Chapter 10 chapter Ten

April 1.Sunday.Night, 22:22. Eighteen-year-old Ding Zi vomited her dinner on the ground, and the boy passed a few napkins in due course.She wiped her mouth in a panic, not daring to point her phone at the elevator again - there was a dead woman lying on her stomach - strictly speaking, it was half a woman, and her lower half had gone down to the ground floor with the elevator. Future Dream Building, fifth floor. The dark and empty shopping mall corridor is like a graveyard, and the screams and cries for help from upstairs and downstairs spread throughout the atrium on the fifth floor at the same time.Ding Zi took a photo of the phone to the other side, revealing a row of large-scale amusement machines, which are "Tommy Bear Happy World", fishing machines, dancing machines, racing machines... I remembered the Christmas Eve a few months ago, and spent time with Haimei. Get up and play like crazy.

Ding Zi straightened her messy hair, and turned her head away in embarrassment, not wanting to be seen by the young man in a mess.Obviously, it is impossible for Haimei to be here, let alone expect her to run from the fourth floor to the fifth floor to find him. "I'm going downstairs!" She found the nearest escape route, and the young man walked ahead first to confirm that there was no danger in the depths of the stairs. Ding Zi suddenly asked: "Who are you?" "Don't ask who I am!" the boy replied coldly. Feeling a little frustrated, she put on a more gentle tone: "Then what should I call you?"

As the beam of light from Ding Zi's mobile phone passed through the thick black hair covering his eyes, illuminating a pair of precocious pupils, he softly uttered two words: "Xiao Guang." "Hey?" "You can just call me Xiaoguang." "Xiaoguang? It's a good name, I like it." Such straightforwardness made the young man a little shy. He pushed open the heavy security door and came to the corridor on the fourth floor of the shopping mall. "Where did you come from?" Ding Zi didn't want to let him go, for fear that he would be mixed into the fleeing crowd, like a drop of water falling into the sea, and he would be lost in a blink of an eye.

"I have no idea." "You don't know where you come from?" Facing her nagging questioning, the boy suddenly turned his head and shot a wolf-like gaze in the darkness: "Don't ask too many questions!" She took two steps back in fear: "Did I annoy you?" "No." "Then can you escape with me?" "No, we can't escape." "What did you say? We can't escape?" He didn't say it a second time, but made the previous sentence heavier, like a stone hitting Ding Zi's heart.He didn't look like he was in a hurry to escape, but wandered among the counters of the shopping mall on the fourth floor, scanning every corner with his mobile phone, as if searching for people who might be trapped or injured.She followed the boy all the way, shouting Haimei's name, expecting her to wait for her on the fourth floor.

Wandering to the other end of the floor, stepping over the broken glass and the fallen counter, I saw a woman lying face down on the ground, wearing a lady's dress, very young in terms of body shape and hairstyle .However, there was a large piece of glass stuck in her back, and the blood stained the whole dress red, and she was probably dead. Ding Zi trembled and ran over, not caring what terrible sight he would see, boldly turned the fallen woman over, and illuminated her face with her mobile phone.But she closed her eyes, not daring to look at the face of her best friend in high school, not daring to look at the eyes of her only friend if they were still open.

Suddenly, she heard someone say in her ear: "She is not your friend." Xiaoguang's voice.The warm air he exhaled touched her ear temples, spreading from the base of the ears to the soles of her feet. In an instant, Ding Zi let go of his hand and let the corpse fall on the ground. His courage just now disappeared, and he never dared to look at the dead person again. "Xiaoguang, how do you know it's not Haimei?" She called out his name for the first time.Although she asked, she was convinced in her heart that she believed every word he said. "When I saw you for the first time, I also saw the girl next to you. I still remember her face—don't worry, it's definitely not her who is lying on the ground now!" The boy pulled her up and quickly left the poor body. corpse.

"Thank you!" She let out a long breath, and still swiped the phone aside. "Are you still looking for someone?" Xiaoguang led her around the atrium of the shopping mall, and searched the shops on the other side. Except for the dilapidated ruins all over the floor, there was no sign of anyone else.After confirming that there was no Haimei, they went to the third floor through the escape passage and saw gray lights below. Ding Zi jumped excitedly to the railing of the atrium.Hopefully the rescuers came and at least the power was back in the building!She saw dense crowds of human heads gathered at the exit of the shopping mall on the ground floor. Within the range of the emergency lights, men were digging with various tools.The rest of the place is still covered in black, and the lights are just islands in the sea.But she had hope of escaping from this tomb.

All the survivors in the earthquake ran to the ground floor of the shopping mall to escape for their lives, and Haimei must be hiding among them.Ding Zi ran down the stairs, but Xiao Guang stood far behind.She shouted, "Why don't you come down with me?" "What's the use of going down?" The young man slowly approached a few steps, revealing his gloomy eyes under the long hair in the dim light. "Do you want to die here?" "If you really want to go down, I can go with you." This was a bit weird, but she listened to it very caringly, thinking of the dialogues often found in Tanmei novels.

When Xiaoguang came around, they walked side by side to the second floor, and heard a piercing "help".Ding Zi was terrified to go to the ground floor, but Xiao Guang stopped and pushed open a safety door in the escape passage. Not daring to go down alone, let alone let Xiaoguang go alone, Ding Zi could only follow behind him.Public toilets in large shopping malls are usually connected with escape passages, and the sound of "help" comes from the door of the women's toilet.The door of the toilet was damaged and fell to the ground, crushing a struggling person, dressed in the uniform of a female cleaner.

Ding Zi's heartbeat started to speed up, and he and Xiaoguang looked down together.Under the heavy door panel, there was indeed a woman in her forties, her eyes widened and she shouted, "Help me quickly! Thank you! Thank you!" The young man rushed to move the heavy gate, but he was not strong enough to move it alone. "Come here and help!" Following his scolding, Ding Zicai stretched out her hands in panic, her face turned pale with fright, but she lowered her head not daring to let him see it. Finally, the cleaning lady crawled out.The two let go at the same time, and the moment the door panel hit the ground, a deafening sound echoed in the dark escape passage.

The female cleaner fell to the ground weakly, still saying "thank you" in her mouth.I think they were cleaning the toilets when the earthquake happened, and when they were about to flee, they were held down by the fallen gate.Xiaoguang helped her up, but the light from a flashlight pierced her eyes, and she blocked it subconsciously. Walking across was a man with a face in his twenties and a dusty security uniform. "It was you who rescued her?" The security guard spoke with a strong inland accent, and it was obvious that he was from the countryside. "Yes." Xiaoguang answered frankly.Ding Zi hid behind him, hiding her face in the shadows. The security guard knew the female cleaner and said a few words to her. It seemed that she was fine, but her ankle was slightly sprained.The boy didn't want to attract attention, he bowed his head to avoid the security guard and the female cleaner, and walked down the stairs with Ding Zi. April 1.Sunday.Night, 22:44. Ding Zi and Xiaoguang came to the first floor of Future Dream Mall.Most of the place was still pitch black, save for dots of light from cell phone screens and flashlight beams.Things that fell from several floors piled up in the atrium on the ground floor, forming a ruin. Many people surrounded the entrance of the mall, digging escape routes under emergency lights.Ding Zi rushed up anxiously, looking for Haimei by the light.In the future dream mall at ten o'clock in the evening, it is impossible to have high school girls like them.However, with so many crowded men and women, it is busier than the subway in the evening rush hour. There are shop assistants who are about to get off work, unlucky customers who leave late, and perhaps passers-by who enter the mall to hide from the rain. Suddenly, the crowd screamed, followed by applause and cheers, and everyone crowded forward.It appears that the men digging hard had either dug a way out, or saw rescuers outside.Ding Zi was pushed forward by the flow of people, and walked forward involuntarily, but felt her arm was grabbed by a hand. Ding Zi cried out in fear, fearing that someone would take advantage of it.She subconsciously threw her fist and punched behind her, but she didn't expect her wrist to be tightly grasped again.She couldn't control her body, and she was dragged back more than ten meters abruptly. In addition, everyone stabbed forward, so she escaped from the crowd.Under the flashing emergency lights, she saw a pair of young and cold eyes. "Xiao Guang!" At the same time she called out the boy's name, there was a loud rumble behind her, followed by an even more shrill scream - mixed with the screams of many men, a gust of cold wind swept across her back with dust, and the world Into darkness again. I don't know what happened behind me, it can be said to be earth-shattering.Instead of letting go of her, Xiaoguang grabbed her even tighter, pushing her down heavily to the ground. Then there were more cries for help, the sound of messy and hurried footsteps, and the sound of various objects breaking and breaking.To avoid being stepped on, they touched a corner and curled up close together. Here is hell. The chaos lasted for at least five minutes, until most people quieted down—Ding Zi thought, probably forever. Ding Zi and Xiaoguang stood up again, each using their mobile phones to shine on each other's faces, and they seemed unharmed.Countless people were lying in a mess, many of them were bloody and disfigured, some groaned in pain, and some stood stiffly on the ground—fortunately, there was nothing in her stomach to spit out. Leaning on the young man's shoulder, she tiptoed around several corpses, and used her mobile phone to light up the exit of the shopping mall—the foyer could not be seen at all, only the rubble piled up to the second floor.Among the pile of broken rocks, broken bricks and twisted and exposed steel bars, the limbs of the dead were exposed, obviously the men who had just digging out desperately. There was no rescue team at all.The men dug to a certain depth, and the hollowed out part could not bear the heavy pressure of the upper part, and it collapsed as a result.Those who rushed to the front were swallowed by the ruins, and there was no possibility of survival.Those who were about to escape ran back in fright, the emergency lights just went out, and an even bigger tragedy happened in the darkness—a stampede! The worst tragedy ever!The dead on the ground were trampled to death by those around them.This kind of death must be very painful physically, but also sad and helpless in the heart. Finally, Ding Zi crouched down and retched a few times.She wiped the corners of her mouth, and continued to boldly use her mobile phone to take photos of the ground—she hoped that Haimei's face would not be photographed, and even if she did, she hoped that she would not be trampled to a bloody mess. The light on the mobile phone screen was too weak, and it was hard to see how many people had died. Some of the wounded were in pain, most of them were seriously injured such as fractures, and I didn't know which one to save.They had no knowledge of first aid, so they could only pick up an injured person and hurriedly moved them to the side.The man was about thirty years old and could only move because of his thin build.He was wearing a blood-stained white shirt, a pair of broken glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a work permit of a multinational company hanging on his chest. He seemed to be a white-collar worker in an office building above the ninth floor.Except for the bleeding on his left arm, he didn't seem to have any obvious injuries. He took a breath and said, "Outside...outside...outside world...outside world...has been...destroyed..."