Free Web NovelIt was the Mad Old Man's laughter!
NMD, why?
I had no grudge against him, why couldn't he just pretend he hadn't seen me?
Lu Yibei's heart tightened. She looked around but couldn't find the Mad Old Man.
Could it be...
Just as a thought flashed through her mind, a foul stench invaded her nostrils. She looked towards the edge of the balcony and heard a chilling sound.
"Rustle, rustle..."
The faint sound was stealthy and full of malice, like some creature dragging its long hair as it crawled, wanting to crawl from the ears all the way into a person's heart.
Lu Yibei swallowed. Following the direction of the sound, her gaze slowly lowered, and then in the gap of the railing at the corner of the balcony, she saw the Mad Old Man's head poking out.
She was looking down at the Mad Old Man, and the Mad Old Man was also looking up at her, with a strange smile on his face, and an indescribable madness and malice in his eyes. His pair of pale eyes seemed to want to see through her flesh layer by layer.
Their eyes met, and the atmosphere was very strange.
According to Rumors (Jianghu rumors), when two people's eyes meet for more than three seconds, there are usually only two possibilities: falling in love or fighting to the death.
It was impossible for Lu Yibei, this kind of bizarre person entangled in bad karma and almost wrapped into a zongzi by red threads of fate, to have even a hint of different feelings for the Mad Old Man, and the Mad Old Man likely had no such intention either.
Therefore, theoretically speaking, their only remaining option was to engage in a fierce fight.
However, what Lu Yibei didn't expect was that a third situation occurred.
After looking at each other for about three seconds, a hint of crimson flashed in Lu Yibei's eyes.
The next moment, a look of infatuation actually appeared in the Mad Old Man's cloudy white eyes and wrinkled face, and he mumbled incoherently, "Miss, pretty Miss, hehehe!"
Lu Yibei, "..." Keep your mouth clean, who's a pretty Miss?
Just as she was complaining inwardly, the Mad Old Man's face gradually turned pale, his eyes rolled back, and his body twitched twice, as if he had gone into shock. He fell downwards, hitting the railing of the fifth-floor balcony with a heavy thud.
What's going on? Why did he suddenly faint? Was the Old man's body too weak, ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) and he suddenly overexerted himself, causing hypoglycemic shock?
Lu Yibei leaned over and looked at the Old man hanging on the railing, pondered for two seconds, turned around, and ran towards the living room without looking back.
Although she was a good young person who followed civilization and morality, leaving quickly while the Mad Old Man hadn't recovered was the important thing.
Now was not the time for respecting the elderly and loving the young.
Not only did she not care about the Mad Old Man's life or death, if the conditions allowed and she wasn't worried about the Mad Old Man's sudden recovery, she would even want to go downstairs to finish him off.
Leaving the balcony and crossing the living room, a few seconds later, Lu Yibei realized what it meant to be clever by half.
She only thought of blocking the door so that if someone wanted to break in, she could jump out the window to escape. However, she didn't expect the Mad Old Man to take the unconventional route and climb the balcony.
However, thinking about his appearance like a spider monster, it was already quite honorable that he didn't just climb in directly along the outer wall.
She unlocked the door and opened the window.
Just as Lu Yibei was about to climb out the window, she heard a dull thud from downstairs.
In the few seconds she opened the window, the Mad Old Man seemed to have recovered.
The soundproofing of this old-style apartment building was very poor, and Lu Yibei could clearly hear the Mad Old Man's hurried footsteps downstairs.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
Each step was like a drumbeat on her heart, making her heart race.
She was stunned for a second or two, then came back to her senses and immediately took action, flipping over and jumping out of the window. Before she could steady herself, she stumbled and ran towards the other end of the corridor.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
The Mad Old Man's frantic footsteps echoed in the corridor downstairs, following the direction Lu Yibei was moving.
Listening to the Mad Old Man's footsteps, Lu Yibei suddenly realized something. She stopped near the middle of the corridor and stood still.
The soundproofing of this apartment building was very poor. She could hear the Mad Old Man's footsteps, and the Mad Old Man could naturally hear her footsteps.
If she just ran blindly towards the other end of the corridor, it might end up like the lyrics of a certain song, becoming "I stumble and run towards you."
If she wanted to leave without having a direct confrontation with the Mad Old Man, she had to wait where she was.
Waiting for the Mad Old Man to appear in a certain section of the corridor, or climb the balcony and appear in a certain room.
Only then could she determine his location and leave in the opposite direction. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
However, just as she pricked up her ears, preparing to distinguish the Mad Old Man's location by his footsteps, she found that the stairwell had fallen into dead silence.
A gust of wind blew, dark clouds obscured the sun, casting a gray layer over the mottled and dilapidated walls, the messy corridor, and everything in sight. Doors and windows groaned and whimpered in the wind.
A chilling atmosphere spread through the corridor.
Lu Yibei's scalp tingled. The cool breeze that swept past felt like someone was blowing cold air on the back of her neck, but it wasn't just cold, it was also mixed with a sense of panic.
This feeling grew stronger with each heartbeat, as if it could drown her at any moment.
The Mad Old Man also stopped, as if he had suddenly disappeared.
However, Lu Yibei could feel that he hadn't left. She could still faintly smell the foul odor emanating from him in the air.
Perhaps he was lurking like a beast waiting for its prey to fall into a trap.
Perhaps he realized that his footsteps would be detected and deliberately lightened his steps.
Or perhaps, like a spider, he was crawling in a strange posture along the outer wall, approaching this way.
After a brief thought, Lu Yibei realized that waiting where she was like this was too passive. She had to find a way to change this situation.
To be honest, she was now somewhat impressed by her own calmness. It was probably because there were too many terrifying things in her dream memories. In the past, encountering such a situation, she would probably have been scared to the point of weak legs.
"..."
After pondering for two seconds, Lu Yibei suddenly took a step, taking two forceful steps forward. Then she heard footsteps from downstairs, and as she stopped, the footsteps downstairs also quickly stopped.
He's listening to my footsteps and moving in the direction I'm moving?
The situation isn't too bad. In that case...
Lu Yibei narrowed her eyes slightly, looked at the seventh room not far from her, and strode in. Immediately after, a grating sound of metal twisting and deforming came from downstairs.
The door of the seventh room on the fifth floor seemed to be closed. The Mad Old Man, in order to follow my footsteps, actually tore that door apart?
Lu Yibei felt a chill down her spine. Even if the iron door was severely rusted over time, it was still an iron door!
Tearing apart an iron door like that was definitely not something a normal person, at least not a normal Old man, could do.
The unease in her heart seemed to make Lu Yibei's actions even quicker.
In three or two strides, she darted to the corner of the seventh room, picked up the broken globe, and then quickly returned to the corridor. She raised the globe and gently threw it onto the ground, letting it bounce and roll towards the other end of the corridor.
"Thump - thump thump - thump -!"
The globe without a base rolled and bounced on the ground, making a dull sound.
Lu Yibei held her breath and listened carefully to the movement downstairs, and then...
"Thump - thump thump - thump -!"
The Mad Old Man's footsteps sounded, following the direction the globe was moving, even the frequency of the sounds was exactly the same.
Listening to the footsteps downstairs gradually receding, when they were almost at the end of the corridor, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, suddenly turned around, and walked with small steps in the completely opposite direction.
The moment the sound of the globe bouncing completely disappeared, she spread her legs without hesitation and ran frantically.
Along the stairs, all the way down.
"Ah!"
Seemingly realizing that he had been tricked, the Mad Old Man let out a strange cry, mumbling obscenities incoherently, and waving the iron rod in his hand, he rushed towards Lu Yibei.
In the stairwell.
Lu Yibei was running down the stairs at a speed of three or four steps per floor. The cracked stairwell, accompanying her vigorous movement, kept dropping dust and pebbles.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
The Mad Old Man's footsteps kept coming from behind.
Lu Yibei didn't know what was happening behind her, and she didn't dare to look back, she could only run for her life.
Fourth floor, third floor, second floor, first floor...
The moment she finally rushed out of the apartment building, breathing in the fresh air, Lu Yibei couldn't help but let out a light cheer, "Woohoo!"
Thank you Xiao Hua for always making me exercise!
Thank you Ms. Wang Meili for giving me a healthy cerebellum and coordinated limbs, so I didn't fall while running wildly!
"Ah!"
Seeing that Lu Yibei had already left the apartment building, the Mad Old Man, who had just run to the third floor, suddenly let out a hysterical strange cry.
Hearing the sound, Lu Yibei's heart tightened. She turned back sharply and saw the Mad Old Man's astonishing act.
He climbed onto the railing of the third-floor corridor, his cloudy eyes locked onto Lu Yibei's figure, his legs slightly bent, and he leaped forward fiercely, pouncing down.
With a "bang!" he hit the ground heavily.
He couldn't get up for a long time.
His left arm and left lower leg were twisted into shapes that the human body could not make, looking as if the bones were broken, and a dark red bloodstain spread out beneath him.
"..."
What the heck? What's going on? The Old man couldn't catch up to me and committed suicide out of shame?
Lu Yibei was stunned by the Mad Old Man's actions, momentarily lost in thought.
Just as she was lost in thought, the Mad Old Man's body suddenly convulsed violently, the flesh on his abdomen wriggled, and with a "pop!" sound of tearing flesh, two slender arms with skin as tender as a baby's broke through his abdomen, extended out, and supported his body.
"Damn! Are you still a person?" Seeing this, Lu Yibei cursed and turned to run.
Behind her, the Mad Old Man was lying on the ground in an extremely strange posture. His two extra grown arms and his intact hands and feet supported his body, crawling at high speed like some deformed arthropod.
Five meters, four meters, three meters...
He was gradually closing the distance with Lu Yibei, and finally with a "slap!" he grabbed Lu Yibei's ankle, which was running frantically.
Her body instantly lost balance, tilted forward, and fell heavily to the ground, the plunger in her hand flying out directly.
