5: Chapter 5 Who is the Monster?

Chu Xuan focused entirely, not missing any subtle changes in Tang Zheng and Chen Qing's expressions.

However, the expressions and reactions of both men were completely normal.

"The body was taken over... Are you talking about Possession? Or parasitism? Why does this sound more and more mystical?" Tang Zheng asked in shock and doubt.

"This is just my hypothesis. I feel that even if the monster can take over a human body, it doesn't necessarily possess the corresponding memories."

Chu Xuan pondered and said, "We can each tell some things that only we know among ourselves; perhaps that will allow the monster to expose its cloven hoof."

"I'll go first."

Without giving the two too much time to think, Chu Xuan spoke up first: "During our freshman military training, the instructor asked us to showcase our talents. I performed the middle-part hair styling and a basketball dance routine, and even threw a set of Kun-style fist techniques during it."

"Uh..."

Tang Zheng pondered and said, "That day, I performed one-finger pull-ups for everyone, sparred in wrestling with the instructor, and even won."

Chen Qing still wore a look of terror and extreme uneasiness. After more than ten seconds, he swallowed hard and spoke tremblingly: "I just broke up with my girlfriend the day before yesterday. You guys kept me company while I drank, and I got drunk. It was you who brought me back to the dormitory."

After each finished speaking, Chen Qing and Tang Zheng both visibly heaved a sigh of relief.

Chu Xuan, however, was not optimistic. This was merely a preliminary probe, so he continued to ask: "Chen Qing, did you have any special feelings before waking up?"

"No..." Chen Qing shook his head.

Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow and continued to press: "The smell of blood in the dormitory is so heavy, and Wang Hua has already turned into a puddle of mush. Such a tragic and disgusting scene is not something ordinary people can endure. Don't you even have the urge to vomit?"

"I... No, Chu Xuan, what do you mean by that?"

Chen Qing instantly grew anxious: "You wouldn't happen to be implying that I'm a monster, would you? Although the smell here is disgusting, why must I vomit? Didn't you not vomit either? According to your logic, are you also a monster?"

Chu Xuan said calmly, "I was just asking."

He knew that he was actually able to barely steady himself because his spirit attribute had reached 9 points, vastly enhancing his ability to control his own emotions and physiology, but what about Chen Qing?

Chu Xuan's suspicion of Chen Qing grew increasingly intense in his heart, but he didn't say much more about it, instead turning his gaze to Tang Zheng.

"Tang Zheng, don't you have the urge to vomit?"

"Isn't that obvious? What kind of scenes hasn't Brother Zheng seen? Could I possibly vomit?" Tang Zheng spoke lightly, but his expression was somewhat unnatural, and he looked as though he was enduring it with great difficulty.

"That's right, after all, your dad is a forensic doctor and often takes you to crime scenes."

Chu Xuan was lost in thought, then suddenly looked at Chen Qing and asked out of the blue, "Chen Qing, I remember you vomit during every anatomy class. Now, faced with such a bloody scene and pungent odor, you don't even have a single dry heave. Isn't that rather abnormal?"

"I... I was too scared... But I really couldn't vomit... Chu Xuan, what on earth do you mean?" Chen Qing was both anxious and angry. Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly let out a retching sound and grabbed the bed rail, vomiting violently.

"Damn it..." Tang Zheng widened his eyes, his cheeks puffing out, and in the end, he couldn't hold it in either, vomiting along with him.

The smell in the dormitory instantly became even more pungent and disgusting.

Chu Xuan forced down the churning in his stomach and stared at the filth on the ground, yet he didn't find anything resembling flesh and blood.

Not only that, during this period, Chu Xuan also unobtrusively observed Tang Zheng and Chen Qing from head to toe; neither of them had a shred of blood stained on their entire bodies.

Doubt arose in Chu Xuan's heart.

If one of these two people was a monster, why wasn't there a single trace?

Was it because of the influence of the rules?

He glanced at his phone; the time displayed was 2:43.

[Tang Zheng] still hadn't replied to the message.

Chu Xuan frowned tightly and asked Tang Zheng, who was still vomiting uncontrollably, "Tang Zheng, did you have any special feelings before getting up?"

"Ugh... In my haziness, I heard a 'crunching and snapping' sound. Actually, by that time I was already in a half-asleep, half-awake state. Especially that sound of the cup shattering, it completely shocked me awake."

Tang Zheng wiped his mouth, his voice slurred: "At that time, I had a special sense of terror and fear; I was almost about to pee myself. Then you suddenly turned on the light, almost blinding me with the glare, and you know everything after that."

"Terror and fear?"

Chu Xuan instantly captured the key point in Tang Zheng's words.

"When close to the monster, the emotion of fear will be magnified; I've also had a similar experience. Before I turned on the light, the monster was right by your bed, Tang Zheng, so it's normal for you to feel afraid. However..."

Speaking of this, Chu Xuan cast a sharp gaze at Chen Qing, who had finished vomiting.

"When the monster was devouring Wang Hua, Chen Qing, you were sleeping in the adjacent bed. Why did you just say you didn't feel anything?"

"I..."

Chen Qing staggered backward, slumped down onto the floor, and his emotions grew agitated: "What on earth are you trying to say?!"

"Earlier you said I didn't vomit, and now that I have vomited, you say things like this again! But I really didn't feel anything! What can this possibly prove? Maybe it's because I slept too deeply; you can't just rely on these things to say I'm a monster, right?"

Chen Qing's expression was precisely like the grievance and anger of someone falsely accused. His eyes were red, and tears continuously swirled in his eye sockets, as if he were holding them back with all his might to keep them from falling.

Chu Xuan furrowed his brows deeply. This expression didn't seem fake; could it be that because Chen Qing had been fast asleep, he failed to feel any fear?

Did he guess wrong, or was this monster acting too realistically?

That's not right!

Chu Xuan thought of something once again.

He first threw away the earphone charging case, and then shattered the cup, both of which made quite a commotion. Tang Zheng heard all of this, yet Chen Qing didn't react in the slightest.

Chu Xuan clearly remembered that it was only after Tang Zheng's three consecutive cries of "Damn it" that Chen Qing finally woke up along with him. This was far too abnormal!

Could Chen Qing really sleep this soundly?

But immediately following that, Chu Xuan thought again that Chen Qing had been somewhat decadent these past few days due to breaking up with his girlfriend, drowning his sorrows in alcohol every day, and sleeping quite heavily; it seemed somewhat reasonable after all.

Chu Xuan had a bit of a headache. All the relevant information he knew had been told to him by [Future Tang Zheng], yet when waking up three consecutive times, the voice he heard was always "Never trust anyone."

Then he could only rely on himself to find the clues!

Right now, although Chen Qing had the highest suspicion, if he were to categorize him as a "monster" and kill him based solely on this...

It was still not enough!

At the very least, this could not become irrefutable proof!

Chu Xuan had been keeping an eye on Tang Zheng's expression changes.

Tang Zheng's gaze toward Chen Qing was first vigilant, then frowned, as if feeling somewhat unable to bear it, before finally stepping forward to comfort him: "Chen Qing, don't get excited first. Chu Xuan is just asking questions normally, and it's completely normal to have doubts about you."

He looked at Chu Xuan again, deliberating as he said, "Could it be that we got our direction wrong? Look at Chen Qing like this; there's no way he could be disguised by a monster, right? Perhaps the monster isn't any of us."

Seeing this, Chu Xuan understood. Although Tang Zheng said with his mouth that he would listen to whatever Chu Xuan decided, in reality he still hadn't broken out of his inherent mindset, subconsciously unable to accept the existence of the monster.

He lowered his eyelids slightly, his gaze sweeping across the phone screen. The time had reached 2:45, and [Tang Zheng]'s message happened to be sent over at this exact moment:

[The reason I know Chen Qing is the monster is because in the original timeline, I was woken up by the commotion and the turning on of the light by you, only to find that half of your body had been chewed apart, sustaining fatal injuries.]

[Before you died, you told me there was a monster in the dormitory, and you witnessed with your own eyes the monster instantly returning to Chen Qing's bed the moment the light turned on, transforming into Chen Qing's appearance.]

[After you died, due to extreme rage, I gained incredible power and directly smashed Chen Qing's head to pieces with a single punch, forcing him to reveal his true monster form.]

[In addition, I was just ambushed and am currently on the run, unable to transmit messages to you at any time. If you have already killed Chen Qing, let me know as soon as possible.]

[Because I have more important things to tell you next, and the hints I can give you today are already running low, I hope these hints can be used after you kill Chen Qing.]

The other party sent messages at an extremely fast speed, sending a whole string of messages in just a few seconds, which didn't look like something achievable by a normal person's typing speed.

Chu Xuan quickly glanced over them and immediately captured a keyword.

Turning on the light?!

Chu Xuan was startled with horror.

This future [Tang Zheng] had a massive problem!