Hidden Dead Ends - Chapter 15: Cooperation (I)

A real gun?!

Li Chengyi and Meng Dongdong were terrified. They never thought that they would encounter someone with a gun in their everyday lives.

Guns were very strictly controlled in Yi Country. If someone wanted to hold a gun, they had to be a professional with a gun license and in special occupations such as police, high-level bodyguards, soldiers, and so on.

The man in front of them could actually bring a gun in, showing that his background and occupation were likely not ordinary.

“Where’s the monster?” The man looked at Li Chengyi. “Didn’t you just say that there’s a monster?”

“…” Li Chengyi didn’t say anything. He could clearly tell that this person’s attitude toward him was off.

The man narrowed his eyes and looked at him with an inexplicable gaze. “Answer me. Did you say that just now?”

The man took a step forward. “Where’s the monster? Do you have any evidence?”

Li Chengyi was speechless. All traces disappeared automatically.

Where was he going to find traces?

Swish!

The man suddenly lowered his gun and aimed it at Li Chengyi.

Bang!

The gun fired.

Li Chengyi shuddered all over as a shallow pit appeared on the floor beside his feet.

“You should leave now.” The man stared at him coldly.

“…” Li Chengyi’s expression was extremely ugly, and he felt his heart pounding wildly. At that moment, he thought that he was really going to be shot.

Fortunately, this man didn’t really want to kill him.

“I don’t know why you’re treating me like this, but I’ll say it again. These small doors are very dangerous. You’d better—”

“Leave!” the man interrupted in a louder voice, not giving a chance for Li Chengyi to finish speaking, 

“Miss, you should stay away from him. I strongly suspect that this person might have mental problems.” The man raised his chin at Meng Dongdong while aiming at Li Chengyi, and the look in his eyes became more and more intense.

Meng Dongdong quickly walked behind the man without a word. This strong man in front of her was clearly much more reliable than Li Chengyi.

It wasn’t only his calm and steady temperament but also the pistol that could fire bullets at any time.

Li Chengyi didn’t notice Meng Dongdong’s decisive action. All his attention was on the pistol aimed at him.

He didn’t know why this person had such an attitude toward him, but the best way to deal with it now was to leave first.

After a pause, he slowly stepped back and reached out to pick up his bag of food.

“Put it down!” the man suddenly said.

“This is mine,” Li Chengyi explained.

“I told you to put it down!” the man said again. His finger was on the trigger, and he had already begun to exert force.

Li Chengyi’s face was tense. He put down the big bag, raised his hands, and slowly retreated.

When he was nearly twenty meters away, not only did he not relax, but he became even more tense.

If it was really as he guessed, then…

Li Chengyi stared intently at the pistol the man was aiming at him.

At this moment, his life and death were completely in the hands of someone else. This absolute sense of powerlessness and utter fear made all the hair on his body stand on end and his body slightly stiff.

Fortunately, the man had no intention of killing him directly. He only forced him to retreat continuously until he reached the bend before slowly lowering his gun.

Li Chengyi retreated to the slope and heaved a sigh of relief when he could no longer see the man and Meng Dongdong.

The stiffness in his body slowly eased.

When he was retreating just now, he had wanted to roll to the side several times to avoid the muzzle of the gun.

But he had held it in.

He had never practiced how to dodge bullets or how to roll. Under these circumstances, his unprofessional roll might not only not be able to avoid the bullets but even stimulate the man, leading to more troublesome consequences.

Moreover, judging from the man’s performance, he should have come prepared. Unlike Meng Dongdong, this third person definitely knew the trouble of Dead Ends.

So… he snatched my food… Li Chengyi leaned against the wall, letting the cold touch cool his emotions as much as possible.

In this absolutely sealed space, without the threat of monsters, food was undoubtedly important.

But now, that man had snatched what he had prepared…

In the bag, not only did he have food and water but also a simple first-aid kit.

At critical moments, these things were life-saving treasures.

But now, the man had taken them all away.

If I still had the Flower Scale Gear… This thought flashed through Li Chengyi’s mind, but it vanished in the twinkling of an eye.

How strong was the Flower Scale Gear? Could it block bullets?

He didn’t know.

He only knew that his physical fitness would improve a lot after wearing the Flower Scale Gear.

Coupled with the Flower Language Ability, facing firearms would definitely be much better than now!

After I get out, I have to dig out the various abilities of the Flower of Evil! I was too rushed this time! Li Chengyi’s eyes were gloomy as he made a decision.

He never, never wanted to be threatened at gunpoint again.

This kind of situation could never happen a second time!

He exhaled and didn’t dare to stay on this floor any longer. He immediately turned around and walked up to the next floor.

Without any food and water, he had to find a way to leave as soon as possible.

Fortunately, he hadn’t put all his eggs in one basket. The key cassette player and earphones were on him.

He had a full set of songs on a tape that he had played on loop when he first came to this world and a Dead End omen had happened.

The cassette tape, the cassette player, and the earphones were all in the zippered inner pocket of his jacket.

He planned to find a place to try repeating the scene of the first omen and see if he could find a way out.

He raised his feet and walked up the slope. But before he could take more than three steps…

Click.

Suddenly, a faint sound drifted over from behind.

The sound was very clear. In this enclosed and empty environment, Li Chengyi could clearly tell that it was the sound of a maintenance room door handle twisting!

A chill ran down his spine, and his body tensed up. He prepared to run away.

Without the Flower Scale Gear, it was impossible for him to be a match for the human face monster.

But just as he was about to run, the strength in his calf muscles relaxed.

If they’re hunted down by the monster, then maybe I can… This thought flashed through Li Chengyi’s mind.

With the effect of the Hand of Captivation, he might be able to try taking advantage of the opportunity to take back what had been snatched from him. Moreover, with people holding back the monster, it would be much safer to use the Flower Language Ability.

He stopped, stood on his tiptoes, turned around, and quietly walked to the bend of the wall. He poked out an eye and looked at Meng Dongdong and the man with the gun.

The bend was more than a hundred meters away from the two of them, so he could see very little clearly. He could only vaguely see the two of them facing the small door of the maintenance room and talking about something.

Li Chengyi thought about it and quickly took out his phone. He turned on the camera function and zoomed in.

Immediately, the scene in the distance appeared clearly on the phone.

Compared to peeking with his eyes, the phone’s camera was much safer.

On the phone screen, he zoomed in using his fingers and focused on the humans. The scene immediately became much clearer.

On the screen, the man with the gun was staring at the maintenance room vigilantly, his gun aimed at the door.

Meng Dongdong was standing at the side with a strange expression, looking puzzled.

Clearly, she had just opened the small door and found nothing inside. But now that there was a sudden noise, she became vigilant.

Li Chengyi tapped on the screen with his finger to focus on the door handle.

On the small red maintenance room door, the white door handle was slowly turning down.

At this moment, Meng Dongdong said something to the man with the gun.

The man’s lips moved as he replied, but he still aimed at the small door with a cold expression.

It seemed that he was very confident in the gun in his hand.

Li Chengyi wanted to run, but he still insisted on staying where he was. He wanted to see what effect firearms could have on the human face monster.

Click.

The small door finally opened.

A crack appeared.

Under the gradually horrified expressions of Meng Dongdong and the man with the gun, a two-meter-tall, one-meter-wide black and white human head slowly floated out from the crack in the door.

“Ah!!!”

Meng Dongdong’s scream burst out, followed by the man’s terrified curses and gunshots.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The consecutive gunshots hit the giant human face accurately. With such a large target, even if the man’s hands were shaking violently, he could still hit it.

But the bullets only pierced a few holes in the middle of the human face, and the holes quickly healed and disappeared.

The black and white human face floated toward the two of them expressionlessly. It was much faster than when Li Chengyi encountered it before.

Li Chengyi reacted at this moment. He put away his phone, turned around, and ran up to the next floor.

Originally, he had planned to take back his things secretly, but looking at the higher speed of the human face, he knew that he wouldn’t have a chance.

Therefore, he decisively put away his phone and ran away.

“Huff, huff, huff…” Li Chengyi was panting heavily while running to the next floor. He didn’t stop and continued to sprint upward.

After reaching the next floor above, he began to feel dizzy, and numerous white spots appeared in his eyes. His head felt drowsy, and he wanted to sleep. At the same time, his chest was breathing hard, but he kept feeling short of oxygen.

His legs were so weak that he could barely exert any strength. They couldn’t support his body and could collapse to the floor at any moment.

His heart was thumping violently, and even his temples and forehead seemed to be beating along with it.

His ears could no longer hear any outside sounds. Except for the sound of his heartbeat, everything else began to fade away, seemingly covered by a thick layer of skin.

This was the precursor to physical overdraft.

I can’t take it anymore! I have to find a place to hide. If I’m not wrong, that monster has a time limit to how long it can stay. As long as I wait until it’s time, I can survive!

After understanding this, Li Chengyi forced himself to look around the garage on his floor.

Soon, he endured the snowflakes in his eyes, found a corner, and rushed over.

However, he had only rushed halfway when he suddenly saw something flash by him.

?! He quickly stopped and turned around.

He saw a narrow and dark gap in the white wall he passed.

The gap in the wall was on the side of a load-bearing pillar, and it happened to be in the shadow of the light, making it easy to ignore without looking carefully.

The gap was not wide, just enough for a person to enter sideways. There was a tiny black mark at the edge of the gap.

Li Chengyi looked in from the outside and could only see a deep darkness. He didn’t know how deep this gap was. The outside light could only illuminate a depth of about a meter.

I’ve been here before. There was absolutely no gap! He was sure about this.

In order to find the exit, he had searched left and right step by step, looking at every inch of the walls, so it was impossible for him to miss such a large gap.

But now…