Chapter 144: An Awkward Ambush

Looking at Ah Chu sitting weakly on the ground, Li Tianque felt a surge of impulsive ambition once again.

Although this woman was formidable, she was not without vulnerabilities.

Now that she was heavily injured, this was the absolute best opportunity!

While Li Tianque was intimidated by Ah Chu's strength, he had no desire to be dominated by her indefinitely. Doing so would only make his situation increasingly precarious and passive.

With such a golden opportunity to turn the tables right before his eyes, Li Tianque refused to let it slip away.

Although Ah Chu's kick just now had been immensely powerful, it had also inflicted considerable damage upon herself.

Li Tianque noticed that her lower leg was currently twisted in the opposite direction of her thigh, clearly fractured from exerting too much force while trying to kick open the door.

Ah Chu remained expressionless, slowly massaging her lower leg with her hand. Though she appeared relatively calm, anyone could easily imagine the sheer magnitude of the impact caused by that blow.

Observing Ah Chu covertly and confirming that she had temporarily lost her mobility, Li Tianque prepared to put his plan into action.

Despite the scheming in his heart, he replied with apparent promptness and ease:

"Alright, I'll get this door open right away!"

While answering verbally, Li Tianque quietly gripped his multi-tool knife.

Though he walked toward the door, he deliberately chose the route closest to Ah Chu.

His plan was to suddenly switch off the flashlight as he got close to her, and then seize the opportunity to press the blade against her throat.

It was far from a perfect plan, but Li Tianque was willing to take a gamble.

He had no idea what kind of situation awaited inside that sealed room, but one thing was certain: the hazy, distant phantom of death was drawing closer once again.

Staying with Ah Chu was simply too dangerous; he had to find a way to shake her off and escape this sanitarium.

As Li Tianque drew closer and closer to Ah Chu, his heart began to pound wildly.

Soon, they were only a single step apart, and Li Tianque gently rested his finger on the flashlight's switch.

Just as he was about to execute his plan, the unexpected happened.

Li Tianque heard a crisp, sharp sound coming from Ah Chu. Looking closely, he discovered that Ah Chu had actually snapped her bent leg straight back into place.

Throughout this process, Ah Chu's face merely twitched slightly, showing no other expression whatsoever.

Am I seeing things?

She actually snapped her broken leg right back into place?

Are you kidding me right now?

Staring blankly at her, Li Tianque grew even more doubtful whether she was even human at all.

However, despite the sudden change in circumstances, Li Tianque still intended to take the risk.

Since she hadn't killed him, harmed him, and had even protected him, it meant he still possessed utility value.

Therefore, even if his plan completely backfired, Ah Chu would definitely not deal a fatal blow.

With this thought, Li Tianque reinforced his resolve to ambush her.

At that moment, Ah Chu was still slumped on the ground, casually swinging her newly reset right leg back and forth, not looking at Li Tianque at all.

Wonderful, this time it should succeed!

Estimating the distance between them, Li Tianque felt even more confident.

Just as he was about to turn off the flashlight, a surge of nervousness caused the device to slip right out of his hand.

Reflexively, Li Tianque bent down to retrieve the flashlight, but the moment he made that movement, he instantly sensed a fierce wave of hostility surging from behind his back.

Glancing out of the corner of his eye toward the source of the hostility, Li Tianque saw Ah Chu staring at him with an extremely sinister expression. Her pale face was as eerie and ghastly as someone who had just crawled out of a bag of flour.

She stared fixedly in his direction with a gaze that hovered between anger and calm. The beam of the flashlight cast sunken shadows across her features, making her look as terrifying as an evil spirit.

"I'll hold the light, you go open the door!"

With those words, Ah Chu snatched the flashlight away, her piercing glare signaling Li Tianque to carry out her command.

A storm of mixed emotions churned within Li Tianque, the most prominent of which was deep regret.

Damn it! He had been so close—just a hair's breadth away from success!

He was doomed now. The flashlight had been taken from him, and she was clearly suspicious.

Sighing inwardly, Li Tianque put his tool away and stood up to approach the door.

Just then, Ah Chu behind him muttered with an ambiguous half-smile:

"Even when people are certain of danger, as long as their mind registers even a ten percent chance of success, they are willing to take the risk."

Hearing this, Li Tianque felt so intensely awkward that his toes curled up inside his shoes, wishing he could dig a hole to hide in.

Was this woman mocking him?

Sigh, she wasn't wrong, though. He had known the probability of success for this plan was slim, yet he had still wanted to try.

Still, Li Tianque felt no remorse. Compared to this unknown feeling of being manipulated, he preferred to gamble for the initiative.

Furthermore, although the ambush had failed, the outcome was roughly what he had anticipated: even though Ah Chu had seen right through his intentions, she hadn't actually done anything to him.

Only, after this incident, Ah Chu would undoubtedly heighten her vigilance. The possibility of ever turning the tables on her again was practically zero.

"My hands were sweating so much, it was too slippery," Li Tianque offered by way of explanation.

Ah Chu stared at him expressionlessly, as if she didn't understand what he was talking about.

"I clearly tested it with a bone, yet I still wanted to take the risk," she said indifferently.

Dark lines crossed Li Tianque's forehead. Was she talking about herself?

Pondering her words, he suddenly understood her meaning:

When Ah Chu had discarded the beast bone earlier, perhaps she hadn't intended to use it as a crowbar at all. She had chosen the sturdiest humerus bone to conduct an experiment, testing whether that kind of bone could withstand the pressure of breaking open a security door.

If the beast bone could withstand it, her own bones could probably endure it too; if not, it meant her own bones definitely couldn't handle it either.

However, even though the experimental result was obvious, Ah Chu, knowing the danger, had still wanted to take the gamble.

Feeling as though he had overthought everything and completely misunderstood her intentions, Li Tianque awkwardly turned away and prepared to open the door.

Since he had already failed, he had no choice but to temporarily resign himself to being a tool.

Inspecting the heavily battered security door, Li Tianque saw that it was now severely warped and misaligned. All it needed was a bit of force applied to the slanted upper-right corner to knock it down completely.

Pulling out his hammer, Li Tianque struck hard against the upper-right corner.

His body blocked the flashlight beam, preventing him from seeing the interior through the crack.

However, he could confirm that a thick layer of dust had accumulated inside the room.

Every strike of the hammer sent dust billowing out from the gaps in the door, choking Li Tianque and forcing him to narrow his eyes while turning his head away.

After hammering a dozen more times, the door was on the verge of collapsing.

Following Ah Chu's earlier example, Li Tianque retreated a few steps, then leaped forward and delivered a flying kick.

Though his force wasn't as great as Ah Chu's, the door could no longer withstand any further external pressure.

As his foot connected, the security door crashed heavily to the ground with a loud roar.

Several large woodlice scuttled out from within, and a massive cloud of yellow dust spewed out alongside them.

The dense dust irritated Li Tianque's throat as if he had been shocked by electricity, causing an unbearable itch and sending him into an uncontrollable fit of coughing.

Seeing that the door was open, Ah Chu grabbed Li Tianque by the shoulder, slowly pulled herself up, and shone the flashlight into the room.

There was nothing particularly unusual inside the room, but Ah Chu's condition underwent an astonishing transformation!