The surroundings were now filled with cars, and the occupants, though still appearing human, were undoubtedly monsters, as William knew all too well.

"Alex, you've been surrounded," one of the monsters outside shouted. "Give up your resistance." "If you want to kill me, come over here!" Alex cursed. "Stop the nonsense!"

His bone-splitting knife flew out first and, without waiting for the monster outside to react, it plunged directly into the talking monster's neck.

"Quick kill!" William exclaimed, surprised by Alex's swiftness. Although he had heard of Alex killing monsters in his family this way, witnessing it firsthand was something else.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Alex whispered.

"I can't," Carl's face contorted in worry. He scanned the surroundings and picked up a knife from the slaughterhouse floor, gripping it tightly. "We're completely surrounded by monsters, both upstairs and downstairs. There's no way out."

"What?!" William was taken aback. "Monsters upstairs too?"

"Yes, several monsters are guarding outside the windows," Carl explained. "If we try to go up, they'll break the windows and rush in to attack us."

"Damn it," William clenched his teeth. "I must have led these monsters right to us." "Idiot!" Alex muttered. "Stay close to me; I'll get you out."

The knives swirling around Alex halted momentarily, and then, in the next instant, they flew outward, towards the monsters surrounding the butcher's shop.

"Follow me!" Alex yelled, wielding the bone cutter and charging out.

"Kill him!" the monsters outside the slaughterhouse shouted. They knew how formidable Alex was, and at that moment, all the monsters began to transform, their human disguises shedding to reveal their true forms.

"Go to hell!" one of the monsters near the butcher's shop raised a sickle-like forearm and swung it at Alex, who had rushed out.

A cold glint flashed, and a bloody knife pierced into the joint of the monster's forearm, limiting its movement. Alex made a powerful leap, wielding his bone-chopping knife, and beheaded the monster swiftly.

"That's incredible," William couldn't help but admire. He knew how powerful these monsters were, but Alex's prowess was still astonishing to witness.

"Why don't you guys leave?" Alex muttered, facing the remaining monsters. "I can't leave," Carl's face grew darker.

"Up there!" Carl suddenly shouted, sensing something. The monsters that had been lurking outside the second-floor window sprang into action, revealing their true forms as they jumped down from above. Three bone-cutting knives shot upwards, stabbing the monsters' insect-like legs. However, their numbers were overwhelming, and even Alex couldn't defeat them all.

Alex managed to dodge the second monster's attack, but he couldn't avoid the third monster's assault. Its sickle-like forearm pierced Alex's chest from behind as it fell.

"Alex!" William wanted to rush forward and help, but the knife he had picked up when leaving the butcher's shop was no match for these monsters.

"Damn creature!" Alex seemed unaffected by the pain, swinging his bone-chopping knife towards the monster. However, this time, he missed.

Alex's old wounds had not fully healed, and coupled with the blood loss he had suffered earlier, he was now at his limit. His movements grew slower, but he continued to grit his teeth and fight on.

"Carl, look out!" William warned as he saw the monsters approaching Carl. In this dire moment, it seemed like there was no way out for them.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Don't come over!" Alex growled, as if sensing William approaching.

"Get out of here! Old man... it's not your turn to save a little fart," Alex added, gritting his teeth and raising his hand. The peeling knife flew over, cutting off the tentacles that were reaching towards him. The bone-splitting knife pierced into the joint of the monster's forearm, and the meat cleaver cut along the blade, instantly severing the monster's forearm.

"Hurry up and get out! Don't get in the way here!" Alex roared.

Two bone cutters flew behind William and Carl, piercing them from behind their clothes and dragging them forward. The other sword guards were in front of both of them, constantly attacking nearby monsters to clear their path.

"Son of a bitch! Come on, come on!" Alex shouted from behind, and at that moment, he burst out laughing recklessly. "Aren't you always trying to kill me? Come on, everyone. I tell you, if you can't kill me today, I will definitely kill you all one by one. As long as I'm alive, you won't get better. Sooner or later, I will kill all of you damn beasts."

Alex's words completely enraged the group of monsters, who ignored William and Carl and rushed towards Alex one after another.

At about 500 meters, the dragging force disappeared, and the knives protecting William and Carl also fell one after another.

"Alex..." William seemed to understand something as he looked at the knife that had fallen to the ground.

"Not yet," Carl shook his head. "Alex is still alive, but... his heartbeat is getting weaker and weaker. His abilities should be the same as mine, with a certain range limit, or... he no longer has the extra strength to control these knives. We need to go back and save him!" William wanted to go back and help but was caught by Carl.

"You wake up a bit!" Carl cursed, "What can we do when we go back? Can we die? Alex can't even deal with these monsters, what can we do? He told us the hiding place of the key, hoping that we could come back alive and take the key the next time. Hurry up!" Carl urged, "Those monsters saw what we looked like, and the monsters around us also heard the noise. If we don't leave now, we really can't leave. Let's go back to Yin Mountain and hide. After this matter subsides, we'll come back and get the keys."

William was pulled away by Carl, and at that moment, he suddenly realized how useless he was. When chased by monsters, he couldn't resist. When taken away by the monster, he couldn't escape. When surrounded by monsters, he could only watch Alex sacrifice himself. William felt oppressed, as if something was blocking his throat, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"If only we had discovered these monsters earlier," William said to himself. "If we had known there were monsters lurking around here earlier, we wouldn't have come over, and Alex wouldn't have died. If only my abilities could also help."

When William thought of this, he suddenly felt a dizzy sensation in his mind. The scenery in front of him seemed to be twisting, the sky flickering, and the entire world seemed to be spinning.

"William, what's wrong with you?" Carl's voice came to his ear, but William couldn't hear clearly. "William... William... William!"

"William, what's wrong with you?" The dizziness gradually dissipated, and William, who had regained his senses, saw Carl standing in front of him.

"Did you hear what I just told you?" Carl looked at William with a puzzled expression on his face. "Pheromone, because you have pheromones left by monsters, so..."

"Is this... my home?" Seeing where he was, William froze. Familiar places, familiar decorations, and the body of the killed monster on the ground.

"What are you crazy about?" Carl looked at William. "Aren't your brains already eaten by this monster? Where else can this be if it's not your home? I'm here to save you."

"I'm back?!" William couldn't figure it out. Why did he return to the past this time when he was clearly

not dead? Moreover, this time he did not follow the previous pattern back to August 8th but instead returned to two hours ago when the monster disguised as William's father had just been killed. "Nonsense, you won't forget that you were captured by that monster, did you?" Carl said.

As they spoke, footsteps came from outside the door. William looked back, and sure enough, Alex walked in. He glanced at the monster on the ground, and the bone splitter on its neck flew back. Then he saw the car key on the shoe cabinet and grabbed it in his hand.

"The person has been rescued. Now come with me to the slaughterhouse." "Cannot go to the slaughterhouse!" William quickly shouted.

"Keep your voice down!" Carl, who was beside him, was startled and couldn't help but rush up to cover William's mouth. "Do you want to wake up all the monsters in the whole building?"

Carl glared at William and turned to Alex, "This is not what we agreed upon -"

Before he could finish speaking, William snatched him over and said, "I know there are keys hidden in Alex's slaughterhouse, but you can't go."

"Key?" Carl looked at William in confusion.

Without waiting for him to continue asking, Alex's face darkened, and the bleeding knife in his bag flew out instantly and stopped in front of William. "Why do you know there are keys hidden in the slaughterhouse?" Alex asked coldly. "Who the hell are you?"

Carl is very clever, and Alex's reaction means that William is right. So, he quickly guessed why William said this: "William, do you mean... you're dead again?"