The broken monitor gave off a sharp, screeching noise, and a nurse zombie with half an IV pole stuck in her head was hunched over, pounding it furiously.
Outside the operating room, the squeaking of a wheelchair echoed. Lu Chuan, with a white lab coat randomly thrown over him and a hollow look in his eyes, pushed the gloomy-faced dean inside.
Behind them came Qin Guan, lying unconscious on the transport cart.
The moment they entered the operating room, the dean darkly scolded the nurse.
“You can’t even do something this simple. I think you don’t want to work anymore. Get out!”
The little nurse whined in grievance, covered her face full of fangs, and ran off.
After venting at the little nurse, the dean still felt it wasn’t enough. He then ordered Lu Chuan to move Qin Guan onto the operating table, and during the whole process he struck and cursed at him whenever he felt like it.
Strangely enough, faced with the old dean treating him like that, Lu Chuan, who had only moments earlier pinned him to the ground and torn him apart alive, now had an empty look in his eyes. No matter what he was told to do, he obeyed obediently and properly, looking even more like a puppet than the zombies outside.
Watching his dazed, robot-like movements, the dean showed a rather satisfied expression and patted his shoulder.
“Even if he occasionally loses control, he really is my best assistant.”
The man’s movements were stiff and showed no reaction at all.
The dean didn’t care. First, he examined his own damaged skin in the mirror, then shifted his gaze and slowly fixed it on Qin Guan’s delicate and beautiful face.
He was already a little sick of looking at his own face. It was time to switch things up.
He turned to Lu Chuan and ordered haughtily, “Put him on the operating table, secure his limbs, and leave his face exposed.”
The man did everything one by one.
Just as Lu Chuan was bending his head down, wrapping restraint straps around him layer by layer, his wrist was suddenly seized.
It was Qin Guan.
He weakly propped himself up halfway. Threads of blood trickled down from his head and stood out starkly against his pale skin.
Qin Guan took a deep breath and gripped Lu Chuan’s wrist tightly, only to meet a pair of blank eyes with no trace of spirit in them.
Almost instantly, he understood something.
“What did you do to him?”
He turned his head with difficulty and looked at the dean to one side.
The dean was concentrating on mixing some kind of reagent and gave a scornful snort.
“Isn’t that obvious? His aggression is so high, and he is extremely unstable. Of course I had to take precautions early.”
“In fact…” A needle tip squeezed out a drop of bright blue liquid, reflecting in the dean’s only remaining eye and revealing unmatched madness.
“Whether it’s a patient or a nurse, I treat them all equally. I have done everything necessary to modify them and help them become more perfect versions of themselves.”
“So all those nurses outside were transformed by you into that state?”
The dean chuckled. “Those nurses outside are nothing. He is the best work I have ever created.”
He patted Lu Chuan’s shoulder and said in a tone close to admiration, “Cold, heartless, brutal, an endlessly tireless killing machine. He can efficiently complete every order given to him.”
Qin Guan mocked him. “Don’t forget that your perfect work just ate your face.”
The dean waved it off carelessly. “There are always a few flaws on the road to success. Although I’ve performed many surgeries on him since he was brought here, this fellow’s personality is simply too stubborn. It’s hard to erase it completely.”
“But this time… to be fair, he really did make me angry.”
“Don’t worry. After I cut off your face, as long as I order him to open his eyes and then drive a steel spike through the top of the eye socket into the prefrontal cortex, the surgery can be finished in less than ten minutes.”
“In that way, he can not only continue helping me study the secret of immortality, but also become a forever obedient and well-behaved good boy.”
“And you, my beautiful little Jasmine,” the dean said lovingly, stroking his face, “will become a part of me, the greatest medical scientist of this century, and live forever and ever.”
“Alright. For your grand evolution, I need to go prepare some necessary equipment.”
Before leaving, his eyes rolled toward Lu Chuan, and his tone carried a warning. “As for you, keep an eye on him. Do you understand?”
Seeing that the madman had finally left, Qin Guan let out a long breath and began trying to pull his hand out from the restraint straps.
But the moment he struggled even a little, Lu Chuan, who had been standing quietly to the side, immediately strode over and, without another word, pulled the strap all the way to its final buckle!
“Ahh…”
A wave of intense pain shot through him. Qin Guan lost strength and let go, feeling as if his wrist might be crushed off.
Unexpectedly, hearing his muffled groan, Lu Chuan, despite having no awareness, immediately showed a somewhat uneasy expression.
Qin Guan clenched his teeth tightly. Fine beads of sweat slowly seeped out, and every vein on his arm was taut as if on the verge of death.
“Lu Chuan, it hurts. Let go.”
The moment he said that, Lu Chuan seemed to have triggered some mysterious command.
He kept touching Qin Guan’s wrist, which had begun to turn bluish-purple, then hesitated and tightened the restraint strap again, pacing around anxiously like a silly big dog.
“Lu Chuan! Let go!”
Qin Guan looked into his eyes and repeated himself.
At last, after the two of them stared each other down, Lu Chuan still lost miserably and quickly loosened the buckle on the restraint strap.
However, before Qin Guan could pull his hand out, that guy actually put his own hand in as well, his broad palm carefully wrapping around Qin Guan’s wrist.
Click. The restraint strap tightened again.
Qin Guan looked at the two hands overlapping and bound together, and for a moment he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
On the other side, Lu Chuan was clearly very pleased with his decision. He half-crouched beside the operating bed and stared at Qin Guan without blinking, his eyes bright with anticipation.
Qin Guan sighed, unwilling to argue too much with someone whose intelligence had suddenly and drastically regressed.
“Do you still remember what you said?”
“You said you didn’t want to keep living that stagnant, repetitive life. You said you were curious about what the outside world was like, whether there were other people waiting for you, didn’t you?”
Lu Chuan tilted his head and stared curiously at his opening and closing mouth.
Qin Guan took a deep breath, knowing that Lu Chuan’s mind was still trapped in the old dean’s hypnosis and unable to think for himself.
It seemed this was the only way.
His hand was trapped in Lu Chuan’s broad palm, and he could only inch it along with great difficulty. Using every bit of strength he had, he finally managed to pull off the scar-covered ring on his ring finger.
“Take this.”
He placed it into his palm.
Lu Chuan looked curiously at the tiny silver glimmer.
Under the half-broken surgical lamp, half of Qin Guan’s face lay quietly in the light, serene like a goddess, while the other half was buried in darkness, making it seem somewhat obscure and unreadable.
Seven Ways to Survive in the Filth Room…
First, “Grotesques” are unique, extremely dangerous entities within the Filth Room. They are cruel and deceitful. If possible, avoid conflict with them at all costs.
First, “Grotesques” are unique, extremely dangerous beings in the Filth Room. They are cruel and cunning. If possible, try to avoid conflict with them.
Second, when necessary, a player may use one of their most important possessions to sign a Contract with them, as long as both sides agree.
An oath of alliance can only be severed by death.
Qin Guan stared straight into those deep, empty eyes, as if embracing the darkest, loneliest abyss in this world. With all his strength, he said each word one by one.
“I agree to your deal, Lu Chuan. I will take you to see the world beyond the instance.”
“But before we get there, you must use every ounce of your strength to protect me. You can never betray me.”
“Either be my dog, or we die here together.”
In their overlapping palms, that plain band ring suddenly burst into terrifying heat.