WTNL Chapter 32

Fukang Hospital
Chapter 32: A mother for a day, a mother for life

To go to the second basement level, a key was an absolute necessity.

It seemed that this fifth floor was a must-visit.

The five people left the abandoned operating room and returned to the building’s elevator lobby along the way they came.

The lights in the corridor were cold and pale. The blood-red footprints left behind from their frantic escape just now still lingered on the smooth floor, faintly imprinted. A faint smell of blood that had yet to dissipate floated in the air.

Along the way, everyone was on tenterhooks. However, fortunately, they didn’t encounter the dangerous situation from earlier again.

“Ding—”

The elevator doors opened.

The familiar bright lights dispelled their unease. Everyone subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and walked into the elevator.

Liu Yuze pressed the “5” button.

The elevator doors slowly closed, but at the exact moment they were about to shut completely, the steel elevator doors suddenly jammed for a second, as if they had caught on something, and then slowly opened again.

The corridor before them remained empty and silent, quietly stretching into the distance.

Liu Yuze froze. He looked down to check the elevator doors in front of him. After confirming there was nothing unusual, he pressed the close button again.

The elevator doors closed—

“Clack.”

When there was only a sliver of a gap left, the two doors silently slid open to the sides once again.

This time, it was absolutely not an accident.

“Let’s go, the elevator is no longer safe,” Wen Ya lowered her voice and said urgently.

However, just as they stepped out of the elevator, they heard a bizarre series of footsteps coming from the distant corridor—

“Slap,” “Slap,” “Slap.”

It sounded like wet, sticky soles stepping on the smooth floor, one step at a time, sluggish and slow, yet approaching with a very regular rhythm.

In an instant, everyone’s hearts leaped to their throats. They instinctively turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound.

At the end of the corridor, a bizarre humanoid figure completely covered in fresh blood appeared under the dim light.

Its movements were stiff and sluggish. Its knee joints bent in the opposite direction when it moved, and its limbs swung somewhat uncoordinatedly, as if they had been stitched on with black threads.

It was exactly the same as the monsters that had attacked them in the corridor earlier.

The independent streamer’s pupils constricted, and he cried out in a panic, “Run! The smell of blood on it is too heavy! It’s completely in a different league from the previous ones!”

“Creak, creak—”

A bizarre metallic sound came from behind.

Wen Jianyan, who was walking at the very back, turned his head and saw an extremely horrifying scene.

Pale fingers crawled out one by one from the elevator shaft, wedged themselves into the gap between the elevator doors, pried the doors open bit by bit, and then reached out to grab Wen Jianyan—

Fuck!

Wen Jianyan gasped, scuttling backwards several steps, getting as far away from the elevator shaft as quickly as possible.

Just then, the dismembered corpse not far away seemed to have sniffed a familiar scent. Its originally sluggish and slow footsteps suddenly accelerated! With an agility unimaginable for an ordinary person, it charged in this direction!

“The stairwell is over there!!” Kong Laoliu screamed with a terrified, distorted voice.

Li Zongze gritted his teeth: “Damn it! A pincer attack from front and back?! The difficulty of this instance is way too high!”

Is this C-rank? Is this really C-rank!

Kong Laoliu ran while shouting in a breakdown, “Shouldn’t this kind of difficulty treatment be for the Black Team’s side!”

—Even the difficulty for them, the Red Team, was this high! Wouldn’t it be hellish difficulty for the Black Team!

In the Red Team’s live broadcast rooms:

[…]

[…]

[That’s right, this treatment should indeed be for the Black Team, BUT!! You guys have been hanging out with the Black Team Captain this whole time!]

[Besides feeling heartbroken, I don’t know what else to say. Sigh, this is the first time I feel like I’ve supported the wrong team in a hunting instance. My points ah!]

Everyone ran toward the stairwell at top speed. The messy and rapid footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the temperature in the air plummeted sharply.

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan felt his ankle tighten! His movements slowed, and he was almost tripped over.

He looked down.

The pale fingers from the elevator had chased after him at some unknown point, and were currently gripping his ankle tightly.

At this very moment, the dismembered corpse, as if finding its target, lunged forward fiercely. The distance between them rapidly shrank, allowing Wen Jianyan to see clearly that below the other party’s wrists, there was actually nothing at all; only thin threads used for stitching were fluttering about.

Oh crap!

These fingers probably belong to this monster!

The dislocated mouth of the dismembered corpse opened wide, biting down viciously towards Wen Jianyan.

“Mommy run!”

An infant spirit emerged from mid-air, screaming as it pushed Wen Jianyan away, but its body was clamped down on fiercely by the monster.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh—”

The captured infant spirit let out a miserable shriek.

The dismembered corpse gnawed on the livid infant spirit in its mouth. Its bizarrely rolling eyeballs flashed with greedy luster, its mouth wriggling and chewing, yet its gaze remained tightly fixed on Wen Jianyan.

More infant spirits emerged from the void. Some charged at the monster, trying to block its movements, while others wrapped their small hands around Wen Jianyan’s shoulders, screaming in his ears:

“Mommy run!”

“Mommy run!”

Indeed, running away was the optimal solution.

Becoming the infant spirits’ mommy was merely an expedient measure. Now that they were willing to proactively use their bodies as bait to stall this monster—which was clearly far from simple, even capable of devouring other ghosts—it was simply a godsend for Wen Jianyan. Even if he sacrificed these few infant spirits, he still had around a hundred more strapped to him. It wouldn’t matter.

Wen Jianyan’s gaze subconsciously shifted towards the infant spirit being chewed up.

The infant spirit shrieked miserably: “Mommy, Mommy—”

Fuck it.

[Xiao Jie’s Tooth (Hard-level item from the Decai Middle School instance) has been activated]

The next second, overwhelming pitch-black hair lunged at the monster, wrapping it up solidly in the blink of an eye, rendering it unable to move.

Wen Jianyan rushed forward a few steps, forcefully raised his hand, yanked the infant spirit out of the other’s mouth, tucked it under his arm, turned around, and ran.

He gritted his teeth.

Forget it, forget it.

A mom for a day, a mom for life!

Among the wriggling strands of hair, a greedy eyeball darted around, staring fixedly at the young man’s retreating back as he ran. Its mouth chewed slowly in the empty air, as if imagining how he would taste.

Soon, Wen Jianyan ran into the stairwell.

Perhaps because he had left the fourth-floor area, the entity did not chase after him.

The infant spirit, with half its spirit body eaten, lay in his arms sobbing softly. Its small, livid black hands tightly hugged the young man, clinging to his chest with dependence: “Mommy…”

Wen Jianyan rubbed its head: “Does it hurt?”

“It hurts.” It raised its pitch-black, terrifying eyes, staring intently at him with an adoring tone.

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes. The dim light of the stairwell hit his face; his already handsome features looked exceptionally gentle at this moment.

He hugged the ghost baby and said softly:

“Blow blow, make the pain fly away.”

The other ghost babies: “…”

Ptoey! You shameless thing! Always trying to hog Mommy’s attention! We’re ghosts; how could we feel pain!

The ghost babies, distorted with jealousy, showed themselves one after another, burrowing into Wen Jianyan’s embrace, unwilling to be outdone as they fought for the warmth of the young man’s hug: “Mommy, I hurt too!”

“Mommy, I want blow blows too!”

“Mommy, Mommy…”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Fuck, what is this? A large-scale fight for favor?]

[The streamer is really a bro, though. To actually be willing to use a Hard-level item just for one out of a hundred and ten ghost babies…]

[What do you mean, it’s clearly just stupid, right? Obviously, this is a new monster spawned by the instance to counter his bugged behavior. Even though there are many of those stitched-together dismembered corpses, their threat isn’t actually that high. But this monster that ate all the other corpses is different. At least, I’ve never seen it in this instance before; it probably only appeared after the difficulty was increased.]

[Right, he clearly realized the instance created a counter-mechanism specifically for him, yet he still wasted a precious Hard-level item in this situation. Honestly, I’m quite disappointed. I didn’t expect the streamer to be so emotional; I feel like he won’t survive long in these instances.]

[Hm? Why are you guys discussing such boring things with so much enthusiasm? Am I the only one bewitched by the streamer’s maternal radiance!!]

[Ahhhhhh help help, the first time I’ve gotten the appeal of a male mommy!]

[Mommy, hug me quickly! I want blow blows too!]

[Ahhhhhh exploding, if Mommy doesn’t come kiss me I’m going to bleed to death!]

Wen Jianyan comforted the ghost babies and climbed the stairs up to the fifth floor.

Unlike the other floors, the layout of the fifth floor was very simple. It only had two sections: the conference room and the director’s office. The three Red Team streamers were currently standing at the door on the fifth floor, tinkering with something, seemingly trying to figure out how to open the door.

Meanwhile, Kong Laoliu stood to the side keeping watch, observing the surroundings for any abnormalities.

The moment he saw Wen Jianyan, he immediately coughed lightly.

The other three Red Team streamers immediately stopped what they were doing and turned around casually, looking at the “NPC” slowly walking towards them from behind.

The young man in the white lab coat looked gentle and refined, wearing gold-rimmed glasses on his nose bridge. He looked incredibly scholarly from every angle, yet due to those pitch-black eyes heavy with ghost aura and the crimson bloodstains on his clothes, he appeared exceptionally bizarre and gloomy.

This was an NPC, after all.

If he discovered that they were actually trying to pick the lock to the director’s office and grew suspicious again because of their highly disrespectful behavior, the loss would truly outweigh the gain.

“Dr. Lin, you’re here.”

Wen Ya smiled and took a step forward. “We were just waiting for you.”

“However…” she changed the subject, frowning with some annoyance. “The door to the Director’s office seems to be locked. Do you have the key?”

The young man glanced at them and said in a monotone voice:

“Step aside.”

Hearing this, the four Red Team streamers parted to make way for him, watching Wen Jianyan expectantly, waiting for him to take a key out of his pocket and open the door.

But they saw the young man lift a long leg and viciously kick the door lock.

“Crash!”

The door panel and the door frame before their eyes were kicked apart, swinging inwards unsteadily, revealing the pitch blackness inside.

The four Red Team streamers: “……………………”

Hah?

Isn’t your method even more highly disrespectful!!!

“This is an emergency; let’s not worry about formalities and etiquette,” the young man said leisurely. “I believe the Director will understand us.”

“…”

The Red Team streamers exchanged glances.

Th-that’s true too?

Led by Wen Jianyan, the four of them walked into the Director’s office.

The area here was very large and exceptionally neat. All four walls were lined with bookshelves, stuffed full of medical books in various languages and styles. It even came with a small temporary rest lounge.

“Let’s split up and search,”

Wen Jianyan said.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Lol, why does the streamer act more like the Red Team Captain than anyone else!]

[Hahahahahaha! Is this what it feels like to go from being an undercover spy to becoming the boss? Can’t stop laughing, fuck!]

The five people spread out, carefully searching the empty Director’s office, looking for the key to start the elevator.

Wen Jianyan, on the other hand, paced slowly beside the bookshelves alone. His gaze swept over the rows of books above, looking for any possible clues.

Although most of these medical books were written in foreign languages, it wasn’t a difficult problem for Wen Jianyan.

Wen Jianyan’s professional business scope was vast; having a rough understanding or even proficiency in multiple foreign languages was merely a basic qualification. He had basically mastered the languages spoken by a large population, and even for some niche languages, he had a basic understanding. Aside from some obscure professional vocabulary, reading the titles of these books presented almost no major hurdles.

Perhaps due to the nature of Fukang Hospital, most of these books were related to obstetrics and gynecology. However, a small portion consisted of some mystical-sounding theological books.

One book in particular caught Wen Jianyan’s attention.

It was a Latin book wedged among numerous others. With his meager Latin vocabulary, he could barely decipher the book’s title as—Mother of the World.

A bit strange.

Wen Jianyan frowned and raised his hand to pull the book out.

“Click.”

A faint click sounded from below. Wen Jianyan froze, looking down in the direction of the sound.

He saw a small hidden compartment pop open on the bookcase.

Deep inside the hidden compartment sat a palm-sized small jar. Within the pale yellow formalin liquid floated a shriveled, deformed infant body.

The deformed body and the disproportionately massive head looked incredibly familiar no matter how he looked at it.

Wen Jianyan reached out and picked up the jar.

The next second, the familiar mechanical system voice rang in his ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the streamer for obtaining the hidden item (Epic) in the instance!]
[Collection Progress: 2/4]

Epic???

Wen Jianyan froze, looking down at the small jar in his hand in disbelief.

No way? Are Legendary items this easy to get?

It wasn’t that the threshold wasn’t high…

It was just that in the last instance, he had to complete several tasks in a row just to earn the qualification to unlock an epic item. This time, he just collected it directly like this? This was way too easy…

Before he could figure it out, that voice sounded once more:

[Ding! Congratulations to the Black Team Captain for obtaining a Legendary hidden item in the instance—which is also the most crucial ritual core in this instance! An item snatch battle is now initiated. If the Red Team fails to snatch it within one hour, the Black Team will immediately be declared the winner!]

The next second, Wen Jianyan saw a familiar arrow materialize in the air.

Red, bouncing, pointing repeatedly straight at the infant jar in his hand.

At some point, all the Red Team members had stopped what they were doing. They followed the arrow and looked over, four gazes landing in unison on Wen Jianyan.

The Director’s office was dead silent.

The Black Team Captain Wen Jianyan, holding the Legendary item: “…”

Oh boy.

Trash live broadcast room, you’re playing this trick again! Fuck your ancestors!

__

Author’s Note:

Did Xiao Wen, who gets targeted by instances every day, crash and burn today?

Yes, he did!

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