Spear Drawn from the Case

"Hong Ying...?" Si Xiaonan had seen it too, and her face had gone a little pale.

Hong Ying frowned, stepped past several sheets of human skin, and walked to the edge of the balcony to look outside.

This dormitory building stood at the very edge of the school. Beyond the balcony lay nothing but an undeveloped stretch of open land, with no other buildings in sight. No wonder they dared to hang human skins out there so brazenly.

But what if someone came to visit?

At that thought, Hong Ying's gaze sharpened. She quickly left the dorm room and opened the door to the one next door.

On that room's balcony, four human skins were also fluttering in the wind...

Next door, then the next, then the next!

Hong Ying searched several nearby dorm rooms in succession. Most of their balconies had human skins hanging from them—some had one, some two, and some four.

That meant a large number of students on this floor had already been turned into monsters!

"Hong Ying, this is bad..." Si Xiaonan muttered from the doorway.

"It is bad." Hong Ying let out a long sigh, then changed the subject. "But it also proves something: this monster must have limits when it infects others."

"Why?"

"If it could infect people without limit, then I'd guess it would only need two nights at most to silently infect everyone on the entire floor. But that clearly wasn't the case.

We don't know how long it has been operating in secret, but we can at least be certain it has been more than two days. Yet in all that time, it could only infect four or five dorm rooms. That means..."

"That there's a limit to how many people it can infect?"

"Possibly. But there's another possibility: its infection ability has a cooldown. For example, each offspring can only infect one person per day..."

Si Xiaonan's eyes gradually lit up. "That makes sense. If it really had unlimited infection ability, the whole school would have been finished long ago."

"So we can actually deduce quite a lot." Hong Ying continued along that line of thought.

"Based on the information Qiye gave us, boarders make up a much greater proportion of the infected than day students. Since day students don't usually live at school, and they spend most of their time there in groups, it's difficult for the monster to infect them without being noticed.

"Also, among the infected, girls vastly outnumber boys. It isn't just because girls are relatively easier targets and more likely to be alone. It's also because..."

Hong Ying narrowed her eyes slightly and turned to look down the dim, narrow corridor.

"That mythical creature's true body is here."

Si Xiaonan's mouth fell open in surprise. "Hong Ying, when did you suddenly get so smart?"

"Hm?" Hong Ying raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"Mm-hmm. You've always been pretty stupid—the kind who never uses her brain until the critical moment."

"..."

Hong Ying looked helplessly up at the ceiling. After a long while, she took the earpiece off.

"Fine, I admit it. Qiye was the one who told me all that..."

Si Xiaonan: (?｀∧′)

"He's pretty smart," Si Xiaonan said with a pout.

Hong Ying sighed. "Though I hate to admit it, he does seem to be a little smarter than me."

Lin Qiye's voice drifted faintly from the earpiece.

"Are you sure it's only a little?"

"...Shut up."

"Oh, right. I need to warn you." Lin Qiye's voice turned serious. "Just now, I saw a large group of girls heading toward the dorm building."

Hong Ying frowned. "Infected?"

"They're too far away. I can't sense them. Be careful."

"Got it."

Hong Ying put the earpiece back on, exchanged a glance with Si Xiaonan, and the two hurried toward the stairwell.

Just then, several girls came up the stairs, chatting and laughing.

Hong Ying's eyes narrowed slightly. She pulled Si Xiaonan to a stop, watching them with utter vigilance.

When the girls saw two unfamiliar girls standing in the stairwell, they looked them over in surprise, then began whispering among themselves.

"Who are they?"

"Don't know. Maybe they're from another class?"

"Aren't there only a few classes on this floor? I've never seen them before!"

"Maybe they're here looking for someone?"

"Probably. I'll ask."

A long-haired girl stepped forward and politely asked, "Hello, are you here looking for someone?"

A smile appeared on Hong Ying's face. "Yes. I'm looking for Wang Nan from Class 6, but I forgot which dorm she's in..."

"Wang Nan?" The long-haired girl tilted her head. "There's no one by that name in Class 6. Did you remember wrong?"

"Isn't this the senior-year dormitory?"

"No, this is for the second-years. The senior-years are on the first floor."

"Oh, I see!" Hong Ying scratched her head apologetically, took Si Xiaonan's hand, and answered brightly, "Sorry for disturbing you!"

"It's fine." The long-haired girl smiled politely.

Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan walked past the long-haired girl and headed straight for the stairwell. The girls gathered together politely made a path for them as well.

"That girl is so pretty."

As they passed by, Hong Ying heard the girls around her whispering, their eyes full of envy.

"Yeah, her features are so delicate, and her skin is so nice. I'm so jealous."

"The short girl behind her is pretty too. She looks so cute!"

"So cute... I just want to eat her in one bite."

The instant Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan brushed past the girls, a ravenous gleam erupted in all their eyes. Their heads bloomed open like flower buds, revealing vivid red flesh and dense, grotesque teeth!

The dormitory stairwell was already narrow, and these girls occupied most of it, leaving Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan with barely any room...

So little that they could not even dodge!

But at that moment, a faint curve rose at the corner of Hong Ying's lips, and a streak of red light exploded outward from her!

Boom—!!

Rose-colored flames swept in every direction from Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan. The terrifying repulsive force they generated directly blasted the monsters in the stairwell away!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The flames roiled. Their scorching heat caused the emergency lights on both sides of the corridor to burst, plunging the entire hallway and stairwell into darkness.

Only clusters of flames continued burning alone.

Then, a girl carrying a Long Case slowly stepped onto the stairs.

Firelight reflected off her face.

She lightly tapped the Long Case on her back, and a soft hum came from within. A long spear sprang from the side of the case!

It landed steadily in her hand.

Hong Ying casually swept the spear, spinning it into a flourish. She walked unhurriedly through the rose-colored flames and proudly faced the terrified monsters ahead.

"Hmph. I knew you were up to no good." Hong Ying rested the spear on her shoulder and flicked her earpiece.

"Let's see who dares call me stupid again!"