It approached closer and closer, clearly targeting Shen Lin, while the surrounding black mist seemed restless.
Holding his breath, Shen Lin didn’t know what this thing was. His memory was blank, and he could only speculate based on the information he received during the day – it was the thing he would encounter only at night.
The black mist spread over, gradually enveloping Shen Lin. The dense fog carried a strong oppressive force, making Shen Lin unable to move.
He tried to break free, but the black mist, like tentacles, coldly and flexibly wrapped around his limbs, suspending him. His body became stiff, and the sticky sensation penetrating into the joints, combined with the cold, completely immobilized him.
The mist climbed up his neck, forcing him to lift his head directly into the black mist.
A black beak extended slowly and approached Shen Lin. In the extremely close moment, it stabbed forcefully into his forehead.
Being so close, he could clearly see its appearance, almost identical to the one drawn by Xia He. It looked like a fusion of a wasp and a lizard, with its entire back covered in thick fur, protruding eyes resembling a fly’s compound eyes.
As the sharp beak stabbed in, Shen Lin only felt a momentary pain. Afterwards, the pain gradually disappeared, leaving only coldness.
He gazed at the monster in the black mist, and he could feel that the monster was also staring at him. Covered in a chill from head to toe, he sensed a gloomy blue entity wafting out from his forehead.
As it withdrew the thing it had taken, swallowing it with its beak, Shen Lin felt a sudden surge of restored memories. He now clearly remembered what had happened and realized the current situation.
As the black mist released him, Shen Lin grabbed the creature’s arm from the darkness. Contrary to his expectation, the arm hanging in front of his body was not rigid; rather, it was extremely soft.
KP: “…What are you trying to do again?!”
Ignoring KP, Shen Lin grabbed the creature’s arm and said, “I want to see it more clearly. There’s no way to capture it. How about trying my luck? See if it suddenly loses its resistance.”
KP: “Dream on. Nothing works.”
The creature emanated black mist, pressing Shen Lin to the ground. His face was tightly pressed against the ground, but he stared firmly at the creature. At that moment, two bee-like creatures separated from the mist and lunged towards him.
KP: “In this emotionless combat round, do you have any weapons on you, Shen Lin?”
Shen Lin: “A surgical knife.”
“Alright, attack damage 1d4. Wait a moment, are you 80 strength and 75 size? Amazing! A combat-oriented doctor with a +1d4 bonus.”
At this moment, Yan Xiu rushed in from outside.
KP: “…Didn’t you fail at navigating? How did you find your way here? Are you trying to mess with my mentality?!”
Yan Xiu said: “I want to join the fight.”
KP, feeling frustrated, said: “Monster attacks first, Yan Xiu comes a step later, and finally, the attack.”
Two bee-like creatures attacked Yan Xiu consecutively, and Yan Xiu couldn’t dodge, taking two hits and losing 5 points of health.
When it was Shen Lin’s turn to attack, the surgical knife’s close-quarters attack required a brawl throw. He succeeded in the attack, dealing 6 points of damage to one of the bee-like monsters.
Finally, it was Yan Xiu’s turn. He carried a security baton with standard damage of 1d6 and an additional damage bonus of 1d6. He directly electrocuted the one attacked by Shen Lin, and then Shen Lin threw a critical success, adding a bonus damage of 1d6, hitting the vital point of the remaining one, ending the battle.
Shen Lin went to support Yan Xiu. He had several holes from bee stings, and his health was down to 3 points.
After a medical check, Shen Lin restored 4 points of Yan Xiu’s health, bringing it back above the safety line.
Yan Xiu turned to Shen Lin, pulled him into his arms, warm breath brushing against his ear. Shen Lin felt a tingling sensation. Meeting Yan Xiu’s fiery gaze, he realized that Yan Xiu was still in a temporarily crazy state.
Shen Lin told himself not to compete with this crazy person. Just as he was about to push Yan Xiu away, his palm was caught by Yan Xiu, held up, and a bruise was left on his wrist. In the dim light, Shen Lin didn’t notice, but Yan Xiu accurately detected the subtle signs.
His palm was forced to tilt backward, exposing his wrist in the bold and unabashed gaze of that person. The fair skin revealed a faint blue pattern of blood vessels.
Yan Xiu lowered his head and lightly licked the bruise on the wrist.
Shen Lin: “…”
A series of subtle and tingling sensations penetrated from head to toe. Shen Lin shivered, and his ears quickly turned red.
Yan Xiu raised his head, looking at him with dark eyes still overflowing with heat. It was as if, in this vast world, he saw only himself. This made Shen Lin feel as if these eyes had been watching him for a very long time, so long that he couldn’t remember.
…When will this crazy setting come to an end?
Shen Lin couldn’t resist any longer. If he kept being teased like this, he felt he would soon be heading down the wrong path. He had never encountered such a torturous game; it was too much for him.
Avoiding Yan Xiu’s gaze, Shen Lin walked straight out of the room. As usual, he went to the room on the third floor, which was tightly locked, and then to Xu Lu’s ward. These two places were still the same as before. However, this time, the time given to him tonight was longer than the previous two nights. Shen Lin glanced at the twin towers across the street and decided to go there to see if there might be any new discoveries.
He descended the stairs, and suddenly, Yan Xiu spoke from behind: “Those two monsters just now didn’t actually have any intention of attacking you.”
Shen Lin: “?”
Yan Xiu said: “I can feel it, and during the fight just now, they only attacked me.”
Shen Lin remained silent. After a while, he said, “Next time, don’t be so reckless.”
Yan Xiu rubbed Shen Lin’s short hair and rarely showed a smile: “Worried about you.”
Shen Lin pursed his lips, fixed the messy bangs that Yan Xiu had ruffled, and said softly, “It won’t go wrong.”
“Well, that’s good.” Yan Xiu held his hand, gently rubbing the bruise left on his wrist. Shen Lin tilted his head to look at Yan Xiu, who was tall and handsome. His face indeed had the capital to show off a bit.
As the two walked out of the ward building, Yan Xiu’s fanatical emotions suddenly dissipated completely, and his mind calmed down. He still tightly held that soft and dry hand, and the warm touch of his fingertips made Shen Lin unable to resist a sense of attachment.
Yan Xiu continued to hold Shen Lin’s hand without changing his expression, and a sense of satisfaction surged from the bottom of his heart, as if he had finally fulfilled a long-cherished wish.
The two walked through the overgrown backyard. It was even more chaotic than the scene seen during the day, with branches sprawling and growing wildly.
In a dense thicket of trees, they finally reached the entrance of the building.
Surprisingly, this time the downstairs door was not locked. The entrance was severely damaged, with scattered rocks and broken bricks all over the ground.
KP said: “Roll for a Listen check.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice, and the Listen check succeeded. He heard some sound coming from inside the building, sobbing sounds, longer than crying sounds, occasionally mixed with a few short and crisp noises.
Shen Lin said: “I’ll roll for a Music check.”
KP: “…Why are you playing music again?”
Shen Lin: “Oh, just thought it looked pleasing.”
Shen Lin rolled a 30 for the Music check, succeeding.
He quickly recognized the melody of the sound. The source was a flute. The melody fluctuated, seemingly following a pattern. He wanted to listen more carefully, but the music disappeared in an instant, the lingering notes dispersing in the dark and silent corridor.
Shen Lin entered the building.
The layout and furnishings of this building were exactly the same as the previous one, but it looked much more dilapidated, an old building abandoned for a long time. The walls were dark gray, showing traces of a fire.
The stairs were damaged, handrails were loose, and steel bars protruded sharply from the broken cement board. Carelessly stepping into the air could result in these sharp objects piercing through one’s chest.
Shen Lin ascended the stairs. KP said: “Going upstairs, right? Roll for luck.”
Shen Lin stopped, turned to look at Yan Xiu, and said, “You better not come. Your luck, I’m afraid you’ll step on air and lose your life while you’re still crazy.”
Yan Xiu stood in the hall, half of his body not in the shadows, staring at Shen Lin coldly and silently.
Shen Lin felt guilty under those eyes, avoiding them, sighing, and realizing that Yan Xiu was still trapped in madness. Many emotions were beyond his control. Shen Lin endured patiently, adopting a caring attitude toward the crazy child, saying, “I don’t want to leave you here. Wait for me here; I’ll be right back…” As he spoke, Shen Lin suddenly laughed, recalling a middle school text, so he said earnestly, “You just stand here, don’t move.”
Yan Xiu raised an eyebrow at him, with a bit of mockery in his eyes, saying, “What if I can’t buy oranges?”
Shen Lin’s smile froze: “When did you recover?”
Yan Xiu lied, “Just now, when you went to buy oranges.”
Shen Lin: “Oh.”
Shen Lin let go of Yan Xiu’s hand. Yan Xiu gestured with his finger, and Shen Lin gave him a sidelong glance, withdrawing his hand.
He rolled for luck and successfully went upstairs.
Yan Xiu didn’t follow. He figured he probably wouldn’t be lucky, so he turned away interestingly, heading in the direction he was interested in.
He walked out of the door and went straight to the side of the building. It was desolate there, with traces of burning on the ground. He looked up at the side of the building, where there were large scorched marks.
He stood for a while, suddenly turned around and walked towards a big tree.
“Wait,” KP panicked, “What are you doing?”
Yan Xiu ignored him, crouched down at the edge of the tree, and dug with the police baton in his hand. Soon, he dug a deep pit and skillfully found a box inside.
KP: “…”
The box was locked. Yan Xiu attempted to pick the lock but failed. He nonchalantly picked up the box.
KP watched helplessly as he dug up the clues he had buried, and sadly concluded: “You’re also a bug.”
