Chapter 37:
“...Thank you.”
Looking at the nurse in the window with an exaggeratedly nervous smile, Ke Su silently thanked her and turned to follow the direction the nurse had pointed out.
Although the nurse in the window looked abnormal, he still needed to see a doctor. Ke Su hoped the doctor would be normal, at least someone who could cure his illness.
“Third floor…” Ke Su muttered listlessly about the floor he was heading to. He stood in front of the elevator, too lazy to climb the stairs, watching as the elevator descended to the first floor, and the doors slowly opened.
Then, Ke Su saw a tall man in a white coat standing inside the elevator, making a face at him.
“…”
Ke Su looked at him expressionlessly.
The tall man in the white coat seemed to be a doctor from the hospital, but his face was exaggeratedly made up with smoky eyes, and his entire eye sockets were black, revealing only his eyes with white contact lenses. The black pupils were reduced to mere dots, and his mouth was twisted into a narrow arc, seemingly preparing to reveal a gruesome smile.
Ke Su suspected this guy might be trying to scare someone who was about to get on the elevator, but since that person hadn’t arrived, he became the one who was scared.
The white coat looked at Ke Su and slowly closed his mouth: “…”
Ke Su entered the elevator, watching as the white coat leaned against the corner and stopped talking, seeming to feel embarrassed and standing still, facing inward, silent.
Ke Su glanced at him and then looked down to continue playing on his phone, not caring about the earlier prank-like door scare.
Moments later, as the elevator reached the third floor, he stepped out, leaving the white coat inside the elevator, which began to tremble slowly as if capturing some horrifying information. Flesh began to fall from his body, and a rotting stench filled the entire elevator.
City of Li, Special Incident Department
Zhao Gang was seriously criticizing Zhang Yun for her impulsiveness, while simultaneously ordering multiple agents to prepare to head to Ren'ai Hospital.
“No matter what happens, you cannot confront the supernatural unprepared! Do you realize what your actions might have caused just now! If Ren'ai Hospital really is the ‘Puppet Hospital,’ your rash actions could easily provoke it, causing it to spread rapidly and endangering the entire City of Li!”
Zhao Gang furrowed his brow, suppressing his anger. He didn’t expect this agent he had always thought highly of to be so reckless. As an agent facing supernatural events, the first thing to do is to remain calm, yet Zhang Yun acted so impulsively. If they encountered a high-risk supernatural incident, she could be dead within minutes.
“...Yes. I’m sorry, senior.”
Zhang Yun’s expression darkened as she lowered her head and obediently accepted Zhao Gang’s reprimand.
Earlier, too eager to save her loved one, she was stopped by her colleagues when she prepared to use props to confront the supernatural event. Now, being scolded by the respected senior made her calm down somewhat.
However, she still couldn’t hide her anxiety. Although she knew Wan’er had been in that hospital for so long, and if it was indeed a supernatural incident, something terrible might have happened already, she still held onto a glimmer of hope, wishing to save Wan’er.
Every minute wasted meant a further decrease in Wan’er’s chances of survival. This thought made her increasingly anxious.
“Senior, but… I’m really afraid something will happen to my niece. She’s only six years old…”
Zhang Yun’s voice, filled with a choking sob, softened Zhao Gang’s expression a bit. He sighed helplessly and stopped blaming her. After all the other agents gathered, he let Zhang Yun rejoin them and head to Ren'ai Hospital together.
“Remember, your safety is the most important. Do not take risks to explore the interior of the hospital unless absolutely necessary!”
After saying this, Zhao Gang led everyone to Ren'ai Hospital. Dozens of specialized vehicles were parked silently in front of the hospital, blocking off the road within a hundred meters to prevent innocent bystanders from entering.
Stepping out of the vehicle, Zhang Yun anxiously gazed at Ren'ai Hospital. Everything behind the tightly closed transparent glass doors was blurred and filled with an unknown terror, instilling fear in her heart.
In broad daylight, the eerily quiet Ren'ai Hospital exuded a strange and inexplicable aura, causing all who observed the hospital to shudder involuntarily, as if even their souls were stirred into fear by the mere existence of this hospital.
Anyone aware of the horrors of supernatural events would feel the terror emanating from this hospital, far beyond the B-grade or A-grade experiences. This nearly soul-shattering sensation made even experienced Zhao Gang furrow his brow and feel uneasy.
But Zhang Yun’s concern for her niece overshadowed everything. She bravely stepped forward and requested her senior, Zhao Gang, to allow her to enter the hospital to scout.
Zhao Gang frowned at her, shook his head, and sent in the latest researched biotic robot to enter the hospital first. Then, everyone watched the screen connected to the biotic robot’s camera, seeing everything inside.
The biotic robot was the latest technological product from the Federation, equipped with a certain level of artificial intelligence. It could also be controlled manually, offering high flexibility to avoid many dangers faced by humans. However, due to its exorbitant cost, it hadn’t been widely adopted across the Federation.
This biotic robot had only recently been purchased from the science academy by the headquarters to reduce the rising death rate among agents.
However, because this high-tech device was just implemented, everyone felt a bit nervous, unsure if the biotic robot could evade the killing rules of the supernatural beings.
Everyone stared closely at the screen, discovering that the interior of Ren'ai Hospital was similar to other hospitals in the City of Li, except for the empty, patient-less hall that appeared somewhat desolate and strange.
“Patients, please register here~”
A soft, eerily gentle voice came from the registration window not far from the biotic robot, seemingly calling the arriving guests to this location.
The technicians felt a tightness in their chests and quickly manipulated the biotic robot to avoid the line of sight from the person in that window, hiding in the corner of the hall.
The biotic robot moved as swiftly as an antelope, far more agile than humans, easily slipping to the wall corner. The voice in the hall continued, but after losing visual contact, the sound gradually faded away, seemingly having successfully avoided a death crisis.
The technicians breathed a sigh of relief and carefully stood the biotic robot up, preparing to head to the girl’s hospital room mentioned by Zhang Yun.
Click—Click—
At that moment, the humanoid arm of the biotic robot seemed to be blocked by something. The camera turned, and the other hand reached forward, touching something akin to human skin.
“Team Leader Zhao, the biotic robot says it has been blocked by a human…”
The technician swallowed hard, fingers pressing furiously, but no matter how many commands he issued, the biotic robot no longer moved because its directives included not harming humans. It now determined that if it acted, the human blocking its way would surely be injured, so it refused to execute the command.
“Is there still a human here? But the camera didn’t show…”
Zhao Gang said in a deep voice, suspecting that this robot might have mistaken the supernatural beings for humans. After all, some supernatural entities looked exactly like humans, even possessing a heartbeat, which the robot might not be able to distinguish.
“Switch to panoramic mode!” Zhao Gang suddenly seemed to think of something, commanding the agents to change the robot's vision. The next second, a panoramic view appeared, revealing a woman standing behind the biotic robot.
She had long black hair and wore a long white dress, holding a book in her hands, but the biotic robot displayed a weight of zero on its back.
As everyone anxiously watched the screen, the woman in the long dress seemed to sense something. She wrapped her arms around the robot, opening the pages of the book, staring blankly at it as if nestled against the back of a lover, only her pale skin devoid of color hinting that she was not human.
“What is she doing?” A young agent looked curiously at the woman on the screen, slightly intrigued by the open pages of the book.
Just as his gaze focused on the pages, rows and rows of densely packed text began to frantically refresh on the pages, roughly describing a person’s story from birth to death.
“Is it writing about me?”
He stared in horror at the text narrating the story, where the protagonist’s name was his, and the character eventually died, split in half by an axe.
“Ahhh!!!”
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