Chapter 54 The Circle (Part Two) You selfish, self-righteous, and clever fool...
To save time, she climbed over the railing twice and quickly reached the first floor. Xia Zhu didn't have time to think carefully; the signs on the wall might be a trap. By the time she considered this floor, she had already rushed out of the stairwell.
The hospital's floors were all similar, so Xia Zhu simply arrived at the same corridor on the first floor. When she saw the scene before her, her heart pounded in her chest, and she couldn't help but gasp for breath.
But she didn't give herself time to react from shock. Her knuckles contracted, she gripped her small sword and rushed forward, blocking the monster's attack for Ying Ya, whose face was already covered in blood.
There's also a Frankenstein's monster on this floor.
But it was several times larger than the one she had already dealt with.
Its body was crammed into the corridor like a lump of rotting flesh, seemingly sucking away all the oxygen. The incandescent light bulb on the ceiling had been mostly destroyed in the previous attack, leaving the light dim. The blood on the floor was indistinguishable from its own.
Xia Zhu glanced quickly at the corner of the wall. The injured Feng Feng was lying in Feng Mian's arms. She noticed Xia Zhu's gaze, and with a little effort, she raised one hand and gave a thumbs up. Although raising the corners of her mouth would aggravate her wound, Feng Feng still showed her a row of teeth. Her smile was forced, but reassuring.
She looked away, and saw the monster, which had been temporarily repelled, was now locked in combat with Ji Wuchou again. Ying Huo, who had followed her downstairs, strolled leisurely out of the stairwell.
"You'll have to help this time, won't you?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Xia Zhu was stunned. She didn't understand why she suddenly said such a seemingly random thing to Ying Huo. Fortunately, the latter didn't seem surprised; instead, he shrugged and continued the conversation.
"I guess so, I'm too weak to even kill a chicken."
Xia Zhu ignored them and leaped to Ji Wuchou's side, standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
"Xiangli..." Ji Wuchou's condition wasn't good either. Her arm might be broken, and her right hand hung limply at her side. In her other hand, she was holding a fire hammer that she didn't know where she got it from. When she saw Xia Zhu, she tried her best to tell her the news that Xiangli had disappeared.
"I know," Xia Zhu quickly replied to Ji Wuchou. "It's alright." She knew that without Xiangli and these unknown officials, they would lack confidence, but there was no time for them to be afraid now. This enormous monster was far more troublesome than the one on the third floor; otherwise, it wouldn't have injured Feng Feng and Ying Ya.
Although she said it was okay, Xia Zhu wasn't really confident. Perhaps it was because she relied too much on her healing ability, so in every battle she charged ahead with a reckless, do-or-die spirit. But this time, if her bones were broken and she lay on the ground, she might never be able to get up again.
The scene was rather tragic, and Xia Zhu stopped imagining it.
The Frankenstein monster was enormous, but its movements were anything but slow. Even its vulnerable back had a giant, rat-like fleshy tail that lashed out from behind its bulging spine. Xia Zhu tried to attack it from both sides, but it slammed her against the wall with a flick of its tail.
A stench rose in her throat, and her lungs tingled with a burning sensation. Xia Zhu had to cough up the blood to allow oxygen to flow smoothly through her trachea. She tried to stand up against the wall, but a sharp pain shot through her shinbones. Human flesh and blood couldn't withstand the torment of these monsters.
"You really enjoy making yourself look like this." Without turning around, Xia Zhu knew who was making sarcastic remarks, but she wasn't sure when Ying Huo had entered the room behind her.
"I told you I'm a weakling, but I do have some brains." He leaned down and approached Xia Zhu, handing her the thing he was holding.
But Xia Zhu only felt a wave of green rushing down on her head, and her eyes flashed to a patch of vines hidden behind the mist.
Before she could even ponder the origin of this aura, her gaze shifted downwards, focusing on Ying Huo's hand.
It is two 500ml bottles of medical alcohol.
Ying Huo's gaze drifted to the left, and Xia Zhu followed his gaze to the chandelier above their heads, which was damaged in the battle and was teetering on the verge of collapse, emitting a crackling sound of electricity.
I see.
She took the alcohol from Ying Huo's hand.
"You're welcome. There's plenty more over there. Take what you need." He patted non-existent dust off his hands, pointed to the room behind him, and prepared to make a clean getaway and find somewhere to hide.
Hurry up! Ji Wuchou's movements slowed down noticeably. Even though the Ji family members had been rigorously trained since childhood, without the support of the power of the celestial force, their bodies quickly reached their limits.
Xia Zhu gritted her teeth and stood up, leaning against the wall.
She carried all the alcohol bottles she could find in the room, weighed them in her hand, aimed at the Stitched Monster's back, and threw them.
The glass bottle shattered, and the alcohol inside spilled out. Although a glass bottle full of alcohol was nothing more than a tickle to the monster, its attention was still drawn to her. It abandoned Ji Wuchou, who was already too weak to fight, and turned to chase after Xia Zhu.
The adrenaline kicked in again, and Xia Zhu couldn't feel the pain of her shattered shinbone. She moved with incredible speed, chasing the Stitched Monster down the corridor.
In her opinion, anything within the human body is comparable to divine power, and what can save her in times of crisis is this human body.
Willpower.
Xia Zhu nodded, quite satisfied with this concise summary, the wind in her ears like flowing water.
While dodging the monster's attacks, he splashed the alcohol in his hand onto it. Because of its highly volatile nature, a sufficient amount would form a layer of alcohol mist around the monster.
With the last bottle of alcohol spilled, the monster was completely enraged. It straightened up and began rampaging through the relatively narrow corridor, a destructive act that was exactly what she wanted.
The rows of chandeliers on the ceiling swayed violently, some even snapping upon impact, hanging in the air by thin wires. The filaments melted, sparks fell like molten iron, and combustion occurred almost instantly.
The stray hairs remaining on the Stitches monster's body and the sticky oil on its skin acted as catalysts for combustion. As the fire raged, the monster screamed in agony amidst the flames.
Xia Zhu squeezed through the gap and joined the others.
"Xiao Feng." She squatted down to check Feng Feng's injuries.
"I'm fine, it's just a slight fracture in this hand." She pointed to her injured hand, which was hanging limply in her arms, and glanced at the monster burning in the fire.
The firelight was reflected in her pupils.
"It's good that you're alright." This position made Xia Zhu feel the injury on her calf more clearly, and she tried her best to keep her voice from trembling.
Fortunately, this is a hospital, with ample medical resources for treating injuries.
Everyone suffered some damage, except for Ying Huo, whose clothes were completely unwrinkled.
"No?" Feng Feng sat on the treatment table, Feng Mian was helping her fix her fractured hand, and she pointed at Ying Huo leaning against the door with her other good finger, looking furious. "Can someone tell me why this bastard is here!"
"Bastard? Are you talking about me?" Ying Huo curled his lips contemptuously, scrutinizing each person in the treatment room with his repulsive gaze before slowly saying, "You think I want to stay here? A bunch of ignorant, lowly people." The last word became ambiguous in his mouth.
His arrogant and condescending tone completely enraged Feng Feng. Ignoring Feng Mian's attempts to stop him, he jumped off the processing table and took three steps to stand in front of Ying Huo, staring fiercely into his eyes.
"Ignorant and lowly? You selfish, self-righteous bastard, what right do you have to talk about others? Don't think I don't know why you follow us into our dreams like a leech. Isn't it because after the doomsday prophecy, everyone in the family thought the chaos of the demon god might have been caused by you, so they're all isolating and ostracizing you? No companions, no support, you have to cling to others like a little dog. Don't you understand? A dog should have the awareness of a dog. You have no right to bark unless the master speaks!"
Feng Feng unleashed a barrage of attacks like cannonballs, catching Ying Huo off guard. As if his secret had been exposed, Ying Huo's face turned pale, and his gray eyes were filled with disbelief.
"you!"
"What do you mean, 'you'? Let me tell you, so what if Shaohao is the God of Wealth? What's so great about having money? Strength is useless here. Look at your puny body, you can't carry anything, you're just a piece of trash! You're not even as good as a random passerby!"
Xia Zhu put down the bandage in her hand, and she and Ji Wuchou treated each other's wounds. The two stood at the door arguing fiercely. She was thinking about whether to stop them, of course, because she was afraid of disturbing other monsters.
Before she could speak, Ying Huo's beautiful eyes suddenly drooped. He leaned against the door with his head down and said something for no apparent reason.
"It's not because of me."
The voice was so soft and faint that even Feng Feng, who was face to face with him, couldn't hear it clearly.
"What?" Feng Feng tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"nothing."
Having gotten her revenge for having her stone stolen last time, Feng Feng returned to the treatment table in a good mood and continued to have her brother bandage her wounds.
Xia Zhu unconsciously looked towards the doorway. From this angle, she could only see Ying Huo's thin chin and pale neck. He was leaning against the doorframe, not close to the people inside, seemingly not part of the room, and also seemingly unwilling to go out.
He was clearly a head taller than Feng Mian, yet he looked like a thin sheet stuck to the ground. Xia Zhu couldn't help but imagine how easily his slender waist could be broken in two by a Frankenstein's monster.
After everyone had treated their injuries and rested for a while, they decided to go out and explore the new map. Before they even left the room, they heard messy footsteps outside the door.
Ying Ya was the person standing closest to the door besides Ying Huo. He was the first to notice the commotion, and then turned around to signal everyone to be quiet.
It sounds like more than one person is approaching this way.
Everyone immediately tensed up and tried to find cover to hide inside the room, but Ying Huo, who was standing by the door, stepped out first.
"This way."
He even waved outside.
"NPC," he explained, turning his head towards the room.
The footsteps approached Xia Zhu and the others hesitantly, and surprisingly, four or five ordinary people appeared at the door.
But this doesn't mean we can let our guard down. Everyone remembers their purpose in entering the dream; the spirit they're looking for might be among this group. After all, it always likes to create a bunch of characters to play this immersive game with it.
After a brief discussion, they learned that this group of people, like them, had woken up in pairs in the ward. Some of their companions had been killed by the monster in the initial darkness due to breathing or movement, so less than half of them survived to go downstairs.
Including the characters who have gloriously sacrificed themselves for the plot, there are a total of 9 groups, 18 people.
"Can...can you get us out of here?" a man asked anxiously, cowering behind his companions.
"Of course, of course! But you have to follow orders!" Feng Feng was happy to play a role-playing game. She walked into the NPC group in a carefree manner, put her arms around the shoulders of the girls in the group, one on each side, and said, "Alright! The first task is to explore the map together!" Then she led the group to push Ying Huo aside and walked out of the room.
Xia Zhu and Ji Wuchou exchanged a glance and followed.
Passing through the corridor and pushing open the fire door, the group arrived at a place resembling a hospital lobby. This area was more spacious and brighter than the others. A solitary information desk stood beneath a large, flickering screen, seemingly due to a faulty circuit, with a few brochures and forms piled on it. Floor-to-ceiling windows lined the lobby, allowing even glaring sunlight to stream in and illuminate the neat rows of blue waiting chairs.
The seats showed varying degrees of wear and tear, making this place resemble a real hospital. Except for the lack of doors for entering and exiting.
Dust particles danced in the sunlight, and the light felt warm against his arm. An inexplicable tranquility permeated the place, but this very tranquility fueled Xia Zhu's fear.
Those frosted glass windows let in as much bright light as possible, but each pane obscured the view outside. She had a bad feeling, a feeling that made her subconsciously move away from the windows. The layout was too deliberate; it was spacious, bright, and transparent, but she couldn't see the outside world clearly, as if they were objects sealed inside a shop window for display.
A giant eye might appear at any moment outside the bright glass, pressed against it, trying to see the details of the exhibits.
Xia Zhu looked down at her bandaged arm, staring blankly at the bow Ji Wuchou had tied for her. She always believed that both her aversion to the glass window and the disappearance of her power were perhaps related to the prophecy at the Nine Heavens Assembly.
As they guessed before entering the dream, perhaps the stronger the spirit, the more severe its influence on the unknown officials. For example, the dream containing the mermaid spirit could cause the unknown officials to mutate through mental torture. Now, this dream, whose details are still unknown, can cause everyone to lose their spiritual power from the very beginning.
Just how far has this dream spirit evolved?
And most importantly, Xia Zhu bent her arm, which would slightly pull open the wound, and the stinging pain would keep her alert.
The stainless steel folding chair, and the instructions on the wall to go down to the first floor to rescue Feng Feng.
Who exactly is guiding Xia Zhu in the shadows?
Perhaps once this is understood, the problem of the demon will be easily solved.
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