Xu Huo was carrying a camping lantern he had found in the Town Hall. Its wattage was too high, so he propped it up on the end of a mop handle.
The light reached more than ten meters, so he spotted Gu Yu and the others first, along with the two Aliens that retreated as soon as the light hit them.
Even in the dark, his vision was unaffected. He could make out the two Aliens' appearance, and they were unlike the ones he'd seen before. Their limbs were longer and more powerful, and thin webs stretched between their fingers and toes. They kept them spread as they moved, and the mucus they secreted let them walk on vertical surfaces.
Seeing a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness, he angled the lantern toward them. Startled, the Aliens immediately fled toward the door.
"So they're afraid of light." Xu Huo raised the lantern above his head and glanced at the group huddled tensely in the beam of a flashlight. He lifted his chin. "Quite a lively gathering. Need a hand?"
"Xu Huo! You're alive!" When the four of them recognized him, they nearly wept with joy.
"You actually cured the poison!" The shock had yet to leave Lin Pei's face. Everyone had seen Xu Huo at East Gate: even a scrape on his jaw had made the poison spread rapidly across half his head, and he'd seemed on the verge of madness. Yet now he wasn't just cured; his condition had changed as well.
Xu Huo kicked away two Aliens that lunged at him, then strode forward calmly. "I got lucky and found an Antidote in town."
"Not just an Antidote, I bet!" Lin Pei saw the two Aliens crash into the Metal Plate and die after only a single