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

Chapter 22 A Fleeting Touch
As he continued upwards, Chu Xiu soon arrived at the thirty-second floor.

As soon as he stepped out of the stairwell, he heard muffled laughter coming from a room deep inside.

Chu Xiu glanced at it as he passed by, revealing a slightly surprised expression.

The room had changed a lot since he arrived. The gravel, dust, and wooden planks in the living room had been cleared away and replaced with a complete set of tables and chairs. These tables and chairs were piled together, and with clean porcelain bowls placed on top, they formed a simple dining table.

Not far from the dining table, there were ten mattresses, exactly the same number as the number of people. Chu Xiu remembered that these mattresses were all moldy, but now they were covered with brand new sheets, which covered the dirty mattresses. This was obviously Xu Hang's doing.

The balcony was also sealed off with a waterproof cover, so at least we won't have to endure the cold wind at night.

The somewhat effeminate perfumer, Song Ziping, had found two potted plants that were a little wilted and yellowish, and was now carefully arranging them.

By this time, Shen Zhuo and his group had returned and were eating and chatting happily in a room. Yun Lu was among them, smiling broadly.

This touched Chu Xiu for a moment.

This simple, dilapidated room, compared to the outside world, gave him a sense of warmth and "home".

"Humans are indeed social animals. Although I made the best decision based on reason, I still have some longing in my heart."

Of course, Chu Xiu was not a sentimental person. This feeling was fleeting, and he never regretted his decision. You can't have your cake and eat it too; it's a very simple truth.

Compared to this insignificant warmth, greater power is what he pursues.

"Ah! Chu Xiu!"

Just as he was about to leave, a voice called out to him.

Yunlu, who was in the room, noticed him at some point, and excitedly got up, carrying her bowl, and ran over.

She held the bowl up in both hands and presented it to Chu Xiu. Inside the bowl were finely chopped, bright red meat.

"Guess what we found today? A live deer! There are actually deer in this godforsaken place! We're lucky to have hunted one, so we won't have to worry about food for the next two days!"

"Try it, it tastes much better than rat meat!"

Looking at the fresh meat in front of him, Chu Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly. Before he could speak, he heard a dissatisfied voice in the room: "He's not even part of our team. Why should we give him the meat we hunted with so much effort?"

Chu Xiu glanced at her; she was a short-haired girl named Wu Xinyi, a member of Shen Zhuo's combat team.

She has an ordinary appearance, but she has a straightforward and decisive masculine quality that makes her seem quite reliable.

Clearly, she disliked Chu Xiu's freeloading behavior.

Many others also gave him sidelong glances, as if to say, "Weren't you so arrogant before? If you're so capable, don't eat our food!"

Yunlu looked at Shen Zhuo with some difficulty, and the latter said indifferently, "Although Chu is not one of us, we have a cooperative relationship. If you want to eat, you just need to pay."

Hearing this, Yunlu breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, let me pay for mine first."

Upon hearing this, Shen Zhuo didn't say anything, but his expression clearly turned ugly. As for the others, they were naturally even more displeased.

Chu Xiu accepted it without a second thought: "Thank you, how much is this meat?"

“One jin of cause and effect points,” Shen Zhuo said.

Yunlu whispered, "No need, you've taken such good care of me before, this little bit of meat is nothing."

Chu Xiu nodded and took the plate.

"Tch." A disdainful sneer rang out from inside the room.

Chu Xiu ignored him and turned to leave.

Yunlu watched his retreating figure with a hint of disappointment on her face, and it took her a while to look back.

"Xiaoyun, why are you being so nice to that guy? You don't like him, do you?" Wu Xinyi said unhappily.
"Ah! No! I was just expressing my gratitude." Yunlu waved her hands repeatedly.

Wu Xinyi sighed, "He is indeed decent-looking, but not particularly handsome. Moreover, his personality is terrible. He's unsociable and selfish. Why bother with someone like that?" Xu Hang chimed in, "That's right. What era are we living in? Still going it alone, especially as a support role. It's a miracle if this kind of lone wolf can succeed."

Yunlu smiled awkwardly: "Chu Xiu isn't that bad, is he?"

Wang Long snorted: "Have you forgotten that we cooperated before, and he still hasn't given us our share? He at least got dozens of karma points for nothing!"

“Yes,” Li Shan also said, “this kind of person is extremely selfish and won’t share even a single bit with us.”

These two clearly harbored a great deal of resentment towards Chu Xiu.

At this moment, Guan Ke, who had been silent until now, spoke up: "Is it possible that he is actually a high-level professional, but he has hidden his true rank?"

Upon hearing this, everyone showed thoughtful expressions.

Indeed, Chu Xiu's behavior is very much like that of a high-level professional; if that's the case, then his actions make sense.

“Probably not,” Li Shan said at this moment. “He was my classmate, and his energy level was only 0.8 in the pre-departure energy level test.”

“I see,” Guan Ke shook his head in disappointment. “Then it seems he really was short-sighted.”

Wu Xinyi also said, "Xiaoyun, I'm not targeting him. If he were really strong, that would be fine, but he only gained an advantage in the early stages because of his special class. In the end, he is just a support class. The later the game goes, the more obvious his lack of combat skills will become."

"Instead of making the most of his advantageous period and befriending more combat-oriented people, he's putting on airs. Isn't that stupid?"

Yunlu remained silent, but her expression clearly showed that she was somewhat unhappy.

Guan Ke stepped in to smooth things over: "Alright, Xiaoyun already said she didn't mean it that way."

Shen Zhuo nodded: "That's right, we just need to take care of ourselves. What happens to others is their own business."

Seeing that Shen Zhuo had spoken, everyone stopped talking about the topic and began chatting about various things, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Unbeknownst to them, everyone's gossip reached Chu Xiu's ears.

It wasn't that he deliberately wanted to listen; it was simply that his mental and physical attributes were too high.

Among the three basic attributes, spirit and physique can both affect reaction speed and perception to some extent.

Chu Xiu's spirit was already high, and with continuous upgrades, his current perception ability far surpasses that of others.

Hearing people talking badly about him behind his back didn't affect him at all. To be honest, given his style of doing things, it would be strange if no one criticized him.

If the roles were reversed, Chu Xiu would have cursed himself even more harshly than they did; these people were quite well-mannered compared to him.

So he calmly ate the meat to regain his strength.

But just then, he suddenly heard Guan Ke's voice, who had been mostly silent: "Our harvest seems to be getting smaller and smaller."

This remark immediately cooled down the lively atmosphere.

After a while, Shen Zhuo said sullenly, "My luck was really bad today, but the harvest after leaving the apartment building was not bad. I not only hunted a deer, but also got a piece of equipment."

“It’s probably not just a matter of luck,” Guan Ke said seriously. “I suspect those creatures are quite intelligent. They’ve realized someone is hunting them, so they’re becoming increasingly cautious. The hunt might be even more difficult in the future! They might even have to risk going to areas far away from the apartment buildings!”

As Guan Ke analyzed the situation in a serious tone, Chu Xiu's lips twitched involuntarily.

There was no wisdom involved; it was simply because I killed most of the ghouls, and then their corpses were absorbed, so you couldn't detect it.
However, this girl's ability to perceive this so keenly is quite remarkable compared to others.

"So, what do you mean?" Shen Zhuo's voice rang out.

"What I mean is, if we want to explore further, we need better equipment, otherwise it's too risky."

Guan Ke paused for a moment: "It's time to talk to Chu Xiu about the manufacture of the bone equipment."

(End of this chapter)