Chapter 131 The Years He Was Locked in the Tower at the Bright Sanatorium...
The figure passed in front of the two, and as if sensing something, paused noticeably, glancing sideways at the corner where they were.
Jiang Yang subconsciously held his breath, his whole body tensed up. The next second, Ji Yang's warm palm was firmly placed on his back, gently stroking it with a reassuring power, silently conveying two words, "Don't be afraid."
Fortunately, the footsteps only paused for a moment before they stepped onto the stairs and continued walking towards the second-floor corridor.
Jiang Yang looked up at Ji Yang. At such close range, he saw the faint light reflected in Ji Yang's eyes, and the corner of Ji Yang's eye flickered towards the corridor.
Ji Yang immediately understood, and the arm under the cloak wrapped around his waist. The two intertwined shadows carefully moved towards the second-floor stairwell.
Soon, their footsteps stopped in front of the shattered skull of memories. The door clicked open and closed, and Jiang Yang asked in a low voice, puzzled, "Why is Yue Jiang in the treatment room... my room?"
Should we stop him?
Ji Yang asked in return, his lips almost touching Jiang Yang's ear. Jiang Yang, concerned about Ji Yang's injuries, shook his head from side to side: "Let's see what he's going to do."
A moment later, the door to the shattered skull of memories opened again, and Yuejiang walked out. He appeared normal on the outside. Without stopping, he went straight down the stairs, and once on the first floor, he went deeper into the basement with a clear purpose.
Jiang Yang and Ji Yang exchanged a glance. Since they were going to the archives on the second basement level anyway, they followed them at a distance.
"Speaking of which, how did Xie Lu's cloak end up with you?"
Ji Yang carefully led Jiang Yang down the steps: "Before the trial in Blackrock City closed, I met him alone once. He gave it to me."
This can be considered a farewell to Xie Lu.
On the first day of the new year, the castle's spires disappeared into the leaden-gray clouds, and snowflakes fell densely, covering the ruined outline of Blackstone City.
Ji Yang drew back the heavy curtains and opened the window. A biting chill rushed in. Through the snow-blurred vision, Xie Lu was standing on the railing of the main building's top floor, diagonally opposite. Snowflakes covered his shoulders, almost blending into his silver wolf tail, as if he had been standing there for a long time.
"Blackrock City hasn't had this much snow in a long time."
Ji Yang walked around the winding corridors inside the castle for quite a while before finally reaching Xie Lu. Xie Lu turned to look at him, his eyes reflecting the swirling snowflakes, and his voice was flat.
"It rarely snows in unclaimed lands."
His breath condensed into white mist in the air. Ji Yang raised his hand and caught a snowflake, watching it turn into a water droplet in his palm.
From as far back as he could remember, he had been in the No Man's Land, a place where most of the time there was only eternal yellow sand and a blood moon.
Only during the years he was imprisoned at the top of the tower, through the changing seasons, did he count the winters year after year through the iron bars above his head.
He didn't know where he came from or where he would eventually go. Now that Xie Lu and Nan Ke had chosen to stay in Blackrock City, it seemed that his only remaining ties were the guild and Jiang Yang.
so...
"cannot."
Xie Lu interrupted his unspoken request: "The nature of vampires will not allow them to accept humans. I'm sorry, Blackrock City cannot be your way out."
Ji Yang's knuckles turned white from gripping the cold, icy railing. After a long while, he said, "Just protect Jiang Yang for me."
Snowflakes fell silently between the two of them. Xie Lu agreed, "Okay, I will do my best."
"Happy New Year."
Of course, Ji Yang wouldn't tell Jiang Yang these things yet.
Yuejiang's destination was also the archives. They followed him all the way to the entrance of the archives, only to see Yuejiang stop in front of the door and turn in their direction.
"Come out."
Demons are particularly sensitive to the scent of vampires, but Xie Lu is no longer in the No Man's Land.
Ji Yang tucked in his cloak and led Jiang Yang out of the shadows.
Yuejiang glanced at their intertwined hands, took out the key to the archives from her pocket, and inserted it into the lock.
As the key turned, Yuejiang raised her chin at Jiang Yang: "I'll give you ten minutes."
Jiang Yang stepped forward and asked, "Should we continue burning it?"
“Hmm,” Yuejiang turned the key and explained, “Don’t worry, Munashe knows.”
"real?"
"I'm not lying to you."
Yuejiang did indeed go to see Munashe before the evening activities began.
The door to the dean's office was ajar. When he pushed it open, Mu Nashe was standing with his back to him in front of the desk, his shirt pulled down to his waist, revealing his entire back, and the hideous burns on his forearms and lower back were still oozing blood.
He slammed the door shut behind him and leaned against it: "How did you get hurt?"
Munashe didn't turn around, but directly poured disinfectant alcohol onto the wound, his movements slightly hesitant due to the pain: "A little accident."
Yuejiang stepped forward, took the medicine from Munashe's hand, and touched the pale skin with her fingertips, clearly feeling Munashe tremble.
"The trial at the sanatorium has been going on for so long, and they still don't know how to trick a doctor into letting them stay."
Munashe pressed his palms against the desk, his upper body slumping slightly as he endured the discomfort: "Staying here will create ties, so it's better to just bear with it."
In the No Man's Land, forming ties with anyone is the worst thing, so Munashe is indifferent. But this indifference often carries a sense of compassion, leaving him in a dilemma, unable to advance or retreat. It would be better to end it from the beginning.
Yuejiang didn't speak, silently applying medicine to his wounds until all the wounds were treated before she spoke: "I need to obtain the authority to open the Brightness Sanatorium."
Munashe picked up gauze and wrapped it around the wound: "Are you informing me, or are you discussing this with me?"
He knew he was powerless to stop Yuejiang from burning down the archives.
Yuejiang went into the inner lounge and came out with a clean shirt: "Will you be affected if I burn down the archives?"
After all, Munasher is inextricably linked to the sanatorium.
Mu Nashe let out a barely audible sigh: "Wu Yibai won't be so kind as to let you get access so easily."
Yuejiang draped the shirt over Munashe's shoulders: "I only want to protect you and Jiang Yang."
Munashe raised his hand, his wound making his movements less composed than usual. Yuejiang leaned down and let the hand gently pat his cheek.
“And what about you?” Munashe asked. “If you, like me, remain in judgment forever.”
Yuejiang pressed her palm against Mu Nashe's again: "If it weren't for you and Jiang Yang back then, I would be dead now, so I don't care now."
"Yuejiang, just find yourself again."
Yuejiang remained adamant and pressed on, asking, "Won't you be in danger if I burn down the archives?"
Munashe withdrew his hand and slowly put on his shirt: "Since you've come to me, to be honest, whether the authority is in my hands or in yours, there's no difference."
His words revealed his complete trust in Yuejiang; Yuejiang's arrival demonstrated his stance.
"Then you..." Yuejiang bent down to button Mu Nashe's clothes, asking seemingly casually, "When are you going back?"
"Let's wait a little longer."
...After announcing the death of number 3, Munasher's gaze slowly swept across the faces of the caregivers.
After the Ace of Clubs was played on the 10th, a caregiver immediately followed up with the 3 of Spades.
It's just a matter of who will be their next target.
His gaze pierced through the window into the deep darkness of the Brightness Sanatorium, where the leaves of the old camphor tree rustled in the wind. He continued his narration.
“There used to be a special ward area here called the Silent Area, which housed 14 patients.”
Chang Chuang handed over a red 8.
Ma Liang handed over a red heart 6.
With the game temporarily safe, the players began to actively use up the cards in their hands.
"They never speak, and the doctors believe they have a rare form of aphasia."
"One night, the nurse on duty noticed during rounds that the number of patients in the quiet area was decreasing by a few every hour."
As soon as Munashe finished speaking, a caregiver stepped forward and handed him an Ace of Spades.
"At 8 p.m., there were 11 people left in the ward."
Number 10 passes out a 6 of diamonds.
There was still no danger, but the rhythm of playing cards paused subtly at this moment.
The "caregiver" primarily plays spades, while players, aside from hearts and clubs, are cautiously avoiding high-risk card combinations like diamonds and spades for the time being.
The problem is that, apart from Ma Liang holding the 2 of spades, the rest of the players on the field are all in the hands of Jiang Yang, Huang Er, and Huang Si, who are absent.
With no one taking the card, the game reached a stalemate.
Munashe roughly calculated the remaining cards on the field, and decided not to draw any more cards. With a slight thought, a caregiver stood up.
This is an NPC within the sanatorium itself, and has no connection to the Judge; it is entirely under his control.
In fact, the cards that were replenished for the players on the first night were also the pre-paid share of the caregivers, who were originally supposed to participate in the evening activities two days later.
It's 11 o'clock yet.
Even the cowardly number 6 shrank back and shrank out, clutching a Jack of Hearts in his hand.
However, just as number 6 was about to approach Munashe, a caregiver suddenly rushed out from the side, nearly knocking number 6 down. The caregiver quickly and forcefully handed the Jack of Spades to Munashe.
Munashe's white-gloved hand hovered in mid-air, his gaze sweeping indifferently over number 6, who was frozen in place in fright.
"Caregivers" may not necessarily choose players with strong abilities; those weak souls who are easily manipulated are also their targets.
The rules don't explicitly state what happens when two people pass cards at the same time, but this "caregiver" was clearly targeting player number 6, especially since it was a Jack of Spades.
He gave a cold look: "First come, first served."
The caregiver reluctantly withdrew her hand, but did not retreat an inch, staring intently at Number 6, her eyes filled with an undisguised desire and greed.
Number 6 felt his entire soul trembling with fear. He shrank his neck and trembled as he handed the red Jack of Hearts to Munashe, not daring to look at it for long before turning and running away.
The "caregiver" immediately followed, a fierce glint in his eyes.
Munashe lazily lifted his eyelids, showing no reaction, except for impatiently tapping his knuckles on the table twice.
However, not long after, a shrill scream came from the direction where No. 6 had left; it was the "caregiver".
Munashe curled his lips into a sneer, inwardly muttering, "Fool."
The red heart symbolizes a cursed fate, and the Silent Zone is full of those who vanish into thin air.
Since someone is determined to be clever and walk right into the line of fire, he is naturally happy to see it happen.
If you aspire to be the hunter, you must be prepared to become someone else's prey.
...
The fire spread, and the blaze burned the archives room to the ground, leaving nothing behind.
[With the decentralization of trial authority, the management of Guangming Sanatorium will have its authority upgraded to Level A, effective immediately.]
The cold, impersonal system pronouncement was like a final verdict; in the instant of the power shift, the dormant demonic power awakened.
A tremendous power erupted from Yuejiang, and a dark aura spread rapidly like a surging tide, instantly enveloping the entire sanatorium.
Every movement was under Yuejiang's perception; there was nowhere for him to hide.
Yuejiang looked at Jiang Yang: "Let's go to the treatment room."
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