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Chapter 88 A Little Bit Quirky, But Really Good
There were large numbers of corpses around the hospital.

Gu Mian glanced at them briefly and found that some of the corpses were so rotten that only skin and clothes remained, while others were slightly fresher corpses pressed on top of them.

The closer the corpses were to the hospital, the more severely they decomposed. Gu Mian saw several corpses wearing biohazard suits mixed in among them. They looked like they had just died, and their equipment was still on their bodies, but it was basically unusable.

"It seems quite a few biohazard squads have gotten involved in this game." Gu Mian said as she reached out and pulled a long gun off a corpse.

He discovered that the gun had been broken.

There wasn't much time to carefully examine the corpses; the sound of vehicles on the street was constantly approaching, and they seemed to be heading directly towards the hospital.

Gu Mian ignored the corpses and walked straight towards the hospital gate.

He was convinced that what happened in the restricted area back then must be related to the hospital, but it seemed that getting into the hospital wasn't so easy.

The entrance to this place is very intelligent; the two glass doors lock you securely when closed, and there's a card reader-like device in the cafeteria next door—no one can enter without swiping their card.

"What the hell..." Gu Mian fiddled with the smart door: "The whole city is without power, yet this password door is still working properly?"

As he spoke, he glanced through the transparent glass door into the hospital. It was pitch black inside, and it seemed that only this door was still powered.

"They keep turning off the power where it should, and then turn it off where it shouldn't." Gu Mian said as she picked up a chair leg, intending to smash a big hole in the door.

But as soon as he reached out, Chu Changge grabbed his hand and said, "I've seen monsters in white coats on the street. They must have come from this hospital."

When Chu Changge said "a monster in a white coat," Gu Mian subconsciously thought of herself.

But he immediately realized: "Those doctors should be able to come and go freely in this place."

In other words, they have cards on them.

As Gu Mian pondered, he reached into his pocket, where he found the staff badge of Frandi, the deputy director of the respiratory department.

He took out his employee ID card and swiped it on the card reader next to him. Sure enough, the card reader beeped, and then the door opened.

"I'm so lucky," Gu Mian said as she stepped into the hospital.

However, just as he finished speaking, the glass door behind him slammed shut, and the two people who entered the hospital immediately heard a moderate explosion.

Looking back, I saw that the card reader had started to smoke.

It's blown up and unusable—anyone with eyes can see that.

"So this is a door designed specifically for me, a door that I can only enter but never leave?" Gu Mian felt like her head was about to explode.

Chu Changge, holding a flashlight, observed the surroundings: "You shouldn't be making a fuss about something like this by now."

"I'm just angry," Gu Mian said, looking around.

The hospital had long been without power, and it was nighttime, so it was pitch black.

Chu Changge gave Gu Mian a flashlight, and Gu Mian shone the flashlight on the side.

Upon entering, you are greeted by a huge hall.

In the middle of the hall was a long counter with a computer-like device on it. Next to the computer was a stack of files, and on the table was a sign that read "On Duty Today: Emily".

The walls surrounding the lobby have several large windows for registration or payment.

Several elevators are lined up on one wall, but they have been out of service for a long time because of the power outage. There is also a staircase next to the elevators, so you can climb the stairs if the power goes out.

Gu Mian also saw the electrical box on one of the walls.

Chu Changge, holding a flashlight, said, "I'll go check the electrical box."

He clearly wanted to flip the switch to see if the hospital still had power; if it did, that would be much more convenient.

Gu Mian nodded and looked toward the counter in the lobby on the first floor.

The stack of documents on the desk looked like medical records, and probably contained information about some patients.

Gu Mian walked over there. Actually, he really wanted to find the name "Jin Hu" in this stack of documents, but there were just too many documents, and it would probably take several days to read them all.

If only there were still power, that would be great. Presumably, the computer has the hospital's database, so we could directly search for the name Jin Hu.

At this moment, Chu Changge was frowning as he stared at the electrical box.

He didn't quite understand the configuration of the electrical box; after all, he wasn't an expert in this area. If Fatty were here, he probably would have been able to figure it out...

Gu Mian was certainly not going to try to turn off the power switch; with his terrible luck, he might even be electrocuted the moment he touched it.

As Chu Changge was still considering, the electrical box in front of him suddenly made a "click" sound, like a circuit breaker tripping.

As the sound rang out, the lights above their heads flickered a few times before suddenly lighting up.

Gu Mian put away her flashlight and looked at Chu Changge: "You did this?"

Chu Changge shook his head, his expression not very good: "No."

Gu Mian didn't care why the hospital suddenly became so understanding, and simply reached out and turned on the computer in front of her.

The computer tower was making a buzzing sound, and it was very slow to boot up, as it hadn't been turned on for many years.

But at least it could be turned on. Gu Mian stood in front of the computer, watching the screen gradually light up with anticipation. But just as the screen was halfway lit, the buzzing sound from the computer suddenly stopped, and the screen, which had finally lit up, went out.

The lights in the entire hospital were also turned off.

The instant all the lights went out, Gu Mian wondered if she had suddenly gone blind.

"What's going on?" He looked up in Chu Changge's direction.

Just then, Chu Changge was about to turn on his flashlight when, by the moonlight, Gu Mian saw a strange, distorted white shadow not far behind him.

It was moving silently, gradually approaching Chu Changge's back.

Gu Mian opened his mouth, about to yell at the unsuspecting Chu Changge, when the lights above his head suddenly turned on again, and the white figure vanished without a trace, as if it had just been Gu Mian's illusion.

"What's wrong?" Chu Changge asked, looking over with a flashlight.

Those twisted souls have always existed here.

People's vision is blinded by the light, and they lurk in the darkness, gradually approaching their unsuspecting prey.

But once the light goes out, people will find that these monsters have already come to them.

You'll see them as soon as you turn off the lights.

Just turn off the lights...

Before Gu Mian could reply, the light above his head flickered again. The darkness lasted only a moment, but he could see it clearly.

The white figure behind Chu Changge was getting closer to him.

And there wasn't just one; it was a group of doctors who had died strangely, and they were gradually approaching Chu Changge with eerie movements.

Gu Mian didn't need to turn around to know that there was something like this behind him, because he saw that in the instant after the lights flashed, Chu Changge seemed to have seen something as well, and his expression became strange.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot!" Gu Mian grabbed him and ran towards the stairs. "Let's run!"

He knew that nothing good would come of entering this hospital, and sure enough, he encountered this kind of thing as soon as he entered.

At that moment, the lights above their heads came on again.

Those eerie figures disappeared from their sight again, but Gu Mian knew they hadn't really disappeared; they were just no longer visible.

Chu Changge wasn't stupid either; he immediately took off and ran up the stairs after Gu Mian.

He kept running, talking as he went: "Have you noticed a problem?"

"I've found them!" Gu Mian ran uphill without stopping. "They're all quite white and ugly, not unique at all."

"No," Chu Changge retorted seriously, "I mean those things that are with us. Each of them wears an employee badge, the one you use to swipe your card."

As expected of someone with outstanding mental fortitude, even in that situation, he was able to check what others were wearing first.

Gu Mian pulled out her employee ID from her white lab coat: "Do you mean that as long as I don't wear this thing, I can blend in?"

He moved very quickly, reaching out to pin Frandi's sign to his white coat.

Chu Changge shook his head in denial: "What I mean is that we might be able to identify them by their brand."

The lights above her head were still flickering, and Gu Mian didn't have time to turn around. She only heard Chu Changge speaking.

"Based on our current clues, a violent conflict occurred between the miners and the upper class back then, which led to this place becoming a restricted area. This conflict is related to the hospital, and the factory manager, Sean, seems to know some inside information. Moreover, I also found a medical examination report deep inside the mine."

"Let's make a bold guess..."

Gu Mian yelled, "No need for analysis, I think what I'm thinking is pretty much the same as what you're thinking, it's just that the miners realized they'd been scammed back then..."

"Sean would regularly take the miners to the hospital for checkups, and each time the miners' test results were normal. However, they gradually noticed that something was wrong with their bodies, but the tests still showed nothing wrong."

"There must be some harmful substances in that coal mine, such as toxic gas, and the factory manager, Sean, colluded with the hospital to cover it up for his own benefit. That's why the workers' medical check-up results were always normal."

"Later, as the workers' health deteriorated, the matter was finally discovered. The angry workers kidnapped the factory manager, Sean. I guess they must have also caused trouble at the hospital, and even killed some doctors. I estimate that those later were the group that died back then."

Chu Changge looked up at Gu Mian: "When did you figure it out?"

Gu Mian didn't waste any words: "When I saw this city travel brochure, I already guessed half of it. Seeing the coal mines, hospitals, and regular checkups, it's obvious, isn't it? Don't forget what I do; I know this kind of thing..."

Seeing Chu Changge's increasingly strange expression, Gu Mian quickly denied it: "Of course we've never done such a thing, but I've heard that there are hospitals like this in the evil capitalist society."

Chu Changge didn't pursue the matter further. He continued, "What we need to figure out now is who Factory Director Sean reached an agreement with—the entire hospital or just a particular department of doctors?"

“I don’t know how many people Sean has reached agreements with, but I do know that if it’s an agreement with a particular department, it’s usually the respiratory department,” Gu Mian said, glancing at the name tag hanging around her neck.

Chu Changge nodded slightly: "Let's go to the respiratory department. Maybe we can find some clues about Jin Hu."

But who knows which floor the respiratory department is on!
As Gu Mian was thinking, he glanced behind him, and just then the light above his head flickered again. He saw those eerie humanoid figures crawling frantically on the stairs like spiders.

The author has combined the two chapters into one!

Thank you to cherish1001, I joined the group to urge for updates, Time Traveler, Broken Summer, and book lovers with the last four digits of their IDs 0978 for their generous donations. (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
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(End of this chapter)