Chapter 9 Xincheng Hospital "How can I replace you?"...
The game panel wouldn't open, so the group chat was unusable. After a moment of panic, Xia Wanwan accepted reality.
Unable to use group chat means no assist points, and I can only rely on myself tonight.
The optimal exploration route devised by Shen Su was already imprinted in Xia Wanwan's mind.
As soon as Xia Wanwan left the ward, she went to the elevator to bump into Dean Lin. After waiting for a few minutes without seeing him, she ruled out that possibility and quickly took the elevator to the first floor, intending to meet the second key person in front of the photo wall in the outpatient building.
As Xia Wanwan stepped out of the hospital building, she suddenly stopped—it was broad daylight outside!
Keep in mind that the scenes they randomly encountered for the previous few nights were all at night.
However, the unexpected event of "not being able to open the system or use the group chat when she opened her eyes" had already numbed Xia Wanwan, so she accepted the fact that "the scene was daytime" quite well.
They had even replanned the exploration route in their minds.
Since it was daytime, it meant that the scene she randomly encountered tonight was not any of the scenes that Shen Su and the others had experienced that featured key figures. But whether there were key figures in this scene or not, Xia Wanwan didn't know.
Xia Wanwan planned to go to the outpatient building first, since she was already there and there was a lot of foot traffic... Just as she was thinking this, her eyes were drawn to a white Phaeton that slowly drove in.
Two designated parking spaces were marked along the hospital fence diagonally opposite the main entrance of the outpatient building. A white Phaeton parked in one of the spaces, turned off the engine, opened the driver's side door, and a thin man got out.
A white coat, silver-rimmed glasses, a refined demeanor, and a man in his thirties... Xia Wanwan had never met Dean Lin before, but judging from his attire and Shen Su's description, this person was definitely Dean Lin!
Although she couldn't use group chat, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as she encountered a key character in the game!
Xia Wanwan could barely contain her excitement.
Based on everyone's past experience, exploration progress is only made by talking to and interacting with NPCs, so Xia Wanwan took the initiative to step forward and start a conversation: "Hello, could you tell me where the inpatient building is? I've been walking around for a while and I can't find my way..."
Dean Lin has a pair of very clean and gentle eyes, and his polite smile doesn't make people feel cold or distant, but rather warm, like being bathed in warm sunshine and a gentle breeze. "Our hospital has Inpatient Building No. 1 and Inpatient Building No. 2. Which inpatient building do you want to go to?"
"I...I don't remember...I only remember that I was in ward 305..." Xia Wanwan glanced at Dean Lin and lowered her head.
Faced with Dean Lin's sincere gaze, Xia Wanwan felt very guilty telling this lie.
Lin Qinghe smiled gently, "It's alright, I'll take you to consult a nurse."
...
Liu Yang immediately accepted the situation that there was no group chat or assist points in this game. He went to the elevator with a clear goal, but did not see the key person. He then prepared to go to the clinic.
Liu Yang was stunned when he saw that it was daytime outside.
Immediately afterward, Liu Yang saw a man in his thirties wearing a white coat and silver-rimmed glasses not far away.
Isn't that Dean Lin?
Before he could even go looking for him, the key person came to him on his own.
"Excuse me, how do I get to Inpatient Building 1?"
Liu Yang walked over and asked the other person for directions. He was not good at striking up conversations with people, let alone men, so asking for directions was the only option he could think of for the moment.
I don't know why.
Liu Yang felt that Dean Lin looked at him as if he were mentally challenged.
A moment later, Dean Lin pointed behind him, and Liu Yang turned around to look. The words "Hospital Building No. 1" appeared in front of him.
Liu Yang: "..."
Okay, he really is mentally challenged.
He forgot that he had just come out of Ward 1.
"Dean Lin, what brings you here today?" a nurse ran over and asked. "Isn't it the weekend?"
"Something came up," Lin Qinghe said to the nurse in a low voice. "Don't let anyone into my office today."
"Okay, Dean Lin."
The two walked away talking.
But these words still reached Liu Yang's ears.
...
The scene Lin Yarong randomly encountered was also daytime, but it was nearing evening. In the afterglow of the setting sun, a man dressed in black was moving between the medical technology building and the inpatient building.
This person was wearing a hat and a mask, completely covered up, and behaving strangely. He seemed to be the second key figure that Shen Su mentioned, the one who stared at the dean's photo in front of the outpatient building's photo wall.
Lin Yarong tried to follow, but the man was very alert and suddenly turned around. Lin Yarong could only pretend to be taking a walk and casually walked forward.
The man walked towards her, and Lin Yarong's heart pounded. Fortunately, the man didn't notice her. As they passed each other, Lin Yarong heard the man lower his voice, seemingly talking on the phone: "Are the things ready...?"
Is everything ready?
What is it?
Although Lin Yarong had doubts, she didn't dare to turn around or follow them again.
Shen Su said that this person did not seem kind.
In fact, the moment Lin Yarong brushed past this person, she felt nervous and scared. This is a warning signal that the brain subconsciously sends out before a person encounters danger.
...
In the previous few nights of random scenarios, Cheng Jianshu had already explored the hospital's outpatient building, emergency building, medical technology building, two inpatient buildings, and all the annex buildings, and had drawn a map and memorized the general structure. Only the first and second basement levels were still unexplored.
His original plan was to explore these two places tonight, so not being able to open the game panel didn't affect him much.
Both the first and second basement levels are parking lots, the only difference being that the first basement level has more parking spaces, while the second basement level has an additional morgue.
Cheng Jianshu wanted to visit the morgue. He wasn't a superstitious person and didn't believe in ghosts or gods. He just felt that his other companions probably wouldn't dare to go there.
Halfway there, Cheng Jianshu noticed a van parked in the corner.
The lights in that place were broken, so it was very dark, but you could vaguely see a few people standing there smoking. One of the fat men threw his cigarette butt to the side, and for a moment, Cheng Jianshu saw his tattooed arm.
Cheng Jianshu hid in the corner between the small shed in the morgue duty room and the pillar next to it. There were no lights here, so the people on the other side couldn't see him. He hid in the dark and secretly observed the people who got out of the van.
After they finished their cigarettes, the men opened the trunk of the van to get some water. Inside were several large fiber bags and some tools, but before Cheng Jianshu could see exactly what the tools were, the trunk door was closed again.
As more and more people came into the light, Cheng Jianshu noticed that these people all had tattoos, and their faces were unfriendly. They didn't seem to be people who came to see a doctor, nor did they seem to be family members of patients.
"Ring ring..." The tattooed man's phone rang. He picked it up and listened for a few seconds, his tone cautious. "Yes, everything's ready. The car is parked in a blind spot of the surveillance cameras... There won't be any problems... Okay, okay, I understand..."
Both the behavior of these individuals and the content of their conversation gave the impression that something was about to happen.
Cheng Jianshu immediately grabbed a pen and paper and drew the faces of these people in his notebook.
...
Shi Yu had already anticipated that the game ahead would not be simple, so he was not surprised when he opened his eyes and found that he could not access the system.
He plans to go to the small garden tonight.
The unusually low temperature in the small garden, the leaf he picked up that increased his exploration points by 2, the inexplicable barrier he encountered during his time out... all these signs indicate that the small garden is definitely a key location, but they have been overlooking it all along.
The hospital is very quiet tonight.
There were no patients, no doctors or nurses, no security guards, and no one on the roads inside the hospital. You couldn't even hear the horns of cars on the road outside the hospital.
The moon peeked out from behind the thick clouds.
By the moonlight, Shi Yu saw several tall figures under the shade of the trees, wielding hoes and shovels, digging into the ground.
There were several tightly tied bags at their feet, the bags were bulging, and it was unclear what they contained.
They are digging holes to bury these things.
...
Shen Su originally intended to go to the small garden, but halfway there he suddenly remembered something, and he turned around and ran wildly towards the dean's office on the second floor of the medical technology building.
It did take a little time and I missed some content, but I still managed to hear part of the conversation.
"I've been trying my best to make it up to you all these years, you know..."
It was a very gentle, yet somewhat weak, male voice that came from the crack in the door.
Another man spoke up, his voice filled with undisguised hatred and obsession: "Yes, you're making amends, you're making amends, so I want to thank you, thank my dear brother, thank you for sending me abroad, thank you for giving me the opportunity to study!"
"Otherwise..." the man's tone suddenly softened, which only made it more chilling, "How would I replace you?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com