Chapter 61: Running.

Chapter 61: Running.

They quickly ran uphill without looking back once, and the whole stairwell felt like it was turning into a trap with every step they took. The zombies below were still climbing after them, not fast in the normal sense, but fast enough when they were packed together like that and using their hands, feet, shoulders, and even each other to get higher. The scene was ugly and almost unreal, the kind of thing that should have looked impossible if someone saw it in a normal world, but right now it was just their reality, and Bai Li had no time to be shocked by it. She had already seen enough death today to stop counting it as anything special. Her breathing stayed even as she moved, but her eyes were sharp, always checking ahead, always checking behind, because one bad step here would not just hurt, it would end everything. The file scene from the stairwell already showed how dangerous this climb was, and it only got worse from there. Yan Cijin kept close behind her, one hand on the railing, the kukri held tightly in the other, her face calm in a way that looked almost strange under this kind of pressure. She was still getting used to the rhythm of running while being chased, but she wasn’t freezing anymore. That alone made Bai Li feel a little better, even if she didn’t say it. The zombies on the seventh floor were already crowded behind them, and the ones below kept pushing upward without caring that some were slipping and falling. More than once, Bai Li had to snap her body around, kick at a face, and then turn back forward again before her own balance got ruined by the narrow iron steps. The open stairwell made everything feel worse. There was no wall on one side, only open gaps, and the air below looked too far down, like one slip would drag them straight into death. Bai Li’s right hand stayed clamped on the railing while her left held the Tang sword, her arm swinging in short brutal motions whenever a zombie got close enough. The blade was still absurdly good, slicing cleanly through rotten flesh and weak joints, but the problem wasn’t the zombies one by one. The problem was the crowding. They were already on the seventh floor, maybe pushing toward the eighth, and she could feel the market pulling at the world around them like an invisible magnet. The system had said it clearly before. The interdimensional market would attract nearby beings, and the closer they got, the worse the pressure would become. Bai Li could already feel it in the way more and more zombies kept turning toward the same direction, as if something above was calling them. The idea made her stomach sink a little. The building was thirteen floors high, and the rooftop was still far above them. If they got trapped here between the middle floors, they would be done for. She bit down on the worry, forced her chest to stay steady, and kept climbing, because panic would do nothing except waste time.

On the next landing, a pair of zombies came at them from above, and Bai Li had to choose in a split second between keeping her balance and dealing with them. One of them looked like a man in a security guard uniform, his badge half hanging off and his face dark with blood, while the other was a woman with a hospital ID still dangling from her neck, her jaw hanging in a way that made the whole thing look even more wrong. Bai Li struck first, taking the guard zombie across the shoulder with a hard slash that threw it sideways into the railing. At the same time she kicked the woman straight in the throat, not enough to break through fully, but enough to send her stumbling back and buying a second of breathing room. Yan Cijin moved better now than before too. She wasn’t flashy, she wasn’t trying to show off, but she was learning. When a zombie came close enough for her to reach, she snapped the kukri up and brought it down at the side of its neck, not as clean as Bai Li’s strike, but direct enough to matter. Blood sprayed across her sleeve and wrist, and for just a second she looked down at it, then back up at the stairs, her expression unchanged. Bai Li saw that and almost wanted to say something, but there was no room for that now. Another wave came from behind, and this one was worse because the zombies had finally started piling together in a way that made them more dangerous than usual. They were stacking on top of each other, hands clawing at the iron gaps, some climbing on the backs of others, faces twisting in ugly ways, their mouths opening and closing like broken dolls. It would have been almost funny in another situation, because they really did move like a nightmare version of a wind up toy, but there was nothing funny about it now. Bai Li could feel the sweat gathering on her palms, and the railing under her right hand felt too thin, too narrow, too easy to lose. The steps were old, the iron rusted and creaking, and every time they landed too hard it sounded like the structure itself was begging them to stop. But they couldn’t stop. Not even for a second. She glanced over her shoulder, saw Yan Cijin still with her, and that strange small sense of responsibility she kept trying not to name tightened in her chest. She didn’t know why she cared this much, not after seeing her only a few times, but right now that thought was less important than keeping both of them alive.

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