Eunseo's POV

It's been almost two hours since Chengxiao left to find the next checkpoint. I'm resting right now, with Meiqi. Her condition has worsened since- I don't know, five hours ago? She looks really pale and her body's shivering.

"Meiqi, you okay?" I asked. I felt so worried and there's nothing I could do to make her feel better.

She nodded weakly, when I think she clearly doesn't, but she doesn't want to burden us even more.

"Tell me if you need anything, okay?" I added.

No answer. I think she's too weak to answer me right now.

A few minutes later, I could hear someone running towards us.

-o-

Chengxiao's POV

I used to think that I'm a coward. At least until yesterday, before all this nightmare happened.

I've been exploring this air vent for about one and a half hours, alone. And you know what? I've never been more courageous than today. I felt like I changed in only one night.

All those traumatic experiences somehow made me stronger.

It's my second turn to find the checkpoint. I did it too three hours ago, but I couldn't find anything. The same thing happened to Eunseo. It's getting late, and we haven't found anything. I'm getting a bit worried for Meiqi, her condition wasn't really good the last time I saw her. I didn't know what would happen to her if we couldn't find the next checkpoint right before midnight. I didn't want to imagine it either.

I walked slowly, hampered by my lack of direction and at the same time, trying to make sure that I remembered my way back.

Right when I was about to turn right on an intersection, I heard something from the left. I paused and my heart started racing. 

Whatever's in there, I don't want it to know my existence. I squatted and hid behind the air vent wall.

The voice is getting closer and closer. I closed my mouth with my hands and held my breath, hoping that it wouldn't come near me.

"Let's just leave it here. It will be cleansed after two days anyways" A man said.

No one replied, but from the sound of the footsteps, it looked like there were at least two people there, dragging something and leaving it somewhere near the intersection on the left.

A few seconds after that, I could hear that the sound of their footsteps were getting smaller and smaller, and not long after that, gone. I took a quick peek, just to make sure that they're really gone.

When I'm sure that they're not here anymore, I decided to go left and take a quick look at what the two men were talking about.

It was dark in there, and I couldn't see clearly. I walked slowly towards the end of this hallway. A few meters later, I could smell something similar to rust, or I must say iron rust? I'm not really sure.

Seconds later, I saw a big sack and literally stopped. I've got a bad feeling about this. I move my feet, one inch at a time, concentrating and wondering what's inside the sack.

When I stood close enough to the sack, I realized that the rusty smell comes from the sack. The sack was tied with a rope. For a minute, I couldn't decide whether to open the sack or just leave it. But the thought of whatever's inside aroused my curiosity.

I finally decided to try and open the sack. It was tied really tightly, so it took some time for me to finally open it.

My eyes widened and I froze. It took seconds for me to realize what's inside the sack.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed on the top of my lungs and fell to my knees. Tears started flowing from both of my eyes, and I closed my mouth with both of my hands.

My body started to tremble as I saw what's inside the sack. It's something that might scare me for the rest of my life, it's definitely not easy to get that vivid image of your friend with her chest ripped open out of your memory. I couldn't stop crying. I felt so dizzy and started feeling nauseous.

What happened? Who'd have the heart to even try and do this? I kept thinking to myself. This is not right. Everything's not right.

After a while, I finally stood up and ran back to the place where Eunseo and Meiqi were. Tears couldn't stop flowing as I ran. I wiped it with my hands but still, it couldn't stop. My heart ached so bad knowing what the contents of the sack is trying to tell us.

After running for a whole 15 minutes, I finally reached the place where Eunseo and Meiqi were. The girls immediately turned their heads towards me, surprised by my sudden appearance.

"Chengxiao, what's wrong with you? Why are you crying?" Eunseo asked me, looking worried.

"Yeah, your eyes look swollen." Meiqi said, sounding weak.

"Girls, Luda eonni.." I cried.

"Luda eonni? What happened to my Dani?" Eunseo said