Half an hour later, Zhou Q’ian took the breakfast bun Shen Zhiyi had stuffed into his hand, and the two of them went to Heshengkang Hospital together.
As one of the three locations he had asked Han Li to investigate, Heshengkang Hospital had a very long history of operation. However, this old hospital had never really developed, and now most of the patients who came were residents from the surrounding area.
A few cars were parked sparsely at the hospital entrance.
Zhou Q’ian was gnawing on his breakfast bun when a slender figure happened to walk out of the hospital, her expression as gloomy as the gray building.
Seeing him, Han Li seemed eager to show him something. She strode over, grabbed Zhou Q’ian’s arm, and was about to pull him upstairs.
However, before her hand could touch the fabric, her skin felt like it had been pricked by a needle.
Han Li quickly withdrew her hand.
Shen Zhiyi said, “Where are we going?”
Only then did Han Li notice the strange, cold adult man standing next to Zhou Q’ian.
How is there another person?
Surprised that she hadn’t noticed him at first, Han Li couldn’t help but take a few more glances. The man’s shadow was even a faint color. What was even more strange was that after he asked the question, she actually lost her vigilance and couldn’t help but answer, “The fourth floor of the inpatient department.”
Taking the old elevator, by the time Han Li came to her senses again, the car was almost at the fourth floor.
The moment the elevator doors opened, a dark corridor appeared in front of them. Zhou Q’ian didn’t know where the wind was coming from, but he inexplicably felt a little cold.
There were already few people in the inpatient department, and this floor had even fewer patients.
He immediately noticed that something was wrong with one of the hospital rooms. There was a lock on the half-open door, which meant that it had been locked before.
No matter how dilapidated a hospital was, it was impossible to lock a patient’s room at will.
Han Li whispered, “I’ve already taken care of it. We can go straight in.”
Pushing open the ajar door, the inside was a traditional hospital room layout.
There were two simple hospital beds inside, with a small cabinet next to each. On one of the cabinets was a sculpture of an elephant seal.
Zhou Q’ian walked towards the sculpture first. The moment he picked it up, he said, “It’s something from that place.”
Han Li, who had been holding back a bellyful of words and was just about to speak, was astonished. “How do you know?!”
“The feel.”
He had touched many good things in instances. Zhou Q’ian calmly evaluated, “Delicate and smooth, with a faint, bone-chilling coldness. This is the feel that only things from that place have.”
He knew it the moment he touched it.
Han Li was dumbfounded upon hearing this.
No, why can someone tell by the feel?
Han Li inadvertently saw the corners of Shen Zhiyi’s mouth slightly curled up. The smile seemed to carry a bit of pride for the appraiser.
“…” What’s there to be proud of?
Zhou Q’ian didn’t pay attention to the change in Han Li’s mood and waited for her to continue.
She had specifically called him over, so it couldn’t be just because she had found one suspicious item.
“You should have heard of the male elephant seal meme, right? It was very popular a couple of years ago.”
Zhou Q’ian was noncommittal.
Han Li said, “The wife who caught the cheater at that time probably had this outburst after suddenly seeing this sculpture. I learned from the head nurse that the sculpture originally belonged to a girl who was being treated here. She always carried this sculpture with her.”
“This thing doesn’t look like a treasure,” Zhou Q’ian’s smile was a little playful.
When he turned the sculpture over to continue looking, his pupils shrank slightly.
At the very bottom of the sculpture, the names and birth characters of several people were written in blood—Ying Yu, the College student, and even his own.
The clear and bright blood turned slightly pink after coming into contact with the surface of the sculpture, which was very uncomfortable to look at.
“Where is the owner of the sculpture?”
“Dead,” Han Li said in a low voice. “She jumped to her death. Her mental state wasn’t normal before she died. Every night, she would hug the sculpture tightly and say crazy things like ‘is this a dream, or reality’.”
“After the patient died, the hospital couldn’t contact her family and was preparing to dispose of these things. A young nurse took it to throw it in the trash, and the next second, she sprained her ankle. The sculpture almost hit her on the head, which scared her quite a bit.”
“After that, the people who went to throw away the sculpture had similar things happen to them.”
“…Finally, it reached the ears of the hospital director. The director ordered an intern to throw it away. The intern shouted that the wronged has a head and the indebted has a master, that it was the director who told me to throw you away. The director was so scared that he directly found an excuse to seal the room that day.”
Zhou Q’ian looked at the bloodstains. It was obvious that they had been written recently.
Could the sculpture have the same effect as the corpses that flowed out of the instances? Those who came into contact with it would be taken to an instance, but this was more compulsory.
Just like how his mother had once thrown a photo with his birth characters to a corpse for a blind date, Ying Yu and the College student had their names and birth characters recorded, and thus disappeared.
As the last member on the list, he was still in another instance at the time and had been spared.
“It’s not just that.”
Zhou Q’ian narrowed his eyes.
After Ying Yu and the College student went in, they must have made some kind of effort to help delay the time.
Thinking of this, Zhou Q’ian looked at Han Li.
No wonder her face was so ugly. She might have already heard about Ying Yu’s disappearance and thought that this thing was related to an instance. She was worried that she would be forcibly taken into an instance after touching it.
“Don’t just look at the disadvantages.” Anyway, he had to go into an instance sooner or later. Compared to blindly opening a random box, at least he could grasp some initial information.
Han Li’s expression eased a little.
That’s right.
This time, she had been implicated. Han Li also knew a little about Zhou Q’ian’s character. As long as she didn’t have any crooked ideas, he should try his best to ensure her safety.
“The patient who jumped to her death is the best breakthrough point.”
Without him saying it, Han Li would do everything she could to gather information next.
As for this sculpture…
Zhou Q’ian naturally wouldn’t take it back, and it wasn’t good to rashly let the people from the laboratory investigate it. What if it could pull all the players who had touched it into one instance? That would be a huge joke.
After Han Li hurried away, Zhou Q’ian looked at Shen Zhiyi, who had been quiet all along. “Times are different now. I need to be more cautious.”
He slowly explained his plan.
“…After I go back, I’ll first confirm if my house is bugged. If it is, I’ll leak some information at the right time.”
If the people in the dark came to the hospital to investigate, it would mean that they had nothing to do with Ying Yu’s disappearance and were simply bought to deal with him. At that time, he would throw them all into an instance as pathfinders. On the other hand… it would mean that they knew the situation at the hospital, and he would let the laboratory handle it.
He believed that the laboratory had ten thousand ways to get information.
“As for the laboratory, I have to test it too.”
As Zhou Q’ian walked out, he called Yu Tong. “I need the surveillance footage of the inpatient department of Heshengkang Hospital for tomorrow.”
The other side was puzzled. “Tomorrow’s surveillance?” You can book surveillance footage in advance?
“That’s right. Just get the surveillance footage for me. Don’t do anything extra, and don’t go to the fourth floor of the inpatient department, otherwise it will have an adverse effect on Mr. Ying’s safety.”
Hearing the news about Ying Yu, the other side was a little excited. “May I ask…”
Zhou Q’ian knew he was suspicious. It was obviously not right that he could find clues so quickly.
“Ying Yu called me. I can’t say more.”
After hanging up, Zhou Q’ian looked at Shen Zhiyi again. “I’ll have to trouble you tomorrow to stay in the dark and record everyone who comes to the fourth floor.”
Because some bad things had happened before, there were no surveillance cameras on the fourth floor.
Shen Zhiyi had a unique way of reducing his presence, which he couldn’t do.
“Then we can compare it with the surveillance footage provided by the laboratory to see if they match and to confirm if anyone from the laboratory came.”
He had repeatedly emphasized Ying Yu’s safety. In a situation where the situation was unclear, if someone from the laboratory still came over, it would definitely be wrong.
“Once we confirm that there are no major problems with the laboratory, we’ll have Yu Tong help investigate the matter of the patient who jumped to her death in the inpatient department. We just need to remind him to avoid contact with the statue beforehand.
With Han Li’s side working on it as well, we should be able to get some useful information soon.”
After explaining the whole plan, Zhou Q’ian asked, “Do you think there’s anything that needs to be added?”
Shen Zhiyi looked at him for a few seconds, then slowly uttered a few words, “Even the Lord can’t bless them now.”
“…”
Zhou Q’ian suddenly thought of something and said solemnly, “If possible, remember to take photos to record the people who come here tomorrow.”
Recalling Mu Tianbai’s maggot-like drawing skills when he wrote the IOU, it was truly unbearable to look at.
He needed to know the appearance of the players who were sneakily monitoring his house so that he could maximize the use of the pathfinders later.
Shen Zhiyi considered his drawing skills to be pretty good. His thin lips moved, but under Zhou Q’ian’s gaze, he swallowed his words back.
“…Alright.”
·
At noon, Zhou Q’ian was called by his mother and forced to see a psychiatrist.
Appropriate communication could more or less alleviate the effects of sleepwalking. Before that, Zhou Q’ian needed to confirm the doctor’s level.
“What do you think of my mom’s mental state?”
“Very good,” the doctor said with a smile. “Many parents can’t promptly discover that their children are under a lot of stress. She must have a patient concern for you, and she looks very enthusiastic herself.”
“…” Quack doctor.
After seeing the doctor, Mother Zhou was in a hurry to go back and play mahjong. “The money has been spent. Don’t you dare to sleepwalk when Mom is about to win.”
Zhou Q’ian nodded sheepishly.
According to the plan, Zhou Q’ian carefully checked his residence. As expected, he finally found a listening device inside a fake vase.
It was only the size of a fingernail, and at first glance, it looked no different from a button.
He sneered and gently put the listening device back in its place.
Then he plopped onto the sofa like a dried fish and started a long phone call with Shen Zhiyi.
Zhou Q’ian spoke very skillfully, intentionally or unintentionally revealing some information, making it seem like there was some treasure in Heshengkang Hospital. Fearing that the other party wouldn’t take the bait, he even mentioned the Whaler’s Association.
“I made a discovery in the inpatient department today. I can definitely find something good before that association does.”
He didn’t mention the specific floor. In a hospital with the most supernatural events, a little inquiry would reveal it.
The afternoon sun was just right. Zhou Q’ian unconsciously raised his other hand and grasped the ethereal sunlight in the air.
Sometimes, human life is like this refracted sunlight, easily shattered.
He glanced in the direction of the listening device, the smile on his lips turning cold. Unfortunately, some old players, for a little bit of profit, simply didn’t understand this principle.
Practice makes perfect. He will make them understand.
The progress of the matter did not encounter any obstacles. The next day, it rained heavily. The clock was approaching midnight, indicating that this day was about to end.
Zhou Q’ian received the materials sent by Yu Tong.
The file was very large, including two surveillance videos and one piece of intelligence.
The first surveillance video was complete. The second one had separately extracted three people from the surveillance and made a video montage.
After watching it in silence, Zhou Q’ian couldn’t help but sigh, “No wonder he wasn’t laid off even after being discovered dancing the sacrificial dance at the annual meeting.”
Yu Tong had kept his promise and did not go to the inpatient department to check. But he had investigated everyone who appeared on the surveillance footage, found three players, and compiled their detailed intelligence.
Zhou Q’ian had a direct understanding of the laboratory’s terror.
Most players’ identities in reality were kept secret, but the laboratory had managed to dig everything up in less than a day.
Not long after, Shen Zhiyi also sent a few photos, which matched the three people in the video.
Other than that, no other strangers had visited the fourth floor today. This floor was almost deserted, and even doctors and nurses would avoid walking there.
After confirming that there were no major problems with the laboratory, Zhou Q’ian sent a message to Yu Tong, asking him to investigate the matter of the patient who had jumped to her death, and once again reminded him not to go to the fourth floor.
The other side replied quickly.
[Already investigating.]
Since he had specifically mentioned Heshengkang Hospital, the laboratory had already started searching and digging into any strange things that had happened in the hospital.
Zhou Q’ian rubbed his forehead and sighed inwardly, “This is what a good teammate should be like.”
He also quickly dissed the weirdos he had met before.
If you can’t lead a team, you can only work to death.
Having given the troublesome matter to others, Zhou Q’ian went to bed early to rest and recuperate.
The heavy rain never stopped, which was very conducive to sleep.
Around four or five in the morning, Zhou Q’ian was woken up by his phone. It was a call from Yu Tong. “Found it.”
“…” The efficiency is a bit too high, brother.
Yu Tong said to himself, “The patient who jumped was named Liu Guo. She had mental problems at first. When she was first admitted to the hospital, she tried to cut open her own stomach with a small knife and even pulled out half of her intestines. If the doctor hadn’t discovered it in time, she could have even pulled out her stomach.”
A player’s evolved body is very strong. In the end, they were able to save her.
“In her daily life, this girl was very afraid of taking medicine and kept shouting that it was itchy. And she couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality, she was very delusional.”
“There’s one more thing,” Yu Tong paused. “We sent people to keep an eye on the three who went to the inpatient department. We just received news that they’re gone.”
Zhou Q’ian sat up straight. “Gone?”
“Yes, it’s as if they’ve vanished into thin air.”
Having heard the key information, Zhou Q’ian hung up directly. Then he first called Shen Zhiyi. The call went through.
“The people who were listening in on me have disappeared,” Zhou Q’ian said in a low voice, while breathing a sigh of relief. “We have to get ready.”
He then called Han Li.
[The user you have dialed is not in the service area.]
Zhou Q’ian’s expression was rarely serious.
The elephant seal sculpture was even more terrifying than the ancient corpse in its compulsory nature. Once you touched it in person, you would soon be forcibly taken away.
A guess he had at the very beginning in the hospital was confirmed. Ying Yu must have done something before to delay his “disappearance.”
This delay was probably coming to an end.
Zhou Q’ian had a strong premonition that a crisis was approaching him infinitely.
He never liked to be passive.
Once he was forcibly taken into an instance, besides having to guard against the players arranged by the Whaler’s Association, because of the Red Cloak’s亂販賣消息, he might also encounter players who were after the holy artifact.
Zhou Q’ian’s gaze darkened. He got out of bed and looked in the mirror. He had to use the limited time to first avoid the latter trouble.
Time passed slowly under the busyness. At five in the morning, under the harsh weather, when the morning star was supposed to appear, there were only thick clouds in the sky.
A wave of fog silently enveloped the old residential area.
The residents in their sleep vaguely felt that the air smelled a bit fishy and foul. When they turned over and continued to sleep, no one would have thought that a resident had disappeared from the building out of thin air.
·
The fog was thick, and there seemed to be some building in the distance. The sky had a strange color, and looking at it for a long time would make you feel dizzy.
Several players stood together in twos and threes, with different expressions.
They had all entered the instance for various complicated reasons. One of them was fierce and had a vicious look in his eyes.
“Why is there no car to pick us up this time?”
“Who knows?” the person next to him said. “I was originally looking at an instance entrance, but I ran into some fog on the way. Before I could react, I was here.”
“Heh, you guys are lucky. The fog hasn’t dissipated, and I’ve been standing here for several hours.”
“There aren’t enough people yet,” a player leaning against a tree yawned. “There’s the sound of cicadas in the distance. It chirps ten times and then stops. Maybe it means we have to wait for ten players.”
His situation was the most likely. So far, the players had been coming in intermittently.
“Let’s pray for a fool to come,” a young man clasped his hands together.
A mysterious instance always needs someone to be the guinea pig for trial and error.
As his voice fell, he suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Someone else is coming.”
In the fog, a figure slowly walked over.
The person was tall and slender, dressed in a very simple black and white combination. There was a panda printed on the high-necked sweatshirt. The hairstyle was a bit like the popular jellyfish cut, but the ends of the hair were trimmed more sharply.
This hairstyle, paired with the ice-blue hair color, complemented each other well.
This person was none other than Zhou Q’ian. This time, he was not wearing glasses, and his beautiful eyes were sharp and exposed.
Just like Xu Gui’s approach back then, the moment Zhou Q’ian sensed the fog approaching, he immediately bought and used a confusion card, with the main point being to blur his gender.
He did not deliberately dress up as a woman, but went for a androgynous style. He even had a hair tie on his wrist.
The initial impression formed by the unique hairstyle and props, besides a very small number of people who might have his information from cooperating with the Whaler’s Association, the rest of the players would definitely not associate him with the holy artifact holder or the Map Cannon.
A proper disguise would facilitate his subsequent observation and actions in the instance.
With a sweep of his gaze, Zhou Q’ian raised an eyebrow. Strange, Shen Zhiyi wasn’t here.
Just as he was wondering, footsteps came from behind him.
At the same time, the sound of cicadas also rang out.
The tenth person had finally arrived.
The man was wearing a black hoodie, his face was cold, his eye sockets were deep, and his blood-red eyes exuded a strong sense of ominousness.
Zhou Q’ian, with his unique style, turned around. Their gazes met in mid-air.
“…”
For the two seconds they looked at each other, both of their expressions were unnatural for a moment. All the other players did not notice this small abnormality.
First, the fog nearby was thick and the sky was dim. Second, among the several players present, more than half were currently lost in thought.
The three players who had been tricked into the instance by Zhou Q’ian were inconspicuously using the fog and props to cover up as they compared him to a photo.
Damn it, the goods don’t match the description.
The hair color is different.
The eye color is different.
The real hair color made his skin seem a shade whiter.
Did he dye his gender too?
This level of disguise couldn’t fool the three of them. The leading man’s expression darkened. He had originally suspected that Zhou Q’ian had discovered something and had deliberately dragged them down with him, but this superfluous disguise had thrown everything back into a state of confusion.
If the other party had really discovered their identities, why would he bother with a disguise that could be seen through with careful observation?
In the crowd, another person frowned.
The information was incomplete and the time to enter the instance was too tight. There was simply no time to do too much background check.
The Red Cloak had only said the player’s ID, saying that he was a person who looked very honest and lacked spirit at first glance… The player carefully looked at everyone and frowned.
What the hell.
Where is the person who looks honest?!
The brief eye contact ended. Zhou Q’ian tilted his head slightly and was also observing the players in this instance. Finally, he glanced at Han Li.
Han Li had just recovered from her daze.
If she hadn’t seen Zhou Q’ian’s devilish appearance after jumping into the lake, it would have been really hard to recognize that this was the same person.
What puzzled her was not just this.
The cold man who had appeared with Zhou Q’ian that day was not involved in the instance. Was it because he had not personally touched the sculpture?
Almost everyone was confused.
The remaining few more pragmatic players calmly tested the evolution level of the others.
And then they were also dumbfounded.
The players whose evolution level could not be tested were definitely not low. Those who were successfully tested were all over seventy percent.
So where are the rookies to buffer the difficulty of this instance?
Due to the gradual recovery of the Heart of Nightmare, Zhou Q’ian’s evolution level was now also very high. After taking in everyone’s different expressions, he smiled faintly, his thoughts unknown.
The fog suddenly began to dissipate, and everyone instantly returned to their normal expressions.
“Looks like everyone is really here. My legs have been numb from standing for hours,” one of the women spoke first, a hint of impatience in her eyebrows.
She pointed in one direction and said, “There’s a building over there. Let’s go and have a look together first.”
Without the cover of the fog, the building in the wilderness was exposed under the night sky. It was about eight or nine hundred meters away from the players. Everyone tacitly started walking towards it.
On the way, the woman said as she walked, “My name is A-Ling. I was on my way to an instance entrance when I was inexplicably pulled in.”
Zhou Q’ian raised an eyebrow slightly.
Just from that one sentence, you could tell that the woman was of a higher rank than Xia Zhi’s group he had met before.
She did not proactively ask everyone to introduce themselves, but first stated her own reason for coming. Whether others wanted to say anything was entirely up to their personal will.
“Mu Ge,” a young girl of about twenty spoke next. “I was teaming up with a friend for an instance. When we got to the place, we didn’t see the bus, and then we inexplicably came here.”
She also introduced the fierce-looking man beside her. “This is my friend, Wang Cai.”
“…”
Everyone’s eyelids twitched. It was common for everyone to use fake names in instances, but at least find a normal one.
Mu Ge said with a grin, “A humble name is easy to raise.”
A young man raised his hand. “Then my name is Zhang Zhuzi.”
Mu Ge’s smile stiffened slightly.
Another three people introduced themselves in succession. Zhou Q’ian didn’t listen carefully. These were the ones he had designed to enter the instance, and Yu Tong had already given him the information.
Only after Han Li finished speaking did Zhou Q’ian speak. A voice changer made his voice slightly softer than usual. “I just passed the adult college entrance examination. you can just call me College Student.”
He didn’t know if a humble name was easy to raise, but he felt that this identity was quite easy to raise.
The last one to speak was the man in the hoodie.
He had no expression throughout, and only briefly said three words, “Mu Tianbai.”
Not planning to show that the two of them were familiar for the time being, Zhou Q’ian’s hand moved slightly, as a greeting to the shadow on the ground.
__
Author’s note:
Zhou Q’ian: College Student, bring me good luck!
College Student: …
