"It's still some distance from us, probably right above us, maybe on the second or third floor. It must have jumped up from the outside just now," Fan Kai whispered.
"No worries, I see the staircase," Sun Yushan said as she walked down the corridor.
The floor of the corridor was slick as if coated with glue, looking quite disgusting. The iron ball flew ahead to clear the way, and they all heightened their vigilance.
But after only a few steps, as they passed through a door, a claw suddenly sprang out from inside and grabbed at Xiang Beifei.
Without thinking, and without even turning his head, Xiang Beifei threw a punch to the side, hitting the claw. The claw was smashed by his punch, and a sharp scream echoed from the room, but it soon subsided.
"Nice moves," Fan Kai exclaimed, surprised. He had noticed the claw darting out and was about to step in to defend Xiang Beifei, but Xiang reacted even faster!
And his response was decisively brutal.
"That claw belongs to a One-Armed Crab, a desolate beast in the later stages of Qi-Controlling."
Sun Yushan looked at Xiang Beifei surprisingly, then added, "But we need to finish it off; it's a communal living desolate beast. If it calls its companions, it will be troublesome for us."
In the wild, unimportant desolate beasts can be ignored, but in abandoned buildings , it's necessary to clear out those non-solitary beasts to avoid being surrounded by their companions, which would complicate things.
"No need," Xiang Beifei said, "It's already dead."
As he spoke, there was a "whoosh" sound, and a burst of exploding flames lit the room, revealing a shadow that fell by the door.
It was a huge white crab, the size of a suitcase. It was still aflame, half of it charred red, no longer able to move, clearly burned to death.
Xiang Beifei's spiritual power was not simple anymore. Since learning that amazing set of defense skills from Professor Guo, his punches not only carried the violence of Rapid Flame but also a terrifying recoil force. With his abilities, he could easily have killed that large crab outright.
Sun Yushan looked thoughtfully at Xiang Beifei, her eyes shimmering as she completely let go of any reservations she had about him.
"I think I understand now why Mr. Ye allowed you to come with us," she said.
Fan Kai was also very surprised. Although killing that One-Armed Crab would have been easy for him too, under those circumstances, he definitely would have needed to follow up with another strike, while for Xiang Beifei, one punch sufficed.
"Your flame is very strange!" Fan Kai stared at the crab, swallowing, "It even roasted it. Now I'm getting hungry."
The One-Armed Crab was originally white but had been roasted red by Xiang Beifei. However, this large crab was not edible; it was just a joking remark.
Xiang Beifei had Xiaohei immediately spit out bubbles to collect the large crab, preventing the tempting aroma from spreading and attracting other desolate beasts. The beast pill of a desolate beast in the later stages of Qi-Controlling was still very useful; if not for himself, then for Kong Xiuwen or Lu Zhiwei.
"Let's go, don't delay."
They reached a corner, then headed towards the stairs leading to the second floor. The stair corner was overgrown with various black plants about four or five feet long, looking very disgusting with their claw-like branches lightly pulsating.
Sun Yushan slashed with her knife, and between the flashes of the blade, she slaughtered these plant-like desolate beasts.
However, just as they stepped onto the third floor, about to enter the third-floor corridor through the ragged staircase opening, Xiang Beifei turned his head, staring towards the corner leading to the stairs of the fourth floor.
There seemed to be a figure flashing by again!
"It's that thing!" Xiang Beifei said, alert.
"What thing? The one you saw earlier?" Sun Yushan asked.
"Yes, it seems to be stealthily following us," Xiang Beifei said.
With a flick of her hand, Sun Yushan sent the iron ball zooming up towards the fourth floor, rounding the staircase, while she stared at a small display on her wrist. However, the display showed nothing.
"No life signals," Sun Yushan said.
Fan Kai said, "Wen Lin is on this third floor, getting closer to us. Forget that thing; after catching Wen Lin, we'll make our escape directly. This old city has always been a bit eerie."
Sun Yushan called back the iron ball, then stepped into the corridor.
While Xiang Beifei was still pondering about the thing hiding on the fourth floor, Fan Kai urged him to move on, and he had no choice but to follow Sun Yushan.
A wind blew through the third-floor corridor, rustling and carrying a hint of chill.
The place resembled a school building, with doors and windows leaving a large corridor, one side lined with broken rooms, the other with damaged walls.
"To the left," Fan Kai said.
They turned left, where the corridor had no greasy substances but was covered in various claw marks as if something had been dragged across.
Due to the age, the floor of the corridor had corroded into holes of varying sizes. Through these holes, they could faintly see the dark corridor below on the second floor.
They carefully crossed the holes in the floor, but just then, a strange howling came from below, as if a shadow flashed past the holes below!
"There's something in the corridor on the second floor!"
Fan Kai exclaimed in a low voice, looking down at the hole in the floor that was big enough for a person to crawl through, through which one could jump directly to the second-floor corridor.