Returning to the bedroom and lying down fully clothed, Chi Ling relaxed his mind. Perhaps his prayer had taken effect, as no strange noises occurred during the first half of the night, allowing him to sleep quite well.
The second half of the night, however, was far from peaceful.
With a muffled bang, something slammed against the window. Being a light sleeper, Chi Ling opened his eyes in annoyance.
A pale figure clung to the window in a bizarre posture, her white dress stained entirely with blood while her palms and face pressed flat against the glass. This gravity-defying maneuver genuinely shocked Chi Ling.
Sister, seriously? You keep picking on me, and I haven’t done anything heinous!
With his breath hitched, Chi Ling calmly closed his eyes, pretending he had never woken up at all. Judging from his observations, this young lady had hair obscuring her face, and due to the angle, the bedside table happened to block Chi Ling’s head, meaning she shouldn’t be able to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.
Thinking this, Chi Ling quietly lifted his eyelids by a sliver, only to find the figure already gone. Only long bloody streaks remained on the window to signal that something had lingered there.
Catching sight of Ji Qing sleeping soundly, Chi Ling felt a sudden surge of resentment, desperately wanting to wake him up and let him witness Ms. Lin Jing’s appearance.
“Bang, bang,” “slap,” “bang”…
From initial fright and shock, Chi Ling progressed to numbness, and finally to complete emotional detachment.
Could you let a person sleep? The chill intensified during the second half of the night, prompting him to silently pull the blanket up to his chin.
Sigh! It seemed sleep was truly out of the question. Chi Ling figured his current appearance qualified him for national second-tier protected animal status.
A pair of hands covered his ears, cutting off all sound, while someone seemed to gently whisper to him: “Sleep!”
“Do not waste your energy.”
Before Chi Ling even realized he was frowning, a wave of force swept across his brow like a passing breeze.
The wind left no trace, departing only to sweep away a lingering trace of melancholy.
“Not wasted. Goodnight.”
Sinking into a warm embrace, Chi Ling spent the rest of the night free of dreams.
Day had fully broken outside, and sunlight poured through the window onto his face, carrying no heat—only blinding brightness that stung his eyes painfully.
Raising a hand to his brow to ease the discomfort after a moment, he glanced at the window. All traces of the previous night had vanished. The window remained as bright as ever, looking out past the other apartment blocks.
Unwilling to let his eyes suffer the same trauma as last night, Chi Ling purchased a set of curtains from the system store.
If you want things done right, do them yourself.
After hanging the curtains, he found Ji Qing still fast asleep.
“Get up.” Speaking pleasantly, Chi Ling received zero reaction from the person on the floor.
Drenched in sweat, Ji Qing kept his eyes tightly shut, his breathing rapid. Trembling, his eyeballs rolled frantically beneath his eyelids as if trapped inside a nightmare.
Tugging the blanket off Ji Qing, Chi Ling grabbed him by the collar, hoisted him up, and delivered a slap straight across his head.
Opening his eyes in terror, Ji Qing locked onto Chi Ling’s pretty face and felt a wave of gratitude that nearly brought him to tears, finally snapping his entire being back to full awareness.
“What did you dream about?”
“A hospital. I was tied up and couldn’t move, and a bunch of doctors were walking toward me holding knives, surrounded by people tied up just like me.”
Releasing Ji Qing and shaking out his hand, Chi Ling replied, “It’s Rule 4 of the Resident Code: ‘To maintain good health, all residents must visit the No. 75 District Hospital for a physical examination every two days.’ This counts as the third day.”
Neither of the first two days had involved a hospital visit, yet the code stated a visit was required every two days.
Even though he hadn’t dreamed of the hospital himself last night, there was no guarantee both of them wouldn’t run into trouble in their dreams tonight.
Chi Ling instantly discarded yesterday’s plan. “We’re going to the hospital first today.”
He dropped a reminder in the group chat for the other players who hadn’t visited the hospital yet, suggesting they make a trip today.
Xia Yue and Gu Yuanzhou replied immediately, requesting to tag along with Chi Ling. After brief consideration, Chi Ling didn’t refuse.
Seeing Chi Ling and the others banding together and thinking there was safety in numbers, the remaining players wanted in as well, turning today’s hospital trip into a collective outing for every player.
Hurriedly tidying himself up and scarfing down a quick breakfast, Chi Ling and Ji Qing rushed out the door.
A whole batch of players waited downstairs across the three buildings, each harboring their own hidden agendas. Upon seeing Chi Ling descend, some offered greetings while others watched with wary suspicion.
Ignoring their thoughts, Chi Ling didn’t speak aloud. Instead, he exchanged messages via his phone with Xia Yue and Gu Yuanzhou before turning his gaze toward the crowd.
Xia Yue gave a nod. With auburn chin-length short hair, a black top paired with shorts, and a dagger tucked at her waist, she looked like a crisp, decisive person.
Gu Yuanzhou sported a white shirt and black trousers, looking somewhat lean. Wearing gold-rimmed glasses and exuding an air of scholarly refinement, he offered Chi Ling a faint, tight-lipped smile upon catching his eye.
Matching their faces and names, Chi Ling continued walking while querying them via phone about details regarding Building 1 and Building 2.
If the No. 75 residential complex at night was exceptionally perilous, the complex by day was extraordinarily desolate.
Along the path from Building 3 to the hospital, aside from the man still fishing by the lake, no other residents were in sight.
Walking further away, Chi Ling glanced back to see the man planted on the bench by the lake like a fixture, his posture completely unchanged. Just like yesterday, a briefcase rested on his left side while his right hand held the fishing rod, his expression fixed in intense concentration upon the lake surface.
With no kitten for Chi Ling to cradle today, the lake water appeared completely pristine, resembling a clear mirror, yet his nauseated feeling failed to subside.
No matter how clean the water looked, in his mind it remained murky green and reeked with stench.
The sky hung heavy, grey, and stifling, stirring an uneasy restlessness in Chi Ling’s chest.
Tonight’s night phase would arrive even earlier, meaning they had to make haste and return promptly.
Reaching the No. 75 District Hospital, a glaring red giant sign loomed at the very top of the building. Entering the front gates, the group felt a palpable sense of tension.
The white floor tiles bore numerous cracks alongside aged dark brown stains, the wall paint was peeling, the facilities were antiquated, and the lobby sat completely empty and deathly quiet.
A figure suddenly popped up from behind the front desk. Excessively thin with protruding cheekbones, she possessed unusually large eyes that looked as though they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.
“Do you have an appointment?” Looking everyone up and down, she spoke in a hoarse, strange tone.
“We…”
No one wished to speak first. As Ji Qing moved to pipe up, Chi Ling stopped him with a gesture, sweeping his gaze across the other players.
“Routine physical examination for district residents, do we need appointments?”
The front desk clerk smiled, revealing two rows of stark white teeth. “Of course not, serving the district residents is our honor.”
Producing a roster, she instructed, “Sign your names here, and I’ll get your numbers.”
Accepting the roster cautiously, Chi Ling flipped through a couple of pages. The signature format matched their group chat nicknames precisely.
Chi Ling felt a strong intuition that this roster boded ill, holding off on writing for a long time.
Clearly growing impatient, the front desk clerk muttered, “Nothing to look at here, what a waste of time.”
His stud earring grew hot, seeming to remind him there was nothing to worry about. Lowering his pen, he signed his name, and the other players quickly followed suit, scrawling down their names.
Retrieving the roster and checking it over, the clerk carefully stowed it away in her lab coat pocket. Unbeknownst to her, the names just added to the roster had already vanished.
“Older brother Chi, your expression looked a bit off just now, is this place dangerous?” Ji Qing inched close and whispered.
Noticing the surrounding players pricking up their ears, Chi Ling glanced sideways at Ji Qing with a rippling gaze.
Blinking and curving his lips into a smile, he waited until he had savored the nervous expressions of the other players enough before speaking in an extremely low tone:
“Nope.”
The others visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Follow me!” Tucking her hands into her lab coat pockets, the clerk adjusted her clothes and led the way.
Following her to the triage desk, she tapped sharply against the glass to rouse the person inside, shouting loudly.
The medical staff member inside rubbed her eyes, waking up fully. “So many people today!”
Looking utterly delighted, a greenish glow flickered within her eyes, making her resemble a hyena spotting fresh meat.
Chi Ling stepped back half a step.
Casually grabbing a stack of forms from the triage desk, the clerk handed them out to the group. She ended up with plenty of extras left over, which she tossed back through the triage window.
Chi Ling twitched the corner of his mouth. That was far too casual!
The forms turned out even sloppier, lacking any names and bearing only numbers. He held number 5; checking Ji Qing’s form, it read number 3, with zero other differences.
Handing the form back to Ji Qing, Chi Ling carefully reviewed the examination items listed: Otolaryngology, ophthalmology, ECG, chest CT, abdominal CT…
Viewed purely on paper, the check-up items seemed relatively normal.
The clerk instructed them to head to the respective departments for their examinations. Once a department finished its check, the doctor would sign off on the form, and upon completing all checks, they could bring the form back here to leave.
Returning to her seat to resume catnapping after giving her instructions, she left the crowd standing in place, looking at one another in dismay.
“Let’s get the checks done. It’s best to split up so we don’t run out of time, since nightfall will come even earlier today.” Chi Ling pinched the form between two fingers and hoisted it up.
The other players immediately opened up, still fearful of being left isolated. After a brief discussion, the nine players split into four groups. Ji Qing and Chi Ling naturally paired up as a group.
Plenty of people wanted to group with Chi Ling, yet hesitated out of fear of courting his bad side.
After all, he had emerged completely unscathed when the 312 resident dropped by last night, while the two players in 306 had wound up dead. Although they later realized those two players had brought it upon themselves, the incident left everyone somewhat in awe of Chi Ling.
Parting ways at the triage desk, Chi Ling happily led Ji Qing to review the hospital map. The closest department was ophthalmology, located right at the end of the first-floor right-hand corridor.
Let’s start there.
Passing through the dim, chilly hallway, a tiny sign at the very end emitted a faint green light.
Inspecting the doorplate carefully in the gloom and confirming he hadn’t taken a wrong turn, Chi Ling raised a hand and knocked.
“Enter.”
The voice from inside carried a deep, robust ring with strong penetration.
Pushing the door open, Chi Ling was momentarily stung by the light inside. While outside remained pitch black, the room was blindingly bright, with not a single ray leaking outward to the exterior.
Hearing the door, a square-faced doctor raised his head. “Here for a check-up?”
“Yes.”
Accepting his form, the doctor signed his name before waving a hand impatiently.
Ji Qing stepped forward to hand his form over as well, and the doctor signed it immediately.
Staring at the name tag pinned to the doctor’s lab coat, Chi Ling confirmed it matched the name on record.
Stepping out of the room, the two exchanged glances, neither expecting things to proceed so smoothly.
“Ah!”
A piercing shriek echoed from upstairs, reverberating through the stairwell. In the darkened corridor, the emergency exit signs cast an eerie green glow.
Turning sideways and raising his gaze, Chi Ling stared into the pitch-black stairwell opening, which looked like some kind of silent invitation.