Chapter 3027: He's Lying to You
This shout startled the other players sharing the same room. They reflexively jumped up, immediately covering themselves with defensive instruments before checking inside and outside the room.
"Brother Zong, there's nothing there," one player said to the arriving Zong Lanzi.
"I was half-asleep, but I definitely saw something on the ceiling," Zeng Guangyao insisted, certain he hadn't been mistaken. "It was a monster with a human body and a scaly tail."
"Could you have been seeing things?" Jiang Ke asked, though he really wanted to ask if he was hallucinating—after all, as a Mental Evolver, his brain might be more active.
"Absolutely not an illusion," Zeng Guangyao emphasized. "Brother Zong, we need to be careful. There must be something else in this hospital."
Zong Lanzi knew that already, because both he and Xiao Yue had encountered situations where they were being watched. The presence was like an invisible shadow—one second they could see the shadow falling on the ground or at a stairwell corner, but when they followed it, there was nothing there. Moreover, the power within the hospital affected their judgment, making it impossible to determine whether anything had actually been there before the shadow appeared.
"I'm feeling a bit tired. Let me rest for a while," another player said, and before he finished speaking, he collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep, even starting to snore.
"Slap him awake," Zong Lanzi said coldly.
Jiang Ke immediately rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward, delivering a dozen or so slaps in rapid succession. The man woke up, but the first thing out of his mouth was: "I feel like I'm missing something."
Everyone present fell silent. Jiang Ke took a step back to make room. "Who wants to take a turn?"
A female player put on her gloves and slapped him twice across the face, but the response was still the same line.
"Brother Zong, let's just follow the procedure. I think he won't snap out of it unless we let him finish what he's trying to say," the female player said.
Zong Lanzi took a deep breath and asked, "So what exactly are you missing?"
"Maybe benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith. Or maybe a conscience," the man replied. But instead of waking up immediately, he turned his head to look at Zong Lanzi. "What are you missing?"
New line!
A chill ran down Zong Lanzi's spine. He was about to speak when he saw the man fall back onto the bed. He couldn't help but breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
The one who had said he was tired earlier now woke up on his own from the pain, without needing anyone to call him. He rubbed his swollen face and glared at Jiang Ke, speaking indistinctly, "You don't have to be so ruthless."
"What else could I do if I couldn't wake you up?" Jiang Ke said nonchalantly.
But the other man sneered, "You'll understand when you're the one missing something."
Jiang Ke fell silent. Quite a few people here were waiting for their turn to hit him.
"Bang!" A heavy object toppled over downstairs. Everyone immediately went down, only to find one of their companions acting insane—hugging a blanket and kissing it wildly, with a bedside table knocked over beside him.
"Is he that desperate?" Zeng Guangyao frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Embarrassing or not, they couldn't just let him finish with the blanket.
Zong Lanzi sent someone to wake him up, and everyone's gaze instinctively turned to Jiang Ke.
Jiang Ke quickly raised his hands. "Leave me some leeway."
In the end, Zeng Guangyao went. This time, the man didn't give the classic line. Instead, he lunged at him with a dreamy expression, "Beauty, don't leave!"
Zeng Guangyao kicked him flying, his eyes fierce. "I'll sober you up right now!"
The man hit the wall and fell to the ground in pain. Before he could get up, the infatuation on his face turned to terror. Seeing something unknown, he crawled on the ground, flailing his limbs and struggling incessantly.
"Enough," Zong Lanzi warned.
Zeng Guangyao withdrew his Spiritual Realm, pulled the whip from his waist, and lashed out. One strike, and the man immediately woke up.
Realizing what he might have done, the man quickly stood up and apologized, "Sorry, Brother Zong. I spaced out."
Zong Lanzi didn't say anything. He just turned and left. But as soon as he stepped out the door, he spotted a shadow peering at him from the corner of the corridor.
He used an instrument to instantly move over, just in time to see a woman about to turn and leave. He grabbed her shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Who exactly are you?!"
The woman turned around, a grin on her face.
Although the face was unfamiliar, Zong Lanzi knew that Xu Huo always had a mute female player by his side, and she was also a strong one.
While he was still assessing her identity, the woman's palm swung toward him. Zong Lanzi instinctively blocked it, but then her other hand slapped him right across the face!
"Slap!" The crisp sound was satisfying.
The veins on Zong Lanzi's forehead bulged, but before he could react, the Painting Woman pulled back and created distance. The maniacal laughter from her communicator echoed up the stairwell as she ascended.
Zong Lanzi wanted to chase her, but after just two or three floors, he found that she had already reached the Third Inpatient Building. Standing behind a window sealed tightly shut, she looked at him and waved for him to come over.
Zong Lanzi had no intention of going. He paused briefly and then said in a low voice, "I know your secret."
He knew she could hear him, so after speaking, he turned and left.
The Painting Woman, however, was intrigued. Though her life experience wasn't extensive, she felt she had many secrets. Why did Zong Lanzi claim to know her secret?
"Do you know my secret?" She first ran to the Office Building to ask.
Xu Huo was sitting behind his desk, reviewing the clearance settlement for the Wang Family Manor. Without looking up, he said, "What secret do you have?"
"I have many secrets," the Painting Woman said smugly. "But I'm not telling you."
"If you tell someone, can it still be called a secret?" Xu Huo said flatly.
"But that Zong Lanzi said he knows my secret," the Painting Woman said, both puzzled and confused.
"He's lying to you," Xu Huo said. "Just trying to bait you."
The Painting Woman suddenly understood. "He's really dishonest. If I caught him and asked him about my secret, wouldn't he be afraid of getting beaten if he couldn't answer?"
"Because his goal is to trick you into going over so he can catch you," Xu Huo glanced at her. "There are other spaces and stone statues in the hospital. Be careful."
The Painting Woman said no problem, thought for a moment, then pressed her communicator. "He must have secrets too. I'll use his secrets to trick him!"
With that, she vanished like a gust of wind.
The "dream lover" crawling around in the corridor outside quickly followed.
Xu Huo paid no attention and instead sorted out the items from this clearance.
Since it was a new Instance, and the clearance time wasn't long, the rewards this time were of very good quality—especially two high-quality A-grade items, two decent special items, and a set of special stealth instruments that could render one invisible under surveillance equipment. Additionally, there was one Trait Upgrade.
The two items were "Intracranial Ringtone" and "Marionette."
"Intracranial Ringtone" was an item that could enhance Spiritual Interference, doubling the effect. When used, the target would involuntarily hear music playing in their mind, and each time the music sounded, the interference would intensify.
"Marionette" allowed the user to forcibly intervene with a selected player. When activated, five invisible puppet strings would appear in the user's hand, allowing them to briefly control another person's actions from a distance, though the control time was limited.