Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital 6

Dead silence fell over Cicada Call.

Everyone had thought it would go well. Qi Chanyang, No. 1, was an experienced player. Confident he could handle any emergency, he had been willing to set an example for the newcomers.

But no one had expected the NPC order not to start with No. 1.

And no one knew why it had begun with Gu Shanshan. If it was because of the eyeball they had seen during the day, it should have begun with Lu Xiaoqin.

If the order was random, then any similar situation in the future might also follow a random order.

By now, they had all heard what No. 4 had said. The child's words, so innocent and malicious at once, made their hearts tremble.

And this was no real little girl. It was a monster.

After a long silence, the doctor's voice came over Cicada Call again.

"Doctor's rounds."

Xue Kai's voice shook with tears. "What do I do? It's my turn. Do I... do I take the medicine?"

Qi Chanyang pinched his palm. Before he could speak, Gu Shanshan took a deep breath, and her voice steadied.

"Take it."

She looked at No. 4 lying beside her. The little monster was beaming at her, all the hands on her four arms moving happily, visibly anticipating what was about to happen.

Gu Shanshan had been watching her the whole time.

At dinner, No. 4 had seemed listless, sitting obediently and eating.

But now, perhaps it was only Gu Shanshan's imagination, but the monster's body seemed to have grown larger.

Gu Shanshan was just an office worker. She could not even finish an eight-hundred-meter run in her daily life. She knew perfectly well that she could not go toe-to-toe with an instance NPC like this.

She could not beat it.

Even if Gu Shanshan exercised every day, what chance would she have against a monster like this?

She was afraid, but Gu Shanshan knew fear was useless now.

"Just now, she said, 'None of us took our medicine, so none of us will be sleepy today.' I think after taking this medicine, both we and the patient NPCs will fall asleep. At least it will keep us safe today. But if we don't take it... I don't know about your situations, but on my end..."

Gu Shanshan gave a bitter laugh as she looked at No. 4 beside her.

No. 4 was trimming her nails. With a light snap of her left hand, she pulled off the long thumbnail on her right hand. In the blink of an eye, a new nail grew from the bare finger, longer than the last and glinting metallically at the edge.

Like a cat sharpening its claws before a hunt.

Gu Shanshan's voice remained steady. "I'm certain I can't beat her. I even suspect I wouldn't last a second."

Cicada Call was as quiet as a graveyard.

Xue Kai let out a sob. "Then... then I'll take it."

"Take it. At least get through today. Tomorrow, you can think of another way." Gu Shanshan moved into a corner, watching No. 4, who was about to feast, and tried to contribute every clue she had gathered.

"He Xin's cart has two shelves. The medicine he gave the NPCs came from the top shelf, while mine came from the bottom shelf."

Xue Kai hurried to respond. "Mine came from the bottom shelf too!"

"Then... perhaps taking three pills from the top shelf won't kill you, but three of the pills given to us might. My guess is, if the instance has a setting like that, you may be able to swap your medicine for the medicine on the top shelf."

"And He Xin's cart held more than medicine. There were many bottles of liquid too. I saw a Gold Conceive Award label on one of them. I think that cart may be useful."

"He Xin and Han Qi are superior and subordinate, but He Xin doesn't seem very convinced by Han Qi... I don't know whether those interpersonal relationships matter in an instance, but if we can't find another opening, it may be worth trying."

When Gu Shanshan had said everything she could think of, Qi Chanyang's voice came through.

"Don't be afraid. As soon as the doctor finishes this room, I'll come help you!"

Even so, Gu Shanshan could hear that he was not very sure of himself either.

Qi Chanyang most likely would not take the pill. That meant he first had to face the patient NPC in his room, and he would have to act after the doctor left. If he had to face two doctor NPCs and a patient NPC at the same time, Gu Shanshan thought even an experienced player would find it extremely difficult.

By the time Qi Chanyang dealt with his NPC and came to find Gu Shanshan, she really would be nothing but bones.

Gu Shanshan covered her eyes and took another deep breath.

"Brother Qi, thank you. But make sure you keep yourself safe first."

Then she looked at No. 4 again.

Having pulled out the nails on her hands, No. 4 was now pulling out the nails on her "feet." Before long, a small pile of nail clippings had accumulated in front of her.

It was not an illusion. No. 4 really was getting bigger.

Gu Shanshan looked away and examined her clothes.

After a while, she asked, "Brother Qi, if I violate a death rule, will an NPC definitely come after me?"

Qi Chanyang froze, then immediately answered, "Yes!"

Gu Shanshan thought back over the night rules posted in the hallway.

The first rule: trash bins could not contain trash... Then she would toss something in shortly.

The second and third rules probably would not work. Gu Shanshan felt that at her speed, No. 4 would kill her before she could even open a door.

The fourth rule: no staying in the restroom longer than ten minutes.

Perfect. She would go sit in the restroom at once.

Gu Shanshan could not beat No. 4 herself. She needed reinforcements. She needed to trigger a killing rule.

Even if the NPC came to hunt her down, thinking of the best possible outcome, perhaps that NPC would hunt No. 4 as well.

Of course, it was also possible that the NPC and No. 4 would hunt her together.

But Gu Shanshan had no other choice.

She slowly sat upright.

The doctors did not move particularly slowly when making rounds and handing out medicine. They had already randomly reached Sun Miao, No. 7.

Ten minutes... about right.

Gu Shanshan picked up her jacket, rolled into a ball around the medicine, and got out of bed.

No. 4 slowly turned her head.

The doll-like little girl had grown an entire size. Flesh from who knew where stretched her skin until it split, exposing a sticky yellow layer of fat.

Suspicious fluid dripped onto the floor, but she wiped it up at once.

"Big sister, where are you going?" Her face was still that of a cute doll-like little girl, but her voice had become hoarse and rough.

Gu Shanshan turned around. "I'm going to the restroom."

No. 4 stared at her without stopping her, perhaps believing Gu Shanshan had nowhere to run.

The moment Gu Shanshan reached the restroom, she locked the door behind her. First, she looked around.

The restroom looked like an ordinary restroom. Gu Shanshan picked up the only thing that was reasonably handy: a plunger.

Perhaps because she had already prepared herself to die, she could still think at a time like this: a plunger was a wonderful thing. Even if she could not beat her opponent to death, she could disgust them before dying.

Qi Chanyang had already understood her meaning.

"Five minutes! If you can hold on for five minutes after the doctor leaves, I'll come as soon as I deal with No. 1!"

Gu Shanshan smiled. "Okay."

She threw the medicine-wrapped jacket into the trash bin... It was a restroom trash bin, but that should still trigger the killing rule, right?

Lu Xiaoqin cried over Cicada Call. "It's my turn."

Gu Shanshan encouraged her. "It's okay. You can do it."

Choking back sobs, Lu Xiaoqin insisted that she had not seen an eyeball. Gu Shanshan heard the doctor grind his teeth, but he could only tell He Xin to give her one pill.

Lu Xiaoqin swallowed it.

The medicine took effect quickly, and Lu Xiaoqin's crying soon faded away.

One player after another fell silent in Cicada Call.

Qi Chanyang, No. 1, was instead the last to receive the doctor's rounds.

"Are you sure you swallowed it?" The doctor's cold gaze rested on him.

Qi Chanyang opened his mouth.

The doctor only sneered.

After the ward door closed, Qi Chanyang moved his mouth and spit the pill back out, like a cow chewing its cud.

This was one of his skills: Cow Stomach. It allowed him to swallow things and spit them out later. In an instance, it was effectively an unrestricted System Inventory.

Sure enough, not long after he spat out the pill, No. 1 slowly climbed out of bed and, like him, spat out the pill he had swallowed.

"Let's play a game!" No. 1's hair spread across the bed like a thick layer of seaweed. His arms hung limply over it, lengthening along with the hair.

"The game is called: Count How Many Bones You Have."

Qi Chanyang exhaled, flipped his palm over, and drew a curved weapon resembling the bone of some large fish.

Gift of the Whale Fall.

It was the weapon he had obtained from his first instance. It was extremely sturdy, and every swing came with a current of water. The water contained a toxin that numbed the nerves, making it a formidable offensive item.

Come on.

The moment the doctor NPC outside the door was gone, Qi Chanyang would attack.

No. 1 crouched on the bed, waiting for the doctor NPC to leave just as he was.

The cart squeaked as it rolled away from No. 1's ward, heading straight to the right.

To the right?

Hadn't they come from the left...?

Qi Chanyang suddenly remembered.

"The NPCs... haven't gone to No. 9's ward yet, have they?"

Gu Shanshan was startled too. After thinking it over, she nodded. "No, they haven't."

They were done for.

Xie Fangcheng did not know he had to take the medicine.

That kid did not look like the type to obediently take medicine, either.

Qi Chanyang tightened his grip on his weapon.

He had to move faster!

Just then, he heard a huge crash!

It felt as if the entire building had been struck. It swayed precariously.

"What was that? Did an NPC come to your side?" Qi Chanyang hurriedly asked.

Dead silence filled Cicada Call.

Qi Chanyang touched his ear and found that the jade cicada had vanished.

Time was up.

He looked up. No. 1 was crouching on the bed, bewildered.

...He could not wait any longer. He would gamble!

Qi Chanyang raised Gift of the Whale Fall and charged at No. 1.

......

In No. 4's ward.

After the massive crash, Gu Shanshan hurriedly asked, "What happened? Did something go wrong over there?"

Soon, she realized that Cicada Call's time was up as well.

Gu Shanshan had nothing to tell time with, but the restroom was getting colder and colder. Outside the door, No. 4's shadow had kept circling the restroom door, its huge form swaying back and forth. It had probably been nearly ten minutes.

Could that crash just now have been the NPC sent to hunt her down?

With such a huge commotion, she hoped it would fight No. 4.

With that thought, Gu Shanshan gripped her plunger tightly.

Then No. 4, apparently finally out of patience, slapped the door with a huge palm like a cattail fan.

"Big sister, you've been in the restroom for nine minutes. If you don't come out, Auntie Guan will get angry."

"Who's Auntie Guan?"

Although No. 4 had grown bigger, her intelligence seemed to have declined.

She only kept slapping the door.

"You've been in the restroom for nine minutes and ten seconds."

"You've been in the restroom for nine minutes and twenty seconds."

...

"You've been..." A shrill scratching sound rang out as nails raked across the door. "...in there for ten minutes! Time to come out!!"

Crack!

The door was smashed apart with a slap from outside, and sharp nails reached through it.

Caught off guard, Gu Shanshan's arm was pierced through by the nails.

She fell sharply backward and saw the "person" standing in the doorway.

It could no longer be called human. It was more like a mass of skinless flesh in motion.

No. 4 stepped into the room, with only her face retaining its original appearance.

The corners of her lips curled up as she looked at the food before her in delight.

"Delicious, delicious..."

As she spoke, No. 4's arm suddenly extended.

Just as her nails were about to touch Gu Shanshan, the restroom faucet suddenly spat out a clump of hair. Then a face flowed out, followed by a neck.

At a moment like this, Gu Shanshan absurdly remembered what Xie Fangcheng had said earlier.

The pipe is so narrow. She crawls out a bit, you chop off a bit. She crawls out a bit, you chop off a bit...

Now a female ghost really was flowing out of the pipe, and Gu Shanshan actually felt Xie Fangcheng's method might work.

Unfortunately, the restroom contained more than one ghost that could be chopped off bit by bit as it crawled out.

No. 4 shrieked and drove her nails into Gu Shanshan's abdomen, lifting her into the air in one motion.

The face that had retained its little-girl appearance split down the middle, revealing a vertical row of sharp teeth.

The teeth opened, ready to swallow Gu Shanshan whole.

The agony made Gu Shanshan's entire body shake. Driven by her will to survive, she raised the plunger and jammed it against those sharp teeth, keeping herself from falling into No. 4's mouth.

It only bought her a second. The female ghost flowing from the pipe had already taken shape. She pounced on No. 4's face, and her long hair forcibly clamped No. 4's open jaws shut.

"She's my food!"

"Bullshit! She's mine!"

Gu Shanshan was thrown to the doorway. She spat out blood mixed with torn chunks of flesh.

Her unfocused gaze rested on the NPCs fighting ferociously in the restroom. Her body's self-protective response had already robbed her of any feeling of pain, and she even had the leisure to think: Her best-case scenario had actually come true...

Maybe after dying twice, you really did get used to it.

Gu Shanshan's head tilted to one side, and she passed out.

......

In No. 1's ward.

Qi Chanyang pulled Gift of the Whale Fall from No. 1's chest, and the NPC toppled backward.

The room was choked with dense hair. Qi Chanyang bent over and took a few breaths, coughing up a clump of blood tangled with hair.

In truth, his blood vessels were clogged with hair. If he had not cleared six instances and developed a physique far beyond that of an ordinary person, this would have been enough to kill Qi Chanyang several times over.

He had been careless.

He had assumed a Level-One Dungeon's NPCs would not be that strong. He had never expected the NPCs in this instance to be nearly as powerful as those in a Tier-Two Instance.

And this was only a patient NPC. What about the doctors? The Director?

It seemed this instance had to be cleared with brains. Brute force would not work.

Qi Chanyang coughed up another clot of blood. Gritting his teeth, he opened the system store and used points to exchange for a recovery potion.

A flash of white light appeared in his hand, and a small black bottle materialized in Qi Chanyang's palm.

He opened it and tipped back the liquid. Almost instantly, his injuries healed and his body returned to peak condition.

The points needed for this bottle were roughly the reward for clearing a Level-One Dungeon. Together with the one-use item Cicada Call he had used earlier, this instance was costing him dearly.

Even so, after catching his breath, Qi Chanyang went to the door and opened it.

Outside was pitch-black. The hallway lights had gone out. Only the fierce sounds of fighting from No. 4's ward could be heard.

Any sound was good news.

Qi Chanyang stepped out, and his whole body abruptly shuddered.

He turned his head to the left. Nothing could be seen in the black hallway, yet Qi Chanyang felt something standing not far away, watching him.

He gripped his weapon and dashed to No. 4's ward in two strides, pulling out a tiny key with his right hand.

The master key, another one of his items.

Click. The door opened at once.

A bloody stench hit him. The two NPCs were still fighting in the restroom, while Gu Shanshan lay outside it, dead or alive unknown.

There was no time!

The thing in the corridor was approaching fast. Killing both NPCs before it arrived was practically impossible.

Qi Chanyang slung Gu Shanshan over his shoulder and rushed from the room without stopping, heading for No. 9's ward.

No. 9 should have only one NPC. Once he shut the door, he could still fight.

He just did not know how Xie Fangcheng was doing. That kid had better not already be dead.

Now he could only pray that the thing in the corridor also had to obey the rules and would not smash its way in...

"Fuck!"

Qi Chanyang cursed when he reached No. 9's ward.

No. 9's room had apparently been through something. The entire door looked as though it had been blasted apart, with only half of it remaining. The room was dark. Never mind Xie Fangcheng, there was not even an NPC inside.

The thing behind him was getting closer and closer...

No choice!

After entering, Qi Chanyang lifted the hospital bed and braced it across the doorway.

This counted as a door, right? The NPC had to obey the rules too, right??

The thing outside stopped before this strange "door." A few seconds later, it knocked softly.

"Hello. Your room is dirty. Would you like it cleaned?"

Qi Chanyang held the bed in place without answering.

Two or three seconds later, the thing knocked again, more forcefully this time.

"Hello. Your room is dirty. Would you like it cleaned?"

Qi Chanyang let it knock. Before long, footsteps sounded outside the door, and the thing left.

Fuck...

Qi Chanyang slumped to the floor. After catching his breath, he took a flashlight from his inventory, turned it on, and went to check Gu Shanshan's injuries first.

Her abdomen was split wide open. Her ribs and lungs were damaged. Her breath was so faint it was almost imperceptible. She was on the verge of death.

Fuck...

Qi Chanyang cursed inwardly again, but his hands moved quickly as he bought another bottle of medicine, propped Gu Shanshan up, and poured it into her mouth.

The system's products were expensive, but their effects were first-rate.

The person who had been about to die moments ago was breathing evenly now, and soon opened her eyes.

Gu Shanshan looked confused. "...Brother Qi? I'm alive?"

"You're alive." Qi Chanyang gave a wry smile. After spending the points from an entire Level-One Dungeon, of course she was alive.

Gu Shanshan touched her lower abdomen.

The spot that had been pierced through was perfectly intact now. It clearly could not have healed on its own.

"Thank you, Brother Qi." Gu Shanshan was good at reading people. One look at Qi Chanyang's expression told her the price could not have been small.

Guiltily, she said, "You must have spent a lot. Once we're out of this instance, I'll give you all the reward items and points I get."

Qi Chanyang did not stand on ceremony. "Just give me the points. I saved you with medicine exchanged for points. The points from a Level-One Dungeon should about cover it."

Gu Shanshan's eyes curved as she smiled. "Okay."

They rested against the door for a while before Qi Chanyang got to his feet and swept his flashlight around.

The room needed more than cleaning. It looked as if it had been shelled. Qi Chanyang felt that even the two NPCs battling fiercely in No. 4's room had not made as much of a mess as Xie Fangcheng had in this ward.

Fortunately, when Qi Chanyang came in, he had grabbed the bed leaning by the door. If he had tried to move the one farther inside... Was that even a bed? Its steel frame had been snapped clean through, as if a giant had punched it.

What the hell had happened?

Even if Xie Fangcheng was dead, there should be a body, right?

If there was no body, there should at least be some blood on the floor, right??

Where had that kid gone??

Just as he was thinking that, every hair on Qi Chanyang's body stood on end.

He sprang to his feet and quickly braced the bedframe.

"What is it, Brother Qi?" Gu Shanshan stood too.

"Something's coming!"

The next second, there was another knock at the door.

"Hello. Your room is dirty. Would you like it cleaned?"

But this time, the thing outside waited only briefly. Receiving no reply, it took out a chainsaw and sliced a gash into the bedframe with a harsh buzz.

Then an eye stared straight through the gap into the room.

"Hello. Would you like it cleaned?"

Qi Chanyang grabbed a quilt beside him and covered the gap.

He could not beat it.

The NPC outside was simply beyond his ability to fight.

The chainsaw still buzzed as it started cutting a second opening.

Qi Chanyang opened his System Inventory.

He was an experienced player, but he had only cleared six instances. There were very few usable items left in his inventory.

Was this how it would end?

Gu Shanshan mouthed to him, "Can't beat it?"

Qi Chanyang could only nod.

Gu Shanshan asked again, "Can we run?"

Qi Chanyang froze.

Gu Shanshan understood at once.

She smiled and gestured to Qi Chanyang. "When the door opens, I'll run right, and you run left."

The right side was a dead end, with only an elevator.

But at a time like this, who had time to wait for an elevator?

"You..."

Gu Shanshan still wore a smile. "I've died twice. Dying a third time, I'm used to it."

Qi Chanyang curled his fingers, but he knew this was the best solution.

He could not outrun the NPC outside with Gu Shanshan in tow. If he survived, he might still be able to lead the others to clear the instance.

But this girl in front of him...

Qi Chanyang tightened his grip on his weapon.

Bzzzt!

Another opening was sawed through. This time, Qi Chanyang could see what was standing outside.

"Ge Juan..."

Ge Juan, the forty-one-year-old associate chief physician from the school handbook, wore a white coat. Yet she carried a small red plastic bucket containing rags and a mop.

Half her face looked as if it had been splashed with sulfuric acid. Tilting her head, she peered into the room through the opening.

"Hello. Your room is dirty. Would you like it cleaned?"

"Clean your own damn head!"

Qi Chanyang roared. He was about to thrust his weapon through the gap when Ge Juan outside seemed to be kicked away by something.

Then came sounds like someone kicking a ball. The hair-raising monster departed from the doorway just like that.

Qi Chanyang's weapon remained raised in bewilderment. Wind blew in through the gap.

He turned to look at Gu Shanshan beside him.

"...What just happened?"

Gu Shanshan looked equally bewildered.

"But... I don't know if I heard wrong, but I think I heard... Xie Fangcheng's voice?"

......

"What the hell was that thing?"

Xie Fangcheng carried an iron rod he had taken from somewhere. Finding it awkward to hold, he rested it on his shoulder.

He had just kicked a doctor-dressed monster flying, but doctor NPCs were evidently a level above patient NPCs.

That was demonstrated by what had happened when Xie Fangcheng passed No. 4's ward and went in to deal with No. 4: No. 4 could not outrun him at all.

Naturally, neither could No. 9.

But the doctors were different. Every last one of them could run.

Let us turn back the clock to around ten-thirty.

After the doctors came out of No. 1's ward, Han Qi sneered. "There are two troublesome patients this time."

He Xin pushed the cart behind him without saying a word.

When they reached No. 9's ward, Han Qi opened the door and paused.

Normally, newcomers who came in wanted to stay ten meters away from the patient NPCs. This time was different. No. 9's neck had grown longer and longer, his head reaching all the way to the ceiling. How could Han Qi be sure? Because No. 9's head was patrolling the ceiling back and forth, while the newly admitted patient called Xie Fangcheng sat on the bed directing him.

"Left... Isn't there one on the left?"

"Yeah."

"If you can't do it, ram it with your face. Maybe you'll smack it dead."

Han Qi: "...What are you doing?"

No. 9 lowered his head and answered obediently, like a giraffe. "Swatting mosquitoes."

Han Qi: "..."

Han Qi: "Stop swatting. It's time for your medicine."

"Oh."

Only then did No. 9 sit down.

Han Qi had He Xin take a pill from the top shelf and hand it to No. 9.

No. 9 obediently took it, then turned to look at the person sitting on the other bed.

The doctor said these people were bad and needed to be watched and cleaned up.

But No. 9 liked the little companion in front of him.

He stretched out his neck and whispered in his companion's ear, thinking he was being quiet. "Medicine. You have to take it."

"Hm?"

Han Qi's gaze settled on No. 9, his eyes narrowing slightly.

No. 9 was afraid of him, but he still whispered, "If you don't take it, you'll die."

Xie Fangcheng merely smiled and shifted his gaze to Han Qi.

More specifically, he was looking at the thing perched on Han Qi's head.

Han Qi disliked his stare, though he maintained his doctor's facade.

"Mr. Xie, did you see an eye in your spoon tonight?"

"Yes."

Han Qi's gaze lit up. "Then Mr. Xie's delusion has worsened again! He Xin, prescribe Mr. Xie two doses of medicine for delusions!"

He Xin stood silently by the door with the cart. He took a flesh-pink medicine bottle from the bottom shelf, pinched out two pills, and passed them to Han Qi.

Han Qi accepted them and held them out to Xie Fangcheng.

Xie Fangcheng took the pills from his hand, then looked up.

"I saw something even stranger."

"Oh? What was it?" Han Qi asked.

Xie Fangcheng looked at the hat on his head.

"I saw another head growing on top of yours." Xie Fangcheng's pitch-black eyes watched him. "Is that head named Liu Hanyue?"

Han Qi's eyes moved.

The teeth clamped onto his forehead beneath the hat suddenly opened wide, and a little girl's voice emerged from between them.

"Kill him! Kill him!"

But Han Qi only smiled. "Mr. Xie's delusion is very serious indeed. It seems he needs triple the medicine for treatment. He Xin!"

He Xin pinched out another pill and passed it over.

Han Qi placed it in his palm and handed the medicine over expressionlessly.

"Take the medicine."

"No."

Han Qi's mouth slowly spread beneath his mask.

"You really won't take it? Disobeying a doctor's order brings punishment."

Xie Fangcheng rolled his wrist. "Nope. Not taking it."

Han Qi finally laughed out loud.

Getting a meal on the first day, that was really... Huh?

Crash!

Han Qi was slammed onto the bed.

The steel hospital bed split down the middle under the impact. Han Qi's eyeballs popped from their sockets and rolled across the floor, and faint cracks even appeared in the tiles.

Han Qi was not stupid. One look at the force, enough to churn someone's brains to mush, told him he was no match for this player. He immediately slithered out of the bed like a boneless snake. He did not even have time to open the door before he smashed straight through it.

He Xin was even sharper. The moment Xie Fangcheng moved to grab someone, He Xin, who had been standing against the door, ran.

He had known this Xie fellow was a little strange... but he had never imagined he was this strange?!

Xie Fangcheng was about to chase after them when No. 9 stopped him.

"Medicine... take the medicine. If you don't, you'll die."

"Take yours yourself. I'm in a hurry!"

With that, Xie Fangcheng shot off like an arrow. No. 9 chased after him as well.

But now No. 9 could not keep up with him and had no idea where he had been left behind.

He could not keep up with Han Qi either, and had no idea where Han Qi had shaken him off.

Every one of these ghostly things could run like the wind. He had not caught a single one yet.

He had heard there was a Director above the doctors.

The doctors already ran this fast. How fast could the Director run?!

Xie Fangcheng sighed and walked to the stairs. The iron gate leading from the second floor to the third was locked. As if by habit, Xie Fangcheng reached out, tore the lock off with a crack, and tossed it aside.

He climbed to the third floor step by step.

Only his footsteps echoed through the empty third floor.

The third floor was clearly more upscale than the second. The wall paint was mostly intact, and there were not many rooms.

Xie Fangcheng found the hallway light switch and turned it on.

Red light flooded the entire third floor.

Xie Fangcheng muttered, "What kind of decorating style is this? Creepy as hell," then walked to the first door, took the steel rod off his shoulder, and gave the door a polite knock.

"Hello? Anybody in there?"

No one answered. Xie Fangcheng kicked the door open with a crash and swaggered inside.