Chapter 20
Chapter 20
The way he said “Big sister” softened the heart and reddened the ears, threaded with an inexplicable sensuality.
“Hard to know what to say.” One male player hesitated. “The way he’s… he… Is he acting? Who says it like that? So… so… damn.”
The beautiful player shot her teammate a glance. Was he questioning her ability?
Still, it was necessary to test an NPC after gaining control…
Smiling, she wheedled at Zhao Xiuming. “You say you like me. How will you prove it?”
“Would you kill the man behind you for me?”
Zhao Xiuming tilted his head, his voice casual. “No.”
“Do you prefer men?” she pressed.
He shook his head and answered with interest, “I just said our interests were aligned.”
“I’m not strong enough to protect you. But he can.”
Without looking back, he pointed behind himself.
The masked biker tried to embrace the black-haired doctor in front of him, only to have his hand slapped away fiercely.
The male player beside them looked even more conflicted, as though witnessing an unparalleled scumbag in action.
The masked biker lowered his head, dejected and heartbroken.
Zhao Xiuming volunteered an explanation. “I came to the hospital with those two friends to look for someone. Then supernatural events occurred here.”
“Three of our companions turned into a monster. You’ve met the other two. They’re with those soldiers now.”
He didn’t say he was cannon fodder in a romance novel or mention his System. He merely explained why he had come.
He had safely made it through both the lie-detecting item and the player’s skill.
The leader with shoulder-length hair summarized, “So you’re looking for a rich kid?”
“And his fiancée,” Zhao Xiuming added. “And the baby she’s carrying.”
“They’re most likely dead already. But I need to find their bodies.”
The players detected no flaw. They could only take this as the instance’s backstory.
By now, however wary they remained, they believed him to some extent.
Zhao Xiuming moved the corners of his mouth again, but didn’t smile. His manner was proper, his tone serious. “There are only a few of us humans, and a lot of monsters.”
“I don’t know where you came from, but you’re capable fighters, and you have strange abilities.”
“We’d stand a better chance working with those soldiers. I think Assistant Li will discuss cooperation with them. If that falls through, we’ll still have you. We’re all human. We should stick together and help each other.”
The players said nothing. The NPC treated them as people, but they wouldn’t treat NPCs the same way.
On the surface, it was humans against monsters. In reality, it was NPCs against players.
Zhao Xiuming offered something more useful. Narrowing his eyes, he let vulnerability show on his sensually alluring face. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but after the patients who came with you died, the monsters didn’t devour their bodies or abandon them. They collected them and took them away.”
“Maybe finding where the bodies are kept will tell us what’s wrong with the hospital.”
“My right hand is already infested. I don’t know how long before I mutate. I really don’t have much time. I came to seek cooperation because I had nowhere else to turn.”
Then he told the beautiful player gently, “I’ll do my best to keep you alive.”
She beamed and looked at her teammates, unaware that her test had just been deflected and that she’d been fed a persuasive story instead.
After the four discussed it, their leader finally said, “You’ll have to tell us how to kill you before we trust you.”
Zhao Xiuming considered for a moment, then nodded, looking a little helpless. “I die quite easily. The anomaly doctors are afraid of Little Darling’s abilities.”
The silent biker raised an arm to indicate that he was this “Little Darling.”
Unable to see the movement behind him, Zhao Xiuming continued softly.
“The monster formed from my companions isn’t. As for why… perhaps it’s a different kind of anomaly from the doctors. You must have noticed, too. The doctors can’t be killed, but the three-headed monster that attacked you in the ward could be wounded and driven back.”
Having gained the leverage they wanted, the players looked away from the towering “Little Darling” and back at Zhao Xiuming.
He, too, seemed relieved. He gave the woman in red a childlike smile. “I hate having to convince people.”
“It takes so much time and effort to explain and prove myself. But was there anything I said just now that you don’t agree with?”
“I can explain again until you’re satisfied.”
She paused, belatedly realizing that this might be his way of expressing affection.
She saw him discreetly hiding his right hand, mutated and covered in disgusting feelers.
Was he worried about frightening the girl he liked? Or did he feel self-conscious in front of her?
She had never been moved by an NPC before. She wasn’t now, either.
But he seemed so inexperienced, a striking contrast to his initial languor and indifference.
Contrast was always compelling. She patted her own face.
Whether it was his appearance or his clear eyes, she couldn’t tell. She simply felt that too much contact with him would be dangerous.
“I want to know every clue you’ve found,” she said with a frown. “And you need to lure those doctors away for us.”
Zhao Xiuming’s eyes really were beautiful. He blinked and smiled in surprise. “All right.”
“There is one clue I haven’t mentioned. I saw a body being brought to the morgue and followed it here to check.”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t Li Zhehan. It was one of the patients who came with you.”
“I haven’t found anything unusual in the morgue yet. Since the doctors return here during the day and go out to attack humans at night, nighttime would be best for exploring it.”
“We can come back tonight. While it’s daylight, we can search elsewhere.”
“I’ll lure the doctors away. In about fifteen minutes, you’ll hear an explosion. Take the chance to get out.”
The male player asked curiously, “You have explosives?”
Zhao Xiuming ignored him. The woman in red repeated the question. “Where did you get explosives?”
He answered gently, “Li Zhehan’s family is very rich. We have guns, too. Assistant Li has them.”
“But guns don’t work on the anomaly doctors.”
“Would you like to see the explosives? They aren’t very powerful. They won’t do much damage.”
“They’re already set around the bodies. They’ll make some noise, at least.”
He looked worried, like a child who had done something wrong, as he told the woman softly, “I can take you to see.”
Of course she wouldn’t go. She wasn’t about to do something so unnecessary.
If Zhao Xiuming failed to lure the doctors away, only one NPC would die.
He waved to the players. “Then I’ll go draw the monsters off.”
“I hope you’ll bring Li Zhehan’s body out promptly if you find it. If you don’t want to, just tell me where it is.”
As he left, he looked back at the beautiful player in red and smiled.
Once the NPC was gone, the four pieced together the situation.
“NPC Zhao Xiuming means he wants to find that rich kid, Li Zhehan. Even if all that’s left is a body.”
“The players’ bodies happen to have been taken away, too. He needs to know what’s happening in the hospital to get specific information on Li Zhehan. Look at it that way, and our interests really do align.”
The masked male player, who rarely spoke, cautioned, “Between the detection item and her skill, it’s unlikely he’s lying. But we can’t trust everything.”
“Free clues never feel safe. Previous instances didn’t shove clues right in our faces like this.”
They didn’t dwell on it too much. Even if Zhao Xiuming had said nothing, they would have discovered within three days that the bodies were being taken away. Then they’d have had to investigate anyway.
After he left, the man with the backpack took out the detector. Sure enough, some of the dots representing nearby NPCs were drawn away.
Fifteen minutes later, an explosion sounded as promised. The remaining dots converged on the noise.
Once the NPCs were gone, the players opened the door and felt their way forward, moving faster and faster. Nothing blocked their path.
When all four were out, they could hardly believe it. That had been far too easy.
They ran until they reached safety, then stopped. The leader looked around. “A player died here yesterday. The traces are still here, but there’s no body.”
“So the players’ bodies really were taken away.”
“We need to find the others and join up before the NPCs go berserk again. And avoid that Terror Game team.”
The woman in red couldn’t help looking toward the morgue. The morning light was cool. The cold-colored building and dim shadows looked ominous.
The lights went out. Silence fell.
The place where bodies were stored was very cold. The corpse drawers stood open, spilling white vapor. The room temperature had dropped considerably.
Not a single body remained in the morgue. No NPC bodies. No player bodies.
Zhao Xiuming crouched and picked up something: an insect ornament resembling a cicada. It had been sitting at the base of a wall, periodically imitating explosions.
He retrieved it, had the System store it, and stretched.
There were no bombs here. Nor would he damage the morgue.
Purchasing [In the Name of God] had emptied his points balance, but he had a new idea for earning more.
He turned and opened the morgue door wide. The biker stood there, holding an anomaly doctor.
Zhao Xiuming lifted the Bible manifested by [In the Name of God] and slowly turned its pages.
His eyes were lowered. None of the politeness or gentleness he’d shown the players remained, nor any soft, soothing words.
His voice was cold and mocking. “Little Darling, caught another doctor?”
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Dr. Pu Yuanliang. What a coincidence.”
Pu Yuanliang was the clerk whose head had fallen off, the anomaly doctor who had attacked them in the emergency room.
He seemed more intelligent and powerful than the other doctors, able to direct his colleagues to cooperate.
Now his plasticky face was full of panic. Held down by the biker, he struggled desperately.
Another anomaly doctor lay beside him, already dead and unable to move.
Before Pu Yuanliang’s despairing eyes, Zhao Xiuming smiled and slowly raised the Bible and a cross.
He spoke admiringly, his tone deeply suggestive. “In the name of God, I declare you and your colleague, Mr. Zhao…”
“Joined in sacred and glorious matrimony!”
Despair gleamed on Pu Yuanliang’s face. Losing all composure, he shrieked, “Aaaah! You fucking homo! I’ll kill you!”