Chapter 458: The Chase

It was that crazy old man’s laughter!

Damn it, why?

I have no grudge against him, so why can’t he just pretend he never saw me?

Lu Yibei’s heart tightened. He looked around but couldn’t spot the crazy old man.

Could it be…

Just as the thought flashed through his mind, a foul stench invaded his nostrils. He glanced toward the edge of the balcony and heard a chilling sound.

“Sss… sss…”

The faint, sinister noise was full of malice, like some creature dragging long hair as it crawled, trying to slither from his ears straight into his heart.

Lu Yibei swallowed nervously and followed the direction of the sound. His gaze slowly lowered, and in the gap of the balcony railing in one corner, he saw the crazy old man’s head poking out.

He was looking down at the crazy old man, and the crazy old man was looking up at him, a strange smile on his lips, his eyes filled with indescribable madness and malice. Those pale eyes seemed to want to strip away his flesh layer by layer.

Their gazes met, and the atmosphere was eerie.

Rumor has it, when four eyes meet for more than three seconds, there are usually only two outcomes: love or death.

With Lu Yibei’s kind of cursed fate, practically wrapped up in red strings of destiny, there was no way he’d feel anything for the crazy old man, and the crazy old man probably didn’t have that intention either.

So, theoretically, the only option left was a fight to the death.

However, to Lu Yibei’s surprise, a third possibility appeared.

After staring at each other for about three seconds, a flash of crimson flickered in Lu Yibei’s eyes.

The next moment, a trace of infatuation appeared in the crazy old man’s pale eyes and wrinkled face. He mumbled incoherently, “Girl, pretty girl, hehehe!”

Lu Yibei, “…” Watch your mouth, who’s a pretty girl?

Just as he was cursing inwardly, the crazy old man’s face grew pale, his eyes rolled back, his body twitched twice as if in shock, and he fell, crashing heavily onto the fifth-floor balcony railing.

What the hell? Why did he suddenly pass out? Is the old man’s health that bad, did he just overexert himself and faint from low blood sugar?

Lu Yibei leaned over to glance at the old man hanging on the railing, pondered for two seconds, then turned and ran toward the living room without looking back.

Although he was a civilized, moral young man, it was more important to leave quickly while the crazy old man was still out cold.

Now was not the time for respecting the elderly or caring for the young.

He didn’t care at all about the crazy old man’s life or death. If circumstances allowed and he wasn’t worried about the old man suddenly reviving, he might even go downstairs to finish him off.

Leaving the balcony, crossing the living room, a few seconds later, Lu Yibei realized what it meant to be too clever for his own good.

He had only thought to block the door, so if someone tried to break in, he could escape through the window. He hadn’t expected the crazy old man to take the unusual route and climb up the balcony.

But, thinking about his spider-like posture, it was already pretty decent that he hadn’t just crawled straight up the outer wall.

Unlocked the window, slid it open.

Lu Yibei was about to climb out when he heard a muffled sound from downstairs.

In those few seconds of opening the window, the crazy old man seemed to have recovered.

These old apartment buildings had terrible soundproofing, so Lu Yibei could clearly hear the crazy old man’s hurried footsteps downstairs.

“Thump thump thump-!”

Each step pounded on his heart, making it race.

He froze for a second or two, snapped back to reality, and sprang into action, flipping out the window. Before he could steady himself, he stumbled toward the other end of the corridor.

“Thump thump thump-!”

The crazy old man’s frantic footsteps echoed in the corridor below, chasing after Lu Yibei’s direction.

Listening to the footsteps, Lu Yibei suddenly realized something. He stopped near the middle of the corridor and stood still.

The soundproofing in this building was terrible. He could hear the crazy old man’s footsteps, so the crazy old man could hear his too.

If he just recklessly ran to the other end of the corridor, he might end up just like the lyrics of that song, “I stumble and run toward you.”

If he wanted to leave without a direct confrontation, he had to wait.

Wait for the crazy old man to appear somewhere in the corridor, or climb in through a room’s balcony.

That way, he could pinpoint his location and escape in the opposite direction.

However, just as he pricked up his ears, ready to judge the crazy old man’s position by his footsteps, he found the hallway had fallen into dead silence.

A gust of wind blew, clouds covered the sun, casting a gray veil over the mottled, dilapidated walls and filthy corridor. Doors and windows whimpered in the wind.

A chilling atmosphere spread through the corridor.

Lu Yibei’s scalp tingled. The cold wind brushing past felt like someone blowing on the back of his neck, but it wasn’t just cold-it carried a sense of panic.

This feeling grew stronger with every heartbeat, as if it might drown him at any moment.

The crazy old man had stopped too, as if he’d suddenly vanished.

But Lu Yibei could still sense he hadn’t left; the air still faintly carried that foul stench from him.

Maybe he was lurking like a beast waiting for its prey to walk into the trap.

Or maybe he’d realized his footsteps would be heard and was deliberately moving quietly.

Or perhaps, just like a spider, he was crawling along the outer wall in a bizarre posture, closing in on this side.

After a brief moment of thought, Lu Yibei realized that waiting in place like this was too passive. He had to think of a way to change the situation.

Honestly, he was a little impressed by his own composure right now. Probably because there were too many terrifying things in his dream memories-if it were the old him, he would’ve been so scared his legs would have given out by now.

“……”

After pondering for two seconds, Lu Yibei suddenly took a step forward, striding forcefully. Immediately, he heard footsteps from downstairs, and as soon as he stopped, the footsteps below also stopped quickly.

He’s listening to my footsteps, moving in the direction I move?

The situation wasn’t too bad. If that’s the case…

Lu Yibei narrowed his eyes, looking at the seventh room not far from him, and strode in. Right after, a grating metallic screech came from downstairs.

The door to the seventh room on the fifth floor seemed to be closed. The crazy old man, just to chase my footsteps, actually tore that door apart?

A chill ran down Lu Yibei’s spine. Even if the iron door had rusted badly over time, it was still an iron door!

To tear an iron door apart by brute force-no normal person, at least no normal old man, could do that.

The anxiety in his heart seemed to make Lu Yibei move even faster.

In just a few swift steps, he darted to the corner of the seventh room, grabbed the broken globe, then quickly darted back into the corridor. He raised the globe and gently smashed it to the ground, letting it bounce and roll toward the other end of the corridor.

“Thud-thud thud-thud-!”

The globe, without its base, bounced and rolled along the floor, making muffled sounds.

Lu Yibei held his breath, listening intently to the sounds downstairs, then…

“Thud-thud thud-thud-!”

The crazy old man’s footsteps started up, moving in the same direction as the globe, even matching the rhythm of the sounds exactly.

Listening to the footsteps gradually recede, and when they were almost at the end of the corridor, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, spun around, and tiptoed quickly in the opposite direction.

The moment the globe’s bouncing sound disappeared completely, he didn’t hesitate-he spread his legs and sprinted with all his might.

Down the stairs, all the way, heading down.

“Ugh-ah-!”

Seemingly realizing he’d been tricked, the crazy old man let out a strange howl, muttering incoherently as he cursed, waving the iron rod in his hand as he charged toward Lu Yibei.

In the stairwell.

Lu Yibei was flying down the stairs, taking three or four steps per floor, the cracked stairwell shedding dust and pebbles with his frantic movement.

“Thud thud thud-!”

The crazy old man’s footsteps kept coming from behind.

Lu Yibei had no idea what was happening behind him, nor did he dare look back. All he could do was run for his life.

Fourth floor, third floor, second floor, first floor…

The moment he finally burst out of the apartment building, breathing in the fresh air, Lu Yibei couldn’t help but let out a gasp, “Wha-me-!”

Thank you, Ah-Hua, for always dragging me out to exercise!

Thank you, Ms. Wang Meili, for giving me a healthy cerebellum and coordinated limbs, so I didn’t trip while running for my life!

“Ugh-ah-!”

Seeing Lu Yibei had already left the apartment building, the crazy old man, who had just reached the third floor, suddenly let out a hysterical shriek.

At the sound, Lu Yibei’s heart tightened. He whipped his head around and saw the crazy old man’s shocking move.

He climbed onto the third-floor corridor railing, his cloudy eyes locked onto Lu Yibei, legs bent slightly, and suddenly leaped forward, pouncing down.

With a heavy “thud!” he crashed to the ground.

He couldn’t get up for a long time.

His left arm and left calf were twisted into shapes no human body could make, looking as if the bones were broken, and a dark red pool of blood spread beneath him.

“……”

What the hell? What’s going on? The old man couldn’t catch me, so he killed himself out of shame?

Lu Yibei was stunned by the crazy old man’s actions, momentarily dazed.

Just as he was spacing out, the crazy old man’s body suddenly convulsed violently. The flesh of his abdomen writhed, and with a muffled “squelch!” two slender, baby-smooth arms burst out of his belly, stretching out to support his body.

“Shit! Are you even human?” Lu Yibei cursed and turned to run.

Behind him, the crazy old man was sprawled on the ground in an utterly bizarre posture, his two newly grown arms and intact limbs supporting his body, crawling at high speed like some kind of deformed arthropod.

Five meters, four meters, three meters…

He was closing the distance with Lu Yibei bit by bit, until finally-“snap!”-he grabbed Lu Yibei’s ankle as he was sprinting.

His body instantly lost balance, pitching forward and crashing to the ground, the toilet brush in his hand flying out.