Chapter 54 - 52: Breaking the Stalemate

Chapter 54: Chapter 52: Breaking the Stalemate

And the whole time, not a drop of blood was shed!

"Will she die?"

All eyes were glued to the little girl, bulging as if they would pop right out.

And then...

The little girl took a step forward.

No.

To be precise, the red embroidered shoes were walking, taking the little girl with them.

TAP TAP TAP.

Just like that, she walked step by step toward the second floor and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

???

Everyone was dumbfounded. What did this mean?

’She survived?’

"I’m all right now, big sister!"

The little girl’s voice came from upstairs.

WHOOSH.

Everyone exhaled in unison, the sound of their collective relief startlingly loud.

"We still can’t move. Does this mean everyone has to wear the red embroidered shoes and go to the second floor to survive?"

Zhao Xianghe voiced the very guess they had all been dreading.

TAP TAP TAP.

The terrifying sound rang out again.

The red embroidered shoes came walking down from the second floor.

Everyone’s expression turned grim.

It was always what one feared most that came to pass.

"Xia Yu, what do we do now?"

Zhao Xianghe looked at Xia Yu and asked urgently.

The others all looked over as well.

"I don’t know."

Xia Yu shook her head. She too was pondering a solution.

"Think of something, quickly."

"It... It’s fixed on me."

At this moment, all traces of Wang Lin’s earlier mockery toward Xia Yu were gone, as was the lecherous smirk he’d worn when wanting to use an AI undressing tool on her. All that remained was a face etched in pure terror.

"I’m begging you."

"Save me, save me!"

He pressed his palms together and bowed frantically toward Xia Yu, his face a mask of desperation. "As long as you save me, I’ll give you the few... few thousand yuan I have on me. It’s my entire life savings."

Everyone: "..."

’This isn’t the time for snark, but seriously? A few thousand yuan to save your life?’

’So stingy!’

Zhao Xianghe, who was standing nearby, piped up, "Old Wang, isn’t your family pretty wealthy?"

"Fuck."

"You son of a bitch."

Wang Lin instantly flew into a rage. "Selling out your own brother at a time like this? Zhao Xianghe, you’ll come to a bad end!"

Zhao Xianghe had an apologetic look on his face.

As if he had just realized that what he said could very well get his brother killed.

"Xia Yu, I’ll give you 500,000! No! 1,000,000! That’s enough, isn’t it?"

"For God’s sake, just say something! I’m begging you!"

Wang Lin’s foot was forced into the air. He hastily kicked off his shoe, watching in horror as his foot moved inexorably toward the red embroidered shoes. He screamed, "I wear a size 44! I’ll die if you try to stuff my foot in there!"

SOB...

He was scared to tears.

"Xia Yu."

"He took your picture. He wanted to use an AI undressing tool to see your naked body."

Zhao Xianghe’s voice rang out again.

Because of the incident with Chu Quan, Xia Yu was particularly disgusted by AI undressing tools. Hearing Zhao Xianghe’s words, her expression instantly turned ice-cold.

"This..."

Beside Zhao Xianghe, there was another surviving friend named Li Haoran. At this moment, it was as if he was meeting Zhao Xianghe for the first time.

He never imagined that the normally gentle and refined Zhao Xianghe would stab his own brother in the back at such a crucial moment.

’But why?’

"You fu—"

Wang Lin completely lost it. He was about to curse Zhao Xianghe out, but when he saw his foot was only a fist’s length away from the red embroidered shoes, he whipped his head toward Xia Yu and pleaded, "Xia Yu, don’t listen to his nonsense!"

"Please, save me."

"I’m begging you."

Xia Yu was silent.

"AHHH!"

A heart-rending scream tore through the air.

A chill went down many people’s spines, and they couldn’t stop themselves from trembling.

Wang Lin continued to beg for help.

Xia Yu remained silent.

Finally, realizing he was truly going to die, Wang Lin dropped all pretenses and began to curse, "You fucking bitch! I won’t let you go, not even as a ghost!"

"And you, Zhao Xianghe, it seems you know about me and your ex-girlfriend."

"Let me tell you, she came on to me! She said you were no good, that you couldn’t satisfy her! Ha ha..."

Looks of dawning realization spread across the onlookers’ faces.

"Shut up."

Zhao Xianghe’s face turned crimson, and he completely lost his composure.

"Haha."

Wang Lin laughed maniacally and continued his taunts. "You three-second wonder! No wonder you don’t have the guts to go after Xia Yu. You probably figure that even if you landed a girlfriend that beautiful, you wouldn’t be able to hold on to her."

"You’d still end up getting cuckolded."

"Haha."

His laughter grew fainter and fainter, until it disappeared completely.

"Serves him right!"

Zhao Xianghe cursed with a venomous expression, "All the cheating men and women in the world deserve to die, they all deserve to die."

For his girlfriend to sleep with another man is a humiliation for anyone.

The reason he didn’t make a big deal out of it at the time was because it would have been useless, and it would have been bad for everyone’s reputation.

He might even have gotten beaten up by Wang Lin; after all, Wang Lin was big and strong, while he was rather skinny.

So, he had endured it, nursing a grudge in his heart.

Looking for a chance for revenge.

Now, he finally got his chance.

Suddenly, the corpse of the heavily made-up woman twitched!

Zhao Xianghe immediately shut his mouth.

Everyone’s expression changed drastically.

Xia Yu wasn’t worried at all, because for a human to become a Mutant, blood was a necessary condition.

The blood in the heavily made-up woman’s body was completely dried up, not a single drop remaining, making it impossible for her to become a Mutant. Right now, she was only showing signs of transformation; her eyes couldn’t turn bloodshot, and she couldn’t take that final step.

Xia Yu’s attention was on the rule mist. ’It’s crept another half-meter into the Treasure House. If this keeps up, we’ll be enveloped by it sooner or later.’

The rules of the rule mist were changing; the previous rules would no longer apply.

Who knew what would happen if one were enveloped by it?

They absolutely could not risk finding out firsthand.

They must leave the first floor as soon as possible.

The situation was critical.

TAP TAP TAP.

The sound of footsteps rang out again.

The red embroidered shoes came to a stop in front of Xie Shaokun.

"Yu, save me!"

Xie Shaokun prepared to take off his shoes, extremely nervous.

Even though he knew Yu would have a solution, he was still panicking as he looked at the tiny, three-inch red embroidered shoes before him. It was a primal fear of the mystical. At the same time, he was cursing inwardly, ’Foot-binding was such a vile custom.’

’A vile custom!’

"Use your hands."

Xia Yu stated the solution she had just thought of.

Everyone’s eyes lit up, and they looked at Xie Shaokun expectantly.

Xie Shaokun didn’t hesitate at all, directly putting both his hands into the red embroidered shoes.

Compared to feet, hands are smaller and can also be curled up smaller.

Even so, Xie Shaokun felt his hands being squeezed so hard they were starting to deform. But at any rate, it was a solution.

"Yu, thank you."

He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "With you here, I feel much safer."

Xia Yu replied coolly, "I have no idea if this method will work. Save your thanks for after you survive."

Xie Shaokun’s eyes widened. A chill shot up from the soles of his feet straight to his Heavenly Spirit Cover.

The next moment.

Everyone’s hearts were in their throats as they prayed, ’He has to make it. He has to make it.’

Since this method was their one hope for survival, they were all desperate for it to work.

In other words, his life and death were directly related to everyone else’s lives!

THUD.

The red embroidered shoes stepped out.

Xie Shaokun was dragged forward. His feet lifted off the ground; only his hands were no longer under his control.

’It worked!’

WHOOSH.

Only then did everyone finally breathe a true sigh of relief. In fact, they now found themselves eager to be chosen by the red embroidered shoes.

Because they were still worried the woman with heavy makeup would turn into a monster and pounce on them!

"What’s it like inside the red embroidered shoes?"

Xia Yu’s voice rang out.

Xie Shaokun quickly responded: "There’s no blood inside the red embroidered shoes, not even the smell of blood."

Xia Yu raised a delicate eyebrow.

’So the blood was absorbed, after all?’

The Ghost Clan are formless and cannot consume blood.

Therefore, she could be sure that the Ghost Clan was not responsible for the current situation.

After that, the red embroidered shoes took the others to the second floor, one by one.

The other three corpses also began to twitch, scaring the people who hadn’t gone up to the second floor so much they trembled and didn’t dare to breathe.

Xia Yu was the third to last to be targeted by the red embroidered shoes.

While she was on her way to the second floor, one person was enveloped by the rule mist, followed by a shrill scream, and then silence.

’Entering the rule mist means death!’

’This is the new rule!’

’And yet, before the red embroidered shoes appeared, someone ran into the rule mist and didn’t die. That means this new rule was just established.’

Xia Yu was lost in thought.

The red embroidered shoes also seemed to be afraid of the rule mist, not daring to enter it.

After it dragged the last living person to the second floor, it automatically dissipated.

By now, the rule mist had already consumed most of the first floor, leaving only a ten-foot-square patch of clear space.

After the corpses of the heavily made-up woman and the others were enveloped, they too became motionless.

’The rule mist will continue to spread.’

’The second floor isn’t safe either.’

’The danger has only been temporarily averted.’

Xia Yu quickly analyzed the situation. ’It’s basically certain that the rules within the mist have changed. This is remarkably similar to a phenomenon I heard about in my past life.’

’When a space enveloped by rule mist forms new rules due to unknown reasons, it increases the probability of rule-based resources appearing!’

’The more numerous and complex the new rules, the higher the chance of these resources appearing.’

’Moreover, the process of new rules forming can also help me rapidly improve my own understanding of rules.’

At this moment, she was filled with anticipation.

"Xia Yu."

"Back when Wang Lin was targeted by the red embroidered shoes, had you already thought of the method of using hands instead of feet?"

Zhao Xianghe leaned in and asked.

Xia Yu glanced at him and retorted, "Take a guess."

Zhao Xianghe: "..."

’Worrying about something like that at a time like this... you’ve really got some nerve.’

’Let’s just focus on surviving first!’

Xia Yu retracted her gaze, not bothering to engage with him.

Zhao Xianghe gave a dry laugh and was about to say more.

"Yu, something’s wrong!"

"That little girl, the first one who went up... something seems... something seems wrong with her."

"You should come see, quick."

Xie Shaokun’s voice rang out.

Xia Yu’s expression tightened, and she strode over...