Song Kexin's call came in just then.
"Sis." The voice on the other end of the line was faint and choppy, laced with sobs and utterly incoherent. "I... I killed someone, Sis. What do I do? I killed Ah Bin, but he got back up! He was clearly dead, how could he get up and walk around?"
"Don't say another word! I'm on my way." Xie Ning hissed, keeping her voice low. "Don't move. Hide in the closet and stay put!"
Xie Ning broke into a frantic sprint, a desperate energy welling up inside her, running like a madwoman without a care for her image.
It had been just like this in her past life. She had been one step too slow, forced to watch helplessly as her sister fell into the jaws of a rotting corpse.
'I can make it. I can make it. I can definitely make it!'
Xie Ning didn't dare consider what would happen if she didn't make it in time; she could only pour every ounce of her strength into sprinting toward Building 141, where Song Kexin lived.
Meanwhile, Song Kexin did as Xie Ning had told her, hiding in the closet and clutching her phone for dear life, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Her phone was already on silent. Song Kexin glanced down; the battery icon in the top-right corner was flashing, about to die any second.
Song Kexin clamped a hand over her mouth as silent tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
Through the crack in the closet door, she could see her boyfriend, Ah Bin, staggering back and forth in the bedroom doorway, letting out hoarse roars.
He suddenly spun around and began to stumble unsteadily toward the closet.
'Has he found me?!'
Song Kexin's heart nearly leaped out of her chest.
She pressed her hand tighter against her mouth.
Through the thin closet door, Song Kexin heard a loud THUD.
Immediately after, the sound of long fingernails scraping the closet door followed.
Song Kexin shrank back, trying to curl herself into a smaller ball, tears streaming down her face as she watched the long fingernails probe the crack in the door.
BANG! BANG. Ah Bin slammed his fists violently against the closet door twice.
With a tremor of her hand, Song Kexin's phone slipped and fell onto a shelf, making a faint noise.
After a moment of silence from outside, Ah Bin suddenly flew into a frenzy, pounding on the closet while letting out nonstop, furious roars.
Song Kexin's spirit finally broke. She screamed, burrowing deeper into a pile of clothes, wishing she could pass right through the wall.
BANG! BANG! Having become a rotting corpse, Ah Bin seemed incapable of opening the closet door, merely smashing at it clumsily.
After a few more violent blows, the two thin closet doors began to splinter and crack.
'It's over. It's completely over!'
Tears streamed down her face as Song Kexin watched in wide-eyed terror, seeing Ah Bin smash the two closet doors to pieces.
"Aah!" Song Kexin shrieked, scrambling behind the clothes inside to hide.
But Ah Bin, as if spotting a delicious snack, let out an excited shriek and reached for her arm with his sharp-nailed hand.
Just as she was about to be dragged out of the closet by the rotting corpse, a long black blade flew through the air and embedded itself deep in the back of Ah Bin's head.
Ah Bin froze on the spot, like a robot that had suddenly been powered down.
Xie Ning leaped forward, gripped the handle with both hands, and gave the blade a vicious twist inside the back of Ah Bin's head.
Only after making sure the rotting corpse was completely finished did Xie Ning pull out the long blade and let out a breath.
"Sis!!" Song Kexin cried, rushing out of the closet as if she hadn't seen her in a hundred years and throwing herself into Xie Ning's arms.
"You have three minutes. Pack a few changes of clothes and come with me. Now!"
Seeing her younger cousin was safe and sound, Xie Ning remained relatively calm. She pried Song Kexin's hands off and hurried her to go pack.
"Do you have a large travel bag?"
"I do, I do." Song Kexin poked her head out of the room and tossed a travel bag to her.
Xie Ning caught the black travel bag, rushed straight to the refrigerator, and swept everything from inside it into the bag.