She couldn’t avoid being attacked by it unless she activated the “corpse” state to mask her living scent.
Just as Huo You remained silent, seemingly preparing to react, it suddenly grinned, its mouth opening to utter a coarse and terrifying statement.
“Candidate No. 444, you seem to think my hunting method is like that of a bull, targeting only moving creatures.”
“Actually, no. It’s your body temperature.”
“Your body temperature has been consistently stable, your heart rate steady, as if you’re not afraid of me at all.”
“This makes me very unhappy.”
“However, your skin seems much more beautiful than theirs.”
“I’ll peel your skin off first.”
It stood up, adopting a beast-like posture on the mattress, its human-like, skinless body ready to attack.
With a powerful push of its legs, it lunged fiercely toward Huo You.
The explosive force of its muscles reached the maximum 15 on the scale!
Accompanied by a strong smell of blood and other mixed, cold, fishy odors, it closed in on her.
At that moment, Huo You’s fingers twitched.
Activate “corpse”?
No, something slid from her sleeve into her palm, her thumb pressing on it.
With a snap, she lit a lighter.
Holding the small blue flame, she casually and coolly tossed it.
It landed precisely in its wide-open mouth.
A small flame, what’s the big deal?
Just spit it out.
But this was different.
The moment the tiny flame touched its body…
Whoosh!
It erupted from its mouth, flames scattering wildly, quickly engulfing its entire body.
It had already panicked upon seeing the lighter, but… mid-air, with its mouth open, it was a fatal flaw.
Her accuracy in throwing wasn’t bad either.
So…
As it landed, it was already ablaze, like a roasted lamb.
Right in front of her, sizzling with fire.
She stood motionless, one hand in her pocket, the other rubbing the finger that had just lit the lighter.
As if wiping off the chemical residue.
She looked down at the four college entrance exam corpses and the first “biological interference” monster corpse on the ground.
“The answer was hinted at the very beginning.”
“Indeed, it’s an easy level, whether it’s the roommates or the interference monster, it’s all simple.”
“Now I can relax.”
She sighed in relief.
Liu De and the others, who had been thoroughly killed and teleported out, were in despair.
They were blind!
They had randomly been paired with a hidden expert, and the good fortune that had graced their ancestors was extinguished by their own stupidity.
Damn!
“The air is a bit cold.”
“There’s a smell similar to blood mixed with formaldehyde, making your nose feel uncomfortable.”
This was the opening narration earlier.
Most people might think it’s just atmospheric embellishment for a movie opening.
At first, Huo You didn’t think much of it either, until she noticed the windows were tightly shut, and the unnatural cold wind filled with chemicals and bacteria couldn’t come in.
So where did the formaldehyde smell come from?
The corpses.
This also allowed her to judge early on that it wasn’t a normally killed corpse, nor was it a candidate who had died at the start.
Even without getting close, with her decent eyesight, she could tell at a glance that it wasn’t a corpse soaked in formaldehyde, as the blood and muscle condition didn’t match the appearance of formaldehyde immersion.
Fresh, maintaining vitality, as if it had just died, unaltered by chemicals.
Then there was only one possibility—the formaldehyde smell wasn’t real formaldehyde, but methanol.
Combined with the “cold.”
It indicated the environment needed to maintain a low temperature.
It feared heat.
And methanol fears fire.
So its nemesis was fire.
An easy level, it should be quite straightforward to tackle.
The clues seemed quite obvious to Huo You, so she thought the rule “within ten steps of a snake’s nest, there must be antidote plants” should apply.
With a glance, she spotted a lighter on the table.
Placed conspicuously.
As she passed by the desk, she casually pocketed it.
The second after the first interference monster was defeated.
The system prompt arrived, notifying that the exam had officially begun.
“Loading data, confirming the five candidates in Room 044, four of whom chose to trust each other in the tenth question. Based on their previous performance, it’s tentatively judged that your room exhibits a highly ‘united’ group dynamic.”
“Loading the latest data, the above judgment is incorrect. Your Room 044 is currently in a state of collective annihilation, with only you, who hasn’t answered the tenth question, remaining.”
So much for unity, ending in annihilation.
Still, it counts as a group.
However, the reason Huo You hadn’t revealed her parasite and bronze badge wasn’t some advanced maneuver-she simply hadn’t submitted the tenth question, keeping it pending.
Chen Jing and the others hadn’t considered this possibility, firmly believing she had completed all ten questions, exposing the “fact” that she truly had no parasite, posing no threat or value, because she mentioned the system’s PS reminder.
This was purely a preemptive move, a deliberate smokescreen for them.
Now, she did it.
The tenth question, trust?
Or not?
She submitted “trust.”
The system: “? The person is already dead, so this question is void, as the condition for trust cannot be met. This is also the price you must pay. The question is being revoked.”
Huo You: “? Uh… I did trust them, trusting that they absolutely wouldn’t drag me down. Doesn’t that count as my sincerity?”
They’re dead on the ground, hung on the wall, definitely not dragging her down.
Is the system blaming her?
That’s unreasonable.
The system, being a bit rigid, still insisted on not letting her earn this last easy point:
“They are dead, the condition for trust is not met.”
Huo You, still quite polite, reasoned with the system:
“I was supposed to earn money to support the family for these four rookies, but now they’re all dead. Does that mean I don’t have to earn money to support the family?”
“Are you closing the market? That doesn’t make sense, does it? Chickens are chickens, people are people, different species, don’t equate them. Besides, the chickens died for me, and you’re not paying? Is this fraud?”
In short, human affairs, what do chickens have to do with it?
The system: “6.”
Easy point, you got it.
“Reviewing the five-minute observation period performance, the sole candidate, No. 444, you activated interference creature No. 19 before the official exam began, progressing 1/20 in this dungeon. “
“According to the additional scoring rules for this assessment: defeating No. 19 +15 points, observation period bonus +5 points, totaling 20 points.”
“Your current score is 20 points + full marks for ten questions 10+ 3 points = 33 points. Your initial comprehensive performance has reached a seven- star excellent level within the twelve-star evaluation standard, successfully activating three additional side questions.”
“Do you agree to answer them immediately?”
Huo You, already in the “corpse” state: “Answer, of course. I’m already here.”
She didn’t think much of this seven-star evaluation performance, but since she was here, might as well take the exam.
She’s the most diligent small-town exam taker, unafraid of tests!
The system promptly released three somewhat challenging side questions.
Where is the missing human skin?
It’s watching you, how do you sever its surveillance?
Do you know what it is?
PS: [You only have 60 seconds to answer. Failure to respond within 60 seconds will void the additional side questions, still deducting the additional question attempts, and significantly affect the difficulty of triggering future additional questions.]
[The countdown begins…]
[1,2,3…]
Though they appear to be three side questions, they also contain hints and clues.
Is it still watching me?
The corpse is burning, its eyeballs sizzling with hot oil, seemingly indeed staring at her.
Quite terrifying.
Huo You took two steps, opened the wardrobe, and pulled out a coat.
“First question, here.”
“All the wardrobe hooks are full, no extra hooks, indicating this is an extra piece. Although not human skin, a drop of poison released by the venomous vine fell on it, yet it had no effect on the fabric, suggesting it’s not a normal material, likely related to Cthulhu abilities.”
“It’s the human skin peeled from interference creature No. 19.”
“As for the second question…”
Huo You tossed it directly onto the burning flames of No. 19’s corpse.
“No. 19 has no visual sense, can’t see specific images, but its words confirm that another pair of eyes is indeed watching us, not on the corpse.”
“The most likely possibility is this strange coat, as it observes a full perspective covering all candidates. In this room, a full perspective is usually against the wall, and the wardrobe fits the geographical condition.”
“Human skin, peeled, eye surveillance, flammable, methanol smell, prefers low-temperature environments, can attach and control skinned bodies, can enhance body muscle explosive force.”
“Combining all, it should be the Cthulhu monster F34 parasite morgue night watchman (first-generation B- class Cthulhu night watchman). The morgue environment facilitated its biological gene development.”
This was essentially a comprehensive display of insight, thinking, and Cthulhu biological knowledge.
She reacted quickly, giving the answers to all three questions within 15 seconds, without hesitation.
After all, answering wrong just means not getting points, not dying.
The system: “Reviewing.”
“First question correct, +5 points.”
“Second question is correct, +8 points.”
“Third question is also correct, +6 points.”
“First round of additional side questions answered, total +19 points.”
“The college entrance exam dungeon continues, 54 minutes remaining.”
“Huo You Brook, I hope you successfully leave this warm room alive within the next three minutes. Good luck.”
The system disappeared.
However, Brook, after consuming some energy, fell asleep.
Perhaps due to high bloodline, he woke up after a few minutes, sensing the room’s situation.
Brook: “What’s going on? So many dead? All dead? Didn’t you choose the easy level? So dangerous?”
Huo You: “How can it be dangerous? They’re the ones who died, not me. It must be the easy level.”
Brook: “Makes sense. So how did they die?”
Huo You: “They just started fighting inexplicably, probably because they’re young and full of vigor.”
Brook: “Didn’t they attack you?”
Huo You: “They didn’t know I have you, thought I was ordinary, so they didn’t care… If they knew I had such a high-level parasite, they would have united against me.”
Brook found this reasoning sound.
These lowly parasites attached to hosts, what good could they be?
They would definitely gang up against him.
Brook: “This dungeon doesn’t seem hard, ‘corpse’ hasn’t even been used, and they self-destructed. Then I can rest easy. Don’t die randomly, I’ll rest a bit more, call me if there’s danger…”
“Wait, is the room about to catch fire?”
“Why aren’t you scared?!”
Brook, influenced by his host’s overly stable demeanor, only realized belatedly that the fire from the burning corpse had spread elsewhere, accompanied by terrifying smoke.
But his host was freakishly calm!
“Use ‘corpse’ now!”
“Wait, using ‘corpse’ won’t help, corpses fear fire too, you’ll still burn to death…”
Huo You wasn’t that calm either.
While responding to Brook, she had already covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve, quickly collecting the bronze badges dropped by Chen Jing and the others, totaling +24.4 points.
Midway, she found the parasites couldn’t be absorbed, whether they chose the survival option or it was a system setting.
Killing the candidates didn’t allow their parasites to be used by her.
What a pity.
These bronze badge points couldn’t be used for the exam score either, their only current function was enhancing the parasite state.
Brook wasn’t an offensive parasite, and the current enhancement couldn’t force her to open the window or electronic door.
How was she going to get out?!
Then… Huo You, after collecting the bronze badges, quickly climbed onto the bunk bed, reaching for the chandelier.
“A completely sealed space, maintaining a stable low temperature, must have a release device similar to an air conditioner. The room has no light switch control panel, indicating this isn’t the main light, but a disguised air vent.”
“No wonder the light strip shows no long-term use of high- temperature burn marks, looking particularly new.”
Bang!
The chandelier was yanked down, revealing a shower-like release port.
After removing it, the base exposed a water pipe similar to an air conditioning duct.
Sizzle!
Icy water sprayed down, directly dousing the burning corpse.
Extinguishing it.
But the water was indeed icy, like ice.
Huo You, valuing her health, quickly withdrew her body after acting, avoiding the icy water to prevent her delicate body from catching a cold.
The chance of getting sick in this place was +100 times higher than in her real world.
Seeing the fire extinguished, Huo You took off her shoes, examined the dense wires for a while, then used leather to insulate her hand and cut the red and black wires.
With a sizzle.
Snap!
The sound of a burnt lock jumping.
The electronic lock malfunctioned, clicking to indicate it was unlocked.
Huo You put her shoes back on, climbed down from the bunk bed.
In the quiet.
Huo You: “Brook? Still there?”
Brook: “Here.”
Huo You: “Now, you can go to sleep, be good.”
Brook: “….”
Help, why does he find his host a bit charming?