Cheng Weicai, Pan Xiaoxin, and Zhu Shu, lacking the ability to defend themselves, went upstairs.

Lu Ang’s leg bone hadn’t fully healed and he couldn’t help, so he went upstairs as well.

Bai Youwei still hid in the storage room.

That left Shen Mo, Tan Xiao, Yan Qingwen, Li Li, and Su Man — five people — in the first-floor living room.

After facing the bear and the anglerfish, every person’s face showed a few fewer traces of panic and a few more of calm composure.

Su Man stood in front of the door, holding the large glass bowl that had previously contained loquats, now filled entirely with iron nails.

With a nod from Yan Qingwen, she pressed her lips together, fixed her gaze on the door, and said: “Please come in, guest.”

Click —

The door slowly opened.

…

Seeing the monster up close, they found its appearance even more comical than they had imagined.

Its head was grotesquely disproportionate to its body, while its two forelimbs were pathetically short and tiny. What had seemed at first glance like a shark that had grown arms and legs now looked more like a miniature Tyrannosaurus rex — except without a tail.

It padded in with plodding steps, walked all the way to Su Man, then sat down on the floor, tilted its head back, and snapped its mouth wide open!

How wide?

Its upper and lower jaws spread nearly more than ninety degrees!

There was no tongue to be seen — the entire inside of its mouth was covered in dense tiny pits, like the suckers on an octopus tentacle, and in several of those small suckers, iron nails had already grown!

Su Man was nauseated by those densely packed pits. Her face went pale green.

The Nail-Tooth Beast sat before her without moving.

“Su Man,” Yan Qingwen spoke from beside her as a reminder.

Su Man came back to herself. She bit her lip, and with a somewhat trembling hand, reached into the glass bowl for a nail…

She grabbed one at random — black, slender, with a spiral-threaded tip.

Gripping the nail, she cautiously leaned toward the Nail-Tooth Beast’s gaping mouth.

At that moment, the densely packed suckers inside the beast’s mouth “jubilantly” began to contract and expand, as if sensing the nearby iron nail. They pulsed in and out, in and out again — like countless ravenous little buds of flesh!

Revolting!

As a tough, capable woman, Su Man feared neither scoundrels nor wolves or tigers. But she could not stand these disgusting things!

Her heart in her throat, she clenched her back teeth tight. Her fingertips trembling, she placed the nail inside the Nail-Tooth Beast’s mouth —

The fleshy suckers had a strange adhesive force for nails. The moment one touched an iron nail, it locked onto it! Firmly fixed in the fleshy sucker, at first glance it looked as though the nail had grown straight out of the flesh!

Once one nail was set, the other fleshy suckers contracted even faster!

They seemed desperate with impatience!

They even secreted a sticky, oily liquid that dripped out in thin trickles — as if drooling!

The Nail-Tooth Beast, uncomfortable from the contracting suckers and drool inside its mouth, let out a rumbling gurgle in its throat, lowered its jaw, and clamped down hard —

Su Man thought it was about to go berserk and yanked her hand back in fright!

But the Nail-Tooth Beast merely shook its head back and forth, still unsatisfied, then tilted its head and rubbed the suckers in its mouth against the floor, leaving a trail of oil smeared across it.

Everyone exchanged glances.

No berserk phase. So nails were correct — they just didn’t know what the beast meant by this behavior.

After a moment of rubbing against the floor, the Nail-Tooth Beast sat back up and opened its mouth wide toward Su Man once more.

Su Man was a little dazed.

“Keep placing nails,” Yan Qingwen said.

Su Man nodded, took a deep breath, reached into the bowl again, and placed another nail into the Nail-Tooth Beast’s mouth —

The fleshy suckers snatched up the iron nail in an instant!

One time is a stranger, twice makes a friend — Su Man’s pace of placing nails grew faster and her movements more practiced.

When she heard the rumbling gurgle in the Nail-Tooth Beast’s throat, she knew the creature was unbearably itchy. She would withdraw her hand, wait for it to rub around a bit, then continue placing nails.