625: Not safe

Not safe

1[Emergency Staircase]

Ivy panted for air, holding on to the railing as she looked over it to check if someone was following her. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw no one was coming up the stairs. 

'Goodness.' She patted her chest in relief, hunching in a little as she felt her entire body shaking. "Oh, god."

Her relief didn't last long as she looked around, biting her bottom lips in distress. No one came after her, but she was now a few levels above the exit she planned to take. Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose, a little stressed about her own situation. 

Now, it was clearer to her that this place was surrounded. One wrong move and she might end up being a hostage. Worse, dead. 

'What am I going to do now?' she wondered, squashing down the feeling of blaming Joker for her situation. She helped that man gain access to this place. How? She didn't know. She just followed Joker's instructions. Even so, the point was, if she had helped him, he could've at least made sure she could get out of this place safely instead of hanging up on her.

"Well," she whispered, snapping her eyes up at the stairs. "Should I go up or stay here?"

Ivy pressed her lips into a thin line, turning her head to the door near her vantage point. "There's also that option," she whispered, pondering which of the three was the safest route.

'To be fair, this place seems a little safe,'she thought, but then again, if someone came in here, she would be in big trouble. If she goes down, there might be people over there. Moreover, the event hall was on the ground floor. Therefore, it was to be expected that the amount of enemies there was unimaginable. The ground floor would be a bad call. The door, on the other hand, was an unexplored place for her. Therefore, there was no guarantee there were no enemies inside the floor.

"Then…" she trailed off as she slowly gazed up the stairs. "... this is my only option. I guess it's safer to stay upstairs."

A flash of determination shone in her eyes, and she nodded to herself in agreement. She believed tonight might be a long night, but everything had its end. As long as she would survive the night, she believed she would get to live the rest of her life. 

With that thought in mind, Ivy tiptoed her way up. Although there wasn't anyone after her anymore, she was still wary of making the slightest noise. So carefully and meticulously, she took up the stairs while watching her breathing. Upon reaching the next floor, she gazed down and winced. 

"Ouch…" she whispered, bending down until she was sitting on one of the steps. "Why did I even wear these heels when I never liked the brand's quality?"

Ivy frowned as she removed her heels that had been adding more struggles to her. She was barely keeping herself safe, and these heels weren't helping at all. She wanted to blame Dane Zhang for it because he was the only reason she had purchased some items from this brand. It was Dane's favorite brand, after all.

'I know I shouldn't be blaming him when he was left in the event hall, but it's much better than losing my mind in this situation.' She shook her head, tossing the heel away, and then flinching when it made a sound. 

Ivy cringed as she hunched a little, looking around nervously. When she was sure no one was around, she heaved a sigh of relief. 

"What am I thinking?" she murmured, taking out her other heel. This time, however, she didn't have the heart to toss it away. Ivy put the heel to the side of the stair very, very carefully. 

Phew.

"Should I just stay here?" she wondered to herself, clasping her knees as she looked up and then over the railing again. "My feet can't stop shaking."

Sitting down for a moment granted her time to absorb how her entire body had been trembling since the beginning. Her palms were sweating so much and her heart had been racing, which affected her short breaths. 

'I feel much safer here,' she told herself, biting her bottom lip out of habit. Ivy clutched her biceps, pondering if she should just stay here. It didn't seem like anyone would come in here. It was so quiet to the point her own short breaths sounded louder than they should. 

The silence, however, only lasted for a full four minutes when a loud 'bam' reached her ears. Ivy instinctively jolted from her seat, hearing some voices before three gunshots echoed in the emergency staircase. Instead of covering her ears to protect them from the noise, she covered her mouth to keep it from screaming. 

'No. It's not safe here!'was the first thought that crossed her mind — the complete opposite of her thoughts a few minutes ago. 'I should get going.'

Despite that her knees barely recovered from shaking, she clung to the railing to stand up. Taking advantage of the short courage in her heart, he peeked over the railing. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ivy jumped back on instinct, catching some guns from her vantage point and shooting at someone. Fortunately, she only saw the other person's feet and nothing more. Seeing how someone shot a man down would never leave her memories, after all. It was better for her not to see and delude herself that the man survived those rounds of bullets. 

'They can't find me here,' she told herself, mustering all the strength she had left and had in reserve to take a step up. There was only one thing on her mind and that was to get far from here as fast as she could. In her mind, if those guys saw her, her fate would surely be the same as that other man. 

They would kill her and they would make sure she was dead. Just like how they made sure that the other man was dead. 

A thin layer of tears coated her eyes, but her steps didn't stop. Although she was careful, she was also faster than she had previously been. 

'I need to go up.'Ivy kept her eyes up, approaching the other floor that had another emergency exit on it. 'I need to —'

Her thoughts halted when she was two steps from the emergency door, and the door suddenly flew open from the inside. Ivy held her breath as her eyes shook, staring at the person by the door.

Silas. 

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