Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The System fell silent for several seconds, then gave a soft “Ah,” pitching his suddenly adorable boyish voice into a whine. [Ge, just like that, you’ve…]
[You’re so amazing, Gege… Be even more amazing…]
[You’ve really… swept me off my feet…]
Zhao Xiuming’s smile stiffened a little. He swallowed the dried meat. [What the hell is that noise?]
The biker in front of him moved. Taking Zhao Xiuming’s left hand, he removed his own glove and traced his name on Zhao Xiuming’s palm with his index finger.
His fingertip was very cold as it slid across the warm, smooth palm. His nails were neatly trimmed, and his thumb deliberately held the web between Zhao Xiuming’s thumb and forefinger.
He didn’t look down as he wrote. Through his goggles, he watched Zhao Xiuming’s reaction.
As expected, Zhao Xiuming asked curiously, “Meng…?”
“You’re saying your name is Mengmeng?”
His expression turned peculiar. He casually raised his eyelids, understanding in his innocent eyes. “The grass radical on top. Grass…”
“Then I’ll call you Little Darling.”
The biker raised his index finger and wagged it from side to side, indicating that he didn’t approve of the nickname.
Zhao Xiuming caught the finger in front of him and quietly tightened his grip. “I have a dog back home named Little Darling.”
“You can’t talk, but surely you can bark.”
As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin slightly, wearing the suggestion of a smile.
He stuck out his tongue, raised the biker’s finger, and pressed it onto his tongue.
Before the man could react, he drew his tongue back and bit into the pad of the finger. The taste of blood quickly filled his mouth.
The biker didn’t move. He didn’t even blink behind his goggles.
But from beneath his mask came a low, trembling, exceptionally enticing sound. “Woof…”
Zhao Xiuming released the fingertip from his mouth and pushed it away. Then, in a deliberate show of provocation, he spat out bloody saliva.
A laugh followed from his throat. He sounded a little disappointed.
Weariness settled over his face, born of dissatisfaction and incomprehension. He deliberately called out, his meaning unclear, “Little Darling…”
The biker looked down at the blood on his index finger. Seemingly displeased by Zhao Xiuming’s distaste, he smeared it over Zhao Xiuming’s lips. When he took his hand away, the wound on his finger had healed.
Wiping the corner of his mouth, Zhao Xiuming addressed the silent System. [I don’t know why he isn’t angry.]
[What a pain. If he’d just do me to death right here, I wouldn’t have to do anything else.]
The System said, […]
Realizing how that sounded, Zhao Xiuming explained, [I mean kill me. You…]
[Forget it. Can I exploit a loophole in the nonhuman little girl raising mission now?]
Such shameless certainty was practically unheard of.
But in fact, he really had met the mission’s requirements.
First, the biker wasn’t human. He had also become “Little Darling” (Zhao Xiuming’s dog) and thus qualified as something he was raising.
As for whether he was a little girl…
Humans weren’t AI. Humans had agency.
A teenage girl could call herself a little girl. So could a six-foot-three bruiser with a ponytail.
The System’s boyish voice sounded strained. [Then tie a bow on him.]
Zhao Xiuming took out the handkerchief to do just that, but the biker caught his wrist and sniffed it.
Then he made a small sound, like a dog whining.
As though afraid Zhao Xiuming wouldn’t understand, he leaned close to his ear and gave an aggrieved, “Woof…”
He didn’t like Assistant Li’s scent on the handkerchief. Zhao Xiuming had to put it away and keep searching. He really had nothing suitable for tying a bow.
The biker probably wanted to laugh. He coughed, then crouched and tore a strip from the hem of Zhao Xiuming’s white coat.
At last, Zhao Xiuming tied a white bow around his neck with his own hands.
The System’s youthful voice was wicked and delighted. [Raising successful.]
[Please interact more with the nonhuman in your care.]
[The more intimate the interaction, the more points you earn.]
But Zhao Xiuming wasn’t in a hurry to do anything. He’d been keeping an eye on his surroundings, and now he finally turned his attention outward.
When he jumped from the rooftop, he hadn’t been certain the biker would appear.
Still, why not try? His intuition had simply told him the man would come.
He looked up. The mass of flesh formed from the driver and bodyguards was crawling down from the rooftop like a spider.
It had originally had three heads. Now only two remained.
As the two-headed anomaly passed one floor, the glass there shattered into several pieces. Someone seemed to be fighting inside. Screams rang out.
Then came the sound of something heavy being thrown into a large number of vessels, smashing them. Someone was crying for help.
The sky was beginning to brighten. The clamor rang especially clearly through the otherwise empty hospital.
Plainly, the eight minutes had long since passed. The instance’s anomalies were on a rampage. Some players fled in panic, while others fought back.
Through the windows of a lit room, the interior was clearly visible. Bright red blood covered the white ceiling.
A player was caught and torn in two before Zhao Xiuming’s eyes below.
Blood streamed down the window. The two anomaly doctors inside even stood by it to look down. After meeting his eyes, they withdrew unhurriedly.
Zhao Xiuming clearly saw one doctor bend down and drag away the player’s torn body.
Pursuit and escape had become the hospital’s theme. One anomaly really did get carried away with killing and leap from the fourth floor toward him.
Then, seeing that the person below was Zhao Xiuming, it passed him by, looking thoroughly annoyed.
Several players noticed him, too. They didn’t dare approach, splitting their attention to observe him as they fled.
He could even hear their curses, which revealed quite a bit. “What the hell is wrong with Horror Game? The difficulty’s gone up way too much!”
“Did the instance deliberately raise the difficulty because two groups of players came in…?”
“Just fucking run! These doctors won’t die! Not even A-rank items can kill them. They keep moving with their heads off. What’s with these invincible anomaly NPCs?”
“Maybe that doctor NPC down there, Zhao Xiuming, knows how to kill them…”
Several players used some sort of item and launched themselves into the air.
Inspired by Zhao Xiuming outside, they too smashed through the hospital ward’s windows to escape.
The three players who got out had glowing hands and feet, clinging to the outer wall like geckos. Calling them wall-crawlers would hardly be an exaggeration.
They scrambled up and down, dodging the feelers.
But the white-coated anomaly doctors pursuing them refused to be outdone. They drove feelers into the wall as anchors and crawled outside as well.
Apparently, the doctors didn’t often do this. Their movements were clumsy, and they failed to catch the players several times.
So their heads rose, separating from their necks. Bloody spines emerged beneath them. Head and spine floated like balls tethered to strings.
Below, Zhao Xiuming was astonished. So the doctors didn’t just attack with feelers. They could also turn into flying-head monsters.
Their plasticky outer skin was incredibly hard. The players’ attacks left it unscathed. When knocked to the ground, they simply got up and moved as freely as before.
Their heads had separated from their bodies. Zhao Xiuming looked up to see floating “balls” everywhere in the faint morning light.
Suddenly, a red light flashed in midair. Looking closer, he realized it was a drone. The palm-sized craft circled twice.
He followed its return path with his gaze to the eighth floor of the neighboring building, where several soldiers in combat gear were setting up guns by a window.
The soldiers were fully equipped and wore helmets. There were sixteen of them.
Soldiers? Sixteen?
Could they be the other group the Horror Game players had mentioned, the Terror Game players?
The Horror Game players had worn all sorts of clothes when entering the instance.
But Terror Game’s players were soldiers?
The monster made from the driver and bodyguards had been crawling toward Zhao Xiuming. Suddenly, it changed direction and headed for the soldiers.
Startled by this, the soldiers immediately opened fire. Gunshots rang out without pause.
Understanding dawned on Zhao Xiuming. He saw Assistant Li and Zhou Qingyan behind the soldiers.
He clicked his tongue quietly and left with the biker. He really did want to watch the show.
But amid the chaotic fighting, he’d discerned where Zhang Xueya was hiding.
“Through the main gate is Surgical Building One. South of that is Outpatient and Medical Services Building Two. We’re between those two buildings now.”
“Farther south is Internal Medicine Building Three. A hospital this big also has an administrative building, family residences, a general-purpose building, and so on.”
“The Horror Game players are scattering as they run. Exclude the areas they’re in, and that leaves some buildings.”
“Zhang Xueya should be somewhere very safe.”
“But I’ve found a quicker way.”
“Bodies. The players’ bodies.”
This time, Zhao Xiuming didn’t grip the biker tightly. He simply tugged the end of the bow, which had been tied in a firm knot.
With both hands in his pockets, dressed entirely in black, wearing a helmet and goggles, the biker looked effortlessly cool. But that tug bent him slightly forward, making him look exactly like a dog on a lead.