Chapter 18 Change

Feng Bujue ran down the hallway after exiting the elevator, but unexpectedly… just as he rounded a corner, something unexpected occurred.

The hallway in front of him was filled with ghostly figures.

"Where did these come from…" Feng Bujue thought, looking at the translucent figures. "The lights are on, and I'm not wearing sunglasses… why can I see them…"

He had his doubts, but he didn't stop. He couldn't afford to delay any longer. Even if something was amiss, he had to force his way through.

Naturally, the ghosts had noticed Jue-Ge's arrival and reacted immediately. They turned their faces, moaning incoherently, and began to move their bodies at a very slow pace, reaching out their arms as if to grab him.

"No way…" Feng Bujue had only taken a few steps when he realized something was wrong. "They can actually affect me…"

He used "affect" instead of "touch," indicating that the ghosts didn't yet have the ability to physically contact him, but… they weren't completely harmless either.

Now, as Feng Bujue "passed" through the translucent ghosts, he felt a noticeable resistance. It was like swimming on land; each ghost was like a mass of invisible, heavy air, and touching their bodies would slow the player down.

"It seems time really is running out…" Feng Bujue focused his mind, resisting the chill that ran through his body, and weaved through the ghosts, trying to maintain high speed. "The closer Lester's 'body' gets to death, the more these ghosts will affect me. Until… I become one of them."

Fortunately, not every hallway was filled with ghosts. After passing that section, the situation improved. Although a few stray ghosts still blocked the way, their small numbers didn't significantly slow Jue-Ge down.

After running for ten minutes, Feng Bujue arrived at the door of Room 216. He pushed the door open and saw…

Victor and the Count had left the bedside and were standing by the window, battling a strange shadow that was reaching in from outside.

"Ah! It's you! Help us!" Victor, hearing the door open, glanced at the entrance and shouted.

The Count added, "Don't forget to close the door!"

Without a word, Feng Bujue slammed the door shut and strode forward.

In those few seconds, Jue-Ge's eyes were fixed on the strange shadow protruding from the window. It was a hideous monster wearing a green homespun robe. Its head was like a torn sack, without hair, ears, or a nose; its eyes and mouth were like three black holes.

"What to do?" Feng Bujue had arrived quickly, but he had no skills, no equipment except for a kitchen knife… and the monster's body was only halfway out the window, wrestling with the Count and Victor, making it difficult to even swing the knife.

"Idiot! Use that thing you extorted from me earlier!" Victor yelled.

"I see…" Feng Bujue thought. "That's how it is…" Hearing Victor's hint, he seemed to understand something instantly.

[Name: Moonlight Bomb]

[Type: Consumable]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Effect: Creates a "Moonlight Blast."]

[Note: Crafted by Elven artisans, it explodes on impact, releasing the moonlight stored within.]

Although this thing was defined as a consumable, judging from the effect and note that said nothing at all… it was probably meant to be used in this script… The question was, where?

Now, the answer was clear…

Before Victor could finish speaking, Feng Bujue put on his sunglasses and tossed the bomb.

With a bang, a burst of light erupted. Immediately afterward came a piercing, mournful scream.

The light was strangely intense, yet it didn't hurt the eyes. The Count and Victor were unaffected, not even blinking. They simply retreated a few steps, away from the monster that had begun to "combust" after being exposed to the moonlight.

"Hmm… so I was being redundant?" Feng Bujue thought to himself, watching the scene unfold.

Jue-Ge mentally reviewed the plot and quickly understood. If he hadn't extorted Victor when completing the "Victor's Key" quest, the battle might have already been over when he returned to this room, and he wouldn't have needed to intervene at all.

Following his current path made things more difficult…

The [Moonlight Bomb] wasn't a necessary item to obtain. It could only be used if all the flags were aligned. At least the conditions "Successfully extorted Victor," "Completed Victor and Harper's quests without visiting the blood bank," and "Never been to the third floor and completed the deal with the little girl" had to be met to reach this point… thereby achieving the "Player personally kills the Mirror Demon" plot branch.

Feng Bujue's ability to inadvertently reach this point by following his usual style was quite impressive…

"It's trying to escape! Find a mirror to trap it!" Suddenly, the shouting started again, still Victor's shrill voice.

At the same moment, the burning body of the Mirror Demon was "retreating" into the window. The monster seemed to still have some life left, preparing to escape back into the mirror.

"I'll do it!" Feng Bujue said, taking out the small mirror from his pocket and shining it.

Sure enough, as soon as the small mirror shone on the Mirror Demon's body, the monster was immobilized. It was stuck in the window, gradually turning to ashes…

The mournful cries faded, and the room returned to silence.

The Count and Victor slowly returned to the bedside, both exhaling in unison.

Feng Bujue also breathed a sigh of relief and pondered, "So he was the one who smiled at me and created the bloody handprint illusion…"

"Hey! Buddy, I smell blood," the Count said. "You brought the stuff, right? I'm feeling thirsty."

Feng Bujue quickly walked over and handed over the two bags of type B blood he had taken from the blood bank.

The Count was straightforward; as if knowing that Jue-Ge was pressed for time, he took the blood bags and quickly retrieved the reward item from his hospital gown pocket, handing it over.

The reward was… a white sock.

Yes, just one, and it didn't even have a description, it just felt like trash…

However, Feng Bujue knew what it was for. He took out the other sock from his pocket and held them together. Sure enough… same style, same color, and the item description appeared as the two socks combined.

[Name: A Pair of Warm Cotton Socks]

[Type: Plot Related]

[Quality: Normal]

[Function: Greatly reduces the effects of freezing on the body.]

[Can be brought out of the script: No]

[Note: Keeping your feet warm is very important, but you don't actually have to wear them.]

The note was right. This thing didn't need to be worn, because the moment the two socks were put together, the chill around Feng Bujue instantly disappeared. Clearly, these socks were merely a symbolic existence in "this space," making Lester "feel" better, but… it wouldn't prolong his "body's" survival time.

"Alright… everyone, I have things to do," Feng Bujue said, immediately taking out the [Teleport Stone to the Third Floor] to go directly up.

"Good luck, buddy."

"You did well, but I'm still going to file a complaint about you!"

"Beer is so good~"

The three oddballs in the ward each said a line, as a response to the player.

Seconds later, Feng Bujue activated the item in his hand. He felt a flash of white light, and in the blink of an eye, the surrounding scenery was completely different.

The teleport stone in his hand immediately disappeared after use, which wasn't a good sign…

The third floor of the hospital was clearly isolated from the other floors. There was no staircase leading here from the second floor, and the elevator didn't come here either. And the only teleport stone was one-way. All of this pointed to the same thing… reaching this floor meant the Boss battle wasn't far away.

"Alright… Mr. Director," Feng Bujue took out his kitchen knife and strode forward. "Here I come…"

The arrival point of the teleport stone was undoubtedly fixed. Jue-Ge's back was against a wall three meters away, and there were no forks in the road ahead, just a straight corridor stretching out.

The corridor was lined with white walls, with no doors or other landmarks visible for now.

Feng Bujue walked about a hundred meters and finally found a door on his right.

[Seems to be locked] The system prompt appeared as he gripped the doorknob.

"Hmm… could this be the Director's office?" Feng Bujue muttered, taking out the [Director's Office Key] and trying it on the lock, but it wouldn't fit.

"I knew it… It wasn't…" He immediately switched to another key, the "backup key Lester secretly made."

This time… it worked.

After opening the door, Feng Bujue saw something incredible… behind the door wasn't a room at all, but a narrow space only three meters long, and three meters away… there was another door.

Cautiously, Feng Bujue stepped inside and quickly grabbed the doorknob of the second door. The system prompt came again: [This exit will allow you to leave the hospital directly. Are you sure you want to leave now?]

"Oh… that's convenient…" Feng Bujue naturally didn't open the door. He immediately retracted his hand and said, "After killing the Director, I can leave the hospital from here, right…" As he spoke, he turned around, preparing to return to the corridor.

Unexpectedly, a second later, he heard another prompt: [This room can only be entered once. Once you leave this room, the room will disappear.]

"What!" Feng Bujue was shocked. "This is deliberately screwing people over! Setting up a room like this on the only path to the Boss battle, anyone would come in! You tell me it's one-time use after I come in, what's the point!"

Jue-Ge had to stand in that small, enclosed space, stroking his chin, and thinking about a countermeasure. "The mission clearly states to kill the Director before leaving the hospital… if I go out this door now, the main quest will definitely fail… but if I leave this place to find the Director, this room will disappear…"

After thinking for a while, he decided not to open that door. Because opening the door would definitely mean failure, while not opening the door… there was still a glimmer of hope. He could kill the Director and then look for other ways to escape.

[Open that door, and you can be reborn.] Suddenly, the system prompt rang again.

"Hmm?" Feng Bujue was stunned for two seconds after hearing that, and then he smiled, a cold smile…

"Heh… hahahaha!" The cold smile gradually turned into a loud laugh. "Hahahahahaha…" The loud laugh evolved into hysterical laughter, with a blatant mocking tone.

The laughter didn't stop as Jue-Ge walked out of the room and back into the corridor. He slammed the door beside him shut.

"This is gilding the lily… Mr. Director!" he shouted loudly into the empty corridor, then took off running.

At this moment, Feng Bujue's eyes had become incredibly firm.

After running for three minutes, he saw the other end of the corridor, where… there was a large golden door.

Key in his left hand, kitchen knife in his right, Feng Bujue went forward without hesitation and inserted the [Director's Office Key] into the door's lock, pushing it open.

The next second, a dazzling golden light burst forth. The room that appeared before Jue-Ge was even larger than the dining hall on the first floor. The room was paved with gold bricks, large oil paintings hung on all four walls, artistic decorations were placed in the corners, and the ceiling even had chandeliers.

Near the window, there was a desk facing south. Although the outside of the window was a chaotic darkness, the "person" sitting in the executive chair was facing the window, leisurely smoking a cigar.

"You just won't give up, will you… traveler from another world?" the Director said, turning the chair around.

The Director of the hospital looked basically human. He was about 1.7 meters tall, had a beer belly, and a receding hairline, and wore gold-rimmed glasses.

He wasn't wearing any clothes, but… he was "wearing" something else.

Whether it was a stream-of-consciousness expression of the script, or whether such a race existed in the Monster Kingdom, the Director's skin was covered with a dense layer of "copper coins," the kind that are round with a square hole in the middle, and heavy in color.

"You're pretty sharp…" Feng Bujue said, squinting at his opponent. "A guy who can interfere with the 'system voice'… I know one…" He seemed to be referring to Billy. "I didn't think there was more than one…"

"If I hadn't said that last sentence, maybe I could have succeeded…" the Director said, exhaling smoke.

"Oh, you mean the sentence 'Open that door, and you can be reborn'?" Feng Bujue continued. "Heh… it doesn't really matter. Before you said that sentence, I had already decided not to open that door." He paused, shrugging. "But your saying that still has some meaning…" he said with a mocking smile. "At least it lets me know two things… first, you're afraid of me; second, you're an idiot."

"Hmph… afraid of you? Why should I be afraid of you?" the Director replied. "Do you think you can defeat me with that kitchen knife in your hand?"

"It's too late to argue, you idiot," Feng Bujue retorted. "When I first got into this script, your nervousness was already showing…" He laughed. "Your opening speech did have some misleading qualities… You weren't lying about Lester's personality, he really is a more open-minded person. But… it's strange for you to say 'no one likes him.'" He tilted his head. "If no one likes him, you can fire him just for 'flirting with nurses and female doctors,' right? As soon as someone complains about him for sexual harassment, you can let him go."

Feng Bujue began to pace back and forth in the room, as if he were performing a detective show. "When I met Jenny, I became even more certain that there was no 'flirting,' at most it was 'flirtation.'" The sarcastic smile on his face became even more obvious. "Looking at your opening speech now… you can see a lot of 'jealousy.' What 'that handsome face of yours,' 'shameless'… hehe… Mr. Director, I think you're mad with jealousy."

The Director's expression turned ugly, and the face under the copper plates was distorted.

But Feng Bujue was far from finished. He pressed on, aggressively saying, "That's right, Lester did a lot of unruly things, but for the hospital's other employees and patients, it was all good, or we can use the word 'care,' something someone like you wouldn't understand." He shook his head. "Because he was so popular with everyone, it was difficult for you to fire him… so your resentment towards him grew stronger and stronger." He turned around, raised a finger, "However… you are the Director after all, and under your frequent pressure, the personnel department compromised. Finally, you could get rid of that annoying kid."

"Heh… it may be fate, Lester's last night shift happened to be December 5th." Feng Bujue paused for a few seconds, then said with a smile, "As you said… he often couldn't arrive on time, so this time it was the same, he was late again." His eyes changed slightly, and he met the Director's gaze. "And this lateness saved him, allowing him to stop at the edge of the gate of hell."

The Director's face was ferocious as he said in a deep voice, "Hmph… are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Feng Bujue replied before the other party could finish speaking. "On the way here, I already understood…" He reached out and pointed behind him. "That room before, that so-called 'door to leave the hospital,' wasn't prepared for Lester at all…" His expression hardened. "That was a door for you to escape, wasn't it…"