She was an elderly woman, wearing an apron, looking just like the lady serving meals at the cafeteria window.
But theoretically, a normal cafeteria server should not be getting up in the middle of the night to sneak food. In such a large cafeteria, feeding hundreds of people, it was unlikely anyone, especially those who cook, would go hungry.
The first thought that sprung to Wang Yunxiao's mind was not to verify the authenticity of that human hand. It could have been real, or it might just have been a trick of the eye. He first concluded that this woman should not be appearing at this place at this time.
Not lighting the lamps nor firing up the stove, saying you're making breakfast would convince no one!
"Hehe..."
Seeming to detect the presence of a stranger, the woman turned around, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, and flashed a chilling smile at Wang Yunxiao.
"Little mouse..."
Without saying a word, Wang Yunxiao swung a stool towards her head.
The thick wooden stool, weighing over a dozen pounds, was a deadly weapon in a street fight, and in such cramped space, it was unavoidable. Unfortunately, his own body wasn't strong enough to unleash its full potential.
However, the old woman likewise had no combat experience. The expression on her face seemed to show she hadn't realized why this child wasn't afraid of her.
The next moment, the stool fiercely smacked her face, the force of the momentum causing her to lose balance and topple backward, her head striking the edge of the sink with a dull thud.
The instant the stool connected with her face, Wang Yunxiao let go of it, lunged for the chopping block beside him, grabbed a boning knife with a reverse grip, then turned and ran.
He also took two cans of luncheon meat from the box on his way out.
He knew well that with the strength of his current body, the stool alone couldn't kill someone.
What's more, that might not even have been a human.
He sprinted all the way back to the cafeteria, where the children guarding the door, about to speak, involuntarily turned their gazes towards the horror following behind him, their faces filled with terror.
"Run! Youtiao, go call for help!"
Wang Yunxiao threw a can without looking to see if they caught it, came to a sudden stop, and turned to face the monster behind him.
It was indeed a monster.
The old woman, her face bloodied, staggered out, her mouth opening nearly 180 degrees, spewing out a tendril as long as a whip...which might also have been a tongue, like that of a toad, trying to wrap itself around Wang Yunxiao's body.
For some reason, Wang Yunxiao wasn't frightened at all.
His breathing was rapid, merely from the strenuous run he had just had, but even upon seeing the grotesque appearance of the monster, his heart remained undisturbed.
It was a monster.
Killing it should be legal.
The thick long tongue whizzed past Wang Yunxiao's ear, its foul stench causing him to reflexively hold his breath. He struck back with his hand, slicing a long wound along the base of the tongue with the knife.
He nimbly rolled on the spot, escaping the space before the tongue could coil back.
The old woman let out an angry howl.
The children fled swiftly, leaving only the two doors of the cafeteria swinging slightly and creaking. It was too late to chase them now, and this most annoying "little mouse" had already dove into the rows of neatly aligned tables and disappeared without a sound.
The more frantically a prey flees, the easier it is to catch them because in their panic they make a lot of noise, spilling their direction in the dark, even sometimes tripping themselves up... But this annoying little mouse, having dashed into the jungle of tables and stools, suddenly fell silent.
Wang Yunxiao hid beneath a nearby stool, took deep breaths to slow his breathing, and opened the can of luncheon meat.
This body was truly weak; though stronger than the other children, it was still just a child's body without professional training, and the nutrition was hardly sufficient. Even a bit of strenuous activity caused his muscles to tremble.
Had he received professional training in the past?
Wang Yunxiao could not dredge up any relevant memory from his mind, but right now, what was most important was to get some food.
He couldn't remember when he last had a meal, but now, after just a bit of running, his stomach was already growling.
Humans are such sentimental creatures.
Thinking that even dogs would not eat the luncheon meat.
Yet, when making instant noodles, leaving it out felt like something was missing.
Wiping the blood off the knife's blade with the corner of his clothes, he gouged out a large chunk of pale luncheon meat and stuffed it into his mouth. Wang Yunxiao gulped it down voraciously while keeping his ears pricked for any noises behind him.
The monster had little combat experience; its breathing was heavy. With such a long, thick tongue hidden in its mouth, breathing must have been difficult. If its breathing was labored, that meant it was wasting energy unnecessarily.
While one should not use common sense to assume the physical condition of a monster, as long as it's on Earth, at the very least, it should obey the most basic physical laws.
Otherwise, it would indicate a severe anomaly in this world.
Wang Yunxiao assumed that the monster could maintain its visibility in the dark, but clearly, it wasn't that capable. It was like a headless fly, furiously howling and overturning one table after another.
But eventually, it smelled the scent of the luncheon meat.
The monster grinned, revealing a ferocious smile. It lightened its footsteps and quietly circled toward the direction from which the scent was coming.
From the lewd expression on its face, it seemed to have prepared itself to toy with its prey. For instance, when it got close to the target, it would make its footsteps disappear, then stealthily crawl onto the table, stretching its head over, waiting for that little mouse to look up—the expression on its face would certainly be priceless...
However, its smile did not last long because it didn't find its target, only a half-can of luncheon meat placed on the ground.
It was a bait.
Wang Yunxiao crouched and stealthily circled from the side, aimed at its ribs, and steadily plunged the knife in.
The human skeleton almost protects all vital organs, except for the area from the ribs to the hipbones, where there is no protection from the bones, only lots of fat, and two kidneys on either side.
For a humanoid monster, this might not be a vital spot, but that didn't matter.
Wang Yunxiao struck successfully and withdrew his knife abruptly without lingering.
The monster let out a piercing howl, clutching its lower back, stumbling, and knocking over the surrounding tables and chairs.
It spat out its long tongue again, trying to catch that damned mouse, but the mouse was too agile, as if it had eyes on the back of its head, dodging away just in the nick of time.
"Come out!"
The monster roared indistinctly, its tongue curling around a long table and throwing it toward the direction where the mouse was hiding.
Boom crash—
The sound of numerous tables and chairs colliding and toppling masked Wang Yunxiao's footsteps.
Although risky, he couldn't leave the cafeteria. The dozens-of-meters long corridor outside offered no defenses and was less safe compared to the complex terrain of the cafeteria.
It's a pity that his body was too weak, his heart pounding like a tractor engine with just a slight movement. If he could survive, he'd definitely exercise more in the future.
What on earth was this monster? Stabbed twice and still it acted as if nothing happened; ordinary weapons might not be causing effective damage.
Wang Yunxiao, crawling on all fours like a cat, stealthily maneuvered past the angry monster, while silently pondering whether to enchant the knife in his hand.
He might not find other things at this time, but he had enough Boy's Urine.
After venting its anger, the monster calmed down again. It also seemed to realize the difficulty of its opponent and decided to think of another method.
Faint rustling sounds came from the ground.
Wang Yunxiao held his breath, motionless, watching something snake-like wriggling beside him.
The monster seemed to have become smarter. It laid its tongue on the ground, seemingly trying to sense the slight vibrations of the ground or faint signals in the air.
How come it's such a terrifying creature from the start? This is purely a beginner-level tutorial mission kill, let me level up and point out a couple of skills...
I'm really foolish, yes, I shouldn't have brought them here for meat at all!
Wang Yunxiao silently sighed in his heart, suddenly opened his eyes wide, and charged out from his hiding place.
The monster was less than two meters away, completely unaware of his presence, focusing entirely ahead.
Wang Yunxiao dashed out close to the ground beside it, slicing open the tendon of its left calf, then immediately rolled forward, smoothly escaping.
"Aaaaah—!"
The monster roared insanely, seemingly completely enraged by the cut, diving into madness, but its body involuntarily knelt to the ground.
However, at that moment, a sudden flood of light instantly illuminated the entire cafeteria.
The bulb above emitted a dim light, not particularly dazzling. But even this slight glow made the monster emit a shriek a hundred times more pitiful than before.
That long tongue rapidly burnt to ashes under the light, leaving behind an old woman with a bloody head and bruised body, trembling as she fell to the ground.
The monster disappeared just like that, as if everything that had happened was just an illusion of Wang Yunxiao's.
Perhaps there was never a monster.
It was just a fierce scuffle between a youth and a cafeteria lady in the dark.
Hearing the chaotic footsteps outside the cafeteria door, Wang Yunxiao calmly wiped the fingerprints off the knife handle with the cloth of his clothes, threw the knife beside the old woman on the ground foaming at the mouth, and found a suitable place to lie down, casually covering himself with a fallen stool.
He had also considered the possibility that his mind was playing tricks, seeing people as monsters, so the three cuts he made were not fatal. If things got tricky later, no one having seen him act, there would still be some room for maneuver.
He closed his eyes and tried to call for the system again.
Still, he received no response.
Damn, all those transmigration novels he had read were deceitful.