Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Zhao Xiuming felt he ought to offer some comfort. With complete sincerity, he began:
“Please don’t worry, and don’t be sad. Everything will get better. Getting hurt is part of life and living…”
“My dear, I know you’re strong, but this experience has also shown me the vulnerability and sensitivity that belong to you alone…”
If the System had eyes, he would have shut them, kicked out his legs, and given up the ghost.
Because anyone who opened their phone and searched Baidu would find Zhao Xiuming reciting “Heartwarming Words to Comfort Someone Who Is Hurt.”
Perhaps the injured bodyguard was simply too vulnerable at that moment, because he actually began to cry.
The burly man choked with sobs. “You… you fucking…”
“You’re still taking the piss out of me at a time like this.”
“What are those things?”
“Are ghosts real?”
“What the hell is going on?”
He took his hand away, staring straight at Zhao Xiuming with reddened eyes. “Are we all going to die here?”
Zhao Xiuming rubbed his own Adam’s apple. “I don’t know.”
The driver seized the chance to interrupt. “Where do we go now?”
Zhao Xiuming looked surprised. “You’re asking me? Weren’t you going to rescue Li Zhehan?”
They had been driving back and forth precisely to encounter something supernatural.
The attack was ample proof that the anomalies had appeared. There were sure to be anomalies at the hospital now, too.
Zhao Xiuming reasoned aloud, “The hospital’s brightly lit and full of voices, just like the shops.”
“If we go in, we might even run into that old acquaintance who just attacked us.”
It sounded cold-blooded, but they couldn’t fault him.
After all, Assistant Li and his men had abducted Zhao Xiuming and dragged him into danger. Now that they’d gotten what they wanted, their own people were frightened and wanted to back out.
Zhou Qingyan was more direct. Her voice hoarse from crying, she asked, “Are we really going?”
Assistant Li made the decision. “Yes. Why wouldn’t we?”
“We can’t get out of here by refusing to go. Besides, Miss Zhou found her way out at the hospital.”
“If we don’t go, are we supposed to stay trapped here and wait to die?”
Zhou Qingyan hesitated, then said nothing. It wasn’t her decision to make, and she wouldn’t leave alone even if they let her. She was scared.
For once, Zhao Xiuming joined the conversation of his own accord. “So you came here completely unprepared, Assistant Li.”
“Guns don’t work on those anomalies. You brought me and Zhou Qingyan, first, because we’re connected to Li Zhehan’s disappearance.”
“Second, because you suspect me. You think I’m behind it all, but that I spared Zhou Qingyan.”
“She’s your tool for dealing with the anomalies. You think I won’t kill her, and that you might find a way to survive through her.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not the one who let her go. Nor did I abduct Li Zhehan or Zhang Xueya.”
If the anomaly had spared Zhou Qingyan once, it might spare her a second time. If they really were in danger, they could at least find out how she escaped, greatly improving their own chances of survival.
Assistant Li wouldn’t admit to that. He smiled. “You’re overthinking it.”
Laying everything out hadn’t earned Zhao Xiuming an honest exchange. He leaned back and resumed touching the bodyguard’s wound, where the feelers had burrowed inside.
A red cord was tied around his wrist, with a bead threaded onto it.
Strangely, the bead looked neither wooden nor stone, and certainly wasn’t jade.
The bodyguard’s muscles tensed under his touch, but he didn’t tell him off.
The System, however, sounded surprised. [Why are you touching him?]
[Don’t. He’s no fun to touch.]
Zhao Xiuming took his hand away. This System certainly liked to meddle.
Apart from the driver and Zhou Qingyan in the front,
the van’s four rear seats faced each other in pairs. Assistant Li and Zhao Xiuming sat on one side, the other two men opposite them.
The twenty-minute mark was approaching. The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
Sure enough, a mass of figures appeared in the distance. The things that had emerged from the shops were waiting for them to drive straight into the trap.
At the very front, the clerk held its head, tossing it around like a ball.
The driver’s voice shook. “Ram through them? We might…”
Before he could finish, a dark shape surged forward beside the van: a biker on a motorcycle.
He wore a vintage-style helmet. Glancing back through his goggles, he raised a hand and gestured for them to follow.
Then he extended his arm, opening his hand palm up to signal them to speed up.
“Follow him!” Assistant Li ordered at once.
The driver gritted his teeth, pressed the accelerator, and stayed close behind.
The unknown biker charged at the monsters like a sweeping blade. The people in the van actually saw panic on those plasticky faces.
“Who is he?” Assistant Li couldn’t help asking, but no one answered.
The System spoke lazily inside Zhao Xiuming’s head. [See that man?]
Zhao Xiuming said, [Yes.]
The System said, [Touch him.]
Zhao Xiuming watched the figure racing ahead, growing farther and farther away, and didn’t answer.
But the amusement in his eyes deepened, as though he’d finally discovered something interesting.
The driver hadn’t slowed down, yet he still couldn’t catch up. He grew anxious, as though he were watching his last lifeline disappear.
“I can’t keep up. That speed isn’t normal.”
“Where did he come from? Is he human?”
Propping his chin on his hand, Zhao Xiuming looked outside. “It’s fine. We’re at the hospital anyway.”
Not far ahead, the hospital was busy. Figures moved to and fro. Empty vehicles came and went, or stood still. Through the misty rain of the night, it all looked ordinary and peaceful.
As they drove closer, there was no sign of the biker.
Assistant Li and his men were on edge, their brows drawn tight. They loaded their guns, opened the doors, and got out.
Rain blew into their faces. Zhou Qingyan followed, shivering.
Zhao Xiuming, however, got out and fetched his suitcase. Opening it, he found his “local specialties.”
There were several bags of dried meat, along with two pieces of clothing he’d brought from home.
He tossed Zhou Qingyan a jacket. It was a little old but freshly washed.
She caught it and put it on, thanking him over and over.
Carrying the things he’d taken out, Zhao Xiuming pushed the suitcase back into the van.
Assistant Li didn’t quite understand, but he didn’t stop him. Had he known they’d be trapped here, he would have brought more food himself.
They walked through the rain toward the hospital, braced for a fright from the start.
Strangely, the doctors and patients inside looked perfectly normal.
They went about their business, with no grotesque feelers growing from their bodies.
None of the group dared act rashly. Zhou Qingyan asked cautiously, “Is he human?”
Zhao Xiuming egged Assistant Li on. “I don’t think so. Why don’t you shoot him?”
Assistant Li didn’t. “I checked when we parked. There were no drivers in those moving cars.”
Vehicles came and went in front of the hospital. If only the parked ones were empty, they could say the occupants had gotten out.
But there was no explaining why the moving cars were empty, too.
“So these people definitely aren’t normal,” Assistant Li cautioned. “They’re only pretending to be.”
The driver couldn’t take it. “Can’t we just shoot them?”
The bodyguard who hadn’t been shot disagreed. “No. There are too many… We can’t beat them.”
A smiling nurse approached. She wore a white uniform and spoke politely. “Hello. Are you looking for the emergency room? Please follow me.”
They hesitated, unsure whether to go.
The nurse kept smiling, but sweat began pouring down Assistant Li’s forehead.
A perfectly even line divided her neck. Under the lights, everything above the line was white, everything below it black.
It looked like badly blended foundation. But uneven makeup couldn’t produce such a clean edge, like a cut made by a blade.
Just then, another group entered. There wasn’t a trace of fear on their faces. The one leading them immediately called out, “Don’t be scared, everyone. I know this kind of instance well.”
“In a hospital instance, players either take the roles of doctors and nurses and deal with anomaly patients,”
“or we’re the patients ourselves, dealing with anomaly doctors. Just check your mission cards in a moment.”
Text hovered above the heads of all sixteen newcomers: [Player Name], [Player Skills], [Player Status], [Player HP], and [Player Mission].
Despite how loudly they were talking, the doctors, nurses, and other patients acted as though they couldn’t hear. Only the driver muttered, “What the hell are they on about?”
The wounded bodyguard’s face was unbelievably pale. Even with someone supporting him, he could no longer stay upright. Suddenly clutching his shoulder, he fell to the floor and rolled about, howling.
Those whiskerlike feelers crawled from his wound, resembling some kind of fungus.
The self-proclaimed “players” looked over, exclaiming in surprise. One even asked, “The opening mutation’s starting already?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Zhao Xiuming saw the biker enter the emergency room. Assistant Li and the others saw him, too. They clearly thought the mysterious biker was a good man who could save them.
Even the wounded bodyguard struggled to his feet. “It’s the man who helped us! Let’s go to the emergency room!”
Apart from the players, none of the hospital’s occupants found the wounded bodyguard remarkable. They were far more interested in the players.
The nurse smiled as she led them into the emergency room. At the sight of the doctor, Assistant Li froze.
The so-called doctor was none other than their old acquaintance: the clerk who had attacked them earlier.
There were still stitches around his neck. At the sight of Zhao Xiuming’s group, both corners of his mouth split all the way to his ears. “Hee-hee-hee-hee.”