Chapter 239: Mist
Having been stepped on, Old Sao was not feeling great, but he didn’t dare to show any dissatisfaction. He lay on the ground and cautiously observed the corridor. He had heard many rumours about the investigation centre online, but after he interacted with them in person, he realised the online rumours were too conservative.
From the man’s attitude, it was clear that the investigation centre didn’t treat normal citizens like them as human beings. These members were arrogant and conceited.
“No wonder no one likes them.”
Old Sao had no idea that the man assumed they were horror game players, and he had no idea the people before him were special units from the investigation centre. “One day, when I can stand on my own, I’ll make you pay for this.”
Old Sao grumbled internally as he considered what to do.
In the dark corridor, the ghost tattoo on the long-haired man’s neck rippled like water. His pale fingers opened like lotuses. The ghost eye embedded in his palm blinked. The eyes focused on the kid with the gaming helmet. The man walked confidently forward without drawing his blade. Instead, it was the kid who started to tremble. It was like something was wrestling control of his body, so he couldn’t move. With his thumb on the hilt, a black mist wafted out of the man’s body. The ghost tattoo reconstructed behind him to form a giant figure of a ghost. They were similar to the figurines Granny Shen had in her room at Si Sui Apartment, but the man’s figures had all been infiltrated by black mist.
“Why did you stop moving?” Before night arrived, the man suddenly picked up speed. He stepped on the tiles and slashed!
The kid was very fast, but the man’s blade was faster. When the kid reacted, his mutated hands were already on the ground. After the hand-sickles separated from the kid, they returned to normal hands. As the tears fell, fear and pain caused the child to lose all will to fight. He landed on the ground with four limbs and crawled away, leaving behind two bright trails of blood. The man didn’t give chase. He picked up the kid’s hands and placed them above his wrist. The ghost tattoos were like piranhas that smelled blood. The fingers grabbed the mutated flesh. The man closed his eyes. The process of absorption was painful. No matter how many times he did it, he couldn’t get used to it.
“What a pure taste. The source of the mutation here should be quite high level.” The man walked back to the lobby. Old Sao quickly moved his eyes away. He noticed that all the other patients were gone. There were only pools of blood.
“Are you afraid?” The man knelt down so that his ghost eyes could take a good look at Old Sao, “We’re security members from Han Hai Investigation Centre Headquarters. I’m team leader K.”“I’m not the horror game player you’re looking for. My brother’s mother is sick. We’re here to get her medicine.” The excuse was used again. Old Sao was telling the truth.
“Give me your phone.” The man seemed to know how the horror game players contacted each other. Hearing that, Old Sao’s face paled. When he was inside the hospital, he said a lot of bad things about the centre online to get people to come to the hospital to help them.
“You got the wrong people.” The security team didn’t give him the chance to explain. They searched his body and took away his phone. They forced him to give them the password. K was disappointed they were not horror game players. “We seem to have come early. Those players will only move at night.” The other security members stopped harassing the university students. For them, Old Sao’s group was not more important than a group of stray kittens.
“We received the order to come here to investigate Situ An’s treasure and the horror game players. The appearance of the anomaly has to be connected to the players. What did you experience so far?” To prove his value, Old Sao told K everything, including the different wards and functions.
Since Old Sao didn’t mention Su Mo, Lee Ding had to cut in, “We have a friend who is missing. He should be taken away by the monster whose head was dragging on the ground.” Lee Ding was closest to Su Mo, but he had no idea Su Mo was the horror game player the security team was looking for.
“Team 9 will stay on the first floor. The horror game players might infiltrate this place after dark. You’ll guard the entrance. Anyone who tries anything will be killed, be it humans or ghosts.” K told Lee Ding to lead the way, “Team 7 will follow me. We have to find the source of the mutation before dark.”
…
On the fourth floor of the front building, inside a tool storage room beside an operating room, there was a male patient about 2 metres tall squatting before Xuan Wen. His name was Da Bo. His body was sewn together with different parts. His left hand carried a chopper, and his right hand was bulbous and had hardened into a giant meatball. In contrast, he had a head of a cute four-year-old boy. His intellect paused at that age too.
This patient was the new patient the insomniac introduced to Xuan Wen. Xuan Wen didn’t have any good method but to teach the Da Bo gently and patiently.
When she finally got the kid to calm down, the storage room door suddenly opened. A child with a gaming helmet ran in. He was so scared as he waved his chopped arms around. The kid seemed to be friends with Da Bo. He wanted to get Da Bo’s help to seek revenge, but he didn’t expect someone else to be with Da Bo.
“It looks like someone cut your arms off. Is there a ghost who knows how to use knives here?” Xuan Wen noticed something was off. The boy’s wound was bleeding black mist. The curse was different from the one at the hospital.
“It’s a human. I want to store them in my cans!” The child was just frightened, but he quickly opened up to Xuan Wen. This might be related to Xuan Wen’s profession.
“A human?” This couldn’t be the work of a horror game player. Xuan Wen nodded and looked at the kid kindly, “I’ll help you deal with the people who bully you, and you’ll follow my orders in the future. What do you think?”
The kid wanted to reject her instantly. He was there to find his friend. However, before he could say anything, Xuan Wen added gently, “If you say no, I’ll stuff you into your cans now.”
Standing among the three patients, Xuan Wen was more like a patient. Poor Su Mo. He wanted to apologise to the kid on Xuan Wen’s behalf.