Chapter 8: The Dangerous Bat and the Terrifying Foe

With the enhancement bestowed by Fate, Zhou Yan's mental fortitude had reached a value of "10", granting him a certain ability to sense supernatural presences.

He took a moment to acclimate himself to this new perception, then strode toward the corpse of the slave soldier. He put away his axe, knelt beside the body, and reached out with his right hand to grasp the handle of the bat, intending to wrench the weapon from the dead man's grip.

Yet he soon discovered that the hand seemed fused to the bat, locked in place by a mass of black-and-red sinews that bound them tightly together.

"Disgusting..." Zhou Yan frowned, released the bat, and instead drew out his axe.

With a swift, decisive chop, the axe blade severed the slave soldier's right hand.

A sharp, shrill sound pierced the air, making Zhou Yan's ear twitch minutely, as if he'd heard a ghostly wail.

What he saw next was even more bizarre. Once the hand was separated from the arm, the blood-red tendrils entwined around the bat and the hand began to melt away, sloughing off in droves. The dead man's grip slackened at last.

Zhou Yan picked up this peculiar bat and examined its properties.

[Perilous Bat]
[Type: Weapon (Sports Equipment)]
[Rating: Star 0, Tier 1]
[Description: A weapon corrupted by Calamity, it compels the enslaved wielder to slaughter, absorbing vital blood to further fuse itself with its user, ultimately transforming into a chaotic abomination known as a "Soldier Slave."]
[Note: Rules exist to be broken!]
[A compatible chaotic item has been detected. Would you like to record this as a material for the talent "Super Fusion"? (Note: Only one material may be recorded or replaced per "Calamity Realm Walk")]

This metal bat, rated as "Star 0, Tier 1," was clearly a cut above the short-handled axe and similar weapons rated at "Star 0, Tier 0."

Zhou Yan's eyes gleamed, and he nodded in satisfaction.

Time to change weapons.

Yet, despite this being the highest-rated weapon he'd encountered so far, he did not immediately use it as fusion material.

No need to rush... There's still time. Perhaps he'll find something even stronger ahead...

After all, as long as he held onto this bat, he could record it as material at any moment. If he ran into danger he could not handle, he could simply fuse with it right away!

*

With the spoils tallied, Zhou Yan reequipped himself and prepared to leave this floor.

Yet suddenly, a shiver ran through him.

A low hum seemed to vibrate in the air—his intuition screamed a warning. Zhou Yan sensed a viscous, sickening presence lingering nearby.

He immediately looked toward the emergency exit at the center of the corridor.

Something was coming down from above!

He darted quickly, slipping into a room at a favorable angle. With slow, deliberate movements, he gripped the doorknob and gently closed the security door behind him. He locked it, then pressed his left eye to the peephole.

He had chosen this room specifically—through the peephole, he could see the emergency exit.

Zhou Yan took a deep breath, steadied his heartbeat, and waited in silence.

A few seconds passed.

Faintly, he heard the tap of shoe soles striking the floor—"tak, tak, tak"—accompanied by the clear, metallic clink of steel against tile.

"Clang... Clang... Clang..."

Soon, a figure emerged at the emergency exit, slowly advancing into the corridor.

Peering through the peephole, Zhou Yan got a good look at the newcomer.

He sucked in a cold breath.

A monster...

His pupils trembled.

In the corridor, a towering figure cast its gaze left and right. Though its build remained vaguely human, all traces of humanity had vanished.

The first thing that struck Zhou Yan was its face—layer upon layer of black-and-red, vein-like tendrils wove across its cheeks, leaving only the eye sockets exposed, from which a pair of crimson, chilling eyes glared out.

Not only its face, but the creature’s entire head and body below, were cocooned in those disgusting blood-red fibers, layered thick upon one another. Together, they formed a shell reminiscent of armor, with the threads along its arms particularly thick and dense.

Where hands should have been, there were none—only writhing masses of blood-threads twisted into a grotesque limb.

This fleshy, sinewy arm was fused to a long, slender, nightmarish blade, which dragged along the ground.

He realized the metallic clatter he'd heard was the sound of that blade scraping against the floor.

The edge of the blade, too, was smeared with crimson strands of blood.

Just a single glimpse of this monstrous, uncanny form would be enough to haunt one's nightmares.

To Zhou Yan, whose mind far surpassed that of ordinary people, the creature exuded an unending, turbulent, and viscous miasma of evil.

He furrowed his brow in concern.

The thing lurking in the corridor was nothing like the "Soldier Slave" he had just slain.

In his current state, there was absolutely no way to fight such a monster!

*

The dreadful creature lingered in the corridor for a moment, peering about, but did not leave.

Instead, it turned and walked toward the spot where the slave soldier had perished.

Zhou Yan watched as the enemy vanished from the peephole's view. He held his breath, stifling even the sound of his own heartbeat, terrified of attracting the monster's attention.

He resolved to wait until the creature left before searching elsewhere.

If it refused to go, he would remain hidden in this room for the rest of the allotted time.

Once that monstrous being appeared, the situation had veered out of his control.

In such circumstances, the wisest course was to stay quietly in a safe place, waiting for it all to end.

So long as the green hills remain, there will always be wood to burn.

Zhou Yan sat on the bed, seizing the chance to rest.

The ache from the fracture in his left arm had, over time, dulled to a numb throb.

He wondered what awaited him when this "instance" ended.

Would his body be healed?
Would he return to Earth, or to that world he had crossed into?
Would he see again the two sisters who had kindly taken him in?
Or would he never return to reality, but instead be forced to struggle for survival in realm after realm of "Chaotic Calamity"?

No one could say.

Zhou Yan sighed softly. His "golden finger" was decidedly aloof, programmed like a cold, impersonal machine. It offered no interaction, no answers to any of his questions.

Time slipped by as Zhou Yan drifted in thought.

A few minutes later—

BANG!

A tremendous crash echoed out.

Zhou Yan's face paled and he sprang to his feet.

His instincts screamed—the situation was growing dire.

After about ten seconds—

BANG!

Another thunderous blow.

This time, listening closely, Zhou Yan realized—the sound was the security door being violently struck, then slammed against the wall.

The terrifying monster was breaking into the rooms one by one!

Zhou Yan's expression darkened.

…