"Rip."
"Twenty-third."
Fang Ming looked at the torn fabric doll on the ground, silently counting the number. He had now reached the second floor of the eighteenth floor. Like the first floor, opening doors here only revealed a few large toads, and the only other monsters were these gray resentment dolls.
"I can feel a lot of resentment accumulating in the tentacles. Perhaps when it reaches a certain threshold, it will undergo some qualitative change." Fang Ming excitedly touched his tentacles, wondering what they would eventually become.
"Continue."
Fang Ming turned and left the room, continuing to explore other rooms.
Meanwhile, Lao Liu and his group were still wandering on the third floor, following the compass back and forth, but they hadn't even seen a shadow of a monster, let alone a resentment gathering bead.
"Is this compass of yours even working? We've been wandering this floor for an hour!" the man in the jacket said irritably. For some reason, as the sky gradually darkened, a growing sense of fear filled him, as if the building was about to come alive.
The usually steady Lao Liu was also a little nervous. He felt the same as the man in the jacket; the building felt increasingly dangerous. If the reward hadn't been so substantial, he would have abandoned the mission and run.
"Stop shouting. Aren't I looking for it? This monster is carrying the resentment gathering bead and running around, completely stalling for time. We have to find it immediately." Lao Liu's eyes were fixed on the compass, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The compass needle continued to shake, and the unknown monster was still moving rapidly!
Their group couldn't keep up with the monster's speed. If they didn't find a solution, they would only be played like monkeys, just as they were now.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Suddenly, the compass needle strangely stopped.
Lao Liu exclaimed in surprise, and the man in the jacket quickly asked, "What is it?"
"Look." Lao Liu handed the compass to the man in the jacket. "The needle stopped. The monster suddenly stopped moving."
The man in the jacket was overjoyed. "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
The group moved in a large formation towards the target.
At this time, Fang Ming also arrived on the third floor. He casually dealt with a strange fiend hiding in the dark. This fiend looked like a gecko with a broken tail, with six clawed hands like a human's. Its head was somewhat human-like, but very ugly.
"What is this thing? Crawling on the ceiling all sneaky."
This was the first time Fang Ming had seen a fiend of this appearance in this building. He had thought there were only dolls and toads here, but he didn't expect a third type.
"There's a bead too?" From the monster's split body, a gray bead the size of a glass ball rolled out. Fang Ming curiously coiled it with his tentacles and observed it under the flashlight. Apart from a strong sense of resentment within it, there was nothing else special.
"No, it can actually absorb external resentment automatically?" Fang Ming was surprised, then regretted, "It's just too slow at absorbing. Otherwise, it could be used as a power bank."
The bead absorbed resentment very slowly. If Fang Ming hadn't been sensitive to changes in resentment at the moment, he would have barely noticed the subtle shift.
However, Fang Ming still put it away. This kind of self-preserving resentment was quite precious. Although the amount was not much, Fang Ming estimated it was equivalent to three dolls. But if he encountered this kind of six-clawed lizard again, accumulating more of these beads would allow him to use it as a "power bank," wouldn't it?
"Tap, tap, tap..." Suddenly, footsteps sounded from the corridor not far away. Fang Ming's heart trembled, thinking a group of fiends was attacking. He quickly hid in a room, found a concealed corner, and watched the door.
"Why are a group of fiends attacking now? Is it because I killed that six-clawed lizard?" Fang Ming calmly stared at the door. If the fiends attacked, they could only come through the door.
"It's in this room." The footsteps stopped in front of the door, and a man's voice sounded from outside.
It was a human? Or a human-like monster? Fang Ming calmly prepared to strike from the shadows, ready for a killing blow.
"Crrk, crrk..." Someone was trying to pick the lock.
"Sixth Master, the door isn't locked. It seems the monster just went in."
"Ready!" Lao Liu gestured, and everyone raised their guns, aiming at the door. Then, Lao Liu repeated his old trick, suddenly kicking the door open and quickly jumping back to avoid any potential surprise attack.
The expected surprise attack did not occur. Lao Liu gestured again, and two of his subordinates, holding flashlights back-to-back, walked in.
Fang Ming, hidden in the shadows, finally saw the "fiends." They were actually a group of humans!
"It seems they are the ones who blasted open the first-floor door," Fang Ming thought. His gaze suddenly fell on the items in the hands of the two entering men, and his heart skipped a beat. "They even have guns!"
Fang Ming was not confident about going head-to-head with these firearms. He could only choose to remain still.
But the room was so small, and the two who entered quickly discovered Fang Ming hiding in the dark.
"Don't... Don't move!" The two were suddenly startled to see a human-sized monster, and their bodies were covered in cold sweat, their guns trembling in their hands.
"I surrender. I'm human, not a monster!" Fang Ming quietly retracted his tentacles, raised his hands, and shouted from the darkness.
Human? The two exchanged glances. There was someone else in this building? What was he doing here?
"You keep an eye on him. I'll report to Sixth Master," one said to the other.
"Okay." The other nodded.
"Be careful," he said, and then cautiously retreated, walking to the door.
"Sixth Master, there's no monster inside, only one person. What should we do? Should we take care of him or..."
"One person?" Lao Liu frowned. How could there be anyone else here? Was it a monster in disguise?
"I'll go in and take a look. Everyone else stays put and keeps a close watch on your surroundings." Lao Liu said to the people around him, then walked into the room and saw Fang Ming, who was illuminated by the flashlight.
Fang Ming had already emerged from the shadows, his hands raised in surrender. Through the crack of the door, he also saw the more than ten people outside.
"Good heavens, it's a good thing I surrendered quickly. Otherwise, these ten guns would have turned me into a sieve," Fang Ming thought, feeling fortunate. However, he still didn't understand their attitude, but he figured they wouldn't kill him so easily.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Lao Liu glanced at the compass. The needle was steadily pointing at Fang Ming. He stared at Fang Ming, trying to find any flaws.
Lao Liu didn't believe that the person who had made his group run around in circles could be a human.
"I saw a hole in the first-floor door, so I curiously came in. I didn't expect to meet you here. You have to save me. There are some strange toads here, and they bite." Fang Ming pretended to be scared.
"You're lying!"
"Bang, bang, bang..." Lao Liu suddenly raised his pistol and fired several shots at Fang Ming. If the resentment gathering bead hadn't been on Fang Ming, Lao Liu might have actually believed him. Anyone who could carry a resentment gathering bead, under any circumstances, could not be such a coward.
"This is really troublesome," Fang Ming said, using his tentacles to block the attack. The hard scales were like a layer of steel plate, stopping the powerful bullets.
"It's a monster after all!" Lao Liu's pupils contracted as he saw Fang Ming's arm. More importantly, this guy could catch bullets with his bare hands!
"I didn't want to conflict with you, but you insisted on attacking." Fang Ming said helplessly. "Then you can't blame me."
He hadn't expected his tentacles to be able to block bullets. He extended his tentacles to block the attack simply because his tentacles were made of fiend flesh and could repair themselves quickly if damaged. He truly hadn't expected their hardness to be able to withstand ordinary firearms.
"Die!" The other party had already shown killing intent towards him, so Fang Ming had nothing to hesitate about. He swung his tentacles to attack.
Lao Liu, seeing this, remained composed, observing Fang Ming's movements, and aiming his shots at the gaps in Fang Ming's attacks.
But Fang Ming's dynamic vision had also become extremely sharp with the appearance of his tentacles. Even though Lao Liu aimed at the gaps in his attacks, he could react quickly and block the attacks.
"Clang!" Lao Liu rolled like a donkey to dodge Fang Ming's whipping tentacles. His cabinet behind him was not so lucky; it was instantly smashed into pieces.
Lao Liu glanced at the cabinet, having a rough idea of Fang Ming's destructive power. He knew that if he took an attack from the monster in front of him, he would either die or be seriously injured!
"What are you standing there for? Shoot!" Lao Liu shouted at his subordinate, who was still in a daze, having been stunned by Fang Ming's sudden transformation.
Fang Ming also heard Lao Liu's command and instantly shifted his attention to the subordinate, whipping his tentacles directly at him.
"Watch out!" Lao Liu shouted in alarm.
The subordinate only saw a tentacle rapidly expanding in his pupils, with no time to react.
"Bang!" The entire head exploded like a watermelon, splattering red and white everywhere. A strong smell of blood spread throughout the room.
"Ugh~" Fang Ming quickly retracted his tentacles, gagging. He hadn't expected the man's head to explode from his tentacle strike; he had thought it would at most send the person flying.
Lao Liu looked at Fang Ming with rage. "You monster, you deserve to die!"
"Bang, bang, bang..." A series of gunshots rang out. Fang Ming forcefully suppressed the nausea in his heart and used his tentacles to block Lao Liu's attacks.
"Come in quickly, everyone, and help me kill this monster!" Lao Liu shouted to the people outside the door.
The people outside had long wanted to check the situation, but without Sixth Master's orders, they wouldn't dare to enter. Now, hearing Lao Liu call them, they rushed in like a swarm.
As soon as they entered, they saw Fang Ming waving his tentacles and immediately raised their guns and began shooting.
Facing so many firearms simultaneously, Fang Ming felt the strain. He scanned the room and his eyes lit up at a sofa not far away.
"Heh!" Fang Ming rolled on the ground, hiding behind the sofa. The others began to shoot wildly at the sofa.
"Yeehaw!" Fang Ming used his tentacles to grab the sofa and throw it at them. Lao Liu and the others quickly stopped shooting and dodged to the sides.
"Thump!" The sofa crashed heavily onto the ground. Fang Ming repeated his tactic, picking up various objects from the ground and throwing them at the men. Then, while they were frantically dodging, he slipped out of the door and fled into the distance.
"Damn it!" Lao Liu and the others scrambled up from the ground, wiping dust from their faces, and cursed resentfully.
Lao Liu took out his compass, the needle swaying in a specific direction. "Don't think you can escape so easily. You monster, you killed our men, and you still want to run?"
"Follow me! Kill this monster and get the resentment gathering bead!"