At a glance, dozens of Watchers were slowly crawling forward.
Based on their energy fluctuations, their strength was approximately at the initial first tier.
Which meant their power fell between Dew Realm tiers 1 to 3.
Under normal circumstances, their five-person team wouldn't be intimidated at all.
But now...
Su Zhan took a deep breath: "We'll have to use the old method now."
Xie Xi frowned: "What old method?"
Before Su Zhan could answer.
Xu Hao quickly explained: "Last time in the Mist when we exhausted our stamina, we survived by splitting up and running separately!"
But when her gaze swept over everyone, the words caught in her throat.
This wasn't a tactic.
It was a gamble that traded others' lives for their own chance of survival.
There were so many innocent staff and guests still in Binhai Grand Hotel.
If they scattered and fled.
These Mist creatures would inevitably turn to hunt others.
But...
So what?
They could barely protect themselves now—what right did they have to play hero?
Xie Xi's nails dug deeply into her palms.
They didn't even have the right to choose "sacrifice."
Because their sacrifice wouldn't buy anyone's survival.
"...Understood."
Xie Xi finally gritted her teeth and said these words.
She felt something shatter deep inside her heart.
But when she saw her teammates' pale faces, she thought this choice might not be so hard to accept.
"Damn it, life and death are predetermined, wealth comes from heaven!"
Liu Ziming shouted loudly.
How could Su Zhan and the others not know the consequences of this old method?
But it came back to the same thing.
They had no other choice.
They didn't have that capability right now.
Such sacrifice would be utterly meaningless.
Without further hesitation.
Five figures instantly dashed toward different directions.
Water splashed explosively.
The Watchers emitted piercing shrieks and, just as predicted, scattered in pursuit.
As he ran, Su Zhan calculated in his mind.
Binhai Grand Hotel had 51 floors total, 52 if including the rooftop.
Such a massive area.
So many people inside.
He could already imagine the hellish scene unfolding.
Su Zhan didn't take the elevator.
That would be too unsafe.
In the emergency stairwell.
The corridor lights flickered intermittently.
The green indicator lights appeared particularly eerie.
Su Zhan's footsteps echoed in the empty staircase, faint crawling sounds vaguely coming from behind him.
Run!
That was the only thing to do now.
...
Earlier.
In the banquet hall on the 40th floor of Binhai Grand Hotel.
"What's going on? Electrical circuit failure?"
A waiter holding champagne frowned and looked up.
The next second, sunlight outside the window was instantly swallowed.
Darkness descended.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the banquet hall, gray-white thick fog surged upward like a tsunami, devouring the entire building.
"Fog, it's a Mist incident!"
Someone screamed in recognition.
Panic spread like plague.
Daxia officials had long publicized the characteristics of Mist incidents.
Sudden thick fog.
Abnormal time flow.
And... those Mist creatures that only existed in nightmares.
The banquet hall doors were violently smashed open.
The first to rush in was a middle-aged man in suit and tie, his face filled with extreme terror: "Run! Run! Above, above there's—"
"Thud!"
A pale segmented limb suddenly pierced through his chest.
He was wrong—Mist creatures weren't only above...
Time seemed to freeze for one second.
Then, screams exploded.
The crowd scattered like an erupted ant nest.
Wine glasses shattered on the floor, tables and chairs overturned.
Some were pushed down and immediately trampled by countless feet.
Behind them, the body hanging mid-air slowly slid down.
A Watcher crawled out from the corridor shadows.
Dozens of eyeballs in its sac simultaneously rotated, locking onto new prey.
"Help, help! Security! Where's security?!"
A uniformed security guard just raised his stun baton when another monster dropping from the ceiling pounced on him.
His scream lasted only half a second before being cut off by bone-cracking sounds.
In the buffet area, a little girl still held an ice cream scoop.
She watched a monster chewing something not far away, turning dazedly: "Mommy, why is that uncle eating..."
The young mother covered her child's mouth, trembling as she hid under a table.
Her phone screen glowed, showing a recently failed distress message:
[Mist incident at Binhai Grand Hotel...]
The signal bars showed a glaring red X.
Simultaneously, in the hotel's first-floor lobby.
"Everyone listen! Follow emergency protocols, proceed immediately to the underground shelter!"
The hotel manager's shouts echoed through the lobby.
Staff urgently guided panicked guests toward emergency evacuation routes.
Just then.
"BOOM!!!"
The hotel's revolving glass doors exploded violently, countless fragments shooting out like bullets.
The concierge standing nearest was instantly pierced through by the glass storm, blood splattering across the marble walls.
Amid the screams.
Three Watchers crawled in through the shattered door frame.
Eyeballs in their sacs madly rotated, locking onto the scattering fleeing crowd.
The receptionist collapsed to the floor, her high heels already broken.
She futilely scrambled backward until her back pressed against the cold service counter.
"No, please don't..."
A Watcher's limb suddenly thrust out, directly piercing her throat and pinning her entire body to the hotel price list.
The security captain drew his pistol and fired.
Bullets blasted several bloody holes in the monster's body, only making it pause momentarily.
The next second.
Another Watcher pounced down from the ceiling, six limbs spreading out like blades.
The captain's body was instantly sliced into several pieces.
The elevator doors finally opened.
Guests fleeing from higher floors poured out.
Only to directly encounter the slaughter scene.
Those at the front were pushed stumbling into the blood pool, looking up to see rotating eyeballs in the sac.
"Sav..."
The Watcher's mouthparts opened, circular sharp teeth rotating and contracting.
Blood slowly flowed along the tile seams toward the underground shelter entrance.
There.
A blast door was slowly closing.
Through the gap, countless terrified eyes witnessed everything.
The Watchers collectively turned to look.
Then, slowly crawled toward it.
...
25th floor, in a restroom.
Su Zhan gently closed the stall door, lowered the toilet seat, and silently sat on it.
He definitely wouldn't hide in the suite where he'd been sleeping.
The suite was on the 51st floor, closest to the Mist creatures.
Just thinking about it was terrifying.
25th floor.
The middle level of Binhai Grand Hotel.
Everything from this floor down, including this floor, consisted of dining areas.
This position was delicate.
Of course, if the Mist creatures happened to start hunting from the middle floors... then forget he said anything.
The cramped toilet stall space was filled with the faint smell of disinfectant.
Su Zhan slowly adjusted his breathing, even deliberately slowing his heartbeat.
The reasons for choosing this place were solid.
Hotel restrooms were usually built in remote corners, far from main passages and escape routes.
No one designed restrooms in conspicuous locations.
This meant monsters were more likely to overlook this area during their search.