590 Seven Despairs
“Even though Du Zhu is my elder sister, I rarely interact with her. She is our father’s favorite daughter, and I’m his bastard child. She is the jewel on the crown, and I’m the barely noticeable accessory.” Du Jing crossed her arms. “If Du Zhu was really behind everything, why did she do this?”
“Probably because of envy.” Han Fei found a rather clean nurse’s outfit. “She was envious that you have a good family, an obedient child, and love that she lacked.” Being Du Zhu’s lover was scary, but it was not scarier than being her younger sister.
Han Fei handed the nurse outfit to Du Jing, “You are her sister, so you should know her better. The woman looks perfect on the surface, but her soul is rotten.”
“I have suspected that, but I believe she wouldn’t be so crazy.” Du Jing struggled to get up. She was deeply concerned about her daughter.
“Wait a moment. I’ll see how to install this thing.” Han Fei cleaned the blood off the fake limb. After multiple tries, he finally got it on Du Jing’s leg. “See if you can walk. If not, I’ll have my friend carry you.” Du Jing changed into the nurse outfit. When she moved around, the place where the fake limb joined to the body bled. It looked so painful. “Never mind, let him carry you.” Han Fei asked Worm to carry Du Jing. The player finally had some use. “We have no time to waste. Let’s get to Building Seven.” Han Fei cleared the first-floor basement and returned to the corridor. They had created a considerable commotion in the first-floor basement, but no one came from the second floor. This confused Han Fei.
“The second-floor basement contains corridors that connect to other buildings. Many heavy-case patients are sent through the second floor. They would never see the light in their lives.” Du Jing explained weakly.
“Does that mean we can go to Building Seven through that floor?” Han Fei had been to the second-floor basement at Building One. He knew the place was a VIP parking lot. It looked like there were some secret passages he didn’t know.
“You need special keys to open the passages.” Du Jing knew many things about the hospital. “Based on what I know, only people in black can have that key.”
“Then, we’ll have to follow our original plan.”
They returned to the surface and headed to Building Seven. Han Fei swiped the doctor’s id and was about to walk in when he saw someone standing at the receptionist counter at Building Six’s lobby. ‘Why is there a receptionist here?’
Han Fei remembered Zhang ZHuangzhuang’s warning. After dark, one could approach the receptionists if they were smiling.
“Building Seven has all the heavy-case patients, but when there is no vacancy at Building Seven, some of the patients will be transferred to Building Six, so these two buildings are hazardous.” Du Jing whispered. “Both patients and staff are very dangerous.”
“Understood.” Han Fei was thankful he saved Du Jing. This fellow patient knew many things about the hospital.
“Big Brother, there is one hour and twenty minutes left to midnight. How about we skip over this building and go to Building Seven directly?” Worm was worried that Han Fei would do something reckless like massacring the whole building just to silence one person.
“You’re calling me big brother?” Han Fei frowned. He didn’t think he was older than Worm.
“Then what do you prefer? Master?” Worm was spooked. He blurted out quickly.
“Just call me Han Fei.” Han Fei didn’t waste time with this madman. He told Du Jing and Worm to stay while he pushed open the safety door to enter the corridor. Zhang Zhuangzhuang’s warning was fresh in his mind. However, the receptionist kept her head lowered so he couldn’t tell if she was crying or smiling. Han Fei made himself look as normal as possible. He was a doctor on duty who had something to say to the receptionist. The pale light shone at the counter. The surrounding was quiet. The receptionist was like a mannequin, and she didn’t move at all.
“Good evening.” Han Fei slowly approached. When he was about two meters from the counter, the receptionist started to tremble. Her shoulders shook. Someone without experience would have halted already. However, Han Fei didn’t stop but moved faster. The receptionist shook harder. When Han Fei stood before her, the receptionist suddenly raised her head!
She was smiling, but her eyes were hollow. They had been dug out! Her ruined face was covered in bloody tears! “Good evening!”
“Beautiful sister, you’ve scared me.” Han Fei took out Rest in Peace. The receptionist lunged forward. She opened her arms to hug Han Fei. She stuck her face close to Han Fei!
“You made the first move!” Light glowed as Han Fei, and the receptionist collided. Han Fei was knocked back while the receptionist was cut through her torso. Many small capillaries tried to fix the wound, but the wound created by Rest in Peace couldn’t be healed by corrupted material. The receptionist collapsed and dissolved into a pool of black blood. Weak light entered Rest in Peace. Han Fei sat on the ground. He looked at the wounds on his shoulders, and he was fearful. “She knocked me off so easily even though I have 32 stamina?” He touched the marks on his shoulders. He squeezed out the black blood. “Thankfully, I have a high resistance against Soul Poison.” Han Fei was the owner of Ziggurat, so he was familiar with death curses. Plus, he had been eating Xu Qin’s cooking, so most curses were spices for him.
“Brother Han, are you alright?” Worm carried Du Jing to check on Han Fei.
“I’m fine.” Han Fei glanced upwards. “We should head to Building Seven. Be careful not to touch the blood on the ground, and they are cursed.” The receptionist was filled with curses, the doctor’s body was filled with Soul Poison. Every monster here had its own unique power, but Han Fei always ambushed them before they could strike. “I need to be more careful. The hospital is mutating. The deeper we go, the scarier the monsters.”
Rest in Peace was incredibly sharp, and it could cut through any bloody monsters. However, Han Fei only had one chance to strike if he ran into powerful monsters. If he didn’t kill the enemy, he would be killed. Han Fei led Worm and Du Jing out of Building Six and to Building Seven.
Standing outside Building Seven and looking in, the place looked no different from other buildings. It merely appeared quieter than normal. “Du Jing, you’ve stayed here, right? Is there anything we should pay attention to?”
“There are many abnormal patients here. Do not approach any half-open ward doors.” Du Jing thought about it. “I heard some doctors here are disguised by patients. It’s a lawless place.”
“Have you encountered a Doctor Yan? He’s very tall.”
“No.” Du Jing shook her head. “My main doctor was Zhang Xi, a reticent woman.”
“Zhang Xi?” Han Fei was startled. He was surprised to hear about Zhang Zhuangzhuang’s sister from Du Jing. “Do you know where she normally is? I have a letter for her.”
“She is normally on the fourth floor, but I’d advise you to stay away from her.” Du Jing looked fearful. “I have seen the doctor kill someone. The patients are like building blocks in her hands. She would do her rounds every night, and the ward she picked would be covered in blood the next day, and the ward would be available to welcome a new patient.”
“She’s that scary?”
“Many patients on the fourth floor call her the Female Death. Even though she is our counselor, she needs counseling herself.” Du Jing shivered just thinking about it.
“She sounds powerful. All the more reason to look for her.” Han Fei nodded. “Sister Jing, are you familiar with the patients here? Have you seen someone called Qiang Wei? He was captured only a few days ago.”
“Not sure.” Du Jing looked apologetic. “The only recent patient at Building Seven I know is called Shen Luo. Apparently, he bribed a doctor and was the only one to have escaped from Building Seven. However, he was recaptured.”
“He sounds familiar, but we can ignore him for now.” Han Fei didn’t want to reunite with Shen Luo at a time like this.
“I don’t know about the rest.”
That meant Han Fei had to examine Building Seven himself. He eased the door open. The white lights in Building Seven pricked his skin like ice. This was the first time Han Fei realized light could be so cold. There was no one on the empty corridor. None of the labs and wards was locked. Some were left half-open. The light couldn’t cut through the darkness inside. Han Fei was covered in light but he felt so cold. His heart froze and he was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. “This place is so strange.”
Han Fei looked at the room closest to him. The door was left half-open and the door was labeled, Hair Transplant Center.
Han Fei remembered Du Jing’s warning, but they were too close to the room. The Hair Transplant Center was right beside the stairwell. If they wanted to use the stairs, they would have to pass this room. Holding Rest in Peace, Han Fei signaled for Du Jing and Worm to stay behind him. He slowly moved forward as he kept his eyes on the door. The darkness in the room moved like something was alive. “Everything looks normal but this whole building has mutated.”
Han Fei’s red-blood doll climbed onto Han Fei’s shoulder to warn him. This was its first time doing this. “The doll wasn’t this nervous when it found out I have three children and many wives. It looks like we’ve really run into trouble this time.” Han Fei thought about retreating when the system sang. “Notification for Player 0000! You’ve triggered the altar mission—Seven Despairs.
“Seven Despairs: The seven labs have seven emotions that killed him, delivering him seven despairs.
“Mission Requirement: Vanquish the Despair Amalgamation inside the seven labs. Every successful elimination will grant the player unique reward and a lot of EXP.”
Han Fei was ready to give up but the system hooked his interest again. “The seven labs represent seven despairs, and killing each will grant me rewards?”
Han Fei had only completed two missions since he entered this memory world. He only had two chances to access his inventory so he still had many things he hadn’t retrieved. “Altar missions have incredible rewards. This mission will provide unique rewards, I mustn’t miss them.” Han Fei placed the doll back near his chest. Han Fei trusted this doll the most. When in danger, it would protect his heart.
“Time to head upstairs.” Han Fei moved forward and the darkness in the lab wiggled. Other than that, there was nothing too special. Han Fei successfully walked past the lab. He entered the stairwell and nothing came out of the lab.
“It looks safe.” Worm followed closely behind Han Fei. However, when he passed the lab, a giant hairy arm reached out!
“Get up!” Han Fei urged and lunged forward. He cut the giant arm. The black hair was severed. The hair that touched Rest in Peace disintegrated, but those that didn’t touch the blade slowly gathered back together.
“I need to kill the main body.” Han Fei didn’t dare to enter the Hair Transplant Center alone. He needed someone to work with him so he had the chance to find the main body of all the black hair. They rushed to the second floor. The lab on the second floor was strange too. The door was left half-open and blood leaked out. The door label floated on the pool of blood—cheilopalatoschisis center. Han Fei was very focused. He was about to charge past the door, when a doctor in a white coat walked out of the lab. He was facing away from Han Fei and he said in a strange tone. “Hmm, why is there someone on the corridor so late at night?”
“We have some question to ask Doctor Zhang Xi.”
“You can find her later. I have some problems that I need your help with.” The doctor still hadn’t turned around. He sounded urgent.
“What kind of help?” Han Fei narrowed his eyes at this suspicious doctor.
“An emergency room patient is going out of control!” The doctor shouted, “Don’t waste time, come with me!”
“Okay.” Han Fei moved forward with the blade. As the doctor was about to grab his wrist, Han Fei asked, “The patient is you, right?”
The doctor shook and he turned to reveal a mouth that had been spliced into four muscular petals.
“How did you know? Is it because of how I look? I look different from you?”
The doctor’s coat hid a bloody patient’s outfit. His eyes were different from the other souls controlled by the hospital.
