That Was Too Much-Not One of Them Looked Human

The next day, five in the morning.

Bzzzt—

A shrill burst of electrical noise, sharp enough to split eardrums, suddenly tore through the campus's deathly silence.

Immediately afterward, a cold, mechanical announcement rang out from every corner of the campus, its tone leaving no room for argument.

"Attention, all survivors. Bring your uncanny roommates to the sports field within ten minutes."

"I repeat: bring your uncanny roommates to the sports field within ten minutes."

"Those who are late will bear the consequences."

In the bedroom of the Principal's Office, Chu He's eyes snapped open the instant the announcement sounded.

His gaze was as sharp as a blade, without a trace of the confusion of someone just woken. He looked like a stalking leopard that had been roused in an instant.

He glanced instinctively to his side.

Xia Yao was still fast asleep.

Last night's five-hour session had clearly drained a great deal of her energy and strength. Her peaceful sleeping face was tinged with a lazy, satisfied blush, and her long lashes lay like butterfly wings, casting delicate little shadows beneath her eyes.

A rush of tenderness and helplessness welled up in Chu He.

"Yao Yao, wake up. It's time to get up." He reached out and gently nudged her smooth shoulder.

"Mm..." Xia Yao gave a couple of disgruntled hums. A cute murmur slipped from her nose, but she showed no sign of waking. Instead, like a kitten seeking warmth, she burrowed deeper into his arms and rubbed her warm little face against his chest, as if looking for a more comfortable sleeping position.

"Good grief, if you don't get up, we'll both have to 'bear the consequences'!" Chu He said with an exasperated laugh.

He glanced at the antique clock still ticking away on the wall. Every second was slipping by mercilessly, and he didn't dare waste another moment.

In this uncanny world, the words "bear the consequences" usually meant an ending more terrifying than death. He had no desire to find out what that meant firsthand.

He took a deep breath, then moved with utmost gentleness, carefully helping Xia Yao into her neat, familiar school uniform.

His fingers fumbled a little as he fastened her shirt buttons. Every now and then, his fingertips brushed her warm, smooth skin, soft as the finest silk. When he was done, he bent down, slipped one arm beneath her knees, and supported the back of her neck with the other. He lifted her in a perfectly practiced bridal carry.

Xia Yao seemed to sense the change in position. She instinctively adjusted her head, settled it into the crook of his arm, and even lifted the corners of her lips in a sweet little murmur. She fell into an even deeper sleep.

Carrying her, feeling how astonishingly light she was in his arms, Chu He stepped out of the Principal's Office and hurried toward the sports field.

The morning light was faint; dawn had only just begun to break.

The eerie, dark-red light couldn't pierce the thick fog blanketing the campus. It only cast a cold, bloody hue over the silent buildings. Here and there, people were already hurrying along the campus paths, fear and numbness written across their faces.

And the "roommates" standing beside them were even more bizarre, opening Chu He's eyes.

A skinny white guy, thin as a reed, was using all his strength to drag his "roommate"—a frog-like monster the size of a small elephant. Purple pus streamed from its body, and its nauseating stench hit the nose from far away. Every time it hopped, the ground trembled, and the young man's face grew paler, his eyes filled with despair.

Chu He snarked to himself, Well, would you look at that. Did he drag some swamp ancestor out of its home? Spending every day with that thing—if he hasn't been suffocated by the stench, he must be blessed with extraordinary talent.

He looked down at Xia Yao in his arms. She gave off a faint, sweet, strawberry-like scent, a contrast to the stench nearby as stark as heaven and hell.

Not far away, a blonde woman clutched a length of iron chain thicker than her arm. At the other end was a monster over three meters tall. It had a rotting goat's head, black liquid streaming from its eyes, and eight slick octopus tentacles instead of legs. It made unintelligible gurgling sounds in its throat, and dark-green drool dripped onto the ground, hissing as it corroded smoking little pits. The woman shot a venomous look at Chu He and Xia Yao in his arms, as if to say, "Why does he get that?"

He even spotted a Black guy whose female roommate was a mass of floating, writhing flesh, covered in countless eyes. Every eyeball darted around frantically, enough to make anyone's scalp crawl.

Of course, some of them looked human.

The female roommate of the Cherry Blossom Country contestant had a human shape: a heart-shaped face and flawless makeup. Only her eyes were somewhat disproportionately large, and her mouth stretched from one ear to the other. At that moment, she was leaning close to the contestant's ear, speaking in a low voice with that horrifying mouth. He was so frightened that his face had turned ashen and his body was as rigid as a stone.

This was nothing less than a massive matchmaking event between humans and beasts! The sight was so shocking that just one glance could give you nightmares.

There was a rule in the uncanny world: the more humanlike a creature looked, the stronger it usually was. Even the weakest were S-rank! The ones with all sorts of bizarre appearances were generally weak, and few were above S-rank!

Almost every survivor's gaze froze when they saw Chu He and Xia Yao in his arms. Their undisguised envy and jealousy soon turned into deep, bone-cutting hatred.

"Why him! Why does his uncanny roommate look so normal—and look so damn beautiful!"

"Damn, comparing yourself to someone else really does kill you! I live in fear every day, and there he is, carrying a beauty around like he's out for a stroll!"

Chu He heard their hushed complaints loud and clear. Instead of feeling uncomfortable, he looked down at Xia Yao's peaceful sleeping face, and a strange sense of pride and control rose inside him.

Yeah, why me? Because I'm handsome, brave, and even dare to kiss her! Can any of you do that?

He ignored the glares that seemed ready to bore through him. He even deliberately slowed his pace, gently tucking a strand of Xia Yao's hair, mussed by the morning breeze, behind her ear.

That only made countless survivors glare until their eyes blazed, their chests tight with resentment.

When they reached the sports field, people and monsters stared at one another! The air across the field was thick with suffocating tension and a jumble of foul odors.

Without looking around, Chu He carried Xia Yao to a relatively open spot. Only then did he gently set her down and let her lean against him. She remained fast asleep.

Just as everyone was wondering what would happen next, each lost in their own thoughts—

The air at the very center of the sports field twisted without warning.

The space there shuddered and spun violently, as if an invisible hand were twisting it into a knot. At last, it formed a bottomless black vortex. There was no light inside, only pure darkness that devoured everything.

A terrifying pressure that made the heart quail, as if it could freeze the soul, surged out and spread wildly, sweeping across the field like a tsunami!

"Gwaa..."

"Hiss..."

Under the pressure, many of the lower-level uncanny creatures let out uneasy hisses. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably, and they instinctively tried to retreat, only to find themselves pinned in place by an invisible force.

Some survivors' legs gave way and they collapsed to the ground. Their faces went paper-white, and an unpleasant smell rose from their pants.

Even Chu He felt a chill that seeped deep into his bones.