Capítulo 9: Chapter 9: Exploring the 1st Ward (Major Chapter)
A puzzle that only I can solve? Maybe it's related to the Doomsday Puzzle pieces... Bai Wu became interested.
The clues he saw before returning to High Tower last time were torturous for someone who played games and pursued complete collection save files.
Although he didn't think Wu Jiu could kill all the Evil Fallen in the area this time, he could at least find the puzzle pieces.
"Looks like a hospital, Ninth Psychiatric Hospital... What a strange name. Should we go in and have a look?" Wang Shi said.
"There are quite a few Evil Fallen inside... I'm a little scared," Shang Xiaoyi said, trembling and looking terrified.
Bai Wu glanced at Shang Xiaoyi, who appeared to be frightened, but his wristwatch showed no fluctuation... the man was still an acting emperor.
Wu Jiu looked around:
"The temperature is quite comfortable, around forty-six degrees. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a rapid change."
Hmm, for these freaks, calling forty-six degrees comfortable is no problem.
"There's no Blue Line Grass or ores around. It must be close to an urban area," Yin Shuang said.
"Let's go inside and take a look. This kind of scene is usually found only in blue areas," Wang Shi said eagerly.
White teleportation gates, most of the time, send humans to areas rich in ores and Blue Line Grass.
Blue areas are likely to transport one to some street in the city, or to a cruise ship, amusement park, hospital, factory, and other places crowded with people.
As Wang Shi was about to push open the rusty iron gate covered with dust, Bai Wu whispered:
"Be gentle with it."
"Tch, such a coward. If you're scared, you can go back now. Don't attract the Evil Fallen and drag us down," Lin Wurou said disdainfully.
Bai Wu ignored Lin Wurou. Based on past experiences, he knew that snapping back often led to excessive negative emotions in others, so he chose not to retort.
In the end, it was Wu Jiu who pushed the iron gate gently.
"Four medical buildings, each about nineteen storeys tall. This isn't a low-grade hospital, but oddly enough, its location is rather remote. It seems... this hospital already had some irregularities before the anomalies occurred."
Now Bai Wu knew that seven hundred years ago, people had entered High Tower due to world anomalies. But the cause of the anomalies remained unknown.
"Four buildings. Which one should we explore first?" Wang Shi asked.
The group was now just ten meters away from medical building one.
Bai Wu's gaze swept over the entrance of this building.
[The most normal area of the Ninth Psychiatric Hospital, where leaders conducted inspections and crowds frequented, was mostly this building. If they wanted to go to the second building, they'd have to go to the nineteenth floor and cross via the aerial corridor, which, of course, was quite troublesome. But don't assume that only the protagonists in horror movies are prone to courting death, in reality, such people are everywhere.]
Was it necessary to go to the aerial corridor on the nineteenth floor to enter the second building? What kind of ridiculous design is this?
Any design that defies logic must have a reason. Bai Wu roughly guessed that perhaps the owner of the hospital did not want people to go to the second building.
"We can only enter from the first building. It seems like there are four, but in fact, there's only one entrance," Bai Wu said.
Everyone looked and indeed found that, of the huge complex, only the first building had an entrance on the ground floor.
Wu Jiu was surprised at Bai Wu's speed of observation, while Lin merely scoffed coldly.
Yin Shuang observed the surroundings with an expressionless face.
Shang Xiaoyi's hands trembled slightly, his lips involuntarily curling into a somewhat psychopathic smile, but he was desperately trying to control it:
"Cap... captain, there are seven Evil Fallen in this building, so scary..."
Bai Wu held back the urge to make a sarcastic remark, as Shang Xiaoyi clearly appeared to be suppressing his excitement.
Wang Shi opened the glass door of the medical building.
The scene inside the medical building was too chaotic to be described by mere messiness. Patient records were scattered all over the floor.
On the walls at the registration area, there were bloodstains, and on some walls, there were also bizarre blood-red patterns.
What made Bai Wu curious was that these bloodstains and patterns looked quite fresh, and he looked at them.
[What are you looking at? Do I have a mental illness? Do you have a mental illness? Since neither of us does, on what basis do you think I can decipher what these unintelligible symbols are? However, I can tell you that these bloodstains and scattered patient records were made two days ago.]
Made two days ago? Is it meant to cover up or to guide? Current clues are insufficient to draw conclusions; I need to continue exploring.
The building's structure wasn't complex; a long, deep hallway stretched out directly ahead, with various diagnosis and rest rooms on both sides.
The staircase was at the end of the corridor, and the elevator entrance at the beginning, right next to the admissions office, with the registration desk adjacent to it.
In just a few seconds, Bai Wu had roughly deduced the layout of each floor.
There were many rooms in this building. If they were to search every room on every floor, the workload would be too overwhelming for the six of them.
Moreover, what kind of hospital would need four nineteen-story medical buildings built in succession? And why don't the other buildings have entrances on the first floor?
Bai Wu had a hypothesis.
This hospital... might be a hospital on the surface, but in reality, it was used to detain certain things.
"Which way should we go?" Wang Shi asked.
Although he was at the very front, the brains of the team were still Wu Jiu.
Wu Jiu looked directly at Bai Wu:
"What do you think?"
"There are many rooms in this building. If we search them one by one, we might find some information you need. But the deepest secrets are in the fourth building," Bai Wu said.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Wu Jiu asked.
"I'll explain only once, next time please just trust my word," Bai Wu responded.
Yin Shuang unexpectedly discovered that Bai Wu was actually a bit domineering.
Wu Jiu didn't care, while Shang Xiaoyi's attention was on the elevator entrance, where he heard a certain sound.
Bai Wu's gaze turned to the elevator entrance and said:
"As everyone noticed just now, among the four buildings, this first one has an entrance. Imagine a normal hospital, which would inevitably have various emergency exits and the most convenient traffic routes. If a patient in the fourth building needed emergency care, they would have to travel from the ground floor to the nineteenth floor, passing through the third and second buildings, to get to the first one, and finally from the nineteenth floor of the first building to a certain level."
"This would have to be when the elevators are free and the hospital is not busy. If there are many patients, and it is necessary to transfer nurses from the other buildings, moving from the fourth to the first one would become even more cumbersome."
"In this time, even someone with decision paralysis could select their reincarnation. Logically speaking, the structure here is very much like a prison. There is only one main escape route for the prisoners, which can be easily controlled. And since it's a prison, the deepest part would inevitably be the fourth building."
Bai Wu then digressed:
"I've always been curious, if the world outside the tower had been uninhabited for seven hundred years, logically, these city ruins and hospitals should have collapsed and been destroyed long ago, but why do some facilities still function normally?"
The number seventeen suddenly lit up above the elevator door, as they had encountered with the fire hydrant before.
A few seconds later, the number changed to sixteen.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
...
The elevator stopped at the eleventh floor for about twenty seconds, then continued downward.
"Unclear, we've also been to some areas before, like amusement parks, where you'd find the haunted house props popping out from time to time, and the Ferris wheel turning on its own. The rules outside the tower are very strange... What changes is not only space," Wu Jiu explained.
Bai Wu nodded, classifying these phenomena, which current information couldn't explain, as a setting.
"Seems we don't need to climb stairs floor by floor after all," Bai Wu said with a smile.
The Evil Fallen were hiding in the elevator, and all six of them had figured it out.
Bai Wu looked forward to encountering the Evil Fallen with an academic interest, curious about their structure, focusing on sensory organs, the digestive system, and the nerve networks.
Shang Xiaoyi was also looking forward, but his anticipation was simply for violence and catharsis.
In comparison, it was like seeing a woman with two different reactions. The former, the intelligent gentleman, wanted to quickly understand the woman's preferences for mental control, whereas the latter only thought about figuring it out later.
The number on the elevator stopped at one.
As the elevator doors opened, Wang Shi expertly held back the salivating, bloodshot-eyed Shang Xiaoyi at the corner of his mouth.
At this moment, where was there any hint of Shang Xiaoyi's earlier timidity? But Shang Xiaoyi soon quieted down.
All Bai Wu saw was a flash of silver light accompanied by the whoosh of a strong wind. Then came the stench of black liquid, spurting from the neck of the Evil Fallen, whose head had been severed.
Wu Jiu stood by the elevator entrance, slowly sheathing his knife.
In a moment, Bai Wu had the illusion that Wu Jiu had always been in that spot, never having moved at all.
Bai Wu did not look at the decapitated Evil Fallen. His gaze fell upon Wu Jiu's knife:
"Evil Fallen must die. A weapon capable of adding defense break and weakness effects the instant it touches an Evil Fallen. Of course, such effects are like child's play against heavily distorted Evil Fallen. It all depends on the skill of the person wielding the knife. Item Spirit Possession level: 19d."
Spirit Possession level of nineteen days? Just this knife alone was a treasure of considerable value.
Bai Wu remembered that Wu Jiu had set a record for survival outside the tower, twenty-four days, and guessed that the knife must have undergone Spirit Possession on the fifth day. However, this calculation suggested that the item possession time displayed by Prayle's Eye was the maximum value of a single instance outside the tower, not cumulative time, since Wu Jiu couldn't possibly have only been out of the tower for nineteen days.
Moreover, as he had speculated before, once outside the tower, he could indeed see the combat information of individuals like Wu Jiu.
Wu Jiu's Innate Force was at the eighth tier and fourth rank.
Although unfamiliar with the concept, Bai Wu thought that ordinary distorted Evil Fallen must be like walking experience pills for Wu Jiu.
The Innate Forces of Lin Wurou, Wang Shi, and Shang Xiaoyi were all around the fifth tier, a considerable distance from Wu Jiu's level.
"Second-level distorted Evil Fallen are not to be feared. Let's go, to the nineteenth floor."
Wu Jiu, Wang Shi, and others stepped into the elevator.
Bai Wu didn't rush to enter but instead began to examine the Evil Fallen.
First, he picked up the head of the Evil Fallen from the ground and calmly placed it back on its neck.
It was as if he were assembling a model.
This Evil Fallen, dressed in patient garb and shackled with iron chains at its feet, appeared not much different from a human in form.
But its skin had become like sun-dried mud, cracked in many places, with the biggest change in the face being the mouth, which had transformed into something resembling the proboscis of a mosquito, sharp and tubular.
Although it still had four limbs, its hands could no longer be called hands; they should be described as claws.
It seemed that the concept of second-level distortion meant the creature still bore some resemblance to humans.
Bai Wu touched the Evil Fallen again and discovered it had no genitals - he felt neither protrusion nor indentation.
Had it degenerated unnecessary parts away?
"An Evil Fallen, killed by a must-die evil, is not alone. Even before its transformation, its reputation was poor. If you wish to find out more detailed information, I suggest you check its pockets."
Following the instructions in the note, Bai Wu pulled a page from a diary out of the torn patient garb.
"I am not depressed, I simply owe a large sum of money, and that person told me that if I came here, no one could find me. But he lied! I try every day to get out, and that poor girl on the eleventh floor, will I end up like her, will she be transferred to the second building? I just want to leave now... I just want to leave now... 2026.07.05."
There was only one page in the diary. But the content seemed to be written many times over, and Bai Wu had no doubt that the entry for 2026.07.04 was the same. It was an obsession, although ultimately, only this page remained of the entire diary.
From the torn edges and creases, Bai Wu could deduce the scene of a doctor snatching away the diary while the patient desperately tore this page to hide it.
2026...
How long has it been since the current High Tower Era, year 704? Was there some kind of rule protecting things? Many items in this world, including this page of the diary, seemed not to decay over seven hundred years...
"You dawdling youngster, are you finished? Everyone is waiting for you," Lin Wurou urged.
Bai Wu nodded his head; he had already seen the contents of the diary and didn't take it with him, but instead folded it neatly and placed it back in the pocket of the Evil Fallen's patient garb.
After entering the elevator, he immediately pressed for the eleventh floor.
"Why are we going to the eleventh floor?" Wu Jiu asked.
"The danger level of the buildings behind might exceed everyone's expectations. The eleventh floor harbors a stronger Evil Fallen, which might serve as a preventative measure for us. At the same time, we may find some useful information," Bai Wu stated earnestly.
"It's just the white zone, no matter how dangerous, how bad could it be?" Lin Wurou characteristically argued.
"If we don't enter this hospital, indeed, there would be no danger. But I would advise you, Lin, to be extra cautious."
The eleventh floor arrived quickly.
After the elevator doors opened, Wu Jiu took out a searchlight and shone it along the pitch-black corridor.
As Bai Wu expected, the structure of this floor was mostly rooms designed to confine patients, with two doctors' offices tucked into the corners.
There wasn't even a communal bathroom; each room had its own separate facility. The layout was almost identical to that of a prison known to Bai Wu.
"Hee hee."
```
A chilling laughter suddenly rang out, causing goosebumps. Wu Jiu frowned.
Wang Shi slowed his pace:
"The sound is coming from the room at the end. Everyone, be careful..."
Wang Shi's caution wasn't challenged by Lin Wurou; since the elevator door opened, he had felt as though he was being watched by a predator.
It was like there were eyes in the darkness.
"You've come to play with me... I'm here."
Carrying a mix of eagerness and sorrow, it sounded like a whisper right beside their ears. Veterans like Lin Wurou, Wang Shi, and Shang Xiaoyi all knew too well that the Evil Fallen on this floor was no simple matter.
"Won't you come find me? I've been waiting for you for so long..."
At the end of the corridor, the crying of a woman echoed. The voice sounded like that of a little girl yet also like an adult woman, as if two different ages, two different emotions, were interwoven.
Bai Wu kept observing his surroundings, but there was no useful information in the notes.
As they were about to reach the end of the corridor, an incident occurred.
Suddenly, a pitch-black, overly slender arm seeped out from the ceiling, reaching straight for Yin Shuang!
The flash of silver was quick as Wu Jiu drew his blade in an instant, severing the arm. The moment his knife's edge touched the arm, his expression changed, and he said in a low voice:
"You guys fall back. Stay as calm as possible."
Wu Jiu coolly deduced that this arm had reached out from the ceiling because someone in their group had experienced a fluctuation in emotions.
But what surprised him more was that this Evil Fallen's rank wasn't low. It certainly wasn't something that could be instantly killed.
The incident didn't settle as quickly as Wu Jiu had foreseen; numerous black hands continued to stretch out from the ceiling.
The attacks were most frequent on Yin Shuang and least on Wu Jiu, while Lin Wurou, Shang Xiaoyi, and Wang Shi got about the same frequency of attacks.
As for Bai Wu... It seemed he was being ignored by the Evil Fallen, which kept sprouting hands like some kind of creeping vine.
He stood alone in the middle of the corridor, watching Wu Jiu and the others slaying the arms...
He had already guessed what was happening.
Upon entering the floor, the mournful cry in the air had caused a slight emotional disturbance in everyone's heart.
This disturbance was subtle and would have been undetectable to any other Evil Fallen, but the one on this floor was special.
The readout on Lin Wurou's wristwatch was 11, Wang Shi's was 9, Shang Xiaoyi's eyes sparkled with excitement, his wristwatch read 7.
Wu Jiu's wristwatch read 3. Yin Shuang, on the other hand, was the most frightened among them, with her wristwatch indicating 21.
These were all normal readings, far from the danger level.
It was just that the Evil Fallen they encountered this time seemed to be a rare kind, one that could sense the presence of its prey through the slightest emotional ripples. Often, such Evil Fallen were extremely powerful.
Fortunately, although the incident came swiftly, the group's strength was formidable, and there was no danger, though they were a bit rushed in their response.
It seemed like the hands could never be completely chopped off...
Lin Wurou glanced at Bai Wu in surprise and asked:
"How come you... don't get attacked?"
Bai Wu lifted his wristwatch which showed a zero and said expressionlessly:
"I'm even feeling a bit sleepy..."
"..."
Lin now understood why the captain had arranged for Bai Wu to be the sixth member; this guy had nerves of steel...
Wu Jiu's figure became a blur, leaving afterimages in the corridor:
"Bai Wu, just stay there and don't move. We'll be done here soon."
"Not so sure about that. Until your emotions have completely settled, these hands will probably keep coming out endlessly. I'll go ahead and have a look; maybe I can resolve the source. Once you calm down, just follow me."
Bai Wu turned around, his gaze fixing on the door of the third room at the end of the corridor.
[11-19. You think there is an Evil Fallen in there? In fact, there's nothing inside. You're fighting against... just some of its thoughts. It has been moved to the fourth building. But you could go in and take a look; there are things inside that you and that Little Dwarf would find interesting.]
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