Chapter 2
CRACK.
A pair of bare feet stepped into the pool of blood. The foul liquid splashed, snapping Li Xia from his thoughts.
His gaze traveled upward from the filthy, thin feet.
A chill shot down his spine. His chestnut-colored pupils contracted.
A hunched figure stood in the doorway. Its eyes were bloodshot and bulging, its canines unnaturally elongated. A low, wet 'ho… ho…' rasped from its open mouth.
It stared at him like he was the most delicious dessert.
Li Xia's own mouth fell open slightly. The cold air, thick with the stench of blood, rushed into his lungs.
He understood now. He understood the mission, and he understood the monster before him.
A demon.
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The demon wasn't tall, maybe just over five feet. A cheap, stained kimono hung loose on its emaciated frame.
Li Xia slowly adjusted his stance, desperately scraping his memory for everything he knew about these creatures.
Without any warning, the pool of blood at the demon's feet exploded. Foul liquid sprayed the wall in chilling streaks.
The demon was thin, but its speed was terrifying. Before the disturbed blood could settle, its grotesque face was already inches from his.
Drool dripped from a jaw that unhinged to an impossible width, and it lunged to bite.
Li Xia's arm shot up to block.
CLANG!
His raised elbow struck the iron pot hanging from the ceiling. White-hot pain flashed through his arm, forcing him to yank it back—just as the gaping maw snapped shut on empty air.
In the same instant, the demon's lunge carried it headfirst into the swaying pot.
THUD.
The pot fit over its head with a sickening, symmetrical perfection.
The chain holding the pot was sturdy. The demon was flung up like a pendulum, then swung back down, crashing hard onto the blood-slicked floor.
Li Xia stared, stunned, but shock was a luxury he couldn't afford.
There's no time. He didn't even check his status panel.
Get to the street. This room is a death trap.
He spun toward the door, then froze, his face paling.
Outside was an open field. The nearest house was hundreds of meters away across moonlit, water-logged farmland.
Running across that muddy expanse would be suicide.
Li Xia took a sharp breath. His heart hammered against his ribs. His body was stiff, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
But he was calming down.This was just adrenaline. Just chemistry.
There's no escape.
He licked his dry lips, turned back into the room, and scanned his surroundings.
His eyes landed on a rusty axe.He grabbed it, feeling the rough grain of the handle bite into his palms as he tightened his grip.
He stepped forward.
SPLAT— Blood sprayed, blooming in crimson flowers on the wall.
THUMP— His footsteps grew firmer. The fear began to recede, buried under a rising, singular focus. Something inside him stirred awake.
His body trembled again, but now with a burning heat. His ears roared. His blood pounded in his veins.
SCRAPE—SCRAPE— Two thin arms braced against the iron pot from within. With a grating, nails-on-stone sound, the demon began to wrench the pot free, revealing the lower half of its face—raw, bloody, and snarling.
Li Xia gritted his teeth. Every muscle coiled. He swung the axe in a wide, desperate arc, aiming for the neck beneath the pot's rim.
THUNK. The blade bit deep into flesh, carving a diagonal gash halfway through the neck before jamming against bone.
Blood fountained, painting the ceiling in a fresh, arterial red.
Screeching in agony, the demon finally tore the pot free with a violent jerk.
Damn it! Missed the kill.
Li Xia strained to pull the axe free, but the pain had ignited the demon's fury. It shrieked, swiping clawed hands at his face. The black nails sliced the air with a venomous hiss.
Li Xia jerked back, raising his arm.
The blade-like claws tore through his sleeve and into the muscle beneath.
Blood instantly soaked the fabric, spreading in a dark stain.
The pain didn't paralyze him. It shattered the last barrier of hesitation.
As if breaking a chain, Li Xia's nostrils flared. He panted, his eyes streaked with red.
The demon smelled the fresh blood and went into a frenzy. Maddened by hunger, it charged on pure instinct.
Li Xia raised his arms again to block the onslaught. The claws dug deeper. In the corner of his vision, his red health bar dipped noticeably.
Forget the bar.
Acting on instinct, he grabbed the charging creature and used its momentum, throwing it to the ground in a clumsy grapple.
SPLASH. They landed together in the pool of cold blood, churning it into a foul soup.
Li Xia scrambled, getting behind it, locking an arm around its neck from the back, and hauling backward with all his strength, bending the creature into a painful arch.
Maybe it was a new demon, not yet fortified by human flesh. Maybe it had been weak in life. In their brutal struggle, Li Xia realized with a spike of hope—it wasn't stronger than him.
They strained in a deadly stalemate. Then, a sickening series of pops and cracks came from the neck he was choking. To his horror, the demon's head rotated 180 degrees to face him.
Li Xia barely twisted his own neck away in time. The demon's jaws snapped shut, not on his throat, but on his shoulder.
GULP. A disgusting swallowing sound. It was drinking his blood.
Almost instantly, Li Xia felt its strength increase. The bloody wounds on its face hissed, white smoke rising as the flesh began to knit itself back together.
Terrifying absorption. Terrifying healing.
Li Xia's brown eyes, reflecting the blood around them, seemed to burn with a red light of their own.
With a sharp cry, he twisted his body, planted a foot on the demon's back, and endured the searing pain in his shoulder. He tightened his stranglehold, every muscle in his torso straining.
CRACK—CRACK—
The demon convulsed as if electrocuted. Its shriek died in a gurgle. Its wildly rolling eyes lost focus.
With one final, brutal heave, accompanied by a wet, tearing sound, Li Xia wrenched the axe free from where it was lodged.
CLANG. The axe fell to the floor.
Li Xia released the demon, plunged his hand into the bloody muck, retrieved the axe, raised it high with both hands, and brought it down on the twitching form before him. Again. And again.
THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
When awareness returned, his hands were shaking too violently to hold the axe. He stumbled back, every ounce of strength gone.
Under the moonlight, a form lay silent on the ground, its upper torso a ruin of pulp and splintered bone.
It might not be dead, but it had reached its limit.
"Heh. Ha… Hahaha. Cough! Coughcoughcough!"
Thank the gods it was a new demon. Thank the gods it was weak in life. Thank the gods for the axe.
But I won. I won!
Li Xia covered his mouth, coughing violently, though every part of him screamed in protest.
But he felt it—an indescribable, fierce joy. He wanted to shout it to the sky.
God, I could use a cigarette.
Only then did he notice the line of text flashing in his peripheral vision. Typical. Checking the strategy guide after the boss fight.
Exhausted but strangely calm, he willed his personal panel to appear.
Name: Li Xia
Rank:Tier 1 - Provisional Agent
Health:26.74% (Healing Rate +200%)
Spirit:43.47%
Physical Assessment:1 (Baseline Carbon-Based Lifeform)
Strength:4 (Governs physical power)
Agility:5 (Governs attack speed, reflexes, and coordination)
Intelligence:6 (Governs analytical reasoning and complex pattern recognition)
Spirit:5 (Governs willpower and mental resilience)
Constitution:5 (Governs stamina, healing, and overall endurance)
Luck:0 (Influences probability of stochastic events and their outcomes)
Note: Attributes are calibrated for an average adult human male in a standard Earth environment (22% O2, 1G). Average baseline is 5.
Skills: None
Equipment:None
Personal Storage:0.5 cubic meters
Innate Ability:??? (Locked. Will unlock upon trial completion.)
The other attributes were expected. Li Xia's gaze stuck on Luck: 0. He was silent for a long moment.
So it's official. I really am unlucky.
There has to be a way to improve this in the Hall,he thought, clinging to the hope.
Finally, he focused on the new notification.
[Mission: Survive Until Sunrise — COMPLETED]
[Rating: Unexpectedly Excellent]
Li Xia's brows slowly drew together at the assessment.
As an experienced strategy writer trained to spot subtle clues, a question immediately formed.
'Unexpectedly' excellent? Why 'unexpectedly'?