But now, that twisted situation was them; they had to escape from the monster’s watch.
"At least this room is safe for now," Yu Yezhou said. "Waiting for the monster to leave isn’t realistic; we need to send someone to scout the monster."
This time, before Gu Zhan could speak, Yu Yezhou pressed down on his shoulder. "You’re the injured one; leave it to us."
Gu Zhan had a natural distrust of others, always wanting to do everything himself, not out of goodwill but simply because he didn’t trust anyone else.
But at this moment, he was pinned down by Yu Yezhou, who had a firm attitude. After a slight struggle, he gave up.
One must consider their own abilities when doing everything by oneself.
Attempting things beyond one’s capability could lead to even worse results.
"Then you all go ahead."
It was just a scout, Gu Zhan comforted himself; they had good abilities and could manage it.
Yu Yezhou was indeed the leader of the guild; his organizational skills were quite strong. He quickly gathered the remaining people and arranged a plan to investigate the monster.
"We’ll first observe from a distance, confirm its identity, and avoid alerting it."
Yu Yezhou quickly divided them into two teams. The first team consisted of him, Xu Yu, and An Heyan. They pushed the door open and stepped outside to carefully check the situation.
After they left, the room fell quiet. Xu Ke was never much of a talker, and Sang Yue squatted beside Gu Zhan, her expression worried, with no intention of making conversation.
Gu Zhan simply closed his eyes and began to rest.
Before long, a loud noise suddenly came from outside, and Sang Yue immediately stood up and walked toward the door.
Just as she was about to step out, Xu Ke grabbed her arm. "Yu Yezhou said we should stay here and wait."
Sang Yue understood the logic, but making a firm decision in the face of uncertainty was still difficult.
She didn’t open the door and instead stood guard by it. The noise outside grew louder, seeming to shift positions constantly, deepening the furrow in Sang Yue’s brow as her worry for her companions increased.
Xu Ke watched her with curiosity. This group had come to them suddenly and demanded cooperation in a forceful manner. He had thought they would be a tough bunch, but to his surprise, they were quite easygoing once they arrived.
Seeing this girl’s concern for her teammates, it seemed like she really cared about them.
Xu Ke had known An Heyan for a long time, and the two had supported each other through everything. Naturally, they cared for one another. But he hadn’t expected Sang Yue’s team to share such strong bonds as well.
A team with this kind of camaraderie was rare in this game.
It was this sense of connection that made Xu Ke regard their group more highly.
Patiently, he tried to reassure Sang Yue. "Why don’t you sit down? If nothing happens in the next twenty minutes—"
Before he could finish, the door suddenly burst open with a bang, and Yu Yezhou and the others rushed inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
“Bang!”
A loud crash echoed from outside, shaking the walls of the room.
But it was just one impact, and after the creature outside slammed into the door, it fell silent.
Yu Yezhou and his group were a mess—covered in wounds of various sizes, their clothes smeared with some unknown brownish goo, and reeking of an awful stench.
Sang Yue covered her nose and gave a wry smile. "Did you all fall into a cesspit?"
Yu Yezhou shook his head, even more helpless. "No, that’s just what the monster smells like. Hurry, do you have any clean clothes?"
Even they couldn’t stand it anymore.
Fortunately, the room had a normal bedroom setup, and the wardrobe was stocked with clothes. Sang Yue quickly moved to the wardrobe, opened it, and handed them some clothes.
After changing, Yu Yezhou opened the door a crack and peeked outside.
The monster seemed to have left. He threw the dirty clothes outside and let out a sigh of relief.
Turning back, he noticed everyone was looking at him.
Yu Yezhou explained, "There’s no way we could win a direct fight with that monster. But the good thing is, it’s big and has trouble moving in tight spaces, so we can slip into small gaps."
Xu Ke asked, "So how did you provoke it?"
Yu Yezhou shook his head. "It’s incredibly sharp. It can see in a 180-degree arc. The only way to avoid it is from behind. We were trying to check the door to see if there was a way out, but it suddenly turned around and spotted us."
"But the good news is, it seems like it won’t attack this room," An Heyan added. "When we ran in here, it only hit the door once, and then it stopped."
They were in a safe house now.
Realizing this gave everyone a bit of relief.
During their conversation, Gu Zhan woke up, his dark eyes locking onto Yu Yezhou.
Yu Yezhou had no choice but to repeat the events once more. "The problem is, we’ve already alerted the monster. It probably won’t leave for a while and will keep its focus on the door."
Gu Zhan glanced at the window. Perhaps learning from their previous experience of jumping out of one, this window was fitted with thick iron bars, making it impossible for anyone to get through.
So, escaping through the window was no longer an option. They would have to outmaneuver the monster.
"We can use its blind spots to get out of here. But once we leave, I’m not sure where we’ll go or who we’ll find," Yu Yezhou said.
Gu Zhan replied, "We should probably go back to the father’s house. That’s how all our previous loops have gone. The plot has to align with the answers we gave at the start."
"Alright," everyone nodded, agreeing. No matter what, their priority was to get out of this creepy place first.
After resting for a while, they began to plan their escape.
Yu Yezhou looked at Gu Zhan. His wound had stopped bleeding, but he still seemed weak.
"Are you okay?" Yu Yezhou asked.
Gu Zhan didn’t speak, only nodding tiredly.
They split into two groups of three. The plan was to pass the monster from both its left and right sides. If they alerted it, one group would distract it while the other decided whether to retreat or make a run for it.
The plan was set, but with so many variables, there was no telling what would actually happen.
When the door was pushed open, Yu Yezhou’s palms were sweaty.
Despite his vast experience, this was the most nervous he had ever been.
A faint "click" echoed through the quiet hallway as the door opened, blending with the sound of something heavy falling in the living room. Yu Yezhou peeked around the corner, seeing the monster back in the living room, fiddling with something near the table.
To accommodate the monster’s habits, the table was built extremely tall. When they had scouted earlier, the table legs were twice their height.
"Be careful," Yu Yezhou whispered to those behind him, sticking close to the wall as he carefully crept forward.
Following him were An Heyan and Xu Ke.
Soon, they would reach the living room and move to the monster’s right side. The other group would go left, closer to the door.
As they approached the living room, they noticed that the monster seemed to be eating. The air was thick with the stench of blood, and the creature held a knife and fork, cutting into something.
The screeching sound of the blade against the plate was piercing, but the monster remained oblivious, even looking rather pleased, its eight tentacles waving excitedly behind it.
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