Inside the room saturated with the metallic scent of blood, Azure Sky coiled back, her golden eyes flashing with a mocking glint. She feigned a retreat to one side, intentionally leaving a wide gap toward the exit.
The surviving men, like rats spotting an open grain bin, needed no prompting. They trampled over one another in a frantic scramble for the door.
"Run! Get out now!"
But the floor was slick with the blood of the innocent girls they had just slaughtered. One of them—the heaviest of the lot—tripped and face-planted.
KABOOM!
His head slammed into the jagged edge of a shattered wooden doorframe. There were no miracles. His skull fractured instantly, blood geysering out. He gave a few violent spasms, foam bubbling at his lips, before his eyes rolled back in a frozen stare toward the corpses of his victims. Retribution had arrived sooner than he had imagined.
The others didn't dare stop. They burst into the hallway like madmen. But the stairwell had been severed by Thien Anh earlier. Before them lay a yawning abyss leading down to the debris-strewn first floor.
Behind them, the chilling hiss of Azure Sky drew closer.
"Jump! Just jump! Staying here is death!"
The leader of the remaining scum screamed, closing his eyes as he took the plunge.
Thud! Snap!
A four-meter drop onto reinforced concrete was no joke. The dry, brittle crack of snapping shinbones echoed through the lobby.
"AAAAAGH! My legs! They're broken!"
The others followed suit in a grim domino effect. Some broke legs, others arms; some slammed face-first into the ground in a bloody mess. The entire group lay scattered across the first-floor lobby, wailing in terminal agony.
Azure Sky glided to the jagged edge of the broken floor, looking down with a savage, "human-like" smirk. Her mission was to herd the ducks, and the ducks were now in the pen.
The screams and the thick, intoxicating scent of fresh blood immediately drew the "guests."
From the shadows of the first-floor corridors, dozens of glowing red eyes emerged.
"ROAAAAAAAR!"
The Ghouls lunged into the free-for-all buffet.
"No! Stay back! Help me!" "Don't eat me! I beg you! AAAAAAAAAGH!"
Heart-wrenching shrieks, the sound of wet, rhythmic gnashing, and the splintering of bone resonated through the freezing hospital lobby.
Azure Sky tilted her head, watching the scene for a moment, finding it almost 'artistic,' before turning away to find Thien Anh.
...
In another wing.
Thien Anh moved slowly, one hand clutching his chest and the other gripping his gun. Beside him loomed Thien Lang—the Big Mutt—like a towering guardian deity, followed by the female doctor in white, who was trembling like a leaf in a storm.
Along the way, occasional straggling Ghouls lunged out.
WHACK!
Thien Lang didn't even need to bite. A single swat from his razor-sharp claws sent a Ghoul's head spinning away like a ball. Afterward, he casually crunched through the remaining torso.
The sound of bones being pulverized in the massive wolf's maw drained the remaining color from the doctor's face. Her legs turned to jelly, and she hovered on the verge of fainting. But the fear of Thien Anh—the cold-blooded man who killed without blinking—was even greater than her fear of the monsters, forcing her to limp onward.
At the end of the Traditional Medicine corridor.
The clinic door was locked tight.
"This is it?" Thien Anh asked laconically.
"Yes… yes…" the girl stammered.
"Mutt, open it."
KABOOM!
Thien Lang delivered a powerful back-kick. The heavy steel door was ripped from its hinges, slamming onto the floor in a cloud of dust.
"Clear the room."
Thien Lang ducked inside, nostrils flaring. A moment later, he emerged, wagging his tail: "Clean, Master."
"Good. Guard the door."
Thien Lang obediently sprawled out at the entrance, his brilliant jade eyes scanning the corridor.
Just then, Azure Sky returned. She glided with liquid grace, coiling around Thien Anh before turning her cold, triangular head to stare intently at the strange girl.
"AH!"
The doctor let out a strangled shriek, collapsing onto the floor and clutching her head in terror. A gargantuan wolf was already past her breaking point; now, a vibrant green serpent that seemed to judge her with its eyes was too much. Her nerves were on the verge of snapping.
Thien Anh patted Azure Sky's head gently. "Thanh, don't scare her. She's the doctor who's going to fix me. Go play somewhere else."
Azure Sky let out a dissatisfied hiss but obeyed, slithering off to investigate the medicine cabinets.
Thien Anh approached the trembling girl, leaning down to look at her. His voice was low but carried an absolute, undeniable weight:
"Listen. I pulled you out of that demon den. Now it's your turn to prove your worth."
He pointed to his aching chest.
"I have broken ribs, and likely a collapsed lung. Can you treat this?"
The girl looked up through tear-filled eyes, nodding frantically: "I can… I can do it… just don't let them eat me…"
Thien Anh's lips curled into a thin smirk, his gaze softening just enough to be less terrifying, though no less intense.
"Good. As long as you heal me, I guarantee your safety. In my care, you will be fed, clothed, and not a single hair on your head will be touched. I am not a good man, but I keep my word."
In this chaotic world, a promise of protection from the strong was more valuable than gold or silver.
The doctor swallowed hard, struggling to compose herself as she leaned against the wall to stand.
"I… I need to examine the injury. Sit… sit down."
Thien Anh nodded, taking a seat on the only intact examination chair.
"Proceed."