chapter 14

In the middle of the night, knocking sounded at the door again.

Unlike last night, the hallway outside seemed especially noisy tonight.

Doors opening, footsteps, knocking, voices-every kind of sound blended together, all surging toward the players’ rooms.

With that much racket, even someone who’d taken sleeping pills would be jolted awake.

Chu Yue turned over with his eyes closed and yanked the blanket up over his head.

A moment later, he turned over again.

“Do you hear anything weird?” He knew Shen Yubi was awake too.

“Weird?” After a few seconds of silence, Shen Yubi spoke faintly. “Listen carefully, maybe it’s my teeth grinding. Bro, my ass is still hanging out, at least leave me a bit of the blanket.”

“It’s not that.” Hearing him complain, Chu Yue stretched out his long arm and tugged some of the blanket back toward him. “The sound… seems to be coming from outside the window.”

Shen Yubi grabbed the blanket at his shoulder and dragged it down, mumbling, “Yeah? I feel like there’s something above my head too.”

Chu Yue pushed himself up on the bed and looked up.

Directly above them was the room of that girl who’d gone crazy.

They hadn’t heard a thing last night when the other girl died, but tonight they could.

It was a strange sound, like something heavy being dragged across the floor. There was no scraping of a knife tip on wood.

He wondered if the Monster had gone to Room 415.

He was still thinking that when a dull thud sounded overhead, like something heavy hitting the ground, followed by a shrill scream.

Footsteps thudded past their door, racing toward the balcony, and then came the sound of a window being yanked open.

Chu Yue turned his head, following the sound. Just then, a flash of lightning sliced through the sky, illuminating the windows. He saw a figure tumble from the upper floor.

He flung the blanket aside and strode quickly to the balcony. He opened the window and looked down.

He’d expected to see the Girl from the 4th Floor hitting the ground, limbs splayed, skull cracked open. What he actually saw went far beyond anything he’d imagined, and the hair on his arms stood up at once.

Outside the building, where there should have been no one, a crowd had gathered.

The girl had jumped from upstairs, but instead of splattering on the concrete, she crashed into those people. Not only did she fail to die, she was caught, lifted up high in their arms.

Under the streetlamp, her long, messy hair was soaked by the rain, plastered to her cheeks. Her small face was almost completely obscured, leaving only a pair of wide, bulging eyes.

Even from the 3rd Floor, Chu Yue could clearly see the terror in them.

A hand-he had no idea where it reached out from-grabbed the hem of her jeans. With a vicious yank, the denim tore apart, splitting into two ragged strips hanging from her legs.

Then another head pushed in from the side and bit into her calf, ripping away a mouthful of flesh.

The stench of blood spread with that motion.

A shrill scream tore out of the girl’s throat. She writhed, thrashing her limbs, desperately trying to break free from the hands holding her, but it was useless.

Rainwater streaked with blood slid down, splattering on the ground without a sound.

Standing only a few meters away from her, Chu Yue watched, eyes wide open, as the crowd tore her to pieces in moments and devoured her.

He couldn’t save her.

By the time Shen Yubi finished getting dressed and came over, all he saw outside were a sea of bobbing heads.

“What’s wrong?” He bumped Chu Yue’s stiff arm and turned to look at him.

But the moment his gaze brushed past the wall outside, something in his expression went odd. His eyes shifted to a spot just behind Chu Yue’s shoulder. Before Chu Yue could answer, Shen Yubi added, “Brother, your hearing’s so sharp. You mean to tell me you didn’t hear anything else just now?”

Chu Yue tore his eyes away from the outside and wiped the dampness from his face. “Hear what?”

Shen Yubi: “…Teeth grinding and drool dripping.”

Noticing his stare, Chu Yue froze for a beat, then slowly turned his head.

Something that barely counted as human was clinging to the wall, limbs twisted into an impossible position as it hugged the masonry. It was plastered flat against the wall beside their window, head cocked, peering in at him. There was less than a meter between them.

When it saw him look, it split its mouth in a grin, drool spilling uncontrollably from the corners of its lips as it lunged toward him.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” Even someone as composed as Chu Yue couldn’t help swearing.

He drove a fist straight into its nose, yanked his body back inside, and slammed the window shut with one hand.

Knocking, claws raking against the walls, the patter of rain, and guttural roars filled the night.

“Tomorrow, the Three Days and Nights of Prayer begin. Once the prayers are over, it’ll be time for the gathering.” Shen Yubi handed Chu Yue a towel. “We have to make the most of our time.”

“Yeah.” Chu Yue answered, then couldn’t help sneezing. “I didn’t hear the Monster come by today.”

“Don’t worry about it. Get some sleep. The last thing you need is a worse cold.”

Chu Yue climbed back into bed. Shen Yubi’s attitude puzzled him. “You’re really not worried it might be our turn tonight?”

“Not worried at all.” Shen Yubi sounded completely laid-back. “If we die, we’ll definitely be among the last.”

That actually stunned Chu Yue. During the day, hadn’t he said there was no pattern anymore?

As if sensing his thoughts, Shen Yubi curled further down under the blanket. “I don’t know his pattern for who he kills next, but I do get his pattern for who he doesn’t kill.”

“What pattern?”

“Breeding boar and piglet.”

He sounded utterly serious. Chu Yue, however, was suddenly at a loss for words.

“Look, you’re good-looking, big, and strong-prime breeding-boar material. And I’m still young and this cute. He’s gotta fatten me up some more before sending me to the slaughter, right?”

“…” Chu Yue had to admit, that did make a twisted kind of sense.