Chapter 183
Chapter 183
Boom!
The rock exploded. A black speck flashed before No. 6’s eyes.
Smack!
Enormous force struck his face, sending his entire body flying.
Boom!
He crashed into a nearby wall and shattered it, then lost consciousness. Liu Ye rapidly returned to his original size.
“Found another one!”
Liu Ye excitedly pulled No. 6 up, took out the medicine bottle, and poured its contents straight down his throat.
Once he finished, Liu Ye settled No. 6 in a room and continued searching for the other patients.
When No. 6 woke and saw the bizarre, Fiend-like angle from which he now viewed the world, he immediately understood what had happened.
Grief flooded through him. His body had ended up this way in reality, and now the same thing had happened here.
The shock was more than he could bear. He burst into tears.
“Everyone, No. 6 has… fallen.”
No. 2’s choked voice came through the earpieces. The other patients fell silent when they heard the news.
“I can’t do this anymore! I can’t take it! Just let him kill me! Waaah!”
Patient No. 4, Sister Han, collapsed to the floor.
The old woman hauled her up and slapped her hard across the face.
Sister Han covered her cheek and looked at the old woman through tear-filled eyes.
“It’s too early to give up! Why do you think No. 6 sacrificed himself? He did it for us! If we surrender now, everything we’ve done will have been for nothing!”
“Waaah…”
Sister Han sat on the floor, covered her face, and sobbed.
“Stop crying! Liu Ye is heading your way. Run!” No. 2 shouted through the earpieces.
“Move!”
The old woman pulled Sister Han to her feet and shouted at No. 3.
But No. 3 seemed not to hear. Leaning against the wall, he smoked and gazed up at the sky.
He thought back over his life. His parents had abandoned him as a child. At twelve, he killed the owner of a steamed-bun shop for a single bite of food. At eighteen, he began making a name for himself in the underworld. By thirty, he was the local boss. He had believed that if he was ruthless and hard enough, nothing could defeat him.
But looking back now, he seemed not to have done a single thing worth remembering.
“You two go.”
No. 3 dropped his cigarette and ground it beneath his shoe.
“Don’t tell me…”
The old woman’s pupils contracted.
“I’m the only one who can hold him off now. Use the time to find the remaining fragments!”
They had already found pieces of a map depicting the hidden passage. Once the map was complete, they would know where the passage lay.
“You bastard… Don’t die!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll merely… suffer a fate worse than death!”
Hands in his pockets, No. 3 left the old woman with an unruffled view of his back. He extended his right arm and gave her a firm thumbs-up.
The old woman wiped the corners of her eyes and hurried away with Sister Han. This was no time to stand around feeling moved.
Liu Ye had already appeared ahead.
No. 3 drew his left hand from his pocket and placed a cigarette between his lips. With his right hand, he flicked a lighter and lit it.
“Hey, you’re this sick and you’re still smoking?” Liu Ye frowned.
“Haaah…”
No. 3 exhaled a long stream of smoke and gave a soft laugh.
“Liu Ye, when was the most glorious moment of your life? The day you got promoted? As for me… mine is right now.”
Liu Ye was speechless.
Why are you making me sound like the villain? I only want all of you to receive treatment.
“Liu Ye, I know you’re strong, but I’m no pushover. Before I became ill, I trained in both Southern Fist and Northern Leg. Combined with my invulnerable body here-haaah! Eagle Spreads Its Wings!”
“Black Tiger Steals the Heart!”
“Venomous Dragon Emerges from the Sea!”
“Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg!”
“Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain!”
Smack!
Liu Ye delivered one slap, and No. 3 toppled stiffly to the ground.
With the last of his consciousness, No. 3 looked toward the surveillance camera and struggled to speak.
“This is… all I can do… The rest… is up… to you…”
No. 2 was speechless.
“You lasted ten freaking seconds! What are you making speeches for? Even my ex-boyfriend lasted longer than you!”
Liu Ye bent down, hoisted No. 3 over his shoulder, and carried him to his ward.
He remembered that No. 3 suffered from osteoporosis. To keep the man from moving around and hurting himself, Liu Ye pulled the reinforcing bars from the ward and used them to build a gigantic iron box.
Then he placed No. 3 inside. Now the patient could not thrash about.
Unfortunately, Liu Ye forgot to leave any air holes. No. 3 could not die here, so when suffocation woke him again, he plunged into absolute despair.
Building the box did, however, buy the old woman and the others some genuine time.
But next…
“Juanjuan! He’s heading toward you! Juanjuan, run!” No. 5 shouted through the earpiece.
No. 2 calmly set her earpiece down in front of her and destroyed every surveillance monitor.
“I knew this moment would come when I chose to stay behind. Everyone, I’ll go on ahead!”
The door opened. Liu Ye walked in.
“No! Juanjuan! No!” No. 5 screamed madly through the earpiece.
Zhang Ru and the others were speechless.
Why did this suddenly feel like a movie? And hadn’t their roles been reversed?
“Aaaah!”
The scream through the earpiece shattered No. 5’s restraint.
“I’m going to avenge her!”
Smack!
The old woman slapped him across the face.
“What will charging over there accomplish? You’ll only make Juanjuan’s sacrifice meaningless. We have our own task to finish.”
“Waaah…”
No. 5 sobbed uncontrollably.
“I understand. I understand!”
They had now collected all four pieces of the map and finally identified the hidden passage.
The problem was that only three patients remained. They had also lost the advantage of surveillance cameras. They were standing at the edge of a cliff.
“What happens next will require your cooperation,” the old woman said, looking at Zhang Ru and the others.
“Save your breath. We will not betray Brother Liu. Even without cooperating, we can still reach the next level.” Zhang Ru’s voice was indifferent.
No one could die here, and the patients could not send them back to the previous levels. At worst, they would suffer for a while.
“If you cooperate, we can give you something in return.”
What kind of reward?
Big Gold Tooth’s eyes immediately lit up.
“What do you want?” the old woman asked.
“Money. A great deal of money. And I want to leave this place and return to the real world!” Big Gold Tooth said excitedly.
“Agreed. Help us, and we can give you all of that!”
Big Gold Tooth immediately answered, “Fine. I’ll help you!”
He felt no burden whatsoever about betraying Liu Ye. He had emerged from the Chamber of Betrayal, after all. Over the centuries, betrayal had seeped into his very bones.
For sufficient benefit, he would even sell his own parents.