Chapter Thirty-Seven – Unexpectedly Trapped

Dusk swiftly devoured the world. From twilight to the full shroud of night, the struggle lasted nearly an hour.

By the lakeshore, willows swayed their slender forms, some of their branches dipping into the water, drifting with the gentle ripples. A few scattered streetlights along the lake fought valiantly to filter their hazy glow through the leaves.

Yishu pressed her hands to her thighs and stood up, dizziness washing over her. After steadying herself, she rubbed her numb calves. Confronted with her predicament, she was at a complete loss.

If only he were by her side—then even this pitch-black building, or the very abyss itself, would hold no terror for her.

Sometimes, a person becomes the wellspring of another’s strength.

Beads of sweat broke out across Tang Chao’s brow, palms, and back. As a child, his poor grades often earned him confinement in the backyard storeroom at the hands of Tang Jingguo. No amount of pleading or begging ever helped. His mother, a woman with no voice or opinion, could only hide in her room and weep in silence.

The storeroom was cold in winter, stifling in summer, and utterly devoid of light or air. Inside, piles of clutter loomed in the darkness like grotesque monsters, their shapes distorted and menacing.

At first, he screamed and wept in terror, but by the third time, he had already chiseled a thirty-centimeter hole in a concealed spot, covering it with old odds and ends. This unexpected act infuriated Tang Jingguo, who then resorted to other punishments—beatings, forced copying, anything at his disposal.

Though more than a decade had passed, Tang Chao’s aversion to darkness only grew with age. The suffocating shroud of blackness pressed in from all sides, making each breath heavier.

He braced his hands against the tempered glass door, knocking repeatedly.

“Why don’t we just break this door? Then we can get out,” he said, staring at the faint, dim light outside, drawing what little courage and hope he could. The vast pool of darkness behind him left him unwilling to look back.

“Break it?” Yishu echoed in disbelief. “And will you pay for it?”

“It’s not worth much,” Tang Chao replied, eyes still fixed on the glow of the streetlamps.

“Let’s see if you can break it. This is tempered glass. There’s no hammer around—do you plan to smash it with your bare hands?” Yishu said, without a hint of hope.

Tang Chao fell silent; he was well aware of the door’s strength. Years of fitness and training couldn’t turn flesh and blood into a match for tempered glass—it would be like an ant trying to uproot a tree.

Yishu shook the handle twice, then suddenly had an idea. “There’s firefighting equipment by a shop near the stairwell. There should be a fire hammer. If you’re not worried about the cost, why not go fetch it?”

A glimmer of hope lit Tang Chao’s eyes. He smiled, “Then why don’t you go get it?”

“You want me to go?” Yishu was incredulous. “I may be older than you, but I’m still a woman. It’s pitch black in there… How can you have the nerve to ask me?”

The encroaching darkness made the once-empty space seem vast—a boundless tunnel stretching before them.

With the building’s power cut, the air conditioning, which had run all day, was quickly dissipating. The air grew ever more stifling.

Yishu swallowed hard, preferring to stay where she was.

“If you won’t go, we’ll both be spending the night here,” Tang Chao reasoned.

“And whose fault is that?” Yishu shot back, unreserved. “If it weren’t for your stubbornness, I wouldn’t be locked in here.” She paused, collecting her scattered thoughts. “You keep insisting I go—are you afraid of the dark?”

The question left little room for denial.

“Ridiculous.” Tang Chao forced a laugh, trying to prove he wasn’t afraid. “I’m a grown man. Why would I be afraid of the dark?”

“Then what are you afraid of?” Yishu pressed.

“I’m afraid of…” Tang Chao caught himself, realizing her trap, and stopped. “Nothing’s ever frightened me, not since I was a child. If anything, I’m the one who scares others,” he boasted, without conviction.

“Since you’re not afraid of anything, go on then.”

“Fine, I’ll go!” Tang Chao’s Adam’s apple moved violently as he spoke.

He stood his ground, wrestling with himself, trying to soak up every last ray of light from outside as if he could carry it with him into the darkness.

Yishu watched his silhouette fade away, and a pang of worry rose within her. Perhaps it was because, just for a moment, he had resembled Yihui, stirring an unexpected sense of familiarity.

Time dragged on. Her phone battery dead, she couldn’t check the time. She never wore a watch, so she had no idea how the hands might be moving now. By her estimation, Tang Chao had been gone over twenty minutes. The round trip from the east entrance to the center of the building should have taken five minutes at most, even moving slowly in the dark and searching for the hammer—it shouldn’t have exceeded fifteen minutes.

Had something happened? A wave of panic and unease swept over her. She called into the darkness behind her, her voice echoing uselessly. The sound seemed to travel out, strike some distant point, and return, as if the loss of sight had sharpened her hearing.

Yishu felt as if an invisible hand clenched her heart.

Pressed against the glass, she could just make out the traffic on Yuyang Road—headlights flickering between low and high beams, turn signals and hazard lights blinking in the mix. The building across the street was shrouded in black, every window dark, like a deserted city of the dead, amplifying her dread and anxiety.

The Textile City was, in fact, a cluster of buildings similar in scale, some twenty in all at the intersection of Xingzhou Avenue and Yuyang Road, each dealing in woven and knitted textiles. Every day, transactions worth tens of millions—even hundreds of millions—took place here. It was easy to see why Kaisheng’s executives insisted on establishing their base here.

It was an irresistible prize.

Yishu pressed a hand to her chest, mustering all her courage. She gripped her bag strap tightly, digging her fingers into her palm, using pain to distract herself from the mounting fear.

Thankfully, it wasn’t utter darkness—she could still see the pale tiles beneath her feet. Guided by memory, she moved forward, step by step.

“Where are you?” Yishu called, pausing. “Answer me if you hear me!”

Silence.

She continued onward.

It felt as though she had crossed mountains and rivers before finally reaching the stairs. The fluorescent green “Exit” sign on the wall glowed vividly. But where had Tang Chao gone?

She called out again. This time, a faint sound drifted from nearby. She followed it, moving slowly in its direction.

A shadow, darker than the darkness itself, was huddled by a shop window.

“What are you doing sitting here?” Yishu demanded, annoyed after waiting so long, only to find him calmly dawdling.

“I was waiting for you,” he replied, feigning composure.

Tang Chao’s voice was rough, naturally deep, so much so that Yishu had to strain to catch his words. The darkness did nothing to amplify his tone.

Then she understood his fear. He must have fought a fierce internal battle just now.

“I found the hammer. Let’s go,” Yishu said gently. “Do you want me to help you?”

“No need!” Embarrassment flooded him; being seen at his weakest was mortifying. The past he tried so hard to hide had been exposed so easily. “I was just tired and wanted to sit down. You mistook it for fear.”

Yishu stifled a laugh, letting him preserve his pride.

The way back, heading toward the light outside the glass doors, was smooth.

“Are you really going to smash it?” she asked, hesitant.

“Of course,” he replied, grabbing the fire hammer from her. “Unless you want to stay until morning?”

Yishu fell silent. If they were found here come dawn, it would spiral into endless rumors impossible to explain.

With a thunderous crash, the glass door shattered, the sound of breaking glass echoing wildly. At the same time, a piercing alarm blared through the entire building.

An alarm? How could there be an alarm?

Yishu’s body went cold, sweat breaking out across her palms.

“Hurry!” Tang Chao shouted. “Unless you want to get caught?”

Yishu’s legs refused to move, as if roots had grown from her feet, anchoring her in place.

Before they could escape the scene, the shrill wail of police sirens closed in at lightning speed.