The glass door of the clinic had been smashed to pieces at some point.
The nurse led the Players on duty, patrolling and checking rooms.
Without her deterrence.
The Ghostly Creatures eyeing the clinic came and went unimpeded.
Outside Wen Shi’s clinic was a main street.
Midnight.
A few dim yellow streetlights on the dark street resembled the eyes of an elderly person in their twilight years—cloudy, murky, illuminating less than a meter around. From a distance, they looked like old soybeans.
Blood Mist spread, and a bone-chilling cold blew in from outside, scraping against Wen Shi’s face like icy blades.
From within the dense mist came shrill screams and desperate roars.
Moments later, the color of the Blood Mist deepened.
The wind gave Wen Shi a headache, and he wanted to go out and reason with whatever was in the Blood Mist, telling it not to disturb his peace for no reason.
Taking a long stride, Wen Shi was suddenly yanked back into the clinic.
“Running out of the clinic in the middle of the night—are you trying to get yourself killed?” Xu Jie pulled Wen Shi back, panting heavily.
Fortunately, he had arrived quickly, or else his wife would have been gone.
After spending so many days in the clinic and investigating for so long, Xu Jie had confirmed that the Dungeon Boss was the lop-eared rabbit. He planned to kill it today and then leave with Wen Shi.
As for the others, Xu Jie didn’t care at all. If they ran into him, they were lucky.
Since he had given the Short Blade to Wen Shi for self-defense, Xu Jie didn’t have a suitable weapon on hand. After searching for a while, he found a utility knife in a drawer and decided to go cause trouble for the lop-eared rabbit.
Before knocking on the door of Room 204, he passed by the reception desk and, on a whim, decided to give the Dungeon Boss something to do—by smashing the door.
Xu Jie searched for a long time but couldn’t find the lop-eared rabbit.
When he went downstairs, he saw Wen Shi running outside and hurriedly pulled him back in.
The Blood Mist was thousands of times more dangerous than the ‘open’ clinic.
If Wen Shi had gone out, he would have been devoured without even a bone left.
Xu Jie had run over with all his strength, feeling like he had broken a world record—after all, no one could run fifty meters in three seconds.
Wen Shi: “Where’s the door?”
“I smashed it.” Xu Jie grinned. “I’m not the Dungeon Boss, so I gave the Dungeon Boss something to do to keep it from bothering us. How about that? I did a pretty good job, right?”
Wen Shi’s temples throbbed.
Great, just great!
“Why do you look so upset?” Xu Jie thought Wen Shi was frightened and quickly reassured him, “Don’t be afraid. After tonight, you’ll be safe.”
Wen Shi: “…”
Thank you so much!
I’m so safe now!
His migraine worsened. Wen Shi looked at the restless, turbulent Blood Mist, his head throbbing with pain. “You just said you’re not the Dungeon Boss? Then why did you smash the doors and windows? Who’s going to speak up for the doors and windows?”
Wen Shi had placed his bloodstained Scalpel on the Revolving Door as a Suppressing Artifact.
Something even more sinister than the Scalpel was kept in the restricted area on the third floor, and he couldn’t retrieve it.
It was even less possible to go to a building materials market in the middle of the night to find a glass door. Whether he could walk out of the Blood Mist unscathed was still unknown.
Wen Shi looked at Xu Jie, feeling a headache coming on.
“No wonder Specters disguised as nurses were taking away one Player at a time.” Wen Shi knew his identity couldn’t be exposed yet and changed the subject. “You caused this, so you fix it.”
He could, of course, stay here and guard the place.
But that would definitely arouse Xu Jie’s suspicion.
“Wen Shi.” Xu Jie stared intently at the refined and handsome man, his voice low. A hint of coldness gathered in his deep gaze, and his entire demeanor was like an unsheathed blade—sharp and intimidating.
Seeing Xu Jie’s drastically changed attitude, Wen Shi slowly raised his head, his gaze cold and distant, his nerves stretched taut like a thread that could snap under the weight of a single speck of dust.
Xu Jie’s murderous intent was palpable, almost tangible.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
With lightning speed, Xu Jie drew a utility knife and stabbed it behind Wen Shi.
Without hesitation, Wen Shi drew his short blade.
But before he could strike—
Xu Jie’s mocking voice suddenly rang out from above: “Showing off a blade before Guan Gong, trying to ambush my person right under my nose. A fly pretending to gather nectar—what a bee.”
Wen Shi: “…”
He turned his head to look behind him, but Xu Jie covered his eyes. “Don’t look. It’s just a reckless Aberration, too ugly for your eyes. You’d need to wash them if you saw it.”
Not long after Wen Shi sat down, Xu Jie had noticed an Aberration disguised as a shadow.
“Wen Shi, no wonder they say we’re in sync. You always know what I’m thinking. You must really love me.”
Xu Jie didn’t want Wen Shi’s eyes sullied by bloody mess.
Just as he was thinking of how to dispose of it discreetly, he spotted the short blade in Wen Shi’s hand. Grinning, he took it and plunged it into the Aberration.
The Aberration instantly dissolved into thick white mist, dispersing and merging into the Blood Mist.
Wen Shi looked bewildered.
Did Xu Jie truly not know, or was he pretending not to?
“It was my oversight. I forgot you’re a Player, exhausted from dealing with the Aberrations inside the clinic. Surviving took everything you had, leaving no energy for external threats.” Xu Jie planted the short blade by the doorway and smiled. “With this guarding the place, no Aberration will dare intrude.”
Xu Jie’s short blade and Wen Shi’s scalpel shared a strange similarity.
He was still a Divine Official.
In Divine Descent, Divine Officials possessed unique, signature items.
For Xu Jie, it was the short blade.
No Player or Aberration dared offend a Divine Official—otherwise, death without a burial site would be the least of their worries.
“Xu Jie, have you ever considered you might die in this Instance?” Wen Shi asked gravely, his tone serious.
Xu Jie raised an eyebrow. “When I die, carry my ashes with you. If you encounter bad people, scatter them—let me protect you one last time.”
Wen Shi opened his mouth. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.” Xu Jie strolled behind Wen Shi, placing his fingers on his temples and massaging gently. “You have a headache, right? Let me help. I’m good at this.”
Xu Jie’s words always shattered Wen Shi’s ironclad defenses. His rationality lay in fragments, his gaze complex and indecipherable, like a drowning man suffocated by unabashed affection yet perversely drawn to the feeling. Slowly, he closed his eyes.
Xu Jie, Xu Jie, Xu Jie…
Xu Jie’s technique was excellent. After a few minutes, Wen Shi’s headache truly subsided.
“You say you’re not the Dungeon Boss. Then who is?” Wen Shi opened his eyes, lowering his gaze to the shadow on the floor.
He had none.
Xu Jie: “That rabbit. It’s skilled in medicine, adept at disguise, and often incites Players to turn on each other. It’s just that Gu Hua and the others are too foolish for it to sway.”
It was too clever for its own good.
And had become Xu Jie’s prime suspect.
“How do you plan to deal with it?” Wen Shi interlocked his fingers. He wouldn’t let the lop-eared rabbit off either.
“Just watch my performance later.” Xu Jie brimmed with confidence.
Seeing Wen Shi much improved, Xu Jie considered sending him back to Room 208 but feared he might encounter Aberrations knocking. Instead, he decided to keep him close.
With their goals aligned, the two went together to search for the lop-eared rabbit when they ran into Gu Hua and Feng Zhouzhou, who were being chased all over the place by an Aberration, along with Mute.
“Well, haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” Xu Jie sneered with a false smile. “Coming out in the middle of the night to serve my patients a midnight snack?”
Seeing Wen Shi and Xu Jie together, Gu Hua broke into a cold sweat.
“Brother Wen, we didn’t sneak out on our own,” Feng Zhouzhou quickly explained. “The nurse told us to come out for guard duty.”
Wen Shi frowned. “All three of you on guard duty?”
Mute held up four fingers, indicating four.
After the three of them were dragged and shoved out of Room 204 by the nurse, they realized something was wrong and immediately fled.
The clinic was too big.
The three of them felt as if they had encountered a ghost wall.
Ahead were rooms like a maze that they couldn’t escape from.
Behind them were Aberrations in pursuit. They had narrowly escaped death several times before finally managing to regroup.
They had mainly relied on Gu Hua as the fighter, Feng Zhouzhou’s “poisonous milk,” and Mute’s hit-or-miss talismans to make it out.
“Brother Wen, we need to get back to the room quickly,” Gu Hua gasped, out of breath. “The Aberrations behind us are catching up.”
Xu Jie wouldn’t let Wen Shi put himself in danger. He mocked, “Gu Hua, do you know what good wine needs to go with?”
Gu Hua: “With what?”
Xu Jie: “Good dishes, my friend.”
It took Gu Hua a while to catch on, leaving him furious, cold, and trembling.
“Damn it! Who the hell opened the back door?!”
The elusive nurse, wielding a hammer, rushed out of the room and headed straight for the north door.
Wen Shi’s expression changed.
The back door was the Revolving Door temporarily sealed by the Scalpel.
After the clinic merged with the neighboring house, it had become the clinic’s back door.