The two of them ran all the way to the public underground garage in the community. Perhaps due to the time, there weren’t many cars parked inside, and no other people were seen.
"Xiao Man, it’s just ahead... Look, over there!"
Brother Hero led the way, heading straight to where he had parked his car.
Zhang Xiaoman saw an SUV parked all alone not far away with a piece of yellow cloth dangling beside the driver’s seat window, which must have been the old curtain Mrs. Hero mentioned earlier.
As they approached, Brother Hero mysteriously tugged at the cloth and then said to Zhang Xiaoman, "Xiao Man, this is where I killed that monster today. It scared the hell out of me, but luckily, I had the two Holy Water Bullets you gave me last time. They allowed me to turn the tables, or else my hefty self would probably have been done for here today."
As he spoke, he was about to completely pull off the cloth covering the car. Zhang Xiaoman had a general understanding of what had happened from his words. Seeing Brother Hero’s actions, he quickly stepped forward to stop him and said, "Brother Hero, wait a minute! Are there any cameras in your garage?"
Upon hearing this, Brother Hero instinctively glanced up at the ceiling, then shook his head and said, "Hey, relax, our crappy community doesn’t have any surveillance. The cameras in the underground garage have been broken by naughty kids God knows how many times already, and the property management doesn’t even bother with it. Don’t worry about it."
Zhang Xiaoman withdrew his hand, no longer stopping the other’s action, and also couldn’t help but sigh to himself that there were naughty kids everywhere.
However, thinking back, his own actions had not been caught on surveillance recently, which seemed largely thanks to the effective support from these naughty kids.
By this time, Brother Hero had already unveiled the curtain, and the corpse of an ugly monster suddenly appeared before Zhang Xiaoman’s eyes.
It was a small monster, seemingly not more than 80 centimeters tall, like a miniature dwarf.
The monster was stuck in the car window, apparently trying to crawl in through there when it died, and had been caught by Brother Hero closing the window, which allowed him to blast its face with those two Holy Water Bullets.
Zhang Xiaoman reconstructed the sequence of events in his mind, taking another two steps forward.
The monster had been "burned to death" by Holy Water, and like others that died from Holy Water, its body was charred and twisted as if scorched by intense flames.
The air was filled with a pungent odor. After a considerable time, Zhang Xiaoman once again smelled this scent, and he was somewhat unaccustomed to it.
"Brother Hero, how did you kill it?" he asked.
"Hey, it’s a funny story. I was just sitting in my car having finished a cigarette, preparing to roll up the window and leave when, out of nowhere, just as the window was half-closed, this thing jumps out and gets stuck inside. It scared me half to death at the moment."
Brother Hero said, revealing a mixed expression of pride and residual fear on his face.
"Didn’t you give me two Holy Water Bullets last time? I usually just keep them in the car, and when I came to my senses, they were just what I needed. Haha, talk about luck, right?"
Listening to him, Zhang Xiaoman knew that what had happened matched his own initial guess. He looked at the monster stuck in the car window and couldn’t help but recall the second Corpse Demon he encountered in the company’s underground garage, which seemed to have been trapped in the car window by Brother Hero as well.
At that thought, he gave Brother Hero an odd look, pondering whether the guy might have some kind of "100% chance to trap the opponent in car window" passive ability.
Brother Hero didn’t notice the strange look from his friend. Having gotten over his initial panic, he was now a mix of residual fear and the excitement of having killed a monster.
"Xiao Man, what do you think of my skills? Now I’m also a man who’s killed a monster."
Zhang Xiaoman gave him a thumbs-up: "Impressive."
Although Brother Hero had killed the monster through good fortune this time, the whole affair was still quite a surprise to him. Strictly speaking, he was the first person among those around him to have killed a monster.
"Right, what do we do now? How should we deal with this corpse?" Brother Hero asked.
Zhang Xiaoman came back to his senses, approached the monster’s body, and stretched out his right hand to activate the Eye of the Starry Sky Skill. A burst of light immediately shone from his hand, and in just 3 seconds, the monster turned into a pile of white light and was completely absorbed.
"Ding, absorbed Little Refining Demon Essence, points increased by 3."
"3 points... Looks like it was just a small monster..." Zhang Xiaoman muttered to himself, "That said, Brother Hero actually helped me earn 1 point."
Zhang Xiaoman smiled slightly. After all, if this monster was some highly powerful being, it wouldn’t have been taken down by just two Holy Water Bullets from Brother Hero.
Once again witnessing Zhang Xiaoman’s peculiar ability, Brother Hero felt a surge of envy and couldn’t help but ask while looking at the pattern in the other’s hand, "Xiao Man, Brother Man, have you finished that Enlightenment Array you talked about last time? Do you think I could also... "
Zhang Xiaoman looked at him and then opened the door to the back seat and got in.
"Get in the car to talk."
Seeing this, Brother Hero hastily crawled in after him.
"Hero, you first tell me what your thoughts are this time."
Zhang Xiaoman saw that he was seated and suddenly asked such a question out of the blue.
Brother Hero was taken aback by his question and asked in confusion, "Thoughts? What thoughts?"
Zhang Xiaoman sighed upon hearing this and said, "When we encountered that monster, were you scared?"
Brother Hero recalled the scene and answered, "Of course I was scared, it jumped out so suddenly at that time, it almost scared the living daylights out of me. You have no idea, when that thing was stuck on the car window, its face was less than ten centimeters from me."
"So were you panicked at that time?"
"Uh... I was, definitely panicked! I was so scared I was practically frozen, if it hadn’t been immobilized, you would probably only be able to see me in photos from now on."
"What do you think would happen if you encountered it again?"
"Encounter it again? If I encounter it again..." Brother Hero furrowed his brows, thought for a long time, and then said, "If I encounter it again, it’s likely that I’d be done for."
Zhang Xiaoman looked at him somewhat surprised and inquired, "Oh? How did you come to that conclusion?"
"The monster might be small, but it’s too fast. When it appeared at my window, I didn’t even have time to react. And did you see its claws just now? Those sharp claws could have gutted me."
Brother Hero said this and couldn’t help but give a wry smile as he continued, "Xiao Man, I understand what you mean. To tell you the truth, I was completely terrified when that monster appeared, and if it were me fighting them like you do, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have enough lives for them to take..."
Zhang Xiaoman nodded, "Exactly, the reason I’m saying all this isn’t to reject you. After all, the world has completely changed now, and these monsters are only going to become more prevalent. Eventually, for your safety, I’d actively want you to join..."
"However, for now, if you joined, you might have an early advantage, but likewise, you’d have to bear even greater risks. The monster you encountered today is just a bottom-feeder, a weakling; in the future, you’re going to meet ones far more terrifying, more disgusting..."
"So, what I want to ask you is, have you really thought it through? Once you choose this path, there’s no turning back..."