Ding. The elevator chimed in, ringing loudly in the empty corridor, but it was not on the ground floor like the burly man had intended it to be.

It had instead stopped on the 9th floor.

And when the doors opened, it was also not the two muscular men who stepped outside. It was rather Lu Chen who walked out, his shirt still dripping wet and his right hand dragging one of the two bodies lying inside the elevator with an icicle stuck in the throat.

The man named Bai who was alive and acting high and mighty just a couple of seconds ago, was now completely dead and lifeless, impaled by the single icicle.

Behind him, Qin Hua dragged the other body, also with an icicle crushing the throat. She used her canines to drag it quite roughly, blood spurting out everywhere creating a gory mess.

After throwing the two bodies out on the empty corridor, Lu Chen then leaned forward to carefully lift Su Yan who was still unconscious even though he was mostly healed.

The elevator doors then closed behind them, whirring once again, and headed towards the ground floor, now completely empty except for the bloodstains all over the floor.

Qin Hua looked at Lu Chen as she wagged her tail and followed him. She had originally planned on helping him take care of both the ruffians but to her surprise, she didn't even have to lift her paw.

In just a fraction of a second, Lu Chen moved and finished both the men at the same time, simultaneously materializing two icicles from both his palms.

Since the little girl zombie was also using ice attacks, she had expected Lu Chen to get some good benefits from absorbing the demonic mana core, but she never expected the results to be so drastic.

[Woof! If only there was one more!!] Qin Hua pouted as she shook her butt along with her tail and followed the guy.

[Aya. I guess it's alright. I could have never taken down those two kids without their help and I did get experience points. A whole lot of them.]

She licked her lips and grinned cheerfully at the thought of all the level up notifications that had sounded.

She was just about to look at everything she had gained in detail when Lu Chen suddenly paused in front of an apartment and stared at the floor.

There was a backpack and a knife lying on the ground and it was unmistakably something that Xu Meilin had with her when they had separated into two groups. Not just that, but none of the others were also to be found.

This was the apartment where the others were supposed to be waiting for them, but now they were missing and it was not too hard to guess exactly where they might be.

"Hmmm… So those guys got to them first before they reached us, huh?" Lu Chen grimly mumbled. He then kicked open the apartment door fully and settled Su Yan inside on a couch.

Looking at his friend who was still unconscious Lu Chen sighed and then turned towards Qin Hua to squat down and ruffle her head.

[Eh! So annoying! Get away! Shoo, human!] The dog growled in a low voice and pushed his hand away, making Lu Chen chuckle lightly at her predictable behavior.

Qin Hua could see that his playful and carefree nature had completely disappeared. The young man standing in front of her was far more serious and sharp, like the edge of a cold steel blade.

Even when he was laughing at her, there was a kind of freezing chill seeping out of his body. She reluctantly licked his hand, letting him have that small victory.

"He He. What a good little girl you are! I would have already been dead and if not… worse… without you. Thanks for helping me, sweet girl."

"Can you even understand me?" Lu Chen asked, staring at the huge dog in front of him, which was almost three-fourths of his height.

Though he had asked her such a question, he already knew the answer to it. He could tell that the dog in front of him was much more intelligent than a normal house pet.

In fact, she was now pitch black in color and looked more like a wolf than a dog with her canines far more pronounced.

Anyone else would have been scared at the mere sight of her, especially now, since the world was swarming with all sorts of creatures, but Lu Chen was not in the least apprehensive about her.

He could clearly remember her being only a small little puppy just a few days ago and chuckled at the surreal beast in front of him, before pulling her closer and hugging her tightly.

[Ah, damn it! Here we go again.] Qin Hua sighed and gave him a couple of licks. Woof! Woof!

Seeing her squirming and wiggling out of his grasp, Lu Chen smiled again and let her go. "Listen to me carefully, little white. We don't have much time. I need to go down and see what is happening on the ground floor."

"Can you stand guard here and look after Su Yan until he wakes up?" He asked her seriously.