plumnovel Chapter 321 - 323: Jumping from the Building
Chapter 321 - 323: Jumping from the Building
"Jump! If you don’t jump, you’re not even human!"
"Come on, don’t be a coward, just jump already!!"
"3! 2! 1! Jump!"
"I’ve got to get to work. Can you just hurry up and jump."
Su Nian glanced at the passersby, who were mocking the scene with abandon.
Su Nian could faintly make out the girl standing on top of the building, crying helplessly.
She glanced down helplessly, constantly wiping away her tears with both hands, seemingly trapped in some profoundly sad and desperate situation.
But the crowd of onlookers below was growing more and more excited. Many had even raised their phones, endlessly speculating on the girl’s every move.
They chanted "3, 2, 1, jump," showing no regard for the life at stake.
One middle-aged man, in particular, was relentlessly egging her on, a wide grin splitting his face as he cackled.
His somewhat yellowed teeth were especially conspicuous in the morning light.
"Jeez, I’ve been waiting here since eight this morning, and now it’s nine!"
"It’s almost ten past nine, why hasn’t she jumped yet?"
"Is she gonna jump or not? Stop putting on a show. She’s probably just making empty threats, isn’t she?"
An old woman pursed her lips, looking particularly displeased. She muttered curses under her breath, as if the person on the roof would be committing a great sin if she didn’t jump.
Meanwhile, Su Nian watched the girl above pace back and forth. She was hesitating.
Su Nian took a look. There was nothing unusual happening around the girl. This was purely a case of psychological distress; she no longer wanted to live.
Yet, in what could be the final moments of her life, the voices surrounding her were encouraging her to hurry up and jump.
The middle-aged man was carrying groceries and was now getting very impatient.
"Come on, I’ve got to get back and cook for my daughter. Is she jumping or what?"
Su Nian shot him a look. ’He has a daughter?’
’Then why can’t he show a little sympathy for the young woman pacing back and forth up there?’
But that single glance made Su Nian’s expression turn grave. A black qi had begun to slowly gather between the man’s brows, but the disaster it foretold wasn’t for him personally.
It seemed to be for a relative of his. A relative was about to die, but the man was completely oblivious. He was still enthusiastically encouraging the girl on the roof to jump quickly.
Su Nian narrowed her eyes. Reading his features, she could tell the one in trouble was his child.
But he only had one daughter, and that daughter was about to die. This inexplicable coincidence made Su Nian narrow her eyes again, her gaze shifting to the tormented, hesitating girl above.
’Could it be?’
A strange suspicion began to spread through Su Nian’s mind.
The crowd below, however, seemed to have run out of patience and was jeering relentlessly.
The firefighters above had actively made preparations, laying out an air cushion on the ground. A crisis negotiator had also gone up to intervene with the girl.
But the shouts from below only grew louder and more cheerful.
"Hurry up and jump! Are you a coward or not?"
Another old woman couldn’t help but curse out loud.
"Damn it, my arm is getting sore from holding up my phone! Are you jumping or not?"
"Just jump!"
Finally, under the eager anticipation of the crowd, the girl inched her way toward the edge of the roof.
Even from such a great distance, Su Nian could hear the voice of the firefighter behind her.
"Don’t go over there! I’m begging you, don’t go!"
He ran with all his might, trying to stop the girl, but she had already leaped.
From such a height, even if she managed to survive the fall, her life would be ruined—not to mention her chances of survival were incredibly low to begin with.
The girl’s action was like lighting a fire in the hearts of the onlookers.
Their reaction grew even more intense.
"Hey, look, she’s moving! She’s moving!"
"She’s definitely going to jump!"
"Yes! It wasn’t a waste waiting here for hours! Come on, jump!"
Under their collective gaze, the girl walked to the edge. Down below, everyone raised their phones in unison.
3... 2... 1...
This time, the girl didn’t hesitate. With a final step, she jumped.
SPLAT!!
The old woman filmed the entire process of her fall. Clucking her tongue in feigned sympathy, she then moved closer to the corpse, phone still in hand, to take another picture. The girl’s body had smashed onto the ground.
She had deliberately avoided the air cushion, moving to another edge of the roof before she jumped.
Flesh and blood splattered open on the pavement with a loud, wet smack. Her head had burst.
The old woman, phone held high, ran right up to her.
Her fingers were already busy typing.
"Such a shame for this girl. So young, why couldn’t she see a way through!"
She then tapped "Post" to her social media feed. Just like that, it was sent. But what she didn’t notice was a black qi slowly beginning to coil around her own head.
Meanwhile, the gleeful, grinning middle-aged man did the exact same thing as the old woman. He raised his phone and walked up to the scene.
He was about to take a close-up of the dead girl when the firefighters behind him rushed over, shouting.
"Stop filming!"
"Call 911, quick! Call 911!"
Though such cries were ringing in his ears, the man acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing, still raising his phone with a cheerful grin.
"Kids these days... they have such low resilience!"
He muttered to himself, already planning the caption for his post.
’I’ll just post something like, "Cherish life!"’
But as he got closer, he suddenly froze. The phone in his hand slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground.
’Didn’t his daughter wear these exact clothes yesterday?’
He panicked. In an instant, his hands began to tremble violently. He couldn’t even hold a phone steady anymore.
Everything before him suddenly blurred. Only a single, desperate need propelled him forward to the girl’s side. But when he saw the familiar pattern on her clothes up close, he was utterly thunderstruck.
He immediately collapsed to his knees in front of her body. This sudden turn of events only made the surrounding crowd more excited.
Many of them started filming him with their phones as well.
"How weird. What’s this old geezer doing?"
"What, did he suddenly grow a conscience? He was the one cheering the loudest just now, so why is he kneeling?"
The man’s hands trembled. He wanted to swat away their cameras, to make them get away from his precious daughter.
But his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and he couldn’t even make the slightest sound.
For a long while, he couldn’t process what had happened. He couldn’t open his mouth, couldn’t make a sound. The shock was so great that he had gone mute.
The firefighters rushed over. The one in the lead, feeling the most guilt, squatted on the ground and broke into loud sobs.
"I almost had her. I was so close!!"
It was then that the ambulance arrived, but the girl already showed no signs of life.
The firefighter was wailing on the ground, while the gawkers were busy posting one satisfying social media update after another, still chattering amongst themselves.
"I actually got to see something so crazy today!"
"Most people have never seen anything like this. I’m so awesome!"
"Can’t believe my luck, getting to see a show like this just by walking around."
The man remained kneeling on the spot, dazed. He didn’t know what had just happened. He blinked, his heart clenched in a vice-like grip...