Chapter 45 – The Stranger in the Room

Su Lifeng was taken aback. He hurriedly checked the time the post had been made: three o’clock in the morning yesterday. Either this person was a terminally online night owl, or they had deliberately chosen that hour for some reason. Judging by the poster’s record of zero previous posts and the messy formatting, Su Lifeng felt the latter was more likely.

He skimmed through the content, and the more he read, the more alarmed he became.

What this person was saying was basically all true…

They had even described in detail the way the monsters-the Xenospecies, absorbed living creatures. It wasn’t entirely accurate, but it wasn’t far off, either. Like the previous post that had once suspected a connection between natural disasters and those “mountain fissure” incidents, this poster also mentioned the frequent natural disasters occurring in various places. They claimed that after filtering through and compiling statistics from all kinds of disaster-related posts, they had reached a shocking conclusion.

In any country or region where natural disasters occurred with unusual frequency, even to the point of causing full-blown calamities, fissures in mountains and collapses in the earth’s surface would soon follow. After that, Xenospecies would begin spreading rapidly like a plague. From this, it could be inferred that the Xenospecies emerged from those cracks. But the Xenospecies did not necessarily remain for long at the places where they first appeared. On the contrary, they would quickly burrow deep into human society, infiltrating cities and populations that still believed themselves far removed from disaster.

In this way, before anyone even realized what was happening, these Xenospecies had already spread into every corner of people’s leisurely lives.

Meanwhile, the countries and regions in question were unable to respond quickly because they were busy with disaster relief. On top of that, population movement in disaster zones was already high, so missing persons were all too easy to dismiss as normal.

“Perhaps at this very moment, among the people around you, your friends, your family, some have already become monsters. If you want to survive, please forward this post to everyone you know. Spread this message to all of humanity! Please hurry. There isn’t much time left for you!”

After Su Lifeng finished reading the post, one thought immediately came to him. This person was definitely not ordinary! Perhaps this was another Mutant.

“But he’s destined to be disappointed…” Su Lifeng glanced at the replies below the post and found that, sure enough, it had barely been reposted at all. Most of the replies were mocking or teasing.

“Bro, are you writing a novel?”

“Hahahaha, don’t stop taking your meds!”

“The Millennium Crisis in 2000, the end of the world in 2012-which one wasn’t better made up than this?”

“There have been so many posts like this lately I’m sick of seeing them. If you really think humanity is about to go extinct, why are you still online?”

“Seriously, you’re ill. Spreading panic-inducing information can get you sentenced, can’t it? OP, stop calling for reposts. If this really gets shared five hundred times, the cyber police will invite you in for tea any minute now…”

However, there were also some people who took a better-safe-than-sorry attitude and asked, “OP, you keep saying there are monsters, but how are we supposed to identify them? In your post, you said they look just like humans, except they can’t maintain that state for too long. Are we supposed to lock up everyone around us and slowly wait?”

“Sigh, I also think the world has gotten way too chaotic. I’ve already started digging a basement. No idea if that’ll help,” another netizen replied, even posting a picture of the basement under their own house.

At first, Su Lifeng was rather speechless… At most, that counted as a cellar! But then he felt the idea was actually somewhat plausible.

He had personally experienced the combat strength of the Xenospecies. While they were not yet a match for high-tech weapons, the “human camouflage” they possessed also meant it was impossible to encircle and eliminate them in large numbers. At least, that was how things seemed for now. In that case, for ordinary people who couldn’t fight, constructing sturdy buildings to protect themselves might not be a bad option.

“Don’t worry, OP. I’ve been prepared to face all kinds of emergencies for a long time! To be honest, I’m a Crisis Survivalist. I started collecting all kinds of blades and swords several years ago, and their quality is absolutely top-notch. No matter what kind of monster shows up, if one comes, I’ll kill one!” Another reply caught Su Lifeng’s attention.

Almost immediately, someone asked, “You dare keep controlled knives in private? You’ve got some guts.”

“Crisis Survivalist” hurriedly replied, “They’re all for collecting. They haven’t been sharpened, haha, they aren’t sharpened. Besides, I was in the army myself. You think I don’t know the law?”

Idiot… Su Lifeng shook his head, then sent “Crisis Survivalist” a private message: “Do you really have every kind of knife?”

The guy seemed to be online, because he replied quickly. “Yeah. Pretty much all my salary goes into this stuff. Why, you one of us?”

Su Lifeng thought about it. Although he didn’t play around with knives and swords, he did spend every day holding a scalpel and dissecting small animals. That should probably count as being an enthusiast in this area…

“Mm, yeah. I’m just worried about buying fakes. Do you have any connections? Or would you sell any?” Su Lifeng asked. After what happened last night, he’d realized that while his scalpel was very sharp, it was simply too small. Unless he stabbed a vital point in one strike, it basically wouldn’t do anything to a Xenospecies.

Recklessly looking for channels to buy weapons, or asking Jiang Yushi’s family bodyguards for help, were both last resorts for him. But a reckless loudmouth online was a different story…

It took “Crisis Survivalist” quite a while to reply. “Well… since we’re both knife guys, we ought to help each other out. How about this? I’m off on Saturday. Come to Zhangjiayuan and find me. I’m usually drinking tea there around that time. Just look for Yushui Teahouse.”

“All right.” Su Lifeng felt that although this person was a bit rash, he was at least straightforward. After all, there weren’t many people these days who trusted strangers on the internet so easily. Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the guy was a scammer either…

But with this pair of Bone Wings, Su Lifeng really wasn’t afraid of being scammed now. After a night’s rest, he had more or less digested the “nutrients” he’d absorbed from those ordinary Xenospecies last night, as well as from that F-class Soldier.

With a soft whoosh, Su Lifeng turned his head and saw the pair of Bone Wings behind him in the mirror.

Their bone membranes were translucent, filled with scarlet veins. From a distance, they looked like countless orderly lines of blood spreading open behind him, giving off a strange, eerie beauty.

At the same time, as he slowly clenched his fist, his skin gradually began to turn pale. His blood vessels rose bit by bit, and in an instant, his entire body exuded a bloody, savage aura.

“Mutant…” Su Lifeng murmured at the mirror before slowly relaxing.

He felt he was still quite a ways from E-class, but he couldn’t judge exactly how many more Xenospecies he would need to absorb.

Looks like I need to call Gouzi sooner rather than later…

Also, Su Lifeng felt it was necessary to track down the person who had made that post.

At present, he only knew of four Mutants. This person was different from Cheng Xiaomei, and different from the armed police officer who had already died. He or she clearly knew a great deal about the Xenospecies, and might even have information that Su Lifeng didn’t know.

Bang!

Just then, Su Lifeng heard the door open. He hurriedly retracted his Bone Wings and snapped his laptop shut.

“Who are you?”

The next instant, he appeared behind a figure who had just walked into the living room, the scalpel in his hand pressed against the person’s back, right over the heart.