Chapter 13

13 A Sudden Downward Spiral

After parting ways with the Bandaged Woman, Hearing Li Ang, having just received his new badge, wasted no time. He hoisted the "Big Sniper" and burst into the mall diagonally adjacent to the hospital, heading straight for his chosen firing position. Meanwhile, the Red Brick Road Hospital had already transformed into a different kind of human hell.

In the lobby on the first floor, which should have been bustling with people, most had already been swallowed by the cold floor tiles. The patients, too weak to move, had no way to break free and could only helplessly stretch their arms upward.

Looking across the entire lobby, it was as if countless people struggling in agony were mixed into the concrete. Everywhere were arms desperately reaching up. Those arms, standing tall and grasping continuously, looked exactly like a living scroll of hell.

It seemed that because the carpet was laid down, preventing direct contact with the floor tiles, the situation in the special care ward on the fourth floor was slightly better; the patients inside had not yet been swallowed.

But seeing the situation in the corridor outside, neither the patients nor the nurses dared to step beyond the "boundary," fearing that once they stepped out of the carpet's "protection," they would sink directly beneath the floor tiles just like those patients in the corridor.

This cannot go on!

Looking at the patients sinking deeper into the corridor, the older nurse glanced around. Upon seeing the window, her eyes suddenly lit up:

"The window! We can get out through the window!"

"Yes! Yes! We can even jump down!"

Hearing her words, the young nurse, whose right-hand skin had been torn off, shuddered all over. As if infused with some mysterious power, she stood up directly from the carpet and, with an excited expression, said:

"This is only the fourth floor! If we're lucky, we might not die jumping down!"

"Wait... cough! Wait! No need to jump!"

Hearing the young nurse's words, Anna, lying on the bed, propped herself up and hurriedly spoke to stop them:

"Bed sheets, curtains... cough... and the sofa fabric! Just tie these together, then find a sturdy place to tie them off..."

... and we can climb down safely!

"I'll do it!"

Understanding Anna's meaning, the young nurse was overjoyed. Ignoring the injury to her right hand, she first tore down the curtains with two swift rips, then rushed to the bedside in three steps instead of two, and roughly dragged the coughing girl straight down from the bed.

"What are you doing!"

Completely unprepared for her to do such a thing, the older nurse hurriedly supported Anna, who nearly fell, and glared angrily at the young nurse:

"She is still sick! And if she hadn't stopped you, you would have jumped out by now!"

"I... I was just trying to get everyone out faster!"

Seeming to realize she had gone too far, but clearly terrified by the bizarre situation outside, the young nurse, with a bloodied hand, tied the bedsheet to the curtain while speaking somewhat incoherently:

"I... I'm getting married next month! I don't want to die! It's too... too terrible! This... this is too terrible! This must be the devil's temptation! I absolutely will not die here!"

"Wait! Don't go down yet!"

Discovering that she had tied one end of the "rope" to the corner cabinet nailed to the wall and thrown the other end out the window, intending to leave, the older nurse cried out in panic:

"There's another patient! This young girl is Seriously Ill! She doesn't have the strength to hold the curtain! We must lower her first before we can leave!"

"Who cares... ah no!"

Under the older nurse's angry glare, seemingly remembering that if she went down, the people upstairs would have the ability to untie the "escape rope," the young nurse's face, which had looked somewhat ferocious, suddenly changed. She awkwardly forced a smile and said sheepishly:

"What I meant is... my hand hurts, I'm afraid I can't hold her... Look! Don't worry! After I get out, I will immediately find someone to come back and save you!"

After saying this, without waiting for the other two to react, the young nurse grabbed the curtain covered in bloody handprints and hurriedly climbed out the window.

She immediately began to swing down bit by bit.

"..."

That bastard!

Watching her colleague abandon the two of them without hesitation, the older nurse gritted her teeth and cursed silently. Then, supporting Anna, who was coughing nonstop, she came to the window and spoke gently to comfort her:

"It doesn't matter if she's gone, child. Listen carefully. In a moment, I will tie one end of the curtain around your waist, then slowly lower you down. Try to grab onto any protrusions on the outer wall. Be careful not to fall directly..."

"Ah!!!"

Just then, a scream full of panic suddenly rang out from outside the window. The older nurse, startled, leaned her head out and was then utterly shocked to discover that the young nurse who had just swung down was actually stuck on the outer wall of the second floor!

No! Rather than being stuck on the outer wall, it was more accurate to say that, just like those patients in the corridor, she had been directly swallowed by the hospital's outer wall!

"Save... save me! Save me!"

How to save her? Last time I could still pull you back, but this time I really have no way...

Looking at her colleague below, whose face was filled with terror, the older nurse let out a long sigh, a deep despair floating in her eyes.

If the hospital's outer wall also "eats people," then this last path is probably blocked too. Could it be that we really have to jump down directly? Even if I can take a gamble and jump to see if I'll break my neck, what about that kind-hearted girl who is still sick?

"Ding, ding, ding."

Just as the two people in the ward were at a loss, the glass door of the special care ward was suddenly knocked upon.

"You are Anna, right?"

After confirming the room sign, the Bandaged Woman's gaze immediately locked onto the sickly-looking girl. She walked quickly toward her and said concisely:

"I am your brother's colleague. I'm here to save you."

Brother?!

Hearing the Bandaged Woman's words, the anxious expression on Anna's face relaxed somewhat.

That's great. If she can come to save me, that proves Brother must be safe! But... why is the attire of Brother's colleague so strange?

After eyeing the tall woman wrapped entirely in bandages with a strange mask on her face, Anna grasped the middle-aged nurse's hand and asked cautiously:

"Miss... um... Sister! If possible, could you please save her too? If she hadn't taken care of me..."

"Sure."

Glancing at the middle-aged nurse, whose face was also full of hope, the Bandaged Woman didn't waste any words. She nodded directly, then led the two of them to the window, and then...

"Hmm?"

After seeing the young nurse who was already half "swallowed" by the outer wall, the Bandaged Woman frowned slightly, turned back, and asked:

"Is she with you? Should we save her?"

Hearing that this strange woman wearing a black mask seemed able to save her, the young nurse on the outer wall's face instantly lit up with joy. With eyes full of pleading, she spoke:

"Yes, yes, yes! We're together! You… you guys, please say something for me! Please say something for me!"

Looking at the pleading gaze of the young nurse, the middle-aged nurse, who had been full of pent-up frustration just moments ago, sighed. She had just been about to say something when she felt her hand being squeezed hard.

"No!"

The middle-aged nurse was surprised to discover that the young Miss who had previously been so kind-hearted — so kind that she was even willing to take the risk of letting a patient into her own ward — this time shook her head in denial without the slightest hesitation.

"She's the one who wanted to abandon us and run on her own. If saving her isn't too much trouble, then please go ahead and save her along the way. But if saving her is very dangerous, then just leave her alone. Just get this auntie next to me out."

"Mm, I understand."

After a glance at this young Miss who, even when faced with a bizarre sudden incident, remained calm, rational, and clear-headed, the bandaged woman smiled and nodded. She then pulled over the curtain hanging by the window, tied it around the middle-aged nurse, and then gripped the windowsill hard, extending her arm out of the window.

Under the shocked gazes of the remaining three women, this mysterious bandaged woman — sturdy to the point of hardly seeming human — relying purely on her arm strength, and without touching the outer wall at all, "lowered" the middle-aged nurse, who weighed at least a hundred jin, straight down.

After turning back to glance at the situation inside the room, the bandaged woman untied the bandage from her wrist, wrapped up the medicines on the bedside table and tied them together with the IV stand, and then carried them, along with Anna, whose eyes were full of surprise, out of the window.

"Go find your brother!"

After lowering Anna down bit by bit, the bandaged woman leaned her head out and said gently:

"He's safe right now, he's just on the oppo—"

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Four nearly simultaneous explosive sounds completely drowned out the volume of the bandaged woman's words. The corner cabinet in the ward, to which one end of the curtain was tied, suddenly shuddered, and the four bolts embedded in the wall all burst out at once!

Amid the middle-aged nurse's hysterical scream, Anna, suspended in mid-air, suddenly plummeted, and the metal corner cabinet, which weighed a good three hundred jin or more, followed the escape rope tied from the curtain and crashed down toward the bandaged woman's back!