I am such a fool, truly.

The ground here was cold, wisps of moisture curling with dust, forcing its way straight into Zhu Yan's nostrils.

He imitated the way of the Skin Tailor, staggering to his feet, letting his eyes adjust quickly to this lightless environment.

Under the effect of the Sling, his flesh gradually filled out again, gaining the support of bones and muscles.

About two or three meters away from him, two "people" stood somewhat stiffly, the eight teeth exposed in their smiles faintly reflecting in the darkness.

"You've arrived," one of them said. "Weren't you doing fine outside?"

"What happened? Why did you suddenly come back to find us?"

Outside the door, unexpectedly, a scream and the dull thud of a body hitting the ground rang out.

Zhu Yan quickly turned his head, a surge of excitement in his heart.

He recognized that voice all too well!

Who else could it be but Xu Tongguang?

Outside the door.

Xu Tongguang suddenly felt a sharp, piercing pain inside his skull, as if a metal spike had struck his brain hard.

The icy, foreign sensation made him scream involuntarily, clutching his head as he crashed heavily to the floor.

"Oh, crap!"

Chen Zhaoxing's hand trembled, and the pink cockroach fell to the ground, its legs and wings shattered.

Seeing Xu Tongguang still shuddering, holding his head, he hurriedly pulled out another basic, unformed cockroach and stuffed it into the other's mouth.

"Oh, crap, are you okay?"

Inside the door.

One of the "people" furrowed its brow and moved to open the door. "What's going on?"

This critical moment—what door-opening was that!

"Hey, don't!"

Zhu Yan quickly stepped forward and grabbed its icy wrist, recognizing them.

These two were the guys from Dormitory 106 whom he had knocked out earlier.

They had been turned into puppets by the Fog.

But if those two had fallen, the others in Dormitory 106 were most likely in dire straits too.

The Fog should have been able to occupy at least six or seven corpses; he just didn't know where the other "people" were.

His tone was urgent: "If you open the door, won't I be finished?"

He could hear Xu Tongguang's labored breathing and Chen Zhaoxing's inquiries outside, mingled with the sound of something being chewed.

Ever since he had opened that "attribute panel," his five senses seemed enhanced, sharper than those of an average player.

...Had Xu Tongguang held off this wave of attack?

What was happening with the obsession that was the Skin Tailor?

Outside the door.

The Skin Tailor floated midair, staring in disbelief at the weakened player below, who was curled up in pain, writhing and gasping. It let out a silent, continuous scream.

It had originally thought devouring this player's conscious will would be a simple task.

But who could have guessed?

Just now, it had put in full effort, feeling like it had succeeded.

Yet, at the moment it tried to fully invade the person's flesh, it found itself more than twice as weak as before.

It hurriedly withdrew, and the obsessions it had painstakingly accumulated dissipated by about 60%.

Sixty percent!

All that hard-earned sixty percent!

Burning with rage, the Skin Tailor spun into a frenzy—a small current of air whipping across the ceiling at high speed, forming an invisible vortex.

"Are you feeling better?" Chen Zhaoxing asked, picking up the pink cockroach and glancing warily around. "What just happened?"

Inside the door.

The two puppets looked toward the door in unison.

They asked in the same breath, "What happened?"

Zhu Yan calculated silently, crafting a story.

"I found the Hunter," he said, mimicking the Skin Tailor's tone. "But it's no good—he's too strong, and he deliberately chased me."

"The knife he carries—I can't deal with it in my current state."

How could he finish off this Fog?

Zhu Yan regretted not looking up the Fog's information in that book, Surviving with Taboo Entities.

That thing had to have some weakness.

If it never died, staying around would be an unstable disaster.

"Deliberately chasing you?" One of the "people" raised its eyebrows. "That's unexpected. I thought your ability was so bizarre that he might show some fear. At least enough to give you time to devour players."

Zhu Yan felt like opening Glorious Legacy to continue calling "Dad."

But doing that now would seem too boring and essentially blow his cover.

Moreover, based on past experience with calling "Dad," that behavior couldn't extract the Fog's weaknesses.

That thing seemed to not even know its own weaknesses.

"You heard the footsteps and screams outside, right?"

Zhu Yan observed the Fog's expression, confirming it showed nothing unusual before continuing.

"If I really got cut by the Hunter, the situation would be dire. I'd just turn into a bundle of obsessions."

The Fog's two puppets let out a unified cold laugh and pulled the white light on in the middle of the dorm.

Only then did Zhu Yan see clearly—

Something terrible had clearly happened here before. The bed boards and floor were covered in dark red rust stains.

Under the harsh white light, the two "people" wore smiles eerily similar to humans, but their faces were deathly pale.

"That doesn't seem right," one of them said. "We both heard those sounds just now. There must be more than one player outside—it sounded like someone got hurt. There's no way you'd just turn into obsessions and be powerless."

Xu Tongguang's scream and Chen Zhaoxing's queries—this ordinary iron door couldn't block them out.

Though the Fog occupied the bodies of first-level players, it could still hear clearly!

Under the light, the two puppets' icy eyes stared straight at Zhu Yan.

"Turning into obsessions—couldn't you just go and occupy that injured player?"

Zhu Yan blocked the door, shrugging with a relaxed air.

Then he pointed at the door, making a "shh" gesture to silence them.

Because outside, Xu Tongguang's intermittent voice came through again.

"I don't know," Xu Tongguang said after eating the cockroach, feeling better.

At least his brain no longer ached, and he could think normally.

He reached out to ask Chen Zhaoxing for a new cockroach, while scanning the area, trying to locate the source of the inexplicable attack.

Could there be something else here besides the Skin Tailor?

Xu Tongguang furrowed his brow as he looked at Chen Zhaoxing, lost in thought.

Then, trembling, he pushed himself up from the ground, let out a clumsy sigh, and began complaining in a theatrical, recited tone to make it sound obvious and mocking.

"Alas, Zhaoxing, I was so foolish, truly foolish."

Hearing this, a strange grin curled beneath Chen Zhaoxing's hat.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked excitedly.

Eavesdropping, Zhu Yan felt something was off.

Xu Tongguang let out another long sigh: "I thought my ability could reflect the attacks of horrifying beings, but I forgot it only works once, and the cooldown is two hours."

Zhu Yan had no choice.

If he hadn't seen Xu Tongguang's ability description, and if Xu Tongguang's acting hadn't been so awfully over-the-top, he might have actually believed it.

"If another attack comes..."

Xu Tongguang's voice came in fragments, it was unclear whether he was crying or laughing.

"Without this ability, I really would have died! I just hope that the terrifying creature that attacked is a weakling, and that it gets killed outright by the rebound..."