On their way back to the ward, they encountered many nurses rushing towards the cafeteria, causing a brief period of chaos. Xiao Cheng instinctively looked for Fang He, but all around were faceless NPCs, not a single one of her own.

Nurse No. 5 took Xiao Cheng back and hurriedly locked the door and left. Su Xin hadn't left the ward and didn't know what had happened outside. She looked over with a worried expression: "Are you alright?"

Xiao Cheng shook her head; Fang He should be the one in trouble now.

She didn't know how he impersonated a doctor, but based on the deduction, Fang He should be the missing patient in bed number 1 mentioned by the nurse.

As she left, she looked around from her wheelchair. The hospital seemed to have no main entrance or exit; in other words, it was physically completely closed off. The real Dr. B had already appeared, and possibly Dr. A and Dr. C as well. Most importantly, there was the hospital director, whom Nurse Number 5 couldn't stop thinking about.

What should we do next?

Xiao Cheng frowned, lost in thought.

Su Xin gently squeezed her hand and silently called out, "Xiao Cheng?"

Pulled back to reality, Xiao Cheng gave a reassuring smile: "It's okay." She briefly explained Fang He's situation, leaving Su Xin dumbfounded.

"How dare he..."

“I’ve experienced his abilities firsthand, so we don’t need to worry about him. The most crucial thing now is whether we’ll be blamed when Dr. B returns.”

Su Xin shuddered at the thought of this possibility: "No... that's too scary..." She hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked to her bed number 6, lifted the duvet cover, and took out a key from inside.

Xiao Cheng stared at her in astonishment: "What's this?"

“I pretended to be crazy and stole the spare key from him while the nurse brought him food.” Su Xin bit her lower lip. “I don’t know when he will find out, but if I just sneak out tonight, it should be fine.”

Xiao Cheng didn't stand on ceremony and put the keys away, saying, "Thank you."

Dr. B's matter seems to be very difficult to handle. The two nurses don't even have the energy to bother them anymore, and today's medicine hasn't been delivered yet.

Xiao Cheng lay patiently on the bed, waiting for the right opportunity, and quickly recalled the route she had taken that day, forming a simple map in her mind.

This ward is at the end of the second-floor corridor. If you go out and turn right, you'll pass seven or eight ward doors before reaching the nurses' station. During the day, I saw five or six burly male nurses guarding it.

After passing the nurses' station, there are stairwells three or four wards away. The first floor mainly consists of the cafeteria and wards, while the situation on the third floor is unknown.

She waited until dark. The nurses outside made a quick round of checks, and then no one came again. She peered out through the ventilation window above the door for a while, then gestured to Su Xin to insert the key into the lock.

Su Xin nodded in understanding, glanced at the bug on the ceiling, and suddenly screamed hysterically.

Covered by the shouts, Xiao Cheng quietly opened the door a crack and slowly squeezed out.

The corridor was straight and lit, so it didn't feel too eerie. Xiao Cheng didn't see any cameras, so she breathed a slight sigh of relief, closed the door, and tiptoed towards the stairwell.

There were only two nurses at the nurses' station. One was sleeping face down, and the other was checking injections with her back to the corridor. Xiao Cheng crouched down and rushed over quickly, standing to one side, close to the wall at the corner of the stairwell.

The nurse turned around as if sensing something, peeked out and looked left and right, but found nothing; Xiao Cheng was right in his blind spot. He scratched his head in confusion, then turned back and started fiddling with the syringes on the tray again.

Xiao Cheng hesitated for a moment between going upstairs and going downstairs, but ultimately decided to go to the first floor first. There were no nurses patrolling downstairs either, not even a nurses' station.

Xiao Cheng made her way to the cafeteria entrance when she was drawn to a sudden, painful whimper coming from the ward across the hall. Before she could decide whether to go check, the cafeteria door opened silently, and half a head peeked out from the crack.

It's bed number 3.

"Come in," he said in a low voice, beckoning to Xiao Cheng.

After Xiao Cheng went inside, she noticed a girl in a hospital gown squatting on the table near the door. The girl had her hair tied in a high ponytail, was holding a chair leg, and had taut muscles, like a hunting leopard.

After the door closed again, she lightly jumped off the table, looked Xiao Cheng up and down for a moment, seemingly not very satisfied, but still frowned and introduced herself: "Bed number 4."

"We've searched, there are no listening devices here. Just keep quiet and don't get caught." Bed number 3 was particularly vigilant, standing guard by the door, ready to react as quickly as possible to any noise outside.

"What's going on in the ward across the street?" Xiao Cheng asked in a low voice, the commotion didn't seem like that of an NPC.

The other two clearly knew a lot, and their expressions were not good: "It's bed number 2. They must have violated the rules. I don't know if they can still be saved."

“There’s a nurse inside, we can’t take any risks,” said the patient in bed number 4, quite rationally.

"Time is limited, we need to get back to the ward before dawn. I have a map here, it's not complete, we can split up and explore. If we can find bed number 1, that would be great."

The patient in bed number 3 pulled a folded piece of paper from his hospital gown pocket, spread it out on the table, and the three of them looked at the map in the light coming in from the corridor.

Hand-drawn, minimalist style. Looking at the crooked and twisted lines, Xiao Cheng felt that it must have been really difficult for him.

The patient in bed number 3 was a little embarrassed, her ears turning red as she pointed out to them, "This is the third floor. There are three examination rooms, then a waiting hall and treatment rooms. I haven't been to the treatment rooms, but from the nurses' descriptions, it's a very scary place."

"I overheard the nurses talking. There should be a morgue downstairs, but I don't know how to get there. The stairwell only goes down to the first floor," added the nurse in bed number 4.

"Let's split up quickly. Bed number 5, you go to the second floor. If anything seems wrong, come back to your room immediately." Xiao Cheng was considered a novice by them, and they gave her clear instructions.

The three of them walked out of the cafeteria one after the other.

In the opposite ward, the cries of the patient in bed number 2 suddenly became extremely agonizing, then abruptly weakened and gradually faded away, followed by a nurse's shrill, eerie laughter.

"Damn it! Run! He's coming out!" Bed number 3 noticed the doorknob being pressed, his pupils contracted sharply, and he pushed Xiao Cheng and Bed number 4 towards the stairwell.

However, we were still a step too late.

Nurse Number 2 opened the door and saw the three people running away. He roared angrily, "Stop!" He pulled out the alarm from his nurse's uniform and pressed it hard.

In the corridor, all the lights went out instantly, plunging the room into complete darkness. The piercing alarm blared for a long time, shattering the tranquility of the night.