Twenty-two stories high!
Seventy to eighty meters!
Shen Xingyue actually dared to jump!
Did she have wings?
No, she didn't.
But she had equipment!
When she had fallen about halfway, and I was hesitating whether to collect her body, I suddenly saw Shen Xingyue’s body pause in mid-air. Her descent speed drastically decreased. In the light of the hospital's floodlights, I could vaguely see a thin steel wire hanging above her body. From the rooftop, a humming sound came, likely some kind of portable rappelling device. As expected of Shā Bǐ Yà, she had so many props!
Not only Shen Xingyue, but three others were also using rappelling equipment and sliding down from the rooftop. However, their speed was not as fast as Shen Xingyue’s. Shen Xingyue's freefall had saved half the time.
In the air, the Eagle Demon discovered their trick. After circling once, it suddenly folded its wings and swooped towards Shen Xingyue, who was still falling. It was likely aiming to attack her rope.
I quickly shouted, "Ya Nan! No! Come down, bring Yao Yao, and let's go!"
It wasn't the time to completely fall out yet, and it was not advisable to kill anyone. Besides, I couldn't bear to let Shen Xingyue fall to her death like this.
Perhaps it was because I spoke too much, or perhaps the Eagle Demon's attack was too fast. By the time Ya Nan heard the command and spread her wings to slow down, she was less than ten meters from the building and almost couldn't stop, crashing into it. The wind generated by her giant wings blew Shen Xingyue's hair wildly, making her body sway left and right. The Eagle Demon kicked off the wall with its claws, rebounded, and swooped towards the ground again. Yao Yao jumped more than two meters high, grabbed the Eagle Demon's claws, and smoothly executed a somersault onto its back.
The Deer Demon carried me and Bing Bing and ran towards the hospital wall. With a leap, it flew directly over the 1.8-meter wall and landed on the road outside, causing three cars to crash into each other.
Fortunately, the Deer Demon's muscle-shock absorption system was far more advanced than any Rolls-Royce. Jumping from such a height, my backside never left the Deer Demon's back; it was incredibly stable.
However, at the moment of landing, it was tilted forward and backward. Bing Bing bumped into my back, but it was fine. She had her own pair of shock absorbers in the front, not large, but sufficient.
The Deer Demon crossed the road and paused briefly. I looked back at the hospital. Shen Xingyue had already landed, untied the rope binding her, and was chasing towards the wall. Whoosh, she cleared it like a hurdler. Just then, the traffic light at the next intersection turned green, and a large group of vehicles drove through, blocking Shen Xingyue's path.
"You, kid, stop right there!" Shen Xingyue yelled across the road.
"Am I stupid? Stop and wait for you to catch me?" I laughed. "If you have the guts, come to Fānshēn Village! I'll wait for you there!"
After saying that, I squeezed the Deer Demon with my legs.
The Deer Demon turned its head back and gave me a mournful look, as if asking: Why are you squeezing my body?
"Let's go!" I said. Didn't they always act like this on TV? You squeeze a horse's sides, and it runs. Can't a deer do that?
Alright, I was being presumptuous, but at least the Deer Demon understood me. It galloped away.
It ran with a bouncing gait. I felt like I was sitting on a large "Bouncy Horse," with each bounce covering more than ten meters. Running and jumping, its speed was indeed no slower than the cars on the adjacent road, attracting curious glances from drivers who thought they had seen a monster.
Outside the city, there were fewer cars. The Deer Demon moved from the non-motorized lane onto the motorized lane, even going against traffic. When it encountered oncoming cars, it simply bounced over them. The journey that would normally take an hour was completed in thirty-five minutes, arriving at Fānshēn Village. I dismounted, my legs a bit shaky. My internal organs were still bouncing around inside me, and I felt a bit carsick and nauseous. I quickly lit a cigarette to calm my nerves.
The Eagle Demon and Yao Yao had already arrived. Seeing us, the Eagle Demon airdropped a package, which was the Deer Demon's clothes. The Deer Demon picked it up and entered the ruins. A short while later, it emerged in human form. The Eagle Demon perched on a wall, did not transform, and stared at me with its neck retracted and eyes wide, like an owl.
"Why isn't Yao Yao coming?" I asked her.
"She wants us to go to the other end of the village," the Deer Demon said, pointing in the direction of Jiǔ Xiān Cave, and leading the way. Perhaps Yao Yao was setting up a position at that end of the village.
As we passed through the village, coincidentally, we passed by the courtyard where we had previously found the "Chūyún Bìn." I hadn't intended to stop, but as I walked past the main entrance, my peripheral vision caught sight of movement within the courtyard. I immediately turned my head to look, but could see nothing. Was it a hallucination?
I turned back and walked a few steps forward. In my peripheral vision, the figure appeared again!
I immediately turned my head and this time finally saw it: a paper cutout person, floating towards me. When it realized I was looking at it, it immediately "turned," presenting its thinnest side to me. If you didn't look closely, you'd think it was a thin, vertical bamboo pole!
It gave me goosebumps, and I quickly pointed to the Deer Demon, "Look at that!"
The Deer Demon looked in the direction I was pointing. "What? There's nothing."
At this moment, the paper cutout person slowly turned back, facing me directly. It was Song Lei's cousin, smiling eerily at me.
But the Deer Demon remained indifferent. I became nervous and tugged at Bing Bing, "You, you saw it?"
"Huh? Saw what? Is there a mouse?" Bing Bing was clearly looking in the direction of the paper cutout person, but she also said she couldn't see it!
Could it be that it wasn't a paper cutout person, but...