CH 20

Dr Lu paused for a few seconds after receiving the card before bursting into raving laughter. “IT’S A HEALING SKILL!” he screamed. “THANK YOU GOD! Someone’s looking out for little old me up there, I tell you.”

After lots of grabbing and forceful encouragement QiLeren managed to coerce the card out of Dr Lu’s hand:

[Doctor’s Orders] (Non-Binding Skill Card): Allows the holder to heal all who meet the following requirements: attractive, not a Virgo and an IQ over 100. The number of requirements met will determine the effectiveness of the treatment. Skill cooldown: 2 hour(s). The ability to work miracles comes with a price – a price for your patients. There will be no mercy given to those who do not deserve.

“Thank god I’m not a Virgo,” QiLeren muttered.

“Neither am I,” echoed SuHe. They shared a brief moment of relief.

Dr Lu had already clicked the card into his other card slot, turning to them with a delighted expression. “Oh, ye poor mortals,” he cried, “why dost thou tremble so? Fear not, for I shall grant sanctuary to those who offer me their faith!”

QiLeren thought about his bag of dog food with bitterness.

“Dr Lu is so lucky…” SuHe sighed.

“Yeah,” QiLeren agreed. “Can’t you give me a bit of that luck?”

Surprisingly, Dr Lu’s expression thawed to one of abashed embarrassment. “Well… It’s not all me… It’s mostly thanks to my skill…”

His skill? Hold on, no one’s had a look at this luck-enhancing skill of his yet. QiLeren and SuHe both turned in one swift action, leaving Dr Lu to squirm under their gaze. “Alright alright,” he conceded, moving his hand off of the belt, “you can have a look if you want. But don’t hit me.”

“I dislike getting physical under normal circumstances,” SuHe said, smiling.

Dr Lu timidly changed his focus to QiLeren. “What about you? Do you like getting physical?”

QiLeren leaned forward, face intimidating. “Are you going to give it or not? Give it over or I’m gonna start getting physical!”

“Wait wait wait I’ll give it to you! Don’t hit me! I’m fragile!” Dr Lu immediately pulled the card out and presented it respectfully to QiLeren.

…What a pushover.

Taking over the card, just the title alone was enough to make QiLeren balk:

[Mockery of a Luckster] (Binding Skill Card): Grants the holder a passive luck buff for 90 minute(s) after activation. The buff will be more powerful in the near vicinity of those with terrible luck. Skill cooldown: 3 hour(s). You are the chosen child of Lady Luck. Show those peasants what it really means to be lucky!

“Your buff…” QiLeren levelled depressed eyes at Dr Lu.

Dr Lu put his hands together apologetically. “I’m sorry! I can vaguely feel the luckiness of people around me when I have the skill equipped, and you’re…slightly worse than average.”

“…” This was the kind of thing QiLeren considered to be better left unsaid.

“SuHe seemed pretty alright though,” Dr Lu continued. “Better than you in any case. But hey, my buff wouldn’t be so powerful without you around!”

QiLeren could feel his heart slowly shattering into fine shards, never to be put together again. SuHe consolingly wound an arm around his shoulder offering soft condolences as Dr Lu rambled on in the background about how he would proactively help heal him in exchange – which didn’t make QiLeren feel any better. Didn’t that just mean he’d get injured more often from Dr Lu’s curse?!

The trio carelessly bantered in front of the charred room, completely unaware of the situation they were in until the ground below their feet let out a shudder and sent various objects far away as well as they themselves crashing to the ground. Dr Lu hit the bedframe with a pained cry. The wall, already weakened by the explosion, split down the middle with a loud crack and collapsed to reveal the endless darkness outside, shrouded in thick layers of fog.

This ward was situated at the end of the hallway, which meant that it was on the very edge of the building. Without its outermost wall, QiLeren could see the unknown yet foreboding mess that was the outside wall. Luckily, there seemed to be an invisible barrier that stood between them and the fog.

QiLeren pushed himself up and pulled Dr Lu up with him. SuHe took a few tentative steps towards the fog and observed it thoroughly.

It twisted softly, fading and thickening under the hallway’s light. It looked eerie.

It looked alive.

QiLeren gathered his wits and strode forward to stand beside SuHe. There seemed to be something within the fog, but the lighting was too dim to make it out. Having been inside the fog once before, QiLeren was cautious.

“Let’s go,” QiLeren said softly. “It’s too dangerous.”

SuHe sighed. “You’re right. We should leave.”

The two turned back to regroup with Dr Lu, perched on the edge of the scene and ready to bolt at any moment. He let out a visible huff of relief upon seeing that the two had stopped pushing their luck. “C’mon, let’s get out of this haunted place as soon as we can. We still need to check XueYingying.”

“What time is it?” SuHe asked.

“Give me a second,” Dr Lu said, taking out his phone. It had no signal but otherwise worked fine. “It’s twenty-three fifty-ni… Oh. It’s midnight.”

Midnight.

QiLeren felt a chill run down his spine. It was as if the word was a signal of some sort, bringing with it a draft that swept ash off the ground and propelled them into an aerial dance. The hallway was soon engulfed in the flurry of a black snowstorm that obscured their vision. The hallway’s light was no more than ten metres from where they stood yet felt like a whole other world away.

Dr Lu stared at his two companions with alarm from the doorway of the ward as they whipped around at almost the same time.

The barrier was gone. Meeting no resistance, the endless darkness flooded into the building.

“Run!” SuHe’s shout resonated in QiLeren’s ears he sprinted for the door.

Dr Lu had already been left far behind after a few seconds of running. “Wait, wait for me!” he called helplessly. Resigned, QiLeren doubled back to Dr Lu and dragged him along as they ran for their lives. The familiar sight of their previous camp greeted them in no time at all.

The fog behind them had disappeared sometime without them noticing, but still they ran, fuelled by the claustrophobic terror that threatened to choke.

“What’re you guys running from? Did you run into a really powerful ghost?” Not far ahead was the strange sight of XueYingying ferociously swinging a bloodied firefighter’s axe into a fast-moving ghost as she called out to them.

The sounds emitted by the ghost scraped against their ears. Its movements were too fast to pin down, causing XueYingying’s axe to miss more than a few times and embed itself into the cement walls around them. The deep groove it left behind was testament to the power in her swings.

Having dealt with the obstacle, XueYingying slung the axe over her shoulder and strode over. “I think I remember you guys saying something about killing the murderer while I was unconscious? Did you want some help with that?”

The three took an unconscious step back. XueYingying awkwardly stopped in her steps and tossed her axe to one side. “Sorry about that,” she said, raising her hands in surrender. “I don’t know what came over me, but I just felt kind of…cold? And I couldn’t really control my body? I’m sorry!”

Her words could not have mattered less to QiLeren at that moment. All that effort they spent on setting the trap was a gigantic waste of her skills! Why couldn’t they have just sent the berserker in their team in to hack at the murderer?

What a terrible, terrible waste.