Rescuing the Patients

A thick layer of fallen leaves covered the courtyard. Without human upkeep, every street in human society would eventually come to look like this.

Song Weishi stepped through them, the soft, spongy texture underfoot making her wonder what lay beneath—rotted leaves or the remains of animals, or people.

Most of those who disembarked were externally recruited security personnel. It seemed Huihai City had been forward-thinking in this regard.

The original security teams in Huihai City were like greenhouse flowers, nothing like those who had been tempered by the outside world. If they hadn't endured the scorching heat from the start, they'd struggle to adapt to these temperatures later.

Her group might feel uncomfortable when they first got off, but they'd be fine once they adjusted. Song Weishi was no exception. Within a few breaths, she felt her body settle from the initial burning discomfort. She couldn't help but admire her own adaptability.

Song Weishi stretched her limbs and followed the group into the hospital.

Bones piled up throughout the lobby—remnants of corpses that had decomposed in the heat. The stench was overwhelming at first, but it improved significantly once air circulated.

Song Weishi adapted quickly. While others were still retching, she had already stepped inside. Outside, the sky was brightening, casting good light into the lobby, but the deeper they went, the darker it became.

Power had been completely cut off here, including backup generators and even emergency lights.

Once the team had adjusted, their squad of five split off from the others and headed upstairs.

This hospital was huge, with medical equipment distributed across various buildings. Their task was to locate the equipment, clear any safety hazards in the vicinity, and then wait for the porters to move it out.

The job seemed simple—provided they didn't encounter anything strange.

But that was unlikely. Song Weishi glanced at Xie Yi walking beside her. With her around, all sorts of monsters and ghosts were bound to show up.

Sure enough, as soon as they reached the upper floor, the System's voice suddenly rang out: "Host, you have triggered a hidden quest: Cure an ordinary patient."

Song Weishi: ?

Song Weishi: "What?? You mean me? I'm not a doctor. If there's a sick person, go find a doctor. Where's the patient?"

The System gave no hint. It only broadcast the quest and vanished again.

It came and went without a trace, leaving Song Weishi speechless.

She turned to look out the window. Below, cars that hadn't been cleared were blocking the entrance, and the central flowerbed formed a face, making the traffic jam look like a smiling face.

Two months ago, as summer had just arrived, Binhai City suffered unprecedented heat. Every day, countless heatstroke patients flooded the hospitals. With traffic gridlocked, most people chose to bike or take cabs. Xia Tianyue was one of them.

Xia Tianyue had grown up with only her mother. They depended on Xia Juan's small street stall for a living. Xia Juan had worked herself to the bone to raise Xia Tianyue and put her through university.

Xia Tianyue was a filial girl. Outside of her studies, she spent almost all her free time working part-time jobs to help improve their family's finances and pay her own tuition.

As soon as summer break started, she went home to help her mother. Business at the street stall was sluggish—only in the evening would people venture out in the summer heat.

Xia Tianyue was stubborn by nature. She worried about Xia Juan running the cold noodle stall alone, so she took turns with her. During the day, she worked at a milk tea shop, living a double life with almost no sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation left her in a fog, and mistakes at work were inevitable.

When the other employee went out to eat, she casually left the order ticket on the counter, assuming Xia Tianyue would handle the big lunch order. But noon was chaos, and Xia Tianyue was busy with other orders. When the manager came back and demanded to know why the order wasn't done, it was already too late. The coworker pinned the entire blame on the summer intern.

The manager wouldn't listen to any explanation and ruthlessly fired her.

Xia Tianyue trudged home in low spirits, only to find her mother, who would never turn on the air conditioner, collapsed from heatstroke in their rented room.

Xia Juan had been out collecting cardboard boxes during the day, hiding it from her daughter. She saw how hard her daughter worked and wanted to contribute more.

But misfortune always finds the weak, and disaster hounds the miserable. Good things never came in pairs, but bad things piled up one after another, shattering this already fragile family.

Xia Tianyue rushed her mother to the hospital. After examination, the doctor diagnosed Xia Juan with heatstroke—more precisely, heatstroke caused by prolonged outdoor labor.

Xia Juan's body was burning hot, like she had been steamed alive. There was no saving her.

No matter how hard Xia Tianyue tried, no matter how much she begged and cried, it was useless.

Xia Juan's life stopped at the age of forty-six. For a meager amount of money, she left Xia Tianyue forever.

Only a few hours passed between the onset and death. Xia Tianyue sat numbly outside the hospital ward, holding her mother's body.

The hospital was at maximum capacity. Everyone had their own business to attend to; no one had time for the two of them.

Outside, heatwaves rolled, fire serpents seemingly devouring the earth. Her mind was blank. At least it was cooler in the hospital. If she went back to the rented room, she couldn't bear to turn on the air conditioner. She didn't even have enough money for a decent burial plot, let alone the exorbitant cremation fee.

Xia Juan was gone, taken so suddenly. Xia Tianyue felt like her soul had left her body. Her pillar of strength was gone. From now on, she was truly alone in this world.

Until two familiar figures came into view: "Hey, you printed that order ticket. How could you just leave without telling her?"

"Ah, my bad, I forgot. Sorry, cousin. I'll be more careful next time."

"You little brat, if this happens again, see if anyone's willing to take the fall for you. That girl was doing a decent job. She took the blame for you today. You'd better step up and not mess up again. If you cause any more trouble like this, I won't help you anymore."

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't mean it, alright? Oh, right, isn't that girl almost done with her trial period? Cousin, are you going to pay her? Wouldn't that be too easy on her?"

The fawning voice grew quieter and quieter, but every word reached Xia Tianyue's ears.

She instinctively looked up and saw the two were right beside her. She was sitting low, with people blocking her from view, so they hadn't noticed her.

The manager lowered his voice: "Of course not. Today is the seventh day. Her trial period was one week. I fired her right on time, so I don't have to pay her a cent. I'll transfer her wages to your account. Don't you dare say anything."

"Uh-huh, got it. Cousin, you're the best. No wonder you're my real cousin."

"Heh, of course. Why would I let outsiders benefit?"

Xia Tianyue felt that everything was absurd. The world seemed to hold pure malice against her.

It was the same at school. No one took her seriously. Malicious bullying surrounded her at every moment. Xia Tianyue had no friends. People who disliked her kept squeezing the space she had to survive.

The two had already moved their conversation elsewhere, but her mind kept replaying the manager's words about not paying her.

He knew perfectly well it wasn't her fault, yet he still blamed her. Xia Tianyue's heart surged with deep resentment.

Why did they have to treat her like this?

Why did all misfortune fall on her?

Why did the only harbor from the storm vanish too?

She no longer had a mother. Such a painful life would accompany her forever.

She had thought that once she got into university, she would soon be free. But life stopped just before dawn. All her beautiful hopes for the future, the dreams of a better life with her mother, were shattered.

The queue moved slowly. At that moment, the manager and the employee walked up to her.

"God, it's so hot. Why is the hospital this hot too? Let's hurry back after this. Hey, did the wound on your hand stop bleeding?"

The two were here for the emergency room. The employee had a large cloth pressed against his hand, soaked red with blood. Seems he cut himself while slicing lemons.

"Oh, yeah. Let's get it bandaged. It hurts."

The manager suddenly stopped. A pair of eyes below were staring at him intently, making his skin crawl. He glanced over and saw it was the employee he'd fired during the day, sitting on the ground holding a woman. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

The employee turned around and jumped too, but quickly recomposed himself.

Impatient and a little guilty, he said, "What are you doing here?"

Xia Juan's feet blocked his path. Unlike others who might step around, he casually kicked her aside.

Then he noticed something wrong—the woman's knees didn't bend at all. Her whole body was stiff.

He looked at Xia Tianyue's bloodshot eyes, sensing something off, and remembered that she might have overheard their earlier conversation. His words grew even more unabashed.

"If you're sick, go get treated. No one's going to feel sorry for you just because you're lying here holding your mom. Are you broke? Here, we worked together, so I'll give you twenty bucks for registration."

He flicked a crumpled bill into Xia Tianyue's face, using the money that should have been hers to humiliate her.

Xia Tianyue stared at him without blinking. Only one thought filled her mind: these two deserved to die.

The manager didn't stop the employee. He even took a step forward. He had been counting on the fact that poor college girls like Xia Tianyue were easy to push around—unable to find other part-time jobs, they'd endure any mistreatment. Even after being fired, they wouldn't dare speak up.

He had gotten free labor for days and was secretly gloating, full of smug satisfaction, utterly unconcerned with explaining anything to Xia Tianyue.

Let alone when other people insulted her. What did that have to do with him?

The people around them walked past with indifferent faces, not even noticing the little commotion.

Xia Tianyue slowly stood up and leaned her mother back against the chair. She looked as peaceful as if she were asleep, though a faint unpleasant smell wafted from her. But in an environment like the hospital, no one found that strange.

She beckoned to the employee: "Hey, man, the ER doesn't sort by department. If you go upstairs, you'll get in faster."

The employee looked at her suspiciously. The long line ahead still had who knows how long to go. They'd only made a tiny bit of progress so far.

If they delayed any longer, the shop couldn't handle the business alone.

He still wanted to get back quickly. He was half-convinced by Xia Tianyue's words and turned to seek the manager's opinion.

The manager tilted his chin up. "Go on, go check it out. If it doesn't work, we'll come back. I'll hold our spot here."

The employee nodded and followed her. He didn't think he'd said anything too harsh earlier, nor did he intend to apologize to Xia Tianyue.

He just felt a little uncomfortable, so he kept his mouth shut along the way.

Weaving through the crowd, Xia Tianyue walked at a measured pace, letting him keep up easily.

Passing the elevator, she pretended to press the button. The wait was too long, so she pointed to a pitch-black fire stairwell nearby: "Let's take that way upstairs. It'll be faster."

The employee gave her a grateful look without suspecting anything and entered the stairwell.

The lights were sound-activated. When he first entered, the lights at that spot were on, but above and below were endless darkness. A chill ran down his spine.

He turned to call Xia Tianyue to hurry up when he felt something tighten around his neck.

Two thin nylon ropes dug into his flesh. He wasn't tall, and now he was being lifted onto someone's back. Strangulation robbed him of consciousness in an instant, then he snapped back awake.

The moment someone is strangled, they have no strength to resist. He could only let out gurgling sounds, clawing at the ropes with both hands while his legs kicked wildly.

It was no use. He struggled briefly, then went still. Xia Tianyue strangled him for a full five minutes before he died.

She loosened her reddened hands. Her bloodshot eyes glowed eerily in the darkness. She smelled the blood on the employee's hand—from the wound reopening during the struggle, staining her clothes.

She dragged the body up and bit down hard, tearing off a chunk of flesh from his face. The taste of raw meat felt exhilarating. She didn't find anything wrong with it.

She had eaten human flesh. On the day she lost her mother, her soul had been sealed away, and she had become a complete monster.

Her teeth lengthened into fangs, wrinkles spread across her face, and she charged out into the hallway.

Everyone who had looked at her with indifference was now terrified out of their wits, screaming and scattering to both sides.

Everyone feared her, avoiding her like the plague. Fear—that emotion—was almost her most nourishing tonic.

Xia Tianyue charged straight to the manager. Before the chaos reached him, he was still confused, not knowing what was happening.

The moment he saw Xia Tianyue's inhuman appearance, he too was scared witless, stumbling backward. But the crowd behind pushed him forward.

Everyone could see that Xia Tianyue's gaze was locked on him.

She opened her mouth and, in full view of everyone, grabbed the manager by the collar and tore his entire face off with her teeth.

Screams rose one after another. The hospital plunged into chaos.

And so, Xia Tianyue became a monster...

Song Weishi didn't like the pitch-black feeling inside. She kept her light blazing, not leaving a single corner unexamined.

But she kept feeling like something in the darkness was watching her. Every time she turned around, there was nothing there.

It was different from the way Xie Yi normally looked at her. She had a premonition of danger. Combined with the System's quest just now, she felt that the owner of this gaze was key to the mission.

On the second floor, the floor was stained with dried blood, deeply seeped into the tiles.

The whole squad went on high alert, staying vigilant and scanning their surroundings for any sign of monsters.

The items here were scattered and messy, as if a fight had broken out and no one had cleaned up.

Binhai City had lost contact with the outside world long ago. Logically, with its developed infrastructure and dense population, it shouldn't have come to this.

Among the people who came from Binhai, no one had any useful information. They all just said everything was normal. Perhaps those people didn't know what happened at the hospital at all.

Or maybe they did and didn't care. After all, who would remember something from so long ago? Without any useful leads, they could only rely on their own exploration.

Chu Miaoxuan led the way, her muffled voice carrying back: "There are quite a few bodies here. Be careful. This is already the ER area. The equipment should be on this floor or upstairs. Search carefully."

The others acknowledged and opened doors one by one to check. Apart from the hallway, the rooms weren't very dark—light from the windows illuminated them.

The rooms stank, with corpses scattered inside.

After clearing the obvious dangers, the team split up to speed up the search.

Song Weishi had planned to avoid Xie Yi, but Chu Miaoxuan ordered the two of them to work together. She would take the remaining two, Ke Shaoyi and Jiang Qingrou, so their combat strength was evenly distributed.

Song Weishi had no choice but to grit her teeth and pair up with Xie Yi, checking rooms while mulling over the System's quest.

This place really didn't look like it had any survivors. Song Weishi wasn't about to skip any corners. She stepped into the room and began a meticulous search.

When she came back out, she suddenly noticed a woman leaning against the iron bench in the hallway.

Her gray hair and haggard figure immediately caught Song Weishi's attention.

It was a middle-aged woman who looked quite old, but her age was the kind of exhaustion that came from overwork.

She was leaning quietly against the bench, as if asleep.

Her clothes were soaked with sweat, her face flushed red from the heat.

Someone like this appearing here was completely abnormal, but Song Weishi found herself walking over involuntarily. She even felt the woman looked familiar, like she'd seen her somewhere before.

The footsteps in the hallway grew louder in her ears, like restless drumbeats, faster and faster. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. Song Weishi's heart pounded in sync.

Something felt like it was about to crawl out of her ears.

She closed her eyes. The moment she opened them again, a cacophony of sounds assaulted her brain, nearly overwhelming her.

She was holding tongs, pinching a portion of cold noodles to mix. It was a night market.

People bustled around, noise abounding.

"Xiao Yue, what are you staring at? Hurry up and pack the cold noodles for Mom."

Song Weishi looked at the takeout box in her hand. Her mind was a bit foggy, but her hands skillfully packed the noodles. Customers came and went, and Xia Juan's face gradually broke into a smile. Selling cold noodles in summer was good business.

Especially this year, when summer was hotter than ever. People had no appetite, and appetizing food like this sold even better.

But better business brought more competition. Soon, they wouldn't be the only cold noodle stall in the night market. Others were putting out their own offerings.

After a few more days, their current good business would be affected. They needed to make enough money in these days to have some savings before sales declined.

They worked like this until nine at night, when the night market grew even more crowded. Song Weishi's hands moved so fast they were almost a blur. She felt something was off, but the busy business kept her from thinking about anything else.

The mother and daughter didn't notice a group of menacing men approaching them.

"Hey, I told you this is our turf. Do you not understand human language, or what?"

Several thuggish men shoved aside the customers in front of the stall, surrounding the two of them.

Only one girl remained, clenching her fists, still waiting for her cold noodles.

Xia Juan was at a loss. She was a simple, honest woman, and a pleading look crossed her face: "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We'll leave right away. Right now."

The man was bulky, not as tall as Song Weishi, but a bit taller than Xia Juan. A few punks followed him, looking intimidating.

They pressed their advantage: "You keep doing this knowingly, time and again. You don't take my words seriously at all. Are you asking for a beating?"

The gang surrounded the mother and daughter relentlessly. Everyone else moved far away, not wanting to get involved, pretending not to see. Some passersby thought the two parties were just negotiating and couldn't be bothered to watch the drama.

The heat made everyone irritated and anxious, eager to get home to their air conditioners. No one wanted to linger outside.

Xia Juan was terrified but still shielded her daughter, pleading endlessly: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We really won't do it again. We're leaving now."

The man spread his hands and gave a lecherous grin: "I can let you off. Just give me some money. I won't ask for much—just this week's stall fees will do."

Xia Juan's face shifted. Tears welled in her eyes: "That's impossible. If we give you this week's earnings, how are we supposed to live?"

The man's face soured at her rebuttal: "Is that so? That's fine. It looks like you don't really want this stall anyway. Let me help you get rid of it."

With that, he gestured for the thugs behind him to move in. One of them, a dyed-hair punk, kicked their food cart hard. As the man turned away, Song Weishi grabbed a nearby folding stool, retracted its legs, and slammed it into the back of his head.

"Did your parents never teach you to leave people some room to live? Let me teach you."