CH 18

The short nap did no wonders for QiLeren’s overall mood, having fallen asleep in such a tense environment and was now having difficulty prying himself from the grips of his nightmare.

He had dreamt of broken segments; fleeing from the murderer, his friends’ mangled corpses, even some murky scenes from «The Nightmare Games» – under the perpetual honey-gold sunset of the sky above Dusk Village, he stood by the side of the street listening to a poet NPC’s song as passersby, cloaked with the shadow of death, rushed past with hardened purpose but not for life. This was a world without hope, order or salvation.

“It’s eleven, we better get going.” Dr Lu’s voice pulled QiLeren out of his memories and into the present as he tossed a bottle of water at him.

“How’s XueYingying?” QiLeren asked.

“She’s alright, just a bit spacey. Didn’t react to the prayer beads either so she’s probably not possessed anymore, but the possession did some damage to her body which she’s sleeping off right now. I sprinkled a lot of blood around her to hopefully keep the ghosts away,” Dr Lu said.

SuHe, still sitting in his chair by the bed, smiled back at them. “Don’t worry, if she’s still possessed we’d all be dead already.”

“……” QiLeren and Dr Lu could both agree that this kind of reassurance was worse than no reassurance. SuHe was truly a man who could put a horrifying twist on even the most earnest of phrases.

Upon leaving their hiding place, the trio carefully avoided all surveillance cameras as they made their way to the ward that Dr Lu picked out. “This room should do nicely. Come in, I’ll show you how the oxygen unit works. It’s that switch above every patient bed.”

Dr Lu closed the windows and set about demonstrating the operation of the system. “Every bed has one of these units under hospital regulation in case a patient has difficulty breathing. If the oxygen concentration is dense enough, just a spark is enough to cause an explosion big enough to kill a few people.”

QiLeren stood in this room of steadily climbing oxygen concentration with growing anxiety – they could all be killed right now with no more than a spark. “It’s not really safe to be standing around, let’s get out of here. If it explodes…”

Dr Lu took this to heart and was the first to slip out of the door.

The trio loitered around in the stairwell nearby. Dr Lu sketched a rough map of their surroundings, asking without looking up, “Is there a camera here, SuHe? I can’t really remember.”

“There’s one here and another one in the foot of that corridor,” SuHe said, pointing at specific places on the map which Dr Lu then circled.

“This is about it,” Dr Lu said. SuHe studied the simplified map for a moment.

“Alright,” he said. “You’ll need to stay in this area and pretend to be searching for clues. If the murderer is in the surveillance room, he’ll quickly notice you and approach.”

QiLeren nodded, feeling his heartrate speed up.

“The reason we picked this camera is due to its excellent position. You’ll have enough distance to ensure your safety no matter which direction he approaches from. Once he appears, you’ll need to run towards this ward here that Dr Lu chose; it’s situated at the end of a corridor, so you can act as if you ran the wrong way and was forced into the room as a last-ditch attempt. This is unlikely to arouse any suspicion.” Here, SuHe paused before continuing, “Make sure you don’t save too close to the ward, else you’ll be caught in the explosion after loading…”

“Don’t worry, I get three chances to load if I die quickly enough,” QiLeren said with a wry grimace, “so even if I get blown to pieces in the explosion after loading I’ll be able to do it a second time, then a third time. Surely the explosion will have finished by then.”

Dr Lu clicked his tongue in either admiration or sympathy, but SuHe’s face immediately darkened. “QiLeren.”

QiLeren straightened reflexively, feeling almost like he was a student being scolded by his teacher again.

“Do not keep this flippant way of thinking. Your life is the first and foremost priority no matter what the situation may be.” SuHe’s disapproval of QiLeren’s words were clear as day on his refined features. “I would rather the plan fail and think of another one than to subject you to irreversible injuries.”

This pulled QiLeren up short.

Though his agreement to act as bait was genuine, it was hard to ignore the sliver of bitterness he felt – it was the fact that only he was capable of doing so that pushed him to agree in the end. In this moment, however, SuHe’s words had eliminated all traces of resentment.

Having someone who cared about and needed him, who acknowledged him…it was a wonderful feeling.

“Don’t worry, I really want to kill that man as well! Just sit tight and wait for me to return in victory!” QiLeren said, grinning confidently as he tossed the lighter in his hand.

Dr Lu looked away. “Can you not jinx yourself before facing the boss?”

QiLeren silently slapped a hand over his mouth.

The time was now teetering on the edge of midnight, evidenced by the significant increase in both ghost numbers and attack power. The trio were forced to fend them off with the help of a restocked blood supply, without which the ghosts would prove to be a much bigger hinderance.

Once everything was in place, QiLeren quickly ran over the escape route in his mind and bid his two teammates goodbye, psyching himself up to the role of bait.

The pristine white of the walls encompassed the empty hallway. QiLeren muted his footsteps, forcing himself to look away from the red light blinking at him from a darkened corner. He pretended to be searching for something in the nearby office but never strayed too far from the doorway so that he could catch the sound of a person’s approach.

“It takes around five minutes of travel from the surveillance room to here. If we assume that the murderer’s been watching the footage this entire time, it’s highly likely that he will arrive in that timeframe,” QiLeren remembered SuHe saying.

His eyes darted up to the clock – only two minutes have passed but these two minutes felt like an entire year!

“Dr Lu’s post will be by the only path that leads to where we are now. He will signal to me as soon as he sees our target, and I will inform you. The rest is up to you.”

Phones couldn’t be used here, so this rather primitive way of information relay was their only option. It was not without its risks, but SuHe firmly believed that these were risks worth taking; after all, what right did they have to complain when compared to QiLeren’s task?

A flurry of activity drew QiLeren’s attention as he whipped around to see SuHe, sprinting down the corridor and mouthing: He’s coming!

It was as if his legs were suddenly made of heavy, heavy stone. QiLeren was terrified and didn’t bother hiding it.

SuHe engulfed him in a warm hug. “Don’t worry, you have another thirty seconds.”

“What about you?” QiLeren hissed as he pushed SuHe away. “Get out of here!”

“I’ll be fine just hiding here. Be careful,” SuHe reassured, far more relaxed than QiLeren. He slipped into a nearby office, leaving QiLeren alone and bewildered as he stared in the direction SuHe came.

Every second was a battle with the approaching scythe, swift and deadly.

You can do it, QiLeren, he told himself. You can do it.

In the silent corridor, the sound of heavy footsteps drew near.

He was here.