Chapter 208: B‑Rank? A‑Rank?

The air in the ward was so viscous it made one feel sick.

Dao Ba Lian wanted to laugh.

A trash who had been stepped into the mud suddenly stood up and talked about some judgment; this must be the year's best joke.

He opened his mouth, the smoke‑blackened teeth just about to show, ready to spit out a curse, but his throat suddenly seized up.

It wasn't because of fear.

It was his tongue that refused to obey.

Not only the tongue, but also the vocal cords, lower jaw, and every muscle in his body severed their connection to the brain in that instant.

The feeling was as if his soul were being torn half out of his body, leaving him a helpless observer, despairingly trapped inside his own flesh.

Chen Shao stood there, head tilted, the slowly rotating blood‑red vortex in his left eye brighter than the shadowless lamp in an operating room.

He looked at no one, casually fixing his cuff, his tone as light as if greeting a neighbor.

"Since everyone is guilty, then atone."

He raised his hand, his index finger tapping lightly in the air, pointing at the two nearest black‑clad hulks.

"You, punish each other."

The words hung in the air for a heartbeat.

Bang!

The hulker who had been about to rush forward and restrain Chen Shao turned without warning, swung his arm in a wide arc, and hammered his companion's nose bridge with a crushing blow. The punch left no room, the crisp crack of broken nasal bone echoing in the cramped room, making teeth ache.

The man taking the hit didn't even manage a wail; his body reacted against instinct—he neither covered his nose nor tried to defend, but instead raised his still‑bleeding fist in a suicidal stance and drove it straight into the opponent's temple.

Thud.

The two hulks collided like two severed wooden stakes, striking each other head‑on.

There were no fancy moves, only the most primitive, savage body collisions. Every punch hit flesh, each strike as if fighting for survival.

Dao Ba Lian's pupils shrank to the size of needle points.

He watched, eyes wide, as his own subordinates, like puppets on strings, paired off and tore and battered each other madly.

Someone had a rib shattered by a kick, yet still struggled to rise and bite the other's throat;

Another had blood‑shot eyes bulging, but grabbed a nearby IV stand and, mindlessly, swung it at a former brother's head.

Crazy.

Totally fucking crazy!

"Ah—"

Chen Yao finally reacted; as soon as her scream left her lips, a cool hand gently covered her eyes.

"Don't look," Chen Shao's voice whispered in her ear, gentle beyond belief.

He protected his sister while turning his head, watching the Thugs whose blood and flesh were a mess, his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly displeased with the scene.

"That one in the black shirt, since he likes to bite, bite him thoroughly," Chen Shao, like a picky director, pointed at a Fatty in the corner tearing another's face with his teeth, "Bite his ear off."

The order was carried out instantly.

The Fatty's eyes were filled with terror and resistance, tears mixing with blood smearing his face, yet his mouth acted like a spring, snapping open to the extreme, even tearing his corner, then clamping shut hard.

Snap.

Half a blood‑stained ear was ripped off, the Fatty mechanically chewed it, a beast‑like gurgle emanating from his throat—a physiological nausea mixed with forced execution.

Dao Ba Lian's legs began to swing.

He wanted to run, to kneel and beg for mercy, to shout for help, but all he could do was stand rooted like a wooden post, unable even to blink.

At that moment, Chen Shao's gaze shifted.

That scarlet left eye stared straight at him.

Dao Ba Lian felt his heart gripped by an icy giant hand, a shiver from deep within his soul that made him want to wet his pants.

"You're the leader," Chen Shao sneered, "Since you're the leader, show some sincerity."

He pointed at the floor in front of Chen Yao's bedside.

It was a hard marble slab.

"Go, kowtow to my sister," Chen Shao's voice flat, "I want to hear a sound."

Dao Ba Lian's body moved.

Amid his desperate mental scream, he shuffled step by step, stiffly to the bedside. His knees bent, he knelt heavily. The muffled thud made one's knees ache.

Then, his upper body.

He planted both hands on the ground, tilted his neck back, then slammed forward violently.

Bang!

His forehead met the marble slab intimately.

Fresh blood splattered instantly, blooming like vivid red plum blossoms on the pristine sheet.

But it wasn't over.

"Not loud enough, not enough," Chen Shao shook his head.

Bang!

The second strike.

Dao Ba Lian's forehead was already split open, flesh torn, white bone starkly exposed. His consciousness wailed, begged for mercy, frantically trying to stop this self‑destructive act, but the weird force felt like a steel‑forged shackle, pushing him toward the Abyss.

Bang!

The third strike.

This time, cracks appeared on the marble slab.

Dao Ba Lian's body convulsed, brain matter mixing with fresh blood streaming down, smearing his eyes, the world turning a sea of crimson.

The ward was filled with a suffocating smell of blood and the sound of bones breaking. Those originally arrogant and domineering thugs had mostly collapsed in pools of blood, motionless, only faint gasps proving they were still alive.

At the same moment, on the main road outside Tai Tao City's First Hospital.

A black special forces vehicle was speeding wildly, its siren tearing through the night sky.

In the passenger seat, the buzz-cut youth holding the detector was ashen-faced; his device was screaming wildly, the screen's numbers glowing purple-red, the letter "B" indicating danger level blinking nonstop, even showing a tendency to jump to "A".

"Captain! The readings are off the charts! It's in the Inpatient Department building!" the buzz-cut youth shouted, "These fluctuations...... these fluctuations are definitely above B‑grade Weird!"

The driver, a middle‑aged man with a stubbled face, slammed the accelerator to the floor, and the engine roared like a beast.

"Seal off all hospital exits!" the captain clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, "Damn it, of all places...... could it be the same Weird?"

That's a Weird fluctuation above B‑grade!

Placed in such a densely populated hospital, once it loses control, it will be a massacre!

The special forces vehicle executed a fine drift and stopped below the Inpatient Department.

Before the vehicle had even come to a stop, fully armed special forces troops jumped out, their black muzzles swiftly aiming at the building entrance.

Inside the ward.

Dao Ba Lian finally stopped moving.

His skull had turned into a blob of rotting flesh, deeply sunk into a depression in the marble floor tiles.

Chen Shao didn't even glance at it. He picked up the coat that originally belonged to Chen Yao from beside him and gently draped it over his sister's head, shielding her view.

Yao Yao, be good, it's okay.

He lifted his sister onto a wheelchair pushed by a frightened nurse, his movements as gentle as if he were holding a priceless treasure.

Let's change places, this is too noisy.

Yao Yao was trembling, her small hand gripping Chen Shao's sleeve tightly, her knuckles white.

Chen Shao pushed the wheelchair, humming an unknown children's tune, the melody wandering aimlessly, yet in this setting it exuded an indescribable Weirdness.

The wheels rolled over the blood pools on the ground, leaving two long bloodstains.

He pushed open the ward door.

The corridor was silent. All the doctors, nurses, and patients had already fled, leaving only the few flickering fluorescent lights overhead that blinked on and off due to poor contact.

Just as he stepped out of the ward door less than five meters away.

A sudden, uniform footsteps came from the stairway entrance.

Clatter—

Seven or eight special forces troops in combat gear, wielding heavy weapons, rushed out, quickly seized advantageous positions, their black muzzles instantly locking onto Chen Shao.

Federal Weird Investigation Bureau! Stay where you are and don't move!

The captain's voice thundered like lightning, his gun steady aimed at Chen Shao's forehead.

Chen Shao stopped his steps.

He looked at those fully armed people, his face showing no panic. He even leisurely took out a handkerchief from his pocket and slowly wiped the bloodstains from his hands.

Shh—

Chen Shao raised his index finger to his lips; his scarlet left eye stood out eerily in the dim corridor.

Keep it down.

He pointed at the girl shivering on the wheelchair, his face revealing a smile that made one's skin crawl.

My sister is timid, don't scare her.

The captain stared at that eye, his palm gripping the gun slick with sweat.

As a veteran officer, he had seen plenty of madmen, their eyes often filled with madness and chaos.

But this man before him was different.

So calm.

That calmness was not a feigned composure but a kind of...... condescending indifference, as if in his eyes the armed special forces troops in this corridor and the rotting flesh in the ward were no different.

"Threat level assessment upgraded!" the captain said low into his earpiece, voice tense, "Repeat, threat level extremely high! Possibly a symbiont or something else!"