chapter 9

“Dang, dang, dang…”

The familiar sound rang out again in the dark.

Chu Yue was still stunned when a shrill scream suddenly came from upstairs, followed by a flurry of footsteps.

The soundproofing in this building was terrible. You could feel it when people upstairs so much as walked a bit heavily, let alone when they were running.

“Help! Help! Somebody help me, it wants to kill me!”

A cry for help rang out. It was one of the girls from the dorm upstairs.

A bit of light shone through the window in the door-her shouting must have triggered the voice-activated lights.

Chu Yue threw back the covers and got out of bed. He padded lightly over to the door and hid in the shadows, peering out.

The light over the stairwell across the hall had come on. The girl was rushing down the stairs, hair flying wildly, like some vengeful ghost.

When she reached the 3rd Floor, she ran right past their door and pounded on Room 316 first.

That was Wang Meng’s room.

“Brother Wang, help me, Brother Wang! Open the door, save me!”

There was no response from inside.

“He’s going to kill me! Brother Wang, let me in, I have money, my family’s really rich, I’ll definitely repay you once I get out! Brother Wang, please, I don’t want to die! Brother Wang!”

With this much noise, not even a ghost would believe Wang Meng hadn’t heard her.

Chances were ten people were awake right now. There were plenty of people like him, sitting up with their ears pricked, listening.

She’d picked the wrong person.

What kind of person was Wang Meng? A veteran player.

Compared to newbies like them, the veterans understood the rules and cruelty of this world far better.

They’d seen too many people live and die. Faced with a problem, their first instinct was always to protect themselves.

He was never going to open that door.

If she were smart enough, she should’ve gone to the newcomers instead. Even though they’d all just watched a man on the hillside get blown into pieces.

But when a living person came begging for their life right at your door, it wasn’t impossible someone might suddenly grow a conscience and let her in.

Now, though, it was already too late.

Chu Yue kept his eyes on the hallway and shrank further back into the darkness.

The thing upstairs was coming down.

The first moment Chu Yue saw it, his pupils contracted sharply.

Calling it a person wasn’t exactly accurate.

It had fat limbs and a bloated body, a protruding nose and a flat face, with only a few sparse hairs on its head.

It obviously looked human, yet at the same time like just a human-shaped thing.

It was wrapped head to toe in black leather, stepping down the stairs one step at a time, moving very slowly.

The boy tugged at Chu Yue’s sleeve. Chu Yue bent down and picked him up.

The two of them looked out the window together.

Now that it was closer, Chu Yue finally saw clearly what it was holding.

It was a huge knife-an extra-long handle, a relatively narrow blade, the edge gleaming coldly under the light.

Chu Yue and the boy met each other’s gaze, and both actually understood what was in the other’s eyes.

Judging from that knife’s shape, it was clearly a Butcher Knife.

The mission for this Instance was to find a Butcher Knife.

Could it be this one?

The mission time was seven days. Finding the mission target on the second day felt a bit too fast.

Yet that huge knife was being held effortlessly in that thing’s hand as it closed in on the girl.

Realizing Wang Meng had no intention of opening the door, the girl immediately twisted around toward Room 315.

She suddenly pressed herself against the little window, face streaked with tears, messy black hair sticking to the glass, startling Chu Yue.

“Help me, help me, let me in! I don’t want to die!”

Chu Yue and the boy were standing just one door away from her, but neither of them moved.

She pounded on the door so hard the frame rattled. Chu Yue watched from the side. That woman earlier had already tested it for them-no matter how flimsy this crappy door looked, it could actually take quite a beating.

He still didn’t open it.

Just as the girl turned, about to run downstairs to keep begging for help, the thing on the stairs suddenly became agile. It bounded down in a few strides, grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her to the floor.
There wasn’t much expression on that ugly, twisted face.

The girl let out a scream. The light in the stairwell suddenly went out, and the tiny window went back to pitch-black.

They couldn’t see what was happening outside. All sound vanished. Whether the girl had merely fainted or was already dead, there was no way to know.

Chu Yue stood with his back to the wall, holding the boy in his arms. Both of them kept their breathing as light as possible.

He’d been holding this seven- or eight-year-old boy in the same position the whole time; his arms were starting to ache, but he didn’t dare move. The Monster outside hadn’t left yet.

Sure enough, as if it knew the people inside weren’t asleep, just when Chu Yue was thinking of hitching the boy higher in his arms, a face suddenly pressed up against the window.

Its eyeballs bulged, swiveling left and right. When it didn’t see anyone, a strange, cold chuckle slipped out from its mouth.

For now, it didn’t bother with them.

Chu Yue listened to the faint rustling sounds outside the door, followed by that now-familiar clang, clang.

He knew now-that was the sound of a blade tip striking the concrete steps.

Chu Yue stayed there holding the boy for a long time in silence before he finally tiptoed over to the bed.

He first set the boy down on the bed, then went to the other bed, grabbed that quilt, and brought it over to cover him, tucking it in to block the draft.

They both lay in bed without speaking. A heavy pressure sat in Chu Yue’s chest.

If the Butcher Knife Li Ergou was looking for really was the one in the Monster’s hand, then their chances of getting it back were close to zero. Trying to snatch something from an Instance Monster was practically a death wish.

Beside him, Shen Yubi stared up at the slats of the bunk above.

A one-hundred-percent death rate-he’d seen it once before. Though last time had been a very special case. From what he’d heard, since the Trading Center was founded, there had been fewer than a hundred such Instances.

Most of those runs ended with total party wipes. Only in a handful of cases had anyone made it out alive.

He turned his head to glance at the person next to him, then rolled sideways, squeezing himself into Chu Yue’s arms.

Whether this time was the same as last time or not, he’d survived once; he could survive a second time.

Just like before, Chu Yue didn’t know how he actually fell asleep.

Early the next morning, he woke in the chill of dawn.

When Chu Yue opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a dark mop of hair hovering over him, and then he felt a wave of cool air across his chest.

Silently, he shut his eyes again, counted two seconds, and opened them.

Still the same head. And the person peeling his clothes back was still peeling his clothes back.

“What are you doing?”

Chu Yue’s voice carried the rasp of sleep. His confusion was genuine and complete.

Shen Yubi’s hands froze. He hurriedly pulled his hand back from Chu Yue’s chest, yanked the blanket up to cover the exposed, chilled skin, and even patted it down.

The whole sequence was smooth and practiced, with none of the embarrassment of being caught in the act.

Acting like nothing at all had happened, he tipped his head up, lips curving in a small smile. He looked both cute and obedient. “Brother, you’re awake? Did you sleep well last night?”

Chu Yue shot him a sidelong look, his brows knotting. His expression said it all. “You… pervert?”

“What are you saying, Brother? Xiao Yu was just helping you cool down a bit. You’re an adult-your fire’s probably pretty strong in the mornings.”

He knelt there on the bed, face tinged with shyness, blinking up at Chu Yue, looking exceedingly well-behaved.

Chu Yue didn’t respond. He pulled his clothes together, doing up the buttons of his pajama top one by one all the way to the collar.

He had no idea what Shen Yubi was trying to pull, and he couldn’t be bothered to ask.

Shen Yubi might look young, but he was clearly an old hand at this.

Ever since Chu Yue had carried him out from the 4th Floor yesterday, Shen Yubi had barely bothered to hide things in front of him. But he seemed to really enjoy this little game of “I know you know I’m acting, but I’m going to keep acting anyway.”

All in all, Shen Yubi bore him no ill will.