Chapter 3022: Beat Him to Death
A group of people had all come up the stairs. If anyone encountered someone, they would definitely avoid them. Besides, players had keen senses; it was impossible for them not to notice a security guard approaching... Was it that the security guard hadn't appeared, or had they already appeared without the players knowing?
As their thoughts were in turmoil, footsteps suddenly came from upstairs.
Everyone's minds immediately tensed, and they quickly dodged to the side.
As the footsteps gradually approached, a beam of light slowly moved down from upstairs. Under the illumination of the light, the players hiding in the corner between the safety door and the stairwell couldn't clearly see the security guard's face. They could only see him holding the light and turning it in a certain direction. After a quick inspection, he continued walking downstairs.
That was just one security guard. Where were the other two?
The players hiding from the security guard didn't rush to continue upstairs. Sure enough, after a while, a second security guard came down from upstairs, with the same pace, the same inspection method. The light turned around once, and he left.
The sounds of the first two footsteps disappeared. Everyone was waiting for the third security guard, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. However, unlike the previous two, the third security guard suddenly appeared on the floor where Zong Lanzhi and the others were hiding. The light shone directly into the stairwell.
But where the light passed, there was only floating dust.
Zong Lanzhi and the others, who had moved to a different spot in advance, were startled by this sudden appearance even though they successfully dodged. They feared the security guard might flash right in front of them again.
Fortunately, it only happened once, and the third security guard left.
After confirming that the three security guards had gone to other buildings, Zong Lanzhi notified those still in the First Inpatient Building to be careful. They needed to be wary of both the "nighttime man-eating monster" and the security guards. Although it was uncertain what would happen if they were discovered by the security guards, the three nighttime guards were clearly different from the daytime ones.
After the security guards left, they returned to the spot where their companion had just disappeared. After several investigations, they couldn't find any trace of a breakthrough. They had to leave a few people behind while the rest continued to explore upstairs.
However, not long after Zong Lanzhi and the others left, the few people left behind began to experience dizziness and bleeding. One of them even fainted outright.
Sensing something was wrong, Zong Lanzhi and the others immediately turned back, but they only saw the few people leaning against the wall, their spirits visibly wilting.
The experiences of these people were the same as those of Zhuang He and the other two earlier. There were no special signs; one by one, they developed headaches, followed by dizziness and nosebleeds. The worst case was just fainting.
"Is it the turn of the comprehensive building tonight?" Jiang Ke frowned. "The protective helmet is useless too?"
"The situation is worse than imagined." Xiao Yue also said, "Could it be that this attack is triggered only when there are fewer people?"
With this happening a second time, everyone couldn't help but find it strange. In total, eight people had been affected across two incidents, and only Xiao Yue had been spared. Did she have something special about her, or had she somehow avoided a triggering condition?
Xiao Yue obviously thought of this too, but she really had no clue. The items and instruments she carried weren't even the best. The paths she walked and the things she did had all been repeated by her companions, with almost no difference.
"It could also be a coincidence." Zong Lanzhi said, "This kind of indiscriminate attack may not necessarily have a special pattern, but we should consider the situation with fewer people. Let's do this: try to move in groups of six or more as much as possible, and then see what happens."
Everyone had no objections. This time, they didn't leave anyone behind. After quickly checking upstairs, they returned to the basement.
Zong Lanzhi tried to contact Xie Xiao'an, but the communicator had no response at all. Not only that, but the door to the morgue couldn't be opened either. No matter how hard they tried from the outside, the door panels and walls remained completely still.
Leaving the morgue was one of the clearance tasks. It was expected that it wouldn't be so easy to get out. But the door had closed after only a few people had entered. If it could only be reopened after someone cleared the instance, wouldn't that mean the others had to complete the other two tasks?
"Maybe we should go back and take a look first." Ye Nian, a young female player in Xiao Yue's team, said, "The patrol guards went over there."
They couldn't just abandon those who had entered the morgue. So Xiao Yue stayed behind with her people, while Zong Lanzhi took only five people and turned back.
The situation for the players left at the First Inpatient Building wasn't good either. As the patients became more active, the conditions inside the wards gradually worsened.
The hospital, which had looked somewhat decent during the day, suddenly became old and mottled. In some places, traces of blood could faintly be seen, as if seeping out from the walls. And, perhaps from someone's imagination, "ghosts" that could pass through walls had appeared in the building!
As soon as Zong Lanzhi and the others returned, they ran into two translucent figures hanging upside down from the ceiling. They narrowly avoided a close encounter. But when these two figures suddenly twisted into a ferocious form and lunged at them, everyone realized that even these imagined "ghosts" could cause harm!
Items and instruments were thrown out, but they couldn't truly block the "ghosts." Instead, because they couldn't dodge in time, the two ghosts passed through the bodies of two players.
They didn't cause physical flesh wounds, but the two players who were passed through visibly became listless. Their faces turned pale, their lips dry, and their legs went weak, as if their strength had been drained. Their cheeks even seemed to have shrunk.
The people nearby quickly supported them and rushed into the nearest ward.
But the ward wasn't much better. Two patients were clinging to the wall, pretending to be spiders. The player who had been staying in the room was lying on the ground, with no external injuries and a seemingly normal body, but he was unconscious.
Jiang Ke went up and slapped him twice. The force was so great that the man's face immediately swelled up. However, the pain did work. The unconscious man weakly opened his eyes, but he wasn't very clear-headed. He stared blankly at the person holding him and said, "I feel like I'm missing something in my body. Are you missing something?"
Jiang Ke slapped him again. "Wake up. This is an instance. What could you possibly be missing when you can move and talk?"
"Maybe it's benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust... or maybe it's a conscience..."
Jiang Ke looked up. "Brother Zong, beat him to death."
"Stop talking nonsense." Zong Lanzhi took out an injection and stabbed it into the man's neck. After waiting for half a minute, the man finally truly woke up.
Rubbing his swollen cheek, the man glared at Jiang Ke. "You're settling a personal score, you little brat. Just wait. If I get the chance, I'll beat your face to a pulp!"
Jiang Ke snorted and turned to check on the other two.
The two players who had been drained of their vitality by the "ghosts" were huddled together, shivering. Their mouths trembled as they said, "So cold... so cold..."
Jiang Ke had to grab the blankets from the hospital beds and cover them. He touched their foreheads. "They really are a bit cold."
"It's just an illusion." Zong Lanzhi took out new injections and said to the two, "You'll recover after the shot."