Mr. Si’s scarlet lips twitched.
The moment Zhou Qi’an teleported out of the dream, it had already sensed it.
The huge commotion from the pharmacy, the familiar roar, and the black smoke seeping from the door’s seam—it didn’t take a genius to know what had happened.
Originally, Mr. Si had felt a bit of joy. Before the instance ended, he had the right to eliminate any source of danger that willfully destroyed the greenhouse flower fields.
However, it was soon disappointed to find that the restraint from the rules had not disappeared, which meant the flower fields had not been damaged.
Just as it was feeling disappointed, Zhou Qi’an rushed out, bringing with him the Taisui flesh it had coveted for so long.
It was like meat pies falling from the sky.
The bright red rabbit eyes looked evilly at Dr. Z, who was chasing from behind. In her pursuit, the woman’s limbs twisted grotesquely. She directly grabbed a blood face that was defying her command in mid-air and shoved it into her mouth.
Her mouth was small and red, yet it was like a bottomless pit, capable of instantly devouring the large, spread-out blood face.
One face, two faces…
The influence of the Taisui flesh in reality was even more unprecedented. The blood faces feared the woman yet couldn’t control their own greed, still desperately flying forward, wanting a piece of the pie.
The woman simply kept grabbing and sucking.
This fixed set of movements was as smooth as flowing water. It was estimated that before long, all these faces would become a meal in her stomach. And once all the blood faces were devoured…
The next one would be Zhou Qi’an.
Mr. Si looked at the Taisui flesh offered by Zhou Qi’an, already preparing to take it, sit on the field ridge, and enjoy the show while eating.
A large hand reached out. In Zhou Qi’an’s slightly lowered eyes, an inexplicable glint flashed.
He had clearly handed over the Taisui flesh a second ago, but in the next moment, Zhou Qi’an seemed to have changed his mind. With a sudden pounce like a tiger, he went to bite the Taisui flesh directly. At the same time, he gripped his sacred artifact with one hand, the sharp fishing spear poised to stab Mr. Si.
Mr. Si’s eyes widened.
Had he completely lost his mind?
Anyone with a bit of sense wouldn’t dare to openly use a blood-consuming sacred artifact on the ICU floor.
Or was he pretending?
Mr. Si stared intently at Zhou Qi’an.
Seeing the young man lower his head and decisively bite into the Taisui flesh, it could no longer hold back.
Some things were not worth gambling on. Moreover, no one could resist the temptation of the Taisui flesh. Disregarding the sacred artifact completely, Mr. Si risked being stabbed and swiftly snatched the Taisui flesh, wanting to avoid any further complications. The terrifying, scarlet, three-lobed mouth opened.
This mouth’s devouring ability was even stronger than the woman’s. The lump of flesh was gone in a single open-and-close motion of its mouth.
The expected pain did not come.
Zhou Qi’an stood where he was, his hands empty. He had clearly put away the sacred artifact.
At this moment, the corner of his mouth curled up even more than the three-lobed mouth. “Many thanks.”
The joy of devouring the Taisui flesh hadn’t even passed, or rather, hadn’t even had time to arise, when Mr. Si’s heart skipped a beat.
He had been tricked by this brat again!
Zhou Qi’an was well-prepared. He skillfully took out a megaphone, pointed at Mr. Si, and shouted at the woman who was rushing over like a madman, “He ate it, he ate it!”
He was as excited as if he were announcing a birth.
Mr. Si still had scraps of meat on the corner of his mouth. Seeing him devour the Taisui flesh, the woman’s speed became unprecedentedly fast.
Under the dead rabbit’s terrifying gaze, Zhou Qi’an backed away while saying, “If you cut him open now, there’s still a chance to get the meat!”
He wasn’t afraid of angering Mr. Si. Once the other party lost his sanity and broke the rules by attacking, he could use his sacred artifact justifiably.
He might even receive compensation from the game afterward.
The moment the woman got close, Mr. Si, who had just finished eating the Taisui flesh, had strange wisps of black light emerging from his body. He licked his lips with an insatiable tongue, leaving not even the last crumb of meat.
But the flesh on Mr. Si’s body was moving. Just like Dr. Z, the flesh seemed to have come alive, every inch bursting with a terrifying sense of power.
“Tastes good,” Mr. Si let out a strange laugh.
The blood color in his eyes was diluted, and a few black patterns appeared in his pupils. Under the backlighting from the greenhouse, the whole scene was hair-raising.
Zhou Qi’an put away the megaphone and retreated even more cautiously.
“This Taisui flesh is too damn evil.”
What was more disgusting was that the system was still tempting players to eat it.
Anyone who thought about it would know that this thing was a blessing one couldn’t enjoy. If it could be eaten so easily, Dr. Z would have devoured it long ago, instead of this scraping-like method, as if she only dared to taste a little.
He couldn’t help but think of his mother in the dream again.
She had also eaten the Taisui flesh. Why did the Taisui in the dream seem so much ‘cleaner’?
And where did the source of the meat his mother and superior ate come from?
The screeching noise of wheels rubbing against the ground at high speed gave Zhou Qi’an no chance to think.
Several medical staff members were pushing a gurney toward the greenhouse.
“What’s going on?” Seeing that the greenhouse door was actually open, and a patient in a hospital gown was standing nearby brazenly, a doctor immediately strode forward angrily to question Mr. Si.
“Zhou… Brother Zhou,” the person lying on the gurney, his face covered in blood, let out a weak whimper like a young beast. It was the university student.
With his meager skills, even when luring away a relatively weak patient, he was quickly caught. Since the university student was a patient who had escaped from the greenhouse before, he wasn’t sent back to the ICU for individual cultivation but was directly returned to the greenhouse.
Zhou Qi’an’s eyelid twitched.
Although the university student hadn’t been as lucky in this instance as before, he still had some luck on his side in life-or-death moments.
To appear before him so reasonably!
Another doctor, with a cold smile, looked at Zhou Qi’an. “To think someone would dare to sneak into the intensive care unit.”
He was very tall, with a large head. As he approached, his neck seemed unable to support the weight of his head, and it suddenly stretched out very long.
A terrifying head drooped softly in front of a Zhou Qi’an, commenting, “This should be a good piece of raw material.”
Zhou Qi’an kept his eyes down, not looking at the other, nor did he make any defensive moves, as if he were secretly waiting for something.
Seeing him motionless, the long-necked man became even more arrogant for a moment. Just as he was about to make a further move, the doctor who had gone to confront Mr. Si recognized Dr. Z and called out in surprise, “Doctor?”
This cry attracted the attention of the others, including the long-necked man. They all glanced back.
At almost the same instant, the doctor near Dr. Z let out a heart-wrenching scream. “Ahhhh!”
The woman had directly bitten off a piece of flesh from his cheek.
“My face—”
The last word was almost unintelligible because his mouth had been bitten off.
The doctor’s face was mangled and bloody. This sudden scene stunned the other medical staff by the gurney for a moment.
Zhou Qi’an seized the opportunity to get closer, grabbed the university student, and ran.
“She’s starving.”
There was a reason why Dr. Z had always chosen to be in the dream, and Zhou Qi’an could fully guess it: appetite.
Monsters all have an incredibly strong appetite, and Dr. Z was no exception. She had been able to control it before only because she was in the dream.
Now, having given up her convalescence in the dream, Dr. Z probably saw everything in her eyes as food.
“Still not running?”
Seeing that one of the medical staff was still thinking of attacking him, Zhou Qi’an raised his voice. “Didn’t you see your Doctor is eating anyone she sees!”
The air was filled with the smell of blood. After absorbing some energy from the doctor, Dr. Z launched another attack on Mr. Si.
“Fight, fight to the death.”
A true pro never looks back at the chaos. Zhou Qi’an carried the university student and desperately sprinted forward.
The system prompt, constantly tempting him to eat the Taisui, sounded again:
[Congratulations, you have sealed the heart (sun) of Cyclamen Hospital]
[Please continue your efforts and kill Dr. Z]
Zhou Qi’an’s gaze darkened.
The prompts in a 5.5-star instance were not their usual mechanical tone; they were highly inflammatory.
Joining the fray at this time was suicide.
He continued to accelerate.
As he passed through the main hall, there were many staff members ahead, a group of terrifying walking corpses, but their movements were very slow at the moment.
After losing the sun, the sky outside had turned completely dark.
The NPCs of Cyclamen Hospital seemed to have had a part of their power drained. They were listless, only instinctively swarming toward them.
Zhou Qi’an could completely handle this speed. If he weren’t carrying the university student, he could have even dashed through this checkpoint in an instant.
The university student was recovering a bit slowly. As he used his healing skills, he said, “The others… are… are downstairs.”
The outdoor activity area was relatively large. As previously agreed, the players would try to lure the patients outside as much as possible.
A figure in professional attire blocked the way ahead.
Dodge, sprint, unavoidable. Zhou Qi’an swung the university student. “Kick!”
“?”
The university student, who was in the middle of reporting, subconsciously kicked weakly at the person blocking the path.
The NPC was kicked back half a step.
Zhou Qi’an continued to run, one-handed the whole time. His strength and core were very stable, making the university student deeply suspect that what had truly evolved were his iron arms.
Bypassing the central hall, the elevator area was shrouded in an impenetrable shadow. He continuously pressed the down button with his left hand. While waiting for the elevator, Zhou Qi’an kept his white sash roaming outside. Whenever an NPC came, it was immediately strangled.
Wee-woo, wee-woo—
Zhou Qi’an’s luck was finally good for once.
The fighting over at the greenhouse had affected the flower fields. The alarm blared piercingly, and all the NPCs rushed towards the pharmacy. Having lost the nutritional radiation from the Taisui flesh, they perfectly demonstrated a state of being completely drained, all moving towards one spot, which was a somewhat comical sight.
The elevator doors opened. Zhou Qi’an dodged inside and pressed the button for the first floor.
Confirming that the car was slowly descending, Zhou Qi’an let out a sigh of relief and also let go of the university student. He leaned against the elevator car as if completely drained of strength. There wasn’t a single part of his body that didn’t hurt from head to toe.
His brain was still a bit muddled. Zhou Qi’an touched his forehead; his palm was red from the heat.
The university student could also see that he was not in a good state.
His pale skin had an unnatural flush. His blinking was much slower than usual, and his blue eyes held an undisguisable fatigue.
His once-smooth long hair was soaked with sweat, now limply draped over his shoulders.
On his collarbone, the scratch mark from Dr. Z’s nails was already turning black and rotting.
“Brother Zhou! You…”
Zhou Qi’an waved his hand to interrupt. Any sound felt very loud to him right now.
He knew better than anyone that he was infected. The itching in his body made him feel that being drawn and quartered would be a pleasure.
“Extraction liquid.”
Ying Yu had given everyone a bit of the extraction liquid before. The university student should still have some.
The latter quickly handed it over.
The sickeningly sweet liquid passed through his throat, and the itching in his body subsided slightly.
Zhou Qi’an gathered his spirits again.
When the elevator doors opened, looking out from here, the world was a pitch-black. After losing the sun, the last bit of false warmth disappeared with it.
The temperature in the air was very low, making one shiver continuously. The nearby trees were withering rapidly.
In the environment where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, only the pale white light of the hospital was particularly conspicuous.
The locations of the other players were easy to find. They were almost all gathered near the inpatient or outpatient buildings, places where the light could still reach.
Zhou Qi’an locked onto the light source area, took a light breath, and walked out with the university student—or rather, ran out.
Taking out his megaphone, after running a certain distance, he took a deep breath and shouted three words: “Morgue!”
The sound spread out in the darkness.
After speaking, Zhou Qi’an summoned his sacred artifact to light the way and rushed over first.
The distance was not too far. He ran to the building where the morgue was located with familiarity. The old building’s lights were still on. Zhou Qi’an put away his sacred artifact and hid inside the building, observing the situation outside through the crack in the door.
The sound of running came from not far away.
Nearby, Muge and Wangcai were the first to run over after hearing the megaphone’s call. Two blood faces were following behind them.
Zhou Qi’an had intended to control his white sash to intercept them, but suddenly found it unnecessary.
Like the medical staff in the building, the patients from the special inpatient department were much more listless. The cohesiveness of the blood faces was not as strong as before; their flesh could barely hold together, like a leaky flatbread.
The floral scent in the air was slowly dissipating. Zhou Qi’an could almost see the image of one cyclamen after another withering in the darkness without sunlight.
From another direction, the young man was also sprinting this way, even faster than Muge.
His gaze swept past them to the distance, and Zhou Qi’an couldn’t help but frown.
“Where are Shen Zhiyi and the others?”
Just as he was thinking, the two blood faces in mid-air suddenly changed direction and attacked backward.
At about the same time, a Rubik’s cube slowly rose into the air. It rotated automatically, and one of its faces glowed red, strafing the blood faces in mid-air like a machine gun.
From the depths of the darkness, the figures of Shen Zhiyi and Ying Yu appeared one after another.
“Quick!” Zhou Qi’an shouted, at the same time seeing a familiar figure rushing over from near the bushes.
The sound of sizzling electricity crackled. A nimble and graceful figure, while releasing her skill, flipped over the nearby bushes and entered the morgue in a few steps.
As if influenced by Zhou Qi’an, Han Li was now running faster and faster.
“Get the door-locking items ready.”
The moment she entered, Han Li heard Zhou Qi’an’s words and subconsciously took out her item.
Muge and the young man had actually prepared their door-locking items long ago.
Now they were just waiting for the last two to come in, and they would activate them immediately.
Several people stared intently at Shen Zhiyi and Ying Yu’s direction, feeling anxious.
The blood faces were a small matter; the real trouble was the elephant seal. As Shen Zhiyi and Ying Yu got closer, the figure chasing them also gradually became clear in the light of the morgue.
With every slap of its massive tail on the ground, the elephant seal could launch itself a long distance. Its massive, tonnage body, at first glance in the darkness, looked like a giant ocean liner.
Zhou Qi’an’s gaze darkened, and he took the initiative to walk out.
Aiming for the position, he controlled his white sash to carry the remaining extraction liquid and fly into the air.
The distance between the elephant seal and the other two was constantly closing. With a ‘smack’, the sound of the bottle shattering was quickly covered by the huge commotion.
Zhou Qi’an’s throw was very accurate. As the elephant seal advanced further in pursuit, its massive body pressed down on the glass shards.
The flower liquid seeped into its skin, affecting the elephant seal. Its movements became smaller during the chase.
At the same time, Ying Yu also saw the opportunity. As he neared the morgue, he threw out the extraction liquid he had on him.
The floral scent that could intoxicate all living creatures was released into the air. Taking advantage of the elephant seal’s slowed speed, the two of them successfully entered the morgue’s main entrance.
Muge: “Close the door, quick, close the door!”
Seeing the elephant seal up close in reality, everyone’s scalp was tingling.
All the door-locking items were released almost instantaneously. The elephant seal was only two seconds too slow. Its heavyweight body slammed heavily against the main door, and the entire building trembled with it.
Everyone took a step back, their hearts still pounding with fear.
After Shen Zhiyi came in, he was not breathing heavily, showing no signs of having been running hard at all.
His face, which had been expressionless while being chased by monsters, darkened when he saw the wounds on Zhou Qi’an. He reached out to touch the young man’s forehead and frowned. “You have a fever.”
The other’s eyelids twitched slightly. These two had clearly known each other from the beginning; their unfamiliarity at the start of the instance was all an act.
Everyone’s focus was different. Now that the crisis was temporarily resolved, the red-cloaked man said the sacred artifact holder looked honest, while Muge was purely curious. She couldn’t help but look around again, still finding nothing.
Outside, the elephant seal was still frantically ramming the door. The noise gave Zhou Qi’an a headache.
After resting for a moment, he waved his hand at Shen Zhiyi, indicating that he was fine.
Shen Zhiyi’s hand was very cool. Come to think of it, when it was on his forehead earlier, it felt quite comfortable.
Realizing he was zoning out, Zhou Qi’an said softly, “Lights off, go upstairs.”
The glass door seemed very fragile, but since it could block a large number of dense flesh-mound monsters, it wouldn’t be a problem to block the elephant seal for a while now. The morgue had more than a dozen floors. Even if it broke in, they could buy some time by hiding.
The university student found the switch by chance. After pressing it, the morgue was plunged into darkness.
The group groped their way up to the third floor.
The young man took out a moderately bright lighting tool. All the players stopped at the easily accessible stairwell to rest.
The scene of herding corpses here was still fresh in their minds. Muge made the worst-case plan: “What if the corpses reanimate…”
Zhou Qi’an directly refuted this speculation: “They can’t.”
Without the sunlight radiation projected by the Taisui flesh, the NPCs were listless, and the elephant seal was clearly not as energetic as it was in the secret passage. These long-dead corpses simply did not have the conditions to reanimate.
Having been exhausted from running for their lives, now that they could finally rest, the players successively found that their mission panels had been updated.
After “Kill Dr. Z,” the note about sealing the heart was gone.
“We succeeded?!”
Several pairs of eyes focused on Zhou Qi’an at almost the same time.
Zhou Qi’an nodded. Since his mind and body were already at their limits, he didn’t have the energy for a detailed description and directly stated the current situation.
“After waking from the dream, Dr. Z can’t control her appetite and is on a killing spree.”
Mr. Si couldn’t possibly kill the final boss directly; at most, he could injure her.
He followed the most likely line of reasoning: “Dr. Z won’t come to the morgue. How can ordinary corpses compare to the fresh ones outside? Maybe she won’t even spare the plump and delicious elephant seal in the end.”
Hearing Zhou Qi’an use the term “plump and delicious” to describe the elephant seal, everyone’s expression was a bit priceless.
Now they just had to wait for Dr. Z and these monsters to fight until they were both badly injured. It didn’t matter if no one died in the bloody battle. “Ten o’clock at night is medication time. Dr. Z is also a patient. There will definitely be problems if she doesn’t take her medicine on time.”
If she still wasn’t dead by then, they would go in for the finishing blow.
Anyway, after several rounds of turmoil, Dr. Z’s strength had been greatly reduced.
Halfway through his explanation, the fatigue in his words was almost overflowing. Zhou Qi’an sat on the floor, one leg bent, leaning against the wall. He didn’t mention the Taisui flesh again.
He was calmly analyzing, but his head was nodding like a chicken pecking at rice.
“In short, we just have to wait… wait…”
The fever made his every breath seep with a scorching heat. His voice grew lighter and lighter, until the last few words were almost inaudible.
Zhou Qi’an’s body swayed. His long hair slipped from his shoulder onto the cold tiles. A hand steadily wrapped around the young man first, letting his head rest against him.
That hand seemed to have a cooling effect. Zhou Qi’an unconsciously nuzzled against it, his ear brushing against the palm lines, seeking the source of the coolness.
Suddenly, Shen Zhiyi, who was worried about him, trembled, his mind going blank.
