069 Do Not Harbor Any Designs on the Lady Night Demon

When Robert woke up in the car, he saw Li Daniu carrying an enormous travel bag, emerging from the building in front of the vehicle.

He reached up to touch the back of his head. The wound there had already scabbed over and carried a faint scent of alcohol.

Watching as Li Daniu loaded the travel bag into the trunk, Robert asked groggily, “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Li Daniu, still riding the excitement of his first monster hunt, was startled by the question. Could it be that a knock to the back of the head had left Robert with amnesia?

“I remember… shooting at a dummy, then stepping into a puddle… and then… I triggered a trap?” As Robert recalled the recent events, a jolt of alarm ran through him.

“Yes, you were hoisted into the air by a trap hidden in the puddle and hit your head,” Li Daniu replied, settling into the driver’s seat and starting the engine.

“Why was there a trap?” A possibility sprang to Robert’s mind, filling him with tension.

“It was set by a Night Demon. I took a look—it was almost identical to the trap you made yesterday when we caught a Night Demon,” Li Daniu explained as he began driving back the way they had come.

“That’s impossible!” Robert cried in disbelief. “How can Night Demons set traps? They have no intelligence, no capacity to learn!”

“I thought it was strange, too, but it’s the truth.” Li Daniu, unable to offer a professional explanation for the Night Demons’ evolving intelligence, could only gloss over the matter.

Robert fell silent. In truth, during his research on the Night Demons and the virus, he had already noticed subtle clues, but he had been unwilling to admit it. If Night Demons truly developed learning abilities, mankind’s ordeal would become far more dire.

“What were you carrying just now?” The question suddenly struck Robert. He remembered Li Daniu emerging alone from the dark building, unarmed. “Aren’t you being reckless? If you wanted to check things out, you could have waited for me to wake up and gone in together.”

“Well… while you were unconscious, I saw that strange Night Demon from yesterday inside the building and went in to capture it. I suspect it was the one who set the trap.”

“Wait, are you saying…” Robert struggled to process the implications. “You went in alone, unarmed, and captured the strange Night Demon from yesterday—and it likely set the trap?”

Li Daniu nodded. “That’s right. There was only one Night Demon in the building, so I’m pretty sure it was responsible for the trap.”

In truth, besides that Night Demon, there had also been two infected zombie dogs inside. But Li Daniu didn’t want Robert to be too shocked by his combat prowess, so he kept that to himself. The bodies of the zombie dogs had already been tossed into the sunlight and reduced to ashes.

Sitting in the back seat, Robert, now sure of what had happened, quickly glanced toward the travel bag in the trunk. Even though it was sealed, it was clear from the shape that it contained a human-like figure.

“My head is spinning a little.” Robert buried his face in his hands and massaged his temples hard before asking again, “How did you manage to catch it?”

“When I went in, it attacked me. I just happened to be holding the travel bag, so I slipped it over its head and knocked it out.”

Li Daniu recalled how the Night Demon had unleashed the zombie dogs at him when he entered. Although zombie dogs were several times faster and stronger than ordinary dogs, they still proved no match for him. He didn’t even need to use his tai chi sword techniques—just the reaction speed granted by his inner strength. Within seconds, he’d dispatched them with an iron rod.

Li Daniu had expected to find a horde of zombies in the building, just like in the movies, where the evolved Night Demon led a pack of its kind to attack Robert’s home. But apart from the two zombie dogs, which he disposed of swiftly, there was only that single Night Demon.

Though that Night Demon was more formidable than the average one, especially in terms of intelligence, its evolution hadn’t yet reached human levels. Li Daniu had knocked it out with only a few well-placed blows.

The entire process had been effortless.

If Robert knew the true story, he would surely want to study Li Daniu’s body in detail. Even with the story simplified, Robert was left speechless by Li Daniu’s display.

It wasn’t until Li Daniu had driven near the docks that Robert snapped out of his daze.

“Tarek, are you sure you’re just an athlete and not some international mercenary?”

“Have you ever met a mercenary with worse aim than mine?” Li Daniu chuckled. International mercenaries would be nothing in comparison to what he was now.

“That’s true—your marksmanship is terrible.” Robert recalled how poor Li Daniu’s shooting had been when they’d hunted deer and dismissed his own suspicion.

“I think your sense of direction also proves you’re not a mercenary,” Robert added, glancing out the window with a teasing tone. “You took the wrong road. This is the docks, not the way home.”

“I didn’t get lost. I just thought this way would be less congested,” Li Daniu replied, though he was well aware he’d taken a detour. According to the storyline, another survivor was waiting for Robert here. If they went straight home, they would miss the encounter.

“Fine, you’re driving, so take whatever route you want. My head still hurts—I need to tend to the wound when we get back.” Robert lay down on the back seat.

“I’ve already disinfected it with alcohol.”

“Do you know anything about medicine? Is alcohol all you think you need?”

As the two bickered, a sudden roar of an engine cut through the air.

“Did you hear something?” Robert sat up again, his expression turning serious. “It sounds like a car.”

“Did it?” Li Daniu had heard it long before, but said nothing. Now that Robert had noticed, he stopped the car and turned off the engine.

With the vehicle silent, Sam perked up in the back seat, ears twitching as she stared out the window.

The engine’s roar grew louder, and suddenly Sam barked at something in the distance.

Both Li Daniu and Robert looked in the same direction and saw a silver SUV slowly approaching.

“Night Demons… can’t drive, can they?” Robert asked, uncertain. He’d just fallen prey to a Night Demon’s trap and now couldn’t help but wonder if they had evolved enough to drive.

“Even if they could, they wouldn’t brazenly do it in broad daylight.” Li Daniu opened the door and stepped out.

“Hey—take your gun!” Robert shouted, grabbing his own weapon and rushing after him.

“Man, you must be blessed by God. With your lack of caution, how have you survived this disaster?” Li Daniu laughed, unconcerned, and waved at the SUV, now less than ten meters away.

“Robert, I think it’s a woman. So you can stop setting your sights on that female Night Demon.”

“I think so too. Wait a minute!” Robert suddenly realized. “When did I ever set my sights on that female Night Demon?”

“No need to deny it. I get it—we’re all men, after all.”

“Oh, come on! Why do I need to deny anything?”