Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 69

“Alright, thank you for the lead. We will verify it as soon as possible and arrange for police to investigate Aoming Island.” The voice of the operator on the other end of the line carried a hint of comfort, clearly touched by the raw mix of immense grief and desperation in Li Ting’s tone, which seemed almost to burst through the phone.

The heart-wrenching pain for a loved one was terrifyingly real.

Li Ting forced a sliver of clarity from the overwhelming sadness. Now was not the time to break down. She took a deep breath, trying to suppress her sob, and spoke her request urgently and clearly: “No! Please send people immediately! My situation is extremely dangerous! The people on the island…”

“Bang—!!!”

A deafening crash exploded like thunder, shaking the entire convenience store. Dust sprinkled down.

“They’re here!!!” Lin Xiu’s shriek followed, her voice completely broken by extreme terror, like a rusty saw, sharply tearing the air and ruthlessly cutting off Li Ting’s unfinished sentence.

Li Ting’s heart plummeted.

Heavy thumps sounded one after another, each one like a hammer blow to Li Ting’s chest.

The already shaky door groaned under the violent impact. The door bolt issued an ear-splitting metallic twist, and the door panel bulged inward as cracks rapidly spread.

They were trying to break in by force!

“Damn it!” Li Ting cursed under her breath. She violently hung up the phone, ignoring any inquiries that might be coming from the earpiece.

The call for help had been sent; now, every second was a race against death.

A shocking burst of strength erupted from her. Grabbing the heavy wooden shelf nearby, she gritted her teeth, using all her might to drag it, push it down, and, with a “boom,” slam it against the nearly shattered door, along with the scattered items.

But this was only a temporary fix. The frantic banging outside the door didn’t stop for a moment, and the hastily constructed defense seemed precarious against sheer force.

A strange fearlessness, replaced by a sense of bloody, almost liberating determination, washed over Lin Xiu’s face.

Her eyes shone startlingly bright in the dim light, with what seemed like a flame flickering within. Her voice was hoarse yet unusually firm: “Untie me! Hold a knife to me! Take me out as a hostage! They… they have to show some restraint…”

In this moment, she was no longer the numb accomplice, but rather resembled the courageous fisherwoman she was in her youth, daring to fight the wind and waves.

Li Ting leaned her back against the violently vibrating shelf, feeling the savage force transmitted through the door panel that nearly shattered her internal organs. She decisively shook her head, her voice slightly trembling from exertion yet frighteningly calm: “It’s useless! Look at the noise outside! They don’t care about you! They don’t even care about themselves!”

She glanced at the hand, covered in grime and bulging blue veins, that stretched through the door crack, wildly clawing at the air like a ghostly claw, and her tone was absolute.

“Then what do we do?!” Lin Xiu’s voice was edged with desperate trembling. The courage that had just sparked seemed to waver again in the face of absolute power.

“Stall!” Li Ting spat out the word decisively, her eyes sharp as tempered steel. Her brain was working at an unprecedented speed, almost smoking, and finally, she made a grim decision: “Stall until the police get to the island!!”

This was a remote, isolated island in the sea. Where was the nearest police deployment point? What was the fastest speed of a maritime patrol boat? How long would it take from receiving the alarm to assembling and dispatching the police? What were the sea conditions like?

Countless fragments of information collided, combined, and were simulated in her mind.

Recalling the sea conditions she had observed when arriving at the island, combined with her common sense judgment of police procedures, a vague but crucial time window formed in her heart: it would take at least half an hour!!

This was the time she absolutely had to find a way to buy.

The biggest advantage for her right now was that those people didn’t know she had successfully called the police. They thought she was just a trapped beast fighting back! As long as she stalled, stalled until the sound of police sirens came from the sea, it would be victory!!! In other words, as long as she stalled, she would definitely see the light!!!

The banging outside the door was like a death-knell drum. The shelf groaned painfully under the heavy impact, and the wooden stick bracing the door was already bent and warped.

So, she strained her voice, shouting with all her might towards the door: “Tell your god to come over! I know the secret of the ritual!!”

Sure enough, the banging outside suddenly stopped, replaced by a confused and muffled commotion and whispering. It seemed her words indeed had an effect.

Seeing the attack weaken, Li Ting immediately pressed her advantage, continuing her psychological warfare, carrying the bluff through to the end: “Tell your god! Want to know why my companion was able to ‘evolve’? Want to know the real way to leave this broken island and escape this cursed sea?! Have your god come and talk to me personally!”

Since that monster feared seawater, it would certainly be unable to leave the island. This was a gap in information, and if she was correct, it was definitely a powerful bargaining chip.

A sudden silence fell outside, and the door-banging finally ceased.

It seemed she had made the right gamble; the other side was indeed curious about leaving the island and why Si Xiaoxiao had transformed this way.

However, this realization only made Li Ting’s heart grow heavier.

Time passed second by second, each moment stretching out like a century.

Outside the window, the sky had, at some unknown point, grown darker. The sea wind suddenly became fierce, howling through the cracks in the stone house, making a desolate moan. The firelight from the distant port seemed to be suppressed by this sudden gale, flickering on and off.

The blazing firelight from the distant port seemed to be violently suppressed by this sudden gale, flickering on and off, as if it could be extinguished at any moment.

But the absolute silence outside was broken only by Lin Xiu, who suddenly began to struggle violently inside. Her bound body twisted, a gurgling sound escaping her throat. Her eyes rolled uncontrollably upward, revealing large, terrifying patches of white. She swayed precariously, as if being pulled up by invisible strings, trying to forcibly stand!

It seemed she was being controlled again!

Li Ting was somewhat thankful she hadn’t untied Lin Xiu, preventing a situation where the captive became the captor.

The monster could only control the villagers for about an hour. Judging by Lin Xiu’s posture, the monster was coming to launch the final general attack!!

How much time had passed? Had it been twenty minutes? No… probably not…

She had to stall…

Accompanied by a crash even more terrifying than any before, the much-abused door, along with the heavily braced shelf behind it, was finally utterly blasted open by a power of extreme savagery. Wood splinters and debris flew inward like an explosion.

Outside the door, a group of islanders, soaked through, their eyes empty and fanatic, armed with harpoons, machetes, and even crude wooden clubs, stormed in like ghouls from hell, stepping over the door fragments, bringing with them a heavy stench of sea brine and icy killing intent.

Li Ting’s heart pounded wildly. She was a cornered animal now, but she wasn’t afraid. This was the courage Xiaoxiao had bestowed upon her.

Let’s have a showdown!

She violently pushed the heavy bags of rice and oil drums off the shelf and onto the floor, rolling them toward the doorway to trip up the invaders. She grabbed boxes of cheap canned goods, hurling them like a catapult fiercely against the door frame and walls.

But the effect was minimal.

How could human strength contend against the non-human?

It was merely a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

A massive vine pierced through the clustered people and struck Li Ting, heavily penetrating her shoulder.

“Ah—!!!”

A sharp, soul-tearing pain instantly swept through Li Ting’s entire body. She let out a scream of extreme anguish and was thrown backward by the immense impact, slamming heavily onto the cold, hard floor. Her vision swam, and warm blood quickly stained her clothes.

Seeing the expressionless villagers, moving like walking corpses, continue to close in, Li Ting endured the agonizing pain and dizziness. With her uninjured hand, she abruptly pulled out the lighter she had prepared.

This was her final killing move. When blocking the door, she had already poured an entire barrel of gasoline near the entrance!

The flames instantly ignited, wrapping around the exterior of the convenience store and forcing back the zombie-like islanders.

Li Ting collapsed on the ground, coughing violently, blood continually seeping from her shoulder wound. She looked out the window, worried, wondering if there was any chance the rescue team would make it to the island…

The fire was closing in. Large wooden pillars began to collapse. Oxygen in the air grew thinner and thinner, and thick smoke began to fill the space.

Li Ting found it increasingly hard to breathe, and her vision began to blur. The flames were her protection, but they were also becoming her death sentence.

She lay on the ground, greedily sucking in the relatively clean air near the floor, yet the thick smoke still choked her, making her cough until her chest ached. Every cough pulled at her shoulder wound with searing pain.

She placed all her hope on the world outside the window, giving herself the motivation to persevere. She told herself that if she could just hold on a little longer, dawn would come soon.

But just then, a muffled thunderclap seemed to explode directly overhead!

Immediately afterward, large raindrops, like dense bullets, mercilessly hammered the roof tiles with a sound like crushing destruction.

In an instant, the world was enveloped in a white, deafening curtain of rain, and the fire was extinguished by the heaven-sent downpour.

How could this happen?

She was so close!!

Rain, against a fire, should have been salvation, but in this context, it was a deadly poison!

How incredibly ironic.

A fierce wind whipped up giant waves several meters high, brutally crashing against the reefs and the coast. Dense lines of rain connected the sky and the sea, dropping visibility to less than ten meters.

Forget about sailing out and initiating a capture operation; in this weather, any boat venturing out would be tantamount to suicide.

This meant the final moment had arrived; the sole reliance from off the island would not come.

Hope was utterly extinguished.

Icy despair, like the rainwater pouring into the house, instantly submerged Li Ting’s limbs and bones.

Had she reached the end of the road?

Amidst the sounds of rain, wind, and the renewed, approaching footsteps, the hoarse, unpleasant male voice, sounding as if its vocal cords had been scraped by sandpaper, cut through the rain curtain with its usual, nauseating condescension and mockery—

“Heh, it seems, it is checkmate.”

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