Shen Hao wrapped the chain around his arm and dragged the enormous axe behind him. It scraped against the floor with a piercing screech.
As soon as he stepped out of the building, he heard a system notification:
"Your prey fears you. You have gained 10 Fear Points!"
Shen Hao sized up the three people holding torches before him. He hadn't expected them to contribute 10 Fear Points the moment they met.
A little greeting gift.
There were three of them: one man and two women.
The man was thin and not very tall, and the two women looked even more frail. None of them appeared to have much fighting ability, but Shen Hao was in no hurry to deal with them.
Dragging the axe, he slowly closed in.
He didn't walk very fast, because he needed to give them enough time to work themselves up. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to earn more Fear Points.
Seeing the Horse-Faced Butcher approach, the three hurriedly backed away. They never turned around, keeping their torches pointed at the monster before them.
They knew the monster was afraid of torches. If they turned around and the torches were no longer pointed directly at him, their end would come.
The three supported one another as they retreated, making sure no one fell and gave the monster an opening.
The Horse-Faced Butcher really did seem afraid of the torches. He walked slowly, maintaining a certain distance from them all the while. The three breathed a sigh of relief and grew less tense.
Now they felt that the Horse-Faced Butcher wasn't so scary after all. Just as the guide said, he was a little stupid.
The two sides remained at a standoff, one advancing as the others retreated.
Five minutes later, the three could no longer see the hospital's main building. Presumably, their teammates had infiltrated the Horse-Faced Butcher's dwelling by now. As long as they found his heart, it would all be over.
The three were full of confidence.
Suddenly, the Horse-Faced Butcher gripped the chain and lifted his axe. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the enormous axe spinning through the air. They knew he was about to use a skill.
This was the only thing they needed to watch out for.
When the Horse-Faced Butcher came within two meters of a flame, his base attributes were reduced by 50%. But the chain on his axe was six meters long, allowing him to strike easily from a distance.
The axe suddenly flew out and cleaved down from the air. Zhang Yunxi stared at it as it fell, almost frozen in place.
The axe swept past her face. She screamed and collapsed onto the ground as it struck the ground between her legs.
The other two suppressed their fear and pulled her up, pointing their torches at the monster in front of them.
This time, however, the torches had no effect. The Horse-Faced Butcher pulled back his axe and strode forward, moving much faster than before.
The sight terrified the three of them. They had only dared stand in front of this monster because of their torches. If the torches didn't work, they no longer had the courage to face the Horse-Faced Butcher.
The monster closed in rapidly, and the three backed away faster. Just then, Zhang Yunxi twisted her ankle in her high heels and nearly fell.
The other two hurriedly held her up. Without caring how she looked, Zhang Yunxi quickly took off her high heels and stood barefoot on the ground.
Just as the three were about to back into the hospital's perimeter wall, the Horse-Faced Butcher suddenly sped up. Their faces went pale, and they hurriedly tried to drive him away with their torches.
Instead, the monster suddenly swung his axe, knocking one of the torches to the ground. Then he stepped forward, bent down, and picked it up.
The three stared in shock. Something was wrong with this monster. He didn't seem afraid of fire at all. Had he been pretending the whole time?
Fear rapidly filled their hearts. The sight shattered what they knew: a monster that feared fire was actually approaching them with a torch in his hand.
The monster suddenly hurled the torch at them. In their panic, the three scattered.
The monster advanced again, and all three panicked. The one thing they had relied on was gone.
"Run!"
No one knew who shouted it, but the three immediately turned and fled.
Zhao Zhicheng and Xu Xiaonan reacted faster. In the blink of an eye, they had taken several strides and pulled ahead. Zhang Yunxi wasn't so lucky.
Barefoot, she stepped on a sharp stone. The pain nearly made her fall, and before she had taken more than a few steps, the Horse-Faced Butcher was already behind her.
Zhang Yunxi glanced back and fell to the ground in fright. She scrambled up on her hands and feet, wanting to chase after her companions, but the other two had long since run far ahead.
"He's—he's caught up! Wait for me!"
Zhang Yunxi shouted hysterically, but the other two had no time to worry about her. When there was no danger, they could still help one another, but when they faced a truly deadly threat, who had time to worry about anyone else?
The axe flew out again and struck Zhang Yunxi's ankle. Agonizing pain shot through her foot, and she fell again.
She crawled forward desperately. She was already in despair, knowing she had no chance of escaping the Horse-Faced Butcher's grasp.
"Please, spare me!"
She wailed hysterically, but the monster before her was a heartless butcher. He would never spare her just because she begged.
She glanced back. The butcher behind her had vanished to who knew where. Enduring her fear, she lowered her head and kept crawling forward.
An obstacle suddenly appeared ahead of her. She looked closely and saw a man's legs, with a pair of cowhide boots on his feet.
"Has someone come to save me?"
A flash of surprise and delight passed through her. She grabbed the man's clothes and struggled to her feet, but when she could see his face, boundless despair and terror struck her, nearly overwhelming her body.
The man wore a horse-face mask over his head. He was the very butcher who had driven her into this desperate situation.
"Aah—"
Zhang Yunxi let out a piercing scream and stumbled away. Before she had run more than a few steps, the pain in her foot sent her crashing to the ground again. She rolled and crawled along the ground, hoping only to escape the monster's pursuit.
But that was impossible!
The cowhide boots appeared before her eyes again, along with the axe gleaming with a cold light.
The monster seized her clothes and lifted her up as easily as if he were carrying a chick.
By now, fear had taken over her entire body. She didn't dare open her eyes to look. She could only keep them shut and beg over and over:
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
The Horse-Faced Butcher threw her straight out, and her body slammed heavily into the ground. She opened her eyes to see the butcher's axe flying through the air, cleaving toward her.
Zhang Yunxi screamed in terror and despair, her voice echoing throughout the hospital.
She closed her eyes and lost consciousness, her head lolling to one side.
At the same time, the axe fell, but it didn't strike her. It merely severed a few strands of her hair.
Shen Hao walked over and looked at the unconscious woman. He reached out to check her breathing. She was still alive.
"Did she faint from fright?"
Immediately afterward, Shen Hao received a string of system notifications:
"You have gained 10 Fear Points!" "You have gained 10 Fear Points!"
"Your prey has suffered an emotional breakdown. You have gained 50 Fear Points."
Shen Hao did the math. He had gained 100 Fear Points from this woman.
He was now level 1, with 10/150 experience.
The level increase had also changed his base attributes: 12 + 37 stamina, with the 37 inherited from the Horse-Faced Butcher's base attributes, and 12 spirit.
Both attributes had increased by 2 points.
An ordinary player could gain at most one level in a beginner dungeon, so this was a very fast rate of progression.
Shen Hao was very satisfied with his gains. He grabbed the woman and slung her over his shoulder. She wasn't dead yet, so there might still be some value to squeeze out of her.
There were four people left now.
Shen Hao could guess roughly where they were. Two people still hadn't shown themselves; they were probably planning to steal the Horse-Faced Butcher's heart.
"It's not like I haven't read the guide. How could I let you succeed?"
He wasn't sure whether he would die if the heart was burned, so he had brought the box containing the Horse-Faced Butcher's heart with him.
He was different from these people. If he killed them, they wouldn't die in the real world, but if he died, his real-world self would be gone too.
Gaining Fear Points was important, but avoiding a disastrous mishap was just as important.
Now it was time to deal with the two people preparing to steal the heart.