Chapter 16: Five Points

Outside the villa, the wind howled fiercely.

For some reason, rain coincidentally began to pour, lashing against the windows with a swishing sound.

In Xiao Zhang’s line of sight, Yu Ziyu simply stood there.

Because the room was too dim, he could only see his cold profile.

Not until a bolt of purplish-red lightning split the night sky did it illuminate his tall, slender figure—it seemed something was floating out from the pocket of his robe-like windbreaker.

It looked like several twisted, ghostly human faces.

These were the resentful spirits Yu Ziyu had collected from the fire scene at the old residential complex earlier.

He had kept them in his pocket, and now they came in handy.

They stretched out their black shadows, drifting towards the door, slipping through the cracks to the outside.

After a long moment, the commotion outside finally ceased.

“…”

Xiao Zhang was completely frozen.

He watched as everything beyond common sense unfolded before him.

The most crucial thing was, Yu Ziyu’s expression was far too calm, making him feel like an idiot.

His mouth opened wider and wider until it couldn’t close any further.

After a long moment, he screamed, “Teacher Ziyu!!!”

He lunged towards Yu Ziyu, but the other dodged by turning around.

Xiao Zhang then fell pathetically with a “thud” onto the expensive lambskin rug in the living room.

“Solved it?”

Xiao Zhang rubbed his sore face as he got up, looking at Yu Ziyu with an adoring expression.

His voice was relieved.

“Could it be that Teacher Ziyu really is what they call the core?

Suddenly, it feels real, which is kind of…”

Yu Ziyu’s expression turned a bit strange. “You don’t actually think a little bit of resentment could be useful, do you?”

“Huh…?”

“Just throwing out the trash.”

He turned his face away.

Since both would need to be dealt with sooner or later, it was clearly more convenient to toss the trash into the bin and then throw it all away together.

“Th-throwing out the trash?”

Xiao Zhang’s mind couldn’t process it.

He asked blankly.

No sooner had he spoken than the next moment, the door was slammed open with tremendous force.

He turned back in terror, and his gaze finally revealed the figure of the monster outside the door.

Its twisted, full form was fully visible.

Its deformed body was about 1.8 meters tall.

Its head, viewed from behind, was sunken and flat, with a slight hunchback.

But its forelimbs were terrifyingly developed.

Including its forearms, which were about 1.5 meters long, its entire arms were over two meters in length.

Its skin, pale as wax, was more terrifying than a plaster sculpture.

Its walking posture resembled a mantis hunting.

Perhaps because it had absorbed resentment, its skin bulged unevenly underneath, as if covered in dense lumps.

Looking at it with the naked eye, its entire body seemed like a nest incubating flying insects.

What the…

Xiao Zhang retched, immediately disgusted enough.

He turned his head to look at Yu Ziyu, only to find that the other had somehow grabbed the black cloak that was hanging on the chair back.

He draped it over himself.

The hooded robe spun in an arc.

Then, Yu Ziyu began calmly tying the clasp at the collar.

His fingers were long and pale.

The movements looked especially pleasing to the eye, to the point where one had to praise their elegance.

“Find a place to hide.”

Hearing this, Xiao Zhang shuddered and immediately asked nervously, “What?

Is it going to be dangerous?”

Yu Ziyu smiled a mischievous smile.

He gave him a light glance, his words implying a hint of slyness.

“I’m not advising you, but since you won’t hide, you can’t blame me.”

“…?”

What did he mean?

Was Teacher Ziyu in the mood to tease him, to make fun of him?

Even at a time like this?

Xiao Zhang was bewildered. “Teacher Ziyu…”

However, ignoring Xiao Zhang’s dumbfounded reaction, Yu Ziyu lifted his foot and walked towards the deformed monster.

Compared to its massive form, which nearly burst through the roof, Yu Ziyu looked as weak and helpless as fragile porcelain.

The monster moved.

It stretched its limbs, making cracking sounds, and crawled towards the two humans inside the room.

But halfway, it was stopped by Yu Ziyu walking towards it.

It lowered its head, its long arms seemingly able to sweep him away with a single swipe.

It had no reason, no emotion; it acted more on instinct.

It only knew that if it killed the human before it, Pride would probably be happy.

Just like the monster that had tried to possess the police officer and Xiao Zhang earlier—wanting to get close to, to swarm around the boss was the deepest desire within them.

Given that it lacked the ability to think, perhaps it was just chasing power.

After all, merely getting close to beings of their level could rapidly increase one’s own rank.

So this was probably an instinctive biological behavior of trying to please.

But now, it suddenly froze, making no move…

For some reason, it didn’t dare move at all.

The one standing before it was merely a human.

Instinct told it, just a human—an especially weak, fragile creature.

But was that really so?

Two pairs of eyes met in mid-air—one pair putrid and hollow, the other dark and deep.

Suddenly, a flash of scarlet color quickly flickered in the latter’s eyes, like dark clouds sweeping across the sky before a storm.

Then, his entire figure seemed to distort, as if tearing through space like some unknown entity, possessing more power than a lightning strike.

A cold, damp mist surrounded their forms, as if they were enveloped in a mass of black fog.

At that moment, Xiao Zhang, who had been watching nervously from the side, even thought he had made a mistake.

Because Yu Ziyu’s shadow suddenly disappeared amidst a faint cracking sound…

As long as there was light, a human couldn’t possibly lack a shadow.

Unless he had always been in darkness… or perhaps, wasn’t human at all.

He was suddenly alarmed.

Those strange rumors flooded back into Xiao Zhang’s mind.

Teacher Ziyu’s works were all shot from a monster’s perspective.

Teacher Ziyu never attended any meet-and-greets.

Teacher Ziyu’s works possessed a peculiar perceptive quality…

But in a flash, Yu Ziyu’s elongated shadow reappeared.

As if what had just happened was merely an illusion.

Xiao Zhang let out a breath.

He finally realized that he had been unconsciously holding his breath just now.

He struggled to pull himself out of the bizarre speculation, greedily inhaling fresh air into his lungs.

He felt like a balloon filled with air, ready to explode at any moment.

“…”

Not far away, the deformed monster was pinned in place by an unknown force.

It could neither advance nor retreat.

Unease, fear—until it heard a voice finally speak—

“Have you seen clearly who I am?”

Yu Ziyu said coldly.

Another bolt of lightning split the sky.

The amplified rumble of thunder coincidentally masked his voice.

Thus, only the deformed monster before him heard it.

After the words fell, bloody traces suddenly seeped from its hollow eyes.

For some reason, blood gushed out like a fountain.

It howled and stumbled backward, no longer daring to meet Yu Ziyu’s gaze.

Its eyes were burning… set ablaze…

Because it had dared to look down upon the person standing before it.

Xiao Zhang stumbled backward, staring in shock at the scene before him.

He had clearly only seen Yu Ziyu approach it, then seemingly say a sentence.

He hadn’t even moved an eyebrow, yet he had completely shattered the monster’s defenses.

Then, Yu Ziyu’s fingers, hanging at his side, moved.

It seemed to finally realize what was happening.

The lumps on its body bulged and deflated from the violent trembling.

In its panic, it twisted its limbs, trying to retreat, attempting to immediately leave this villa.

But it was too late.

Yu Ziyu had already raised his hand.

His long fingers slowly traced along the contours of its ugly face.

Then, a faint cracking sound echoed in the air.

The monster’s form froze for a second.

Its whole body went rigid.

But then, like a toppled stack of blocks, it suddenly burst apart on the spot with a gurgling sound.

Putrid flesh and blood splattered onto the surrounding carpet and walls.

Like a small bloody rain indoors, drenching Xiao Zhang, not far away, completely.

And although Yu Ziyu was closest, all the filth splashed onto his cloak.

He disgustedly took off the black robe and tossed it casually on the ground.

His whole body was clean, without a single stain.

This further highlighted the already miserable and pitiable Xiao Zhang.

Covered in the stench, Xiao Zhang was completely dumbfounded.

Only then did he realize why Yu Ziyu had told him to stay away earlier.

After a long moment, Xiao Zhang finally came back to life.

He immediately got goosebumps and started frantically shaking the bits of flesh off himself.

Teacher Ziyu said that earlier on purpose, didn’t he??? he thought, not daring to voice his anger.

“Click.”

Attracted by the sound, Xiao Zhang stopped his movements and looked towards its source.

He saw that Yu Ziyu had somehow taken out a camera and was taking a photo of a certain angle.

The camera frame seemed to capture the door, swaying precariously in the wind and rain.

“What are you… doing?”

“Hah, I didn’t know a camera could do anything besides take pictures.”

Xiao Zhang: “…”

“Weren’t you very curious about how I take those photos?”

Yu Ziyu’s voice sounded pleased, as if because he had resolved one matter.

“This is the method.”

Xiao Zhang struggled to process this information, which made him a bit dizzy.

Did it mean… those eerie, mysterious photos… were all based on real things…?

[Congratulations on assisting player [Yu Ziyu] in defeating a monster.

You have been awarded +5 points.]

Huh?

His attention was diverted.

He was shocked. “Points actually increased??

So, this game is real?!”

“Good.

Your reaction time never fails to surprise me.”

The corner of Xiao Zhang’s mouth twitched.

“…You’re making fun of me again, Teacher Ziyu.”

As he spoke, Yu Ziyu walked towards the door that had been forced open.

He found it could barely still hold up.

Given that the wind and rain outside the villa showed no signs of stopping, and not wanting more rain to leak in, he simply closed the wide-open door.

But no sooner had he closed it and taken a few steps than the door was slammed open again with tremendous force.

“Who?”

Xiao Zhang jumped nervously.

Lou Chen’s frowning figure abruptly appeared before them.

He was wearing the same clothes from when they had met a few hours ago.

His whole body was soaked through by the rain, clearly without an umbrella.

But upon seeing that Yu Ziyu showed not a single trace of injury, he visibly relaxed.

His tense body finally loosened.

He had rushed over the moment he saw the game notification.

He hoped he wasn’t too late.

Then, Lou Chen noticed the room was covered in blood, but there was no trace of the monster.

He frowned, seeming to ponder something.

“You received the game message too, right?

About the savior…”

“My door.”

“Sorry, what did you say?”

Lou Chen was momentarily stunned.

He noticed Yu Ziyu’s gaze was on his door and realized what he had just done.

“I’m sorry.

I thought something had happened to you.”

“It’s okay,” Yu Ziyu said.

Lou Chen was slightly surprised, not expecting him to say something so understanding.

But then, he immediately heard the other say, “This must be my fault.

I shouldn’t have had a door, shouldn’t have placed it in the doorframe, putting it in danger.

This is clearly the most dangerous place in the world.”

Lou Chen: “…………”

Maybe he should learn Yu Ziyu’s sarcasm skills.