7: Chapter 7 Imperial Jade Liquor?

"Tang Zheng, don't get excited! I didn't step back, let alone turn off the lights. Chu Xuan is talking nonsense!"

Chen Qing raised both hands to show he had no other intentions, and even took two steps to the side, moving away from the switch.

Tang Zheng still stared vigilantly at Chen Qing, his eyes tinged with suspicion.

Chen Qing's eyes instantly turned red, and he said excitedly, "Why are you willing to believe Chu Xuan, but not me? Just because you and he are best buddies, does that mean we aren't friends? Do you really understand him that well?"

"Belief isn't just about talk; seeing is believing!"

Chu Xuan reminded, "Tang Zheng, go try the method I just mentioned right now. Remember, after turning off the lights, turn them back on immediately. The interval can't be too long, and I'll help illuminate it clearly for you."

While speaking, Chu Xuan had already turned on the flashlight function, but he didn't point the light directly at Chen Qing. Instead, he tilted it downward, worrying that under direct illumination, the monster might not reveal its true form when the lights were turned off.

Although this was just his guess, it was better to be safe than sorry.

At the same time, Chu Xuan's thumb pressed on the phone screen to prevent it from automatically turning off, allowing him to observe changes in time at any moment.

Seeing this, Tang Zheng immediately prepared to walk over and test turning off the lights.

"No!"

Chen Qing shouted hurriedly, "Once we turn off the lights, we will definitely be in danger! Chu Xuan has a problem; you can't trust him. Look at Wang Hua's current state—this is a warning from the past!"

"If I really wanted to harm you guys, why would I turn on the lights to wake you up? Wouldn't it be better to kill you secretly? Your words are completely illogical and make not an ounce of sense!"

Chu Xuan stared closely at Tang Zheng and said solemnly, "Tang Zheng, we've been classmates since elementary school, brothers for so many years. We haven't shared life and death, but we've certainly been through some storms together! Do you remember when you were hanging out with the wrong crowd in your first year of high school and got into a fight with gangsters at a barbecue joint, almost getting your hand chopped off? Who carried a basin of burning charcoal to save you? Some things can't be explained in a couple of sentences right now, but don't you know what kind of person I am?"

Chu Xuan knew that what he said fell into the category of facesticking in werewolf kill games and was unwelcome, but the current situation was no game—whatever worked was fine.

Sure enough, Tang Zheng was slightly stunned upon hearing this and walked silently toward the switch.

"Wait!"

Chen Qing hurried forward and said urgently, "You absolutely cannot turn off the lights! As long as the lights are off, Chu Xuan can kill us, and even if you turn them back on immediately, it's useless! Because I can hear Chu Xuan's inner thoughts—this is the Talent ability I just awakened!"

"You understand Chu Xuan, but the person standing in front of us is not Chu Xuan at all! Chu Xuan died long ago, and what's standing in front of us is actually a monster!"

"Due to the restriction of certain rules, he must wake us up and then have us perform the action of turning off the lights before he can continue killing!"

"I know this sounds outrageous and incredible, which is why I haven't spoken up until now. It's hard for people to believe such things, and even more because I was scared inside and didn't dare say it!"

"But now there's no choice. As long as the lights go out, we're dead for sure!"

Seeing that Tang Zheng remained unmoved and had even raised his hand to touch the switch, Chen Qing suddenly said, "Are you thinking right now that if I can really hear other people's inner thoughts, I should state what you're thinking right now as proof? Am I right or wrong?"

Tang Zheng's expression froze.

Chen Qing continued speaking, "No way? Can Chen Qing really know what I'm thinking? How is that possible? It must be a blind guess! I love eating tofu, yet I don't love eating tofu, because the tofu I love is big, tender white tofu. If he can even guess this right, I'll do a handstand and shit..."

The more Chen Qing went on, the wider Tang Zheng's eyes grew, until finally, his entire face was filled with incredulity.

Seeing this, Chu Xuan was equally shocked in his heart.

The monster actually had such means!

Cursing inwardly that it was bad, Chu Xuan immediately shouted, "This is just some special ability of the monster's. Don't let this trick sow discord..."

"Tang Zheng, you can choose not to believe me, but please don't believe Chu Xuan either! We might as well just drag it out like this; there will definitely be a turning point after dawn! Don't go turn off the lights, I really don't want to die, I'm begging you..."

Chen Qing's voice trembled, his eye sockets were red, and tears continuously slid down his cheeks, as if his emotions had completely broken down.

Seeing that Tang Zheng still hadn't turned off the lights, Chu Xuan also grew anxious: "Just dragging it out is waiting for death! Tang Zheng, don't let him buy time. We must kill him before three in the morning; otherwise, once the time is up, he will change back into a monster's body, and we will all die by then!"

"Stop arguing, all of you!"

Tang Zheng's gaze drifted back and forth between Chu Xuan and Chen Qing, his expression gradually growing irritable. He aggressively scratched his head and said impatiently, "Why do I feel like both of you have problems? You guys seem to know something, while I'm completely in the dark about everything..."

"I can prove myself!"

Chen Qing suddenly roared, abruptly dashed toward Wang Hua's desk, grabbed a fruit knife from the gaps in the messy snack packaging, and slashed it across his wrist without hesitation. Blood instantly gushed out.

Chu Xuan's heart skipped a beat.

Tang Zheng also stopped the action of preparing to turn off the lights, looking at Chen Qing with shocked eyes.

"Look at whether my blood is the same color as Wang Hua's! But the monster's blood is black! Chu Xuan, do you dare prove yourself?" With tears all over his face and a hoarse voice, Chen Qing then savagely stabbed another knife into his thigh. Blood flowed profusely, and the ground was quickly stained red.

"Do you dare prove yourself?!" Glaring fiercely at Chu Xuan, Chen Qing roared once more, "I heard your inner thoughts long ago—your blood is black!"

Time was tight; how could Chu Xuan possibly fall into such a self-proving trap? The opponent clearly wanted to muddy the waters and buy time.

Without even glancing at Chen Qing, he locked his gaze firmly on Tang Zheng.

"Tang Zheng, think back carefully about just how many things are wrong with this Chen Qing..."

"First, the time he woke up is very wrong! Before I turned on the lights, various noises had already been made in the dorm, especially the sound of me shattering the cup at the end. Yet Chen Qing didn't react in the slightest; he only woke up after I turned on the lights and you shouted upon discovering Wang Hua's corpse!"

"Second, as I just mentioned, when approaching the monster, one feels extreme fear—both you and I have experienced this. When Wang Hua was being eaten, Chen Qing was sleeping in the adjacent bed, yet he previously said he didn't feel anything. Do you think this is normal?"

"Finally, thinking from an objective perspective, given Chen Qing's personality, could he be this ruthless to himself?"

Time — 2:55.

The message from [Tang Zheng] on the phone still hadn't been sent, as if it was waiting for Chu Xuan to kill Chen Qing before giving even more important hints.

Chu Xuan took a deep breath and continued, "Tang Zheng, don't be fooled by Chen Qing's crying and shouting. His emotional outburst right now is just masking his unreasonable behavior! His persona collapsed long ago! He says he doesn't want to die, but after taking these two stabs, a normal person couldn't possibly last until dawn. Can he still live?"

"Then I won't live!"

Chen Qing cried and howled hoarsely, "Tang Zheng, actually I've always treated you as my big brother. My personality is a bit cowardly, and when I first entered university, I was bullied. It was you, Chu Xuan, and Wang Hua who helped me and allowed me to reclaim the dignity that had been trampled on."

"In this dorm, I'm the most useless one, but you guys never looked down on me. You even brought me along to various activities and dorm mixers, letting me get my first girlfriend... I'm really grateful to you guys."

"Now Wang Hua has been eaten, and Chu Xuan's body has been possessed by the monster. I don't want you to die too..."

Chen Qing suddenly roared, "Rather than both of us dying after the lights go out, it's better that only I die!"

Squelch!

As soon as the words fell, Chen Qing abruptly plunged the fruit knife into his abdomen.

The nearly twenty-centimeter fruit knife sank entirely into his belly, and blood continuously seeped out. With a painful expression, Chen Qing stumbled and collapsed onto the ground, smiling wretchedly as he said, "Tang Zheng, can you... believe me now?"

Tang Zheng was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but couldn't get any words out. His body trembled slightly, his eyes were already red, and his eye sockets were moist.

"Tang Zheng, you can't believe him..."

"Stop talking! Chu Xuan, stop talking, I'm begging you!!" Tang Zheng said through gritted teeth.

Chu Xuan clenched his fists tightly.

This flesh-torture trick had hit Tang Zheng's weakness.

However, even an ordinary person stabbed in the stomach could hold on for a while and wouldn't die immediately, let alone this monster—since it dared to inflict such a wound on itself, it must have something to rely on.

Time — 2:56.

It was almost too late!

Every second that passed was like a countdown to life.

Chu Xuan's eyes split with anger, his gaze falling on the fruit knife in the other's abdomen. He wished he could rush up and fight for his life right then and there, but he knew that would definitely not work.

Chu Xuan understood Tang Zheng's personality.

Tang Zheng was a very hot-blooded and impulsive person, and he was currently in a brainless hot-blooded state. If he himself kept insisting that Chen Qing was a monster, or took the opportunity to step up and deliver a finishing blow, this guy would definitely fall out with him and try to stop him.

By then, not only would it be impossible to kill Chen Qing, but it would only cause the situation to develop in an irreversible direction.

He had to deal with Tang Zheng first!

Chu Xuan's thoughts spun rapidly.

Just at this critical moment, the phone screen suddenly brightened a bit, and the message from [Tang Zheng] was finally sent: [Chu Xuan, haven't you killed Chen Qing yet? Time is running out; I'll give you one more important hint!]

[Monsters that have just possessed human bodies cannot digest a large amount of memories in a short time, and usually choose to carry out selective Fusion with some basic human common sense and behavioral habits. Other memories require careful thought to recall.]

[If you put effort into this aspect, you will definitely be able to make the monster reveal its flaws!]

Chu Xuan clenched his fist abruptly and immediately raised his head: "Chen Qing! You just said you broke up the day before yesterday, but do you still remember when you first met your girlfriend? Do you still remember what month and day her birthday is?"

With a painful expression and a trembling voice, Chen Qing said, "What other tricks do you want to play? You've already been exposed..."

"Answer immediately!"

Not giving the opponent a chance to evade the question, Chu Xuan directly interrupted: "Weren't you very concerned about her? Didn't you constantly mutter about her in the dorm? If you really are Chen Qing, how could you forget these things?"

A full three seconds passed before Chen Qing laboriously replied, "Her birthday is..."

"Does it take this long to think?"

Chu Xuan's gaze was ice-cold. Without waiting for Chen Qing to finish, he asked again: "On the first day we met in our freshman year, who treated us to dinner? Who organized the class gathering at the start of sophomore year? Do you still remember what score you got on the College English Test Band 4?"

Chu Xuan spoke at an extremely fast pace, firing off a series of questions.

Yet this time, Chen Qing simply closed his eyes and said weakly, "Let me think..."

"Think your ass! Keep answering!"

Chu Xuan roared: "What is the Second Battalion Commander's weapon? Who is the Bull Demon King's son? Which vocational school has the strongest excavator technology? Who invented the Five-Lian-Whip Lightning?"

"Palace Jade Liquid Wine, how much is a cup?!"

Chu Xuan questioned him back-to-back, but Chen Qing still looked like he was about to die, his voice intermittent: "I'm... a bit tired..."

Click-clack!

Tang Zheng had already pressed the switch.

Time — 2:58.