An elevator car stuck halfway up the stairs, between the sixth and seventh floors. (From a novel)
Song Fei sat on the ground, leaning against the wall of the box. He knew that He Zhiwen was right in front of him, in the same position, but he couldn't see anything unless he turned on his phone.
Two minutes ago, the emergency light went out. According to He Zhiwen, the device was powered by a battery, which could only last for 20 to 30 minutes at most. The phone time also clearly showed that 27 minutes had passed since the power went out and they were trapped.
Without the emergency lights, the elevator car was plunged into endless darkness—a complete darkness that almost shut down all senses. Song Fei even had to blink every now and then to make sure her eyes were open.
"We can't get out." He Zhiwen huddled in the corner, feeling for the first time how close he was to death.
This sense of oppression and despair does not arise suddenly, but accumulates little by little over time, from mild to severe, until it finally suffocates a person.
Song Fei reiterated, "Qi Yan will come."
During those half hours, aside from several unsuccessful attempts to pry open the door, their conversation consisted of the same two sentences over and over again. Even the usually good-tempered He Zhiwen became anxious and irritable.
"Who gave you your confidence? If you were coming, you would have come much earlier. There hasn't been a sound since. You've either run away or gone to look for the radio, planning to run away as soon as you're done. Anyway, we've confirmed the office location several times beforehand. We could find it with our eyes closed."
"Impossible." Song Fei wasn't agitated; his tone was even indifferent, but his hand, pressed against the ground, unconsciously clenched.
"Nothing is absolute. If you or I were outside in this situation, we wouldn't be able to come back to save people either." He Zhiwen sighed, trying to calm himself down and also to help Song Fei accept reality. "First of all, he has no idea which floor our elevator is on. Does he have to search floor by floor? Secondly, if he really is looking for us, why can't he hear anything? If he wants to confirm whether we are inside, doesn't he need to shout and bang on things, relying on his willpower?"
"As you said, he might go look for the radio first."
"I meant I'd search and run."
"They'll definitely come to rescue us after they've searched."
"..." He Zhiwen surrendered, too lazy to waste any more words with Song Fei.
Although he couldn't see He Zhiwen's expression, Song Fei knew He Zhiwen was furious with him. Actually, if it were any other friends outside, he might not be so sure. But this was Qi Yan, the Qi Yan who risked being eaten by zombies or even slipping and falling to climb up to the fourth-floor dormitory balcony to find him, the Qi Yan who had been rejected twice by him for getting back together... uh, right, rejected twice already.
Damn it, is it too late to regret this now?!
As the saying goes, once or twice is acceptable, but not a third time.
After that, Qi Yan never seemed to mention getting back together. Would she really risk her life to save her ex-boyfriend who is stuck on some unknown level?
He Zhiwen's silence stemmed from his desire to avoid being angered to the point of vomiting blood in the final stages of his life. However, Song Fei's silence, rather than pressing his advantage, made him somewhat uneasy.
Unbeknownst to him, Song Fei in the darkness had already undergone a series of psychological transformations, including violently pulling out his hair, silently shouting, and pounding his chest in despair. At this moment, he was leaning against the darkness, watching the small flame of hope in his imagination gradually die out.
"Hey, why aren't you saying anything?" He Zhiwen waved his phone around worriedly, almost startled by the lifeless face on the other end. "What's with that expression? Did you get bitten somewhere and are you about to mutate?"
Looking at his comrades in the dim light, Song Fei asked with a last glimmer of hope, "Suppose—and I mean suppose—you have a very good friend, someone you're extremely close to, and then one day you break off your friendship. He doesn't want to break off the friendship and tries to reconcile repeatedly, but you refuse and even embarrass him in various ways. If you were to encounter danger one day, do you think this friend would still be willing to go to great lengths for you?"
He Zhiwen quickly processed the story, and finally shook his head: "If it weren't true, I wouldn't be such a jerk to my best friend."
"..." Song Fei swallowed hard, and said with difficulty, "What if... what if I were that 'what if'?"
He Zhiwen was stunned, and after a long while said sincerely, "The fact that your friend didn't take advantage of your illness to kill you is true love."
Song Fei utterly collapsed, like a deflated balloon. Even the good-natured He Zhiwen said so; someone as proud and arrogant as Qi Yan probably really wouldn't turn back.
That makes sense. Rushing up to the twelfth floor to find the radio and escape unscathed was already a near-death experience. Only a madman would search every floor for his ex-boyfriend and a classmate from another department he had only known for a few days.
Five hours later.
Song Fei couldn't tell if he was asleep or awake. His eyelids were heavy, he was extremely tired, yet his mind was clear, even alert. This extreme contradiction made the passage of time agonizingly slow.
"What time is it?" A comrade's voice suddenly rang out in the darkness.
Song Fei was stunned. He thought He Zhiwen had already fallen asleep, since falling asleep in such a closed and dark environment was a kind of relief.
After restarting the computer, the long-awaited light made Song Fei squint, and it took him a while to see clearly: "Five minutes past midnight".
"It's a new day." He Zhiwen's weak voice showed no joy in welcoming the new year.
The phone still has 70% battery left.
Although the battery life of domestically produced phones is undeniable, Song Fei was still reluctant to use it too quickly. After checking the time, he subconsciously wanted to turn the phone off again, but then, as if possessed, he clicked on the photo album and scrolled down until a photo of him and Qi Yan came into view.
Song Fei carefully opened the photo. On the screen were two people, one grinning foolishly, the other frowning in frustration. The grinning one affectionately put his arm around the frowning one's neck, while the frowning one seemed to want to dodge, but in the end, he couldn't escape and was forced to leave behind a youthful image.
This is the only photo of Song Fei and Qi Yan together on his phone.
That guy doesn't like taking photos, let alone photos that are too revealing. Every time he sees someone's explicit photos or videos leaked online, he has to drag him over for a safety training session to raise awareness and prevent similar incidents from happening again. But Song Fei is the kind of person who's more likely to do something the more you tell him not to, so in his journey of taking intimate selfies, he failed repeatedly, but he persevered until he finally succeeded this time.
Qi Yan had secretly deleted the photo when he wasn't looking, unaware that he had already made a backup. So, no sooner had Qi Yan deleted it than he had used the photo as his phone wallpaper. Qi Yan was almost internally injured, and finally realized that it's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person. After repeatedly forbidding him from using it as his wallpaper, screensaver, or showing it off to a third party, he finally allowed it to remain on his phone.
This relationship made Song Fei think more than once that it was like a third party interfering in his marriage, as if the whole world was a wife he had to avoid at all costs.
"Are you alright?" He Zhiwen originally didn't want to talk to him, but the face reflected in the light of the phone screen looked like it was about to cry, which was a bit creepy. "I know I may not be the ideal partner for the road to the underworld, but who told me to be stuck with you? It's too late to find someone else."
Song Fei was amused by He Zhiwen, but also found it quite unbelievable: "You looked so bitter and resentful before, how come you've suddenly become more open-minded?"
"We're going to die whether we cry or laugh, so let's just laugh it off," He Zhiwen imagined a bright future, "that way, when our bodies are found, it won't look too bad."
"You're already a corpse, and you still expect to be as beautiful as a flower?"
"At least don't scare people."
"Two grinning corpses are much more terrifying, okay!"
The pleasure derived from a brief bickering is like a soap bubble; it bursts and disappears without a trace as the two people fall silent again.
Song Fei looked at the photos for a long time.
He looked at that one picture over and over again, from left to right, from right to left, from top to bottom, and from bottom to top. Without exception, his gaze would always fall on that gloomy face in the end. He couldn't quite describe his feelings, but just looking at it made him strangely calm down.
Just like every time he messed up, after that person finished their routine tirade, they would always add, "It's okay, I'll handle it." As long as Qi Yan said that, no matter how tricky the situation was, he would instantly feel at ease.
I wonder where that guy is now.
Song Fei's thoughts began to wander, the focus gradually blurred, and the photo became a patchy halo.
Still in the Gewu Building? Have they already escaped back to the canteen? Have they run to another building to meet up with other comrades? Are they... safe?
clatter.
A very faint sound came from above.
At first, Song Fei didn't notice because the noise was so small that it didn't feel real at all.
However, the sound, like fingernails gently tapping on a table, persisted relentlessly, and upon closer listening, it even carried a certain rhythm—tap, tap-tap, tap. Tap, tap-tap, tap. Tap, tap-tap, tap, tap-tap, tap, tap-tap, tap.
The man tapped very lightly and cautiously, deliberately slowing down the tapping speed, so that the originally short and powerful beat was stretched out at a uniform speed.
However, the overall rhythm remained unchanged.
Song Fei's eyes widened suddenly. It was Qi Yan!
He instinctively wanted to respond, but the moment he opened his mouth, he suddenly realized that the reason Qi Yan had chosen this method was that he could not speak, or even make any sound louder than the knocking he was experiencing.
Song Fei could hardly contain his excitement and jumped to his feet!
He Zhiwen also heard the strange knocking sound. He was completely bewildered and his whole body was tense when he suddenly felt a gust of wind beside him. Before he could figure out what this eerie wind in the darkness was, another set of fine knocking sounds, similar to the previous one but different in rhythm, length, frequency, and speed, began.
And the sound was so clear, it seemed to be right inside the sedan chair—
Da da, da da da da, da da, da da da da, da da, da da da da da.
It was Song Fei responding to what was happening outside!
Realizing this, He Zhiwen suddenly perked up. He hurriedly took out his phone and turned it on, then turned on his flashlight without hesitation to illuminate the elevator car. Sure enough, Song Fei had already stood up and was pressed against the half-open elevator door, trying to look up!
The sounds from outside were coming from the door on the upper floor.
Song Fei's knocking came from the sedan chair door.
This kind of sound, which travels through solids, is not easily dispersed, and can be heard clearly by people who are close to the object it is traveling through!
He Zhiwen tugged at Song Fei's arm and mouthed "Qi Yan" as the other turned around.
Song Fei nodded emphatically, without the slightest hesitation!
Another knocking sound came from above, this time more urgent than before, clearly indicating that the person outside had also heard the response. However, since the landing door and the car door are not the same object, the already faint sound was inevitably lost during transmission. The person outside was probably unsure of the location or unable to pinpoint it, hence the renewed attempt to contact them.
Yes, in He Zhiwen's view, this is communicating using coded language!
Before this, he had always believed that Class 1's survival was due to 60% luck and 40% ability. In terms of physical strength, they were not as good as Zhao He and Wu Zhou; in terms of meticulousness, they were not as good as Huang Mo. Every one of the eight of them was just an ordinary student, and even those like Qiao Siqi and Li Jingyu had courage below the average level of the nation's future generations.
These eight people managed to break into supermarkets, rob packages, and occupy cafeterias—they did everything they could and couldn't do. Who would believe they didn't rely on luck?
But now, he believes it.
Did you think that tapping rhythm was just random knocking? No, it must be the legendary Morse code!
A class that can communicate using Morse code, a class that fights with all its might and never abandons any comrade—what reason do they have not to win!
Perhaps, He Zhiwen blinked hard, suppressing the rising heat in his eyes, and realized they really could escape! Not just escape this elevator, but even escape this campus, this disaster!
Seventh floor, outside the elevator landing door.
When she heard the response, Qi Yan's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, almost jumped out of her chest.
The realization that Song Fei had been found and was safe filled Qi Yan with ecstasy, and when Song Fei responded with a knock, this ecstasy was mixed with a touch of sweetness.
He had only wanted to create a sound that wouldn't attract the zombies but would still be audible to the people in the elevator, and solid-state sound transmission was the most suitable method. The fact that the rhythm was recognized and even elicited a response was completely unexpected.
I was just casually telling some funny stories from my childhood while waiting for our food on a date, and I even tapped the table with my finger to prove it. I never expected the other person to remember it.
That carefree guy can be so thoughtful sometimes.
Qi Yan didn't want to build happiness on such trivial details, but she couldn't help but smile – so it's still necessary to occasionally show off one's artistic career to one's partner, even if it's just being a snare drummer in an elementary school marching band.