LWGP - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: It's Here
This murderer was even stronger than the previous ones. Not only was he fierce and brave, but he was also extremely fast. Most importantly, Wang Jiu sensed that he was very cautious and wouldn't rashly get close to her.
This prevented her from putting her fighting skills to use for the time being, and she had to be on guard against him seizing an opportunity to burst out with an attack.
However, Wang Jiu was waiting for an opportunity—when the Big Guy finished, or was about to finish, the other murderer, this one would panic.
That opportunity came quickly. It was mainly because the Big Guy's combat power was truly impressive; he had taken down his opponent in just three or four rounds. Seeing his companion in a bad spot, this murderer feared that the Big Guy would free up his hands. He knew he would be no match for them both.
Just then, Wang Jiu also saw her chance. She deliberately stumbled during an evasion to show instability... His eyes lit up. He launched a sudden assault, closing in on Wang Jiu and bringing his axe down on her.
But the stumbling Wang Jiu deftly rolled on the ground. As she came to a half-kneel, she flicked the light surgical scalpel from her waist in an upward arc, aiming for the man's eyes.
In that instant, he sensed it. He quickly swung his axe—Clang!! The scalpel was knocked away, but at the same time, Wang Jiu and Liu Guang moved simultaneously...
The axe swung.
Swish! Wang Jiu's axe struck his left leg, and as he fell to his knees from the severed limb, Liu Guang's axe came down in a leaping chop!
Flesh and blood splattered.
The man collapsed on the spot, one hand clutching his neck, but blood still spurted from it like a fountain. His body convulsed twice, then went rigid.
On the other side, the Big Guy had also finished his fight. He got up from the ground, shook the blood from his axe, and seeing the situation on Wang Jiu's side, he raised a hand and gave a thumbs-up.
It was unclear where this Big Guy came from, but he was very skilled in this kind of bloody combat, not at all intimidated, and his emotions were very stable. In daily life, most people would be afraid of him, but in this environment, his presence brought a sense of security.
"Just these two. The Dean isn't here."
The System provided a notification. The kills were credited to Liu Guang and the Big Guy, respectively. Although the Big Guy couldn't speak, he wrote down numbers. These two murderers were No. 3 and No. 9. Now, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 were all accounted for. Four remained unknown, and one was already dead.
But the main point was still the Dean.
"There's no one else here. This Dean's office is huge, but there's nowhere to hide."
Zhang Xu was about to take the large desk apart to check. Even the slippers on the floor had been turned over and examined, but they found no trace of anyone—except for Li Meng complaining that the slippers smelled a bit like athlete's foot.
Because of the monster, everyone was growing anxious as time ticked away second by second.
Liu Guang noticed that Wang Jiu seemed very calm—she was still methodically feeling the chests of the two murderers.
She did it very seriously, with an elegant and captivating air.
After a moment, Wang Jiu took out both their phones and looked at them. "As expected, there are text messages."
Everyone looked at the message. It had been sent privately to the two of them; the others' phones hadn't received it, or else Wang Jiu and the rest would have known.
The message read—Come up, stop them.
"It only says to stop us, not kill us. It seems he knew we were coming up and that there were quite a few of us. The Dean probably figured these two couldn't take us out and was just using them as cannon fodder. He seems to know us pretty well. There aren't any surveillance cameras here, are there?"
As soon as Wang Jiu said that, Xu Kai and Zhang Xu ran to the computer on the desk. They didn't even need to be good with computers, because it wasn't locked, and the screen was already displaying the surveillance feed. The situation on the tenth floor was clear at a glance, especially the elevator and stairwell entrances.
"Son of a bitch, he must have known we were coming and ran away!"
Zhang Xu slammed his hand on the desk, furious.
"He didn't run. When we came up just now, I checked the elevator. The display still showed 12, 11, and 11. Unless he took the stairs, but that monster is in the stairwell. He can see the monitors, so he must know it's in there. Unless he can control it directly, but if he could, he wouldn't need to run. He could just call it up to finish us off. So I'm inclined to believe he's still here, just hiding."
"There's definitely no place to hide in the Dean's office. The 3D model on the phone tells us this hospital building is a rectangular prism. The Dean's office takes up about this much space. We're located here. So the question is, what happened to the at least three-fifths of the space on the right?"
Wang Jiu roughly converted the actual area to the length on the structural model, using her finger to compare the lengths on the phone screen.
Everyone looked and had a sudden realization. It was true.
"There might be a secret room here. Either there's software on the computer to control a switch, or there's a switch set up somewhere else. Everyone, look for it."
Just as Wang Jiu finished speaking, Zhang Xu suddenly cried out, "Lao Wang, this is bad, the monster is coming up! Look!"
On the screen, an enormous black shadow was shown climbing into the twelfth-floor stairwell. It emerged from the door, its massive python head swaying from side to side as it slithered through the long, spacious corridor. But then it suddenly paused, its tongue flicking in and out continuously, as if sensing or searching for something.
"It's sensing heat. We only walked to the Dean's office and didn't disperse our heat anywhere else. It'll find this place soon. Zhang Xu, check the computer for a control system for a secret room. The rest of you, move the sofas to block the door! Liu Guang, you and I will look for a mechanism."
Wang Jiu knew well who was better at observation and discovery, and who was more suited for manual labor. She knew how to use people to their strengths, optimizing their chances of survival!
Without a word, the others sprang into action.
At that moment, Bang!!
A loud impact came from the main door.
Already prepared, the group glanced at the door in unison, then quickly got back to work.
Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Bang, bang, bang!
The sounds grew louder, but the Big Guy was strong. With the help of Li Meng, Wang Ling, and Xu Kai, he moved several large sofas over, completely barricading the door.
The force of the impacts immediately weakened.
They were also fortunate that the Dean's office was of high quality. The Dean was probably afraid of dying, so the door he used was of a high standard, not an ordinary one. Otherwise, it wouldn't have withstood a single blow from the monster.
But no one dared to relax. Whenever they had a free moment, even Wang Ling and the others started searching everywhere for a mechanism.
On TV, secret rooms were always opened by moving a bookshelf or a vase, and a door would clang open. They tried moving these objects, but found nothing.
Trashy TV shows are so misleading! Pah!
Everyone was frantic.
"Is it on the computer? Dammit! Zhang Xu, have you found anything?" Li Meng was so anxious her forehead was beaded with sweat. Zhang Xu was just as anxious on his end. "No, it's weird. There's not much on this computer, how can I not find it... Hey, Lao Wang, where are you going?"
Wang Jiu had also searched for a while and watched the others search, but she quickly realized they were all coming up empty. Still, she walked toward a specific spot.
"This door is impact-resistant, exceeding the limits of normal human strength. You couldn't get in even with a gun. If we measure it from the perspective of a game instance, it was probably designed specifically for this monster. For the Dean, he might have feared a situation where the monster got out of control from the very beginning. But under normal circumstances, the monster wouldn't get out of control. There would have to be outside influence. That means we outsiders were also part of the design. Assuming this is a standard newbie instance clear, then the current scenario, including us, was also taken into consideration... Where would the mechanism be placed so that it's hardest for us to find? It might be the place we're most afraid to touch."
She arrived in front of the control lock by the door. Because she wasn't sure and was pressed for time, she explained as she walked over, then pointed at the control lock. "I need to check if there's a control system for the secret room inside. I might accidentally trigger the door's settings. It's a risk. Are you willing?"
Before anyone could say yes, Liu Guang noticed something. "It seems like there's no more banging outside."
That's right, what was going on? Did the monster leave?
If it left, weren't they safe?
Universal joy?! Widespread celebration?!
"Is it hiding outside, waiting for us to go out and offer ourselves up?" Xu Kai was a bit of a conspiracy theorist.
As everyone wondered.
Li Meng suddenly thought of something. "Wait, Lao Wang, Zhang Xu, wasn't there a window over there on the left? Next to the Dean's office."
She remembered that right next to the Dean's office was a large window.
"There is, it's a ventilation window... Holy shit, Meng, don't start jinxing us like Lao Wang!"
Zhang Xu shot up from his chair, and the two of them quickly looked toward the windows of the Dean's office.
They had been through a similar incident and were quite traumatized. They remembered how that murderer had defied the usual settings, forcibly breaking through a glass wall to chase them.
From then on, they had branded the System with the title of "Dog."
The Dean's office was luxuriously and comfortably decorated, with a stretch of floor-to-ceiling windows. If it weren't for the unsettling gray plains outside that made one's heart tremble, it might have been a very comfortable place.
But with what Zhang Xu and Li Meng said, Liu Guang was the most sensitive. "You mean it's going to come from... damn it! It's here!"
Liu Guang had already seen the enormous snake head rounding the corner of the window from outside.
Through the vast expanse of the floor-to-ceiling glass, it stared at them, its tongue flicking in and out. The tongue licked the window with a hissing sound, leaving behind a bloody red streak, likely from the people it had eaten earlier.
Li Meng and Wang Ling should have screamed, but their fear was so extreme they couldn't make a sound. Even the roots of their tongues were stiff.
"What are you standing around for? It's carefully balancing its body, trying to crawl around to get in, otherwise it'll fall. We still have time."
Just as Liu Guang said that, CRACK! The snake's head slammed violently against the glass, just once.
The glass cracked.
"This glass definitely wasn't made in our country!! Zhang Xu, what are you still standing there for, get over here!!"
Seeing Zhang Xu still fiddling with the computer at the desk, Li Meng shouted. He was too close to the giant python!
"I... I'm still looking. If I can't find it, we're all going to die!"
Zhang Xu stood his ground, drenched in sweat.
Everyone was momentarily moved by his integrity. Li Meng was on the verge of tears.
"Zhang Xu, come here," Wang Jiu called out. Swish! Zhang Xu leaped up and sprinted over like his life depended on it.
Everyone: "???"
His body was so much more honest than his soul.
"Lao Wang, Lao Wang, you're the one who cares about me. What do we do now? Do we go out? We're screwed, the sofas are blocking the way..."
Zhang Xu was so flustered his face was flushed, but then he heard a clicking sound.
On the right wall of the Dean's office, a door automatically slid open.
At that moment, if one were to be poetic, it was like a spring breeze in the night, making a thousand pear trees bloom.
If one were to be crude, it was—Holy shit, did the Dog System's program just glitch?
The secret room door had opened on its own.
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