Published at 4th of July 2018 06:06:52 AM
Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The First People’s Hospital of X City (VII)
Another victim .
By the time QiLeren came back to himself, he was already standing in a hallway nearby the OB-GYN block, soaked through with cold sweat .
“QiLeren?” The head of a silhouette poked out from a doorway, astonished to see that he was still alive . “You’re still alive?!”
“I’m beginning to think that you do this on purpose,” QiLeren said dryly . Seeing Dr Lu’s lively (alive) demeanour grounded QiLeren somewhat .
Dr Lu ran out of the room and gave him a once-over . “You okay?”
“Yeah…” QiLeren looked down at himself . There were no bloodstains on his clothes and his sleeve, previously severed by the chainsaw along with his arm, had been fixed after reading a save – basically, his S/L skill had restored him to his body at the save point perfectly, erasing any evidence of the horrific nightmare he had been through . Mere minutes may have passed, but the encounter seemed lifetimes away .
Dr Lu shot him a perplexed look . “What about the serial killer? Did you kill him?”
“…Unfortunately not, I was lucky and managed to get away,” QiLeren brought a hand to his forehead, deciding to tell Dr Lu about his skill card after some hesitation, “I actually have a skill card that lets me load saves . It saved my life . ”
“Let’s continue this inside, it’s not safe out in the hallway,” Dr Lu interrupted, dragging QiLeren into the room behind him .
XueYingying, lying on a hospital bed and looking a bit weak but spirited nonetheless, lit up at the sight of the two . “Are you okay, Leren? Dr Lu said you ran into the murderer – we were both worried to death!”
A corner of QiLeren’s lips pulled up into a wry smile before he recounted his encounter, not leaving out the bits about his skill card . The near-death experience had changed QiLeren’s mindset; trusting others may not be such a bad decision after all . It was the three of them, all normal human beings, against a bloodthirsty serial killer – nothing short of a miracle was going to get them out of this one .
“I… I actually got a skill card just now,” XueYingying mumbled after QiLeren finished .
Dr Lu gave her a quick glimpse before offering guiltily, “Actually, I…”
“…” So basically everyone had one .
XueYingying generously held her card out for the two to see:
[Bloodstained Youth] (Binding skill card): Grants the holder bursts of explosive strength when in pain from blood loss . Go forth and awaken your inner berserker – after all, nothing stands a chance against the power of youth!
“I got it as the reward of an achievement after my abortion,” XueYingying said, sliding the card back into her belt . “It’s thanks to this that I feel a lot less weak now . ”
This was definitely a skill made to mock the myriads of young adult literatures chock-full of unplanned pregnancies and painful miscarriages…but it sure was useful here, QiLeren thought . God knows how many times better than Law of S/L this skill was . Getting raw power from shedding blood was too broken, did game balance even exist anymore?
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Was it really okay to make a girl who had recently undergone an abortion tank for them though…?
“My skill’s pretty boring – it just makes me lucky when activated… It might be because I’ve always been lucky, all the way since I was a kid . Maybe it’s a reward for that?” Dr Lu said .
“Let me guess,” QiLeren said, annoyed, “do you always win lotteries, draw SSR cards in gacha games with a single summon and pick up money off the side of the road?”
“…Not exactly . I’m pretty sure karma’s a thing, so I don’t buy lottery tickets that often, but you’re right about drawing SSR cards in gacha games . ”
As someone who had been plagued by misfortune for almost his entire life, QiLeren could do nothing but fall silent .
After much discussion, the three decided to take a risk and head out . Their situation was only going to get worse with the approaching nightfall if they don’t find food and a way to kill ghosts within the hour .
“If you think about it, the murderer’s just one person in this two-block building! It’s not that likely we’ll bump into him, right?” XueYingying reasoned optimistically . She was truly a brave soul with nerves of steel; QiLeren’s impression of her had changed drastically from the young girl threatening her boyfriend on the bus after a bad break-up to someone capable of staying in a room where they fought off a ghost .
Unfortunately, her words offered no reassurance to QiLeren . His mouth twitched, opting to stay quiet .
“We should be fine – I activated my skill right after we ran into the murderer, so it’s theoretically, as you said, pretty unlikely for us to run into him with my skill active . There’s still seventy-five minutes left, but after that it’ll be on cooldown for three hours,” Dr Lu said .
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QiLeren and XueYingying both let out a breath of relief at Dr Lu’s words, the three disembarking on their quest without too much anxiety .
XueYingying was still a little weak, but she didn’t have any trouble walking normally and suggested that perhaps it’d be best if they were to look for food first . The other two shifted in mild shame – they had wanted to find food after getting weapons as well, but the appearance of the murderer may have thrown a wrench into that plan . Getting food was quite possibly the last thing on their minds .
“What do you think that stuff outside the window is?” XueYingying murmured in the silence .
“You see this kind of fog quite frequently in horror movies,” Dr Lu began in confidence . “First of all, it helps to create an oppressive atmosphere, and second of all…ah, it can be used to hide monsters . Using it to separate the real world from the one inside the fog is also pretty common . ”
The three swept through all the nearby offices, finding a surprising amount of snacks . XueYingying gained some well-deserved colour back into her complexion after downing a cup of water-dissolved brown sugar . The outpatient section was big and empty with deathly stillness that gave off a feeling of unease to all its occupants; it was as though unpleasant scenarios lurked around every corner, waiting for them to stumble upon .
As the trio approached a fork in their path, Dr Lu felt an icy chill run up his back, opening the floodgates to a myriad of hair-raising emotions . “I feel like there’s something off about that path . Quick, come over here,” he hissed in hushed tones, waving the others over . Almost immediately after they turned the corner, the heavy thudding of familiar footsteps approached .
There was no doubt as to who these footsteps belonged to .
They anxiously held their breath, waiting until the murderer passed by and vanished out their peripheral vision before carefully stepping out into the open . There were a few inconspicuous drops of blood on the floor that weren’t there before – another victim? Or was it the one from before?
“Jesus, what the hell is up with this game? You can’t just have a floor boss spawn randomly all over the map!” Dr Lu griped quietly .
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QiLeren nodded in fervent agreement; the worst part about this was that the boss wasn’t even an NPC mob – it was a bloody player character! Where was the humanity?
XueYingying pointed at the way the murderer had come from . “C’mon, he passed us over so this way should be safe now . ”
It wasn’t long before they discovered the mangled corpse of the previous victim . A bloodied “6” was smeared next to it – this was the sixth victim .
XueYingying averted her eyes out of disgust, but Dr Lu pressed on in spite of the pungent smell of copper in the air to examine the body, frowning . “Female of roughly thirty years old, cause of death is blood loss from the rupture of a major artery in the neck area, likely inflicted through brutal means . Time of death should be within a few minutes prior to our arrival, accounting for the fact that her corpse is still warm . A number has been written by the culprit on the wall beside her – classic serial murder scenario . ”
“You do forensics too?” XueYingying asked, swallowing down her nausea .
“I’m just a physician who specialises in internal medicine and loves horror movies,” Dr Lu corrected .
Seeing no further information to be gathered from the corpse, the trio followed the trail of blood up to the rooftop . QiLeren was worried about the rooftop being shrouded in thick fog as well since it was technically outdoors, but his fears were evidently unfounded – the fog here existed only in fine wisps, as if thinned out by an invisible barrier .
Not far from their position was a corpse, lying on the ground, and at it a figure crouched with his back to them . He stood up cautiously at the commotion, revealing a face that would elicit a gasp of surprise from even those of the same gender .
XueYingying’s unrestrained “wow” and subsequent harsh swallowing reached QiLeren’s ears with resounding clarity .