An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 9 Barbarians and Poachers

With an uncertain shout, a slightly thin man stepped out.

Upon seeing him, the tall man's expression changed, and he angrily shouted, "Li Shan! Didn't I tell you to hide over there? What are you doing running out here on your own?"

Li Shan shrank back and said weakly, "Wang, Wang Long, I know this person. He's a classmate of ours. He's a really nice person."

Upon hearing this, Wang Long snorted coldly, clearly displeased that Li Shan had disobeyed his orders and jumped out on his own, but he didn't say anything more.

Chu Xiu was somewhat surprised, not expecting to run into an acquaintance by such a coincidence.

He remembered Li Shan. Like Chu Xiu, Li Shan's level was below average in the class. He was usually not very noticeable, and he and Li Shan only exchanged a few words occasionally. They could not be considered friends.

Looking at Chu Xiu's armor, he asked with envy, "Chu Xiu, did your family buy this for you?"

Chu Xiu remained noncommittal and did not answer.

Seeing that the hard-won easing of tensions was about to become strained again, Yunlu quickly stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "We are all trial participants; only by uniting can we better pass the trial!"

Li Shan also said, "Yes, Wang Long, didn't you want to kill those monsters outside? The more strength we have, the safer we'll be."

With the two of them smoothing things over, Wang Long's expression softened a bit, but he still maintained a safe distance from Chu Xiu. Chu Xiu, on the other hand, remained expressionless and simply sat down to the side.

Then, the group closed the wooden door again and began to exchange information and intelligence in hushed tones.

Wang Long's awakened talent is [Power Burst (D)], which allows him to unleash three times his power in a short period of time. His class is [Barbarian (C)].

Wang Long didn't go into detail about his professional skills, but it's certain that he's a melee fighter.

Because his talent and profession are highly compatible, Wang Long still possesses considerable early-game combat power despite his relatively low rank.

As for Li Shan, he was far inferior. His talent was [Breath Holding (E)], and his profession was [Poacher (D)]. He was the type who would survive by sneaking around and ambushing. Chu Xiu hadn't noticed him when he was hiding by the door.

Between the two, Wang Long was in charge. Chu Xiu guessed that Wang Long brought Li Shan along probably so that he could be used as cannon fodder at a crucial moment.

So, what are your profession and talents?

After introducing himself, Wang Long's probing gaze fell on Chu Xiu.

“I can assemble equipment from corpses,” Chu Xiu said calmly.

Wang Long was stunned for a moment, glanced at the armor on his body, and snorted, "So that's why so many mummies outside disappeared. So it was you who did it. What about your profession?"

"This is my profession, [Bone Collector (D)]."

Wang Long: "Did you just make this up?"

Chu Xiu smiled faintly, offering no explanation whatsoever.

Wang Long's temple throbbed, but he managed to suppress his anger and said nothing more.

The moment he saw Chu Xiu, he knew that this guy was definitely the cunning type who would never reveal any of his trump cards unless absolutely necessary.

"Alright, let's get down to business," Wang Long said, suppressing his anger. "Li Shan already said that I plan to hunt down those monsters outside."

"My profession is [Barbarian], and I can only gain a lot of profession experience through [combat] and [killing enemies]. The gains from [training] on a regular basis are very small, so I'm not going to spend seven days hiding in this dilapidated building." "After all, who knows what might happen in the future? I don't believe that I can easily pass the trial by just hiding in one place!"

"If you share my thoughts, then we can talk about cooperation; otherwise, get out of here."

After he finished speaking, the remaining three fell silent. Li Shan lowered his head and looked unhappy, while Yun Lu turned her gaze to Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu gently stroked his chin. He actually agreed with Wang Long's idea, but...
"I won't launch an attack without even knowing who the enemy is," Chu Xiu said calmly.

"Don't worry, although I'm a [Barbarian] class, I'm not a brainless brute," Wang Long said with a smile, patting Li Shan beside him. "This guy has seen those monsters, why don't you tell them about it?"

Li Shan was reluctant to talk about it, but after glancing fearfully at Wang Long, he still told Chu Xiu about his experience.

It turns out that Li Shanhe and the man who caused a disturbance on the 18th floor and was subsequently tortured and killed had actually worked together briefly.

They split up to explore the stairwell. His companion spotted a mutated rat and, while shouting for Li Shan to surround it from the other side, chased after it himself.

Perhaps the apartment building was too quiet, which made him lower his guard and create quite a bit of noise during the chase.

When Li Shan appeared on the other side, he only saw his companion being brutally murdered.

"It was a monster nearly two meters tall, covered in jet-black fur. It walked upright like a human, but its fingernails were over ten centimeters long! Like five sharp blades!"

"It pounced like a wild beast, tearing Maoshan's entire back open with a single claw! Then it stomped and broke his spine! I didn't dare watch anymore, anyway, anyway..."

Li Shan's face was deathly pale, and his lips trembled as he was unable to speak.

"In short, it's a humanoid mutant creature."

Wang Long picked up where he left off, nonchalantly brandishing the metal baseball bat in his hand: "No matter how terrifying it is, it's just a carbon-based life form. With three times the strength of my bat, one hit is like hitting a brown bear! I could smash its skull!"

"But, but, these are creatures from another world!" Li Shan was clearly still not recovered and stammered, "How can you compare them to creatures from Earth?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Long's face darkened instantly. He grabbed Li Shan by the collar and hissed, "You brat, don't you trust my judgment? I think you're just afraid of dying!"

Li Shan looked at Chu Xiu with pleading eyes, but when he found that the latter was completely unmoved, he could only lower his head and admit his mistake: "I'm sorry, I was just a little worried."

"There's nothing to worry about!" Wang Long snorted coldly, released Li Shan, and glanced sideways at Chu Xiu: "What do you say?"

Chu Xiu glanced at the two of them, also deep in thought.

Clearly, Li Shan only wanted to hide and survive the next seven days, while Wang Long was thinking about killing monsters, leveling up, and seeking opportunities.

To be honest, he was more inclined to side with Wang Long. He also believed that it was unrealistic to survive seven days under the search of these monsters. There were too many variables, and if one was not strong enough, one would die if one encountered even the slightest accident.

Moreover, there was very little food in the apartment building. Even with Yunlu there, the two of them only managed to collect a few dozen mushrooms after a whole afternoon of work, which was not enough to eat. Their condition would only get worse and worse afterward.

Since that's the case, why not take the initiative and strike while we're in the best condition on the first day?

When he was alone, Chu Xiu was still hesitant, but now that he has a powerful henchman, Wang Long, to help him, his safety will be greatly improved.

But he didn't agree immediately; instead, he held up three fingers:
"Three questions: First, how do you plan to kill those monsters? Second, how will you ensure that other monsters are not attracted during the battle? Finally, how will the spoils be distributed?"

(End of this chapter)