Chapter 12: Living Things
Looking at these children, Zhang Wenda, driven by the responsibility of an adult, could no longer sit and wait to die, and he had to find a way out.
“Hey! Fatty, Glasses, wait for me here! I’m going to see if there’s another exit,” Zhang Wenda said, wiping sweat from his face with one hand.
Compared to breaking the teacher’s rules, he was now more afraid of waiting here to die.
But the others clearly didn’t think the same.
“Mouse, don’t go! You must listen to the teacher! Teacher Rabbit will come save us!”
“That’s right, we need to follow the rules, Zhang Wenda!”
“Wait again? If we keep waiting, we’re not waiting for rescue, we’re waiting to die. I’d rather die trying than wait to die!”
After saying that, Zhang Wenda stepped out of the circle of paper with both hands and resolutely walked toward the dark Youth Center.
“You all wait here and don’t run off. Whether I find a way or Rabbit does, you’ll live!”
At this moment, the floor of the entire Youth Center began to become uneven and bumpy; walking on it felt like walking on a mountain path.
Zhang Wenda wasn’t wandering aimlessly—he first went to a corridor window to try to open it, but no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge.
He reached out and peeled off the slogans on the window, then shone his flashlight inside and saw only soil—clearly underground, and even digging through wouldn’t get out.
Since he couldn’t exit through the corridor, Zhang Wenda decided to search for an exit through other classrooms, first trying the Go room.
He carefully opened the door, shone his flashlight inside, and saw on the blackboard all kinds of black Go pieces arranged in long strips on tables and walls.
The old wooden tables and stools now flowed like liquid, and the room looked bizarre.
Finding no exit, Zhang Wenda closed the door and moved on to the next room—the calligraphy classroom.
When he pushed open the door, he saw the center of the room collapsing, with desks and stools falling into a circular pit.
From a distance, Zhang Wenda knew that pit was not a way out: the wooden furniture dropped in, emitting crushing sounds, and he would meet the same fate if he fell.
“What the hell is wrong with this place? Why is it such a mess?” Zhang Wenda muttered as he prepared to close the door.
But just as he was shutting it, his flashlight froze on a blue glow in the darkness.
It was a cat: a small black adult cat about the size of two palms, with one large blue eye, crouched by the blackboard nibbling on colorful chalk.
Startled, Zhang Wenda paused—though it had only one eye, it was definitely a cat, not some strange monster.
He saw the black cat, and the black cat saw him; it paused, swallowed the chalk, and then ran quickly toward Zhang Wenda.
Shocked, he slammed the calligraphy room door shut. Soon after, scratching and meowing came from behind it.
He wouldn’t make contact with an unknown creature—he took out a rope and tied the door firmly from the outside, then headed to the next door, the aeromodelling room.
As soon as he opened that door, a mass of black gas rushed out and covered his face.
The instant it touched his skin, excruciating pain engulfed his body—pain like suffocation, flesh tearing, and despair.
He forced himself to close the door and stumbled back a few paces. Once he stepped out of the gas, the pain receded like a tidal wave.
“Pain… is this… gas pain?” Zhang Wenda whispered, trembling, watching the lingering agony.
The aeromodelling room appeared related to emotions—either joy or pain—and seemed to lack any door inside.
“Meow\~” A sudden meow behind him made him shiver. He quickly turned and saw the same black cat sitting not far away licking its paw.
It showed no sign of aggression, instead looking at him curiously.
Zhang Wenda was sure the cat’s eye held curiosity—it seemed smarter than other cats.
“Can you understand me? Do you know where the exit is?” he asked.
The cat didn’t speak, obviously unable to.
“You can’t get out either? Then we’re on the same side. Let’s figure a way out together, what do you think?” Zhang Wenda tried again.
The black cat stood up, stretched lazily, looked left and right, then nimbly jumped onto the wall, pushing off a painting to hang from the ceiling and lick a light bulb.
Then it performed a few somersault jumps in front of Zhang Wenda, chewing and watching him expectantly.
Zhang Wenda was baffled. “What do you mean? Prove your chewing? Show how high you can jump?”
“Meow!!” The cat meowed angrily, seemingly upset by his misunderstanding.
“Meow!” The cat meowed again, then jumped toward the window.
Under the flashlight beam, Zhang Wenda saw soil outside.
“I know—we’re underground. So what?”
The cat didn’t speak, only cocked its head toward the soil again.
When Zhang Wenda approached the window for a closer look, he saw the soil slowly moving upward—the Youth Center was gradually sinking!
Before he could recover from his shock, the soil darkened and the window revealed a giant underground cavern.
His flashlight’s beam slanted across the cavern, falling on a rainbow-colored plastic cloud.
Then a faint, distorted song came through the glass from inside the cavern:
“I want to quickly tell you… with the crayon you gave me… I drew a picture and sent it fast to you… quickly to tell you… my twelvefold longing… no road is too far…”
A chill ran down Zhang Wenda’s spine—it was a song he’d heard after entering the Youth Center. And across the cavern… there was another Youth Center!
Suddenly, with trembling, the cavern walls began shaking, dust flew, and the distant rainbow and plastic clouds started to move.
Zhang Wenda rapidly turned his flashlight to maximum and shone it in that direction.
Under the thick dust, he saw a huge, fish-like blurred silhouette slowly sinking underground—it was moving.
This sight made Zhang Wenda’s mouth dry. Though he couldn’t see it clearly, he knew—it was a Youth Center, just like the one he was in.
The entire Youth Center… was alive!