Chapter 33
Chapter 33
The indifference vanished from Zhao Xiuming’s face. He laughed in excitement, slipped aside to hide, and put on an expression of startled fear.
Two people burst through the doorway, somewhere in their late teens or around twenty. One carried a gun, the other a machete as long as an arm.
Both were spattered with blood. Bits of flesh clinging to the machete dropped onto the floor with wet plops, followed by a steady dripping of blood.
As the blade’s tip swung in a circle and rose, a few droplets flew onto the white wall, glaringly red.
The man with the machete didn’t react. He and his companion frantically shifted the nearby furniture, piling everything behind the door until it was completely blocked.
Only then did they calm a little, before searching the room for another way out.
Turning and seeing Zhao Xiuming, the gunman instinctively raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. Luckily, it was empty.
Zhao Xiuming heard him swear in Cantonese. “Lucky for you, little brother.”
The other man answered weakly in the same dialect. “Forget him. I’m hurt. It hurts so much.”
The gunman immediately checked his wounded companion. Seeing more and more blood pouring from his abdomen, he called urgently for help. “What are you standing there for? Get over here and help!”
Zhao Xiuming went to find the first-aid kit he kept in the apartment. The gunman barked another “Hey!” but calmed down when he saw the box of medical supplies.
It contained only basic bandages, rubbing alcohol, and the like. They wouldn’t do much for a machete wound this severe. Getting him to a hospital as soon as possible would be better.
Yet Zhao Xiuming put on gloves and calmly disinfected the wound, stopped the bleeding, and bandaged it. While fetching the kit, he’d even remembered to put on a mask.
His composure startled the two intruders. Thinking they’d broken into a doctor’s home, the gunman asked in Cantonese, “Doctor, is he doing any better?”
Zhao Xiuming couldn’t understand. Not a word.
But how could that stump him? Tilting his head, he spoke through his mask in English. “I don’t understand what you’re saying. Please speak English.”
The two criminals waiting for an answer stared in disbelief.
Was Zhao Xiuming trying to communicate?
No. He simply couldn’t understand them and wanted them to be unable to understand him too.
The gunman stammered, “You, he… He… okay? Okay or not okay?”
Both sides looked baffled. Zhao Xiuming broke the deadlock first, gesturing for the gunman to tend the wound, then pointing to the bathroom and the blood on his own clothes.
Much friendlier now, the gunman patted his chest. “Okay! Me, my, Ah Hao! Okay?”
“He, Shuai Zai! Okay?”
He was introducing their names. Zhao Xiuming remained cool and aloof. After pretending to be puzzled, he repeated them with precise pronunciation. “Ah Hao. Shuai Zai.”
The two muttered about him in Cantonese. “This kid learns fast. Could he be pretending to be a foreigner?”
Ah Hao’s eyes shifted. “I’m your dad. Call me Dad.”
“Call me… Dad…”
Zhao Xiuming reached for an apple on the table, one he’d bought, and stuffed it into Ah Hao’s mouth. “I’m not your dad,” he said in English.
Chewing the apple, Ah Hao turned to Shuai Zai. “What does he mean?”
Shuai Zai grinned beside him. He might know a little English. “Bro, he understood the word ‘Dad.’ Maybe he thinks you were calling him your dad.”
Ah Hao’s face darkened instantly, and he stopped joking.
While they talked, Zhao Xiuming took his phone to the bathroom. Passing the living-room wall, he stopped.
He remembered renting a one-bedroom apartment with a living room and bathroom. Cupboards partitioned off the kitchen from the living room.
But this door hadn’t been here. Its style didn’t match the rest of the apartment at all.
The building belonged to an old residential complex. The somewhat dated interior was mostly yellow, while the door before him was dark green.
Something seemed to occur to him. Unconcerned, he went into the bathroom, removed his gloves, and cleaned the blood off himself. His phone showed no network connection.
The group chat was stuck at the meme sent by the assistant version of Li Zhehan.
The System’s voice sounded in his head. The youthful voice was much deeper now, his laugh sweet and well-behaved, though his words seemed far less restrained. [Choke me, daddy.]
Zhao Xiuming soaped himself. [You’ve upgraded?]
The System showed him the new interface directly. It resembled different apps on a phone, with very blunt names.
[Shop]
Once opened, it let him search directly for the attributes he wanted, then find the item costing the fewest points across different kinds of system shops.
[Games]
This contained information about instances and players. Opening it brought up a list of game operators, including Horror Game and Terror Game. Selecting one displayed its announcements and player forums.
[Systems]
The interface showed the titles of the systems already bound to him: “Widow Cuddling System” and “Nonhuman Little Girl Raising System.”
Beneath the titles was his total number of points. Tapping that opened another interface.
There were three images. The first showed a male and a female silhouette, recognizable as Li Zhehan and Zhang Xueya.
The second was the hospital entrance.
The third was the green door.
Zhao Xiuming tapped the images. They contained detailed information about Zhang Xueya and the others, as well as the anomaly hospital.
Down to each individual’s mental state rating, physical health, strength rating, and so on.
His expression grew serious, his face colder.
He opened Horror Game’s section and found the follow-up to the incident involving an NPC who could hear game-related content.
The more he read, the deeper his frown became. Running water washed the lather from between his fingers.
[You don’t seem very happy.] The System’s youthful voice was clear and gentle, coaxing him. [Why aren’t you happy?]
[Be honest with me.]
[If you lie…]
A hint of malice entered his voice, along with a faint pressure. [I’ll keep calling you… daddy.]
What kind of threat was that?
Zhao Xiuming couldn’t tell whether he was doing it deliberately or simply talking nonsense. He said bluntly, [Say, “Baby, please tell me.”]
The System paused, then spoke with rare embarrassment. [Woof… Uh, b-baby, could you tell me?]
Zhao Xiuming turned off the tap and dried his fingers. [I’m unhappy because I thought I could cause Horror Game some trouble. I didn’t expect it to turn the situation to its advantage and…]
Before he could finish, Ah Hao limped into the bathroom, pushing the door open and walking straight to the toilet to piss.
Zhao Xiuming smacked him on the shoulder. Ah Hao swayed and pissed directly onto his own hand.
He turned, swearing, only to see that Zhao Xiuming had removed his mask, revealing a face more beautiful than a woman’s.
When they’d burst in, Ah Hao and Shuai Zai had been panicking, too busy running for their lives to examine the occupant.
Now that they were temporarily safe, he finally noticed the man’s extraordinary looks.
Something immediately felt wrong.