Chapter 222 - Cope with the Terror

The ghost was troubled indeed. It was hungry and wanted to eat fear. With its minuscule strength, it could only feed on negative energy—unlike the rest who could digest blood. He wanted to scared Liu Xiaodan, but the peculiar man was not even scared to hold his hand. It was very troubling… and awkward.

Liu Xiaodan felt the same awkwardness since the ghost looked like it was going to cry. He let go of the man's hand and turned away. If the ghost couldn't speak, then he could not help it. It could follow him around if it wanted, but he wouldn't stay longer than necessary. The father left the broken-willed ghost on its own in the hallway.

"Baba, don't be so rude to ghosts. You're stepping on their pride." Guangru giggled as they arrived at a lower floor. He knew what exactly the ghost was doing, but it couldn't even move after being defeated twice. It was just a small-time ghost that depended on the scare. It just wasn't a match to Liu Xiaodan.

"Ay, I have no idea. Don't worry, next time, I'll pretend to be scared." A laugh came as an answer, but Liu Xiaodan didn't really mean that. Only a few things could scare him now, and ghosts—no matter the strength—were not one of those things now. "Hm, there's another one. Should I fake it this time?"

Guangru only stared at the woman's form. When they got closer, he didn't need to tell Liu Xiaodan what he noticed. Even the father himself knew what it was.

Liu Xiaodan ran towards the limping figure who was humming a lullaby to herself like it could save her sanity. His hands came to hold her arm from behind, and the woman felt like her heart had stopped. However, when she turned she didn't know if she should cry or faint.

"Miss Chen!" Liu Xiaodan was shocked to see her here. Should she be in the Rooms Hall? It's just that she was limping like something on her leg had been broken. "Miss Chen, what are you doing here? Are you hurt?"

"Xiaodan..." Chen Anna used her hands to feel Liu Xiaodan's c.h.e.s.t as if verifying her sight, but she could find a heartbeat. She then stared at the man's eyes and realized that it was indeed him—a living being. She then leaned against him. "Xiaodan, I… I'm sorry. I never thought you're a good existence. I… I was so scared of you..."

The father didn't know why she was confessing right now. "Uhm, Miss Chen, I'll… I'll take you somewhere safe—"

Chen Anna shook her head. "No, no, don't believe. I'm scared. I barely escaped something… it… it was eaten by this… big thing..."

A King? Liu Xiaodan's expression grew grave. He needed to check the room where he left Li Feng. Should he ask God Raven to test out the protection? However, since it was inside him, the black bird had already told him that the protection could take on a few hits from a King such as him. They might have problems if it was Abaddon.

"Regardless, I'm going back to the Rooms Hall after this. I'll leave you with a friend of mine. He's a shaman. He'll keep you safe." Liu Xiaodan didn't give Chen Anna any room for protest when he took out the old lamp. 

He returned to the palace where Li Feng and the rest were and knocked on the glass. Nurse Miao recognized the woman and hurriedly let her in. Without another word, Liu Xiaodan left again. Nurse Miao wanted to say something, but she couldn't find him anymore. She had no choice but to return inside and checked up on Chen Anna, ransacking the room for spare bandages and other things to treat her wounds.

...

She was the last he found alive though. When Liu Xiaodan got to the connecting hallways of the Sick Hall and the Food and Leisure Hall, dead bodies were on the ground. It seemed like the Kings had come this way. They probably know that there were a lot of humans in the Rooms Hall. The father and son continued to tread along the way and found themselves in the Food and Leisure Hall.

The place was actually deserted, but there were still some people who had been killed. However, these people were all killed from cardiac arrest. The low-level ghosts must have gotten to them instead of the Kings. However, the proof that the bodies remained meant that Abaddon didn't go this way.

Guangru was actually left to consume the dead bodies. If he left it there, other spirits would take interest in those and use them for other things. Liu Xiaodan doubted that these bodies would be buried properly as well so he just left a trail of vines pulling bodies to the shadows in his wake. It's just that he decided to check every place in the Food and Leisure Hall. The more survivors he brought back, the less irate Li Feng would be.

He didn't know why he still wished to cater to that guy, but even the old Liu Xiaodan would want to save as much as he could. Ah, moreover, Chuan Nayi could be less mad at the degradation of his humanity if he saved people.

With that in mind, Liu Xiaodan searched the rooms and even called out for anyone. However, since the Kings had been there—based on the destruction, it might be too much wishful thinking to find someone alive. It's just that… he finally heard someone else call out.

"Here, I'm here..." Liu Xiaodan went to the kitchen and found someone hiding inside the cold room. Since the power was cut off in the Hall, the cold room didn't freeze him to death. He was just trapped. It was one of the chefs of the kitchen. However, when he saw the bodies in the kitchen, he couldn't help but cry. He was trapped there by his colleagues so the monsters wouldn't get to him.

"I can still hear them screaming into my ears. They were all being shredded into pieces… ah, my master… master..." He went to cry at the remaining body of the executive chef who lost half her body to whatever came here to attack them.

Liu Xiaodan frowned at the picture. Whoever came to the kitchen was too wasteful. Was it overwhelmed by the number of live humans that it could feed on? Then again, he then found bullet casings at some part of the kitchen. Whoever it was, the person was firing from the cafeteria. The casings just went inside the kitchen because they were shooting through the window where the food was being pushed out.

He then turned to the chef. "Do you have keys for the pantry? Can we loot some food? I bet the other survivors would like to eat to cope with the terror."

…

Nurse Miao just sat on the bed, feeling rather tired. The day was only halfway done, but a lot of things had already happened. Right now, the darkness in the room was reflecting the gloom in her heart. She knew that, sooner or later, this would happen if the rumors were right. 

Then again, she really couldn't leave her friends and patients here and quit because she's scared.