Chapter 117: Formal Declaration of War Against the Evil God - Ghost Granny's Powers, Entering the Dead Zone...
The bloody handprints, carrying a nauseating stench, spread rapidly across the mottled wall, instantly reaching within meters of Su Wan and Yin Xi.
Not only that, but their backs were also covered with the same bloody handprints, blocking their escape route.
Yin Xi reacted quickly, pulling Su Wan sharply in a turn and rushing into a nearby consultation room.
The moment they stepped into the consultation room, the walls of the corridor outside were completely covered with layers of bloody handprints.
What's even more chilling is that those bloody handprints are like springs, from which gushing blood begins to flow.
Soaked in blood, the corridor walls seemed to grow flesh and blood, becoming part of the internal organs of some monster.
Not content with just eroding the corridor, the blood quickly coalesced into a mass of red, sludge-like substance that surged towards the examination room like a tidal wave, attempting to crush the door and engulf the two inside.
Seeing this, Su Wan and Yin Xi worked together to push a filing cabinet over, blocking the door to the consultation room.
It seemed to prevent the strange things from the outside from getting in, but in reality, it also blocked their way to survival.
"W-What should we do? What should we do next?" Su Wan leaned against the cold filing cabinet, her voice trembling slightly.
She looked around. The examination room was as dilapidated as the corridor, with medical equipment and various medical records scattered all over the floor, covered in a thick layer of dust. The view outside the window had completely disappeared, leaving only a crimson expanse... No one knew if this was still the second floor of the hospital, nor could they be sure what dangers they would face if they jumped out of the window.
Yin Xi didn't reply; she was also looking around the room. Her breathing was rapid, her heart was pounding, and the brief escape had exhausted all her strength.
Just then, a mirror on the wall of the consultation room caught Yin Xi's attention.
The mirror was blurry, reflecting no person or object, as if shrouded in a layer of gray fog. Beneath the fog, a disturbing crimson ritual rune could be vaguely seen.
The moment Yin Xi saw the rune, she understood the source of the hospital's strangeness.
She gritted her teeth, used her room key to cut open her palm, and pressed her bleeding hand directly onto the mirror.
Then she grabbed Su Wan and, without hesitation, crashed into the mirror.
Before Su Wan could even utter a cry of surprise, she was shocked to discover that the two of them had passed through the mirror and arrived in another place.
The room still looked like the same consultation room as before, but it no longer had that dilapidated feeling; it looked like a normal hospital, except that the room was still shrouded in a red light of unknown origin.
And most importantly, there was another living person in this consultation room besides them... a doctor carrying a gun!
The doctor had clearly noticed the two people emerging from the mirror, and pointed his gun at them, his eyes full of vigilance.
“We are patients who have made appointments for medical treatment,” Yin Xi quickly explained. “You can find our names on the appointment form. I am Yin Xi, and she is Su Wan.”
Having been imprisoned for so many years and spent so much time with those cultists, Yin Xi was able to discern the function of some ritual runes.
The runes she saw in the mirror just now looked like a variant of some kind of teleportation array. She was just trying her luck to see if she, as a former blood sacrifice, could activate the teleportation array with her own blood. Unexpectedly, she actually succeeded by accident.
Yin Xi had heard that the most important stronghold of the Heirs of the Bone Society was apparently located in some kind of mirror world.
Therefore, she speculated that they might have been drawn into the mirror world by some invisible force while they were enveloped in the red light of the corridor.
The Saviors' Association's goal was probably to drag the entire hospital from the real world into the mirror world, but perhaps because the building was too large, or because the Bureau of Supervision's protection had some effect, it did not succeed completely, leaving the hospital currently in the gap between the real world and the mirror world.
They had just returned to the hospital from the mirror world, and thus saw living people.
Upon hearing Yin Xi say that they were patients with appointments, the doctor remained vigilant and instead took out a metal plate and threw it at their feet.
Seeing that there was no change in them, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief, put down the gun, and began to quickly check the appointment list.
The list of patients scheduled for appointments is shared by all departments, especially for patients like Yin Xi who require a full physical examination.
After seeing their names on the appointment list, the doctor's guarded expression largely disappeared.
“I’m here to check if there are any patients who have been separated from their families. Come with me, I’ll take you to the area where the survivors are gathered. They should be trying to rescue us.” The doctor waved his hand, and the metal amulets at their feet seemed to come alive, flying back into his hand.
"The current situation is that the hospital has been corrupted by an unknown force. The other floors are in relatively good condition, but the first and second floors are the most severely affected due to their weaker protection. Monsters will emerge from the mirrors... Not just mirrors, but anything that reflects light can potentially generate monsters, so we need to be careful."
As if on cue, the doctor had barely finished speaking when a blood-red shadow emerged from the window beside him.
It resembled a humanoid monster forcibly pieced together, its limbs disproportionate and folded at bizarre angles. Atop its jigsaw-like head, a pair of pure white eyes without pupils stared directly at Yin Xi.
Instead of attacking the nearest doctor, it pounced on the location of the two girls.
Yin Xi realized something. She looked at the still-bleeding wound on her hand and turned pale.
...Her blood attracts ghosts.
Although she successfully returned to the hospital from the mirror world using her blood, she also became the most dangerous bait to attract ghosts.
The monster was extremely fast. Although the doctor reacted quickly and raised his gun to fire, he only managed to hit its afterimage.
Almost in the blink of an eye, it pounced on Yin Xi.
At this critical moment, Yin Xi suddenly felt that her blood-stained key was emitting a scalding heat.
A deep, aged sigh suddenly rang out.
The deformed claws, which were inches away from Yin Xi's eyes, suddenly stopped.
The twisted, blood-red monster stood upright in place, as if it had transformed into a grotesque statue.
The ghost granny is a monster that feeds on emotions.
Contrary to Zhou Fangdong's imagination of a harmless old woman, this ghost was actually extremely dangerous.
When she stops choosing her emotions and chooses to eat without restraint, she will be the nightmare of all ghosts.
Most vengeful ghosts are those who, due to their obsessions in life, are still controlled by various painful emotions after death, thus unable to find release.
The emotions devoured by the old woman are the core power driving the vengeful ghosts to kill. Unless one's strength is overwhelming, low-level ghosts have virtually no ability to resist her and will be drained into empty shells.
Even though the ghost granny didn't physically appear at the scene, her abilities were still not to be underestimated, even though she used a room key as a medium.
Yin Xi realized something and unconsciously gripped the still-hot key hanging around her neck.
With a serious expression, she said to Su Wan and the doctor, "Let's separate for now. My blood attracts ghosts, so I can't go to crowded places with you. Don't worry about me, I can protect myself."
"No, I can't leave you behind!" Su Wan's eyes were full of worry. "Your body is too weak. If you are separated from us and surrounded by ghosts and monsters, you won't be able to escape. Even if you have the ability to protect yourself, you may be worn down to death."
She paused, then continued, "And the landlord might be here soon. He came and resolved the last paranormal event I experienced, even though I wasn't even a tenant in the apartment back then. He'll definitely be here soon this time too."
After saying that, Su Wan seemed to have made up her mind and said to the doctor, "I'm going to stay with Yin Xi. You heard what happened just now, right? The situation is a bit special right now. In order not to affect the other survivors, we won't go with you to the place where the survivors are gathered."
The doctor looked at the blood-red monster, now turned into a statue, with a complex expression, then glanced at the two frail girls and said to them, "The floor plan of the second floor of the hospital is in the left drawer of the filing cabinet next to you. You can take it out and use it if needed."
He didn't insist that they come with him. After all, the girl's ability to attract ghosts was too troublesome, and he had to think about the other survivors... The second floor wasn't just for the doctors from the Bureau of Supervision; there were other patients as well.
*
In the mirror world, the evil god who possesses the body of the priest still stands in the hall where the remains of the ancient god disappeared.
Its face was covered with countless small faces, and its eyes were all closed, as if it were deep in thought.
The evil god is expanding its domain and eroding the real world while observing its remaining followers in the mirror world.
Not long ago, for some unknown reason, the main god went mad and started sending out dungeons to the outskirts of the Heirs of the Bone Society.
Moreover, the location they found was extremely accurate, a precise strike that swept away a large portion of their followers. No one knows how the main god managed to do it.
Because the resurrection ritual was incomplete and the offerings were missing, the evil god that descended prematurely and possessed a human body was like a premature, deformed child with congenital deficiencies, unable to exert most of its power.
In this situation, it dared not confront the main god directly, and could only take all the surviving believers to the mirror world to temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack.
Perhaps because he was now using a human body, the evil god actually felt a bit of a headache.
Perhaps it's because the world's fortunes haven't run their course yet, but it always feels like nothing goes smoothly for it since it began to invade this world.
Not only did it inexplicably become mortal enemies with its original partner, the main god, but yesterday it also watched helplessly as a self-aware clone swept away the remains of an ancient god... This matter truly baffled it; how did that weak clone manage to do it?
The evil god sighed.
What's done is done, there's no use in regretting it now. The priority is to devour more offerings as quickly as possible to grow stronger.
Instead of choosing ordinary citizens as the sacrifice, the evil god chose to target the Bureau of Surveillance.
The choice of sacrifice also has an element of displaced anger... He can't fight the main god now, and he can't find that strange clone, but can't he still report it to the Bureau of Surveillance?
Moreover, the reason why its followers are so impatient and summon it before the ritual is fully prepared is also due to the continuous pursuit and suppression by the Bureau of Supervision.
A mere human force dares to confront it head-on; today it will show these humans what the wrath of the gods is.
*
Zhou Fangdong is discussing with the system how to deal with the evil god's domain, and has brought back his two tenants from the Supervisory Bureau Hospital.
Through the [Linjiang City Map], he learned that Yin Xi and Su Wan were currently in the Supervision Bureau Hospital, and that this was also the hospital being invaded by the evil god's domain.
Zhou Fangdong had just used his slime body to check out the mirror world and found that the evil god was still there. Since his slime body was no match for the evil god, he retreated back to his apartment.
The system suggested in a cold, emotionless electronic voice:
The most effective way to stop the spread of the evil god's domain is to preemptively invade the Inspection Bureau Hospital before the evil god does.
[As long as the Inspection Bureau Hospital becomes a facility near the apartment, the power of the evil god will be unable to infiltrate the hospital.]
Zhou Fangdong sighed.
...If the hostages are killed first, the criminals will be unable to harm them. This line of thinking is indeed sound.
But will Liwan Apartments be made to take the blame for the corruption of the Supervisory Bureau Hospital?
After all this hard-won reputation has been damaged by these actions, it will probably fall again, and the Supervisory Bureau may turn from a friendly force into a hostile one.
Zhou Fangdong had already guessed the news headlines after the incident, which would probably be something like "Shocking! Doomsday is coming, the long-silent Liwan Apartments are revived" and "Why did the famous haunted building, the source of the paranormal event, attack the Supervisory Bureau Hospital?"
No, his spine isn't good; he can't take such a huge blame. We need to find a way to bring the evil god out before this matter is over, so the supervisory bureau knows who the real culprit is.
And the most important thing now is how to erode the hospital.
"System, this is an evil god causing trouble, not a main god instance. We can't use ghost tenants to corrupt it, nor can we use room ghosts. How can I make the hospital a facility near the apartment complex?"
[Dead Zone Invasion, Host, create a crack in the hospital's roof as well. Use Yin energy to corrode it, let the river of blood spread, and turn the hospital into part of the apartment building!]
[The combined renovation points for the apartment and garden have exceeded two thousand; it's time to officially declare war on the evil god!]
Let those who take advantage of others' misfortunes know what regret is!
Although the system's words were very exciting, Zhou Fangdong noticed something from them: "Wait, what do you mean by 'also opening a rift'? System, do you mean the rift opened by the [Dead Zone Invasion] skill is the rift on the top floor of the apartment building?"
The reason why ghosts and monsters roam the world and supernatural events occur frequently, and why the Yin energy in Liwan Apartment is so chaotic, is all because of the crack on the top floor of the apartment.
Now the system is telling him that the source of the world's chaos has become one of his skills?
What exactly is this system? How can someone manage to steal something like this and use it as a skill?
“There’s an even more serious problem… I can’t even leave my apartment, and I can’t use my original skills with the slime body. How am I supposed to jump to the top of the hospital and use [Dead Zone Invasion]?”
Moreover, this skill's effect is in the form of a laser cannon, and the trench in the apartment garden that was plowed out by [Dead Zone Invasion] still hasn't been filled in.
If the hospital fails to be compromised and is instead destroyed... then it would truly become a case of 'choosing to kill the hostages in order to rescue them'.
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