Staring at the two glaring yellow slips on the coffins, I finally understood what was going on. Clearly, these two coffins were meant for Zhang Yihan and me.
I leaned against one of the coffins, trying to piece together the sequence of events. Who had brought these coffins here, and when?
As I pondered these questions, I suddenly heard a faint breathing sound behind me. Startled as if my rear end was on fire, I leapt nearly two meters away.
Turning back, I realized that the breathing was coming from the very coffin I had been leaning against.
Without thinking, I turned to run. But after barely ten meters, I stopped. What if Li Xia and Zhao Xiaotian had been harmed and stuffed into these coffins? If I just ran away, how could I call myself a human being?
Even if it wasn't them, I had to check. There might be someone alive in there. I couldn't let someone die without trying to help.
With these thoughts in mind, I approached the coffin again, pressing my ear against it to listen. Yes, I could hear breathing. Someone was definitely alive inside.
No matter who it was, I had to open the coffin and see. Human lives were at stake. As a police officer, I had a duty to investigate.
I shined my flashlight around to make sure no one was hiding in the shadows. Assured that no one was around, I bit down on the flashlight and started prying at the coffin lid.
The lid was heavy, probably over a hundred pounds, but with effort, I managed to lift a corner.
When I finally peeked inside, I was stunned. The person inside wasn't Li Xia or Zhao Xiaotian; it was Zhang Yihan.
I would never have imagined that Zhang Yihan was actually in the coffin labeled with her name.
She lay there in full police uniform, her long black hair spread out in the coffin. With her delicate features and red lips, she looked incredibly serene and gentle, a stark contrast to her usual demeanor. I found myself momentarily mesmerized.
Zhang Yihan appeared to be in a deep sleep. I called her name several times, but she didn't respond. I guessed she must have been drugged. Without further hesitation, I pushed the lid off the coffin and bent down to lift her.
At that moment, something struck my head hard, and I blacked out, collapsing into the coffin.
In my dazed state, I saw Li Dapeng approach the coffin. He looked down at me with contempt. "Hmph, trying to catch me... These coffins were meant for the both of you. Now, I only need one for you and your new colleague."
I realized too late that the shadow I had seen earlier was indeed real. But understanding this now was useless.
"Be quick about it, nail the coffin shut and bury them," Li Dapeng ordered coldly.
His words were the last thing I heard before losing consciousness. I didn't know if it was from his blow or from sheer terror.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on something soft, surrounded by hard wooden walls that rocked back and forth. It felt like I was in a palanquin being carried.
It took me a moment to recall that I was in a coffin. Li Dapeng had ordered us to be buried alive, and I was likely being transported for that very purpose.
I tried to move but found my hands and feet bound. My mouth was gagged, preventing me from crying out for help. However, the surface beneath me was soft and somewhat comforting, indicating that Zhang Yihan was beneath me.
Although I was lying on top of a beautiful woman, the thought of death left no room for inappropriate thoughts. I had to find a way to survive.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" I began frantically banging my head against the coffin sides. It wasn't much, but it was all I could do.
Human survival instincts can be terrifying. When faced with death, people can do things they never thought possible. Despite knowing my head wouldn't break the coffin, I continued slamming it against the wooden walls.
"What's going on?" Suddenly, I heard Zhang Yihan's voice. She had woken up.
"Mm mm..." I could only moan, lying on top of her, unable to speak because of the gag.
"Xiao Lin, is that you?" Zhang Yihan's voice held a mix of surprise and relief.
"Mm mm..." I groaned again.
"You're crushing me! Get off!" Zhang Yihan shouted.
Clearly, she hadn't grasped our situation. I wanted to explain, but my gag prevented me from speaking. I wriggled around, trying to position my head near her so she could remove the gag. But as I turned, the coffin shook, and I ended up right on top of her, face to face, chest to chest. If not for the gag, our lips would have touched.
"What are you doing?" Zhang Yihan screamed, realizing something was wrong. "Who tied me up? Where am I?"
She quickly understood our dire situation. Using her mouth, she removed the gag from my mouth, freeing me to speak.
"Senior, breathe... breathe..." I gasped, finally able to breathe freely.
"Get off me! Your breath stinks..." Zhang Yihan turned her head away.
In the confined space of the coffin, she couldn't move far. Fortunately, she was tied up; otherwise, she would have probably beaten me up first.
We briefly shared our experiences after being separated. Zhang Yihan had been hit by a car while heading to find Li Dapeng's sister and remembered nothing after that.
Realizing our predicament, Zhang Yihan exploded with anger. "Let us out! You bastards won't get away with this! Li Dapeng, you son of a bitch..."
She cursed continuously, but no one responded.
Realizing her curses were futile, Zhang Yihan urged me to join in. "Xiao Lin, what are you waiting for? Help me curse them!"
"Senior, it's useless. We should conserve our energy and save the air..." I already felt the air thinning inside the coffin. We were running out of oxygen.
"Now it's your turn to curse while I rest..." Zhang Yihan stopped her cursing to catch her breath. As she shifted, I felt her soft body pressing against mine, causing an involuntary reaction.
"Bastard!" Zhang Yihan headbutted me, nearly knocking me out.
Just then, the coffin suddenly jolted and stopped moving. We had arrived at our "final destination."
"Rustle, rustle..." I heard the sound of soil being poured over the coffin. We were being buried alive.
Zhang Yihan and I were helpless, tied up like mummies. There was nothing we could do.
In that moment, we both fell silent. Zhang Yihan's breathing became calm, no longer agitated.
As the dirt continued to fall, the sound of the burial became fainter. We were being buried deeper underground.
The air inside the coffin grew thinner. I knew we were facing certain death.
But just as we were about to suffocate, a voice shouted from above, "Stop!"
Half-conscious from lack of oxygen, I couldn't make out who was speaking. I silently pleaded for help.
Just as I was about to lose consciousness, I heard loud noises above. Suddenly, light flooded the coffin.
"Damn, you're both here?" Zhao Xiaotian shone his flashlight at us.
"Breathe... breathe..." I gasped. "Get me out first, Zhang Yihan isn't responding..."
Zhao Xiaotian quickly cut my bonds with a knife. "Call for a city-wide lockdown to catch Li Dapeng. I'm going after him."
After he left, I pulled Zhang Yihan out of the coffin. But when I did, she was no longer breathing.