Chapter Twenty-Two: Disturbance

"Yeah, I was afraid I'd pee too far and splash you all over," Liu Chang replied, twisting his neck sharply twice to shake off the other's grip. He frowned and said nothing more.

The man, surprised by Liu Chang's strength—how easily he'd shaken him off, as if tossing away a woman—chose not to provoke him further.

The two walked in silence, side by side, until they reached the restroom.

Dawn was just breaking, and few people were awake yet; the restroom area was cold and deserted. Inside, Liu Chang leaned against the door, unzipped, and used a bottle to relieve himself.

"What an idiot, still using a bottle—what, want to drink it later?" the man muttered after glancing at Liu Chang, then picked a urinal at random and began his own morning business.

The sound of urine hitting the porcelain echoed with sharp splatters, and the man’s face relaxed in relief.

Liu Chang finished first, stepped over to the urinal to pour out his bottle—when, at that very instant, as he reached out to empty it and the other man was still enjoying his relief, disaster erupted.

A tentacle shot out from the drain beneath the urinal, snapping the stopper right off. With undiminished force, it lunged at the unsuspecting man, and before he could register the danger, it pierced through his genitals with a sickening swish and burrowed into his lower abdomen.

Liu Chang, bottle in hand and about to pour, recoiled in horror and leapt away, spinning and sprinting to the doorway in a few quick strides. His footsteps were accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream from the man behind him.

"Aaaah—!"

The shrill, agonizing scream reverberated through the entire floor. But even before the sound had fully escaped, the little girl in the dormitory shot out of bed and raced for the door.

"What happened?" the fat man shouted after her, raising his voice above the wailing in the hall.

"I just detected a creature with a danger rating of twelve, right by the restroom!" she called back, running as she spoke. Li Qingshui and the others, hearing her, rushed to follow.

Once outside, they trailed the girl to the restroom door and heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Liu Chang standing there unharmed, staring into the room.

"What happened?" the fat man craned his neck, trying to peer inside, the screaming apparently stirring some unpleasant memory.

"Don't go in." Liu Chang pulled him back, pointing at the crack in the door. "There's a monster."

Following Liu Chang's gesture, the group peered through the narrow gap and caught a glimpse of something revolting. Fortunately, their imperfect eyesight spared them details; all they could make out was a haze of blood-mist and chunks of flesh being dragged down the drain.

"Damn it!" the fat man's face twisted in anger at the scene.

"Is it the same type of monster?" Liu Chang referred, of course, to the incident with the fat man's mother.

"No, that one was darker in color, its tentacles far less sharp, and it didn’t quite look the same," the fat man replied, shaking his head. "As long as you're alright."

"I'm fine. I used the bottle," Liu Chang sighed, tossing the "water bottle" he hadn't yet discarded into the restroom. It clattered to the floor with a crisp bang.

That noise immediately attracted the attention of the tentacle, which was still busy dragging flesh. In less than a blink, the powerful appendage smashed the bottle into a spray of plastic fragments.

"Good thing that thing can't reach this far, or we'd be finished," Li Qingshui remarked from behind Liu Chang, watching in awe. "Its reflexes are incredible, so quick and strong. I'd love to see what the creature looks like in full. Anyone caught by surprise wouldn't stand a chance."

"Exactly. The poor guy only realized he was being attacked once the pain hit," Liu Chang recalled. "Unfortunately, by the time he tried to react, it was already too late—he was torn apart."

He stopped, noticing the approach of others—familiar faces.

The dead man’s family arrived, just moments behind Li Qingshui and the rest. Recognizing their loved one’s cry, they’d hurried over, but lacking the girl’s senses, they’d taken longer to trace the scream through the foggy world.

Their reactions, however, were much more intense than those who’d arrived earlier.

Peering through the slightly ajar restroom door, they caught a glimpse of the aftermath. The monster had nearly finished hauling away the flesh, leaving only scraps of clothing and blood behind.

But from the sounds they'd heard and the familiar fabric, they could piece together what had happened.

So the dead man's brother's first reaction was to step forward and grab Liu Chang by the collar. "What did you do to my brother?"

"A tentacled monster came out of the drain and killed him," Liu Chang replied, shoving the man away—no one likes being spoken to while someone has them by the collar.

The man, however, didn’t let go after the first push, which irritated Liu Chang even more. He shoved harder, intent on freeing himself. The struggle ripped Liu Chang’s T-shirt collar, exposing the necklace of finger bones underneath.

Seeing the necklace only deepened Liu Chang’s annoyance. He pointed at the restroom. "If you want revenge for your brother, be my guest—the monster’s still in there, probably hasn’t gone far. What good is grabbing me?"

Faced with Liu Chang’s outburst, the brother squinted at the strange necklace and glanced toward the restroom, but in the end, he dared not enter.

While Liu Chang argued with the brother, the mother was wailing on the ground, tears streaming down her face.

"Xiaogang, oh Xiaogang..." The old woman sat on the floor, her grief all too real—a mother mourning her lost son, a pain not easily borne.

But as Liu Chang watched her, his irritation grew. Her cries were too loud. The emotion was genuine, but the volume was purposeful.

Sure enough, within a minute, the earlier screams combined with her wailing drew a crowd from the floor. People gathered around, eyeing the grieving woman with various expressions.

Some asked what had happened, some looked on with sympathy, others stood apart in silence, and a few noticed the blood trails leading from the restroom.

"Let’s go," Liu Chang whispered, tugging at the girl and signaling the others to leave, as the crowd grew and the old woman’s sobs filled the hallway. A sense of foreboding crept over him.