Chapter 123 Monster Sculpture "GunGun, be good."...
Liang Jun's pupils trembled; almost at the same moment, she suddenly remembered what Geng Qing had once said—
"If you see a man in his fifties or sixties with almost completely white hair, do not pay any attention to him. Pretend you did not see him and walk around him at a steady pace."
"He was wearing a full hospital gown, a pair of loose brown, thick-rimmed glasses, and a pair of old-fashioned dark brown sandals."
"He also had a very noticeable hunchback, and could barely lift his head."
Her entire body seemed frozen in place, but her trembling eyes were rapidly scanning the monster before her.
Even details like glasses and sandals match perfectly...
In that instant, Liang Xun's feet seemed to be rooted to the hospital room floor, and her consciousness controlled her to stay in place.
The red emergency lights inside the hospital seemed to have changed as well. The light in the ward was no longer clear; instead, it was like a fog that had drifted in from somewhere, and the blood-red fog instantly filled the entire room.
The strange figure also began to become blurry.
Liang Xun dared not be careless. The sudden change in environment made her realize that the instance might undergo some special changes.
Despite the thick fog and poor visibility, she tried her best to lock onto the hunched figure in front of her, making sure she could keep track of the other person's movements.
Besides that, there is another extremely important matter before me.
Those were her teammates, who mysteriously disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Gu Keke, Luo Chuange, and Geng Qing were just talking around the hospital bed. Liang Xuan had only turned her back temporarily, but when she turned back, she was faced with this bizarre scene.
Strange elements had filled her entire understanding. For a moment, Liang Xun couldn't tell whether her teammates' disappearance was related to this eerie red mist or to the mysterious mental patient in front of her.
There are many possibilities.
To ensure everything went perfectly, Leung Yung had no choice but to test each one individually.
On the windowsill sat a broken cork that she had casually placed aside. Liang Jun quickly grabbed it, then aimed at the exposed metal part of the hospital bed and smashed it down.
The cork was incredibly hard, and it produced a tremendous noise the moment it struck the steel. If someone hadn't known beforehand, they would have been startled by the sound.
Liang Xuan held her breath and focused intently on observing the other party's every move.
If the other person were a normal person, hunched over and unable to see what was happening in front of him, he would probably be quite frightened by the sound; if he were already a mutated zombie, he would rush straight to the bedside as if by reflex.
However, none of Liang Jun's guesses came to pass.
The hunchbacked old man remained motionless, like an unfortunate person born deaf.
He's not a normal person—
Liang Jun suddenly realized this and breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, once she confirmed that the other party was not a zombie, the whole situation became much clearer.
Liang Jun kept in mind Geng Qing's instructions. She kept repeating them to herself, trying to numb her brain and ignore him completely, pretending that he was just a transparent person.
Geng Qing had also mentioned that if they encountered him, it would be best to leave quickly. But now, that person was blocking the ward door without moving, making it obviously unrealistic to leave from here.
Liang Jun had no choice but to settle for second best, so she simply stood still and started calling out her teammates' names.
"Coco—Director Geng—"
Since the other party wasn't a zombie and wouldn't be attracted by the sound, Liang Xun shouted at the top of her lungs, "Luo Chuange—where are you—"
At first, she thought that the system might have hidden them in some secluded corner of the ward, and that she would have to find them herself.
But Liang Jun called out so many times and didn't hear a response from her teammates, which proved that her guess was wrong.
It's very likely that the three of them are no longer in the same space as me.
There must be another way...
The hospital's air conditioning system completely failed, and the tightly closed, unventilated room gradually turned into a sauna. Liang Jun's rapid breathing continued to fuel this sauna. Before long, her forehead was covered with a dense layer of sweat.
A few beads of sweat clung to her eyelashes, and whenever Liang Xun blinked, the salty droplets would be blown into her eyes, making it difficult for her to open them.
Liang Xun casually wiped her face, and just as she was about to speak again, the hunched sculpture suddenly made a sound.
Are you looking for your friends?
The sound interrupted Liang Xuan's prepared movements, leaving her stunned and frozen in place.
No one knew what she was thinking at that moment, just as the old man opposite her couldn't understand her thoughts either, and asked again, "Are you looking for your friends?"
The voice was clearer than the first time.
Her fingertips, which were pressed tightly against her waist, suddenly curled up uncontrollably, as if something had gently brushed against them, but Liang Jun could not touch them.
The old man didn't raise his head for a long time, and the air fell silent again, as if he hadn't been the one who had spoken just now.
Liang Jun's throat tightened. She seemed unable to believe it and involuntarily moved a little closer to the other person.
"You... just now..." she hesitated, choosing her words carefully, like a child who had just learned to speak, her words stumbling, "Were you talking to me?"
It is truly absurd to have a face-to-face conversation with a mentally ill person who has been deemed "dangerous" by doctors.
It can't be entirely considered "face-to-face," since the other person's head is still drooping heavily, and from the perspective of the person in question, they might only be able to see their own toes wriggling inside their worn-out sandals.
But Liang Jun didn't need to worry about any of this, because the little old man that everyone was avoiding slowly raised his head.
The scene had an indescribable eeriness, because he didn't move his neck and shoulders like a normal person. His deformed spine, like a dead tree, restricted him to only folding in half, so his head-raising movements became extremely mechanical and extremely difficult.
It seemed that no surrounding muscles were being affected; the head was simply twisting upwards. The angle of the neck's bend appeared to have reached its limit, and Liang Xun, standing at a distance, could even clearly hear the sound of joints dislocating.
Like fallen leaves trampled underfoot in autumn, or firewood burning wildly in a fireplace in winter.
His aged, loose skin couldn't support the protrusions of his cervical vertebrae; his small body had the imposing presence of towering mountains, which terrified Liang Jun.
If someone were to observe from the side, they would surely notice that his entire body was distorted like an electrocardiogram. His tiny head was detached from the overall outline, while his upper and lower body presented a folded angle that completely defied physiological structure.
Despite this, he was still able to maintain his balance and take a few steps toward Liang Jun.
His brownish-brown glasses seemed to have long since lost their lenses, with faded glass beads embedded in the wrinkles that filled his eye sockets.
His lips were also turned up in an extremely unnatural arc, as if he was trying to unconsciously show his teeth, but all that was revealed was a patch of dark red gums.
He maintained this pose, which is perhaps only seen in sculptures, with a cold and stiff smile, making him look more like a stone statue devoid of any human warmth.
He faced Liang Yun directly, and surprisingly, his missing teeth did not affect his accent. "Yes, child, I am speaking to you."
The voice, seemingly imbued with warmth, emanated from his狰狞 (zhengning - ferocious/hideous) face, causing Liang Jun to tremble uncontrollably.
Then she trembled like a leaf, and heard the other person say the next sentence in a low voice—
"I never imagined you would have so many friends. I'm so proud of you..."
Liang Jun felt as if her world had been cleaved in two.
The feeling of being struck by lightning came from all directions.
The edifice in her heart, already teetering on the brink of collapse, ultimately couldn't withstand the thunderstorm and crumbled amidst the wind and rain.
Unbeknownst to her, her fingers had already gripped her thigh tightly. The belated pain was less intense, and Liang Jun was completely unaware that she had pinched her flesh until it bled.
She swayed and instinctively reached for the bed frame beside her, but her limbs were too weak to grip the iron bars, and she could only fall to the ground in a sorry state.
Now, she is finally on the same level as the other person.
A liquid, indistinguishable between tears and sweat, streamed down Liang Jun's cheeks. The salty, fishy liquid stung her eyes, blurring her vision to the point that Liang Jun felt she was going blind.
"You are...you are..."
All her words were stuck deep inside, like a fishbone stuck in her throat, as if a million ants were tearing at her vocal cords, the stinging and burning sensation spreading from her throat throughout her entire body.
After what seemed like an eternity of buildup, Liang Xun finally managed to utter those few words, "Are you... the dean...?"
Then, with her almost blind eyesight, Liang Jun noticed the other person's clumsy nodding gesture.
The sculpted smile on his face widened again, like an artist's impromptu creation that mistakenly portrayed a god as a clown.
That voice, so incongruous with his appearance, came again, "I didn't expect that after all this time, you would still remember me..."
His mouth opened and closed, the aged skin around it dry and wrinkled, constantly being pulled with the movement of his lips.
"I miss you so much, Junjun."
chubby-chubby—
This is Dean Liang's unique way of referring to himself.
The name seemed to have its own reverberation, the sound constantly swaying in past memories, perfectly overlapping with Liang Yan's childhood memories.
That gentle, polite scholar; that middle-aged man who always wore loose clothing and told children fairy tales; that adult who sheltered me in countless moments of despair—
How did it become this inhuman, ghostly state?!
Dean Liang seemed oblivious to the rapidly changing emotions on Liang Jun's face. Perhaps out of concern after being apart for so long, he inappropriately steered the conversation back to the original topic.
So, are you looking for your friends?
As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Jun's bloodshot eyes suddenly glared at him.
Due to extreme tension, the muscles at the corners of her mouth were twitching uncontrollably. "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Who am I—don't you already know the answer in your heart?"
Faced with the threat from the person in front of him, Dean Liang always seemed so calm. "Child, why do you go to such lengths to confirm it again?"
Liang Jun took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly.
She reached behind her waist and felt for the heavy propofol, which gave her a sense of security.
Just as she was about to remove the needle, Dean Liang chuckled again.
"Nunu, be good."
"good."
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Author's note: I finally broke the 1000-meter mark in swimming! So happy!
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