Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Wen Yishu felt that the person was most likely dead. She couldn’t help but take two steps back in shock. In such a society governed by law, she had never seen what it was like for someone to die in the middle of the street.

The image of that person being pierced through their lower back was still vivid in her mind, making her lean against the windowsill and gag a couple of times.

She then quickly came to her senses and moved away from the window.

The entire window was completely blocked by a thick tree trunk, and the corridor’s sensor light came on.

Rhine’s apartments were of particularly good quality, designed to protect the lives of every researcher.

So the window only vibrated, and not even a single crack appeared.

Going downstairs to find people was not a wise move now. She turned around and walked back without hesitation.

Screams from outside and inside the building echoed continuously. The elevator was not an option anymore.

She stood at the stairwell and took a look. Someone, covered in blood, was running up the stairs, and before they could take two steps, they were dragged away by a green vine.

The woman’s thin blue sweater was stained a dark color with blood, and the warm yellow light shone on her pale face.

The moment their eyes met, the woman suddenly started screaming her heart out: “Save me! Help! Save me!”

In that instant, Wen Yishu saw endless despair and unwillingness in her eyes.

She didn’t stop and ran upstairs quickly. There was no way she could go down there to save someone.

She would be out of breath after just two steps. Someone who didn’t exercise would only be throwing their life away by going down there.

She averted her gaze, trying her best to ignore the woman’s screams.

If she were nearby, she might have lent a hand, but from so far away, she had to ensure her own safety first.

Her footsteps never stopped, and she ran up the stairs almost like the wind. Her breathing became unstable due to the intense exercise.

She was panting heavily, feeling the cold air entering her throat like a water blade, a dull and intense pain.

She knew this was a reaction to the sudden, unprepared, strenuous exercise, which meant her body would soon give out.

As soon as she ran up to the eighth floor, before she could even be happy, she saw a giant leaf of an aloe plant coming right at her.

Wen Yishu cursed under her breath and immediately threw herself onto the ground. The sharp spines of the aloe leaf barely grazed the top of her head.

She crawled backward, her eyes fixed on the giant aloe plant, which was already a person’s height.

The serrations on its leaves had turned into sharp spines. It slapped against the wall with a “pat-a,” and the plaster was shattered into pieces. Fortunately, the internal structure was sturdy enough that no cracks appeared.

If Wen Yishu hadn’t dodged so quickly, she had no doubt that her head would have been cut off by this aloe plant.

She was panting, her heart in her throat. She retreated to a safe distance, her eyes still searching for the aloe’s weakness.

The pot at its base was ceramic and looked to weigh at least fifty pounds.

However, the soil inside was lightweight and had no weight, and the entire aloe plant’s roots were buried inside.

Wen Yishu wondered if she kicked it, would the aloe roll away first, or would her leg break first.

After thinking for only three seconds, she gave up on the idea.

This aloe plant was not far from her apartment door, and its attack range was very large. Could she quietly sneak past it, open the door, and hide inside before it could react?

Rhine’s apartments had a very large floor area, so the safety corridors were also very wide.

Walking sideways clinging to the wall slowly should not be a problem.

However, this method was very risky. There were two exits on the floor, and she planned to try the other one first.

Wen Yishu went down one floor and tried to get the elevator from below to come up.

In comparison, Rhine’s elevators had an extremely high safety rating. Each floor operated independently, so even if the floors below were damaged, it could still operate normally.

The elevator was in the middle of the floor, so it would be much safer to go back that way.

She pressed the elevator button, and her eyes looked down. For some reason, the blue number on the elevator always stayed on the first floor and didn’t come up.

She could only see the situation on the two floors below, and her view of the very bottom was blocked, so she couldn’t see anything at all.

After waiting for five minutes, the elevator’s number still didn’t move. Wen Yishu sighed in resignation and reluctantly moved back to the eighth floor.

As she passed the stairwell, she heard a muffled sound of something heavy hitting the ground from below.

With a “thud,” it sounded as if the floor had been smashed. She quickly went back to the front of the elevator.

The number 1 above had completely turned into a red bar.

The elevator was completely out of the question. She could only risk walking over from above.

She took off her jacket and tried waving it in front of her.

The aloe plant leaning against the wall stretched its leaves slightly but did not make any large movements.

Wen Yishu slowed down her movements, and her slippers made no sound at all.

She slowly took two steps forward. The giant aloe plant now stood still like a banana tree.

She stayed close to the wall, holding her room card, ready to slip inside as soon as she reached the door.

This extreme challenge kept her in a constant state of tension. After walking only two meters, she felt a thin layer of sweat on her back.

The air in front of her seemed to become a little thinner.

She was only ten meters away from the room, and she had already walked halfway. The giant plant looked very out of place in the not-so-small corridor.

When Wen Yishu took her next step, she found that the tightly closed aloe leaves had slightly opened.

Like a bud about to bloom, with extremely long petals.

Wen Yishu immediately stopped all her movements.

This feeling made her feel like she was playing an old game, “One, Two, Three, Red Light.”

She pretended to be a statue, even holding her breath.

The stretched-out leaf slowly moved toward her, its front end stopping and going, as if it was searching for something. Her heart was in her throat.

She didn’t know whether to run or stay. The leaf stopped five centimeters in front of her eyes.

After a standoff for a while, the aloe leaf slowly retracted, as if nothing had happened.

Wen Yishu’s face was flushed from holding her breath, but she still didn’t dare to take a deep breath. She could only control herself and breathe in small sips.

After the aloe leaf had completely retracted, she slowly started to move again.

The room card in her hand was so tightly squeezed that it was almost cutting into her palm.

She moved slowly. One more meter, and she would be at the door.

The lights in the corridor were dim. Perhaps because the plants outside had reached the top, the eighth-floor window was not completely blocked. The sensor light above automatically turned on when she entered the room’s range.

Wen Yishu was sure she hadn’t made any sound. The sensor light above must have lit up by itself.

The light in front of her instantly improved. The aloe leaf in front of her, with lightning speed, shattered the light above.

After a small spark from above, the corridor went dark again.

Wen Yishu tightly covered her mouth, not allowing herself to make a single sound. She had already reached the front door.

She was both nervous and secretly relieved.

She carefully placed the room card on the door. The opening she had hoped for did not happen.

No matter how she aimed it at the electronic area, the door remained motionless. Wen Yishu was dumbfounded.

She looked up to confirm the room number and frantically placed the room card back and forth.

The sensor light above her head behind her buzzed. The aloe leaf once again swung upward. Wen Yishu shivered and sped up her hand movements.

She could only send a message to her team leader in the room, praying that she would see it.

Her hands moved quickly, and she typed only two words: “Open the door!”

The lampshade behind her could no longer withstand the attack and fell to the ground with a “clatter.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Wen Yishu saw the lampshade bounce on the ground and fly toward her.

Her mind was almost blank, but her body still reacted by trying to run.

At the same time, she saw a message from her team leader: “Wait.”

Wait? If she waited, she would be dead. Wen Yishu turned around abruptly and kicked the lampshade behind her.

The lampshade bounced off the wall behind her and, due to inertia, bounced onto the ground and flew toward her for a second time.

The aloe leaf also made a turn in the air and came straight toward her. Perhaps it had sensed the presence of a living person, as its speed was much faster than before.

She tried to run to the side, but it was unavoidable. The moment the aloe leaf was about to touch her, she felt her collar being pulled by something.

She was pulled into the door by a great force from behind. With a “thud,” the aloe leaf was blocked outside the door.

The door in front of her closed. There was a “thud” outside, like the sound of a leaf slapping against the door.

Her collar was released by the person behind her. She was so choked that she saw stars. After slowly adjusting to the light in the room, she saw Bai Mi standing in front of the door, looking down at her. There was no expression on her cold face.

She leaned against the wall and stood up, saying thank you. She then asked, “Why couldn’t my card open the door? I almost died outside just now.”

Bai Mi first nodded expressionlessly, then shifted her gaze elsewhere.

Wen Yishu noticed something was off. She looked at the door lock and saw signs that it had been taken apart.

A thought vaguely formed in her mind: “You didn’t take the door lock apart, did you?”

Bai Mi nodded. Wen Yishu felt a nameless fire flare up in her heart.

She didn’t know where she got the strength, but she pressed her team leader, who was taller than her, against the wall. “Are you crazy? Do you know you almost got me killed?!”

Her hand was on the other person’s fair neck. The skin on her neck quickly turned red.

But her expression remained calm, as if this level of pressure was nothing to her. “I’m sorry, but this was the best method I calculated. You wouldn’t want a third person to be able to enter this room with a room card, would you?”

Wen Yishu’s anger immediately subsided. What the other person said was indeed correct. The only problem was that she didn’t wait until she came back to destroy the lock.

If it were her, she might not have opened the door and let an unknown variable in during such a dangerous time.

She calmed down, let go of the hand that was restraining her, and apologized sincerely. “I’m sorry, I was impulsive. Next time, could you discuss this with me?”

She subconsciously used the respectful language she used at work. The other person nodded nonchalantly and didn’t even pay attention to the red marks on her neck. She turned around to continue reinforcing the door lock.

Wen Yishu completely relaxed. She was very thirsty. Just as she was about to walk inside, she saw a thin, tender green branch that had appeared in the refrigerator at some point, silently reaching out toward Bai Mi’s back.

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