Depressed Chapter 7

Shen Lian stared at the weeping infant and began to back away.

Because he knew that the burly man with the axe, who had seemed far more formidable than himself, had already fallen in a pool of blood before Shen Lian arrived—his body covered in gore, so much so that Shen Lian could not even determine how he had died.

As for the female office worker, at first Shen Lian had thought she had been assaulted before her death, but when he saw this infant, he understood how she had died.

She had been the infant’s primary target for revenge.

She was a woman.

So her womb had been torn out, her lower body ripped apart.

This infant’s combat strength was undoubtedly greater than that of those stiff-limbed corpses in the morgue.

He picked up the chainsaw.

The infant lunged at Shen Lian’s face. Instinctively, Shen Lian turned his head, and the infant barely grazed his cheek as it flew past. Shen Lian could even smell the thick, metallic scent of blood on its body.

He had no time to catch his breath before, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another infant lunging at him from the left!

He should have thought of this sooner! After experiencing that agonizing hallucination, he should have realized there was more than one such infant here—this was the obstetrics ward!

There was no way to dodge anymore.

Shen Lian raised the chainsaw.

“Beep—System is generating the program again: random time, random location, random transfer.”

The light was frozen, dead, a ghost. (Note)

It was as if nothing had changed, and yet as if everything had come to a halt.

But Shen Lian discovered he was still in the same ward.

The three corpses still lay in their pools of blood, only now the blood had dried. The two infants were also still in the ward, but their heads had turned in another direction.

Shen Lian followed the direction of their gaze.

There were now two more people there.

One was the doctor he had seen before, and the other was a young man.

While keeping an eye on the two infants, Shen Lian also observed the pupils of the two men.

Suddenly, the two infants opened their eyes. Their gaze was clear, bright, and pure, like the most beautiful and flawless gemstones.

A piercing sound erupted at the same time!

It was like fingernails scraping a blackboard, mixed with the screech of metal grating against the floor, amplified by countless decibels!

It was hair-raising.

Shen Lian’s ears began to ring, his mind filled with agitation, his eyes losing their focus. He wanted to cover his ears, but one hand was wrapped in bandages and the other gripped the chainsaw. With what little clarity he had left, he tightened his grip on the chainsaw, veins standing out on his pale hand.

The shrill wailing multiplied, growing ever louder.

One infant after another crawled out from all sorts of places, each turning their bloody, wrinkled heads toward where the doctor and the young man stood.

Shen Lian could even feel their overwhelming resentment and their faint yet intense consciousness.

“That person is wearing a white coat…”

“That person is wearing a white coat…”

“That person is wearing a white coat…”

“That person is wearing a white coat!”

The infants lunged at Zheng Qing. Zheng Qing once again kicked open the door and burst out, the infants in relentless pursuit!

They quickly left the ward, their departure marked by Zheng Qing’s gradually fading footsteps.

The doctor in the white coat—his doom awaited him here.

But the young man remained in the ward.

Shen Lian watched him expressionlessly.

The young man smiled at him, gentle as a spring mountain.

His pupils were constricted.

Step by step, he walked toward Shen Lian, wearing a gentle smile that seemed out of place on a man’s face, a softness almost effeminate.

Shen Lian’s face remained blank, letting the man approach.

That “person” slowly reached out, caressing Shen Lian’s face, his hand moving over every inch of skin.

His hand slid down to Shen Lian’s carotid sinus—a fatal spot—and tightened.

Shen Lian let the chainsaw fall from his hand and slowly revealed a smile.

It was the first smile he had shown since coming to this hospital. No one would have imagined that someone so gloomy inside could smile with such warmth, as gentle as willow branches in the spring moonlight.

The ghost tilted its head, as if puzzled that this human did not resist.

Silence—a long, long silence.

But the ghost did not squeeze down.

“Beep—Five o’clock sharp. Beginner’s Village mission complete. Twelve players participated, three survived.”

It was all over.

Shen Lian lay on the large bed in the virtual space, reviewing his deductions.

That “ghost” had first possessed the female high school student. Her companion killed her, and the “ghost” then possessed her companion.

When he saw the “ghost” again, it had possessed yet another person.

The situation with the two female high school students had given Shen Lian a bold hypothesis—the ghost needed someone else to “kill” it before it could kill that person and possess them.

In other words, the girl named Feng Xuan might have killed someone else before being possessed, and that person had the “ghost.”

So Shen Lian chose not to act.

If he did not “kill” it, it could not kill him.

Which meant, as long as the twelve of them did not kill each other, the ghost’s lethality was zero.

This “ghost” was a test of human nature alone.

“Beep—Dear player, congratulations on successfully completing the Beginner’s Village mission. You may now select one item at random from the system shop.”

A virtual panel appeared before Shen Lian, displaying a handgun, potassium cyanide, and a medical kit.

Only one of the three could be chosen?

Shen Lian chose the potassium cyanide.

“Beep—System is generating the program at random. The latest instance is launching—please complete the system-assigned mission. Failure to do so will result in player death as determined by the system.”

“Beep—The latest instance: Modern Metropolis.”

“Beep—System mission: random time, random location, random assignment.”

Shen Lian: …

There were so many things to complain about, he didn’t even know where to begin.