Chapter 22: The Monster Attacks (Second Update) As a newcomer, I humbly ask for your recommendations and support.

Inside the building, in another room, the four security guards were all worried. The middle-aged guard feared that Liang Jing might abandon them and escape alone, while the other three were concerned that the monsters would come rushing toward them.

Through the crack in the door, they saw Liang Jing heading out fully armed, without his luggage, running downstairs. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief, the weight finally lifted from their hearts, and their faces twisted into habitual, grotesque smiles.

Liang Jing walked along the corridor, passing their doorway, his eyes sharpening as if to act, but ultimately he rushed downstairs, knowing rescuing people was more urgent. The noise from below grew louder.

When Liang Jing reached the ground floor lobby, Yang Yuyuan and the pockmarked man emerged from their rooms, bleary-eyed, clearly startled from sleep by the commotion. The young women, clad in thin clothes, were panic-stricken.

“What’s going on?” Yang Yuyuan, who had just fallen asleep, asked in confusion, still groggy.

“I suspect someone’s up to something. The heavy scent of blood has attracted nearby monsters. Now we’re in real trouble,” Liang Jing replied, his gaze drifting to a room by the staircase on the second floor—the middle-aged guard’s room.

Only the guards had not come downstairs. Everyone suspected something was wrong with them; the noise was too loud for them not to have woken up. Perhaps they simply didn’t dare come down, harboring guilty secrets.

But now there was no time to confront them. The wooden boards nailed to the windows that afternoon could no longer hold; mutated monsters were about to break in. The security bars barely held back the larger beasts, but it was only a matter of time before those too were destroyed.

“If only we hadn’t screamed at first, revealing ourselves to the monsters. Things might not have gotten so bad. Now we have to find something to barricade the door.”

Looking at the girls, ashamed and anxious, Liang Jing felt bitterly frustrated.

“Yes, yes! Everyone, move the tables, sofas, and beds over here. Bring the wardrobes and anything else from the rooms,” Yang Yuyuan urged, realizing the gravity of the situation and having no time to interrogate the guards.

Eight people sprang into action, working in groups to move furniture and block the doors leading to the lobby.

With a thud, the boards on the window finally gave way. Mutated mosquitoes slipped through the steel security bars, shattered the glass, and burst into the room, immediately heading for the door.

“Kill!”

Liang Jing was the first to react, grabbing his short knife and darting forward. In the dim room, a flash of silver shone, and a mutated mosquito fell dead at his feet.

The lighting inside was poor. Even those who had awakened could not match Liang Jing’s vision; they could only rely on hearing to sense the approach of the monsters.

“This is bad. It's too dark—we can’t fight the monsters at all. Yang Yuyuan, start a fire. We can’t worry about attracting monsters now. Hurry! Light it near the wall by the room’s door, or we’ll all die here.” There was no other choice; Yang Yuyuan was skilled with fire and could start one quickly.

The short knife in Liang Jing’s hand never stopped, hacking at the mutated mosquitoes near the door. Thankfully, the door wasn't large, and although the darkness hampered his strength, Liang Jing could still manage, his defenses impenetrable to the mosquitoes, who fell one by one.

At Liang Jing’s urging, Yang Yuyuan quickly got the fire going. Liang Jing had chosen the spot to minimize the firelight’s attraction, but inevitably, the monsters would be drawn to it even more wildly. They were not afraid of fire; their experience told them that wherever there was light, there was food.

It was a necessary evil—there was no visibility in the pitch-black room, and fighting monsters was impossible otherwise.

Listening to the monstrous cries and shouts from below, the middle-aged guard dared not go downstairs to see what was happening. Only in this cramped room did he feel a sliver of safety, yet his mood grew ever more euphoric.

Die, die—all of you must die, and die horribly. “Heh heh… ga ga…” His laughter grew increasingly sinister, morphing into the chilling cackle of a horror movie villain.

The other three guards instinctively shrank back, the eerie sound sending chills down their spines and making them feel as if they’d fallen into a ghostly abyss. The man before them, Old Li, seemed more and more unfamiliar—and terrifying.

Outside, the steel security bars finally succumbed to the relentless onslaught of mutated monsters, collapsing with a crash. Though their intelligence was low, unable to dismantle the bars properly, their thick-skinned, frenzied battering, tearing, and gnawing were unstoppable, and the wall itself was nearly tunneled through.

“Ah…”

“Ya…”

Hearing the cries behind him, Liang Jing’s brows furrowed in annoyance, though his hand never paused. Infused with superhuman strength, his blade flashed with cold light and a mournful wail—the death knell for the mutated mosquitoes, whose blood splattered across the room.

A quick glance showed that the barricade of cabinets, sofas, beds, and other items was almost complete, sealing the door. He looked at the flood of monsters pouring in through the window, then bent his knees, pushed off with all his strength, and leaped like a leopard through a gap above the barricade.

Under the astonished gaze of everyone, Liang Jing rolled across the lobby to dissipate the impact, rising smoothly, his movements free and fluid.

Is he a martial arts master? Is this a movie? the others wondered.

Liang Jing paid them no mind, rushing to slay the mosquitoes slipping through the gap. He didn’t think the barricade would last long, but he had no intention of sealing himself in a cramped room with endless monsters, only to become a skeleton in moments; he was not so noble as Dong Cunrui or Huang Jiguang.

If it came to it—if the situation became untenable—he would escape alone. He had no obligation to risk his life for their safety.

Buzzing, chittering, hissing—inside, the monsters, instead of attacking the barricade like the mosquitoes, began feasting on the dead mosquitoes’ corpses, occasionally squabbling and shrieking in protest. Many mosquitoes had fallen to Liang Jing’s blade, and the air was thick with blood.

“Ya…”

“Wow… these monsters really eat anything.”

Hearing the cheers, the others crowded closer, peering through the cracks at the scene inside. Liang Jing, slashing at the invading mosquitoes, frowned. This was only the beginning. How many corpses could there be? They would be eaten in moments, and the monsters would turn on them again. There was little reason to rejoice.

Watching the monsters fight over the remains, Liang Jing considered whether now was the time to escape.

“Yuyuan, what about climbing out a window to escape?”

For himself, this would be the best option, relatively safe.

“No—we have mutated mosquitoes right behind us. Without walls as barriers, we’d be killed by the monsters.” Yang Yuyuan wasn’t stupid; he knew that with so many people, their chances were slim, and the mosquitoes had never stopped coming.

“Kill!”

Liang Jing gritted his teeth, shouted, and swung his blade, slashing, hacking, every blow lethal. He could only do his utmost to help them. If it became impossible, he would leave. He was not so self-sacrificing; these people weren’t worth risking his life for—there was no such bond.

Crack… creak, clatter, crash—

The barricade of cabinets, sofas, and furniture before the door collapsed, destroyed far sooner than Liang Jing had anticipated.