16: Chapter 16 We will all be grateful to you

Seeing Fan Cheng's corpse transform into a monster, everyone stood in a daze.

If the first time was a coincidence, this time, Chu Xuan had once again pinpointed the monster with such precision. In their eyes, Fan Cheng's disguise had been flawless; especially his performance right before death—no one would have been able to strike such a ruthless blow.

Yet, Chu Xuan hadn't hesitated for a second, his blade falling decisively.

Was he really not afraid of killing the wrong person?

While the crowd felt awe-struck, a sliver of hope also rose in their hearts. After all, Chu Xuan had already killed three monsters and had spoken with such conviction about their characteristics.

Like drowning men clutching at a final straw, they grew excited.

"Though it's unlikely, just to be safe, I still need to turn off the lights for a test..." While the others were in shock, Chu Xuan had already converted all 20 points of his spirituality value into attribute points and added them to his stamina.

As his stamina attribute reached 7 points, an incredibly comfortable sensation swept through his body once more. His exhaustion vanished instantly. He felt like a starving man who had been working for three days and nights finally getting a full meal and a long, blissful sleep.

This feeling of overflowing vitality was simply too wonderful.

Not only that, Chu Xuan clearly felt his originally loose clothes becoming tight. He reflexively touched himself; his muscles had somehow expanded by a full size.

However, the light in the corridor was still dim, and since everyone was tense, no one noticed the change in Chu Xuan.

Chu Xuan had Tang Zheng stand beside him, then raised his hand to point at the crowd.

"Two requirements! First, everyone back up at least five meters from me, but don't leave my sight! Second, turn on your flashlights and point them at yourselves. If you don't have a phone, find the person closest to you! Move fast; I'm giving you ten seconds."

When he finished speaking, although the crowd was a bit dazed, seeing Chu Xuan issue clear orders gave them a sense of direction, and they all followed suit.

Only Huang Guangming was still full of resentment. Clutching his swollen cheek, he said, "I don't need to, do I? You just said monsters can't interfere with the lights. I was the one who flipped the breaker earlier; everyone saw it."

"Back up!" Chu Xuan said coldly. "You have five seconds left!"

Huang Guangming was choked up by his words but didn't dare to argue further. He quickly backed away, pulled out his phone, and turned on the flashlight to shine it on himself.

Click!

The breaker was pulled, and the corridor plunged into darkness instantly. Only the slightly swaying beams from the phones remained, casting a deathly pallor on everyone's anxious faces.

With a quick glance, Chu Xuan saw that everyone still looked human. He immediately pushed the breaker back up; the whole process took only about a second.

When the dim lights illuminated the corridor again, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. The wariness in their eyes lessened as they reflexively crowded around Chu Xuan.

It seemed that the closer they were to Chu Xuan, the safer they felt.

Especially Han Meimei; completely ignoring Huang Guangming's murderous glare, she kept pressing closer to Chu Xuan. Just as she was about to grab his arm to let him feel her softness...

The faint sound of a door opening suddenly rang out. Chu Xuan looked toward the sound and saw a man in pajamas walking out of Dorm 418 not far away.

After entering the corridor, this pajama-clad man looked around stealthily before immediately sprinting in the opposite direction of the crowd, as if he knew something in advance.

"Someone else came out!"

"Why is he running? Is he scared out of his mind?"

The crowd was in an uproar. Someone quick-witted reacted and shouted, "He's trying to escape! He must be a monster!"

A cold glint appeared in Chu Xuan's eyes, and a line from the System mission instantly surfaced in his mind.

—The Night Demon has noticed you.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Seeing that the pajama man had reached the fire door and was about to slip into the stairwell.

Whoosh!!

The sound of breaking wind whistled across twenty-odd meters. With a squelch, a fruit knife accurately pierced the pajama man's heart, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.

Even so, the pajama man still struggled to crawl forward.

"Tang Zheng!!"

Chu Xuan shouted sharply. He knew his agility attribute was only 5 points, and he might not be fast enough.

Almost the instant the words left Chu Xuan's mouth, Tang Zheng shot past him like an arrow from a bow.

Seeing the pajama man push open the fire door, with nearly half his body through the gap and into the dark stairwell, about to escape.

"Get back here!"

Tang Zheng finally arrived, grabbing the pajama man and dragging him back by force, leaving only half an arm still deathly gripping the edge of the fire door.

"Die!"

Gritting his teeth with a ruthless expression, Tang Zheng pulled out the fruit knife from the man's back. Mimicking Chu Xuan's previous actions, he slit the throat and pried at the cervical vertebrae.

"Watch out!"

As Chu Xuan rushed over, he saw a massive palm reach out from behind the fire door. It was covered in a layer of greenish-black rotted skin, with sharp nails like blades, lunging for Tang Zheng's head.

Fortunately, thanks to Chu Xuan's warning, Tang Zheng looked up and reflexively leaned back, narrowly avoiding the swipe. However, a long, thin bloody scratch still appeared on his face.

"Holy crap, that scared the life out of me!"

Tang Zheng scrambled to his feet and was pulled aside by Chu Xuan. They watched as the greenish-black rotted hand grabbed the pajama man and dragged him into the stairwell.

Through the half-open fire door, in the darkness of the stairwell where the light couldn't reach, two towering monsters stood tall, staring coldly into the corridor.

One monster was covered in greenish-black rotted skin, its eyes blood-red as if about to drip blood, its eyeballs bulging out and covered in veins.

The other monster wore thin pajamas that had been stretched out. Most of its body surface exposed blood-red muscle fibers. Half its neck was torn open with a large gash, its head hanging to the side, and a heavy, raspy "he-he" sound came from its throat.

Though its hollow sockets had no eyeballs, it tilted its head slightly, ears pricked. It bared its teeth, looking ready to pounce at any moment.

‘The two monsters are clearly different... This pajama-clad monster must be the one that just ran out of Dorm 418. Its appearance is similar to the monster that took over Chen Qing's body; it likely can't see either.’

‘And the one with the greenish-black rotted skin looks relatively more complete, especially the eyes—it can clearly see us... Is it because the more people they eat, the stronger they become?’

Chu Xuan stared at the two monsters, thinking of Fan Cheng and Xu Fan, whom he had just killed. There had also been a difference in the amount of spirituality value he gained after they died and turned into monsters.

The rest of the crowd who had followed were terrified by the two monsters in the stairwell and hurriedly retreated.

"Turn on the flashlights!"

Chu Xuan barked softly. He and Tang Zheng turned on their phone flashlights and shone them into the stairwell. However, the two monsters were unmoved, still staring coldly at the crowd.

It wasn't until a few people nearby gathered their courage and joined in with their flashlights that the two monsters finally retreated down the stairs, stopping only when they reached the landing at the corner.

Huang Guangming looked delighted and immediately shouted, "Everyone, gather around! Let's follow Chu Xuan downstairs with our flashlights on. The monsters won't dare come near us!"

"Great! We're finally saved!"

"Chu Xuan, you're amazing! You're such a good person; we will all be grateful to you!"

"Let's go down quickly!"

The crowd was energized, all looking at Chu Xuan with hopeful eyes, waiting for him to take the first step.

Chu Xuan suddenly laughed.

His smile was full of playfulness and mockery.

"Why don't you guys go down first?"