This villain is too popular.

Chapter 437 The Broken Balance, The Dangerous 'Hospital' [4000 words]

[Late night of the fourth day, at the entrance of the county hospital]

Dark clouds completely obscured the moonlight, plunging the streets of Changsheng County into a deathly silence. The glow of the streetlights was blurred by the gray fog, and only the occasional rustling of vines echoed in the empty streets, like someone tiptoeing through the darkness.

Chen Kong stood at the entrance of the alley opposite the county hospital, his eyes fixed on the empty gate of the county hospital.

Tonight's operation is dangerous; this was something Chen Kong knew when he decided to take action tonight.

The danger comes not only from the unknown county hospital in front of them, but also from the special 'curfew' in Changsheng County.

"Are you all ready?"

In response to Chen Kong's question, Mi Yao nodded and switched the game console to night vision mode.

Before long, the outline of the hospital in front of them appeared on the game screen with green dots.

"My star energy jammer has been activated, and all 'surveillance' within a radius of fifty meters will be disabled."

"However, I'm not sure how long this situation will last, so we must act as soon as possible."

Vivian's android eyes flashed with scanning light as she pointed to the construction fence on the west side of the hospital.

“There’s a gap there, which was left temporarily by the construction team and wasn’t fortified.”

"But my scans showed that there were three 'monsters' with energy reactions behind the fence, which were different from the ones we had encountered before; the energy fluctuations were purer."

"Whatever it is, let's get through it first."

Chen Kong took a deep breath and rushed out of the alley first.

The three figures moved quickly in the darkness, their tactical boots making only a slight sound as they stepped on the ground.

The gap in the construction fence was larger than expected, enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

As soon as he stepped through the fence, a strong smell of disinfectant made Mi Yao cough.

The disinfectant also had a musty, stale smell, like a medicine bottle that had been sealed for over a decade had suddenly been opened, which was quite unsettling.

After coughing for a moment, Mi Yao couldn't help but frown and say, "The smell here is really unsettling."

As soon as Mi Yao finished speaking, Vivian, who was standing to the side, seemed to sense something, and a silver-white second-hand rapier suddenly appeared in her hand.

"careful!"

In the darkness, several twisted figures slowly rose to their feet.

They wore tattered blue overalls, with thick vines growing where their arms should have been, their fingers transformed into sharp wooden thorns, and a pale purple flower on their chest that was their core, opening and closing in rhythm with their breath.

The construction workers at night clearly switched to a different mode, a monstrous mode.

Furthermore, their bodies are stronger than ordinary 'citizen monsters', clearly different from ordinary monsters.

"These guys are different from the ones we've encountered before, be careful!"

"Mi Yao, Vivian and I will hold them off for now. You hurry and find the entrance to the county hospital!"

Chen Kong raised his 'Void Weaver' and aimed precisely at the pale purple flowers on the chests of the three 'construction workers'.

The Sky Pattern Bullet accurately hit the core of one of the petals.

As the green sap splattered, the monster only staggered slightly, and new vines quickly grew from the severed wound, with petals blooming anew.

Worse still, a dense rustling sound came from deep within the construction site, and more than a dozen identical monsters emerged from behind piles of steel and concrete, clutching rusty shovels and steel bars, their tools entwined with vines as if they were natural weapons.

Chen Kong fired continuously, the bullets exploding among the monsters, but he could only temporarily repel them.

His 'Void Weaver' excels at precision strikes, but it's clearly struggling against this tough, regenerative monster.

Vivian's second-hand rapier danced in a blur of silver light. Her cyborg body could predict the monsters' attack trajectories, and each strike landed at the joints of the vines, temporarily restricting their movement.

But there were just too many monsters, and her movements quickly became unpredictable. A vine grazed her shoulder, leaving a shallow scratch on her android skin.

Meanwhile, Chen Kong and the others in the scene were already struggling to cope even before they had entered the county hospital.

The comments on the 13th station immediately started scrolling.

'No comparison, no harm done. Lao Kong and his group are so weak! They can't even get into the dungeon!'

'Liaotian: Did I encounter these guys back then? I didn't feel anything, I just thought they were speed bumps.'

'To deal with these tough-skinned monsters, we still need a monster with high stats like Laotian.'

Amidst the teasing from the audience, Mi Yao, the strongest of the three groups, finally made a move.

His game console screen suddenly burst into a blinding green light, the pixels reassembled in mid-air, and a long sword gleaming with diamond luster appeared in his hand.

This is the embodiment of his Star Source: Gaming Master 'Pixel Structure' weapon, with a hardness comparable to a level three star energy alloy.

With his weapon in hand, Mi Yao leaped into the air, his longsword whistling through the air as he slashed down, precisely severing the core petals of the two monsters.

Green juice splattered all over him, but he didn't care. Using the momentum of his fall, he kicked the monster next to him away.

Soon, Mi Yao found a route to the county hospital.

"There's a side door on the left, go back that way!"

Chen Kong and Vivian immediately understood and retreated while fighting.

Mi Yao's pixelated longsword was incredibly powerful, but the monsters regenerated even faster. Just as he dealt with two, three more pounced on him from behind.

He had to gather star energy and unleash a green pixel light shield in front of him. The vines slammed into the light shield with loud bangs, and the pixels on the light shield kept flashing, clearly on the verge of collapse.

Fortunately, Chen Kong and Vivian weren't bad teammates either.

With Mi Yao's reminder, Vivian's AI eyes quickly locked onto the side entrance of the hospital, immediately leading Chen Kong and catching up with Mi Yao, who had run towards that direction first.

Surprisingly, after arriving at the side door, even though Mi Yao used all his strength to push the door panel, the seemingly ordinary glass door did not budge, as if it were welded to the ground, which was very strange.

"Damn it, don't tell me this door 'can't be opened from this side'!"

In the gaming industry, many games often design so-called 'shortcuts' in order to limit the early gameplay time of players and increase the utilization rate of the map.

A major characteristic of these shortcuts is that they make areas that seem passable only become accessible after a long detour.

But this is the real world, how could there be such a bizarre door?

However, reality is not a game. Seeing that Mi Yao was still unable to open the side door, Vivian decisively said, "Move aside, let me try!"

She reached the door, and her robotic fingers instantly disassembled and reassembled, transforming into a sophisticated lock-picking tool that she inserted into the lock cylinder.

"Give me thirty seconds, these monsters are yours!"

Chen Kong decisively turned around and fired. The bullet hit the face of the monster charging at the front, but it was deflected by the tough vines on the monster's face. It was not an effective way to stop it, and soon some monsters rushed up to him.

In response, Chen Kong had no choice but to switch to combat mode, copy Vivian's second-hand rapier, and engage in close combat with the monster that had already charged at him.

However, these monsters were as powerful as a second-level high-ranking star envoy. Every punch they threw was accompanied by a strong wind. Chen Kong was forced into a corner several times and only managed to dodge by moving nimbly.

Fortunately, at this moment, Mi Yao finally demonstrated the basic qualities that a 'level three master' should have.

His 'diamond longsword' struck precisely at the core of the monster workers' vines with each strike, allowing him to hold off most of the monsters single-handedly. However, these monster workers possessed extremely strong regenerative abilities; even with their cores damaged, they could quickly grow new vines.

In contrast, Chen Kong's situation was much more dire.

Several times, the monster workers almost seized the opportunity to beat him to death with a flurry of punches.

"then!"

Just as Chen Kong was starting to feel the strain, Mi Yao suddenly threw the game console at him, the star energy bar on the screen already full.

"This is my ultimate move, which can slow down these monsters within a certain range!"

Chen Kong caught the game console and pressed the ultimate move button without hesitation.

Green star energy erupted instantly, transforming into a giant pixelated seal that enveloped all the rushing monsters.

In an instant, the monsters around Chen Kong suddenly seemed to be stuck in a quagmire. Not only were their movements about a third slower than before, but the speed at which their vines swung also slowed down significantly.

Chen Kong seized the opportunity, and his slender sword pierced precisely into the core petal of a monster in front of him, spraying green sap all over his face.

He wiped his face and continued to parry the attacks from the side, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Vivian's movements were getting faster and faster, and there was a 'click-click' sound coming from the lock.

half a minute later
Click!

With Vivian's expert lock picking skills, the lock cylinder of the glass door of the county hospital opened easily.

Vivian yanked the door open.

"go!"

Without any hesitation, the three rushed inside and closed the side door behind them.

The monstrous worker outside the door continued its relentless pursuit, frantically slamming against the glass and whipping the door with vines.

Faced with this 'unopenable' side door, they could do nothing to the three people inside except for impotent rage.

"call……"

Chen Kong leaned against the door, panting heavily, his tactical uniform soaked with sweat.

Looking at the cuts on his arm from the vines, he said with lingering fear, "Thank goodness Vivian opened the door in time, otherwise we would have really been killed outside."

"Don't be happy too early."

Before Chen Kong could finish speaking, Mi Yao interrupted him.

“Mi Yao is right, this place is not simple either.”

Vivian looked at the dimly lit lobby of the county hospital in front of her, her tone very solemn.

Hearing what the two said, Chen Kong quickly calmed down.

He looked up and saw that the hospital lobby was completely dark, with only the emergency lights emitting a faint green glow that illuminated the dusty corridor.

If you think about it carefully, you'll realize that if things are this complicated outside the hospital, then things inside the hospital must be just as complicated.

They might have just escaped one trap only to fall into another, like falling from one wolf's den into another tiger's lair.

But now their escape route has been cut off by the worker monsters, leaving them with only one option: to continue forward.

"Then where do we go next?"

Having experienced the danger at the gate, Chen Kong was no longer willing to risk letting the three of them split up.

"This way."

Vivian's intelligent scanning revealed an abnormal energy response in the deepest neonatal reception room, and a diagnosis was quickly made.

"I sensed unknown energy fluctuations on the third floor; there might be something there."

"Row."

Having made their decision, the three of them immediately headed towards the third floor.

The three walked down the corridor, the floorboards creaking under their feet, the sound particularly jarring in the quiet hospital.

The ward doors on both sides of the corridor were open, and the beds inside were covered with vines. Some of the beds contained long-dried corpses, which were wrapped with pale purple rose vines.

"These corpses... seem to be from a long time ago."

Mi Yao frowned; a danger warning was displayed on the game console screen.

"The energy here is too strange, as if it is shrouded in some kind of rule."

As they spoke, the three arrived at the newborn reception room that Vivian had mentioned as having something unusual about it.

Just then, the door to the newborn reception room opened automatically, revealing a golden light shining through.

The three exchanged a glance and cautiously went inside.

In the center of the reception room, a broken golden scale floated in mid-air, its beams covered with cracks, just like the one Tiandao and the others had seen in the underground vault.

Directly below the scales, there is a small stone altar with a withered golden chrysanthemum on it. Although the petals are shriveled, they still exude a faint life force.

"This is?!"

Sensing the faint vitality of the golden chrysanthemums and the scales that were clearly out of 'balance', Chen Kong suddenly had a bad feeling.

The next second, the suspended scales suddenly started to spin, and the walls of the reception room began to shake.

Then, the once quiet hospital was filled with low, guttural roars.

It seems that something Chen Kong and his group did disrupted the original balance of the hospital, causing some very terrifying things to be released within it.

Sensing the commotion outside, even a fool would know something was wrong.

"What's next?"

Mi Yao frowned and said, "Let's try to hold out for a while. I feel that these golden chrysanthemums and the scales are not simple. They should be the key to our escape from here."

"How are you sure?"

Under normal circumstances, Mi Yao might be interested in explaining things to Chen Kong.

But the current situation is special, and he doesn't have much time to say more. He can only briefly say: "My Star Source has certain exploration functions, and these functions have some characteristics similar to 'strategy guides'."

“I sensed the ‘prop’ quality in these two things; they will definitely be useful to us.”

For the first time, Mi Yao shared some of the real effects of his Star Source Gaming Master skills with others.

Upon hearing these words, Chen Kong and Vivian understood.

Now that the key has been found, they only have two things to do.

One is to find a way to take these two keys, and the other is to find a way to get out of here.

The Changsheng County Hospital at night is truly not an ordinary place.

(End of this chapter)