Seems Serious

Zhu Yan’s trembling hand pulled out a bottle of [All-Purpose Potion]. He bit open the cap and poured it over Xu Tongguang’s head.

For some reason, even though Xu Tongguang’s player level wasn’t low, and his ability level wasn’t low either, his defenses seemed genuinely weak.

How long had it been? He was still standing there dazed, completely oblivious to what was going on.

A few seconds after the potion was poured, Xu Tongguang’s unfocused eyes finally started to sharpen.

His gaze landed on Zhu Zeyu’s pale, sweat-drenched face, then slowly moved downward to the blood-soaked clothes around his stomach and the hand pressed tightly over the wound, stained red.

Xu Tongguang snapped fully awake. He scrambled to his feet in an instant.

“Holy shit! Holy shit, what happened to you?”

He remembered what Zhu Yan had just said and was jolted with another shock.

“You… you said you went into that room?!”

“You got me out of there, didn’t you?”

Zhu Yan was genuinely hurting.

He nodded weakly. Xu Tongguang pushed his hand aside to carefully examine the wound on his abdomen.

“Did you… did you fight Tu Shan?”

Zhu Yan held his hand tight and stubbornly shook his head.

He wasn’t about to let Xu Tongguang see the full extent of the wound. Because the wound, while deep-looking, only grazed the surface. The pain was just skin-deep.

A completely superficial injury, nothing to worry about.

If he found out, wouldn’t his act fall apart?

Zhu Yan forced a weak smile that was clearly put on.

He shook his head and asked, feigning ignorance, “I’m fine. What about Yang Zhanbai? What about Chen Zhaoxing? What happened to you guys? Why is the dorm empty?”

Xu Tongguang grabbed Zhu Yan tightly, panicked.

“They’re in Dorm 106. That Tu Shan came back and knocked all of us out.”

He recalled what had happened in the opposite dorm, his face flushed red with shame.

“It’s all my fault, damn it,” he cursed. “I was the one who suggested they go back. If I hadn’t pushed for it, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad.”

He couldn’t even think about any holes in Zhu Yan’s story. He jumped up to check the hallway.

But when his eyes landed on Tu Shan’s body behind Zhu Yan, he let out another shout.

“Damn!”

“He’s… he’s dead?”

Zhu Yan grabbed the bed frame, pretending to struggle as he slowly stood up.

“Yeah,” he said with effort. “He’s dead. I killed him…”

Xu Tongguang looked at Zhu Yan with even greater admiration.

Just thinking about the disgusting things Tu Shan had done made him shiver and want to throw up.

This outcome was more than welcome.

“Wait here,” Xu Tongguang said. “I’ll go find Chen Zhaoxing. He should be able to heal you.”

But Zhu Yan shook his head and pointed at the surveillance mirror.

The mirror had turned a milky gray—

More precisely, the hallway outside had been invaded by a thick, grayish-white fog.

“Don’t go out,” he advised. “They know the passphrase to come back. Qi Yinming and Yang Zhanbai can bring everyone back.”

“As long as Chen Zhaoxing wakes up, they’ll be fine.”

Zhu Yan didn’t dare go out himself.

The “fog” might have sensed something was off, or it might not have—Zhu Yan didn’t know.

It had said through the corpse’s mouth that in its fog form, it couldn’t communicate, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do certain things.

But it was still a horror creature. What if the fog was poisonous?

Besides, the fog was so cold…

Xu Tongguang, obedient for once, dropped his anxious idea and gave up.

Zhu Yan relaxed and leaned against the bed frame to rest.

[Bullying] wasn’t a high-level ability, and Chen Zhaoxing’s player level wasn’t low.

He should wake up faster than the others!

As for everything else—

He’d just wing it, send a message to Yang Zhanbai on the [Player Forum] to keep him in the loop.

They’d all wake up anyway!

...

The iron door of Dorm 106 couldn’t block the increasingly biting cold seeping in from outside.

The chill crept along the floor inward, invading every pore of their skin.

Chen Zhaoxing shivered unconsciously. The piercing cold jolted his eyes open, and he sat up abruptly from the ground.

“Knocked out again?”

He looked around the room, still struggling to shake off the darkness of unconsciousness.

“How the hell are those two Hunters so strong?!”

He had no idea how much time had passed. The others were still lying everywhere in a mess. A faint fog was squeezing in through the gap under the door, fighting its way in.

Chen Zhaoxing sensed something was wrong and hurried over to Yang Zhanbai, forcing a cockroach candy into his mouth.

The temperature was unnaturally freezing.

If he stalled any longer, they’d risk hypothermia!

This time, Chen Zhaoxing used a pop-rock chocolate that melted in the mouth without much chewing.

About ten seconds later, Yang Zhanbai opened his eyes. His face had already lost all color from the cold.

He belatedly felt the chilling cold everywhere and curled up involuntarily.

“What’s going on? Where’s that bastard Tu Shan?”

Chen Zhaoxing, satisfied, shoved two more cockroach candies into his mouth.

“Chili comes in many kinds. This one’s Sichuan dried chili paste flavor—eat it and you’ll stay warm all day!”

Yang Zhanbai chewed eagerly. The dry, spicy aroma of chili did send a wave of warmth through him.

He watched as Chen Zhaoxing fed cockroach candies to Qi Yinming, Qin Yang, and Yuan Chen. Then he frowned at the steam of cold mist seeping through the door crack.

“Where’s Zhu Zeyu?”

“He left a while ago. Something’s wrong outside. Why isn’t he back yet?”

Yang Zhanbai’s tone was clearly worried.

He immediately focused on the player forum, furrowing his brow.

“I’m going out to find him. That shameless bastard Tu Shan locked us in here—who knows what he’s planning!”

Just thinking about Tu Shan’s disgusting face made Yang Zhanbai sick.

He hurried to pull at the door, but at the top of the [Player Forum], a private message notification suddenly popped up.

Yang Zhanbai froze.

This private message was from Zhu Zeyu!

“Are you okay? Don’t go outside—there’s a problem!”

Yang Zhanbai’s heart clenched.

“Tu Shan is dead,” another message popped up. “I’m injured, but I brought Xu Tongguang back. Tu Shan’s blade is high-level. I don’t know if Chen Zhaoxing’s cockroaches can heal it.”

Tu Shan was dead?

Yang Zhanbai stared at that sentence in disbelief for several seconds.

A few seconds later, a wave of immense joy washed over him!

He couldn’t help blurting out excitedly, “Tu Shan is dead!”

That guy had gotten the [Hunter’s Reward] and seemed stronger than before.

But if Zhu Zeyu killed him, that seemed pretty normal?

Tu Shan could knock them all out in one go. Who knows if he was even level five yet.

Zhu Zeyu’s dinner knife was also level five, plus he was always sharp…

But in an instant, worry overtook the joy.

Someone so sharp had actually gotten hurt?

Zhu Zeyu always downplayed bad news. This time, he was the one asking if Chen Zhaoxing could heal him.

Yang Zhanbai’s face darkened.

This injury seemed serious!