Chapter 1 The Sound

The sound didn't come from the direction Feng Bujue had been traveling, but from the side he hadn't explored yet.

The low moan was followed by the sound of footsteps.

Pa, pa, pa...

These weren't ordinary footsteps, but the sound of bare feet on the ground.

"Great~ Here comes a barefoot guy to mess with me, the one wearing shoes..." Just from the sound, Feng Bujue knew trouble was brewing.

In a Nightmare difficulty script, especially with these ability-limiting settings, being ambushed by a monster... could very well result in instant death.

Even players without much Nightmare experience knew that, let alone a seasoned veteran like Feng Bujue, who frequented Nightmare difficulty levels every few days.

Therefore, even though Brother Jue had a weapon at hand, his priority was still to hide.

"Hmm... first, grab something handy." At that moment, Feng Bujue quickly scanned the trolley and grabbed a weapon.

【Name: Scalpel】
【Type: Weapon】
【Quality: Ordinary】
【Attack Power: Medium】
【Attribute: None】
【Effect: None】
【Equipment Requirements: General Mastery e, or Medical Mastery f】
【Can be brought out of this script: Yes】
【Note: No. 3 handle, No. 22 blade.】

Without equipment or physical bonuses, this kind of ordinary, lightweight, bladed weapon was still pretty good.

Of course, according to Feng Bujue's self-ranked "Ordinary People's Melee Weapon Tier List," scalpels could only be considered T2 bottom-tier... above them were baseball bats, golf clubs, folding stools, cleavers, etc.; T3 would be kitchen knives, bricks, brass knuckles, hammers, and the like; and a little lower at T4 would be frozen meat, scissors, wine bottles, shoe soles, crutches, and frying pans. As for the artifact that could enter T1, we all know what it is... chainsaw, no explanation needed.

Pa, pa, pa...

The sound of footsteps grew faster and closer.

Feng Bujue glanced around, but there really wasn't anywhere to hide in this room... the cabinets were all too small, not even big enough for elementary school students to hide in; the mechanical equipment wasn't big enough either, unable to create any blind spots, and there wasn't even a corner to squat down in.

Looking around, the only place to go was behind the curtain...

So, Feng Bujue decisively lifted the curtain. Then, he saw a hospital bed; on the bed, there was a head and a foot.

Let's talk about the foot first... the foot was already motionless, because most of the fluorescent fluid inside had already leaked out, "it" was just placed on the bed, like an ordinary, excised organ.

But, that head... was still "alive."

"It" was fixed to the headboard with several leather straps, and several tubes of varying thicknesses and materials were connected to the bottom of its neck, and those tubes were connected to several pieces of equipment beside the bed. One of them had a transparent shell, and inside was a rubber pump that was rhythmically rising and falling, seemingly an "artificial lung"; another one was similar in principle, but instead of air, it contained fluorescent fluid...

When Feng Bujue lifted the curtain, he found that the head's eyes had already locked onto his direction, indicating that... this head had long sensed someone outside the curtain.

"Vision and hearing haven't disappeared yet..." Feng Bujue glanced at the head and thought, "I don't know if he can still think, and I don't know if he's hostile to me... but, a guy who's lost his vocal cords would have a hard time exposing my location even if he wanted to."

He was pondering, when suddenly there was a "bang" from behind. Without a doubt, the "barefoot guy" had pushed the door open and entered...

Then, there was ten seconds of silence.

Feng Bujue, who had already slipped under the bed in a flash, knew even without looking... that the one who came in was scanning the room.

Pa, pa... Ten seconds later, the sound of footsteps rang out again, heading straight for the bed.

Hiss——

The curtain was violently pulled open, and a pair of thin, dry feet appeared in Brother Jue's line of sight.

They were a pair of somewhat deformed feet, not only skin and bones, but also as if they had been bitten by some animal, with several areas of skin missing on the surface, revealing the stark white bone... the toes on both feet were also crossed and twisted, but maintained the balance of the entire foot in a strange way...

If possible, Brother Jue really wanted to see the other person's whole body, but unfortunately, from his angle, he could only see these feet. To see further up, he would have to lean his head forward... that would be too risky and not worth it.

"Uh——" The Barefoot Guy stood by the bed and let out another moan, then... sniffed twice, like a hunting dog tracking prey.

Fortunately, the smell of disinfectant in this room was very strong, unless it was something with a strong odor like feces, the smell of other things could easily be masked.

"Heh... hehe..." For some reason, after sniffing for a while, the Barefoot Guy suddenly laughed twice. His laughter sounded like an old timer who smoked industrial waste gas every day and had been smoking it for decades, his hoarse, smoky voice... made people want to spit out phlegm immediately.

After those few laughs, the Barefoot Guy turned and left. When he was a little further away, Feng Bujue leaned his head forward slightly, ensuring that he didn't leave the shadow.

At this time, Brother Jue could barely see the monster's body below the ribs... In general, that guy was a dried corpse; not only were his collarbones prominent and his skin shriveled, but there were also many places on his body where the skin was torn and the bone was directly exposed.

Perhaps considering harmonious factors, this shirtless, shoeless monster was still wearing a pair of capri pants (I distinguish the length of the pants of humanoid monsters in horror games by the degree of damage to the pants legs, ripped to the root of the thigh is short pants, only ripped at the hem is long pants, and so on)...

Bang——

Accompanied by the sound of a door panel being pushed, the monster walked out...

The Barefoot Guy came and went in a hurry, taking less than a minute in total from entering the room to leaving.

However, this minute was undoubtedly a rather terrifying experience for the person hiding under the bed...

The tension of being discovered at any moment...

The fear that made the blood in his whole body run cold...

The repression of having his heart about to jump out of his throat, but not daring to even breathe...

"Hmm... heading towards the room at the end of the corridor..."

Feng Bujue didn't have any of the above reactions...

"Looks like... just a mutated human, and the kind with incomplete limbs..."

After experiencing this "terrifying" hiding scene, ordinary people would usually breathe a sigh of relief and hide under the bed until they couldn't hear the monster's voice at all before coming out.

But Feng Bujue immediately thought of counterattacking...

"Take advantage of the moment to sneak up quietly and stab him in the back when he's caught off guard... the success rate is definitely over 70%."

Thinking of this, Brother Jue took advantage of the situation and rolled out from under the bed in a smooth movement, followed by a carp leaping to his feet... then, he quickly grabbed a bone saw from the trolley.

He grabbed a bone saw in one hand and a scalpel in the other, and headed for the door.

Seeing this scene, even the Head Guy fixed to the bed frame showed a shocked expression...

"He's moving pretty fast..." Three seconds later, Brother Jue used his shoulder to push open the active door without making a sound and returned to the corridor. At this time, the Barefoot Guy had already passed the corner ahead. Judging from the sound of his footsteps, he was heading towards the room with the locked door.

"At this speed, I should be able to catch up in about thirty seconds..." Feng Bujue continued to maintain silence, taking long strides on the ground, shortening the distance with the other person.

However, just as he approached the corner, preparing to flash out...

Bang——

A loud noise came.

The sound was like a car rear-ending another, and it was the kind of rear-ending at a speed of over seventy kilometers per hour.

"Huh?" In that instant, Feng Bujue almost instinctively realized something. He quickly stopped and didn't take that crucial step.

Bang——Bang bang——Bang!

Immediately afterward, there were four more loud noises in a row, followed by a heavy, metallic plate slamming onto the concrete floor.

"F*** me sideways!" Half a second after hearing the sound, Feng Bujue cursed a freshly invented swear word in his heart.

He could tell that the series of noises just now... was the sound of the Barefoot Guy slamming into the door.

If the other person had only "broken the lock," that would have been fine, but judging from the sound... this guy must have smashed the entire door down.

Thinking about the thickness of that metal door, and then looking down at his own body... Feng Bujue licked his lips and decided... to retreat.

A moment later, the Head Guy, who had watched Brother Jue leave with a shocked expression, watched Brother Jue return to the room and crawl back under the bed with a puzzled expression...

Long story short...

After lying on his stomach under the bed with his surgical instruments for five minutes, the Barefoot Guy's footsteps passed by the door again from the corridor outside. He must have finished searching the room at the end of the corridor, so he was returning the same way.

This time, Feng Bujue waited until the other person's footsteps had completely disappeared, and another three minutes had passed, before rolling out from under the bed.

"Sigh... you really can't judge a book by its cover, or measure the sea with a bushel~" After standing up, he murmured softly, "This is Mr. Aha's build, Kane Bloodhoof's power..."

After Brother Jue finished complaining, he turned back to look at the Head Guy, then leaned in and said to him: "Blink once for 'yes,' blink twice for 'no,' understand?"

His first sentence was very purposeful. Two seconds later, the Head Guy also blinked deeply and forcefully, indicating that he understood.

"Oh... reason still exists." After Feng Bujue muttered this sentence, he... left.

This time, the Head Guy was even more confused... He originally thought that the other person would use the blinking method to communicate with him, but he didn't expect Brother Jue to only confirm one question before turning around and leaving.

"Don't worry, I'll come back to find you in a while, you first... um... it seems you can only wait." Feng Bujue seemed to be able to see through the other person's thoughts, and said this sentence to the Head Guy before leaving the room. After saying that, he returned to the corridor and rushed all the way to the previously locked room.

According to Brother Jue's analysis, the previous plot had a total of three meanings: first, to make the main monster Boss of this script appear; second, to create a scare scene; third, to have the monster help the player open a door.

"So far, it's still a typical linear script, with almost no extra choices, and no side quests..." Feng Bujue thought as he arrived at the door of that room, "So, following the guidance of the plot to explore is probably correct."

With the help of the light in the corridor, Feng Bujue could roughly see the scenery in the room... It was a square room with sides of five meters, which was smaller than the first room Brother Jue was in; at this time, the metal door of the room had been completely smashed away and was lying on the ground; and in the center of the room, there stood a rather large black shadow, and it was motionless...

"This is... a statue?" Feng Bujue cautiously stepped into the door, reached out and groped for the wall next to the door. As he guessed... in a position similar to the first room, there was a light switch.

Pi——

After flicking the switch, the second room also lit up.

What appeared in front of Feng Bujue was indeed a statue...

The statue was about two meters high, and the main body was a worker wearing a uniform; there was nothing unusual about its base and body, but instead of a human head, the statue's neck was topped with a set of tools; those tools included axes, sickles, hammers, pliers, etc., and there were no particularly strange objects.

In addition, there were words engraved on the base of the statue...

Feng Bujue walked closer to observe, and found that it said——"People are the most important factor in production," next to it was engraved a year——"1927."

"This is..." The moment that line of words entered his vision, a group of information flashed through Brother Jue's mind like lightning, "... Crap!"

The next second, he quickly turned around and shifted his gaze away from the statue.

However...

"Tsk... it seems it's already too late..." Then, he muttered again in a low voice, and quickly strode towards the third room... that is, the room where the Head Guy was.

The Head Guy was puzzled again when he saw him come back so quickly, but Feng Bujue's strange behavior was only just beginning...

After returning to the room, Feng Bujue completely ignored the Head Guy on the bed, and began to rummage through the cabinets on his own, and successfully found a fountain pen, a bottle of ink, and a stack of paper.

Then, he moved a stool, sat in front of a piece of equipment, spread the paper on it, and began... to write a novel.

Yes, he was writing a novel in a Nightmare difficulty solo script... Not only was he writing, but he was also writing with a joyful expression.

That vigorous writing made the Head Guy on the bed at a loss (literally at a loss), and the latter didn't know what he was doing at all...

And the system didn't make a judgment of "passive game" for Brother Jue's behavior, but just let him write.

And so... Feng Bujue wrote a novel in this bizarre environment for a full three hours...

Until three hours later, his expression suddenly turned cold, and he put down the pen in his hand.

He looked down at his already swollen knuckles, let out a long sigh, and said: "Ah... damn it, it finally stopped working."