Xu Wanting: "Save me!!"
Xu Wanting: "There's a monster downstairs! A monster!!!!"
"What monster?"
Shen Yi saw Xu Wanting's plea for help and immediately typed a reply.
Xu Wanting sent you a video.
Shen Yi opened it. The clip was only about ten seconds long.
Thick black fog filled the frame, leaving visibility extremely poor, but he could just make out that it had been filmed outside the building.
In the dense fog stood a huge yellow mutt. Its legs bulged with muscle, and its eyes were bloodred. It looked vicious.
Its crimson eyes flicked toward Xu Wanting, who was filming. She cried out in fright, but the dog did not approach. It picked up a mangled corpse from the ground and disappeared into the fog.
Perhaps it already had food. Whatever the reason, it had not attacked Xu Wanting.
Shen Yi recognized the dog. Before the black fog descended, it had often roamed the campus. It was a stray that plenty of students fed, and it had lived quite comfortably.
But somehow, it had grown enormous—three or four times the size of an ordinary dog, with muscles bulging all over.
And now it ate people!
"So animals have mutated too..." Shen Yi's face grew grim after he watched the video. This disaster was even more dangerous than he had imagined.
That meant what his grandmother and little sister had told him on the phone about the neighbor's dog eating people was true.
Animals and plants were both mutating!
Was it because of the black fog?
Would humans mutate too?
Or was awakening supernatural powers itself a form of mutation?
Shen Yi ran through wild guesses while messaging Xu Wanting. "Get upstairs while that dog isn't attacking you. Don't waste time."
Xu Wanting: "Huh!? You—you're not coming down to get me?"
Shen Yi did not answer.
He had never planned to risk going outside. Now that he knew a man-eating mutant animal was downstairs, there was no chance he would go down.
Besides,
Zhao Tao, the guy who had awakened a supernatural power, had just sent him a friend request!
Shen Yi seized the chance to chat with him, hoping to find out how he had gained his power.
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "Brother, need protection? You should know what I can do. With me around, you won't have to worry about anyone stealing your supplies!"
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "Survivors should help each other in a disaster. I've already gathered dozens of students here. If you need help too, bring your supplies and come find me. I'm at the gym on Campus A!"
Zhao Tao sent you a video.
It showed dozens of students gathered together. They seemed to be getting along well enough.
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "By the way, brother, you still have supplies, right? I saw you posting in the group chat just now."
He called him "brother" at every turn, sounding open and generous.
But Shen Yi could read between the lines. Zhao Tao plainly wanted his supplies.
Perhaps the offer of protection was genuine too, but in an apocalypse, Shen Yi trusted himself more.
Without overwhelming strength, he would not put his faith in someone else's protection.
Shen Yi from the Foreign Languages Department: "I have a few bottles of water left."
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "That works, brother! Come to the gym and meet up with us first. There's strength in numbers. Then we can look for supplies together and wait for rescue!"
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "I'm sure you've read apocalypse novels, brother. We survivors only stand a chance if we stick together! With my lightning power protecting us, we won't have to fear ordinary monsters!"
Shen Yi from the Foreign Languages Department: "Okay, I'll pack up my supplies and head over... But I'm curious—how did you get such a powerful ability? Could you tell me? Maybe I'll get lucky and awaken one too. Then it'll be easier to fight the mutant monsters."
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "Oh, that? I don't really remember. I just stumbled into it somehow."
Zhao Tao from the Sports Department: "Brother, we can talk about it properly when you get here. Don't forget the address!"
Seeing Zhao Tao's attitude, Shen Yi could not be bothered with him anymore.
If he could not get anything out of him, he might as well delete him!
As for meeting up? Of course he had lied to Zhao Tao!
"Zhao Tao's power can't be that strong. Otherwise, he wouldn't have added me himself and asked me to bring supplies..."
"If he were really strong, he'd have gathered supplies already. The campus supermarket alone should have plenty of food and water that hasn't spoiled..."
Shen Yi muttered to himself, feeling somewhat relieved.
He had worried that Zhao Tao might be able to summon lightning at will and strike monsters dead with ease.
If that were the case, Shen Yi would have no reason to keep hiding.
But their conversation made it clear that Zhao Tao's power was not strong. It might even be fairly weak... Otherwise, why would he care about Shen Yi's few bottles of water?
That was why Shen Yi had sounded him out. He needed to know how strong these powers were so he could prepare.
Of course, learning how to awaken one himself would be even better...
Xu Wanting: "Shen Yi, which dorm room are you in?"
Xu Wanting: "Answer me already!!!"
Xu Wanting: "Damn it!!!!"
Xu Wanting sent several messages in a row. She sounded frantic.
"606."
Shen Yi sent the reply, then immediately got up and went to the door. He picked up a broom as a weapon and listened for sounds outside.
Before long, light footsteps echoed down the hallway.
They were accompanied by ragged breathing.
Six floors up, with no elevator in the dorm building—Xu Wanting had climbed fast.
Those long legs of hers had come in handy.
"That bastard! He couldn't even come downstairs to get me! No wonder no girls like him!"
Xu Wanting braced herself against the wall, panting. Sweat covered her pale forehead. Already dehydrated, she had climbed six flights in one go and inhaled plenty of black fog along the way. Her throat felt like it was on fire.
If there had not been a man-eating monster downstairs, she could never have climbed so quickly. She might not have made it up at all.
She had risked her life to deliver herself to him, and Shen Yi had not even come downstairs to meet her. The thought made Xu Wanting furious enough to want to stab him a few times!
If not for this damned black fog and this damned disaster, she would never have given a clueless loser like Shen Yi the time of day!
Still cursing him in her head, Xu Wanting soon found room 606.
Keeping a wary eye on the dark hallway, she knocked hard on the door.
The dorm room door suddenly opened.
Before Xu Wanting could react, a hand pulled her inside, and the door was locked behind her.
"Don't move!"
Shen Yi slammed Xu Wanting against the wall, pinning both her arms above her head with one hand.
"W-what are you doing? Let go of me! Let go!!"
Xu Wanting jumped in fright and struggled instinctively.
But she was frail to begin with, and after going so long without water, she was already weak. She could not break free.
"I said don't fucking move!!"
Shen Yi snapped at her coldly.
Then,
he reached out and began feeling Xu Wanting's body.
Before you continue