14: Chapter 14 Who's in favor, and who's opposed?

"Ah?!!"

Everyone gasped and took a collective step back.

This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. Even Tang Zheng was pale with shock; he hadn't expected Chu Xuan to strike so suddenly, and with such decisive ruthlessness.

"Murder!!" Han Meimei screamed repeatedly in terror.

"You're looking for death!" Huang Guangming roared in fury, immediately raising his baseball bat to smash it toward Chu Xuan's head.

Seeing this, Tang Zheng stepped sideways without thinking to block. He braced his arm, intercepting the baseball bat's strike with his square staff. Then, he suddenly raised his leg and delivered a front kick, sending Huang Guangming reeling back into the crowd behind him.

The surrounding crowd was about to swarm forward.

Meanwhile, on Chu Xuan's side, a burly fat man had already rushed forward first, arms spread wide, attempting to tackle Chu Xuan like a hungry tiger pouncing on a sheep.

Chu Xuan's expression remained unchanged. He reached out with his left hand and grabbed one of the burly man's arms. The latter's forward momentum came to a dead stop, while Chu Xuan didn't budge an inch.

The burly man's face showed shock, unable to believe that Chu Xuan's strength was actually this immense.

Immediately following that, an even more unbelievable scene occurred!

The burly man, who weighed at least two hundred pounds, was actually swung up by Chu Xuan with a single arm. He was sent flying horizontally backward, crashing into and knocking down a large group of people.

It all happened in a flash. From the moment Chu Xuan drew his blade to the moment the burly man went flying, only two or three seconds had passed. Some people hadn't even reacted yet before they were terrified by Chu Xuan's shocking, monstrous strength.

"Heh... heh..."

At the same time, Xu Fan's eyes were wide, his eyeballs nearly bulging out. Blood sizzled and spurted from the wound on his neck. He wanted to push Chu Xuan away, but he no longer had any strength.

Chu Xuan's face was cold and stern. His left fingers pressed down on Xu Fan's head like iron pincers. He suddenly slashed with the knife in his right hand, instantly tearing a massive gash across half of Xu Fan's neck.

In the next second, his left hand suddenly exerted force.

Under the effect of 9 points of Strength, Xu Fan's cervical spine snapped abruptly. His entire head was torn off raw by Chu Xuan.

A surging pillar of blood shot upward like a fountain!

As it splashed down, most of it drenched Chu Xuan, adding a touch of cold severity to his originally fair and handsome face.

Some blood also splattered onto the light tubes on the nearby ceiling, adding an eerie crimson hue to the already dim lighting.

"Monster! Monster! Chu Xuan must have turned into a monster!"

At such a terrifying scene, the crowd fell into a riot, retreating in fear. Some people's legs had even gone soft, and they couldn't stop trembling.

However, not a single person fled. Instead, they stared fixedly at Chu Xuan. Though there was wariness and dread in their eyes, there was even more of a madness that had been suppressed to the breaking point with no way out.

Huang Guangming had just recovered from Tang Zheng's kick. Seeing this scene, he was also startled, but he quickly reacted and roared at the surrounding crowd:

"What are you still afraid of at a time like this? Both of these guys are monsters! If you don't want to die, everyone attack together and kill them!"

Chu Xuan's face was deathly pale as he gasped for air.

In just a few short seconds, Chu Xuan already felt his stamina was overextended, leaving him with a weakness akin to being severely ill. He vaguely felt that this was likely because his stamina attribute was too low while his Strength attribute was too high.

"Are you okay?"

Tang Zheng noticed something was wrong and quietly moved to protect Chu Xuan behind him, whispering urgently: "Big brother, I thought you had some kind of superpower. I didn't expect you to only have three seconds of endurance? These people are about to go crazy; I definitely won't be able to protect you."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Pushing Tang Zheng aside and seeing the surrounding crowd staring at him, ready to move, Chu Xuan didn't panic. Instead, he grinned.

It wasn't just because he had truly felt the power of the 9 points of Strength, but also because the System's kill notification had indeed appeared at this moment.

[You have killed an Eerie Clone. Your spirituality value has increased by +14.]

[Current spirituality value: 14 (Exchangeable)]

As the kill notification ended, the time display on the illusory System page ticked again—

[2:42:32]

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chu Xuan pointed at Xu Fan on the ground and said coldly, "Open your eyes and look clearly at who the monster really is!"

Following the direction of Chu Xuan's finger, everyone was horrified.

At some point, Xu Fan's corpse had already twisted and bloated, transforming into an ugly monster.

The severed head looked like a wolf's, yet it bore a striking resemblance to a human face, giving off a bizarre and uncomfortable feeling. The mottled black skin looked as if it had been charred, and most of its flesh was exposed, making it extremely gruesome.

'Compared to the monster that parasitized Chen Qing, this one has damaged skin on its surface and provided 4 more points of spirituality value...' Chu Xuan noticed the difference.

Without hesitation, he directly consumed 10 spirituality value points to exchange for an attribute points.

[You have exchanged for 1 attribute points.]

[Remaining spirituality value: 4]

—Add to stamina, please.

Chu Xuan said silently in his mind.

[You have used 1 attribute points.]

[Your stamina +1]

[Current stamina: 5]

[Remaining attribute pointss: 0]

A warm current surged into his limbs and bones. It was like a person who had been starving for three days and nights finally eating a bowl of fragrant meat soup; every pore was expanding outward.

Unfortunately, this feeling was fleeting. Chu Xuan couldn't help but feel some regret. He then found that the sense of weakness had lessened significantly, but the tension in his body remained. With his current stamina, he might still be unable to maintain high-intensity activity for long.

Chu Xuan looked up and found that the surrounding crowd had already fallen into a commotion.

Huang Guangming couldn't stop his terror and trembling: "Xu Fan was actually a monster? How is this possible?!"

"He was just with us a moment ago. How could he be a monster?"

"Could it be that all the monsters are like Ma Tao and Xu Fan, transformed from humans? What exactly is going on?"

The crowd discussed animatedly, unable to accept this fact.

"Monsters are hidden among the crowd. This is the killing rule of day and night! When Nightfall comes, monsters appear to kill; when day arrives, humans have the chance to find and kill the monsters."

Chu Xuan's voice pulled everyone's thoughts back to reality. The tight-knit crowd dispersed as if they had all thought of something simultaneously, each looking at the others with a hint of vigilance.

"So... when the lights go out, it can be understood as night, and when the lights are on, it's day?" someone asked with a trembling voice.

"You can understand it that way," Chu Xuan nodded.

A slightly chubby student wearing thick glasses said hesitantly: "Why does this sound a bit like a game of Werewolf? And this monster's corpse really does look a bit like a wolf!"

The rest of the crowd also noticed this and were incredibly surprised.

Han Meimei suddenly said: "Anyone who has played Werewolf knows that a werewolf can sell out their teammates to gain the trust of the good players. Chu Xuan, you wouldn't happen to be a 'hook wolf,' would you?"

"Exactly. After all, everyone is a normal person. Why are you, Chu Xuan, so special?"

"Yeah, why would you know that Xu Fan was one of the monsters? Just based on that question you asked? That's a Spring Festival Gala skit from years ago, and some Southerners don't even watch the Gala."

Of the twelve people remaining besides Chu Xuan and Tang Zheng, half of them clearly expressed suspicion toward Chu Xuan. They were obviously on the same side as Huang Guangming, deliberately targeting him.

Although the remaining few didn't target Chu Xuan, they were also whispering among themselves.

Huang Guangming immediately seized the opportunity to question him: "Chu Xuan, haven't you thought about it? What if you killed the wrong person? That's a crime!"

"Heh!" Chu Xuan couldn't help but sneer.

He knew these people must have had their intelligence lowered by close contact with the monsters during the night just now, and their minds were still a bit muddled, but he wouldn't be polite because of it.

"At least I've killed two monsters now. Currently, my 'good player' status is the strongest. Whoever targets me is more likely to be a monster. Also, one more thing... whoever dares to incite emotions and stir up trouble again deserves to die, even if they aren't a monster!"

Chu Xuan raised the bloody fruit knife in his hand and looked around at everyone. "I've said my piece. Who agrees, and who objects?"

Everyone was as quiet as cicadas in winter, not daring to speak another word.

Huang Guangming's face showed shame and indignation, feeling as though Chu Xuan was implying something about him. A chill rose in his heart, fearing that Chu Xuan would use this as an excuse to act against him.

"One of the characteristics of monsters is that they cannot resist the temptation of food. Only after eating the prey's brain and heart will they continue to hunt the next target. It's precisely because of this that when the true night fell at 2 AM, the screams here lasted for a full half hour. Otherwise, with the monsters' terror, it wouldn't have taken much time to kill you all. How else would there be so many survivors left?"

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. "I remember in Huang Guangming's words just now, the interval between the power switch was only about three seconds, but three classmates died. In such a short time, the monsters in the hallway likely wouldn't have had time to rush in and kill people. So, at that time, there should have been three monsters inside this hallway."

"Ma Tao and Xu Fan each take up one slot. Who would the last one be?"

Chu Xuan's cold, clear gaze swept over the crowd. Anyone his eyes touched averted their gaze, not daring to look him in the eye.

And when Chu Xuan's line of sight landed on Huang Guangming, the latter's face instantly turned deathly pale.