Xu Zhi slowly approached the door, and the girl outside remained silent, not hearing any response from inside the room. She didn't even ask if there was anyone there, as if she was convinced that someone inside was indeed listening to her.

This made Xu Zhi even more suspicious. Since the disaster began, the girl had never left her home. Due to her healthy routine and need for sleep, she went to bed early every day. There was hardly a time when the lights needed to be turned on in her home, let alone making any noise. Additionally, with the dense fog outside, it was impossible to observe from the windows. How did the girl outside the door manage to judge that someone was definitely inside without any visual cues or sounds?

Seeing that there was still no response from inside the room, the person outside the door seemed to become impatient. The knocking on the door grew more intense, accompanied by the sound of the door handle being turned.

But since the door was locked, the handle couldn't be turned directly. As a result, the person outside became agitated and started pulling and tugging on the handle repeatedly, causing it to emit loud clicking sounds.

From this action, Xu Zhi could already conclude that the person outside the door did not have good intentions. Strangely, he even felt a subtle sense of relief.

In fact, she had held strong suspicions and murderous intent towards these people since the previous day. She had even been constantly thinking about how to eliminate this seemingly ticking time bomb from her perspective, which was in stark contrast to the morality and values she had been taught for over a decade. This conflicting struggle had been lingering in her mind.

Now, the impatience displayed by the person outside confirmed her suspicions, giving her a stronger justification to act. She had to admit that she didn't want to abide by the "rules" of the past, yet she was still bound by them. Decades of ingrained thinking couldn't be changed overnight, but as she stayed in this city longer, her thoughts were deviating further from the norms of society. Perhaps, in a few days, she might be consumed by the mist as well?

Xu Zhi couldn't say whether this was good or bad. Her only goal was to survive and leave this place.

She gathered her thoughts and finally spoke up, addressing the person outside the door, "What do you want?"

As soon as she spoke, the frantic rattling of the handle and the banging on the door abruptly stopped. There was a subtle pause outside the door for a second, and then a soft and gentle female voice spoke again.

"You're home, so why didn't you say anything?"

Not sure if it was the influence of the mist on her sanity, Xu Zhi felt that this simple sentence sounded somewhat eerie to her.

Ignoring the question, Xu Zhi sensed from the frantic rattling of the door handle that the person outside might not be entirely rational. As a test, she asked, "How many people are there at your school now?"

The person outside responded quickly, "Fifteen."

Xu Zhi continued, "How did you all gather together?"

"After the federal government issued the notification, the class monitor who couldn't leave in time found each of us."

Xu Zhi was skeptical and probed further, "So you're staying at the school now?"

"Yes, we have everything we need at school. It's quite safe inside."

Quite safe?

How could that be?

Xu Zhi finally asked the question she had been building up to: "Aren't there any insane people among you?"

Upon hearing this question, the person outside suddenly fell silent, and then spoke in a eerie tone, "Insane people? We're students, not mental patients. How could we go insane?"

"We're all perfectly normal."

A lie!

And it was a lie that was completely devoid of any perspective from a "normal human."

It seemed that the person outside had lost their rationality and intelligence after being influenced by the mist. No, perhaps it was even worse than that...

From the person's actions and words, it seemed that they had transformed into something sinister.

After confirming the answer she wanted, Xu Zhi quickly changed the topic: "How did you know there was someone here?"

Even if the person outside wouldn't tell the truth, they wouldn't be able to lie convincingly. Xu Zhi could discern a few truths from their lies.

Unexpectedly, when faced with this question, the girl outside fell silent and then suddenly became agitated, "Will you come with me or not?!"

Xu Zhi's heart sank slightly, realizing that this question must have touched upon something that the person outside was resisting. She spoke calmly, "Did you come alone? But I have a lot of luggage, and as a disabled person, I can't carry everything. You won't be able to handle it all by yourself."

This was a very obvious attempt at testing the person outside. A normal person with rational thinking wouldn't fall for it, but based on the previous tests, it was clear that the person outside was no longer a normal human and lacked rationality. She would likely be tricked.

"Why do you have so many things? Come with me first, and I'll bring someone to help you get your things tomorrow."

...They didn't bring anyone with them.

"It's not safe for you to go alone, so perhaps I'll wait until you call someone else tomorrow before I go with you."

Even though Xu Zhi had confirmed that the person outside was not normal, she still didn't trust them easily. After saying that, she stood up from her wheelchair and quietly approached the peephole to look outside.

Through the peephole, she saw that there was indeed only one girl outside wearing the uniform of the affiliated high school. The girl was looking angry as she responded to Xu Zhi's words.

"Tomorrow? No, we can't come tomorrow. You have to come with me now!"

The person outside had already forgotten their previous promise to bring someone to help Xu Zhi with her luggage tomorrow.

As they spoke, Xu Zhi noticed the girl's eyes. The whites of her eyes had completely turned into a misty black color. Just one glance was enough to tell that this girl had been consumed by the mist.

Xu Zhi sat back in her wheelchair and pretended to hesitate, then said, "...Alright, then you can come in and help me get my things."

Xu Zhi gripped her knife, making sure it was concealed, and slowly opened the door.

A girl wearing the uniform of the affiliated high school walked in with her head down. Upon seeing Xu Zhi sitting in a wheelchair, her body language was noticeably less tense than it was outside, subconsciously relaxing a bit.

Before the girl could speak or make any movements, Xu Zhi quickly raised her hand to close and lock the door.

The girl was probably surprised by Xu Zhi's actions, forgetting to hide her unusual eyes. She stared straight at Xu Zhi, never expecting that the "prey" would dare to trap themselves with the "predator."

Xu Zhi didn't miss this brief moment of distraction. She quickly drew her knife and stabbed it precisely into the girl's abdomen, then quickly pulled it out without hesitation.

A large amount of blood poured out from the wound, and the girl's face became distorted, vaguely resembling something inhuman. She raised her hand to strike at Xu Zhi, who was sitting in a wheelchair, not at all like the behavior one should expect from someone who had just been stabbed in the abdomen. Even her strength was unusually powerful.

Xu Zhi cursed inwardly and raised her hand to block the girl's attack. She had deliberately not stood up from her wheelchair for this strike, so she naturally couldn't turn and run away now.

The moment she withdrew the knife, the spilled blood flowed down the handle onto her hand. Xu Zhi could feel something flowing into her body through the blood, giving her a bit more strength.

It was probably the effect of her bloodlust ability.

Although the girl was only attacking with her bare fists, Xu Zhi felt as if she had been hit by an iron fist. Her wheelchair was overturned, and she fell awkwardly to the ground.

However, she didn't rush to get up. Instead, she gripped her knife tightly, coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood to give the appearance of being incapacitated, and didn't move her legs at all, completely acting like a disabled person.

Seeing this, the girl in the uniform sneered. It was a disgrace to be attacked and injured by a disabled person!

Her gaze on Xu Zhi, who was lying on the ground, became malicious. A defenseless prey posed no threat at all. Killing her outright would be too easy for her. The girl clutched her bleeding wound and came up with a cruel idea.

She wanted to rip open Xu Zhi's stomach, pull out her intestines, and let her know the consequences of attacking her!

So she approached Xu Zhi, who was lying on the ground, and slowly bent down, extending her hand towards her stomach. By now, her fingernails had turned black, resembling monstrous claws. With a slight exertion of force, two fingertips pierced into Xu Zhi's abdomen.

The girl's distorted face wore a twisted smile. Her attention was now fully focused on Xu Zhi's abdomen, even imagining the next second of tearing skin and flying blood. However, her single-mindedness, even after being tricked once, failed to anticipate that such a fragile prey could still counterattack her.

So in the instant her attention was diverted, Xu Zhi unleashed all the strength granted by her bloodlust ability. With a firm grip on her knife, she swung it directly towards the girl's neck, creating a wound deep enough to sever the artery.

Blood immediately sprayed out, splashing all over Xu Zhi's face, but she didn't even blink.

This strike had exhausted all her strength. Now, she felt like she couldn't even hold onto the knife tightly anymore. She fought against the physical reaction of exhaustion, and her vision blurred slightly. She desperately warned herself not to relax her guard. She watched as the blood from the girl's neck stained both their clothes red, saw the incredulous expression on the girl's distorted face trying to speak but only spitting out blood, until the girl collapsed on top of her, her blood soaking Xu Zhi as if she were immersed in a red bathtub. It was then that Xu Zhi's hands began to tremble uncontrollably and she started breathing rapidly.

She had won.

The warm blood continuously flowed over her body, and Xu Zhi knew it wasn't her own. She could feel a slight increase in strength as she absorbed the life force from this liquid.

Her exhausted and exhausted body also showed some signs of recovery due to this life force. She was even grateful that the girl had so much blood in her body.

Is there really so much blood in a human body? Could it be because she's no longer a pure human that she has more blood than average?

Perhaps due to extreme exhaustion, Xu Zhi still had the mental capacity to indulge in random thoughts.

After resting in that position for a while, once the flow of blood from the other person had almost stopped, Xu Zhi reached out and flipped the body aside, slowly climbing back to her feet and once again settling into her wheelchair.

Her hands and legs were still trembling, but not from excitement or fear, it was due to exhaustion.

She was still not out of her bloodlust state, and even though she had absorbed some life force, she was still extremely weak. If the side effects of the bloodlust manifested soon...

Xu Zhi felt a headache coming on, but she was not entirely without options.

With her blood-soaked hands, she grasped the wheelchair's controller and left the scene. After briefly washing her hands, she picked up the game console and selected the interface for the Snake Clan.

After Xiao Yi returns, there will be enough evolution points for an upgrade. Leveling up from 10 to 11 should provide some nourishment to her body, helping her endure the side effects of the bloodlust.

However, while she may be able to overcome the physical difficulties, there were still greater crises waiting for her in reality.

The girl was not alone, and her group obviously knew that she had gone to find Xu Zhi and had not returned. Xu Zhi didn't believe they would let it slide. She had struggled so hard to deal with just one person, and if there were more, she would undoubtedly die.

In simple terms, Xu Zhi could no longer stay at home.

She had to leave.

But with the black fog engulfing the entire city, where could she go?