SSFxWD Ch.11: Rescue

A chill ran down her spine, and goosebumps suddenly erupted across her back.

Fallen Salted Fish had never experienced such a physiological reaction before, and couldn't help but feel a bit curious—what was up with this guy?

「Ability - X-ray Vision」

Name: ???

Race: Blue Star Human

Height: 187cm

Weight: 69kg

Awakened Ability: ???

Survival Value: 9/10

Combat Value: 9/10

Based on the above data, a warm suggestion: You're terrified. To avoid being targeted, we'd better flee overnight. Whimper.

…

Several lines of virtual text appeared on her retina. So that sense of danger was actually a passive effect from the X-ray Vision ability.

"How is it?" Chen Luoyin asked impatiently. "Do you think he's reliable? Can he get us out?"

Before she could say, "I don't think so,"—

Someone in the boys' dormitory across the way had sharp eyes and also spotted this mysterious big shot of unknown origin but with godlike combat prowess. Acting boldly on their skill, they pushed open the window and called for help: "Hey, man! The guy over by the cafeteria! That was awesome! There are too many monsters in our building—we're trapped on the second-floor stairwell. Could you help us take a few out?"

Because of his actions, the monsters idling on the ground began to slowly surge toward that building. But the dangerous figure regarded as their savior just shuffled along in his slippers, not even raising his eyes as he walked into the cafeteria.

"Come on, man, it's not actually that many! If we work together from inside and out, we can still give it a shot!"

The boy's desperate shouting echoed through the campus residential area, yet that person never came back out of the cafeteria, let alone lift a finger to save anyone.

"He's so aloof," Chen Luoyin remarked.

Dafang nodded in agreement. "Feels like... not the easiest person to get along with."

"We don't have much food left."

Jin Qiao pointed out their immediate predicament, prompting Chen Luoyin to quickly switch sides: "Maybe his aloofness is just directed at guys. With me and Lin Qiukui's level of beauty, what do you think—three minutes to make him take out eighteen monsters for us?"

Lin Qiukui voiced her opinion: "Just now when the guy across the way was shouting, I saw his lips move."

With that, she mimicked that person's expression and mouth shape—letting out a very clear, contemptuous snort—then spat out two words: "—Pathetic."

Chen Luoyin lowered her hand from flipping her hair. "Alright, so he's probably a handsome guy who's been through some relationship trauma and is bitter at the world."

Dafang suddenly realized something. "So even handsome guys can get hurt by love..."

Lin Qiukui crawled back under her blanket. "By the way, the latest post-apocalyptic farming novel I'm reading has a pretty realistic urban escape section in the early chapters. The female lead is also an ordinary college girl..."

"What's it called? Is it on the e-reader you gave me?"

Chen Luoyin looked up. "What's the male lead like? I only read the high-quality 2D anime type—dark and yandere with a crazy possessive streak, but keeps himself pure, and no matter what happens, absolutely never abuses the female lead. ☆Fair☆y☆fin☆ished☆"

"...He roughly fits your requirements."

"Then I'll read it too."

The spoiled young lady happily opened her e-reader, her face completely free of the gloom one would expect in a doomsday predicament.

Lin Qiukui was the same—she'd seemed quite proactive when they first met, but the moment the immediate crisis was resolved, she immediately became lax and laid-back. Dafang was an agreeable pushover with no strong opinions, strong but directionless... Watching all of this, Jin Qiao's expression gradually grew serious.

The next afternoon, commotion broke out again from the boys' dormitory across the way.

At first, the classic square-dancing anthem "Sister Is the Queen" came blaring from outside the residential area, followed by intermittent banging and clattering from the ground floor of the boys' dorm.

Since the entrance to the boys' building was on the other side, the girls' building could only guess that someone was attempting to come and go—they couldn't confirm the exact situation.

"They're heading to the cafeteria?"

This didn't seem like the style of an official military operation. Rather, the boys had been gesturing by the windows a few days ago, saying their supplies were running low and the power outage was wearing down their morale. They'd discussed that instead of being trapped in the building waiting to die, they might as well make a headstrong rush for it.

They didn't expect action so soon.

"There's outside help, though," Chen Luoyin said, recalling yesterday. "Maybe that steel-pipe handsome guy had a change of heart?"

"Look at the rooftop!" Dafang pointed to the top of the dorm building. The others looked over—and sure enough.

There were about twenty or so people in total, mostly guys, carrying all sorts of improvised weapons made from everyday items. In the middle stood a slender girl, holding up a foam board typically used for sports events, spinning it around like a robot to show it off.

"We are... from the student council... any survivors who see this, please do not make a sound..." Jin Qiao read out the words on the board in a low voice, then turned and pulled out a piece of cardboard from under her bed, on which the detailed information of this building was clearly listed.

Girls' Dormitory Building 2: 36 survivors! 0 monsters inside! Supplies remaining: approximately 2 days' worth.

"Wow, when did you prepare this?"

Chen Luoyin was surprised and waved Lin Qiukui over to take a look.

Meanwhile, the girl on the rooftop—Student Council President Sun Qing saw the response and perked up: "There are people over there! There are still girls alive over there!"

"For real?"

"Are they okay?"

The boys crowded around, their gazes passing through the gaps and landing on the fourth-floor balcony.

There stood four people in total, but what caught their attention most were the tall, long-haired girl with striking, intense features, and the one with a messy, lopsided bun—so fair-skinned she practically glowed at first glance, with a small, roundish face, bundled in a puffy jacket like a little moving penguin.

Red rose and moonlight—a glamorous, seductive older-sister type and a pure, innocent girl-next-door. The two ultimate male aesthetic ideals, all in one place.

"So it's Chen Luoyin and Lin Qiukui." Someone whistled.

Sun Qing turned around: "You know them?"

"Pretty, bad-tempered, thinks she's above everyone because her family's rich. One's a lesbian, the other shamelessly chased after Yuan Nan for two years. They're both famous figures on campus, who doesn't know them?"

This prompted a round of knowing laughter.

Sun Qing knelt down, pulled out a marker, and started writing on another board.

"Hang in there, we're coming to save you right away."

She originally intended to write that, but halfway through, one of the boys next to her grabbed her elbow.

"What's wrong?" She looked at her boyfriend—Student Council Vice President Chen Zhe.

"That's Chen Luoyin and Lin Qiukui."

Chen Zhe said meaningfully.

"I know. They just said that." Sun Qing's gaze lifted to Chen Zhe's eyes. "Are you going to say what you said last night again?"

Her tone was very flat, somehow unsettling.

Chen Zhe frowned slightly, but ultimately backed off: "We can't rescue too many people at once. Don't forget, there's not much food left at base. The classmates who got injured saving people are still waiting for us to bring food and medicine back."

Sun Qing hesitated for a moment, then put her pen back to the board.

"Hang in there... we'll come rescue you tomorrow at 9 a.m.... remember to pack up any usable supplies you have left." After reading the words on the board, Jin Qiao couldn't help but brighten.

Dafang happily pushed the door open and went out.

Within less than ten minutes, all the survivors in the building had heard the good news and felt the dawn of hope approaching.

January 2, 2022. As government suppression and crime driven by civilian resource shortages unfolded simultaneously, Hua Nation entered a ten-day period of turmoil and pacification.

Meanwhile, Qing University Student Council President Sun Qing, Vice President Chen Zhe, and eight other well-rested, physically fit male students arrived at the residential area as promised.

After the familiar routine of luring the monsters out, the group successfully reached Girls' Dormitory Building No. 2, and immediately spotted the stairway wrapped in iron chains.

"Who did this? Are they insane?"

One of the guys realized: "They probably chained it up to keep the monsters from getting upstairs."

"Pretty resourceful. No wonder they've lasted this long."

"But the real question is—how do we get up there?"

The impatient Gangzi grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Disassembling it on the spot was clearly out of the question. Sun Qing lowered her voice: "The chains are positioned just right—monsters can't step over them without tripping, but people can get through as long as they duck. This wasn't meant to keep us out anyway, it was a precautionary measure. Everyone, just bear with it and let's get up there first."

"We told them we were coming to rescue them today. What have these girls been doing? They couldn't even be bothered to deal with this beforehand?"

Gangzi kept complaining in annoyance as he followed the group up the stairs.

Fortunately, they didn't have to go far. Having heard they were evacuating the dorm building, the girls had packed their things the night before and moved down to the second floor to wait for the rendezvous. Now, seeing their rescuers in person, they were so emotional they could cry, saying they were ready to leave at any moment.

—All except one person, Xiaohui.

Jin Qiao's roommate, Zhang Xiaohui, had been crouching in a corner for days. No one had seen her eat or use the bathroom.

Her cheeks had sunk in sharply, and her blood-stained clothes had started to give off a sour smell. Yet she remained like a wooden puppet, hugging her knees blankly, unresponsive to anything anyone said, refusing to let anyone touch her, muttering to herself in strange, unintelligible words.

Now was no different.

Everyone was ready to go, but she had been forcibly carried down to the second floor—and now she clung to the stair railing, refusing to budge no matter what.

"She's lost her mind, why are we still bothering with her? If you're not coming, fine, but don't waste everyone else's time!"

The one speaking was none other than Dong Yanyan—the same female classmate who had once scolded Lin Qiukui and Chen Luoyin for making noise on the second floor.

It was clear she didn't have much courage to begin with. After days of psychological torment, even her gaze had turned gloomy, showing signs of someone at the end of her rope, on the verge of breaking down.

Hearing this, Jin Qiao hesitated. Her actual relationship with Xiaohui was downright terrible—there was really no need to add to her own burden.

Seeing the standoff, Lin Qiukui pulled a towel from her pocket. "Can someone help pry her mouth open?"

"Why didn't we just do this earlier?"

Gangzi strode forward, grabbed Xiaohui's chin, and roughly stuffed the towel in. Then he stepped back to the rear of the group, hoisting Chen Luoyin's unconscious girlfriend onto his shoulder.

The similarly unresponsive Tong Jia was supported by Lin Qiukui and Dafang together.

The group split into two teams and moved forward. Suddenly, Sun Qing sensed something off: "When did the music stop?"

That was an old tape recorder from the broadcast room, paired with a loudspeaker—its sound was piercing and far-reaching.

Given the monsters' height, they would place the recorder on a tree branch four meters above ground outside the residential area each time. Only after the batteries ran out and the monsters dispersed would they retrieve it using an automatic telescopic ladder.

That thing was practically their lifesaver. Perhaps because their nerves were so taut, no one had even noticed when it stopped.

The vast campus was enveloped in silence. Chen Zhe urged in a low voice: "Move fast!"

Panic crept into everyone's pace.

Dong Yanyan was lagging toward the back of the group. In her panic, she shoved Dafang several times.

"Can't you walk any faster? You're blocking the whole path—how am I supposed to get through?" With that, she tried to shove Lin Qiukui as well.

Luckily, after a few days of emergency training, while her physical stamina hadn't improved much, she had gained quite a few points in agility.

Lin Qiukui ducked her shoulder just in time to dodge the sneak attack.

But the other woman's body lurched forward with the momentum, and her left hand accidentally scraped against the tip of the steel pipe hanging from Lin Qiukui's bag. A hole instantly opened in her palm, and blood streamed down along the lines of her hand.

"My hand!" Dong Yanyan gritted her teeth bitterly. "Lin Qiukui, you did that on purpose!"

"Who's injured?"

Sun Qing stopped sharply, her senses alert.

Dong Yanyan grabbed Lin Qiukui by the collar from behind. "You're still holding a grudge about what happened the other day, so you deliberately hurt me, didn't you?!"

Lin Qiukui swayed back and forth from the tug, like a roly-poly toy. "If you say so."

"You actually admit it!"

"Then let's say it's not. Friend, are you sure you want to argue about something this meaningless right now?"

The two were at a standoff—one relentless, the other unable to reason her way out, neither giving ground.

"Who's injured?" Sun Qing demanded sharply a second time. Dong Yanyan neither answered nor let go.

Blood flowed like a winding stream, its rich, cloying scent diffusing through the air.

Suddenly, a thick fog rushed toward them.

"Quiet!" Chen Zhe pulled out the safety axe he had prepared.

"—According to the original setting, the fog that naturally derives from the countdown will dissipate completely within three days after the countdown ends. Aside from the original F-class monsters, all monsters will be accompanied by this type of eerie fog. The specific effects of the fog vary by monster, but most have hallucinogenic properties. The spiritual contamination inflicted on humans is roughly equivalent to one-thousandth of an active alien egg, with the influence increasing according to the monster's level."

"Based on the timing, this fog likely comes from..."

The system's words carried a clear implication, making Lin Qiukui think of an extremely unpleasant possibility.

She suggested retreating back upstairs, but was met with unanimous opposition.

"We've come this far—let's see it through to the end."

Chen Zhe turned and continued down the stairs, with only seven or eight steps left until the ground floor.

The others showed no intention of turning back either, one by one making their way to the first floor—their field of vision now filled with thick fog.

Perhaps trying to lighten the mood, a boy with a baby face turned around and smiled: "See? There's nothing to it. Besides, we've taken down quite a few monsters already. They look scary, but they're actually pretty slow—way easier to deal with than you'd think."

He didn't notice that, while he was speaking, a bud-shaped tendril had silently crept up to his face.

"Lao Wu! Get back here!"

Gangzi growled, raising his weapon.

As if sensing it had been spotted, the "bud" suddenly split into eight petals, from which extended dense, hair-like filaments that plunged—thump, thump—into Lao Wu's skin, then tore his entire face off—in one piece.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

The boy let out a heart-wrenching scream. The flesh beneath his skin, now exposed to the air, sizzled and hissed with white steam.

"Lao Wu..."

Gangzi's voice trembled at the end. He wanted to go help him, but two more tendrils coiled around his ankles and yanked him up into the air with a whoosh.

The crowd recoiled in horror. In the thick fog, the thud, thud, thud of footsteps seemed to land on every single heart of every single person.

And that massive, grotesque monster—after a long, drawn-out buildup—finally stepped into the building.

Fully revealing itself before the tiny humans.

To be honest, it was without a doubt the filthiest, most hideous, most nauseating creature anyone present had ever seen in their lives. Its face, arms, waist, and legs were all covered with multiple pairs of irregular, asymmetrical compound eyes, and two shriveled, degenerated bones jutted from its shoulders.

They were unformed wings—some kind of morbid, dark artistry that made your very soul shudder just by looking at it.

It was a debased hybrid of human, fly, and squid—its very existence overturning every moral, legal, and natural law that had ever governed the world.

It crawled on all fours, while countless long tendrils fluttered from its back like supple water snakes or damp seaweed. Flies swarmed around it, and thick pus-green slime coated its body, as if worshippers paying tribute to an evil god.

Beyond that, Lin Qiukui also noticed something: clumps of fog gathered at the joints of its sinewy long arms and legs. From a distance, they looked like little bones—so perfectly positioned where they should be that they formed what people commonly call elbows and knees.

So she made a reasonable guess—this was the F+ level monster the system had mentioned.

In other words, an advanced monster with vision and flexible limbs.