Chapter 274: Wang Xianduo’s Descent Into Madness

2022-05-20

Zhao Mingkun started up the motorbike, ready to head to Wang Yikai’s place. But right then we both heard a piercing scream. After listening for a moment, we realized it was Wang Xianduo’s voice. Zhao Mingkun and I looked up toward the source and spotted her on the seventh-floor landing. She moved like something invisible was after her, arms flailing and loudly shouting.

I jumped off the motorbike and, from a distance, stared upwards. It was just past one in the afternoon, and plenty of people had just gotten back from lunch. They all heard the shouts and craned their necks to look up.

By now, it seemed Wang Xianduo had completely lost her mind. She kept smashing her head against the glass in the hallway. In no time the glass was full of deep cracks. If she kept going, she was going to break that thick glass with her own skull.

It was all too wild. I couldn’t figure out why Wang Xianduo was acting like this. We could all see there was nobody behind her—no one chasing her. Why was she so desperate?

And we’d only left her place a few minutes ago. While we were in her apartment, she was completely normal. Why did she unravel the moment we went downstairs?

I also noticed she was no longer in pajamas. That meant in just these few minutes since we left, she’d gotten changed. Judging by her outfit, it looked just like what she wore last night at the Royal Garden Hotel.

But there’s no way she would’ve gone insane just from changing clothes, right?

That was the first thing that popped into my head. Before we could react, the same security guard from earlier had rushed over. He glanced at me, then charged into the building with a few other guards. For a high-end apartment complex, that was as fast as security could move.

But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Wang Xianduo. From way down below I couldn’t see her face clearly, only her body repeatedly slamming against the glass. Her screams sounded like an animal being slaughtered—such a sharp contrast to her girly, coy voice from before.

Shards of glass started raining down. The fragments from the seventh floor exploded on the ground, sending splinters flying and forcing the crowd to back up instinctively.

Both her hands were pressed to the glass now. Large chunks started falling, followed by big, dark drops of blood.

Someone in the crowd gasped in horror.

Suddenly, the screaming reached a peak as an entire pane came crashing down.

The sound of shattering glass was so loud, it reminded me of fireworks on New Year’s Eve—it kept ringing in my ears. Since Wang Xianduo had been bracing herself on the pane, she pitched forward as it crashed away. With nothing to stop her, she overbalanced and nearly flipped over the edge.

Now head-first and dangling outside, only one of her high heels caught on the window ledge. It was terrifying—just a small movement and she’d plunge straight onto the hard marble below.

Everyone watching sucked in a cold breath. This was probably the scariest thing they’d ever seen.

Wang Xianduo kept her eyes closed and kept struggling, like she could drop any second.

Nobody even dared breathe. The crowd stared, paralyzed.

Her high heels were loose, so we could all see her foot inching out of the shoe. In the next moment, her foot slipped free and down she went.

“Ah!” Several people in the crowd screamed, and others squeezed their eyes shut. You could see they were all bracing for the worst.

But at the very last second, a hand caught Wang Xianduo’s leg. It was the young security guard. He clung to her ankle with all his strength, tendons bulging on his arm. I knew all too well what it felt like to try holding someone up with just one arm—it was a gut-wrenching strain that made your veins burst and your own limbs go numb.

Thankfully, a few more guards rushed over and reached out to pull her up.

Everyone finally let out their breath—Wang Xianduo had a chance.

But just as one guard went to grab her, his shoulder bumped against another piece of glass still hanging in the window. The loosened fragment dropped like a guillotine, slicing down fast.

It struck the young guard squarely on the wrist. He let go on reflex, startled by the sharp pain. Then he realized what was happening and lunged to grab Wang Xianduo again—but there was no way he could match gravity’s speed. His hand flailed through empty air.

Wang Xianduo plunged headfirst down. In the blink of an eye, she hit the ground with a sickening thud.

A bone-cracking snap echoed out.

In an instant, the air filled with the sharp stench of blood. My face and hands were suddenly warm and wet. I shut my eyes without thinking, but when I opened them, the sight in front of me left me speechless. I even forgot to wipe my face, even though I knew it had to be blood.

For a long time, the whole world went silent—nobody spoke or moved. We all stood like statues in the park, frozen in place. Only after almost a minute did someone finally scream, fear and panic in their voice.

“She’s dead, she’s dead!” cried one older woman, her piercing shout ringing out.

A young woman, maybe twenty-something, collapsed right there, sobbing uncontrollably at the sight.

Her toes unconsciously curled and uncurled, as if her body still didn’t realize what had happened—like Wang Xianduo could still be alive.

I’ve seen plenty of people fall from high places. Some survive falls from the seventh floor. Some break legs or arms. Some lose their lives. But none of those tragedies compared to the horror of Wang Xianduo’s body just now.

During a fall, most people reflexively stick out their arms and legs to brace themselves. But Wang Xianduo had her eyes shut—she had no way to gauge how far she was from the ground, no chance to shield herself or soften the landing.

I couldn’t find the words to describe how gruesome it was.

But why did Wang Xianduo do this? What made her act this way?

It was downright eerie. Too eerie.

“Call the cops, someone! Hurry up! A girl’s jumped! It’s awful, just come already!” The older woman shouted into her phone at full volume.

I was still staring at Wang Xianduo’s body when Zhao Mingkun yanked me hard.

I turned, wiped off my face, and looked blankly at him.

Dragging me away, Zhao Mingkun muttered, “Don’t just stand here if you want to live. You wanna wait here and get caught?”

His voice was low, but I caught every word. Suddenly everything clicked. I hadn’t thought it through when we arrived, but now it all made sense.

Zhao Mingkun fired up the motorbike. “Get on, now! The sooner we get out of here, the better. Then we figure out how to ditch these clothes. If we wait, it’ll be too late. Until this is over, I can’t let myself get caught!”