Senior, What's Wrong with You

The mist, thick with a nauseating scent of osmanthus, seeped into every exposed pore of Zhu Yan's skin.

In just a few seconds, his clothes grew sticky and heavy, sagging against his body.

"Senior, I've brought the person you wanted," Zhu Yan said to the blurry figure in the fog, imitating Tu Shan with eerie precision.

"We..."

He was about to say, "Shall we go to the room at the end as usual?" But the shadow suddenly collapsed into mist, merging with its surroundings.

Zhu Yan's breath caught.

Was that figure... fake?

What did it mean to suddenly dissolve?

Had this thing seen through his 【Impersonation】, or not?

In the cold, a bead of sweat oozed from Zhu Yan's forehead.

Xu Tongguang was already trembling like a leaf, his voice tinged with desperation.

"C-c-classmate... don't trust horror creatures; they're all bad news..."

The key point was that this Tu Shan was actually telling him to face a horror creature head-on.

Holy shit.

Without Chen Zhaoxing, he was totally dead. He couldn't do it!

"Move." Zhu Yan forced himself to drag him forward. "What's the point of resisting?"

We're already here.

If he didn't enter that room, how would he know what game this horror creature was playing?

Xu Tongguang's legs were shaking.

Zhu Yan ignored it, pulling him into the mist. A few steps in, the fog seemed to have a mind of its own, gradually thinning out.

The emergency light buzzed faintly with an unstable current, but at least it illuminated the scene on both sides.

An empty classroom, its windows shattered, stained glass still marked with bloody handprints.

A broadcast room, windows locked and curtains drawn—whether anyone was inside, who knew.

And a mailroom, scattered with undelivered packages left over before summer break.

Beyond that, only wall carvings shaped like doors lined the walls on both sides, varying in size and scattered randomly.

Zhu Yan ran through the fake 【Hunter】's instructions to Tu Shan in his mind.

Get five living people.

Deliver them to the room at the end of the corridor.

That room had a door, but only the 【Hunter】 could see it. Knock five times before entering—three long, two short.

Up ahead, the empty circular corridor was indeed blocked by a black wall.

On that wall was a pure white, narrow arched door, marked with irregular patterns.

Zhu Yan pressed his military knife against Xu Tongguang's carotid artery, feeling a cold sharpness on his own neck as well.

"What do you see?" he asked Xu Tongguang.

Let's verify first.

If this was the door "visible only to the 【Hunter】," then Xu Tongguang shouldn't be able to see it.

Xu Tongguang sniffled, his voice trembling.

"There's a wall ahead, with decorative patterns that look like doors on both sides. C-c-classmate, why did you bring me here?"

Help me.

This Tu Shan was dangerously crazy.

Xu Tongguang regretted not scooping up the two extra-spicy cockroaches that Chen Zhaoxing had dropped on the floor.

They were dirty, and extra spicy.

But damn, they could have saved his life!

Now, Tu Shan was twisting his arm and heading straight for that wall!

Xu Tongguang wanted to run, but he was too weak to overpower Zhu Yan.

"Behave," Zhu Yan warned casually, raising his hand to knock on that "door."

Only up close did he realize: this wasn't a door at all, but a patch of mist so dense it was nearly solid.

Those dark patterns were just swirls in the roiling vapor.

The "door" was soft, intangible.

The first time Zhu Yan's hand knocked, it nearly passed straight through.

Three long knocks, two short.

Xu Tongguang watched his actions with a mix of fear and awe, as if he were watching a lunatic.

When Zhu Yan finally knocked the last one, the wall—the wall behind the door—groaned and shifted.

It worked!

Zhu Yan breathed a sigh of relief but didn't let his guard down.

He still didn't know whether that horror creature had seen through him.

What if everything was a trap?

"Come in," a voice called from within the door, carrying the familiar cruelty Zhu Yan had heard before.

The door made of mist vanished.

Instead of dispersing into the air, the thick fog withdrew in a condensed mass.

"The... the wall is opening," Xu Tongguang murmured. "Am I really going to die?"

Inside the opened wall was a square room about twenty square meters. The mist clung to both sides like dirty clumps of cotton, hiding all the furnishings and decorations.

The robed "Hunter" sat on a chair in the center of the room.

Seeing Zhu Yan, it slowly stood, turning its deep shadow under the hood toward him.

Zhu Yan suddenly felt like telling Xu Tongguang a dark joke.

"It's okay if you die," he whispered. "At least you'll have someone to share the grave."

Xu Tongguang shuddered violently, shaking even harder.

"Changed person?"

The fake 【Hunter】 let out a laugh, but there was no joy in it.

Zhu Yan's heart tightened.

What changed person?

Had he been discovered?

The fake 【Hunter】 stepped toward them, one step at a time, then raised a hand...

And yanked Xu Tongguang away.

"Not the same one as before."

Zhu Yan relaxed.

It wasn't talking about him. His 【Impersonation】 probably hadn't been seen through.

That meant this horror creature's level was below 6.

He'd test it again later.

If that was the case, he could handle this easily.

"Hmm... tsk. This body's too weak."

The horror creature circled Xu Tongguang, picking faults.

"Tall, sure, but compared to the one you grabbed before, he's all talk and no muscle."

It laughed coldly, reaching out to pinch Xu Tongguang's arm. A faint chill wrapped around Zhu Yan's body again.

"What's he good for, huh?"

Zhu Yan noticed its hand was pale to the point of grayness, not the color of a living person's skin.

Even the nails were deathly white.

And when it grabbed Xu Tongguang, its movements were strained, as if the joints were stiff and hard to bend.

This didn't seem like something directly transformed by a horror creature; it looked more like a real, stiffening corpse!

Zhu Yan immediately activated his ability 【Ancestral Glory】, bowing his head like a Japanese person, his tone dripping with obsequiousness.

"Sorry, Senior. Let me call you 'Dad' as an apology. Dad, what kind do you want?"

Xu Tongguang's eyes widened slightly. "You... how can you be so shameless?"

Oh my god, what was he seeing?

Beating up humans, then bowing down to call a Hunter 'Dad'?

What kind of lowlife was this Tu Shan?

The horror creature was silent, as if stunned.

The next second, its tone shifted, sounding much gentler than before.

"Oh, that... that's a long story, son!"

It worked!

Zhu Yan relaxed even more.

He decided to push his luck. "Dad, godfather, do you know where the key fragment we need is? Could you just give it to me?"

What the hell is this thing?

Where is the [Key Fragment 3] he wants?

If he called him "Dad" a few more times and just asked for it directly...

Would this thing just hand it over?