13 The Perfect Hiding Place

Bang!

William and Yakov rushed back to the fourth floors and found two Xermo breaking in. Their hand quickly moved and killed the two Xermo before they could possibly harm anyone.

Well, there was no one else in this building.

"They stopped near the lift," William commented. He looked at the lift with suspicions. There shouldn't be anyone inside, right? The lift had stopped at the fourth floor, so it meant that the people inside had managed to come out safely from inside.

Yakov arched his eyebrows. "Is there someone hiding there?"

"It wouldn't be comfortable to stay inside."

William put his gun away and used his fingers to pry open the door. Without electricity, it was supposed to be set to close, but with enough strength, William managed to open the lift's door with a bit of difficulties.

"Your strength…" Yakov muttered.

"What?"

"No, it's nothing."

William looked at his best buddy with confusion. Why did he stop in the middle? However, now that they had opened the lift's door, they could see the empty lift inside. There was no trace of living beings inside the lift for the past few days.

The two of them were about to return before William looked above the lift. Even though the fourth floor was the highest floor, there was still a gap between the lift and also the ceiling. Above this lift was a place filled with rope and other machinery that allowed the lift to work.

"There's someone?" Yakov asked. He was not entirely sure, but he felt that he heard sound from movement above the lift.

William narrowed his eyes. Rats shouldn't have been there because they would die when the lift operated. There was no rat that was stupid enough to get themselves killed in that place because even touching the rope when it was moving might kill them.

Slowly, he made his way to the side and jumped to the metal bar to support his weight. His hands began to check the ceiling, trying to find an opening that could lead them to the roof of this lift. Normally, lift would have some kind of opening method from inside and this was not different.

William pushed the door open, showing a dark place just right above him. Based on the height estimation, there was still around one and a half meter before it hit the ceiling that was filled with a lot of machinery.

"What did you find?" Yakov asked.

"Gloria, you're inside, right?"

There was a momentary silence before the sound of a young girl replying could be heard. "William?"

"Yes, it's me," William responded.

Behind him, Yakov was stunned speechless. How in the world did this girl manage to reach the top of the lift? Also, didn't she realize how dangerous it would be if the lift would suddenly activate? Was she not worried that she might die if she stays there?

William looked up and saw Gloria's face near the opening. Her hand was holding onto a stun gun, ready to attack anyone who dared to come there. Her dark eyes showed hesitation and worry.

"I'm sorry," William apologized.

If only he didn't leave her alone, she didn't have to run away and hid herself in a place like this.

"It's not your fault," Gloria responded after a while, her expression had turned normal again. She turned around and dragged her bag before she wore it again. "Will you take me along?"

"I will."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Gloria nodded and slowly made her way down. William caught her and helped her to stand on the lift. She looked perfectly fine even after staying in that dark place for a period of time. At the same time, it didn't look like she would die anytime soon with the supplies that she had.

She stood still in her place then looked at Yakov's direction.

"This is Yakov, my friend that I picked up this morning. And Yakov, this is Gloria, a kid that I picked up just a few days ago."

"Nice to meet you, Gloria."

Gloria furrowed her brows. She looked at William and complained, "I'm not a kid. I'm already 22 years old."

22 years old?

Both William and Yakov looked at Gloria with widened eyes. They knew that women's build was usually small, but Gloria's face and all made her look no different from a young girl. Because of this, the two of them were thinking that Gloria was only a teenager that was caught in this situation.

"You're really 22?" William asked again, feeling his throat dry.

Gloria's face darkened. She took out her wallet and showed her ID card. "I'm 22 years old."

Seeing her year of birth, William was finally convinced. However, he still couldn't believe he mistook a young… woman as a young girl for the past few days. Her small build was very deceiving.

Yakov looked at the stun gun in Gloria's hand. "You're planning to use that to defend yourself?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure that it's enough?"

Gloria looked at the small stun gun before she took out a metal chopstick from her pocket and used a rubber band to place it in the middle of the stun gun. She then looked at Yakov. "if I use it like this, it can reach further."

"Will it work the same way?"

"The metal chopstick can act as conductor," Gloria responded. "While it meant that the current will decrease since the time taken is increased, it'll be fine as long as I can stun them a few times."

"…Can you speak in human language?"

"She's saying that she can still hurt you even with the addition of that metal chopstick even though it wouldn't work as good as when it's directly," William elaborated. He looked at the stun gun for a moment then looked at Gloria. "I presume you're university student?"

"Yes."

"Course?"

Gloria was silent for a moment then shook her stun gun. "Electrical Engineering."