Catch Me If You Can

Luckily, the warrior behind them was so bulky that he couldn’t run very fast. Fang Jun grabbed Luo Ruiyu by the wrist and took the stairs two at a time.

Even with danger closing in around him, Fang Jun’s mind was still racing.

His heart was pounding in his throat, yet his thoughts were growing clearer by the second. It was one of the few advantages he’d had since childhood: the more nervous he became, the calmer he was. Unfortunately, that talent rarely showed itself under normal circumstances.

“Come on! Let’s find the elevator. Elevators are definitely safe zones—I’ve read infinite-flow novels!”

Luo Ruiyu didn’t answer, but she stayed close behind him.

She had no time to question whether Fang Jun’s survival knowledge, gleaned from online fiction, was reliable. It wasn’t as if they had any other options.

She also hoped that Lin Mo could bring someone to rescue them.

But thinking about it carefully, Lin Mo was just an ordinary person too.

The two of them headed straight for the elevator on the third floor.

Fang Jun rushed to the elevator and slapped the button.

The display lit up.

B-18.

Fang Jun cursed outright.

“This mall dug out an underground city or something? Eighteen floors underground? Who designed this place—the King of Hell?”

The numbers changed slowly. Excruciatingly slowly.

At the end of the corridor, the sound of metal scraping against the floor was already approaching.

Heavy footsteps, one after another.

The clashing of armor plates was amplified several times in the empty floor.

There was no time left.

Fang Jun gritted his teeth, turned around, grabbed Luo Ruiyu, and ran.

“Keep running! We just have to hold out until the elevator gets here.”

As he ran, he said, “Remember that game of tag we played in elementary school? What do you do when you run into someone you can’t outrun?”

Luo Ruiyu’s face was pale, but she still answered.

“Wear him down.”

“Right. Wear it down.”

Fang Jun tightened his grip on Luo Ruiyu’s hand.

“Don’t let go. I’ll lead you!”

“Okay!”

The two of them started running again.

They veered into the third-floor storage area, skirted around collapsed shelves, and passed through a pitch-black storefront.

At that moment, Fang Jun felt that all he was missing was a camcorder and a locked steel door. This was practically a live-action escape game.

The warrior was pursuing them hotly. It had no sound of breathing, but its footsteps were unmistakably hurried, and the metal plates slapped against each other with a clanging racket.

Unfortunately, being in a hurry didn’t make much difference.

Wrapped in iron from head to toe, it ran like an iron barrel that had come to life.

It was like an impotent husband who could do nothing but keep chasing.

Fang Jun led Luo Ruiyu around in circles twice, always keeping the distance between them and the warrior at over thirty meters.

But he was getting tired too.

His ragged breaths came faster and faster, his legs began to ache, and his stride was visibly shortening.

Luo Ruiyu usually had decent stamina, but now she was gasping with her mouth open, her steps staggering.

If they continued dragging each other along, they would only be caught together.

Fang Jun let go of Luo Ruiyu’s hand.

“Hey, Yu.”

Luo Ruiyu turned her head to look at him.

“You go down and watch the elevator. The moment the doors open, get inside. I’ll lure it around by myself. I’ve got more stamina than you.”

Luo Ruiyu’s pace faltered. Her lips moved slightly.

Before she could refuse, Fang Jun grabbed her by the head and said fiercely, “Go! I’ll have an easier time shaking it if I’m alone!”

He made it sound as though Luo Ruiyu were a burden.

Luo Ruiyu wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t falling for that trick. She had known Fang Jun for more than ten years and understood him better than anyone.

But she still nodded.

“Don’t die.”

“Have you secretly been reading Dragon King behind my back?”

“If you die, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”

With that, Luo Ruiyu ran toward the emergency stairs on the other side.

Fang Jun stood there for two seconds, watching her back disappear, then muttered,

“Ah. Being hated by you for the rest of my life wouldn’t be so bad.”

He turned around.

The warrior was making its way up the escalator one step at a time, its iron boots striking the stopped steps with dull metallic thuds.

Beneath its iron helmet was nothing but darkness. No expression could be seen.

Fang Jun stared at it, but the face that flashed through his mind was Cai Junhuang’s.

Even he found it amusing.

Fine, he admitted it. If he was really about to die, Cai Junhuang was still the person on his mind.

But even he wasn’t sure how long Cai Junhuang would remain there.

The human heart was fickle. One minute, the person in his thoughts might be Cai Junhuang; the next, it might be Luo Ruiyu.

Forget it. No point thinking about it.

“Old Mo, if only I were as amazing as you.”

Fang Jun rubbed his hands together and rotated his ankles.

The warrior had reached the fourth floor, its blade pointed in his direction.

“Come on.”

Fang Jun beckoned to it, then took off running.

He ran halfway around the circular corridor on the fourth floor, doubled back, then looped around from the other side.

The warrior was being led around like a wind-up tin toy. It kept chasing and chasing, but it simply couldn’t catch him.

Unfortunately, Fang Jun’s lungs were about to explode, and his calf muscles were frantically testing the limits of cramping.

He had already lost count of how many laps he’d run. He only knew that the elevator should be arriving soon.

Ding!

When the sound drifted up from below, Fang Jun felt that he had never heard a more beautiful tone in his life.

“Over here!”

Luo Ruiyu’s voice came from the third-floor elevator entrance.

She hadn’t left after all.

Fang Jun cursed inwardly, but after cursing, he felt that this was exactly the sort of thing she would do.

He forced the last of his strength into his legs and charged down the stairs, taking three steps at a time as he lunged toward the elevator doors.

The clatter of armor reached the stairwell behind him, but the warrior was still turning awkwardly.

Fang Jun dove into the elevator, braced both hands on his knees, and bent over, gasping for breath.

Luo Ruiyu released the door-open button and rapidly stabbed at the floor buttons.

“Where to?”

“Five.”

Fang Jun looked up. Sweat dripped from his chin, but his eyes were clear.

“We came in through the fifth floor, so we have to leave through the fifth floor too. The rules are symmetrical. The entrance is the exit. There has to be a pattern!”

At the very last moment before the elevator doors closed, Fang Jun saw the warrior appear opposite the elevator.

Its iron mask faced him as it walked slowly forward.

The doors shut.

The elevator began to rise.

The two of them leaned against the elevator wall without saying a word. Only their uneven breathing echoed through the cramped space.

Fang Jun looked down at his hand. It was still trembling.

“Fang Jun.”

“Yeah?”

“You know those infinite-flow novels you mentioned.” Luo Ruiyu had caught her breath and turned her head to look at him. “Are they actually reliable?”

Fang Jun was silent for a second.

“Hard to say. The protagonists in those novels all have systems, after all.”

Luo Ruiyu said nothing more.

The elevator display reached five.

Ding!

The doors opened.

Outside, everything remained exactly as it had been.

Fang Jun was devastated. He stared at the scene beyond the doors, where the traces of decay and rust were painfully clear.

“How can this be?”

Fang Jun sat inside the elevator, muttering to himself.

Before he could react, footsteps sounded in the distance. It was the warrior.

Fang Jun had no choice but to stand and press the button for the first floor.

The elevator doors began to close slowly.

This elevator was incredibly temperamental. Sometimes the doors closed ridiculously fast, and sometimes they were unbearably slow.

At that very moment, a samurai sword came crashing down onto the elevator doors.

It sliced straight through the gap in the middle.