WTNL Chapter 27

Fukang Hospital
Chapter 27: What are you waiting for? The operation is about to begin.

The light and shadows in the room were dim. The light from the corridor penetrated the blurred glass, barely illuminating the faded, mottled children’s drawings on the wall.

The mohawk guy stared blankly, tongue-tied, at the young man in front of him. Under such intense shock and impact, his brain had turned to mush, making it almost impossible to think.

He had already experienced four instances and couldn’t be considered a newbie. Therefore, he could understand every word and concept the other party spoke without any barrier.

And it was precisely because of this that he found it increasingly unimaginable…

Luring more ghost infants to treat him as a “mother,” exploiting a conceptual loophole, stepping outside the rules, and turning himself into the true Mother of Ghost Infants, capable of dominating them in return.

This was no longer a matter of “one wrong move, and the whole game is lost.”

Just how terrifying of a person did one have to be to come up with such a crazy and audacious solution?

Too terrifying…

The mohawk guy stood dumbfounded, feeling a chill slowly crawl up his back. This intense fear didn’t come from the monsters in the instance, but rather from the living “human” standing before him.

Wen Jianyan took out his phone and opened the Nightmare backend.

Besides the change in his ID card and the points added to his account, he also saw another line of small text:

[Instance Mutation Countdown]
[00:10:00]

Last time it was an hour, but this time it was directly shortened to ten minutes.

Wen Jianyan sighed.

He knew it.

After all, in the last instance, he merely took out a boss, which was enough to cause the NPCs to mutate. This time, he directly exploited a bug, not only controlling all the ghost infants but also making his remaining survival time incalculable. The adjustments the instance would make would probably be even more excessive than last time.

…Whatever.

It wasn’t his first time being targeted by an instance anyway.

Since that was the case, he had to make good use of these ten minutes before the mutation.

Wen Jianyan put the phone back in his pocket and turned to look at the mohawk guy: “Let’s go, we need to hurry.”

“G-go where?”

The mohawk guy hadn’t recovered yet and asked blankly.

Wen Jianyan pondered for two seconds and replied:

“To the office on the third floor first.”

Before the mutation occurred, he had to quickly find Lin Qing’s office and see if there were any clues inside.

Inside the Streamer Hall.

Under the brilliant dome, in the plazas divided into different areas, countless streams of people flowed incessantly. Streamers belonging to different guilds traded, socialized, and entertained themselves here during their breaks between broadcasts.

As a bizarre space independent from the rest of the world, it appeared exceptionally bustling and peaceful. Only the light screens suspended in the void overhead indicated a trace of an ominous aura.

The four large, blood-red characters [Entertainment to Death] hung in the air, quietly looking down at the massive space below.

Everything was exactly the same as usual.

Suddenly, a “ding” rang out under the dome. This mechanical sound was so familiar that it made everyone in the hall subconsciously stop what they were doing and look towards the source of the sound.

“Greetings to all esteemed streamers. The C-rank instance [Fukang Private General Hospital] is now opening an emergency recruitment. Points doubled. Time limit: ten minutes.”

On the light screen suspended in the void, the blood-red slogan had vanished at some point, leaving only a slowly flashing countdown:

What?!

The Streamer Hall was in an uproar.

All the streamers looked at each other, seeing the exact same shock and excitement on each other’s faces.

The probability of an already opened instance temporarily recruiting streamers from the outside was extremely small. This usually meant two possibilities: First, shortly after the instance opened, the streamer mortality rate reached over 90%. In this situation, the instance would open a temporary recruitment. However, this situation usually occurred in instances ranked A or above, or D or below—either the instance was too difficult, or the streamers were too weak.

Very few people would accept this kind of recruitment. After all, the rewards for instances below D-rank were too low, and the mortality rate for instances above A-rank was too high. Even if they participated, the loss could easily outweigh the gain.

The other possibility was…

An unpredictable change occurred in the instance. A streamer broke the overall balance, and the instance couldn’t adjust itself. Therefore, it needed to recruit new streamers to adjust the unbalanced plot.

This situation was much more ideal.

High reward, low risk. As long as they completed the tasks assigned by the system or played the characters in the script well, they could earn a very substantial income.

The low-level streamers across the entire plaza couldn’t help but feel tempted to move.

“Sigh, don’t even think about it.”

An old streamer cast a cold glance at an eager new streamer beside him, scoffed, and said, “Even if you go, you won’t be able to grab a slot.”

“Why not?” The new streamer frowned and retorted unyieldingly, “This instance is C-rank, isn’t it? Then it will definitely limit the number of high-level streamers. Those whose levels are too high can’t get in. Since we are all low-level streamers, why wouldn’t I be able to grab a slot?”

“Of course high-level streamers can’t get in, nor do they have any interest in doing so.”

The old streamer shook his head and said, “However, the major guilds will not let go of this kind of low-risk, high-reward opportunity. They will definitely send in the newer members of their guilds who are relatively low-level but have high cultivation value. It provides them with experience while also reducing the mortality rate… Do you really have the confidence to snatch a slot from the hands of those guilds?”

Saying this, the old streamer raised his hand and pointed to the guild rankings hanging high not far away.

Oracle, Dark Fire, Eternal Day.

The top three guilds in terms of points hung high at the top of the Glory Leaderboard, looking exceptionally unreachable.

The new streamer fell silent, secretly clenching his fists.

The old streamer said, “Don’t be too frustrated. An opportunity like this will eventually fall to you sooner or later.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looked up at the blood-red countdown not far away, and said leisurely, “Moreover, no matter how unlucky you are, you can’t be unluckier than the streamer who broke the balance in this instance… That person is absolutely doomed.”

Fukang Private General Hospital, third floor.

Wen Jianyan quickly found the doctors’ office area.

Recalling the information on Lin Qing’s ID badge, he stopped in front of one of the offices.

The sign hanging on the door of this office had been removed, leaving only a small, empty white area on the wall. Its edges were slightly yellowed, distinguishing it slightly from the rest of the wall’s color.

This should be the place.

Wen Jianyan pushed the door open and walked in.

The office wasn’t large, looking clean and tidy. A doctor’s white coat hung on a coat rack to the side. Professional books related to obstetrics and gynecology were neatly stacked in the bookcase. The desk was spotless, with only a few medical record books messily piled on it.

Everything here looked exceptionally normal and ordinary.

The mohawk guy stood at the door. While he was still hesitating about whether to go in, Wen Jianyan had already stepped inside without hesitation and began to search rapidly and efficiently.

He went through all the pockets in the white coat one by one, carefully inspected the inside of the vase, took apart the photo album on the desk to look for hidden compartments, and searched the wardrobe, desk drawers, and hidden doors in the bookcase. Wen Jianyan didn’t even miss the conspicuous parts of the professional reference books and medical record books. As soon as he found something suspicious, he took a picture with his phone.

“…” The mohawk guy stared dumbfounded as he watched the other’s skilled movements while searching. For a moment, he was thoroughly impressed.

Isn’t this a bit too professional?

After conducting a carpet search of the entire office, Wen Jianyan noticed something was amiss.

This place was a bit too clean.

There were no signs of the professional reference books having been read, nor were there any notes. Every medical record in the books was unremarkable, so common that they held absolutely no reference value.

There were no traces of life or work.

This was truly a bit strange.

Either this place had been thoroughly cleaned and rearranged after Lin Qing’s death, or… this wasn’t Lin Qing’s real office.

Wen Jianyan stopped, standing in the center of the office deep in thought.

He took out his phone again and looked at the countdown on the screen.

[00:04:43]

Less than five minutes left.

Then, what part of the third floor had he missed?

Wen Jianyan recalled the map of the third floor and suddenly froze slightly… Ah, he had forgotten a very important place on the third floor!

The delivery room!

If a pregnant woman was giving birth, she wouldn’t be sent to the operating room on the fourth floor, but rather the delivery room within the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department on the third floor.

That place could be considered the core area of the entire third floor. If there were no clues there, then there wouldn’t be any on the whole third floor.

Thinking of this, Wen Jianyan turned around and sprinted towards the delivery room at top speed.

The mohawk guy was startled by his swift movements. He stood dazed for two seconds. By the time he recovered, all that was left in his field of vision was the young man’s receding back as he sprinted away.

“Hey, hey, big shot, wait for me!”

The mohawk guy hurried to catch up.

This wasn’t just because of the contract between them. More importantly, based on their previous experiences, the mohawk guy was now firmly convinced that Wen Jianyan was a big shot.

Under these circumstances, of course he had to cling tightly to the big shot’s thigh and never let go!

Urgent footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, making the deserted hospital late at night seem even more creepy and terrifying. Soon, the doors to the delivery room were close at hand.

As the distance shortened, Wen Jianyan smelled the increasingly strong scent of blood in the air.

Panting slightly, he brought his running feet to a halt.

The words [Delivery Room] hung high up, glowing with a bizarre, eerie green light under the illumination.

Walking through the main doors, inside were an empty office and a nurse’s station. Further ahead was a large waiting room. Pregnant women nearing labor would usually be sent here to rest, and only pushed into the delivery room when their cervix dilated enough to allow for birth. At this moment, there was no one in the waiting room either, only empty hospital beds neatly arranged within.

Further ahead was the delivery room.

The main doors to the delivery room were tightly shut, with a notice reading “Family Members Stop Here” pasted on them.

The delivery room at Fukang Hospital was built a long time ago, a time when the practice of accompanied childbirth probably didn’t exist yet. All family members had to wait outside the delivery room and were not allowed inside.

The further he walked, the dimmer the lights became.

By the time Wen Jianyan reached the door of the delivery room, only a single, faint overhead light remained, flickering slightly as if the current was unstable.

A dizzying, sweet, metallic smell floated in the air, as if a surgery had just been performed and the smell of blood hadn’t yet dissipated.

The doors to the delivery room were tightly closed and impossible to push open, and there was no keyhole to pick.

However…

Wen Jianyan’s gaze landed on the card reader at the delivery room door, and his eyes paused slightly.

He opened his backpack and took out the identity keycard rewarded by the system after completing the high-difficulty side quest.

A bloodstained keycard appeared out of thin air in his palm. The writing printed on it was either worn off or deeply hidden beneath the bloodstains, completely illegible.

Wen Jianyan brought the keycard close to the machine by the door—

“Beep.”

A soft sound rang out, and the delivery room doors before him slowly opened inward, revealing a pitch-black passageway.

The next second, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his ear: “Hidden side quest activated successfully!”

Almost the instant the voice fell, the scene before him abruptly changed.

Starting from the point where the keycard made contact, a spot of brownish-red blood began to spread. The floor and the walls were covered with mottled bloodstains of varying shades. There were drag marks and splatter marks. Some were old, leaving only dried, brownish-red blood traces, while others were still very fresh, looking as if they had just been splattered and were still slowly sliding down the walls.

At some unknown point, the originally empty delivery room had become filled with “people.”

Calling them people wasn’t entirely accurate.

Whether they were family members wearing ordinary clothes waiting outside the delivery room, or doctors and nurses in white coats, they all had blank, faceless visages.

Right then, a nurse walked towards Wen Jianyan. That faceless visage faced him directly, and she spoke in the most ordinary voice possible:

“Dr. Lin, what are you waiting for? The surgery is about to begin.”

Dr. Lin?

Wen Jianyan suddenly realized that the role he was playing in this absurd play was probably “Lin Qing” herself.

He nodded without changing his expression: “Alright, I’ll go in right away.”

Wen Jianyan turned around and found that the delivery room doors before him were already wide open for him, and the clean area was brightly lit.

All doctors participating in a surgery must change into surgical gowns, clean, and disinfect themselves here before entering the final surgical area. The preparation of medications and medical instruments also all took place here.

However, the clean area here was far from clean.

The bloodstains on the walls were deeper and heavier. The floor was sticky, as if covered with some kind of blood-red tissue, making bizarre squelching sounds when stepped on.

Further inside was the surgical area. Through the blurred, blood-spattered glass, Wen Jianyan could vaguely see moving figures inside—seemingly the very delivery waiting for him to perform.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—”

A harrowing, terrifying scream that seemed capable of tearing eardrums came from deep within the operating room, making everything feel bone-chilling.

Maintaining a calm expression, Wen Jianyan, guided by the faceless nurse, changed into a full set of surgical scrubs, put on blue disposable gloves, and stepped into the surgical area.

The doors to the delivery room opened for him.

The area inside was larger than he had expected. However, only a single overhead spotlight illuminated the sole delivery bed right in the center of the room. Every other surrounding area was completely shrouded in darkness that the eyes couldn’t penetrate.

Nurses and doctors, similarly fully geared up, surrounded the delivery bed.

Through their surgical masks, he could see their blank, faceless visages.

At some point, the screaming had stopped, leaving only muffled grunting sounds.

“Dr. Lin, you’re finally here.”

One of the doctors spoke up: “We were just waiting for you.”

After speaking, he made way for Wen Jianyan, then picked up a gleaming scalpel from the surgical tray and handed it to him: “Please, lead surgeon.”

Wen Jianyan took the scalpel and turned his head to look at the operating table.

The next second, his breath hitched slightly.

He saw a woman tightly bound to the delivery bed. Both her arms were secured above her head, her wrists chafed to a bloody mess, bone visible deep within. Her entire body was drenched in sweat, her black hair sticking to her neck. Her belly was extremely swollen, like a balloon about to burst. Beneath the skin, which was stretched thin to the point of being almost transparent, meandering blue-red blood vessels could be seen.

Both her feet were also spread wide and secured.

Fresh crimson blood dripped down from under the surgical gown, having already formed a small pool of blood on the floor.

On her belly, some bizarre shape protruded, as if something was struggling beneath her skin, forcefully trying to break free.

Although her face was contorted with pain and fear, Wen Jianyan could still recognize…

This was Lin Qing’s face.

Her lips were tightly sewn together with needle and thread. The lower half of her face was dyed red with blood. Her eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Wen Jianyan. Her sewn lips wriggled, as if trying to say something.

“What’s wrong, Dr. Lin?” a faceless person said. “Why aren’t you making the incision?”

The scalpel in Wen Jianyan’s hand reflected a cold gleam under the light, as if silently urging him on.

He took a deep breath, slowly stepped forward, and stood on one side of the delivery bed.

Even though they had no facial features, Wen Jianyan could feel that all the nurses and doctors were staring intently at him, waiting for the moment he would make the move to slice open Lin Qing’s belly.

The scalpel gleamed coldly. The slender fingers tightly gripping the handle didn’t waver or hesitate for a fraction of a second, cutting down accurately—

The next second, the tip of the blade swiftly sliced through the fine thread tightly sewing the woman’s lips.

More fresh blood gushed down, but Lin Qing seemed oblivious to it. She widened her terrified, trembling eyes and let out a hoarse scream at Wen Jianyan:

“The second basement floor!”

She seemed to want to say something more, but soon, a cold gleam flashed past.

Wen Jianyan’s pupils quaked.

Lin Qing’s body shuddered, and her head slowly fell backward. Fresh blood gushed from her widely slit throat, and in an instant, she breathed her last.

The doctor standing on the opposite side retracted his bloodstained scalpel. Staring intently at Wen Jianyan with his faceless visage, his voice was icy: “Lin Qing, you have disappointed me too much.”

“Since this hotbed is useless, you will be the next.”

The other faceless people around them closed in, reaching out towards Wen Jianyan, seemingly trying to grab him.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—”

A harrowing scream rang out.

The faceless person gripping Wen Jianyan’s wrist suddenly let go. On his palm, a small, livid bite mark could be seen, looking like the mark of an infant biting down hard.

“What’s going on…?”

On the operating table, Lin Qing’s corpse, eyes still open in death, lay quietly under the light. Her dull pupils stared intently in this direction, but her highly swollen belly was still wriggling, the magnitude of the movements even becoming more violent—

“Riiiiiip—”

The sound of flesh and skin tearing rang out, and something crawled out from deep within the corpse’s belly.

That bloody, mangled mass looked at Wen Jianyan: “…”

It turned around and shrank back into the corpse’s belly, acting as if it had never appeared.

“No, impossible. Th-this, how is this possible!”

This scene was truly too sensational. The faceless person spoke in a panicked tone, subconsciously taking two steps back, staring in disbelief at the seemingly weak, pale young man before him:

“What is that?”

Wen Jianyan took out a handful of candies from his pocket.

The next second, invisible little hands scrambled for them, and soon only the candy wrappers remained.

“Oh, you mean them?”

The young man replied amiably. His originally amber eyes were dyed a bottomless black by ghost aura. The corners of his pale, bloodless lips curled up, revealing a smiling, cheerful expression:

“They are my children, of course.”

__

Author’s Note:

Wen Jianyan: Want to kill me? Ask my one hundred and ten children if they agree first.

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