Jin returned to his room, ate something simple, and the time gradually approached evening.
At night, the entire building quieted down, especially the hallway inside, which was pitch black and saw nothing.
Jin opened his door and quietly stepped into the corridor, holding a lamp that barely covered its light, and followed the wall to the room at the end.
Outside the door, the corridor was blocked by two large sofas placed crisscross from each other, forming a cross that blocked the way.
Jin approached to inspect and found that the two sofas were not completely blocking the passage; a slight move could allow someone to pass through, and the lock on the room's door behind the sofas was also broken, merely kept ajar.
He pondered in his mind, but it was not surprising since it was a place for handling corpses and no one would specifically come here to "explore."
He quietly manipulated Fidex to move the sofas aside, trying not to alert anyone else, and Jin reached the door, quietly pushing it open.
The room was pitch dark, and as he entered, he immediately smelled a blend of blood and rotten stench infiltrating his nose, which was extremely unpleasant.
He frowned, then closed the door, and removed the cloth covering the lamp, illuminating the room with the lamp light.
The room was messy, all useful items had already been moved, and large furniture was pushed to one side, emptying the living room, with traces of bloodstains remaining on the floor, dragging toward the direction of the balcony.
The balcony was the place where the corpses were thrown out, and Jin controlled Fidex to walk there, with thick fog outside the tightly closed balcony window.
The anti-theft windows in the mist were faintly visible, mostly dismantled, and the remaining parts were also stained with blood.
"Go out and look," he commanded.
Jin gave the order, then Fidex opened the sliding window to the floor, the fog swirling outside, showing no signs of entering, sending out a strange air.
Fidex flipped out, landing with a thump, and suddenly Jin's expression changed.
Where was the body?
There wasn't a single corpse where Fidex had landed, let alone the remains of a corpse.
All it discovered in the mist was large patches of scattered flesh and remains of limbs.
Jin felt a chill at his back, his heart tightened, There is something in the fog consuming the bodies.
Within the deep of the night, the fog in his eyes became particularly terrifying.
"Come back," he immediately called Fidex back, directed it to return to the Crimson Book through the window, and he too hastily left the house to return to his own room.
In his room, Jin cast the lamp aside, and the light subtly brightened the room.
The plan was disrupted, and realizing that even more terrifying monsters existed around Building Seven, his mood was naturally not good.
"The community's issue is not just about the cap on resources anymore. There's definitely more than one monster in the mist. This iron gate might not hold well."
Jin's expression was serious as he contemplated the next plan, knowing the community was not a place to stay long term.
He had anticipated this from the beginning, accepting Mark and his wife, helping Simon, were all in planning for a team foundation.
If he planned to leave Building Seven, then it was not possible to rely on just one person to forcefully exit.
However, his plan was now interrupted.
The mist was a barrier, and he dared not venture out easily for a while, let alone now with monsters outside, the risk of going out had greatly increased.
"Strength," Jin tapped his fingers on his knee, leaning on the sofa. "Building Seven has a total of twenty floors. Today Josh and his team cleared up from the seventh floor, and even at their fastest they wouldn't reach the tenth floor. There are still ten floors certainly filled with corpses, probably enough to attempt a Fusion of level two Zombie Flesh.
Although it would expose some abilities, it's better than getting killed by monsters."
---
The next morning, Simon came early to Jin's room, with a serious expression, he said in a low voice, "Jin, we need to be careful."
Seeing Simon's expression, Jin's gaze sharpened, and he asked solemnly, "What happened?"
"It's hard to say," Simon shook his head slightly. "Last night, there were faint sounds at my door, very quiet, almost unnoticeable—it was someone deliberately treading lightly. Luckily, I used to worry about fuel theft at night and don't sleep deeply, so I was able to notice. I suspect it had something to do with yesterday's supplies being targeted."
Jin was tense for no reason, and while it turned out to be nothing serious, what Simon mentioned was worth considering—precautions still needed to be taken.
"We'll have to take turns keeping watch at night, and make sure the goods are safe for now."
"I agree."
Soon, Mark and Lisa also came over to discuss, and all four agreed to take turns on night-watch duty.
The four of them took turns; Jin was first, followed by Simon, then Mark and Lisa.
Although it was a night-watch, it didn't mean staying up all night without sleep—they weren't in the wilderness, so they could use their Summons as a substitute, as long as they didn't sleep too soundly.
After discussing, they had just finished eating.
Thump, thump, thump
Suddenly, the door was knocked, and a voice came from outside, "Is Brother Jin there? As usual, everyone will meet at the first floor soon; come join us."
The voice belonged to a member of the security team, and Jin responded, "We'll be there soon."
The four of them quickly got ready, secured the door, and then went down to the lobby on the first floor.
This was the first time Jin and his group got a good look at the other survivors in the building. In the not-so-spacious lobby, about thirty people of various ages stood in a circle, each with an uneasy and worried expression.
Three days had already made it clear to them the direness of their situation: monsters and mist had abruptly disrupted their lives, signaling dangers lurking close by.
"Yesterday, we came across seven survivors; you all can get to know each other a bit, see if you can help each other with anything," Nathan, upon seeing Jin and his group arrive, announced to the crowd. "We have now cleared up to the tenth floor of Building Seven; only ten more floors to go.
According to our rule, who's joining the cleaning today, and then forming a Contract with a Summon?"
"Nathan, I'll sign up. I still have seven bags of instant noodles." A fair arm shot up, contrasting with the brooding, furrowed-brow crowd next to her.
The speaker was a young woman with short hair, a little over twenty. As she raised her hand, her gaze met Nathan's, a mix of determination and unmistakable fear.
Nathan merely glanced at her and nodded. "Alright, you're in. Anyone else?"
"Me, count me in; I have a few dried rations left."
With one taking the lead, a few more people gradually stepped forward—one a dark-skinned, round-faced middle-aged man with an honest look; another, a tall, thin young man in his twenties with slightly sunken cheeks and a gloomy gaze, although agreeing to join the squad, was clearly disgruntled about the cost; the last two were a middle-aged couple in their early forties, appearing somewhat calmer.
The short-haired woman was named Nina, the round-faced man was George, the young man was Wade, and the couple were Yates and Sheila.
Five people were set to join the exploration team. After counting the numbers, Nathan sent his subordinates to collect food from them. For those who had no food, they would register and receive an extra day's rations—of course, deducted from their gains through exploration or labor.
"Brother, what's going on here?" Beside Jin, Simon quietly handed a cigarette to Frank, hugging his shoulder and whispering.
Frank appeared surprised, smiled, and said, "It's a rule set by Nathan; it's also like everyone's watching out for each other."
"What do you mean?"
Frank tucked the cigarette behind his ear—not a good time to smoke among many people, but he'd take a drag when things calmed down.
"That day the Eye appeared, actually not many people took action to kill the monsters. Nathan, I, and Zack, by chance, formed a Contract with Summons, as well as Josh and a few others. Later, when we started clearing the floors, there were too many monsters and not enough people.
Nathan then let us who had formed Contracts help those wanting to form one by subduing the Zombie; they would kill it themselves and then form a Contract in exchange for giving three days' food to the helpers," Frank explained.
Jin and Simon understood immediately—it was just like when Jin had helped Simon kill his Zombie.
As they talked, Nathan approached Jin. "I have something I'd like to discuss with you."