"How can you claim that?"
"Intuition."
Colin answered honestly, but the short teen didn't seem too convinced of that explanation. Having no other choice, Colin was forced to tell that he had also met a monster directly, and his feeling at that time was exactly the same as when he saw the man.
"My part is done, so what about you? How did you know?"
"The number of chairs."
"The number of chairs?"
Colin scratched his head, he didn't understand this answer. Force the teenager to explain.
"If you look closely, you can see that there are three different chairs in the house. This house was originally inhabited by three people, perhaps a family of three. But when I asked about that, he said he lives alone."
"But that can't be used as evidence that he's not the one who originally lived in the house? Maybe those chairs were for guests..."
"Do you think this place will have visitors?"
Colin couldn't object to this one.
"But you're probably right, this is just my own suspicion. So I tried searching, and here is the proof."
The short teenager stealthily pulled something out of his pants pocket. When Colin looked closely, he realized that what the teenager wanted to show him was a child-sized canvas shoe that was stained with blood. Even though the blood stain had dried, it still looked quite fresh.
"Guess where I found this?"
"Don't…don't say anything…"
"Near the kitchen."
Remembering the fragrant smell coming from the kitchen, Colin's stomach boiled again, but not because of hunger but because of the feeling of vomiting.
"We… what should we do…?"
The short teenager did not answer his question, but asked Colin back.
"What do you think this test is about? Or to be more precise, what information does the school want to get from us through this test?"
Colin shook his head, he was still wondering about the options but had not come to a conclusion.
"For me, I think it's endurance."
"The ability to endure?"
"That's right, if I didn't guess wrong, then this house is the real test. The long walk in the forest just now only exists because of this place."
"If the twelve hours of walking combined with the state of exhaustion did not exist, not only you and I, I guess everyone would doubt the existence of this house in the middle of the forest. If it happened, no matter how friendly that man seems, we will still be wary and probably ask for directions, but absolutely do not dare to stay in the house and eat the food he prepares.
"And now, most of us don't have any strength left. Our defenses have also dropped to the lowest level, which is why we can easily trust a stranger."
Colin nodded and then added.
"It seems clear, but I still have a question."
"About the stalker Brad saw?"
"That's right, if this place is the place where the test takes place with that thing being a monster. Then what does the existence of a stalker really mean?"
The short teenager didn't answer, of course because he didn't have a suitable answer either.
It was also because of that stalker that both of them didn't think of immediately running away. They couldn't determine whether it was safer to stay here or run away into the forest. During the entire journey, the stalker didn't harm anyone, but how can Colin guarantee that when they turn into strays, he won't do anything?
There's just too much risk.
The question that needs to be answered now is how to deal with this situation.
"I know a bit."
"Monsters like that man will not immediately kill their victims. Before that, there should be a period of safety."
Colin remembered that the first time he saw the scary old woman on the bus, she did not attack him or the others. So the teenager's words seemed to be true.
"Safe time is actually the time when monsters play with humans, so monsters will not harm us. However, if the safe time has not yet been formed and we have discovered it, its true identity, then the only outcome is death."
"Now is not a safe time?"
"I guess that time is from the next meal onwards."
The teenager explained his escape plan. It's very simple, that is to wait for a safe time to form and then choose the opportunity to secretly run away from the house. To avoid others finding out, the monster will let them go.
Like last time, Colin is then haunted by the bus and its passengers. But at that time, he and his father actually escaped that tragedy safely.
This can be done.
"However, two people are still too few. Call that idiot. By this way, you won't have to worry about being followed by a stalker."
The idiot in the teenager's words was none other than Matthew.
"What about the others? Will they die?"
"I don't know."
The young man shook his head. Seeing this, Colin felt guilty, because this was like letting others die so he could live.
"Just think about it."
The teenager went inside the house. Colin sighed, following him into the house.
Not long after, the meal was ready.
Looking at each bowl of hot stew being brought out and placed in front of them, the students all cheered with joy. Colin and the teenager also pretended to be happy, but they only looked around for a bit and didn't dare to eat a single bite.
Matthew ate two bowls in a row, and after finishing eating, he patted his stomach in satisfaction.
However, Colin also observed a special case.
Besides him and the short teenager, there was also a third person who was pretending but actually did not eat the food in the bowl.
It was a girl named Selina, a girl with black curly hair.
Colin couldn't determine whether she knew something, or whether it was the short teenager who told her.
Perhaps sensing Colin looking at her, Selina turned to look at Colin, then turned away again.
After the meal ended, most people became tired, some people even yawned loudly.
"You guys sleep here. Tomorrow I will come back and lead you out of the forest."
"But… your sleeping area…"
"No need to worry, I have another place to sleep. Good night."
After the man left, the nine people in the group began to arrange their sleeping quarters.
Because the house was very narrow, the seven boys would sleep on the floor, and the two girls would sleep together in the single bed.
Taking this opportunity, Colin also secretly told Matthew everything, including the fact that the other man was a monster disguised as a human.
And his reaction was like: "Oh, is that so?" Then he fell asleep.
Colin couldn't help but admire Matthew's spirit. After knowing what kind of situation he was in, he could still sleep comfortably.
Gradually, everyone fell asleep, the whole house was filled with only the sounds of snoring and regular breathing.
Colin was actually still not asleep, his eyes were still slightly open, carefully observing the situation.
At this moment, the door of the house suddenly opened slowly.
The monster in the guise of a man gently entered the house. It carefully approached each person and then bent down to check whether that person was really sleeping or not. After a while, the monster finally approached Colin, it crouched down, its head less than ten inches from Colin's face.
At this time, Colin smelled a rotten smell coming from the monster. Along with that, his voice also rang in his ears.
"Have you slept?"
"Are you pretending to sleep?"
"You're sneaking a look at me, aren't you?"
"Open your eyes, I won't do anything to you."
Colin's back was drenched in sweat, he was very scared, but he still had to try not to let his heart beat too fast because he wasn't sure if the monster could hear the heartbeat.
Just when Colin thought he was about to be exposed, the monster left, heading towards Matthew's location.
It also repeated its previous action, crouching down close to Matthew. However, just as he was about to say something, he saw Matthew turn around, his arm swinging up to hit the monster's face, causing its jaw to distort. Leave it bewildered for a while.
Colin's heart rate increased sharply, he was very afraid that because of this action, the monster went crazy and killed everyone. Luckily it just moved on to checking on the others.
It's unknown whether the monster truly believed they were asleep or not, but after checking on the last person, the monster left.
But Colin and the short teenager still pretended to sleep like before. No one can be sure if it is safe or not.
Half an hour had passed, the door suddenly opened. From inside, Colin could see half of the man's face peeking out from behind the door, with eyes that had turned completely black. Doesn't look like a normal person at all.
Its eyes slowly moved back and forth across the room, then the door slowly closed.
After waiting a while and seeing no movement from outside, Colin wanted to sit up. But when he noticed the short teenager still lying still, he gave up that idea.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, a face peered at everyone through the window. The monster completely revealed its true nature with pitch black eyes and mouth corners extending to the ears.
It's watching.