Chapter 37
Su Cheng understood.
The proprietress and her family wanted to head to the island in the middle of the lake to wait for rescue.
If the text message from the Green Leaf Government was reliable and the monsters could not swim, the island would undoubtedly be a natural safe zone.
On the island, they would not need to worry about sudden monster attacks or carefully watch every slightest sound they made.
But getting there would not be easy. The route was shrouded in thick fog, with monsters roaming within it.
They might lose their way in the fog or encounter other unexpected situations.
Author's note:
None.
Chapter 37
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Cheng made up her mind. She planned to go to the island.
But she would need to make some preparations.
Su Cheng typed a reply in her phone's notes app: When are you planning to leave?
The proprietress exchanged a glance with her husband. Both looked at the thick fog outside the front door, their expressions turning hesitant again.
The proprietress shook her head dejectedly. She did not know.
Su Cheng: We need to wait for the right opportunity.
Rather than growing impatient with the proprietress as Wang Yang had, she patiently discussed some details with her.
First, if they were going to the island, they would need to bring essential supplies, since they did not know whether there were any survival supplies there.
Second, they needed a clear route from the restaurant to the island.
Getting lost in the fog was dangerous.
Finally, they needed to choose their departure time carefully. Once they went out, there might be no turning back.
Su Cheng briefly typed her thoughts into her phone's notes app. The proprietress read them carefully and nodded firmly.
The proprietress typed back: You've thought of everything.
Now that they had reached an agreement, they could divide up the preparations for their departure.
The proprietress and her family would need to work out the route. As locals, they naturally knew better which route was shortest and most suitable.
They also needed to prepare basic living supplies and attach soundproofing material to their shoe soles, as Su Cheng had done.
The proprietress and her family could go without shoes indoors. Outside was different. There might be gravel or other things that hurt their feet underfoot. Injured soles would not only hinder their walking but could also attract monsters.
Su Cheng typed all of this into the notes app for the proprietress to read at her own pace.
She pointed upstairs, and the proprietress immediately typed a reply: All the rooms upstairs are guest rooms. Any room with an open door is vacant.
Su Cheng: When did they arrive?
The proprietress looked at Su Cheng and slowly typed her answer: Yesterday morning.
Su Cheng nodded and said thank you.
The proprietress returned to her husband and daughter to pass on what they had just discussed.
Su Cheng went upstairs with light steps.
Wang Yang and Li Mu huddled together, communicating with pen and paper.
Wang Yang followed Su Cheng out of the corner of his eye, a glint flickering in his gaze. Who knew what little scheme he was cooking up...
The little restaurant had a dining area downstairs and guest accommodations upstairs, with six rooms arranged along either side of the corridor.
Five had their doors closed. Only the room at the very end was vacant.
Su Cheng entered the room and gently shut the door.
Since no one was staying in this room, the proprietress had not put up soundproofing pads, so Su Cheng had to be even more careful with every movement.
It was an ordinary single room, somewhat basic, but clean and tidy.
Su Cheng walked over to the window. The table and chair beneath it kept her from getting close, but she did not drag them aside.
Beyond the windowpane, the pale blue sky blended seamlessly into the white fog. The fog stretched as far as the sky.
But the fog was not motionless. Like the clouds above, it drifted slowly.
The restaurant stood right next to the neighboring building, with only a gap of about ten centimeters between the two small buildings.
Through this room's window, Su Cheng could see the opposite wall and a small window.
Her eyesight was excellent, and she could see white spiderwebs clinging to the small window.
The webs were large enough to cover the entire window, and their strands were exceptionally dense.
Clearly, no ordinary spider could have spun them.
Su Cheng recalled the system's collection quest.
What counted as collecting a monster? Seeing its complete form, or successfully killing one?
The system had not explained, so Su Cheng could only experiment herself.
Su Cheng moved away from the window, sat gently on the bed, and summoned Mu Ling.
She and Mu Ling could communicate through their thoughts, which was extremely convenient in this silence instance.
"I need you to take a look outside."
Mu Ling nodded. She glanced around and sighed regretfully. "There's even less qi in this instance."
Less qi meant Mu Ling's time outside was limited.
Once Shared Senses was activated, Mu Ling passed straight through the wall and emerged outside the restaurant.
Even though Mu Ling was in soul form, the thick fog restricted her vision just as it would an ordinary person's.
When the fog enveloped her, she could no longer see her surroundings clearly. The only advantage was that Mu Ling did not need to worry about being attacked by the monsters in the fog.
"Check inside the window across from us first."
"Okay."
Mu Ling passed through the small window sealed with spiderwebs and entered a bedroom. The furniture was in disarray, and the bedroom door stood wide open.
Bloody drag marks streaked the floor.
Following the bloodstains out of the bedroom, Su Cheng's gaze was immediately drawn to the enormous, elongated white cocoon in the center of the living room.
Scarlet blood stained the underside of the cocoon, and four human heads lay scattered beside it.
Had a human body been eaten until only the head remained...?
Spiderwebs of every size and transparent slime covered the dining table, ceiling, and floor of the living room.
After eating the homeowner's family, the white cocoon had usurped their home and made it its territory.
Su Cheng said, "Try making some noise."
Mu Ling came back to herself and turned her gaze toward a plate on the dining table.
She walked over, picked up the plate, and smashed it onto the floor.
Clang-
The plate was sturdy enough not to break when it fell, but it still made a piercing sound as it struck the floor.
Pfft-
A strand of spider silk shot onto the plate, which hissed as it corroded.
Scritch, scritch, scritch...
Mu Ling shifted her gaze.
Su Cheng saw enormous black limbs. Only when she looked up did she see the white cocoon atop eight hairy legs.
As it stretched out, it revealed the head and limbs hidden beneath the cocoon, its body taking up nearly half the living room.
A human body was only as big as one of its legs.
Its head was only the size of a soccer ball, with sharp fangs beneath bean-sized eyes.
After spraying its web, it made no further move, as though it knew the sound had not come from "food."
It knew perfectly well that there were no edible delicacies anywhere in its territory, so how had that noise come about...?
Su Cheng saw openings of various sizes split across the white cocoon, opening and closing.
Those were its ears.
It had been listening all along. Its motionless, seemingly sleeping state had merely been a disguise.
Su Cheng had now seen the monster's entire form, but no collection quest notification sounded in her mind.
Did she have to kill the monster herself for it to count?
Then this collection quest was no easy task.
Su Cheng's first thought was to have Mu Ling kill the monster with a blade.
But she quickly discarded the idea.
Mu Ling was already expending energy by roaming outside. Helping her kill monsters would probably consume even more.
And there was very little qi in this instance. She could not let Mu Ling spend the rest of the instance recovering just to kill the spider monster in front of her.
"Let's go. Check the other places nearby."
Mu Ling moved away from the white cocoon and floated through the wall, unable to hide her revulsion. "That monster is so disgusting."
Remembering its black, hairy legs and gaping ears, Su Cheng wholeheartedly agreed. "It really is."
After leaving the house, Mu Ling began exploring the thick fog, using the restaurant where Su Cheng was staying as her central point.
Most of the shops beside the restaurant had no survivors left. Only a barbershop still held two survivors.
"There seems to be something behind you."
"Huh?"
Mu Ling turned around. At some point, a black monster had crouched behind her.
The monster looked like a bizarre mishmash, as though it had mutated from a gecko, yet it was the size of an adult crocodile.
It had short legs and webbed toes, and made no sound at all when it moved.
Strangest of all, it had no facial features. A mouth ringed with sharp teeth occupied its entire head, with inward-spiraling, whirlpool-like ears on either side.
A low voice came from inside its ear cavities. "Is anyone there...? I'm so scared..."
Mu Ling's face contorted as she floated backward, putting distance between them. Even in soul form, she could not help feeling a chill run down her back.
What the hell was that thing!
It seemed this was the monster Su Cheng had encountered before entering the restaurant, the one that mimicked human voices as bait.
The monster's ear cavities contracted inward, as though it had heard something. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the thick fog.
"Are you going to fight these monsters?"
Thinking of her collection quest, Su Cheng fell silent for two seconds. "Maybe."
If she had a chance to complete the quest, she would try. If it really proved impossible, she could only give up.
Mu Ling nodded thoughtfully.
Mu Ling continued through the thick fog. After the monster's sudden appearance behind her, she paid particular attention to any monsters approaching her.
Although the monsters could not hurt her, she really did not want to come face-to-face with them.
"This looks like a small shopping mall."
Mu Ling floated through the mall's main entrance. Inside was a mess, with marks of struggling hands dragged across the tiled floor.
It was easy to imagine how brutal and bloody the scene had been.
The mall's escalators were still running, giving off a faint hum in the silence, yet they had not attracted any monsters.
Had the monsters already classified this kind of sound as a "non-food signal," so it would not draw them over...?
The mall had four floors in all. The basement housed a supermarket, while the first through fourth floors held various shops. There was also a cinema on the fourth floor.