Fang Yuan pulled again, but the iron door didn't open. Only the rattle of the chain rang out.
It was truly locked.
Who had locked the door?
Li Rong?
Was it really him? If it was Li Rong who locked it, what was his intention?
Another question remained. The path from the Red Mansion to the basement entrance was a one-way street, and Fang Yuan hadn't noticed him the entire way. He couldn't have been hiding along the way, waiting for Fang Yuan to enter before running over to lock the door.
If it wasn't Li Rong, who could have done this?
Fang Yuan was certain that the person who had locked the door had intentionally locked them both in. Otherwise, why hadn't he made a sound, or even emitted a single light, when he locked the door?
A series of questions flooded Fang Yuan's mind, and she felt a little regretful for having so rashly entered the basement. Now, she was stuck, unsure what to do.
What the two had just seen in the basement's inner room must have been a dissected mummified corpse. Who knew which careless administrator would carelessly toss something like that into the basement, not even afraid of shocking anyone?
I had always thought that medicine was a noble profession, but now it seemed far less romantic than I'd imagined. Just the sight of those decomposed mummified corpses made her nauseous.
"The door won't open?" Xu Yan seemed to refuse to believe the fact that the iron door was locked.
"Yes, it's locked," Fang Yuan sighed helplessly.
Xu Yan panicked. "So what should we do?"
"Do you have a cell phone?"
"No..."
"The only thing we can do is scream for help."
Fang Yuan screamed a few times, exhausting her lungs, but no one answered.
"It's no use. Take a break," Xu Yan muttered softly, slumping down without caring how dirty the floor was.
"Why not?" Fang Yuan was puzzled.
"You haven't heard about the Red Building burning?" Xu Yan remembered Fang Yuan was a freshman. "Yes, you've only been at Nanjiang Medical College for a few days, so of course you haven't heard about it."
"Is this building the Red Building?"
"Yes," Xu Yan began. "The Red Building is the official name. We students call it the Anatomy Building. It's used for various experiments, most notably anatomy. The year I arrived, a fire broke out here. It burned fiercely all night. When the fire trucks arrived to put out the blaze, they found several bodies in the basement of the Red Building. They were our medical students. No one knew what the students were doing in the basement, nor did they know the cause of the fire. Later, firefighters explained that the fire had a strange origin, originating in the basement. It burned for so long, but it only completely consumed everything in the basement, without significantly affecting other areas. Elderly members of the school said the basement was a haunted place, and no one wanted to stay there any longer. Someone once conducted an experiment where someone shouted loudly in the basement, but with the door closed, no one could hear it ten meters away.
Fang Yuan was stunned. She had no idea there was such a terrifying legend about this basement. If what Xu Yan said was true, then the soundproofing in this basement was truly excellent.
"What should we do then?"
"I don't know. It seems we'll have to spend the night here. Tomorrow morning, wait for teachers and students doing experiments here to pass by. Then, we'll yell for help. Maybe they'll hear us."
Spend the night?
Fang Yuan smiled bitterly. How could we spend the night here? It's so cold, and without a blanket, how could we possibly sleep? Besides, it was not only filthy in here, but the smell of formaldehyde alone was unbearable. Furthermore, there were numerous mummified corpses in the inner room, which was terrifying even to think about.
But if she didn't stay here for the night, what else could she do?
At this point, she couldn't care less and sat down next to Xu Yan, their bodies close together.
The light from the pocket flashlight was dim and weak, but without even that little light, Fang Yuan really didn't know if she could hold on. At least, it allowed her to see Xu Yan and their surroundings clearly. Without even that little light, they would be completely blind, let alone leave this terrifying basement.
Now, neither of them spoke, sitting back to back for who knows how long. Sleepiness gradually took over, and Fang Yuan's eyelids grew heavier until they finally fell. She fell asleep, but soon, she was startled awake by the cold. She was much more sensitive to temperature when asleep than when awake. She couldn't sleep in this environment.
Fang Yuan estimated she'd only dozed off for a dozen minutes at most. Her first thought upon opening her eyes was to search for Xu Yan. Humans, as social creatures, are particularly afraid of loneliness, especially in such a strange and terrifying place.
Xu Yan didn't lean against her back, but instead stood by the iron gate, muttering to herself. Fang Yuan was puzzled. She couldn't hear what she was saying, and she had no idea what she meant by her mumbling.
"Xu Yan! What are you doing?" Fang Yuan stood up, jumping a few times to warm herself up.
Xu Yan turned and smiled at her. Her smile was strange, her lips parted, and her throat gurgled.
"Xu Yan, what's wrong with you?" A sense of foreboding washed over Fang Yuan.
Xu Yan didn't answer, but continued to smile, taking steps toward her. She walked slowly, laughing, her laughter eerie, like the scream of a night owl. It was agonizing to Fang Yuan, as if something sharp was scraping her eardrums.
Fang Yuan raised her flashlight and shone it into Xu Yan's eyes. She finally saw the look in her eyes: bloodshot, fierce and vicious, as if she wanted to devour her alive. She finally understood: Xu Yan was having a psychotic episode.
She was mad!
The symptoms of mental illness can vary. Fang Yuan didn't know what Xu Yan would do next, but she instinctively wanted to avoid her.
Fang Yuan turned off the flashlight and secretly moved. She was afraid Xu Yan would hurt her.
Sure enough, Fang Yuan heard the sound of metal clashing where she had been. Xu Yan had found a rusty scalpel from somewhere and was hacking away frantically.
It was unknown how long she had been hacking, but perhaps tired, Xu Yan sat down and panted. Then, she began to cry, cursing as she sobbed, her tears heartbroken and her curses rude.
After crying and cursing, Xu Yan began to laugh again, saying, "Sister, come out, come out and play with me. I know you're here, sister. Come out and play with me."
Fang Yuan wasn't that stupid. She didn't want to provoke Xu Yan and let her know her location.
Xu Yan groped towards Fang Yuan in the darkness, her laughter drawing closer.
Fang Yuan held her breath, afraid to make a sound, her heart in her throat. She hid behind a table. Fortunately, Xu Yan didn't find her and went searching in a different direction.
Fang Yuan waited until Xu Yan was far away before she dared to breathe. In the dark, Xu Yan kept bumping into things in the basement, so Fang Yuan could roughly determine her location.
Why had Xu Yan gone mad out of nowhere? And why had she become so violent?
A terrifying thought suddenly flashed through Fang Yuan: Xu Yan, was she just pretending to be crazy?
Fang Yuan recalled Xu Yan's deliberate lies when describing Li Rong's appearance. Why did Xu Yan lie? Was she trying to protect Li Rong? Xu Yan knew that even if she didn't tell Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan would be able to find out about Li Rong through other channels.
If Xu Yan truly wanted to protect Li Rong, everything that happened tonight would explain it. She told Li Rong about their meeting. Li Rong, sensing Fang Yuan's threat from Xu Yan's words, had deliberately set a trap to lure her in. Li Rong had gone to the library to borrow books so late at night, hoping to lure her into the Red Mansion's basement. As she stood hesitant at the door, Xu Yan, who had been following her, deliberately appeared and invited her in. Li Rong, no doubt hiding somewhere in the basement, waited for them both to enter before sneaking out and locking the iron gate.
Next, after she fell asleep, Xu Yan demanded that Li Rong open the iron gate and let her out, but he refused, forcing her to feign madness and murder Fang Yuan. Xu Yan already had a history of mental illness, so a relapse would be understandable, and everyone would believe her. Even if Xu Yan, disguised as a mental patient, murdered Fang Yuan, she wouldn't be held legally responsible; at most, she'd be committed to Qingshan Mental Hospital again.
Fang Yuan shuddered, stunned by her own suspicions. If her suspicions were correct, Li Rong was not only ruthless but also cunning, having even tricked Xu Yan. This way, he killed two birds with one stone: not only did he murder Fang Yuan, but he also used the opportunity to force Xu Yan to feign insanity and then commit her to a mental hospital. From now on, if Xu Yan said anything against him again, no one would believe her.