“ Well … It ’ s a long story , and we ’ re sorry for not listening to you , but word had it on the streets that you had been taken to # 76 , and you know we couldn ’ t bear knowing and just leave you here ! Especially at the mercy of him .” His son , Zhong Hua , the taller figure , shuddered .
“ Still , you shouldn ’ t have come ! How did you even get in here and not get caught ? They ’ ll kill you if you get caught ! Wait …. How did you know who the boss was ? I didn ’ t even know before coming here ! What are you not telling me ?” The prisoner said suspiciously , now even more confused .
“ Err … We have to get you out of here now ! They ’ ll be here in a second !” Zhong Hua said , visibly changing the subject and avoiding the question .
His two children each took one of his arms and carried him out , trying not to put pressure on his feet or scrape it against the floor , which had never healed from when he first came in to # 76 . For some unexplainable reason , he only felt a dull throb from his various injuries , like his physical body was far away from him .
“ Hey ! Stop right there or I ’ ll shoot !” A man holding a gun said . But he was faceless- the prisoner couldn ’ t tell the details of his face at all , no matter how hard he squinted .
“ There ’ s no chance of that !” his son shouted back . They started to continue running , when the man fired the gun and shot the prisoner in the shoulder .
He screamed , because that was , well , your natural reaction to getting shot , but not because he could actually feel the pain . He wasn ’ t sure whether it was because of adrenaline , or because of the constant torture over the past week , or something else .
As his children looked at him in shock , he pushed them to keep running and they did . They ran until they finally reached the entrance , and finally exited the building and got far enough that they wouldn ’ t be found easily .
He couldn ’ t believe that it had only been about two weeks that he was in the building . He felt like it was forever . His children were rejoicing and hugging him , and yet he could feel them slipping away , and when he looked at them , he could actually see them fading away .
“ A Hua ! A Hua ! What ’ s happening ? What ’ s happening ?” He tried to shout , but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth , and his eyes forcefully shut .
His dead body was found 3 days later , when the order was given to finally check on him . It turned out that the injuries he sustained from the constant torture finally took a toll on him- his body was already weak from injuries from before he arrived at # 76 . His children were safe and sound with their aunt in a safe house , and wouldn ’ t know that he died until 2 years later , which was the time he gave them for when he would return , and they finally looked for him then , when they could , after the liberation of Shanghai .