[Late Night, Day Four, County Hospital Entrance]
The dark clouds completely obscured the moonlight, plunging Longevity County's streets into a deadly silence. The streetlights' halos were blurred by the gray mist, and only the occasional sound of dragging vines echoed in the empty streets, like someone tiptoeing through the darkness.
Chen Kong stood in the alley opposite the county hospital, looking gravely at the empty entrance of the county hospital.
The operation tonight was highly dangerous—Chen Kong knew this when he decided to proceed.
The danger came not only from the unknown county hospital but also from Longevity County's unique 'curfew.'
"Is everyone ready?"
Responding to Chen Kong's question, Mi Yao nodded and switched his handheld console to night-vision mode.
In moments, the screen of the game console outlined the hospital's profile with tiny green light points.
"My star energy jammer is active. Any 'surveillance' within a fifty-meter radius should be disabled."
"However, I'm not sure how long this will last. We must act fast."
Vivian's mechanical eyes flashed with scanning light. She pointed to the construction fence on the west side of the hospital.
"There's a gap there, left temporarily by the construction crew. It's undefended."
"But my scan shows energy signatures for three 'monsters' behind the fence. They're different from what we encountered before—the energy fluctuations are much purer."
"Whatever they are, we'll force our way through."
Chen Kong took a deep breath and was the first to rush out of the alley.
The trio moved quickly in the darkness, their tactical boots making only faint sounds on the ground.
The gap in the construction fence was wider than expected, enough for one person to pass sideways.
As soon as they passed through the fence, the strong smell of disinfectant water made Mi Yao cough.
The disinfectant was mixed with a stale, moldy odor, like a medicine bottle sealed for over a decade suddenly opened, making the air deeply unsettling.
After a moment of coughing, Mi Yao couldn't help but frown and say, "The smell here is truly disturbing."
As soon as Mi Yao finished speaking, Vivian, sensing something, immediately summoned her silver-white Second Hand Rapier.
"Be careful!"
In the darkness, several twisted figures slowly stood up.
They wore ragged blue work clothes. Where their arms should have been, thick vines grew, their fingers turned into sharp wooden thorns. The pale purple flower on their chest was their core, opening and closing in a breathing rhythm.
The construction workers at night had clearly switched to a different mode—a monster mode.
Their bodies were stronger than the usual 'citizen monsters,' clearly setting them apart from ordinary monsters.
"These guys are different from the ones we encountered before. Be careful!"
"Mi Yao, Vivian and I will hold them off. You hurry and find the entrance to the county hospital!"
Chen Kong raised his 'Void Weaver' and aimed precisely at the pale purple flowers on the chests of the three 'construction workers.'
A Sky Rune bullet accurately hit the petal core of one of the monsters.
Green liquid splattered, but the monster merely stumbled. New vines quickly grew from the rupture, and the petals bloomed anew.
Worse still, dense 'rustling' sounds came from deep within the construction site. A dozen identical monsters crawled out from behind the piles of steel and cement, clutching rusty shovels and steel bars. The vines wrapped around the tools, making them natural weapons.
Chen Kong fired continuously. The bullets exploded amidst the horde but could only temporarily push them back.
His 'Void Weaver' excelled at precision strikes, but it was clearly insufficient against these thick-skinned, regenerating monsters.
Vivian's Second Hand Rapier danced into a silver blur. Her mechanical body could predict the monsters' attack paths, and each thrust struck the joints of the vines, temporarily restricting their movement.
However, the sheer number of monsters was overwhelming, and her movements soon showed a flaw. A vine grazed her shoulder, leaving a shallow scratch on her mechanical skin.
Observing Chen Kong and the others, who were struggling even before entering the county hospital gates, the bullet screen on Site 13 immediately started rolling.
'No comparison, no harm. Chen Kong and the others are too weak, aren't they? Can't even enter the dungeon door?'
'Tendo: Did I encounter these guys back then? Didn't feel it; I just thought they were speed bumps.'
'To deal with these thick-skinned sh*t monsters, you need numerical monsters like Tendo.'
Amidst the dimensional audience's teasing, Mi Yao, the strongest in the trio, finally took action.
His handheld console screen suddenly erupted in a dazzling green light. Pixels reorganized in the air, and a long, diamond-glowing blade appeared in his hand.
This was the weapon materialized by his Star Source · Gamer's 'Pixel Construction,' with a hardness comparable to Tier 3 Star Energy Alloy.
Weapon in hand, Mi Yao leaped up. The long blade swung down with a whistling sound, precisely severing the core petals of two monsters.
Green liquid splattered all over him, but he ignored it, kicking away a nearby monster using the momentum of his descent.
Soon, Mi Yao found a route into the county hospital.
"There's a side door on the left, retreat that way!"
Chen Kong and Vivian immediately understood, fighting while retreating.
Mi Yao's pixel long blade was incredibly powerful, but the monsters' regeneration speed was faster. No sooner had he dealt with two than three more lunged from behind.
He had to condense his Star Energy and deploy a green pixel light shield in front of him. The vines slammed against the shield with loud 'bangs,' and the pixels on the shield flickered rapidly, clearly on the verge of collapsing.
Fortunately, Chen Kong and Vivian were not dead weight.
With Mi Yao's warning, Vivian's mechanical eyes quickly locked onto the hospital's side door. She immediately led Chen Kong, following Mi Yao who had already dashed toward it.
But unexpectedly, upon reaching the side door, even when Mi Yao pushed the seemingly ordinary glass door with all his might, it remained motionless, as if welded to the ground, which was highly unusual.
"Damn it, don't tell me this door 'cannot be opened from this side'!"
In the gaming world, many games often design 'shortcuts' to restrict players' early progression and increase map utilization.
A major feature of these shortcuts is that some seemingly passable areas can only be opened after taking a huge detour.
But this was the real world. How could there be such a bizarre door?
However, reality was not a game. Seeing Mi Yao unable to open the side door, Vivian decisively said, "Step aside, let me try!"
She approached the door, and her mechanical fingers instantly disassembled and reassembled into a precise set of lock-picking tools, which she inserted into the lock cylinder.
"Give me thirty seconds! I'll leave these monsters to you!"
Chen Kong decisively turned and fired. The bullets hit the face of the leading monster but were deflected by the tough vine skin on its face, utterly failing to effectively block them. Soon, several monsters charged forward.
In response, Chen Kong had to switch combat modes, replicating Vivian's Second Hand Rapier, and engaging in close combat with the monsters that had already rushed over.
These monsters, however, possessed the strength of Tier 2 Upper-level Star Envoys. Every punch carried a strong wind. Chen Kong was forced against the wall several times, relying entirely on nimble footwork to dodge.
Fortunately, Mi Yao finally demonstrated the fundamental qualities expected of a 'Tier 3 expert.'
His 'Diamond Long Blade' precisely struck the vine cores of the worker monsters with every swing, single-handedly holding back most of the horde.
But the regeneration ability of these worker monsters was extremely strong. Even with core damage, new vines quickly grew out.
In contrast, Chen Kong's situation was much more desperate.
Several times, he was nearly seized by the worker monsters and beaten to death by their wild flurry of punches.
"Catch!"
Just as Chen Kong was slowly starting to be overwhelmed, Mi Yao suddenly threw his handheld console over. The Star Energy bar on the screen was maxed out.
"This is my ultimate move. It can reduce the speed of these monsters within a certain range!"
Chen Kong caught the console and pressed the ultimate move button without hesitation.
Green Star Energy instantly erupted, transforming into a massive pixel sealing talisman that enveloped all the charging monsters.
In an instant, the monsters around Chen Kong suddenly seemed to be trapped in quicksand. Not only were their movements about one-third slower than before, but the speed at which their vines swung noticeably decreased.
Chen Kong seized the opportunity, plunging his Second Hand Rapier precisely into the core petal of a monster in front of him. Green liquid instantly sprayed all over his face.
He wiped his face and continued to block the adjacent attacks, catching a glimpse of Vivian's movements accelerating. The lock cylinder emitted a series of 'clinking' sounds.
Thirty seconds later—
Click!
Under Vivian's expert lock-picking, the lock cylinder of the county hospital's glass door sprang open.
Vivian yanked the door open.
"Go!"
Without hesitation, the three quickly rushed inside and closed the side door behind them.
The worker monsters outside still pursued them relentlessly, frantically slamming against the glass, their vines continuously whipping the door.
Yet, faced with this 'unopenable' side door, they were unable to harm the trio inside, despite their powerless rage.
"Phew..."
Chen Kong leaned against the door, breathing heavily, his tactical suit soaked in sweat.
He looked at the vine-scratched wound on his arm, saying with lingering fear, "It's a good thing you opened the door in time, Vivian, or we really would have been finished out there."
"Don't celebrate too soon."
Before Chen Kong could finish, Mi Yao interrupted him.
"Mi Yao is right. It's not simple in here either."
Vivian looked at the dimly lit county hospital lobby, her tone grave.
Hearing their words, Chen Kong quickly calmed down.
He looked up and saw that the hospital lobby was pitch black, with only the emergency lights emitting a weak green glow, illuminating the dust-covered corridor.
Thinking about it, it was obvious that if the hospital exterior was this troublesome, the inside must be equally complex.
It was entirely possible that they had just escaped a wolf's den only to enter a tiger's lair, falling from one trap into another.
However, their retreat was cut off by the worker monsters, leaving them with only one option: to press forward.
"Where do we go next?"
Having experienced the danger at the entrance, Chen Kong was hesitant to risk separating the group.
"This way."
Vivian's mechanical scan showed abnormal energy signatures in the Newborn Reception Room deeper inside, and she quickly made a judgment.
"I sense unknown energy fluctuations on the third floor. There might be something there."
"Alright."
With a decision made, the three immediately headed toward the third floor.
The trio proceeded along the corridor. The floorboards creaked beneath their feet, a jarring sound in the silent hospital.
The patient rooms on either side of the corridor were open. The hospital beds inside were covered with vines, and some beds held long-dried corpses, wrapped in pale purple rose vines.
"These corpses... they look like they're from a long time ago."
Mi Yao frowned, his handheld console screen showing a danger warning.
"The energy here is too bizarre, as if it's shrouded by some rule."
As they spoke, the three arrived at the Newborn Reception Room, where Vivian had sensed the abnormality.
Just then, the door to the Newborn Reception Room suddenly opened automatically, and a golden light shone from within.
The three exchanged glances and cautiously walked inside.
In the center of the reception room, a fragmented golden scale hovered in mid-air. The balance beam was covered in cracks, identical to the one Tendo and the others had seen in the underground vault.
Directly below the scale, there was a small stone altar, on which sat a withered golden chrysanthemum. Though its petals were shriveled, it still emitted a faint vital aura.
"What is this?!"
Sensing the faint life force of the golden chrysanthemum and the clearly 'unbalanced' scale, a bad premonition suddenly welled up in Chen Kong's heart.
The next second, the hovering scale suddenly began to turn, and the walls of the reception room started to shake.
Then, the formerly quiet hospital was filled with deep roars.
It was as if some action by Chen Kong and the others had shattered the hospital's original balance, leading to the release of something terrifying within.
Sensing the commotion from outside, anyone would know something had gone wrong.
"What do we do now?"
Mi Yao frowned and said, "We need to find a way to hold out for a while. I feel this golden chrysanthemum and that scale are not simple. They should be the crucial keys for us to leave this place."
"How are you sure?"
Under normal circumstances, Mi Mi Yaoght have taken the time to explain to Chen Kong.
But the situation was urgent. He didn't have much time to elaborate and could only state concisely: "My Star Source possesses certain exploration features, and this function has characteristics somewhat similar to 'walkthroughs'."
"I sense a 'prop' vibe from these two items. They must be useful to us."
For the first time, Mi Yao revealed part of the true effect of his Star Source, Gamer, to others.
Hearing this, Chen Kong and Vivian also understood.
Since the key was found, they now had only two things to do.
One was to find a way to take both keys, and the other... was to find a way to get out of here.
This Longevity County Hospital at night was truly not easy to navigate.
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