The nurse stood one step below on the staircase. Although positioned lower, the expression that slightly lifted to look over here, along with the aura emanating from her body, was sharp and icy, filled with an oppressive force.
The bloodstains on the pale nurse's dress outlined her graceful figure, with drops scattered across the hem like falling plum blossoms.
The nurse sister was indeed beautiful, but she was also dangerous.
Tao Tao froze due to the gun in the other's hand.
She calmly met the nurse's dark and crazed gaze, and at that moment, the shudder of death crept back into her heart.
"Nur... Nurse sister... you're scaring me."
Tao Tao lowered her head, seemingly frightened and afraid because of the gun, but her eyes were firmly fixed on the other's gun-holding hand. At the same time, the hand that hung by her side stealthily reached for the surgery knife in her pocket.
This was something she had pocketed on her second escape. This time she had prepared nothing, but when she left, the knife appeared inside her hospital uniform.
Tao Tao no longer wanted to know about the bizarre situations in this hospital; right now, she only wanted to complete her seemingly extremely simple task before the system's countdown ended.
At that moment, the nurse let out an odd, cold chuckle, and her gun-wielding hand lifted.
At that instant, Tao Tao also made her move!
However, Tao Tao, who had drawn the surgery knife, immediately stopped her forward motion as a question mark popped up in her mind.
Because she saw the originally grim nurse suddenly become unsettled, moving the gun barrel away and frantically looking around, as if she saw right through the person in front of her, as if she couldn't see her at all.
What's going on?
But since the other party hadn't noticed her, Tao Tao naturally wouldn't act rashly; she looked around with puzzlement.
But apart from her and the nurse, there was nothing else around.
Could it be that weird time had separated her and the nurse into two different spaces?
But why could she see the nurse?
As Tao Tao was befuddled, calming down to speculate, she finally noticed that there seemed to be a hand tugging at her clothes from behind!
Tao Tao quickly turned around, ready to attack, but upon seeing the person before her, she once again stopped the descending surgery knife.
The paranoia-stricken girl timidly clung to her, making a shushing gesture.
Tao Tao was stunned, her brow furrowed in silence, but she didn't resist, letting the girl pull her down the stairs, sticking close to the wall, carefully avoiding the nurse who was suspiciously surveying the air around her.
After the two reached the first floor, they quickened their pace and ran out of the stairwell.
With the crisis temporarily abated, Tao Tao shook off the girl's hand, and without any courtesy, demanded, "Hey, aren't you going to explain something?"
The girl spoke timidly in a low voice, "It's... it's 'Delusion of Vision'. When I'm scared and want to hide from those who are chasing me, I can make them unable to see me. They can't see the things I touch either..."
"With such a powerful ability, why didn't you escape from the hospital sooner?!" Tao Tao stared at her suspiciously, saying out loud the complaint that was in her heart.
"Outside, there are even more people who want to kill me... even more than here... The doctors and nurses here were normal before, but now, they've changed, they want to kill me too..." The girl's voice was as low as a mosquito's.
Just say the whole world wants to harm you!
Tao Tao glanced at the girl and said "thank you" before continuing to walk quickly outside.
She didn't want to take the girl with her. After all, they were only in the roles of players and game NPCs; even among players, there wouldn't be any real-world connections, because they wouldn't recognize each other.
The hospital's main entrance was now close at hand.
This time, once she got out, she would truly escape!
"Damn it! Are they insane?!"
Tao Tao cursed out loud, her chest burning with an irritation she had barely kept in check until now, reignited by a series of unexpected events. She felt so angry that she wanted to kill someone.
Was Director Zhang's mission to prevent the patients from leaving the hospital?
No matter what, she was determined to make that madman fail his mission—even if it cost her life!
Tao Tao couldn't help but struggle a few more times in anger, causing some noise, then she immediately calmed down.
Cool-headed, she flipped through the Player's Handbook, but got angry all over again when she saw that many useful rare items were frozen and couldn't be used!
Which dumbass planner designed a test script that doesn't allow the use of several system items?!
Tao Tao trembled with anger, half due to her character's physical reaction, and half because she was genuinely infuriated.
Would she have to reluctantly use one of her rare items again?
Having played scripted murder games for so long, Tao Tao only had two rare items, both meant for escaping and saving her life: a Resurrection Card and a Teleportation Talisman.
But to use them here felt like such a waste.
Especially since the hospital's entrance was less than fifty meters away.
Just as she was lamenting her items, suddenly, a faint sound came from nearby.
Tao Tao sharply looked up but saw nothing. However, she could still hear the soft footsteps close by. She hesitated, then asked with a frown, "Number Six?"
Number Six was a patient from room six, suffering from severe delusional paranoia.
Then, Tao Tao's vision blurred, and there stood the girl holding a scalpel, shaking terribly.
Seeing the expression on the girl's face and the way she couldn't even hold the scalpel steady, Tao Tao wondered for a moment if this girl was here to kill her in some kind of twisted script but couldn't go through with it.
"I... I got scared when I saw Director Zhang... and I hid, I'm sorry..." the girl said, trembling.
"So, right now you are just..." Tao Tao looked at her, and then glanced at the scalpel in her hand.
It seemed she picked up the scalpel that had fallen in the courtyard earlier.
The girl moved forward, carefully cutting the ropes, saying, "I... I'll help you get free..."
Tao Tao watched how her hands shook, half expecting that before the rope was cut, she'd have several new cuts on her own arms.
But the girl's actions were meticulous, moving the blade little by little as if afraid to hurt her.
Seeing this, Tao Tao's gaze grew complex.
She hadn't planned on bringing along this liability when escaping.
"Hey, why are you helping me? You said everyone here wants to kill you. Aren't you afraid I'll kill you later?" she couldn't help but ask.
"..."
Hearing this, the girl stopped her cutting, slowly lifted her head, and gazed intensely at Tao Tao. A disturbing flush spread across her face.
She looked into Tao Tao's eyes and said with a twisted smile, "Because I know, in this rotting, sinking hospital, you're the only sane person. You would never hurt me."
The girl put her hand on Tao Tao's face, a gentle smile on her typically timid and fearful features.
Tao Tao felt a chill, convinced there were no sane people in this hospital!
But she didn't resist.
It was just freeloading for a while. In this desperate situation, she didn't mind being forceful...