47: Chapter 47 Inescapable

Chu Xuan took the pistol, feeling its heavy weight in his hand. The caliber exceeded 18mm, and the barrel length was approximately 300mm.

He considered himself half a military enthusiast, but he had never seen such a gun model online.

Without overthinking it, Chu Xuan pulled back the bolt and pulled the trigger directly at the Night Demon's head.

Bang!

The crisp, explosive sound rang out once more.

The bullet slammed into the Night Demon's head, spraying a bit of blood.

Seeing that it seemed to work, Chu Xuan felt a surge of excitement, thinking to himself that this must be some kind of special ammunition. Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled the trigger continuously at the Night Demon's head in the pit below.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive bullets struck the Night Demon's head, and a cloud of smoke filled the air.

More bloody holes erupted on the Night Demon's head, but this time, Chu Xuan could no longer feel happy.

Because there was no kill notification, and the dense fog all around showed no signs of dissipating.

Looking closely, he could vaguely see the bullets in the wounds, which meant the bullets hadn't penetrated deeply at all; they were merely "superficial wounds."

It couldn't be said that it had no effect, but it was safe to say it was of little use.

"Ugh... ugh..."

A rough, low growl came from the bottom of the pit. The Night Demon was still convulsing, but its arms were already trembling as it raised them, trying to prop itself up to climb out.

Chu Xuan asked Qin Qing urgently, "Do you have any other high-powered weapons? Are you out of thermobaric grenades? High-explosive grenades will work too!"

"Do you think I'm an armory... I only have one magazine left!" Qin Qing's cheeks looked a bit gaunt. She still held the oil lamp tightly, while her other hand took off the magazine and threw it over.

Chu Xuan pressed the magazine release with his thumb and quickly swapped in the new magazine.

He emptied all eight bullets in succession. The Night Demon, which had just been struggling to pull its head out of the ground, was blasted back down by the massive impact of the bullets, and the swirling black mist dissipated slightly once more.

"Ugh... ugh..."

The rough roar sounded again, filled with intense anger.

Chu Xuan felt his scalp tingle. He immediately discarded the now-empty, bulky pistol, then grabbed his long blade and hoisted Qin Qing onto his back again.

Then, he tucked Tang Zheng's body under his left arm, letting the other man's legs drag on the ground, and began to sprint forward.

"Brother Xuan, why don't you just leave me behind?" Tang Zheng, tucked under his arm, said weakly, "It was my carelessness. I should have listened to you earlier..."

"Stop talking nonsense and save your energy!"

Chu Xuan retorted impatiently. There was no point in saying these things now; he could only keep running forward. Fortunately, his Strength attribute was maxed out; otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to manage this position.

However, having lost too much blood, Chu Xuan's head grew increasingly dizzy, and he felt a strong sense of exhaustion, relying entirely on his willpower to keep going.

The oil lamp's illumination range shrank again, with only about two meters visible clearly. Beyond that, it became gradually blurred, with only outlines barely visible.

Just then, figures suddenly appeared ahead. Chu Xuan's heart tightened involuntarily, and he slowed his pace.

"Oh no, a monster is coming, run!"

"Don't run! It's night, we can't see anything at all. Don't let the monster hear our sounds and catch us!"

"Staying here is just waiting for death; running away still offers a glimmer of hope!"

Trembling voices came from the darkness ahead. Chu Xuan was stunned for a moment, then shouted, "Xu Zhiyou! Chen Yinghao! Lin Tong!"

The people in front immediately stopped, and they all ran back following Chu Xuan's voice. When they reached the range illuminated by the oil lamp, the pale expressions of the group eased significantly.

"Chu Xuan!"

"It really is Chu Xuan!"

"So it's you. We thought a monster had tracked us down."

Everyone looked joyful and gathered around. It was indeed Xu Zhiyou and the other seven.

However, when they saw Chu Xuan's awkward posture—carrying one person on his back and tucking another under his arm—the joy on their faces vanished instantly, and they all had a bad premonition.

"Didn't you leave a long time ago? Why are you still here?" Chu Xuan asked repeatedly.

"After we jumped down from the rooftop, we had already seen the outside and were about to leave, but the black mist covering the dormitory building suddenly expanded, trapping us inside again. The others just got scattered."

"The black mist expanded?"

"Yes!" Xu Zhiyou nodded vigorously and said in panic, "I suspect we are just walking in circles!"

"Impossible!"

Qin Qing, lying on Chu Xuan's back, said decisively, "The Night Demon was just in the middle of its promotion ritual and couldn't possibly be concerned with you. How could it expand the range of its Domain? Unless..."

Qin Qing's voice suddenly paused, and then her teeth couldn't help but chatter: "Unless a more terrifying Strange Creatures emerged before the Night Demon completed its promotion and empowered the Night Demon's Domain!"

"Run! No matter what, we must speed up!"

Qin Qing's voice was filled with urgency: "This newly appeared Strange Creatures must be an existence even more terrifying than the Night Demon! It empowered the Night Demon's Domain, it must be trying to trap us, preparing to select suitable hosts to parasitize..."

Everyone was terrified and hurried to speed up, moving forward rapidly.

"Sister Qing? Are we currently experiencing a 'ghost hitting the wall' effect, just walking in circles? Is there any good way to get out directly?" Xu Zhiyou asked while running.

"I can only say it's similar to a 'ghost hitting the wall,' but it's not entirely that."

Qin Qing managed to raise her voice slightly:

"If you look at the dormitory building as a small circle, and the school as a large circle containing the small circle, then after the Specter releases its Forbidden Domain to cover the small circle, to a certain extent, it can enlarge the area of this small circle, even far exceeding the area of the large circle. But, in reality, from a macroscopic perspective, the small circle covered by the Forbidden Domain is still inside the large circle."

"So, you just need to follow this road, pick a direction, and keep running forward; you will definitely be able to run out. With this oil lamp, your sense of direction won't be distorted, so there's no need to worry about 'ghost hitting the wall,' as long as you don't get caught by the Night Demon behind us..."

Before Qin Qing could finish speaking, an invisible sense of restriction swept over them.

Their speed of movement involuntarily slowed down, and everyone was incredibly terrified.

"Don't worry about this, keep moving forward! Even if we don't manage to run out in the end, every second we delay gives us another sliver of a chance. Before I came here, I already..."

Speaking up to this point, Qin Qing's voice became faint again. It seemed she said something else, but Chu Xuan could no longer hear it clearly.

The light from the oil lamp grew dimmer and dimmer.

The sense of restriction became increasingly intense.

It felt as if they had arrived in a body of water. Soon, everyone felt their stamina waning, and even breathing became gradually difficult, requiring them to open their mouths wide to take deep breaths.

Including Chu Xuan, the group's speed of movement was now almost indistinguishable from walking.

Chu Xuan's head was dizzy, and his vision was becoming increasingly blurred. The System notification indicated that his HP was down to 55.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

Heavy footsteps slowly sounded from behind.

In this area, there should be no other living people left, so whose footsteps were they behind them?

A thought rose in his heart.

The Night Demon had come again!