Chapter 417: Turn Back Again (Combined)

Anna!!!

In the instant the slender girl plummeted, Leon, who had been observing this scene through his telescope across the way, felt as if he had been plunged into ice water.

At that moment, even the concept of death had not registered in his mind; his consciousness went utterly blank, his heart seemed gripped by an invisible hand, cutting off all blood flow, his limbs turning cold and stiff, utterly numb.

The entire world fell utterly silent at that moment; everything froze on the pale, helpless face of the girl, lips tightly pressed, falling helplessly—Leon could only watch, eyes wide with despair, as his sister plunged from the heights.

"Crash!!!"

A deafening roar echoed across half the street, followed by the shattering of vast expanses of glass and the low, piercing screech of metal deforming under immense force.

More than half the windows of the hospital were shattered by the violent impact; the fourth-floor exterior wall suffered massive force, its embedded metal frame bending outward and thrusting bricks and stones flying in all directions, turning the street below into a ruin.

Yet to Leon's ecstatic relief, Anna, who had just been plummeting at high speed, now hung suspended between the first floor and the ground.

Though she had fainted from the impact and seemed to have suffered lacerations on her thigh from shattered glass, Leon could still see her chest rising and falling violently through the telescope—proving she was at least still alive!

Thank you… thank you! I owe you my life!

Yet just as Leon stared in delight at Anna being slowly lowered to the ground, his heart overflowing with gratitude toward the bandaged woman, the Black Goat narrowed his eyes and frowned.

'Bad. This is trouble.'

That's right!

Hearing the Black Goat's words, Leon jolted awake—he suddenly realized: the point of impact had been Anna's own ward! The bandaged woman was still inside!

Though the bandaged woman had caught Anna, proving she was alive and her soul stable, could she truly have escaped unscathed after such a massive collision?

'I'm not saying Emma is in danger—relax! That bandaged woman's survival ability ranks among the best in the Cleanup Bureau; even if you died, she might not.'

Sensing Leon's soul's disturbance, the Black Goat shook his head and explained voluntarily:

'What I mean is, this incident isn't normal. That uncontrolled infectee likely knew about the Cleanup Bureau.'

Now that you mention it… it really does seem so!

Hearing this, Leon's expression hardened—he too sensed something was off.

Whether it was the hospital gaining a soul the instant the bandaged woman stepped in, or the collision occurring precisely when she was unable to dodge while pulling Anna out the window—everything felt too deliberate, as if the attack had been specifically targeted at the bandaged woman.

So… could there be accomplices? Am I not safe even outside?

Watching the older nurse carry Anna away after untying her from the curtain, Leon sighed in relief, forcing down his urge to flee, while continuing to search for the infectee's soul, he gritted his teeth and asked:

'Do you… do we in the Cleanup Bureau have any enemies?'

'There are too many.'

The Black Goat grinned, letting out a snort:

'Demon-god infectees, True God Moonfolk, Prehistoric ones—I can't even count your enemies! If they united, even ten times your strength wouldn't save you from annihilation!'

'But good news: your enemies aren't allies either—they hate each other even more. The moment one side looks like it's winning, the others sabotage it from behind, even openly betraying its weaknesses to the Cleanup Bureau. So for now, you're still safe.'

After explaining the Cleanup Bureau's situation, seeing Leon's increasingly grim face, the Black Goat chuckled:

'Enough. Those matters are beyond your current station. Just focus on your job!'

'As for Emma—she's a veteran. She's already sensed something's wrong. Just keep track of those souls; when you need to act, fire your shot.'

…

Indeed, this infectee was suspicious!

Even earlier than the Black Goat suspected, the moment the bolt snapped and the metal cabinet slammed toward her, the bandaged woman had already realized it.

She had ascended from the lobby to the fourth floor without any anomaly—until precisely when she was rescuing Leon's sister and couldn't dodge.

Thus, this uncontrolled infectee must know of the Cleanup Bureau, understand that ordinary attacks are useless against people like her, and deliberately chose this moment to strike.

Yet even knowing the enemy's intent, the bandaged woman did not release her grip or dodge—she stood firm, absorbing the full impact without a word.

The collision bent her thigh bone backward and deformed her entire spine; she collapsed helplessly onto the tilted windowsill.

Dead?

At some point, the young nurse, who had been pinned against the exterior wall, desperately pleading for rescue, had now regained calmness—and regarded the bandaged woman with cold indifference.

Multiple fractures, unfocused eyes, chest caved in by the stone windowsill, bandages scattered everywhere—she was surely dead.

Moving like a strange gecko, the young nurse crawled upward along the wall, then emerged from the inner wall beside the windowsill, walked over, and with her bloodied, mangled right hand, removed the bandaged woman's mask, testing her breath.

Definitely dead.

With mild disgust, she discarded the bloodstained crow mask, then noticed with surprise that even in death, the bandaged woman's hand still gripped the curtain tightly, knuckles white, refusing to loosen.

Hmph… with this woman's physical condition, she could've jumped out and survived—yet she didn't even dodge… pointless stubbornness.

Glancing down, she saw the older nurse frantically untying the curtain, then the young nurse sneered, picked up a large shard of glass from the windowsill, and hurled it downward with force!

'So it's you!'

Just as the glass shard was about to leave her hand, a calm voice came from behind the young nurse.

In her horrified gaze, the scattered bandages on the ground surged upward like serpents finding their target, wrapping tightly around her arms and wrenching them violently in the opposite direction of their joints!

'Squeak!'

'Aaaah!!!'

Watching the young nurse's limbs dislocated, her body twisted into a ball by the bandages, the bandaged woman shook her head:

'You've got some imagination setting a trap like this—but your methods are crude.'

Pushing the cabinet—weighing over three hundred jin—with one hand, she flung the weapon aside, then rose slowly, methodically resetting her displaced bones.

Even her chest, caved in by the windowsill, slowly expanded with her steady breaths—had it not been for the bloodstains still on her bandages, she looked utterly unharmed.

'Hey, you led them to choose the window, didn't you? This plan's half-decent, but the flaws are glaring.'

Walking over to the nurse-ball, squatting down, and pulling the bandage from her mouth, the bandaged woman asked calmly:

'You're too easy to expose—you don't seem smart enough to devise such a killing setup. Someone taught you this.'

'Listen, brainless fool—if you don't want pain, tell me who's behind you.'

'Heh… heh!'

After gasping for breath, the captured young nurse glared fiercely at the bandaged woman and snarled: 'You're the real fool! You think you've caught me? This woman's just a puppet I control—you're finished!'

As if to prove her words, the young nurse's expression suddenly changed—first confusion at why she was bound, then agony as pain surged through her limbs; she screamed half a sound before fainting from sheer agony.

Wrong person?

Hearing this, the bandaged woman raised an eyebrow, about to test whether the young nurse was faking unconsciousness, when heavy footsteps suddenly sounded outside the ICU ward.

'Now do you believe me?'

Walking through the sea of patients, the fat head doctor who had assigned Anna to the ICU ward stopped outside and sneered:

'Everyone in this hospital is my tool! I can control them at will! You don't even know who I am—you can't possibly catch me!'

'And, stupid woman, look down at your feet!'

He pointed to the bandaged woman's feet, already sunken below ground level, then lifted his double chin with arrogant pride:

'Besides controlling this hospital, my true ability is swallowing infected people. Within this hospital's range, once infected, no one can resist the entire building's consumption.'

'Understand? I didn't attack you before—not because I couldn't, but because you always wore your protective mask. But I just tore it off! You're finished!'

'…'

After six years of extreme caution, had she finally been careless?

Looking at the laughing fat head doctor, the bandaged woman, whose lower half was already swallowed, felt her immobile feet and sighed in frustration.

Though she could tear him apart in a second, he was right—these weren't his true body; killing them meant nothing. She had truly been outmaneuvered.

She could've used her bandages to block him—but to lure him out, she chose to rely on her immortality and endure the hit. Instead, she caught a decoy and lost the mask that blocked his ability—how stupid.

Hmm… besides luring him out, she chose to endure the blow deliberately—to feign weakness and make the new recruit owe her a favor, for future help.

But now she'd overplayed it—she'd likely have to ask him to call for backup, and when the director found out in three days, he'd surely laugh his head off…

With a weary shake of her head, the bandaged woman, in low spirits, refused to speak further, closing her eyes in silence. But the opponent wasn't done—besides the fat head doctor, several other doctors and nurses arrived, standing outside the ward, sneering one after another:

'You think you're clever? You're utterly stupid!'

'There are over five hundred people here—once I absorb them all, my power will grow even stronger!'

'Heh, you want to know who's targeting your Cleanup Bureau?'

'I'll tell you—no fear! The one preparing to strike is a great True God!'

Hm?

Hearing this, the bandaged woman, who had planned to shut down for three days and wait for backup, twitched her eyelids—her heart leapt with joy.

This guy… is even dumber than I thought!

Blabbing about his ability's range was bad enough—but now he's revealing who's behind him? Logically, the True God who chose him would probably want to descend and kill him himself if he knew how stupid he was.

Unaware his intelligence had just hit rock bottom in the bandaged woman's eyes, the fat head doctor loomed over his half-swallowed opponent, raised both arms triumphantly in a sun-embracing pose, and declared with fanatical fervor:

'Listen well, stupid woman! My god was born from chaos…'

Just as the bandaged woman strained her ears, ready to catch this vital intelligence, the expressions of the dozen doctors and nurses before her froze simultaneously—then, as if receiving an order, they all collapsed to the floor at once. Meanwhile, her lower half, trapped in the floorboards, was inexplicably 'spat' out.

When she raised her bewildered gaze, a piercing sonic boom echoed from the rooftop of the mall across the hospital…

'Bang!'

…

'Kid, that was a damn good shot!'

Watching the dark soul on the hospital's sixth floor instantly extinguish, the Black Goat licked his lips enviously, then chuckled in praise:

'Three hundred meters away and you still nailed it—you might have a real talent for shooting!'

Talent… I have none. This shot hit only because the bandaged woman had already adjusted the position for me, drastically lowering the aiming difficulty, and half due to the external boost.

He silently shook his head, attributing it to luck, then glanced at his badge slot—two badges, glowing gray-black, had just dimmed.

The efficiency bonus from 【Probationary】 combined with the accuracy boost from 【Shooting Newbie】 seemed to have a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

In the instant before he fired, both badges activated simultaneously, and his hand, as if guided by intuition, pressed down slightly—raising the barrel by nearly two millimeters.

And that slight upward adjustment turned what might have been a nonlethal nail shot into a perfectly placed fatal strike!

As for how we knew who the target was…

'This infiltrator probably isn't very bright.'

After glancing regretfully at the spot where the evil soul had dissolved, the Black Goat couldn't help but chuckle:

'This fool doesn't realize that when he controls someone, the soul's fluctuations of the controlled person become identical to his own.

If he'd only controlled one person, it might've been manageable—even if he focused only on dark souls, sifting him out from six or seven hundred would've been no easy task.'

'But he kept doing it over and over, even forcing those people to gather around Emma… Senior, creating a whole crowd of souls with identical fluctuations—that's just too obvious.'

Taking up the Black Goat's thread, Li Ang recalled the strangely comical scene moments ago and, despite his serious expression, couldn't help but press his lips together before adding:

'Once we find all the souls with matching fluctuations, the one who never went to the fourth floor must be the true infiltrator… By the way, I remember you said the Cleanup Bureau has performance metrics?'

'Yes! And there are extra benefits too.'

The Black Goat nodded eagerly; if it still had a body, it would've happily given Li Ang a thumbs-up.

'You've only been on the job three hours, and under our guidance, you've already successfully identified and eliminated an infiltrator—even rescued a trapped veteran employee. The reward will be substantial!'

'And hey, ha ha! We've cooperated so well this time, handled everything cleanly and efficiently— even that red-haired bitch can't help but treat us a little better now, right?'

(End of Chapter)