Death Spiral [Infinite Flow] - Chapter 48

Chapter 48 – Jumping Balconies

Xu RenDong made a decisive decision. He returned to his apartment and made straight for the balcony.

In the apartment building they are renting, the balconies of the two neighboring houses were the same level but they were separated by a distance of about two meters. Xu RenDong went to the balcony and looked around. There was no obstruction between the two balconies and there were no fences to climb. To reach Lian Qiao’s balcony, you could only jump from here.

He climbed onto his own guardrail without much thought. The guardrail is more than half a meter high but it was nothing compared to the height of the six-story apartment building. Xu RenDong resisted the urge to look down but still felt dizzy instinctively.

He calmed down, took a deep breath and suddenly heard a loud roar when he was about to jump.

“Hey! What are you doing!” A voice came from downstairs.

Xu RenDong glanced down instinctively and after this glance, his scalp suddenly became numb. It was too high up. The six-story building was really too high. The two balconies were empty and unobstructed. If you fall down and smash it straight to the ground, you will definitely be crushed!

At this moment, on the lawn downstairs, an uncle walking the dog was waving his hand vigorously at him. He shouted anxiously: “Hey! What are you doing! Come down! Don’t be impulsive!”

Xu RenDong felt the uncle’s kindness. He adjusted his breathing and returned his  attention to the balcony opposite.

He couldn’t waste time. Lian Qiao may have been in an accident… If he could get to him quicker, then he might be able to save him!

Jump!

Xu RenDong gritted his teeth, kicked back hard and jumped into the air.

At that moment, he only felt that the wind brushing his ears had become icy, making his bones tremble. Time was stretched long like a piece of bubble gum and the scene in front of him became like a slow motion movie, moving frame by frame in front of his eyes.

Balcony. Balcony. Balcony.

He tried to lean forward and leapt to the highest point. He was still a short distance away from the guardrail.

Balcony. Balcony. Balcony.

He began to fall.

The cold wind swept into his collar, his blood seemed to freeze and then even his heart seemed to forget to beat.

The balcony.

He stretched out his hand desperately, trying to grab the guardrail. But the guardrail was moving away from him.

He was going to fall down. He was going to die.

Ah, it’s fine. This was not the world of ghosts and monsters, this was reality. If he died, then he would really be dead and would not resurrect again. That was good too, he didn’t have to suffer anymore. Anyway if he fell from such a high place, he would just be smashed into meatloaf. It would be fast and painless.

At the height of a six-story building, how long will the free fall time be?

One floor is 3 meters and so six floors is 18 meters. The distance formula for uniform linear motion is 1/2gt^2, then the time should be…

The root of 3.6.

Can’t figure it out, he needed a calculator.

Xu RenDong even wanted to laugh for a moment. But the next moment, he suddenly thought: Oh, the watermelon has not been eaten yet.

It wa a pity. He wanted to eat it with Lian Qiao…

“…!” By the time he reacted, his fingers had already grabbed a small piece of wall protruding below the balcony.

This was a spontaneous reflex behavior of the body. Xu RenDong didn’t even understand what happened just now. He only felt that his fingers were tight, his joints exhausted all his strength and he was gripping the protrusion tightly. He raised his head in confusion, and saw that his hands had begun to turn pale due to excessive force.

There was a scream from downstairs and it seemed that more and more people had gathered.

Belated fear pierced into the heart like a sharp knife. Xu RenDong found that his legs were empty and had no support. He suddenly felt very insecure. Of course, the whole person was hanging on the six-story wall, it was definitely very insecure. He has no time to think about that now, he just wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. So he kicked his feet on the wall a few times, trying to lift his body up.

However, his act backfired. Ordinary leather shoes couldn’t provide enough friction at all and his body slipped downward instead.

“Ah!”

“Be careful!” 

The voices of people downstairs were calling. It seemed someone had dialed 110.

Xu RenDong’s heart was beating as hard as he could and he felt his palms become sweaty. If this dragged on, he would definitely lose his life. Gritting his teeth, he decided to fight to the death. So he kicked his feet hard again and at the same time, his left hand pressed down and his right hand stretched up to the upper cylindrical fence.

Got it!

There was another exclamation downstairs. Xu RenDong ignored those noises, moved his hands and feet together, and finally climbed onto the balcony smoothly.

When he finally reached Lian Qiao’s balcony, he only felt that his bones were falling apart and the joints of his fingers were burning with pain. He couldn’t pay attention to that now, he only wanted to confirm Lian Qiao’s safety.

But when he wanted to open the balcony door, he saw an unexpected scene through the transparent floor-to-ceiling glass door.

 —Lian Qiao was standing in the living room with his back to the balcony.

He had a violin in his hand.

The middle of the violin was hollowed out and the style looked very unique. Lian Qiao was wearing headphones, holding the violin in one hand and the bow in the other. The bow pressed down on the strings, giving out a deep and gentle tone. Lian Qiao’s bow movements were as graceful and smooth as a dancer.

Standing outside the glass door, Xu RenDong looked at the Lian Qiao immersed in his own world.

From this angle, he couldn’t see Lian Qiao’s expression but he could see his body swinging slightly with the melody as if he himself has become part of the violin, playing with himself. When the music reached a climax, the rhythm became faster and faster.  The ever-changing notes flowed from his fingertips and the gesture of the bow swaying up and down was very passionate. Even at such a distance, Xu RenDong could feel every inch of Lian Qiao’s tight nerves and every inch of trembling skin. He has merged with the sound of the violin.

Finally, the song ended.

The slender bow hung to his side, and the violin from his shoulders was also removed. Lian Qiao put the violin on the table carefully, stretched his waist greatly and relaxed his posture.

Xu RenDong suddenly felt very embarrassed. What was he doing? A high-altitude long jump only to peep at someone practicing violin?

Was this… the behavior of a stalker?

He took two steps back and looked around subconsciously, trying to hide. However, the balcony was clean, and even the drying rack was empty, so he couldn’t hide. The only way was to jump back again.

Just as Xu RenDong raised his leg to cross the fence, there was a sudden commotion behind him. The glass door was pulled open.

“Huh?! Ren… Brother RenDong?” Lian Qiao’s eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.  “Why are you here?”

Xu RenDong only felt his scalp go numb and turned his head in embarrassment.

When people were extremely embarrassed, they couldn’t think well. Xu RenDong didn’t hesitate to make a fuss: “Why don’t you answer my call?”

Lian Qiao was taken aback: “Huh?” He quickly took out his cell phone and said in surprise, “Did you call me? I’m sorry I didn’t hear it…”

Hearing Lian Qiao’s apology, Xu RenDong suddenly felt his actions were reasonable and was confident again. He turned around and said pretentiously, “I knocked on the door and I couldn’t hear you. I thought you had an accident. Do you know how much I—”

He was inexplicably flustered. He didn’t want to say the word “worried” so he wrinkled his brows deeper and accused more severely: “Do you know how angry I am? I thought that my time spent training a newcomer was again in vain!”

“Sorry, sorry! I’m practicing on livestream and I can’t hear with earphones on… Ah!” Lian Qiao suddenly remembered something, turned and ran into the house, “I’ll turn off the live broadcast first!”     

Xu RenDong  saw him running away. He felt relieved and shouted at Lian Qiao: “No, it’s okay. You can continue the live broadcast.” After speaking, he habitually began to turn the balcony again.    

“Hey?” Lian Qiao ran out humbly and saw that Xu RenDong had stepped out of the balcony with one leg and couldn’t help being shocked, “What are you doing, big boss! Come down!” He rushed up and hugged Xu RenDong. “Why are you doing this?”     

Xu RenDong said coldly, “I’m going home.”     

Lian Qiao pointed at the door: “If you want to go home, go through the door! What are you doing climbing the balcony?” 

“…” Xu RenDong was silent for a moment, he felt so embarrassed that his nerves were itchy. He was really speechless so he could only walk towards the door with his head hanging sullenly.     

Lian Qiao seemed to perceive something and chased him: “Wait, Brother RenDong…” 

His answer to him was a heavy “bang!”     

Lian Qiao was almost slapped on the nose by the door and stepped back several steps in fright. Being slammed in the face by the door in his own home, this experience is really amazing. He scratched his head, feeling that everything that happened just now was too sudden and he hadn’t quite figured out the situation.

He took out his cell phone again and checked the message Xu RenDong had sent him. Two hours ago, he said that he bought a watermelon and asked him if he wanted to eat it. Half an hour ago, he asked him if he was at home. Then there was a voice call.     

The next step was probably knocking on his door and finding that no one responded, so he thought he had an accident right?

Lian Qiao suddenly felt sweet and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curve up.     

He was so worried about me…

Hehehehehehehe.

Lian Qiao happily walked to the balcony to close the glass door. Suddenly his heart moved. He came to the edge of the fence and found that it was noisy downstairs, many people were watching, and some people were pointing towards him. He went over to the side of Xu RenDong’s house again and found that there was nothing between the two balconies. The bottom fell straight down. He felt that his legs were weak just by looking down.

Xu RenDong actually jumped from the opposite side.

Was he suicidal?!

The initial joy faded and Lian Qiao frowned quickly.

Even if you can’t get a response by knocking, you can beat the door or try to knock it down. You could also dial 110 to call the police. Would normal people jump directly on the balcony?

Human beings instinctively protect themselves when faced with danger. For example, standing at such a high position and looking down, people will have weak legs, urinary urgency and feel that they are about to fall. So they would reflexively step back. This was the physiological mechanism of the brain’s self-protection.

Therefore, besides “worrying about him”, Xu RenDong’s behavior of jumping off the balcony at such a disadvantage also revealed something else about him.

Xu RenDong has become accustomed to living under the threat of death that his body no longer reflexively avoids danger.

… What kind of things has he experienced?

Lian Qiao suddenly felt a suffocating heartache. He only knew that Xu RenDong had cleared many instances but he had never realized so deeply that every clearance was an escape from death, and that it would cause a double injury both to the body and the mind.

Everything Xu RenDong had experienced has unknowingly changed him.

He was not even afraid of death.

No wonder he could rush up to fight the boss in the dungeon without hesitation, no wonder he would pull out the rock directly when he injured his leg…

Lian Qiao subconsciously walked to the door and wanted to ask Xu RenDong about it. He didn’t know what exactly to ask, he just wanted to see him and wanted to talk to him.

However, as soon as his hand pressed the doorknob, there was a knock on the door.

Lian Qiao opened the door and was surprised to find that Xu RenDong was standing in front of his house, holding half a watermelon in each hand. The flesh of the melon is red and sweet at first glance and the water is shining brightly.

Xu RenDong has recovered his calm. He said in his usual manner. “I can’t eat it all so I’ll  give you half.”

Half a watermelon was suddenly stuffed into Lian Qiao’s hands. His hands felt cold and the refreshing fragrance of watermelon drifted into his nose. His heart suddenly softened into a puddle of water and his eyes filled with tenderness.

 “Brother RenDong…”

 Before the words fell, there was a rush of footsteps on the stairs.

A group of police officers rushed to the sixth floor and quickly surrounded the two. One of the officers, who looked like a captain, stepped forward and stared at them with a stinky expression.

“Was it you that jumped across the balcony just now? Tell me, were you trying to jump off the building or commit a robbery?”

Xu RenDong & Lian Qiao: “…” 

The captain glanced at the watermelon in the hands of the two and snorted coldly: “Don’t eat it yet. Come back to the police station with me to make a statement!”

***

The author has something to say:

RenDong: an old man who tried to pretend to be a young man but was seen through in a second.