chapter 15

Just as the two of them were about to fall asleep, new noises rose outside.

Out in the corridor, the previously noisy clamor suddenly cut off as if someone had hit pause. After two seconds of dead silence, the sound of running footsteps burst out in the hallway. In less than a minute, the entire building sank into an eerie stillness.

A door creaked open, the sound jarringly clear.

It came from downstairs.

Chu Yue had no idea what was happening outside.

But whatever could frighten those things had to be that towering Monster.

He was here.

At a time like this, there was no way Chu Yue and Shen Yubi could sleep. They lay there with eyes open, staring at the underside of the bunk above. The room was so quiet they could hear nothing but each other’s breathing.

Even though he knew Shen Yubi’s reasoning made sense, a suffocating feeling still pressed on Chu Yue’s chest, as if he were waiting for death to arrive.

It wasn’t long before a door slammed downstairs. Whoever shut it did so in a towering rage; the impact shook the frame.

Then came heavy footsteps out in the hall.

Chu Yue instinctively held his breath, listening.

The Monster stopped on the 3rd Floor.

One second. Two seconds. Time dripped by.

With the sound of a door being pushed open, the Monster entered Room 316.

Wang Meng and the others’ dorm was diagonally across from Room 315. The walls in this building did a poor job of blocking sound, so from Chu Yue’s side, they could roughly hear what was going on over there.

Because of last night’s disturbance from that door-knocker, Wang Meng and the others weren’t asleep now either.

Unlike the utterly silent killing from the previous night, this time the moment the Monster went in, a clatter of crashing and banging erupted from that room.

Chu Yue heard Wang Meng speaking, though the words were muffled and indistinct.

Li Jia’s voice, however, carried over crystal clear.

“Wang Meng! You despicable coward! You did this to me! May you die a horrible death!”

It sounded like something straight out of a TV drama. Normally in scenes like that, the villain being cursed was guaranteed to survive until the last episode.

The commotion in that room was loud, like a fight had broken out, but it didn’t last long. It ended with a shrill, piercing scream-and then everything fell silent again.

A door opened. Through the little window in the door of Room 315, they could see a tall figure stepping out of that other room.

He took two steps, then seemed to remember something and stopped at the door of Room 315.

There were two dull thuds as he dropped something heavy on the floor.

Just like the first night, the door, bolt firmly slid into place, was pushed open from the outside as if it were nothing.

A shadow bent low and squeezed through the doorway.

He was panting through his mouth, air hissing loudly through his nose. With each breath he took, a suffocating stench of blood rolled into Room 315.

Chu Yue turned his head and, by coincidence, locked eyes with those bulging, bell-like pupils.

The Monster still held the massive Butcher Knife in his hand. Beads of blood wound their way down the blade to gather at the tip, then dripped slowly to the floor. Paired with his blood-smeared face, he looked even more terrifying than he had on the first night.

For some reason, a wave of inexplicable panic surged up in Chu Yue’s chest, stronger than what he’d felt when the Monster had first appeared.

He thought, If I don’t do something now, I’m probably going to die here tonight.

But just as he tried to sit up, the person beside him saw right through what he was about to do.

A slender arm reached over and pressed down on his chest, stopping him.

That arm weighed on him like a thousand pounds, like a nightmare pinning him in place so he couldn’t move at all.

Eyes wide open, Chu Yue listened to Shen Yubi’s light, shallow breaths and stared unblinkingly into the Monster’s gaze.

Watching the tiny movements between the two of them, the Monster suddenly split his mouth open for no apparent reason.
The Butcher Knife in its hand rose high, then came slamming down with all its weight.

“Clang-”

Metal striking the bed rail rang in his ears, the whole bunk shuddering from the impact.

Chu Yue’s body went numb for a split second.

But after that, the Monster didn’t move again. It simply pulled the knife back of its own accord, turned around, and walked out the door.

Once the door closed and he could move again, Chu Yue shot up and yanked Shen Yubi down from the bunk in one smooth motion.

They were just in time. The moment their feet hit the ground, the upper bunk’s boards gave a sharp crack and snapped, crashing down.

Looking again, the spot that had been hit by the Butcher Knife had sheared clean through. Even the iron railing had been sliced neatly in half.

“Was that… a threat? Or a warning?” Chu Yue frowned, unable to make sense of it.

Twice now.

Shen Yubi bent down and set his shoes by his feet. “Don’t catch a chill. In here, if your physical condition drops, you die.”

With that said, he went to tug at the fallen bed boards; it was cold at night, and they couldn’t go without blankets.

He dragged the quilt out, and the two of them lay down on Shen Yubi’s bunk.

For the first time, Chu Yue was lying on his side facing Shen Yubi. His tone turned probing. “I really want to know-who exactly are you?”

He’d already guessed Shen Yubi was an old player, but after spending the past few days together, this young teen just kept surprising him more and more.

He was clearly very young, yet somehow more mysterious than Wang Meng.

It was hard for Chu Yue to picture how someone this small had survived in the game world until now.

“Huh?” Shen Yubi sounded surprised by the question. “You never asked before, Brother. I thought you weren’t curious.”

His eyes were bright. Even though Chu Yue couldn’t see his expression clearly, just from his tone he could hear the smugness and pride.

“Since Brother asked, then Xiao Yu will tell you.” Shen Yubi wriggled closer, pressing up against him with a conspiratorial air. “Me, I’m actually an old player.”

Chu Yue waited. Nothing more came.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Xiao Yu, you’re amazing,” Chu Yue said flatly.

It was no different from saying nothing.

Giggling, Shen Yubi stuffed his cold feet between Chu Yue’s calves. “Don’t be scared. With Xiao Yu covering you, you won’t die. Hurry up and sleep.”

The sudden chill made Chu Yue’s leg muscles twitch, but he didn’t push him away.

The rest of the night passed quietly. Chu Yue didn’t understand why he could find such a sense of safety in a child.

He fell asleep quickly, and so never saw the shadow that slipped in over the balcony, its approach masked by the sound of rain.

The first thing Chu Yue did after getting up the next morning was knock on the door of Room 316.

Wang Meng opened it. His expression was unchanged; everything that had happened last night seemed to have left no mark on him.

The scene inside Room 316 was no different from what Chu Yue had seen the past two days. Blood was splattered everywhere, and Li Jia’s genitals lay in the middle of the room.

They hadn’t watched what happened in here last night as directly as a livestream, but it had at least been like listening to a radio play.

He didn’t ask questions. After a quick sweep to confirm who had died, Chu Yue headed back to his room.

But things were not quite as he’d expected.

Aside from the girl on the 4th Floor and Li Jia on the 3rd Floor, everyone else was still alive and intact.

The Monster had gone into some room on the 2nd Floor last night-and hadn’t killed anyone.