Yu Yu was very familiar with the layout of the People's Hospital because she used to come here often, especially to the inpatient area. Perhaps because of the hospital's perpetually oppressive and tense atmosphere, even as Yu Yu walked through now, she didn't notice anything different.
Neither the doctors and nurses nor the passing family members showed many smiles, all hurrying along. Yu Yu confidently walked to the inpatient area, not yet noticing anything unusual. She pressed the button for the 17th floor.
[Neurology Department.]
That's right, because of unexplained high fever and headaches, that account-deleting fool was suspected of having brain problems. A corner of the news image had revealed his floor, and since Yu Yu happened to be quite familiar with the layout of the People's Hospital's inpatient department, she found it with just a quick search.
Soon, the elevator arrived.
Yu Yu was surprised to find that there were few people on this floor. When she had come before, each floor would have many family members rolling out bedding to sleep near the elevators, coming and going constantly. But this time there wasn't a single person?
Though confused, Yu Yu didn't think much of it. Maybe recently nobody was sick? Wouldn't that be a good thing?
Yu Yu entered the hallway, feeling as familiar as if entering her own home. The passing nurses and family members didn't seem to find anything unusual about her presence.
Zhou **, which meant the fool's surname was Zhou.
The patient's name was written outside each room, visible with just a glance. Zhou Zhenxi lay on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had done CT scans, MRIs, basically every examination possible, but they couldn't find the problem. He knew it must be related to "Eternal Darkness."
But no matter how certain he was, others wouldn't believe him. Only after his repeated harassment and because of what happened three days ago did his parents reluctantly believe him. But his parents couldn't see anything with the bracelets on, nor could they enter the game. Unlike the first account deletion, the second account deletion had a one-month cooldown period. The hospital was very boring, and recently the weather outside had been gloomy. Lying in bed, he felt his whole life had turned gray.
Footsteps approached.
He reluctantly looked over.
It was an extremely young woman with pitch-black eyes and a slightly cold expression. She wore a black jacket on top, matching fitted pants below, and had her hands coolly tucked into her coat pockets. She had a slender waist and long legs.
Zhou Zhenxi had never seen such a beautiful girl in his life, and he couldn't help but stare. But what caught his attention even more was the object on the woman's wrist. The bracelet was deep blue, like two intertwined beams of light, made of a special material—definitely not something available on the market.
Zhou Zhenxi suddenly sat up, eyes excited, "A player?"
Yu Yu was already standing by his bed and nodded with a smile, "That's right, it's me."
"You..."
Seeing his delighted expression, Yu Yu said, "We've met on the forum, ID 'Big Boss.'"
"So it's you!"
Zhou Zhenxi's expression became complicated.
Yu Yu didn't hesitate to twist the knife, "I advised you not to listen to 'Free Little Bird,' but you didn't listen."
Zhou Zhenxi: "..." He was already in this state, so maybe she could stop twisting the knife, it hurt so much.
Yu Yu hadn't come to twist the knife though. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"
She extended her long leg to pull over a stool, placed the apple she was carrying on the table, and asked unhurriedly. Actually, Zhou Zhenxi had already explained this many, many times, but Yu Yu was the first player who had come to see him. For the sake of the apple, he would explain one more time.
"...After your first account deletion, besides fever and vomiting, you had no other aftereffects, is that right?" Yu Yu listened quietly, and after he finished, she softly confirmed.
"That's right," Zhou Zhenxi said, "The first time wasn't so severe, but after logging back into the game, my Spirit and Will stats were both reduced."
"Originally my Spirit was 6 and Will was 5, but after logging in they became 5 and 4..."
"What are they now?"
Zhou Zhenxi made a bitter face, "I don't know, the second cooldown is one month, and I still can't log in."
"What about the second time? We saw you disappear before finishing your message."
Zhou Zhenxi showed a fearful expression, "Extreme pain, my head hurt terribly, my nose was bleeding, and I almost passed out immediately, followed by a high fever. I felt like I was about to die..."
As he fearfully described his suffering, Yu Yu seemed thoughtful, "Haven't you tried to discard the bracelet?"
"Tried? Of course I've tried!"
"My mom took the bracelet and threw it down the drain," Zhou Zhenxi's expression wasn't pleasant, "But the next day when I woke up, it was beside me again."
"It's useless, can't get rid of it," he looked pained, "We've tried many methods, nothing works, not even turning it in."
Yu Yu's eyes flashed, "Turning it in?"
"Yes, the police told me to be careful, it seems to have no malicious intent toward me for now."
As he spoke, he took out his bracelet. It was a deep purple bracelet, identical to Yu Yu's except for the color.
"Why is it purple?" Yu Yu questioned.
Zhou Zhenxi was also confused, "I don't know, I thought they were all this color until I saw yours."
"What's your profession?"
"I had switched to Rouge class, but I don't know if the Rouge instructor will still have me when I go back..."
He put the bracelet back on and lay down flat, "Anyway, nothing's safe anywhere, so maybe this is for the best."
"No matter how bad the game is, it's better than being twisted together," he was quite philosophical about it, "When the time comes, I'll just play the game properly and not go out anymore."
His eyes suddenly showed killing intent, "Free Little Bird—I'd better not see him."
Yu Yu thought to herself that he probably hadn't even deleted his account and was just trying to trick some fool into testing the waters.
"Do you have any guesses about the game?"
Zhou Zhenxi suddenly looked at her, thinking for a moment before saying, "There are so many anomalies, the game is just one of them, and it doesn't seem that malicious. Haven't you felt it yet?"
He sat up again, "Haven't you noticed that since playing the game, your hearing and vision have improved?"
"Can you often hear very quiet conversations or ones from far away?"
Yu Yu nodded, "Indeed."
Zhou Zhenxi chuckled, "So, since the game started, I've been staying in the hospital, and at the beginning, I could hear all their conversations."
"I heard that many extremely strange diseases have appeared across the region, like the twisting disease," he deliberately lowered his voice eerily, "People with this disease gradually twist, their muscles, blood vessels, fascia, and even bones slowly twist together like a braid, but the person remains conscious until the end."
"Their vocal cords twist early on so they can't speak, and they eventually die in agony."
Seeing Yu Yu's lack of reaction, he had to lower his voice even more, "And from what I know, this disease is contagious."
"If you have physical contact with a patient for more than ten minutes, they will twist with you, and your own body will start to distort. Eventually, the two of you will twist together like a braid and die in pain together..."
"I heard them say they later found a village where everyone was twisted together, one entangled with another, like distorted tree roots, but none of them had completely died. They said they would try to save them, but..."
Seeing that Yu Yu still had no reaction, Zhou Zhenxi leaned back on the bed disappointed, "I guess it's not possible."
"Don't let random people touch you, and if they do, don't let it last more than ten minutes. That's all I can say."
Yu Yu nodded, "Thanks."
Zhou Zhenxi: "Hmph."
He turned his head again, "Actually, the hospital is quite safe, it's too dangerous outside. You might as well stay in the hospital. They have a very high level of protection for hospitals. Don't believe the movies—in movies, hospitals are the first to fall, but now you see, this is the safest place."
Yu Yu seemed thoughtful, "What you say makes sense, I'll consider it."
Zhou Zhenxi smiled, "Hehe."
After saying goodbye to him, Yu Yu slowly went downstairs. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, and Yu Yu saw family members pushing someone in. Looking closely, the girl had a sallow complexion, her throat abnormally bulging, and the rest of her was covered, not visible.
Seeing Yu Yu standing in the corner, the girl kept looking at her, envy apparent in her eyes. Yu Yu remained silent the whole way. Just as she walked out of the inpatient building, she suddenly heard a loud wailing sound. She looked up to see many helicopters. Their target appeared to be the hospital rooftop.
Yu Yu stopped for a moment, then thought that it would be dangerous to watch the commotion. She avoided the curious onlookers and walked toward the main entrance. The hospital was large, with a beautiful circular fountain just inside the main entrance, right in front of the emergency department, now leisurely spraying water. Passing by the lab, outpatient department, emergency department, passing by...
Yu Yu suddenly accelerated. Almost in the next second, the glass door of the emergency department shattered as an extremely bizarre figure crashed through. It was a figure of several people entangled together—two people serving as legs, two as arms, and several others forming the brain and torso...
They were twisting into each other.
"Ahhhhh!"
The screams almost burst her eardrums. Yu Yu hid behind the fountain, separated from the monster by only a sheet of water. Zhou Zhenxi hadn't mentioned that this thing could run and jump!
Yu Yu had no time to appreciate her intuition when she noticed something out of place. Among those twisted, entangled bodies was a splash of white.
A doctor? A nurse?
She was screaming—the initial scream had come from her. Vocal cords, early stage, ten minutes...
These words flashed through Yu Yu's mind.
People came chasing from behind, dressed ordinarily but moving with extraordinary agility.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Yu Yu instinctively ducked down, covering her head. This time, real chaos began. Screams everywhere, countless people running in panic, falling, cursing...
The emergency department entrance had steps, a very long stretch. The monster fell, rolling like a gourd straight into the fountain. The huge impact even made the water in the fountain tremble. Despite such a violent collision, they remained tightly entangled.
"Save me, save me..."
Yu Yu saw that splash of white; her forehead was covered in blood. Yu Yu swallowed, assessing the situation. The monster had fallen, and the people serving as limbs seemed to have broken at the connection points. The nurse was embedded at the edge as part of the torso—there was a chance.
Seeing they couldn't get up temporarily, Yu Yu took off her jacket, wrapped it around her hand, reached through under the nurse's armpit, and began to pull her out.
Yes, pull.
Only half of her upper body was exposed, her hands and feet seemingly caught. It seemed possible to pull her out? Maybe because the time had been too short and they hadn't twisted tightly yet. She pulled the woman's upper body out. The two people who had chased out were shooting at the monster's head and hadn't noticed them. Yu Yu thought she heard a sound, like bones...
She instinctively looked. The woman's face was covered in blood and tears. She screamed, "Pull!"
Yu Yu leaned back almost 180 degrees and, with an unmistakable sound of bones, was knocked back hard. She had really pulled her out. Yu Yu, as if electrocuted, hurriedly pushed her away, not even taking back her jacket. Glancing at the monster, Yu Yu thought for a moment, then dragged the nurse who was crying hysterically to some bushes nearby, away from the battlefield.
Not knowing if it had been over ten minutes... well, she had tried her best.
Seeing her crying so miserably, Yu Yu had no heart to comfort her. Checking the direction, she quietly fled.
Exit, electric bike, all in one go.
She had no desire to watch the commotion, just focused on escaping. After picking up another batch of deliveries, Yu Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief when she got home.
She opened a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down, then sprawled on the sofa, not wanting to move. Now she only had a white T-shirt left on her body. Due to long wear, the neckline was a bit frayed.
She had been struggling for money these past few years and hadn't bought many clothes, so she had few at home. Suddenly losing a jacket, Yu Yu felt quite pained thinking about it. Looking at her balance, Yu Yu sighed.
Well, compared to food, having enough clothes to wear was fine. She wasn't planning to go out recently anyway—it was simply an unlucky year.
Yu Yu walked to the kitchen and carefully washed her hands. Although she had used her jacket as protection the whole time, the situation was urgent, and Yu Yu didn't know if she had touched anything or if it had been over ten minutes.
She could only comfort herself by thoroughly cleaning her hands. Clear water flowed over her fair knuckles. Yu Yu had a pair of beautiful hands. She was quite satisfied with them, often holding them up to admire. At a time like this, admiring her own hands helped her gradually calm down.
Hmm... there should be no problem. She hadn't done anything wrong, hadn't come into contact with the monster, so should be fine...
Shaking her hands, Yu Yu didn't bother looking for a tissue to dry them. Today's oddities didn't stop there. For instance, she felt her body was lighter, she could run faster, and her strength seemed to have increased.
And that strange sense of crisis—if she hadn't suddenly felt danger, Yu Yu might have collided directly with the monster.
Add to that what Zhou Zhenxi had said about the sudden improvement in hearing and vision...
Yu Yu had a bold idea. Could her game attributes possibly have an effect in reality?