278: Chapter 277 The First Floor That Couldn't Be Found

As the faint words left his lips.

In an instant, a gale erupted in the stairwell. A full thirty Slashes flew out, the roar echoing incessantly, accompanied by shrill screams.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, the railing of the lower stairwell instantly turned to dust and vanished.

What was particularly terrifying was that the walls and stairs below were like flesh and blood scraped by a blade; countless bits of flesh splattered, a foul stench swept over them, and Black Flames crackled and burned.

A few seconds later.

When everything settled, everyone saw that the flesh below had all disappeared, as if everything just now had been an illusion. The only difference was the peeling paint on the walls, the missing handrails, and several clear Slash marks.

"Is... is it over just like that?"

Lin Jie stood there dazed.

The rest of the group was also clicking their tongues in amazement.

They had encountered a stairwell anomaly once before. Back then, there were over thirty survivors, but after passing through it once, fewer than twenty remained.

Everyone was psychologically scarred by this stairwell anomaly.

But in front of Chu Xuan, he just raised a finger and solved it so easily?

"Great!"

"We're definitely saved this time!"

"Chu Xuan, you're truly our savior..."

Many people wept with joy.

"Everyone, keep your voices down. Stay calm."

Lin Jie reminded them, and the crowd's voices grew much quieter.

Chu Xuan gave Lin Jie a thoughtful look.

A normal person of this age might have just started middle school and would still be a brat in their parents' eyes, but Lin Jie displayed a maturity far beyond his years.

Especially in such a crisis, being able to maintain one's sanity was already difficult, let alone the fact that Lin Jie had almost become the backbone of the survivors before Chu Xuan arrived.

Could Lin Jie be the Child of the World?

With a slight shift in thought, Chu Xuan didn't dwell on it. He waved his hand and said, "Follow me."

Releasing the Slashes and the Fire of Nirvana this time, along with maintaining the coverage of the Night, consumed a total of nearly 350 points of spirituality value.

But the harvest was also significant, gaining 850 points of spirituality value. At this point, Chu Xuan's spirituality value had exceeded 2,200 points.

Without any hesitation, Chu Xuan continued to accumulate Slashes worth 30 points of spirituality value while leading everyone downstairs.

As they were about to reach the second floor, Lin Jie reminded him:

"After the stairwell anomaly, an invisible barrier should appear. Brother Chu Xuan, you need to be careful, because I can't say for sure where exactly it is..."

"I've already seen it."

Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes. He had encountered this barrier before. To be safe then, he had chosen to break it with a Slash. Now it seemed he had made the right choice.

Perhaps because his spirit attribute was high enough, the thin film ahead, which was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, was not difficult for Chu Xuan to perceive.

Still using a Slash covered in Black Flames, he broke it instantly.

At the same time, more clear sounds poured into his ears, sounding like a baby's crying. This crying caused the Night released by Chu Xuan to twist, looking as if it might dissipate at any moment.

Although the crying didn't affect Chu Xuan much, it still made him feel a bit irritable.

The others couldn't help but cover their ears and scream; some even started bleeding from their nostrils.

Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly and expanded the range of the Night Domain. When it reached a ten-meter radius, the distorted Night only fluctuated on the periphery, while the inside remained normal.

The crowd finally calmed down slowly, but their eyes were still filled with terror, and their hearts were uneasy.

But at this moment, Chu Xuan's spirituality value began to drain rapidly at a rate of about 4 to 5 points per second.

"The exit is changing. Don't go to the first floor yet; the exit is on the other side!" Lin Jie spoke up quickly, the wrinkles on his face deepening, clearly overdrawing his Talent again.

Chu Xuan pushed open the second floor's fire door, and the sound of the baby crying became even clearer.

This floor seemed to be the pediatric ward.

Not only that, but more than a dozen toddlers, about two or three years old, appeared ahead.

These toddlers had pale faces, bright red lips, and large dark circles around their eyes like pandas, emitting hissing cries from their mouths.

"Daddy!! Mommy!!!"

Crying out for their parents, their short legs ran forward quickly and nimbly, entering the range of the Night in the blink of an eye.

However, under the suppression of the Night, these toddlers' movements suddenly slowed down, as if they had fallen into a mire or were in slow motion.

But the crying was unaffected, causing the distortion of the Night to expand.

These toddlers seemed to want to open their arms in this distorted Night, as if looking for their parents to throw themselves into their embrace.

"Poor children..."

Beside Chu Xuan, everyone couldn't help but sigh with emotion, wanting to step forward to hug the children and comfort them.

"Slash!"

A cold, sharp voice rang out. Chu Xuan released all the remaining Slashes that only cost 10 points of spirituality value. In an instant, a fierce storm swirled through the second-floor corridor.

Accompanied by spreading blood mist, a small portion of the second-floor corridor and the walls on both sides were turned to dust. Only the load-bearing walls, which could not be destroyed, remained standing.

It wasn't until then that the crowd snapped out of it, breaking into a cold sweat.

They didn't even realize that in such a life-and-death crisis, they would unexpectedly be overwhelmed by sympathy. Recalling it now, it felt incredibly eerie.

This Inpatient Building had turned into a place of horror.

Where would so many children come from to find their parents?

Could normal children run that fast?

"Daddy! Mommy!!!"

Although no more children appeared, the crying became even more shrill.

Chu Xuan's eyes flickered. He had only gained 48 points of spirituality value from all of them just now.

That was equivalent to getting only about 4 points of spirituality value from each eerie child.

This wave was a bit of a loss. If more children rushed out, he wasn't afraid for himself; he could easily handle them even without using Slashes.

But the others might not be able to hold out.

Thus, he might have to consume more spirituality value.

Seeing even more toddlers running out crying, Chu Xuan directly released two Slashes, each about a meter long.

They weren't as exaggeratedly large as before, but they were more powerful. Without any hindrance, the rushing eerie children fell like wheat being harvested and were instantly incinerated by the Fire of Nirvana.

This time, he made a net profit of 10 points of spirituality value.

The two Slashes didn't stop, continuing until they exploded with a roar at the end of the corridor, leaving deep, long gashes on the walls on both sides.

Chu Xuan nodded slightly. Such power was worth the 30 points of spirituality value he consumed to condense each Slash.

"Go down from the other stairwell. We'll be out soon!"

Under Lin Jie's guidance, Chu Xuan didn't linger. He quickly led everyone into the other stairwell and ran toward the first floor. However, when they reached the next level...

Looking at the sign, everyone was stunned.

Because the next level wasn't the first floor.

It was the third floor!