The Labyrinth of the Monsters

"Ah! Ah..." Chubby Jun screamed and twisted his obese body on the chair, continuing for seven or eight seconds before gradually calming down.

"I... I'm not dead?" Chubby Jun gasped for breath and looked down. The bullet hit his right arm, but strangely, there was no blood flowing from the bullet wound, only a deep black hole left behind.

Then, Chubby Jun's right arm began to "melt," followed by "fermentation," and finally transformed into a huge lump of flesh, making a "gurgling" sound as it spat out the bullet.

A few seconds later, his arm slowly returned to its original state.

All three of them witnessed everything.

Officer Huang retracted his gun. "Chubby Jun, your arm is definitely a beast. There is no such strange body transformation ability in the talent sequence list that I know of. But for now, you are still human."

"For now?" Chubby Jun felt a little discouraged.

Officer Huang sighed and looked at Gao Yang. "What do you think?"

"Yang Ge! Yang Ge, save me..." Chubby Jun was about to cry. "I know you won't abandon me. You even saved Zikai. How can you bear to kill me?"

"Not killing him for now," Gao Yang said.

"Why?" Wang Zikai was a little disappointed. "This guy is useless. We might as well kill him."

"I'm not useless!" Chubby Jun shouted. "I'm more useful than you! You, you..." Chubby Jun finally didn't say the words "Lost One."

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Gao Yang looked at Chubby Jun. "His arm underwent a transformation, most likely caused by being bitten by that white cat. If the transformation eventually spreads to his whole body, then killing him wouldn't be too late. But if the transformation is limited to his arm, Chubby Jun is still more valuable alive."

"That's right!" Chubby Jun's survival instinct kicked in. "I can be treated. I'm the only healer in the team! I have value!"

Officer Huang pondered for a moment. "Alright, tie him up and observe him for a few days."

Then Officer Huang looked at Wang Zikai. "This honorable and arduous task is entrusted to you. Make sure he has enough to eat and drink, and don't let him starve to death."

"No problem." Wang Zikai patted his chest and smirked. "I'll take good care of him!"

...

The three of them left the underground garage and returned to the living room.

Unknowingly, it was already 5 a.m., and the sky was about to dawn. The floor-to-ceiling windows faced the bustling river view. The three of them sat on the reclining sofa, drinking beer and watching as the morning light gradually turned the sparkling river from gray-blue to pale pink.

After some discussion, Officer Huang came to a conclusion. "I've never seen a situation like Chubby Jun's before. But he shouldn't be a beast, at least not yet."

"Is the white cat that bit him a beast?" Gao Yang pondered, his head down. "I thought beasts could only disguise themselves as humans. Could it be that they can also take on animal forms? And is it possible to be infected if bitten by some beasts, like with zombies?"

"I'm not sure," Officer Huang shook his head. "The contact person from the organization once revealed to me that there are far more than just the Foolish Beasts and Angry Beasts in this world... What we know is just the tip of the iceberg."

Speaking of this, Officer Huang glanced at Wang Zikai.

Wang Zikai had been too excited throughout the night. He had previously partially transformed his body for battle, but now he was exhausted and sleeping on the sofa, snoring.

"Your friend... might also be a new type of Foolish Beast," Officer Huang said.

Gao Yang nodded.

He had also noticed that Wang Zikai was very different from Grandpa Liu.

Grandpa Liu would automatically ignore and filter out any language information related to "beasts." It was unclear what kind of reaction Grandpa Liu would have to visual information related to beasts or even personal experiences related to them, but Officer Huang speculated that it would likely stimulate the "Lost One" and trigger a beast transformation. However, Wang Zikai, regardless of language information, visual information, or personal experiences related to beasts, would not filter them out. Instead, he would directly remember, understand, and rationalize them. In simple terms, he never felt that he was a beast and firmly believed that he was a human. Could all of this... really be because he had low intelligence?

"I'm not sure if it's an illusion," Officer Huang said self-deprecatingly. "Since I met you, I feel that this world is becoming more and more unsafe. The delicate balance that existed before seems to be breaking, and things seem to be heading towards chaos. I've been awakened for over ten years, and this is the first time I've had this feeling."

"... " Gao Yang didn't know what to say for a moment.

"By my count, I've come into contact with many awakened beings," Officer Huang took out a cigarette case. "Some are strong, some are weak, some are reckless, some are cautious, some are crazy, some are ruthless..."

Officer Huang squinted his eyes. "But most of them have died, for various reasons."

Gao Yang remained silent, waiting quietly for him to continue.

"You're different," Officer Huang turned his head and glanced at Gao Yang. "You, kid, have a very special aura."@@novelbin@@

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I think you can definitely live for a long time."

"Really?" Gao Yang loved hearing these words. Honestly, he was afraid of death. If he died, everything would be gone. But as long as he was alive, there was always hope.

"So... I think I'm dangerous," Officer Huang said in a low voice.

"Why?"

"I used to love reading comics when I was young. Usually, people who can live for a long time are the protagonists. But the people around the protagonist usually have short lives..."

Gao Yang was left speechless, "You make a compelling argument, and I can't refute it. I am indeed different from others. Firstly, I time-traveled to this world, and during my awakening, I even obtained a magical system. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this a 'protagonist's halo'. But it could also just be survivorship bias. Perhaps there are countless 'time-travelers', and I'm neither the first nor the last..."

Gao Yang was lost in thought.

Officer Huang stood up, "I've decided. I'm going to stay as far away from you as possible."

"Huh?" Gao Yang was surprised, "Officer Huang, don't abandon me."

"That's not what I meant." Officer Huang took a puff of his cigarette, revealing a mysterious smile, "What I mean is, we need to join an organization as soon as possible. That way, you'll have more companions around you, and the risk of me being the one to take the fall will be effectively spread out."

Gao Yang was speechless, "Uncle, I think you're the real time-traveler!"

Officer Huang took out a piece of paper and a pen, quickly writing down a time and address, "Tonight at 12 o'clock, you and Qing Ling come together. I'll take you two for an interview."

"Okay!" Gao Yang took the note.

...

Gao Yang took a short rest at Wang Zikai's house before heading to school.

Wang Zikai stayed behind to look after Chubby Jun, while also continuing his training. Due to the sudden "outburst" last night, Wang Zikai believed it was the result of his training and was now very motivated. It seemed like he could be easily fooled for a few more days.

After morning self-study, Gao Yang met with Qing Ling on the rooftop and briefly explained what had happened last night. Of course, he downplayed the part about Wang Zikai's outburst.

Qing Ling didn't express any opinions.

In the morning, Gao Yang went to ask Wan Sisi, the English class representative, for help with a few English questions. She was flattered and happily answered his questions. After explaining the problems, Wan Sisi took the opportunity to invite Gao Yang to have lunch with her and some other classmates.

Gao Yang gladly accepted and had a "quite enjoyable" lunchtime with his classmates. Everyone believed that his previous antisocial behavior was due to his excessive grief over Li Weiwei's death.

Nothing happened in the afternoon.

Nothing happened during evening self-study.

After evening self-study, Gao Yang met up with Qing Ling in a small alley near the school. This had become their usual meeting spot. As soon as he saw Qing Ling, Gao Yang began to undress.

"There's no need." Qing Ling said.

"We're not disguising ourselves today?" Gao Yang was a bit surprised.

"Right." Qing Ling glanced at the note, "The location is 121 Huangsong Street in Feiyang District. It's too far away, and we have to cross a bridge. We can't possibly walk there."

"What should we do then?"

Qing Ling thought for a moment, "Let's just take the last subway."

"Okay."

The two of them walked out of the alley. Qing Ling wrapped her arms around Gao Yang's arm and rested her head on his shoulder, pretending to be a lovey-dovey couple, "Let's just pretend to be high school sweethearts. It's more reasonable."

"Okay." Gao Yang had no objections. How should he put it? In an environment where beasts were everywhere, being held by a beautiful bodyguard with high combat power gave him a strong sense of security.

The two of them took the subway and arrived at Feiyang District in River West half an hour later. Then they walked for about twenty minutes in the night. During this time, Qing Ling even bought some Hot Spicy Soup from a late-night snack street—she really loved Hot Spicy Soup!

Huangsong Street was an old city area waiting to be demolished. Both sides of the street were filled with two or three-story low-rise concrete houses. The outdated shops had closed early, the road was in disrepair, and there were few functioning street lights. Presumably, the surveillance cameras should all be "broken" as well.

The two of them found number 121 according to the house number.

It was an inconspicuous small storefront with a half-pulled rusty rolling door. Inside, there was an old blue cloth hanging, and behind the cloth, there were flickering neon lights and the sound of fighting and explosions. It was vaguely visible that there were some old arcade machines.

"I didn't expect there to be an arcade like this now." Gao Yang loved these places when he was a kid. With fifty cents, he could hang out for half a day. Of course, his gaming skills were terrible. He mainly stood behind the older boys and watched them clear the game with one coin. Looking back now, wasn't this the earliest form of game streaming?

"Let's go in." Qing Ling put on a mask.

"Hold on." Gao Yang stopped her.

"What is it?"

"Give me the time of one song."