CH 3

In front of Yue Xingwen was a dark and empty corridor, with only a light source appearing at the end of the corridor. He lightened his steps and walked towards the light source. Upon entering the sliding door at the light source, a transparent hover box appeared above his head with the course information——

Faculty of Medicine’s compulsory course: Escape from the Laboratory 

Limitation: Single-person

Credit: 2 credits

Course Description: You are an intern doctor who is about to enter a mysterious clinical laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine, which had been used for clinical experiments on animals. Strangely enough, at some point, the animals in the laboratory seem to become agitated.

Exam Requirement: Escape from the laboratory through the exit ahead directly within 30 minutes. 

Additional Question: Find the drug that caused the animal’s mutation and take it out of the lab. Complete the additional question to get +20 of the examination score.

Line after line of characters skipped quickly before his eyes.

Additional question? It was not uncommon for additional questions to appear on exam papers, and the additional questions in the game should be similar to hidden quests in online games, where there were extra rewards for doing them and it would not affect the clearance for not doing it. Complete the additional question to get +20 of the examination score, by multiplying it with 2 credits, he could get additional 40 points. A mosquito was still meat, so he had to try to complete such a hidden quest if he could.

Yue Xingwen made up his mind and pushed open the door in front of him that said ‘Clinical Laboratory’. As he entered the laboratory, the down jacket on his body disappeared and was replaced by a brand-new white coat with the name tag of ‘Intern Doctor: Yue Xingwen’ written on the chest in the upper left corner of his white coat.

The library system could actually change his clothes as they please?

Yue Xingwen, whose clothes changed into a white coat, was shocked. Perhaps, the library system was not joking when he said, ‘If you fail here, you will also be obliterated in reality.’ —— He was unlucky enough to be dragged into this bizarre ‘real-life survival game’.

The countdown of [30:00] appeared in the hover box. Yue Xingwen clenched his fist and walked forward quickly.

The incandescent light overhead him seemed to be broken, emitting ‘zi zi’ noise, flickering on and off, making the whole laboratory atmosphere become particularly eerie. This place should be the doctor’s office, there were two desks and chairs as well as two computers. 

The computer was turned off, so Yue Xingwen tried to turn it on—— both computers had a password and he could not access the desktop. If he was a computer science student, he might be able to forcefully crack the system, but he was a Chinese language and literature student and he did not understand computer systems, so it was better not to waste time.

Yue Xingwen turned around to look for other clues.

He pulled open the desk drawer and saw a lot of experimental data records, he simply could not understand these densely packed data at all. Yue Xingwen closed the drawer to continue to search other places, he crouched down to look under the table carefully, and found a book in the corner, blocked by the seat. Yue Xingwen extended his arm and tried to pull out the book. There was some bloodstain on the book, and the cover read ‘Laboratory Diary’.

“July 10th, Sunny. 

Today, I came to the new laboratory with my senior brother and senior sister. The experiment will last for three months and we will be able to write our thesis after it is finished. This research project is so significant that we might be able to publish several journals to SCI, and our teacher helped us to apply for a 200,000 yuan research fund, which is awesome.”

“July 15th, Cloudy.

Senior brother bought a new batch of new experimental animals. The little rabbits were so cute.”

“August 27th, Drizzle. 

Ktf olgra qtjrf bo atf fzqfglwfca kjr remmfrroeiis mbwqifafv jcv atf jclwjir kfgf byrfgnfv vjlis. Ktf cfk vgeu tjr yffc lcpfmafv, jcv la lr ralii ecxcbkc ktja gfjmalbc klii bmmeg.”

“Vfqafwyfg 1ra, Lfjns Ejlc.

Ktlcur kfgfc’a delaf gluta jcv P kjr j ilaaif rmjgfv. Qtfc P kfca ab atf ijybgjabgs lc atf wbgclcu ab mtfmx, P obecv rfnfgji vfjv jclwjir. Zs rfclbg ygbatfg jcv rfclbg rlrafg tjcvifv atf jclwjir’ mbgqrfr jcv abiv wf atja atf jclwjir tjnf vloofgfca mbcralaealbcr jcv rbwf wluta cba yf jyif ab abifgjaf atf cfk vgeu, rb P vlvc’a tjnf ab kbggs. Ktf wbgajilas lr meggfcais ifrr atjc 5%, jcv kf mjc mbcalcef ab byrfgnf.”

Flipping further back, Yue Xingwen noticed a large amount of unpleasant bloodstains appeared in the record. 

The person who wrote the diary was obviously panicked, the handwriting became very sloppy, and most of it was smeared with blood stains. Several words that could be seen were faintly read: “Senior brother, he is… crazy… there is blood everywhere… I want to leave this——”

The word ‘this’ was followed by a long black scratch that cut through the paper.

Yue Xingwen frowned and put the diary back on the table.

There were few clues in the diary, but it could be inferred that the laboratory had a large number of animals, as well as at least three graduate students from the Department of Medicine. Assuming that the animal mutation in the laboratory affects humans, was he going to encounter these three already-mutated bosses in his escape? 

Yue Xingwen continued to rummage through the desk, but found nothing more. He had to move forward.

There was a metal door in front of him, and Yue Xingwen was on guard, he squeezed his palm that contained the Modern Idiom Dictionary and pushed the door open——

There was an incessant ‘ji ji’ sound in his ears, a sharp, piercing sound that nearly made his scalp burst!

Yue Xingwen stared at his surrounding, only to see a full pack of iron cages on both sides of the laboratory. Each cage contained a fat experimental rat, and these rats were running around restlessly in the cage. The plates used for feeding in the cages were all knocked over, and they seemed to be struggling to run out, but could not escape because of the restraints of the cage. 

Many of the iron cages had mottled blood stains, presumably left over from the rats frantically banging on them. There were hundreds of live rats in the whole laboratory, Yue Xingwen frowned as he strides forward the corridor in the middle of the iron cages, and the rats on both sides stared and screamed at him incessantly, causing him to wince.

The Faculty of Medicine’s course was so fucking perverted!

Rats were commonly used as experimental subjects by the medical students and they would be used to see it. But for the students in other majors, it was really hard to adapt to double impact in visual and sound, and those who were afraid of rats would probably be scared to death when they walked into this lab.

Fortunately, all the cages were closed, and the rats, even if they were restless and irritable, could only run around and screech in the cages. 

He couldn’t imagine what a scene it would be if all those iron cages were opened and the rats swarmed out…

[Countdown 28 minutes 30 seconds]

Yue Xingwen glanced at the countdown overhead and darted over to the end of the laboratory and pushed open the next door.

—— A strong stench came over him like a huge wave, and the scene that greeted his eyes made his heartbeat almost stop! 

Fuck, speak of the devil and it really comes. All of the iron cages in this laboratory were open!

The whole laboratory was full of rabbit corpses, lying crookedly on the ground, most of which were disemboweled, and their white fur was covered by unpleasant bloodstains. While the dozens of rabbits that were still alive, with their eyes as red blood, were frantically tearing the corpses of their own kinds!

All of the iron cages’ gates were opened, and they dragged the corpses of their companions around. The whole laboratory was messy, and the middle passage was full of dismembered bodies, rabbit fur, and blood.

The moment Yue Xingwen pushed open the door, as if smelling something good, the living rabbits pricked up their ears in unison and turned their heads collectively to look at him—— 

Yue Xingwen knew that something was wrong after facing countless pairs of blood-red rabbit eyes. He hurriedly took his legs off and ran wildly towards the end of the laboratory at the speed of a hundred meters sprint!

The ground was covered in blood, but he could not be bothered by it. There was something wrong with this strange laboratory, all the animals were acting madly, and maybe he would get infected with this strange illness if he was bitten by the animals.

Yue Xingwen ran very fast. When the rabbits reacted, they immediately made a cooing sound and chased after him in groups!

The stench that assaulted his nostrils made Yue Xingwen feel nausea, he fought the urge to vomit- and moved forward at the fastest speed. 

The herd of rabbits squeaking behind him made Yue Xingwen’s scalp numb, as if he would be surrounded and torn into chunks of flesh by them if he ran one step slower. He was a liberal arts student, and it was the first time he had seen so many rabbits. The cute little white rabbit who was furry, like to eat carrots in his impression had become a group of mad rabbits chasing him and eating the corpses of their own kinds!

After this experience, he might have a psychological shadow on this kind of animal like ‘rabbits’…

Yue Xingwen was tall and had long legs. He could run faster than the small, short-legged rabbits.

It took him less than half a minute to run to the end of the laboratory and simply push open the metal door in front of him. After entering the door, he immediately closed the door behind him with his hand, isolating the rabbits behind the it and the mad rabbits that were running after him slammed the door. 

The sound of rabbits scratching at the door with their paws could still be heard in his ears, just like sharp fingernails scratching the blackboard, making his teeth ache.

Yue Xingwen leaned against the metal door and caught his breath slightly.

He looked ahead and found that the room he had entered was the center of the instrumental laboratory. The metal instruments laid out on the table glowed coldly in the light; He did not recognize the Department of Medicine’s instruments, but he clearly saw a dissection table with a rabbit corpse on it and there were also blood stained scalpels, tweezers, scissors, and other surgical instruments arranged next to it.

Yue Xingwen then remembered the ‘additional question’ in the course prompt—— to let him find the drug that caused the animal’s mutation. 

It was impossible for researchers to put the drugs in a place where the animals were kept. The drugs in the laboratory must be stored separately from the animals, so, most likely, the answer was in this room full of instruments.

Yue Xingwen took a deep breath and rummaged through the instrument center swiftly.

He quickly found a freezer in the corner where the drugs were stored and pulled open the freezer, the cold air hit Yue Xingwen’s face and made him sneeze.

There were a lot of drugs here, with transparent liquids in its test tubes, and there were various red and blue reagents, which were marked with the drugs’ names, such as ‘tumor target cell drug’, ‘ immunity inhibitor’,  ‘Cephalosporin antibiotic’… 

Which drug caused the animal mutation? Wasn’t the additional question to find the drug deliberately difficult for the liberal arts students?

With 25 minutes left in the countdown, Yue Xingwen decided to take another closer look.

The drugs on the top shelf of the freezer did not seem like the right answer to him, so he bent down to look at the lower row, and then his good eyes spotted a transparent glass test tube in the bottom row with a label that read ‘New EBEoV-II Antiviral Potent Drug’.

The name was so different, and there was also an English word. 

It was some kind of virus he could not understand, but subconsciously, he felt that there was something wrong with this drug.

With his shallow comprehension, clinical experiments usually involved experimenting various drugs on animals first. After determining that it could cure the diseases on the animals and had no side effects, they would find volunteers to try the drugs on people.

In this strange laboratory, where all the rats and rabbits were restless, the researchers must have given them some injection, letting them carry some disease first, then injected them with the corresponding potent drug, and the side effect of this potent drug caused the animals to mutate.

The words ‘New drug’ were also mentioned in the dairy earlier. 

New EBEoV-II Antiviral Potent Drug, this is the right answer!

Without further hesitation, Yue Xingwen took out this new drug and put it in his pocket. Anyway, it was an additional question, so it was not a loss even if he was wrong.

He closed the freezer, turned around and continued on.

There was a garbage can next to the door at the end of the instrument room, marked with an exclamation point and the words ‘Contaminant Garbage Can’, there was also a broom, mop, bucket and other cleaning tools. 

The garbage can was full of disgusting animal corpses, Yue Xingwen averted his eyes and picked up the broom with his right hand.

After passing the rooms with rats and rabbits, then seeing this instrumental room, coupled with finding the drug for the additional question, many people would think that the course exam was about to end—— After all, the additional question was the last thing to be done during the exam.

But there were still 20 minutes left in the countdown, and Yue Xingwen felt that things were not so simple.

He grasped the broom firmly and pushed open the next door. 

Then, his back felt a goosebump——

The third laboratory was even more terrifying than the first two.

They were monkeys. The red-eyed, screeching, blood-covered, crazy monkeys!

They scattered around, biting at each other, and their shrill cries were deafening. 

There was no place in the laboratory where they could swing, so they crawled along the iron cages. The monkeys’ climbing ability was already very good, and after they went crazy, each one became a flying Spider-Man, hanging all the fours walls. There was even a monkey who climbed up to the ceiling, and it suddenly hung its feet upside down on the chandelier on the ceiling, screeched, stretched out its sharp claws and pounced at Yue Xingwen as he entered the door——

The red palm with the sharp claws scratched at his face, Yue Xingwen’s spine tensed instantly, and he swung the broom in his hand at the crazy monkey above his head almost subconsciously! The monkey shrieked at his blow, retracting its sharp claws and glaring at him viciously with reddened eyes.

Yue Xingwen was so angry that he wanted to shout foul language.

There was actually a big question behind the additional question, what kind of lunatic came up with this exam paper?!