Setting a Trap

This...

If it were any other player, it would indeed be very difficult.

Fog wasn't completely stupid—it had even taken the initiative to seek cooperation with other horror creatures, fixating on one person.

It was as disgusting as being stuck to by a fly.

This thing was impossible to kill and hard to shake off.

If a player tried to seek cooperation with a horror creature, given their nature, the creature would probably eat the player to satisfy its hunger first.

But Zhu Yan wasn't afraid.

Zhu Yan had Cat.

He thought of the calico cat that had been sleeping all day and its resentful gaze, and touched his nose guiltily.

Inside the ring, there was also the food delivered by The Human-Spider Supervisor, made from the Feng family.

If he negotiated with the calico cat using that, the cat probably wouldn't object, right?

"What did you see?" the puppet frowned. "How did you make that expression? Something's off."

"...Where's it off?" Zhu Yan immediately retorted. "I'm using a living person—my expression is more vivid than your dead skin. That's normal."

This remark made the two puppets fall silent in disappointment.

"Don't rush," Zhu Yan said, seizing the opportunity to quickly switch his phone screen to the survivor player group chat.

"Let me check what the situation is. Rushing out and walking into a trap wouldn't be wise, would it?"

The messages in the player group had been replaced by other voices.

"Hey, why is it quiet outside all of a sudden?"

"I just heard someone scream. Are the seniors who went out okay?"

"There used to be knocking on the door, but it stopped about ten minutes ago. Could the monster be evolving?"

"Zhu Zeyu and Yang Zhanbai haven't said a word the whole time."

Zhu Yan moved his fingers and sent a message in the group.

"Everyone, don't come out yet. There's more than one kind of horror creature in the night game."

"There's one that's especially hard to deal with. I'm working on a way."

Actually, he had already figured out a method.

To make Cat fully devour this Fog, the Fog needed to be concentrated in a small area, ensuring it wouldn't seep out through door cracks or windows.

The Fog could be gathered using the broadcast system.

The location could be Dormitory 303.

After all, the dormitory was sealed shut; although the air inside remained strangely fresh, from the outside, there really were no gaps.

On his phone screen, messages from Yang Zhanbai kept popping up one after another.

"Zhu Zeyu?"

"Where the hell are you? Are you safe?"

"Switch to the player forum—don't use your phone. Send a private message on the forum—it's faster."

"You're really something. I'm afraid you'll end up dead."

On the other side, the puppets were growing impatient.

"How about I just send out a strand to take a look? At this rate, when will it ever end?"

"Soon," Zhu Yan said, forcing a stiff smile at the puppets.

"Wait a little longer. The Hunter you're looking for is in 303, so..."

"So what?" one of the puppets asked.

Zhu Yan quickly logged into the Player Forum and sent a private message to Yang Zhanbai.

"Listen to me. Get out of Dormitory 303 first and hide in a corner of the hallway."

"Stay far away from 508! Both Skin Tailor and Fog's puppets are in there."

He glanced at the puppets, who looked expectant, and smiled as he raised his phone.

"Don't forget, I'm still in a human identity right now."

Zhu Yan felt he was testing the upper limit of this horror creature's intelligence.

"I can use my human identity to trick the people in 303 into opening the door for us."

"I've already gotten word that the Hunter hasn't returned yet—it's not inside."

Fog was a bit confused. "What we're looking for is the Hunter. What's the use if he's not there?"

Zhu Yan curled his lips, his eyes narrowing into slender slits.

"Because aside from the Hunter, the rest of the people in that dorm aren't high-level at all."

"Don't you think this is a feast, old pal?"

Fog seemed to catch on. Both puppets swallowed their saliva in unison.

"If I swallow them, I can level up. And I can free up two sets of skins for you."

Zhu Yan continued to deceive calmly while checking the new message Yang Zhanbai had sent him.

"508?"

"Zhu Zeyu, you're not going to ditch us and risk your life in there alone, are you?"

Was playing with a horror creature's life really the same as risking his own?

Zhu Yan didn't know.

He quickly replied: "I'm fine. Get Qi Yinming out. Leave my cat in the dormitory and find a corner to hide."

"Skin Tailor and Fog are both in 508. They can't handle me—they can only interrogate me about some things."

"I'm playing them. My cat can devour Fog."

"Keep your footsteps as light as possible."

"Either way, I'm counting on you to cooperate!"

In the hallway.

Yang Zhanbai stared at the vivid red text on his retina, then looked up at the dormitory number plate for 508, and fell silent.

That explained everything.

No wonder he'd walked all over the place without seeing Zhu Zeyu—the guy was in some dormitory, dancing around with horror creatures.

Yang Zhanbai glanced at the still-weak Xu Tongguang, then at Chen Zhaoxing, who was clutching a bunch of cockroaches, and an idea formed in his mind.

If anyone else had told him this, he would have seriously doubted their motives—whether they were deliberately leading them into the hallway to make things easier for the horror creatures.

But the one telling him this was Zhu Zeyu.

He couldn't bring himself to suspect anything, and was even eager to cooperate immediately, afraid of delaying matters.

He quickly pulled Xu Tongguang and Chen Zhaoxing along, leading them back.

"There's something going on," Yang Zhanbai said in a low voice. "Come with me for now. I'll explain later."

Inside the dormitory.

A streak of red text flashed onto Zhu Yan's retina.

"Alright, I'll get the people out first."

"Are you hurt? How much longer can you hold out?"

Zhu Yan replied: "I'm fine. That's not the priority right now."

Through the gaps between the red letters, he kept smiling at the two puppets in front of him.

"The Hunter has to come back eventually. And by then, our strength will be much greater than it is now."

"With us working together then, what's there to fear about the Hunter?"

Fog was completely convinced.

It turned over its stiff, dead brain, vaguely feeling that something was off, but on closer thought, everything seemed perfectly reasonable.

"Fine," the two puppets said in unison, their voices icy cold.

"You'd better not play any tricks on me. Otherwise, I'll haunt you like a ghost."

Zhu Yan fell silent.

Did horror creatures become ghosts after dying?

He raised his index finger, signaling for the two puppets to lean in.

"Wait. The players in Dormitory 303 are discussing things."

Zhu Yan was buying time for this evacuation.

"Once they agree to open the door, we'll leave immediately."