Chapter 191: Suspicion

Jiang Yuan lowered his voice and let out a roar at the four people behind him who were already scared stiff!

Pupu, pupu......

The sticky footsteps came from far to near, mixed with that scalp‑numbing wail, forming the rhythm of death.

There was no time to think at all!

The nearest were the few rooms at the corridor's corner, and beside them a half‑open fire cabinet painted red with Paint!

Li Na reacted the fastest!

She was closest to that red cabinet, and survival instinct made her lunge forward without thinking, darting in and then slamming the cabinet door shut with a Bang!

Over here!

Jiang Yuan shoved Chen Shao in the back, dragging the other three as they sprinted wildly toward the room next door marked 【Qingjiechuwushi】.

Xiao Ma and Ahu scrambled, crawling and stumbling, while Chen Shao staggered.

The three filed in, Jiang Yuan being the last to dart inside, then he reached back to pull the door!

"Close the door! Quickly close the door!" Xiao Ma's voice trembled with tears as he pressed his whole body against the door, pushing with all his might.

But the door wouldn't close!

A finger‑wide gap remained between the door and its frame, and no matter how hard they pushed, they couldn't close it.

"What the hell?!" Ahu also lunged forward, slamming his sturdy body against the door panel, but that gap stubbornly remained.

Jiang Yuan's heart sank sharply.

He peered through the gap, and his pupils contracted suddenly!

A rust‑streaked crowbar was jammed tightly into the hinge of the door shaft!

Someone had tampered with it!

It was the Infiltrator!

He had anticipated they'd hide in this room and had set this deadly trap in advance!

"Damn!"

Jiang Yuan cursed under his breath, and his back was instantly soaked in cold sweat.

Waa—

The wailing was right outside the door.

The thick, almost palpable stench of rot and blood surged wildly in through the door crack.

Immediately after.

Pupu, pupu.

Countless pale, baby‑sized arms shot out wildly from the door gap, from cracks in the walls, and from vents in the ceiling!

They surged like madly growing poisonous vines, thick and overwhelming, sweeping toward the four people in the room!

"Ahhh! What the hell is this?!" Xiao Ma let out a hysterical scream, flailing his arms wildly, only to have three or four of those arms instantly coil around his arms and neck.

Chen Shao and Ahu were no exception; in the blink of an eye those pale arms bound them like zongzi, pinning them to the ground and making even breathing difficult.

Jiang Yuan was likewise ensnared by several arms around his ankles and waist, a cold, death‑laden force surging wildly into his body through the points of contact.

A feeling of suffocation.

A feeling of despair.

The shadow of death, in a form never seen before, enveloped the entire room.

Jiang Yuan recalled his first experience.

"Take off your clothes! Pull off that Doctor's Lab Coat! Quick!"

Jiang Yuan bellowed with all his strength at the three, whose faces had turned purple from being entwined!

In such a Weird scene, this command seemed utterly absurd.

Xiao Ma and the others' brains could no longer think; they merely instinctively looked toward Jiang Yuan.

"Believe me! Hurry up and take it off!" Jiang Yuan roared again, already frantically tearing at his own Doctor's Lab Coat.

Buttons flew off!

Fabric ripped!

Survival instinct overrode everything!

Chen Shao, Xiao Ma, and Ahu also began, using whatever joints could still move, to desperately tear and twist, trying to break free of that Doctor's Lab Coat that symbolized death!

Rip—

Jiang Yuan was the first to tear his Doctor's Lab Coat completely off!

At the moment those pieces of fabric left his body.

A miracle occurred!

Those pale arms that had been tightly coiled around him snapped back as if shocked by electricity!

They receded!

"It works! It really works!" Jiang Yuan shouted, using his newly freed hands to help Chen Shao, who was nearest to him, tear at his coat.

Seeing this, Xiao Ma and Ahu burst forth with their last reserves of strength!

Rip! Rip!

They likewise exerted every ounce of strength, sucking out their last effort, and pulled off their clothes.

The whole room fell silent again.

Those countless, nightmare‑like pale arms all retreated back into the cracks of the walls and ceiling, vanishing without a trace.

The sticky wailing and footsteps outside the door also gradually faded away.

The crisis was resolved.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

In the room, only the four men's breathing, absurdly heavy, remained.

They slumped on the floor, their bodies covered with red marks from arm restraints, a pitiful sight.

But they survived.

"I... I'm still alive..." Xiao Ma touched his neck, then his face, then suddenly grinned, crying and laughing at once.

"Damn... we survived!"

Chen Shao nudged his glasses, which had crookeded at some unknown time, and the eyes behind the lenses were filled with the gratitude of having escaped death.

Ahu said nothing, but hammered the ground heavily with his fist.

Jiang Yuan leaned against the wall, his chest heaving violently.

He lowered his head to look at himself.

At some point, Patient's clothing had appeared on his body.

Not only him.

Jiang Yuan lifted his head and looked at the other three.

Patient's clothing had also appeared on their bodies.

"We... have we become Patients?" Chen Shao also sensed the bodily change; he looked at his own hands, his voice trembling with disbelief.

"Ha ha! We've become Patients!" Xiao Ma was the first to react; he sprang up from the ground, ecstatic, waving his arms and legs, "We can get out! We can get out from the second underground level!"

Hope!

After enduring countless cycles of despair, the tangible, within‑reach hope made ecstatic smiles blossom on everyone's faces!

They finally obtained the Ticket to leave this hell!

Jiang Yuan, however, did not smile.

His gaze fell on the crowbar still stuck firmly in the door hinge.

Infiltrator...

He won't let them leave so easily.

"First go out and rendezvous with Li Na." Jiang Yuan stood up, then casually pulled open the door that was no longer threatening.

The crowbar fell to the floor with a clang.

The Corridor was empty and desolate; apart from the strong smell of blood, there was nothing.

Xiao Ma ran to the red fire cabinet and pounded the cabinet door.

The cabinet door was pushed open from inside with a squeak.

Li Na stepped out from inside, her clothing also turned into the Patient's uniform.

Suddenly, Xiao Ma seemed to recall something, squinting, inhaling deeply, his voice chillingly cold.

He stared at Li Na intently, his eyes burning with flames of doubt.

"—Not right, Li Na."

"We were almost killed inside by that Infiltrator; you hid in the cabinet and remained unharmed."

"That crowbar... did you place it?!"

"Is it... you are the Infiltrator!"