Chapter 21: Jumping from the Building
Chapter 21: Jumping from the Building
With determination, Anran grits her teeth, grabs Chen Jiao, who is crying on the floor, and drags her to the window. "You go down first!"
"I won't! You're crazy! Have you even looked at how many floors up we are?"
Chen Jiao, of course, refuses. It’s the fourth floor, and Anran wants her to climb down like Batman with just a rope. It is already noon, and the sky is still dark. She is exhausted and starving, just wanting to collapse on the bed and wait for her husband to rescue her. And now Anran wants to jump out the window, and drag her along?! Chen Jiao, ignoring the pain from being shoved off the bed by Anran earlier, starts to struggle desperately in Anran's hand.
Anran is starting to feel weak, but she pushes through with sheer willpower, gripping Chen Jiao tightly and growling in a low voice, "You have to go down. You first. If you don’t, I'm afraid you will untie my rope."
You can’t really blame Anran for being so suspicious. After all, Chen Jiao has a history of untying ropes. So now, Anran has to force Chen Jiao to go down with her, and Chen Jiao has to go first!
At that moment, as if hearing the argument from inside, the door of the hospital room is once again forcefully slammed by the zombies outside. Both Chen Jiao and Anran freeze, immediately falling silent. They let go of each other and stand by the window, not daring to move a muscle.
The banging on the door softens a little. Anran shoots Chen Jiao a sideways glance. She doesn’t care what Chen Jiao is thinking right now. The bottom line is, if Chen Jiao doesn’t go down the rope, Anran can’t go down the building alone.
Hu Zhen, who is lying on the bed, struggles to sit up, her face full of concern as she looks between Anran and Chen Jiao. Just as she is about to say something to encourage them to work together, she sees Anran walk over to Bed 16, pick up the fruit knife she had earlier placed on the bed, unsheathe it, and walk back to Chen Jiao’s side. She presses the knife against Chen Jiao’s throat.
“No, Anran!” Hu Zhen is alarmed, shouting out in panic.
Chen Jiao, on the other hand, is utterly terrified. Standing by her bed, she stares at Anran’s face, now twisted in despair, with a glint of murderous intent flashing in her eyes.
Chen Jiao begins to sob uncontrollably. "I—I wasn’t really going to untie your rope. If you really went down, I wouldn’t have been so reckless to harm you. If something happens to you, I’d go to prison for it!"
“Shut up! I have nothing left now—nothing but my daughter! I must get out of here, alive!”
Anran admits that she is emotionally shattered now. At this point, nothing anyone says will help. She is divorced, with no house, no car, and no man to rely on. Her daughter is the only family she has left in this world. Now her daughter’s life is hanging by a thread in the neonatal department. She has to get out of the hospital, bring news of the outbreak to the outside, and return with rescue to save her daughter.
And she has to do it fast!
Her daughter can’t last long without food. The longer this drags on, the more Anran fears her daughter will starve to death or be eaten by those monster doctors and nurses in the neonatal department!
"I—I—I don’t want to! I’m scared! I don’t want to go down! I really didn’t untie your rope, I swear!"
Under Anran's threat, the knife presses harder and harder against her throat. Chen Jiao cries even harder, sobbing and gasping for air as she is forced to grip the rope, step onto the ledge, and cling to the rain shelter. Still pleading with Anran, she wails, "Please, I beg you! Let me go! I’m scared! I’m really scared! I’m afraid of heights! Please!"