The source of the strange events in the cinema had become impossible to trace. In the short span of one hour, all the staff had vanished.
After exiting the restroom, Jiang Huai and Lu Wanyin saw two infected creatures cornering a young boy dressed in the uniform of the Fearless Squad against the wall. His headset had fallen to the ground, and it seemed that he could no longer make contact with reinforcements. He was holding a steel knife, its edge already dulled.
The boy appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen, slightly younger than Jiang Huai. His appearance was handsome, but at this moment, his face was twisted in fear. Tears and snot covered his face.
"Please, don't come any closer!" His voice was trembling. The two monsters had already left deep and shallow wounds on his abdomen, neck, and legs, with blood pooling on the floor.
One of the infected, wearing a janitor's uniform, cackled while thrusting its tentacle toward the boy's throat. It seemed they had grown bored and intended to deliver the final blow.
"Ah! I don't want to die!!" The boy cried out, closing his eyes.
In that instant, the black reaper arrived on time. The black gleam of the scythe cleanly and decisively sliced the two infected into several pieces.
Lu Wanyin gracefully flicked the blood from the scythe and stretched, a few black death spirits still swirling around her. But these spirits, which should have devoured the souls of the infected and turned their bodies to ashes, were now confusedly hovering around her.
"What's wrong, little guys?" Lu Wanyin noticed something was off. It seemed that these infected creatures didn't have anything that could satisfy the death spirits.
She glanced back at the nearly terrified Fearless Squad member, sensing that this mutation was different from the others.
Meanwhile, Jiang Huai stood at the corner, not moving. He didn't need to look at Lu Wanyin—he knew that these levels of infected creatures posed no threat to her.
He slowly brought one of the infected creatures in front of him.
"Strange, I don't sense any core in these infected creatures," Jiang Huai muttered.
Just as he was about to further investigate, the infected suddenly opened its mouth, and a tentacle shot out. But just as the tentacle was about to pierce Jiang Huai's forehead, his tail, wrapped around the creature's head, snapped it like a twig.
"Another one of these threads," Jiang Huai murmured, throwing the infected creature's body to the ground. He then flipped it over with his tail. Sure enough, he found the same faint blue thread running from the creature's spine, connecting to a ventilation pipe on the wall.
At this point, Lu Wanyin seemed to sense something as well. Seeing that Jiang Huai hadn't moved, she walked towards the corner. But before she could reach it, Jiang Huai appeared before her.
"Sorry, I went back to use the bathroom," Jiang Huai scratched his head and smiled.
"...Do you have kidney issues?" Lu Wanyin eyed him suspiciously.
"Go to hell. I'm just nervous, alright?" Jiang Huai replied with a wry smile.
Although she still had some doubts—like why Jiang Huai's coat hem was stained with blood—Lu Wanyin chose not to press further. As she had thought earlier, if Jiang Huai couldn't tell her something right now, she would wait until the right moment.
The boy continued to tightly shut his eyes, trembling as if awaiting the inevitable pain and death.
Until Jiang Huai squatted down beside him and patted his shoulder. Only then did the boy slowly open his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Jiang Huai asked.
The boy, upon seeing Jiang Huai, had an overwhelming sense of relief, like he had just encountered a rescuer. He suddenly threw himself at Jiang Huai and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Oh my god, this is nothing like what the instructor taught us!!"
"Sigh, your snot..." Jiang Huai pushed the boy away and said to Lu Wanyin, "There's a storage room nearby. Let's take him there and check his wounds."
As Jiang Huai helped the boy to his feet, the boy whimpered in pain, every step echoing like the cries of a slaughtered pig. Jiang Huai had the urge to punch him.
A grown man, an awakened one no less, yet he was so pathetic.
Jiang Huai briefly examined the boy's wounds. They were mostly superficial, but needed disinfecting.
"Stop crying!" Lu Wanyin, unable to listen any longer, glared at the boy after closing the storage room door.
"How did the Fearless Squad choose you? How did you even pass the Awakened Trials? Is there no justice left in this world? Is anyone and everyone allowed to join the Fearless Squad now?"
Jiang Huai removed his coat, tore it into strips, and started to bandage the boy's wounds. Despite the boy's best attempts to endure, his crying continued.
"I don't want to!" he sobbed, "I signed up for Night Demon Patrol! I heard it's a laid-back organization where you don't have to fight in the beast tide! But my family secretly changed my application to Fearless Squad. What could I do?!"
Jiang Huai nearly laughed out loud. He turned to look at Lu Wanyin's expression. As expected, the girl was grinding her teeth in anger, ready to swing her scythe.
"Who are you calling a thug?! Say that again!" Lu Wanyin barked.
"Huh? Could it be... that you guys are from Night Demon Patrol?!" The boy suddenly perked up, his crying ceased, and he grabbed Jiang Huai's sleeve.
"Big brother! Big brother, take me in! I want to join Night Demon Patrol! I just reported to the Fearless Squad today and they send me to do these kinds of tasks! My life isn't even worth a single scratch!"
Before Jiang Huai could respond, Lu Wanyin froze.
"What did you say your name was?"
"Chu, Chu He. Chu He from the Chu family," the boy replied, still holding Jiang Huai's sleeve tightly, seemingly afraid of Lu Wanyin.
"That explains why you're in Fearless Squad, even in Mo Yu's team, and yet you're such a coward." Lu Wanyin's expression suddenly turned sly.
She sat next to Jiang Huai and whispered in his ear, "This guy is the young master of the Chu family. The Chu family is one of the major financial backers of Fearless Squad, both wealthy and influential."
Jiang Huai understood right away. So, he was a privileged child.
"Big brother, big sister, as long as you let me join Night Demon Patrol, I'm willing to do anything!"
"Bah! Who's your big sister!" Lu Wanyin shot a glare at Chu He, causing him to quickly shrink back.
"Well... we'll let you join, but Night Demon Patrol charges a monthly fee. It's this amount," Lu Wanyin said, holding up five fingers.
"Fifty thousand? Only fifty thousand a month! I can buy a peaceful future with that! I'm in!" Chu He immediately cheered.
"Huh?" Lu Wanyin was stunned, her hand frozen in midair. She originally meant to say five thousand, which she thought was already a high price. But this young master came back with an insanely high offer and left her completely stunned.