Returning to the living room, he opened the fridge and found two bottles of mineral water and one bottle of beverage inside. Confirming none had been opened, Su Li put them into a plastic bag and took them away.
Originally, Su Li had hoped to find a more convenient and lethal weapon, but unfortunately, nothing better than the kitchen knife and hammer turned up, so he had to stick with those for now.
Aside from the two bottles of mineral water and the beverage, Su Li’s biggest find was a plastic storage bin. It was large, with a capacity of 170 liters, and contained quite a bit of clothing.
When Su Li saw it, he was delighted and quickly took out all the clothes.
“I was just worrying about what to use to store water—this thing can hold a lot.”
Su Li was already planning his departure from this place. Besides food, the other thing to consider was water.
Although there was water everywhere outside, no one knew if it was clean or drinkable. Su Li decided to use the time he had to boil more water with the kettle and set it aside. Without proper insulation, carrying large amounts of boiling water was impractical, but he could bring cooled boiled water, which was at least much cleaner and more hygienic.
The biggest problem now was the lack of containers for large quantities of cooled boiled water. The house had some cups and bottles, but they could only hold a small amount. Seeing this storage bin, Su Li was naturally overjoyed—such a large bin could hold over a hundred liters of cooled boiled water, enough for many days.
Besides the storage bin and the three bottles of water, he also moved the oil, salt, seasonings, and half a bag of rice he found in the kitchen back to his own home.
That half bag of rice thrilled him. Having rice meant he could cook, and for someone currently short on food, this half bag of rice was more precious than anything else.
He carefully moved the oil, salt, and rice into the bedroom and stored them properly. Then, while continuing to boil water with the kettle, he began cleaning the storage bin.
Unsure if the bin could withstand boiling water, Su Li didn’t pour it in directly. Instead, he let the water cool a bit before pouring it into the bin.
Over the next period, Su Li prepared more hot water while occasionally observing the situation outside.
He was eager to see more mutated corpses appear so he could collect ten spirit sources. Unfortunately, there was no movement around, and no new mutated corpses were in sight. The whole world seemed to have fallen silent.
Bored, Su Li’s mind wandered. He even thought about taking a rope, climbing onto the roof, lowering himself down, opening a window from the outside, and entering the neighboring house to look for food.
After considering it for a while, he ultimately found it too risky and gave up. If a mutated corpse suddenly attacked while he was dangling from the rope, it would be trouble.
The day ended like this. The storage bin was now full of cooled boiled water. Su Li tightly sealed the lid and carefully moved it into the bedroom, stacking it with the other important supplies.
The sun had disappeared over the horizon. From the balcony, Su Li looked into the distance and saw the sky dyed a fiery red by the sunset, like flames. He knew this was called a sunset glow—dazzling and brilliant—but his heart was filled with a sense of oppression. Staring at the crimson sky in the distance, he felt a bit dazed.
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering came from the corridor outside.
The noise jolted Su Li awake, making him flinch. But instead of fear, he felt a surge of excitement.
After waiting so long, had another mutated corpse finally appeared?
He had been waiting for them. He only needed four more to gather ten spirit sources.
Su Li grabbed his knife and hammer but didn’t immediately open the security door. Instead, he pressed his eye to the peephole and looked down the corridor, wanting to see how many mutated corpses were out there.
What he saw was a pile of bodies—the ones he had moved out earlier and stacked along the corridor. Now, with the glass by the corridor shattered, a massive creature was slowly crawling in through the window.
Su Li couldn’t help but take a quiet breath, momentarily afraid to make a sound.
What he saw wasn’t a mutated corpse but an ugly monster he had never seen before.
The creature looked like a giant frog. It had a triangular head, a wide, flat body covered in granular warts, and was nearly two meters long—about the size of a round table. Its entire body was a vivid green, and right in the middle of its head sat a single enormous eye. It was the kind of creature that only appeared in books or movies; in real life, Su Li had never heard of such a terrifying, bizarre being.
Su Li remembered a science channel he had watched before, which mentioned that the largest frog in the world was the African goliath frog, reaching up to 30 centimeters in length, or nearly a meter when its hind legs were stretched out. But compared to this one-eyed monster, that was nothing. This giant frog was several times larger than the African goliath.
Holding his breath, Su Li watched as the giant frog opened its gaping maw, revealing a blood-red tongue that coiled around the thigh of one of the corpses and dragged it outward.
Through the frog’s wide-open mouth, Su Li could see rows of densely packed, tiny teeth. The blood-red tongue wrapped around the corpse’s thigh and pulled, and the mouth clamped down on the leg. The upper and lower rows of tiny teeth tore into the flesh, gouging it like a plow, exposing the white bone beneath.
“That’s it, no doubt,” Su Li thought, his eyes narrowing. His hands gripping the kitchen knife and hammer tightened involuntarily, veins bulging on the backs. Clearly, he was tense, because he had confirmed that this giant frog with the massive eye was likely the unknown aquatic creature that had made him so uneasy earlier.
Judging by how the corpse’s thigh was being devoured, those earlier gnawed bodies were all its work.
How dangerous was this giant frog? Could he take it on now? After waiting so long for it to crawl ashore, should he seize this chance to kill it?
Otherwise, once it returned to the water, the danger would be far greater.
Countless thoughts raced through Su Li’s mind in an instant. But he wasn’t entirely confident. He didn’t know the giant frog’s strength. Staring at the security door in front of him, he couldn’t muster the courage to open it.
“Rushing out to fight it now is too risky. The safest move is to wait until I get four more spirit sources and become stronger. Then I can figure out a way to kill it. Since it crawled up here today, I should be able to lure it up again next time.”
With this thought, Su Li let out a quiet sigh, and his clenched hands relaxed slightly. Just then, the giant frog, which had been gnawing on the corpse, suddenly tilted its head. The massive eyeball in the center of its flat face rolled around and fixed its gaze on the direction of the security door.