“I brought it. Why?”
That was what Shang Lu said, but he had already caught the scent of danger. His gaze followed Fang Huan Xing’s toward the ceiling.
Fang Huan Xing remembered that Shang Lu had forbidden him from touching his gun and frowned. “Forget it.”
Anxin Hospital had an old-fashioned interior, with the ceiling still made of joined square panels. At that moment, one panel after another began vibrating, as though something fairly large were running above them.
Despite the scale of the movement, it made no sound whatsoever. The lights went dark one after another, the darkness advancing straight toward the nurses’ station.
Inside the intensive care unit, the resuscitation efforts continued.
Outside, a nurse was standing behind the station talking to someone. Shang Lu recognized the man—it was Captain Xie, whom he had met not long ago at Chengchuan Middle School. He had probably come to visit the injured student.
Neither of them noticed that the wall behind them was beginning to bulge and sink like a wave.
Not far away, another patient’s family member was waiting to visit someone.
Bang, bang, bang, bang—!
The wall-mounted displays crashed to the floor.
The wave of deformation abruptly changed direction and surged across the floor instead. The tiles rose one after another as though an earthquake were passing beneath them. Shang Lu reacted quickly and yanked the waiting family member out of the way.
At the other end, the nurse dropped along with a section of sinking floor. “Aaaaah!”
She screamed. Captain Xie shouted, “Careful!” and immediately jumped onto the nurses’ station to pull her out. A row of tall cabinets swayed dangerously before crashing toward him, and as the counter beneath him bulged upward, he had no choice but to roll off the other side.
Shang Lu released the family member and immediately rushed over, only to find the space behind the counter completely empty.
The invisible wave surged into the treatment room beside the nurses’ station. Everyone who worked there was currently outside helping with the emergency, so only bottles, medication, and medical supplies tumbled to the floor with the passing wave.
The nurse was still outside, her legs weak beneath her. Shang Lu hurriedly steadied her, but Fang Huan Xing planted one hand on the counter and vaulted over it right before his eyes.
“Fang Huan Xing!”
Shang Lu was too late to stop him. Following the fluctuation, Fang Huan Xing had already pushed open the treatment room’s glass door. His figure flickered—
and vanished too.
Shang Lu: “…”
The fluctuation stopped. The hospital’s disaster alarm began blaring, and even people from inside the intensive care unit came running out.
Chaos erupted throughout the hospital.
Fang Huan Xing’s first impression upon entering the room was that it was cold. The familiar sensation made the hair on his body stand on end. But when he looked at the air-conditioning temperature, it was only seventeen degrees Celsius, so perhaps that was the main reason.
The glass-walled room looked much the same as it had from outside, except that everything was neat and orderly. The bottles and medical supplies that had fallen earlier were gone, and the floor was perfectly clean.
The entire space seemed dim, with some hazy, indistinct layer obstructing his vision.
Fang Huan Xing looked back. The corridor was equally hazy, but completely empty. Shang Lu was nowhere to be seen.
A place like this didn’t surprise Fang Huan Xing.
He didn’t know what exactly to call it. In Shang Lu’s words—or the terminology of the Anomalous Case Department—he had entered an “interference space.”
Turning around wouldn’t get him back out now.
Team Leader Shang was usually quick on his feet, yet somehow he hadn’t managed to follow this time. Left all alone, the intern could only tighten the straps of his backpack. He surveyed his surroundings, then silently walked over to a desk.
The computer screen there was still on. The top bar displayed the current date, and the seconds continued ticking forward.
Looking more closely, he saw medical records flashing across the screen, different names constantly cycling through them.
Fang Huan Xing lifted his head to search for new information and heard a noise from the inner room.
It was the staff rest area used by the medical personnel on duty. Two simple beds stood inside. Someone was writhing in a dark corner, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of gasping.
Fang Huan Xing reached for the wall switch, but nothing happened. He had no choice but to take out his phone and switch on the flashlight.
It was the man who had fallen behind the nurses’ station. His face had turned purplish-red, and a pair of blue-purple hands were wrapped around his throat. Fang Huan Xing grabbed a fire extinguisher from nearby and swung it hard at the person behind him.
Both blows were vicious and heavy. The thing behind the man let out a distorted shriek laced with static and immediately released him.
That shriek sounded familiar too.
Fang Huan Xing quickly shone the flashlight at it.
There was no face.
No.
The thing simply didn’t have one.
Its head was nothing more than an indistinct mass of flesh, with no recognizable features whatsoever. Fang Huan Xing was momentarily disgusted into stillness, and in that brief instant, the thing scrambled rapidly out of the room.
Yes.
It fled on all fours.
Fang Huan Xing noticed that it was wearing a patient gown.
The man who had entered with him had been saved and was now sprawled on the floor, coughing violently. “Cough, cough, cough…”
Fang Huan Xing dropped the fire extinguisher without saying anything.
Remaining in such a dark place made him uncomfortable, so he turned and walked back outside. The man followed, clearly startled when he got a proper look at him. Rubbing his injured throat, he introduced himself. “Thanks for that, kid. I’m Xie Xing, deputy captain at Fog Harbor’s Chengxi Precinct.”
Fang Huan Xing glanced at him. “Anomalous Case Department. Fang Huan Xing.”
Captain Xie: “…”
Are you serious?
Fang Huan Xing became even more certain that he absolutely could not keep carrying a backpack around. It would probably feel strange not having the thing he always took with him whenever he ran off, but he could learn to adapt.
Seeing the disbelief all over the other man’s face, Fang Huan Xing added unhappily, “I’m an intern.”
Understanding dawned on Captain Xie. He rubbed his neck. “Team Leader Shang’s group? You guys came today too? I heard Team Leader He mention that when the interns were being selected, Team Leader Shang wasn’t there, so he ended up choosing last.”
Captain Xie had meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized they sounded inappropriate. He waved a hand. “Never mind. I was talking nonsense.”
Fang Huan Xing didn’t understand the joke and didn’t care.
He was currently thinking about how to handle this so-called “interference space.”
There was no doubt that he could get out. The only question was how long it would take. And given his current position, he should probably deal with whatever was inside first so it couldn’t escape and hurt anyone, then figure out how this area should be sealed off.
That was the procedure… right?
Captain Xie hadn’t realized anything was fundamentally wrong with the place at all. He looked around in confusion. “Huh? Where did everyone go all of a sudden? And why is it so dark? Did that earthquake just knock the power out?”
He pulled out his phone and began dialing while saying to Fang Huan Xing, “We need to get someone here fast and restrain that lunatic from earlier. I saw him crawling on the floor and only wanted to help him up. I never expected him to nearly strangle me to death. If you hadn’t shown up…”
Captain Xie stopped talking and lowered the phone. “No signal. Can you try yours?”
Fang Huan Xing didn’t even bother.
First, he already knew there was no signal here.
Second, his phone didn’t have a SIM card in it at all.
That made him look even more like a kid.
Seeing the young man remain silent, Captain Xie thought he was impressively cold.
Young people really were different these days. Apparently, as long as they didn’t fire their own boss after starting work, that already counted as a good temper.
“Where did everyone go?”
Captain Xie could only walk a few steps away to ease the awkwardness.
Maybe there really was a generation gap between him and this young man.
He had only taken a few steps when something flashed past along the floor at the end of the corridor. It vaguely looked human.
Was it the lunatic from earlier?
Just then, the young man beside him asked, “Do you have a gun?”
Captain Xie instinctively reached toward the back of his waist. He was actually off duty today and had merely dropped by the hospital to visit the injured student. “No. Why are you asking?”
Fang Huan Xing thought that the police reacted exactly the same way Shang Lu did.
Was it really that strange that he wanted to use their guns?
“Find a weapon.” Fang Huan Xing casually grabbed a mop from nearby and told Captain Xie succinctly, “There’s something in here.”
The moment he finished speaking, another fluctuation passed through the ceiling. This time the movement was much more violent. The joined aluminum panels rattled precariously, and a mass suddenly dropped from directly above them.
Fang Huan Xing was about to dodge, but Captain Xie shoved him protectively aside, forcing him back into his original position.
Fang Huan Xing: “?”
Captain Xie had no idea how Fang Huan Xing had done what he had just done and had no time to ask. The mass came crashing down toward their heads, bringing a heavy stench of blood with it. Captain Xie tried to protect the young man, pulling him aside as he dodged, and the two of them ended up falling together with absolutely no coordination whatsoever.
Fang Huan Xing had no time to complain. He rolled up from the floor, reversed the mop in his hands, and stabbed viciously toward the thing!
This time, he saw it clearly.
It was the same faceless monster from before.
The monster reacted quickly. It had obviously been caught off guard when Fang Huan Xing hit it in the staff room earlier, but now it abruptly recoiled. Fang Huan Xing’s strike missed completely. He had used so much force that the mop snapped in half with a crack.
“Xiao Fang, move!”
Captain Xie courageously dragged Fang Huan Xing aside. The monster in the patient gown adopted an attacking posture, then sprang forward with the momentum and knocked Captain Xie straight to the floor.
Captain Xie was no pushover. He immediately pinned the creature down. Unexpectedly, it changed tactics: both arms adhered to his hands, and its skin and flesh began sticking continuously to his body.
Layer after layer of flesh clung to Captain Xie as though it had a life of its own. The suction was so powerful that he couldn’t break free at all.
“Aah!”
A wave of intense pain hit him. Even a man in his forties like Captain Xie couldn’t stop himself from screaming.
Schk—!
Blood splattered across Captain Xie’s face.
It was Fang Huan Xing.
The broken mop handle had been driven straight into the monster’s face. It shrieked violently, and faint traces of human features unexpectedly appeared within the shapeless mass where its face should have been. The flesh adhering to Captain Xie finally released him. Then, drawing strength from who knew where, the monster hurled Fang Huan Xing away with one arm and sent him crashing hard into the wall.
The impact left Fang Huan Xing’s ears ringing.
It wasn’t convenient to use his ability in front of Captain Xie, so that throw had hit him brutally hard.
Before either of them could react, the monster dropped to the floor again and rapidly crawled away, leaving nothing but a trail of blood behind it.
Captain Xie noticed that it had no lower legs.
No.
More accurately, its lower body was disabled. One leg ended at the knee, while the other disappeared completely from the upper thigh.
The sight made something click almost immediately.
“T-Tao Ran?!”
Fang Huan Xing coughed twice and opened his palm.
A patient wristband lay there. He had just pulled it from the monster’s wrist.
Clearly printed on it were the words:
Bed 26.
Tao Ran.
Captain Xie was wearing long sleeves, but the skin beneath the fabric had already been sucked red and purple. There was no doubt that if they had been even a little slower, the monster’s flesh really would have fused to his arm.
“How is that possible?” Captain Xie stared in disbelief. “Isn’t Tao Ran lying in the intensive care unit?”
Both of them looked behind them at the same time.
The intensive care unit was right there.
And that was exactly where the monster had been trying to go.
Fang Huan Xing stood, picked up half of the broken mop handle from the floor, and tossed the other half to Captain Xie. “We can’t let it get there.”
Captain Xie gritted his teeth through the pain. “What the hell is that thing?”
There was quite a bit of blood on the young man’s face too. Looking at him properly now, Captain Xie thought there was no way this was some fresh graduate. People would believe Fang Huan Xing was still a teenager.
Investigators from the Anomalous Case Department weren’t like police officers, who had to fight and arrest criminals. Captain Xie had always assumed they mainly handled technical and investigative work. He had never expected Xiao Fang to be this good in a fight—fast, accurate, and ruthless.
Captain Xie couldn’t help asking, “Hey, Xiao Fang, have you ever considered joining the police?”
He was apparently one of the leftovers from the intern selection anyway, and there was no guarantee he would even pass his Anomalous Case Department internship. He might as well try the police instead. Captain Xie thought very highly of a junior who was willing to fight this hard.
Fang Huan Xing considered it for several seconds. “How much does it pay?”
“Six thousand during the internship, six types of insurance plus a housing fund, transportation allowance—”
Fang Huan Xing gave him no face whatsoever.
“Not going.”
＊
The corridor was crowded with people: unconscious patients who had been hurriedly wheeled out, anxious family members, and medical personnel shouting for everyone to remain calm.
Shang Lu briefly helped restore order. Unsure whether the invisible wave would return a second time, he quickly made his way back outside the intensive care unit.
Inside the ICU was equally chaotic. The doctors and nurses had never left and were still doing everything they could to resuscitate Tao Ran.
Tao Ran’s father was there too, repeatedly calling his son’s name.
The bulge in the student’s chest had not subsided, but his condition had at least stopped deteriorating. His heart rate had even begun falling again, gradually approaching normal levels.
Tao Ran’s father collapsed weakly to the floor.
Shang Lu called the Dispatch Center, briefly reported that spatial displacement had occurred at the hospital, and requested police assistance. At the same time, he asked the hospital to evacuate everyone on that floor as much as possible in case a second displacement occurred.
Then he looked again toward the direction where Fang Huan Xing and Captain Xie had vanished. Everything had happened so suddenly that he was being pulled in too many directions at once.
Just then, the elevator doors opened.
Zheng Xiao Yu came running out carrying an equipment case. “Team Leader!”
Shang Lu was delighted. He needed exactly what was inside that case. “Why are you here?”
“I came over because I wanted to follow up on this lead. The Analysis Center said that module we found on the school bus—”
Shang Lu cut him off. “Give me the equipment case first.”
Shang Lu opened the case, took out the calibration anchor, and switched it on. Then he picked up Zheng Xiao Yu’s sentence where he had interrupted it. “What did the Analysis Center say about the module?”
Zheng Xiao Yu hurriedly explained, “It had been recording the school bus’s routes and how long it stopped at each location over an extended period. There’s still residual interference on it, and that may have affected the vehicle itself and passengers who regularly rode it. I think that may be what happened to Tao Ran, but we still don’t understand why the driver wasn’t affected.”
Shang Lu listened to the report while connecting the equipment. “Good. That’s important information, and you got here at exactly the right time.”
Zheng Xiao Yu gave a pleased little laugh, then realized smiling probably wasn’t appropriate right now and quickly became serious again.
Diva announced:
“Equipment connected. Baseline calibration successful. Initial RG value: 0.30. High-risk environment. Evacuate promptly.”
Zheng Xiao Yu was startled, but the result didn’t surprise Shang Lu in the slightest.
Shang Lu walked several steps with the equipment and discovered that the reading was actually dropping, while the interference-source detector showed no response at all.
“RG value: 0.25.”
“RG value: 0.18.”
When Shang Lu reached the place where Fang Huan Xing and Captain Xie had disappeared, the calibration anchor had unexpectedly returned to the normal baseline. His brows drew tightly together as he went back outside the intensive care unit.
Everything there was normal too.
The interference…
seemed to have disappeared.
Then where had the missing people gone?
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