faint smell of concrete.

As the footsteps got closer and closer, they became louder and louder.

“Is anyone here?” The female voice sounded again. This time, it was much clearer, and faint panting could be heard. Clearly, the woman was also a little tired.

Li Chengyi carefully exposed the corner of his eyes as he glanced at the bend, waiting for the woman to appear.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Fifteen seconds.

Finally, a person slowly walked out from the bend in the distance.

It was a long-haired woman dressed completely in black and holding a brown and white checkered coat on her arm.

The woman looked around calmly, but judging from her constantly accelerating footsteps, she wasn’t as calm as she appeared.

“Is anyone here?” she called out again as she walked toward Li Chengyi.

As the distance narrowed, Li Chengyi gradually saw her appearance.

The woman’s skin was fair, and her facial features were above average. There were slight traces of plastic surgery at the corners of her eyes and chin. The arcs and lines were abnormally standard.

She had long black hair that reached her chest and a thin black trench coat on her upper body, making it impossible to see her curves.

She was wearing tight black pants and black platform shoes with heels that were as thick as half a palm.

Li Chengyi noticed that this woman was holding a large shopping bag in her hand. There was a mall logo on the outside of the white bag: the word Kanemina and a pure white garland surrounding it.

Kanemina was a shopping mall that appeared in Li Chengyi’s memories. It was a high-end shopping mall with high consumer traffic and was in the city center.

The summary characteristic was one word: expensive.

The woman walked for a while before stopping and taking out her phone from the pocket of her trench coat. It was in a black case with a pink cartoon cat pendant on the back.

She looked at her phone screen and seemed to be checking the signal.

After confirming that there was still no signal, she lowered it in disappointment, and her chest rose and fell more vigorously.

At this moment, Li Chengyi confirmed that she wasn’t a monster but a real living person.

Li Chengyi heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at the small door of the maintenance room that he had closed earlier. After confirming that there was no movement, he slowly walked out.

“Were you suddenly pulled in too?” he asked in a low voice. He had recovered some of his stamina, making his voice calm and powerful.

The more unfamiliar and unsafe the environment, the less people could show their weak side.

This was not a principle of life. It was just people’s instinctive defense of their sense of security.

“?!” The black-haired woman seemed to be frightened and took a step back when she saw someone come out.

At this moment, the two of them were about ten meters apart. She was more than 1.7 meters tall, slightly shorter than Li Chengyi. But this was due to the increased height from her exaggerated platform shoes. Her true height should be much shorter.

The woman was so frightened that her body tilted and almost fell back.

But she immediately stabilized her body, showing good balance. Then she stood still and looked at Li Chengyi with a pleasantly surprised expression.

“I finally found someone! Where is this place? Are you a staff member here?! Can you take me out?! I can give you money! Is a thousand dollars enough?!” she asked anxiously.

The calmness on her face completely dissipated at this moment.

Li Chengyi sized up the woman and glanced at the knees of her black pants and the back of her shoes.

There was fine white dust and traces of wear and tear in both places, indicating that she had fallen before.

In addition, the two of them were more than ten meters apart. Even from so far away, he could smell her peach perfume. It was imaginable how much perfume this woman must have sprayed on her body.

“Sorry, I’m not a staff member here, so I can’t take you away. Don’t you know what this place is by now?” Li Chengyi didn’t believe that this woman wouldn’t know this was a Dead End after two omens.

Even the stupidest person should know to search for information about that extremely clear omen experience.