CH 28

Ch28 - Plague City

The last player left the Sanatorium.

Clang—

The iron door closed automatically without the interference of wind and the lock that was hanging on it swayed slightly. And as if there was a pair of invisible hands, it locked itself. 

Then, the dense fog swept through the entire sanatorium and shrouded it. Ghosts and monsters alike lied prone on the ground, waiting for the next time the sanatorium was opened.

They were looking forward to their next revelry of flesh and blood.

In the small house.

Zhou Wenyan was still lying on the porcelain white tiles and a small pool of blood had accumulated under his body, staining his white coat red. He opened his eyes and stretched his hand out to stroke his chest.

The wound had already healed, and it only left a thin, pinkish scar.

“You will regret this.”

An indifferent voice sounded in the house. 

Zhou Wenyan propped himself up with his hands and climbed to his feet.

That person was but an empty shadow.

He was also wearing a white coat and his expression could not be perceived.

Zhou Wenyan stared at him: “Director.” 

“No,” the Director arrived by Zhou Wenyan’s side in a blink of an eye. He raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulders, weightless and void. He said: “You’re the Director now.”

An announcement from the game emerged:

【 Player Zhou Wenyan has failed the game and he will become the next Director of the Fukuyama Psychiatric Sanatorium 】

Half of the Director’s palm had already entered Zhou Wenyan’s body, and his voice was low and tinged with ruthlessness: “You will be trapped here forever, never dying, and without a vestige of hope.” 

“Players will come and go, while you… will never have relief.”

Zhou Wenyan’s body shuddered and his eyes lost its light as the Director slowly integrated with his body.

If the two were to be integrated, Zhou Wenyan as a “person” would be erased, leaving only a body without feeling, and he would completely become the next Director.

Just as the two were about to merge, the Director suddenly stopped and screamed: “No, no…” 

The Director discovered a terrifying black mist that had made itself home in Zhou Wenyan’s body, and at that moment, it surged out with a violence before it tore him apart and swallowed him.

The Director struggled desperately, trying to break away from Zhou Wenyan’s body but the former was bound tightly to the latter by tendrils of black mist. Slowly but surely, it reeled him back in.

The dark mist dispersed.

Before the Director could fully take over Zhou Wenyan’s body, he was completely devoured by the black mist. 

Zhou Wenyan opened his eyes and swiped a thumb across his lips as the corners of his mouth curled into a complacent smile. “Did you really think I would be obedient?”

There was a moment of silence in the game:

【 Even so, you cannot leave. 】

Zhou Wenyan patted his white coat and like magic, an item appeared between his index and middle fingers. 

It was the special prop that Crewcut had brought which allowed the player to detach themselves from the game regardless of clearance.

The game knew that it was helpless against Zhou Wenyan and its mood fluctuated for a moment before it said callously:

【 There is always a next time. 】

Zhou Wenyan raised an eyebrow: “There will be no next time.” 

He was not stupid; if he had been hurt once, he will never allow a second time to occur.

Without waiting for the game to reply, Zhou Wenyan strode out.

His blood-stained white coat billowed, his shirt was a mess with splatters of crimson, and he exuded a sort of unruliness and lack of inhibition.

He walked out of the fog. 

【 You have cleared [Fukuyama Psychiatric Sanatorium] 】

【 Congratulations, you have successfully escaped, Closing in Progress— 】

【 This copy is an assault copy, no points are awarded outside of the system’s scheduled games, a special item has dropped [Key Fragment*1] 】 

Shen Dongqing was holding a bronze shard in his hand which seemed to belong to the corner of a key. Before he even gave himself time to figure it out, he tucked it into his pocket, opened the door and ran out.

After binding with Zhou Wenyan, he had moved from the room allocated by the game to Zhou Wenyan’s place.

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He was still dressed according to the sanitorium’s setting – which meant, his blood-stained white coat was still on him – and because he had lost the identity the game gave him, his wound had reopened and blood was trickling out of his chest.

However, Zhou Wenyan did not seem to feel the pain; he leaned his head against the sofa and  said carelessly: “Give me a cigarette.” 

Wu Jia was going to laugh: “You still want to smoke at this time?”

“Well…” Zhou Wenyan thought about it, “Forget it, I already stopped smoking a while back. Give me a lollipop instead.”

“There’s none.” Wu Jia took out a stack of spells and pasted it on Zhou Wenyan’s body.

He applied all sorts of effects. 

Healing, blood replenishing, exorcising… even if it was not appropriate, he used everything he had on hand.

However, without any rhyme or reason, a sizzle would sound the moment it contacted Zhou Wenyan’s body, and it would emit a green smoke before it turned into a pile of ashes.

Since a dozen spells were thrown at him in one go, it was like a barbeque had started on him from the series of sizzling noises happening close to his skin.

“Useless,” Wu Jia opened the System Mall to exchange for more powerful spells as he continued to harp: “Boss, is the power of the ferocious ghost that good to use? Can you please take it easy next time, I really don’t want to collect your corpse.” 

Zhou Wenyan eyed Wu Jia: “You are not worthy of being the one to collect my corpse.”

Although he said it in a relaxed manner, the black mist that was corroding and changing his fingertips to a greenish grey made his statement sound heavy.

Wu Jia: “Of course, I’m probably going to die earlier than a senior like you…”

Before he could finish speaking, they heard a “bang” as the door was forcibly opened. 

The two of them looked over at the same time.

Shen Dongqing was standing at the door. It was hard to make out his expression because he was facing the light.

Subconsciously, Wu Jia raised his hands as he explained: “We’re innocent.”

Zhou Wenyan chuckled and feigned a kick in his direction: “Get out.” 

Wu Jia hesitated as his gaze lingered on Zhou Wenyan’s hand: “This…”

Zhou Wenyan: “I’m fine.”

Left with no choice, Wu Jia could only stride past Shen Dongqing and close the door on his way out.

Zhou Wenyan raised his eyes to look at his person. 

Shen Dongqing was still standing there and he looked a little strange.

In the past, he was always smiling or showing his little tiger tooth or his cheek would be indented with a dimple – the very image of simplicity – but his current expression was a little hard to describe.

Was he angry?

Due to the erosion of yin energy, Zhou Wenyan’s fingers were twitching unconsciously as an unbearable sort of pain coursed through him. However, his thoughts were not centered on it, and he was thinking of other matters instead. 

Will he come over and ask him why he took the risk, or will he rush to hug him?

Unfortunately.

It was neither.

Shen Dongqing had walked over and his brows were scrunched with confusion: “How did you become more delicious?” 

Zhou Wenyan repeated: “More, Delicious?”

It sounded kind of weird.

Shen Dongqing could no longer control himself.

If he were to say that the remnants of the souls back at the sanatorium were like little biscuits, then Zhou Wenyan was a platter of sumptuous seafood buffet that had been placed before him, to the extent where a fork and knife had been meticulously arranged for him. 

Who could resist this?

Zhou Wenyan did not receive his answer; he only felt his body sinking as Shen Dongqing pressed him down.

Shen Dongqing raised his head. His distinctive eyes were glittering and his voice was lowered: “Let me have one bite, just one bite.”

Before Zhou Wenyan had the time to ask how he was going to eat him, Shen Dongqing had thrown himself forward and kissed him squarely on the mouth. 

No, it was more accurate to describe it as a bite.

Shen Dongqing did not control his intensity and he broke the skin on Zhou Wenyan’s lips, causing the tang of rust to spread between them. Shen Dongqing savoured it since he could absorb the yin energy without having to bite the person, and he maintained his positioning, eyes crinkling from the tastiness of the treat.

“Boss, you…”

Having remembered something, Wu Jia pushed open the door only to have such a sight greet him. 

He froze for a beat before he quickly closed the door. He even added: “I didn’t see anything!”

After Shen Dongqing had enough to eat and drink, he immediately threw Zhou Wenyan to the side and laid himself down on the sofa.

Zhou Wenyan raised his hand and discovered the initial greenish-grey mist at his fingers had regained its vitality, and the yin energy that was threatening to break his body had weakened by a fair amount. 

Was it eaten?

He turned to look at Shen Dongqing.

Satisfied, Shen Dongqing had been lying down with half-lidded eyes when he suddenly perceived someone staring at him. Quizzically, he tilted his head: “?”

Zhou Wenyan asked: “Are you full?” 

Shen Dongqing blinked: “I’m full.”

Generously, Zhou Wenyan said: “You can have another bite.”

Shen Dongqing hesitated a little.

Reserve grains should not be eaten in one go. They had to be cultivated for a period of time before he could eat it again. 

“No,” he shook his head with much difficulty.

Zhou Wenyan raised his head to swipe off the blood from the corner of his lips. Voice dripping with temptation, he said: “Don’t you want to eat more?”

Shen Dongqing squirmed.

Zhou Wenyan waved at him like he was trying to entice a naive little white rabbit: “Come here, I’ll teach you the correct way of ‘eating’.” 

Swayed by the temptation of good food, Shen Dongqing staggered over.

“You have to do it like this…”

“That’s right, lighter.”

Zhou Wenyan was an extremely patient teacher and he was never tired of teaching his student as he pressed him down to kiss him an innumerable number of times. 

In the end, Shen Dong was full, and Zhou Wenyan was ‘full’ as well.

And ever since that day, although they did not speak about it openly, there was only a layer of window paper left between their relationship.

However, before he had the time to pierce through the layer of window paper, a new round of games had begun. 

Wu Jia complained: “Why did it come so quickly, wasn’t there supposed to be a break?”

Zhou Wenyan replied indolently: “It should come as no surprise when this unlucky game is the one arranging it.”

After he had broken through the dead end the game had set up for him, the game was surely discomforted by it. Thus, it had arranged  another game copy for them, hoping that it could resolve these unstable factors.

Shen Dongqing was no longer as lazy as he was before; he sat up straight like he was attending a class and asked in a serious tone: “What is the game copy like this time? Do we need to prepare anything?” 

Zhou Wenyan gave him a look of surprise.

He had never seen his Xiao Dongqing being so serious before, what happened?

Shen Dongqing seemed to understand the question that Zhou Wenyan was trying to convey with his eyes and he scratched his head. “I want to know more, so I can… protect you.” He was a touch embarrassed, so the latter half of his sentence was softer.

During the last copy, Shen Dongqing almost lost his reserve grain. 

Fortunately, Zhou “Reserve Grain” Wenyan was extremely skilled; not only did he not blame him, he even generously allowed him to eat his yin energy. Therefore, he had to take better care of his reserve grain to ensure that he would always have something delicious to eat in the future.

Thus, regarding the window paper or whatever it was – it was probably just Zhou Wenyan’s wishful thinking.

Shen Dongqing was not thinking about that at all.

When Zhou Wenyan heard Shen Dongqing say that, his eyes softened immediately, and he said: “I’m here. You don’t have to worry about such things, just play as you usually do.” 

Shen Dongqing pouted before he broke out into a smile: “Okay.”

The innocent Wu Jia could not help covering his eyes.

How… bright…

* 

Gudang Gudang—

The medium-sized bus rocked and wobbled as it drove down a road by the countryside.

The seats in the vehicle were all filled, and including the driver, there were ten people in total.

However, no one made a sound in the vehicle. Each and every one of them tensed in combat readiness, and none of them were novices. 

Wu Jia muttered quietly: “It seems like the difficulty of this game is not low.”

Generally speaking, games where there were newcomers were usually not too difficult, and the team death rate was around 45%, give or take a few. However, when all the players present were veterans, the team death rate could be as high as 85%.

Which means to say that in this car, most of them would not be returning alive.

Weighed down by his anxieties, Wu Jia uttered, “We don’t know what kind of game it will be either.” 

The game was roughly divided into a few types: namely the supernatural, decryption, battle royale, group confrontation and roleplaying, and it could either be focusing on one element or a combination of many.

But the two big bosses in front did not have such worries. They ate when they had to eat, and they slept when they felt like sleeping.

Halfway through the journey, the loudspeaker in the vehicle rang out.

The announcer was a gloomy woman who spoke feebly and weakly; it was like she was going to stop breathing in the next moment. 

【 You are about to enter Plague City 】

【 Please follow the guide 】

Two sentences and gone.

No game information, no clearance conditions; other than the name of the place, there was nothing else. 

A commotion broke out in the vehicle.

After witnessing enough of their panic and confusion, the woman’s voice sounded again and it was teeming with schadenfreude.

【 You can only leave Plague City by destroying the plague 】

【 Wishing the players good luck 】 

“Plague City, could it be about zombies?”

“It’s highly likely that it’s regarding zombies and we’ll probably need to find a vaccine in order to cure it.”

“What if you get bitten?”

Screech—

The driver stepped on the brake and came to a halt.

The door slowly opened. Outside, there was only a verdant green forest.

After hesitating for a while, everyone in the bus got off. 

Nine people stood in an open field as they watched the medium-sized bus drive away.

Someone started shouting: “What the hell is this fucking place? There’s nothing here!”

Some people were more settled and they went searching for clues, when they discovered that there was a road sign by the road. 

The road sign was constructed in open air and it was weathered down to the point where the words written on it were barely legible.

Left of them was Dreamland.

Going right would take them to Plague City.

“They aren’t asking us to walk, right?” 

While everyone was standing frozen still in front of the roadside, the medium-sized bus had turned around and drove back to where it had dropped them off.

Someone stopped the bus and questioned: “This is not Plague City!”

The driver rolled down the window and spoke to the person as if he was an idiot: “Who would dare to go to a ghost town like Plague City?”

“Then how do we get there?” 

The driver lifted his chin to gesture in a certain direction: “Well, your guide is here.”

The players looked in the direction he was pointing at.

There was nothing there except a towering tree.

Feeling like they had been cheated, they turned around, preparing to settle accounts with the driver. 

However, what they did not expect was that the driver had slipped away and not even the exhaust fumes of the vehicle were in sight.

While everyone was busy worrying, Shen Dongqing suddenly said: “Is that it?”

As he looked up, there happened to a cat lying on the branch.

It was an orange cat with hints of yellow in its fur who looked like it enjoyed a high position and lived in comfort from the sleekness of its fur. It was obvious at a glance that it was not a stray cat from the forest. 

The orange cat opened its eyes lazily and looked at Shen Dongqing before it let out a long “Meow—”

Following that, it jumped down from the tree and landed in front of everyone, tail upright. It held its head highly and padded along on light feet as it advanced in a certain direction. From its demeanour, it seemed to be the guide the driver was talking about.

The players looked at each other.

There lied a problem: who knew how to speak cat language, and who could translate it for them? 

The fact that these players could live to this point was a testament of  their ability and skill, but none of them understood cat language.

Seeing that the orange cat’s figure was about to disappear, the group quickly chased after it.

Not long after, they saw a small city. 

The city walls were not high and they could see the different styles of buildings the city had.

And at the front gate, a fair and clean lady was seated there, and she did a simple registration for them before she allowed them entry.

She even said to them: “I hope you will have a good time.”

It was as if she was admitting tourists and guests. 

As they followed along a small stone path, they saw that the city was neat and clean.

There were no zombies, and there was no plague. Rather, there were a multitude of cute little animals lying on the eaves as they basked in the sun.

Someone blurted out: “Where’s the plague? Where did the zombies go?”