1: Chapter 1 Never Trust Anyone

"Never trust anyone!"

"Never trust anyone!"

"..."

Frantic shouts, shrill roars, and low murmurs—all kinds of twisted and chaotic sounds poured into his ears.

Chu Xuan tried his best, suddenly opened his eyes, and sat straight up from the bed as if catapulted.

"Hoo—hoo—"

Chu Xuan breathed heavily, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

"I actually had sleep paralysis. Is it because I've been delivering too many food orders at night and got too exhausted? Wait, that's not right! Last night when I was delivering food, a dump truck ran a red light and hit me. I didn't dodge it, so right now I am..."

Chu Xuan shook his muddled head, still feeling somewhat dazed.

"Smack, smack... smack, smack..."

It was pitch black in the night with no light at all. From time to time, the sounds of smack, smack came from beside his ear, sounding like chewing, and there was faintly a foul odor as well.

What the hell?!

Chu Xuan gave a sudden shudder and hurriedly fumbled around his pillow, soon touching a mobile phone. With the dim light of the phone screen, he looked around and was somewhat stunned.

Beds on top and desks below, piled-up books, messy clothes...

This was neither a hospital nor his own home, but a standard four-person dormitory.

In the dark, Chu Xuan could barely make out the once-familiar dormitory environment. His heart was extremely shocked, and he hurriedly looked at the phone again, staring fixedly at the screen.

The time displayed was two-thirty in the morning, and the date...

It was now the second semester of sophomore year?

Looking closer, this was clearly the old phone he had used for four years in college.

Out of the corner of his eye, there was also a Bluetooth earphone charging case beside the pillow. This had been specially prepared to reduce the impact of his roommate's snoring, and he had no idea where it was lost after graduation.

"Smack, smack... smack, smack..."

The sound was coming from the bed across the aisle.

Chu Xuan fixed his eyes on it, but the phone's light was too dim, so he could only vaguely see a figure lying prone on the bed, not knowing what it was eating.

It turned out to be Wang Hua...

This guy was still the same as in his memory, always loving to get up in the middle of the night to eat.

"I have truly experienced Rebirth!"

Chu Xuan smiled.

Past events flashed across his mind one by one.

He still clearly remembered that after graduation, due to a failed investment, not only did his fledgling startup company go bankrupt, but he also owed huge external debts.

He had to accept the 996 blessing and moonlight by delivering food at night.

As a result, due to a delivery accident, his life came to an end right then and there.

When he woke up again, he had already returned to his college days.

"It's a bit regrettable. In another month, I would basically have paid off my external debts... But it's fine now; everything can start over again! I remember the important time nodes of many events clearly. Relying on my foresight, I will definitely step onto life's Peak!!"

Chu Xuan's eyes gleamed brightly as he clenched his fists somewhat excitedly, preparing to return to his hometown early tomorrow morning to sell the house, get his first pot of gold, and earn a few small targets first.

Chu Xuan was extremely excited, but he felt that his head was always dazed, his thinking was not very smooth, and there was a kind of inexplicable tension in his heart. He was just preparing to get up and go to the balcony to catch some breeze, while reviewing the campus scenery nicely.

Suddenly, there was some abnormality in his vision, and a line of glowing small characters unexpectedly emerged before his eyes at some point.

[spirituality value: 50]

Chu Xuan raised his hand to wave it in front of his eyes and constantly shifted his gaze, but these fluorescent small characters always remained.

What on earth is this?

Could it be some kind of special ability? After all, I have experienced Rebirth, so having some superpowers shouldn't be too much, right?

Instead of worrying, Chu Xuan was overjoyed.

"Smack, smack... smack, smack..."

The chewing sound by his ear grew louder and louder, sounding like ravenous devouring, and the foul odor permeating the air also became increasingly intense, making one almost want to vomit.

"What the heck! Wang Hua, what kind of stuff are you eating?"

Chu Xuan simply couldn't withstand this increasingly rich odor and subconsciously spoke up to ask.

Buzz~

The vibration sound of the mobile phone suddenly rang, and a message was sent over. Chu Xuan casually unlocked it to check.

[Tang Zheng: Chu Xuan, if you are already awake, absolutely do not speak, and do not make any sound!]

A trace of keen ominous feeling flashed across his mind. Before Chu Xuan could think too much, his peripheral vision noticed a huge black shadow pressing over, followed immediately by complete darkness before his eyes.

Before completely losing consciousness, vaguely, it seemed he saw a few more lines of small characters emerge before his eyes.

[You have suffered fatal damage.]

[Your health points have been cleared to zero.]

[You have died.]

...

...

"Never trust anyone!"

"Never trust anyone!"

"..."

Chu Xuan woke up with a start.

"Hiss! My head hurts so much... What just happened? Did I experience sleep paralysis again? A dream within a dream?"

Chu Xuan rubbed and pressed his head, only feeling a burst of dizziness and swelling pain in his brain, and his thinking was even more sluggish. It took him a long time to recover.

Feeling out his phone from beside the pillow, it was two-thirty in the morning.

In his vision, the light blue small characters were still there, but they were somewhat different from before.

[spirituality value: 30]

What on earth is this thing?

Chu Xuan felt that his head still ached a bit.

Recalling the text he saw before losing consciousness, he seemed to have... died?

"Smack, smack... smack, smack..."

Feeling the strange chewing sound by his ear, as well as the foul odor, Chu Xuan turned his head to look at the opposite bed, only feeling an inexplicable sense of weirdness.

Buzz~

The phone's vibration sound rang out.

[Tang Zheng: Chu Xuan, if you are already awake, absolutely do not speak, and do not make any sound!]

Chu Xuan realized something was amiss and looked up at the adjacent bed at the end of the bed.

In the dark, he could only faintly see a human-shaped outline. Tang Zheng seemed to be completely curled up inside the quilt, without the slightest movement.

The ominous premonition in his heart grew even stronger, so Chu Xuan hurriedly replied to the message: [What's the situation? Brother Zheng, speak your mind directly.]

Buzz~

[Tang Zheng: I don't have time to explain to you for now. Remember first, absolutely do not make any sound! Wang Hua is already dead, and the next one is you!]

What?!

Chu Xuan was incomparably shocked, but as he looked at the opposite bed again, he finally discovered the abnormality.

That figure lying prone on the bed was overly huge, obviously not matching Wang Hua's body shape, and the foul odor in the air was also increasingly disgusting and pungent.

This is... the smell of blood?

Chu Xuan's heart beat wildly, recalling the pig-slaughtering scenes he had seen in the village when he was a child.

A Fat Pig was gutted, its full belly of intestines churning out along with blood. How similar was that pungent, foul, and rank stench to the present?

I should have noticed it long ago; how could I be so sluggish and only react now?!

"Smack, smack..."

"Smack, smack..."

In the pitch-black and silent environment, the chewing sound was clearly audible, occasionally mixed with strange grunt-grunt sounds, like a beast gnawing on flesh and blood.

A question suddenly popped up in Chu Xuan's mind.

If the person on the opposite bed wasn't Wang Hua, then who would it be?

What was the other party eating?

Chu Xuan dared not think any further.

Intense unease filled his heart, his stomach churned, and a nauseous urge to vomit rushed straight to his throat, but he didn't dare to make a sound and forced it back down.

Buzz.

The phone vibrated again.

[Tang Zheng: There is a monster in our dormitory, but as long as you don't make a sound, you'll be fine for now. Wang Hua was eaten directly precisely because his snoring was too loud.]

Sound?

Sound!!

Isn't the vibration sound also a sound?!

Chu Xuan's head gave a buzz, and he hurriedly switched his phone to silent mode.

The dormitory finally quieted down.

However, Chu Xuan discovered with horror that...

The chewing sound...

had disappeared.

What made his hair stand on end even more was that the huge figure that had just been lying prone on the opposite bed actually...

disappeared?

Disappeared!!

How could the monster have disappeared?

Could it be that the continuous vibration sound of the phone just now drew the monster's attention?

Chu Xuan felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly looked around, but did not find any abnormalities.

Whether due to tension or some other reason, Chu Xuan felt his head becoming even more dazed.

[Tang Zheng, did you see that monster? How did it disappear?]

Chu Xuan finished sending the message with stiff fingers, his brain in a mess.

This fucking opening is wrong!

Chu Xuan clearly remembered that throughout his four-year college career, he had never encountered such a thing. How come after experiencing Rebirth and coming back, everything had changed?

He had already planned to earn a few small targets and imagined a good life, but now a monster had actually appeared. Chu Xuan felt that his mentality was about to collapse.

[Tang Zheng: Chu Xuan, you must stay calm! Every single sentence I tell you next is extremely important and might subvert your cognition. But no matter what, please definitely believe me and do as I say!]

[Brother Zheng, I must believe you. We are sworn brothers with different fathers and mothers after all!]

Chu Xuan guessed that the other party should know something and was just about to continue typing to ask when abruptly, he felt a slight coolness on top of his head, as if water droplets were dripping down.

Subconsciously, he looked up.

In an instant, his scalp tingled, and a chill rushed straight to his crown!

Chu Xuan saw it!!

Right above his head, an unknown creature was hanging upside down on the ceiling with all four limbs facing the sky, its whole body bruised and bloody, exposing scarlet muscle fibers.

Its extremely terrifying face was right above, eye sockets hollow without eyeballs, yet it seemed to be staring straight at him.

Its long mouth protruded.

The sharp teeth in its mouth exuded a grim cold light in the dark.

Foul and viscous saliva hung down like threads.

Along with Chu Xuan looking up, it happened to drip onto his face.

"!!!"

Chu Xuan was almost frightened to Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, immediately triggered into a stress response, roaring aloud while raising his fist to punch upward.

A terrifying scene appeared!

Almost at the same time, the monster's neck eerily elongated abruptly, its mouth opened wide abruptly, and the dense sharp teeth were simply hair-raising. Half of Chu Xuan's arm was directly bitten off.

Fresh blood gushed out wildly, and an unspeakable fear lingered in his heart. Chu Xuan trembled all over, no longer able to produce the slightest thought of resistance, and turned around wanting to get off the bed and escape.

In his vision, it was pitch dark once more.

[You have suffered fatal damage.]

[Your health points have been cleared to zero.]

[You have died.]