Chapter 115

Chapter 115

Faint light shimmered in the distance.

Tu Nan scanned her surroundings, picked up a small mirror left by another nurse, and ducked behind the Nurse’s Station. She angled the mirror outward, using the reflection to carefully observe the approaching figure.

To her surprise, the person was not any of the individuals she had suspected. It was the Head Nurse, and she appeared to be carrying something.

Tu Nan breathed a sigh of relief, retracted the mirror, and stood up.

By the time the Head Nurse reached her, Tu Nan had already glanced at the ID Badge on the woman’s chest. She forced a smile and asked, “Head Nurse, what brings you here?”

The Head Nurse shot her a brief look. “Are you the only one on duty?”

“Yes,” Tu Nan nodded. “I’ve finished my rounds. Everything is normal so far.”

“You need to stay alert when you’re on duty alone. It’s easy to get drowsy at night, so I brought you a cup of coffee.” The Head Nurse used a tentacle to coil around a cup and handed it to her. “Drink up. It’ll help you stay sharp tonight.”

The object Tu Nan had seen earlier must have been this coffee.

Looking at the cup, Tu Nan found herself in a difficult position.

She definitely couldn’t drink it. The Head Nurse’s current stance was ambiguous and highly suspicious; her coming all this way specifically to deliver coffee only added to those doubts.

However, she was still a subordinate. Refusing would mean offending the Head Nurse.

The Head Nurse narrowed her eyes, her expression souring. “I went out of my way to bring you coffee. What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m so sorry, Head Nurse,” Tu Nan said, her face full of genuine apology. “I’m actually allergic to coffee. I break out in hives the moment I drink it. I’m afraid I have to decline your kindness.”

She paused before adding, “Please rest assured, I will work diligently and won’t let you down.”

With things put that way, the Head Nurse couldn’t exactly force her to drink it.

A flash of annoyance crossed her eyes as she let out a cold snort. “It better be.”

Tu Nan watched her with a smile, remaining silent.

The Head Nurse turned and left.

She had arrived abruptly and left just as quickly, as if she truly had come only to deliver a cup of coffee.

But based on the Head Nurse’s reputation among the staff, she wasn’t the type to be so considerate of her subordinates.

Coming here personally in the middle of the night to deliver coffee was far too suspicious.

*What exactly is she trying to do?* Tu Nan sat back down, struggling to make sense of the Head Nurse’s actions.

If she had put something in the coffee, it would be far too easy to trace back to her afterward. Unless…

Had the Head Nurse put some kind of hallucinogen in the coffee, hoping to make Tu Nan believe that everything happening was just a delusion?

Unfortunately, the Head Nurse had taken the coffee with her. Even if Tu Nan had her suspicions, she had no way to prove them.

Tu Nan expected the rest of the night to be chaotic, but to her surprise, the next two hours remained calm. As the clock hand crept toward two in the morning, everything stayed perfectly normal. The silence was unsettling; no strange people or hospital staff appeared to take patients away.

As time ticked by, she couldn’t help but feel drowsy.

Since arriving at Fairy Tale Hospital, she hadn’t been getting nearly enough sleep. Combined with the high-intensity work during the day, she was reaching her limit.

Tu Nan propped her head up, her eyelids growing heavy. She had to resort to pinching the flesh on her thigh hard to stay awake.

Just as she was beginning to drift off, a faint noise echoed from the corridor near the stairwell.

Tu Nan’s sleepiness vanished instantly. Her eyes snapped open, and she grabbed the mirror, quickly crouching down and angling it to investigate.
The corridor was pitch black, without a single glimmer of light.

If hospital staff were coming to move a patient, there was no reason for them not to turn on the lights. Appearing here at this hour was suspicious enough; doing so in total darkness meant they were up to no good.

Tu Nan held her breath, retracted the mirror, and took out the Skill Card she had prepared earlier.

*

“Why is no one here?”

A dark figure asked in surprise from the shadows.

“They probably heard us and got scared off. It’s better for us if she’s not here anyway-saves us the trouble. Hurry up and find Ward 403,” another person said.

“…Do you smell flowers?”

“In a hospital? Where would a floral scent come from?”

“Forget it, it’s probably just my imagination. Let’s go.” One of them picked up the Oil Lamp from the desk and started walking forward.

Tu Nan held her breath and carefully squeezed past the two of them.

Back then, after the Fairy Tale Compendium consumed the Madam’s bottle of perfume, it had spat out a bottle of perfume in return.

However, once sprayed, this perfume could minimize a person’s presence to the greatest extent possible. The effect lasted for five minutes, and stacking the effect multiple times within a short period would cause its efficacy to diminish.

The stronger a person’s perception, the easier it was to discover her.

While it wasn’t some world-defying ability, it was still very useful.

Most importantly, it could be used repeatedly until the perfume ran out, making it perfect for someone like her who lacked self-defense Skills.

The Oil Lamp at the Nurse’s Station hadn’t been extinguished, so Tu Nan could see what they looked like. However, the intruders had wrapped their faces in gauze, leaving only their eyes exposed. She could only tell from their voices that they were a man and a woman, neither of whom sounded particularly young. Furthermore, they weren’t wearing ID Badges.

Judging by the implications of their conversation, they were heading straight for Ward 403.

Tu Nan glanced at the time. It was just one minute past two o’clock. This timing was calculated perfectly, leaving her no way to make a phone call.

It seemed they had come prepared.

Tu Nan maintained her distance behind them, following silently.

The two individuals didn’t seem to know the exact location of Ward 403. Every so often, they had to lift the Oil Lamp to check the room numbers.

Ward 403 wasn’t far from the Nurse’s Station; they were about to find the room.

Tu Nan checked the time again. There were two minutes left before the perfume wore off. She stepped in front of one of them and stuck out her foot to trip him.

With a loud thud, the person holding the Oil Lamp fell heavily to the ground, and the lamp crashed down with him.

Unfortunately, the man managed to cushion the Oil Lamp with his hand. The flame inside flickered wildly but didn’t go out.

“How could you be so careless?” the woman said anxiously, rushing forward to help him up.

“Ow, my back…” the fallen man couldn’t help but groan in a low voice.

“Keep it down, don’t wake anyone up.” The woman picked up the Oil Lamp and helped him to his feet. “You were walking perfectly fine, how did you just fall?”

“I don’t know…” The man’s voice trembled slightly. “It felt… it felt like something tripped me.”

The woman’s voice also became panicked. “D-don’t talk nonsense. There’s nothing on the floor. What could have tripped you?”

Tu Nan frowned in confusion as she watched their reaction.

It looked like they were actually more afraid than she was.

“This is a hospital… could it be…” The man swallowed hard. “Could there be something…”

“Shut up!” the woman interrupted in a low hiss. “Even if there’s a mountain of blades or a sea of fire ahead, we have to keep going. Hurry, we only have about ten minutes.”