"Evil" had its own way of playing

When the time was up, Xu Kai got to his feet and moved the stool off patient number eight.

"Woo, woo..."

The moment he moved it, patient number eight lunged at him again. This time Xu Kai was ready and dodged. Not only did he dodge, he also threatened him:

"If you lunge at me again, I'll eat all your breakfast and lock you in here. The rules will kill you."

Patient number eight froze at those words. When he heard the mention of the rules in particular, he began trembling with fear.

Seeing number eight tremble, Xu Kai took out the milk and offered him an enticement:

"As long as you behave, I'll not only give you food, I'll play Frisbee with you too!"

"Woo, woo, woo! Woo, woo, woo!"

Patient number eight had clearly understood and obediently followed Xu Kai.

Xu Kai led patient number eight out of the ward. Sure enough, number eight knew the hallway rules too. The moment he entered the hallway, he went quiet as a dog.

Xu Kai walked carefully. With it being mealtime in the cafeteria, the hallway was growing crowded, but everyone was completely silent. They clearly knew the hallway rules too—or rather, those who hadn't known them were all dead.

Combining this with his earlier deductions, Xu Kai could be certain he was the only participant on his floor.

If there had been any others, he would have run into them during his first exploration. And from what Xu Kai had observed, there were no players on this floor.

The trip down the hallway was uneventful. Xu Kai reached the elevator, which was on the eighth floor. He called it down, and when he saw no one inside, he entered with patient number eight. Others nearby in the hallway followed them in, and before long, the elevator was full.

Once full, the elevator went straight from the seventh floor to the second without stopping. In this Killing Zone, Xu Kai had somehow encountered no danger.

But Xu Kai didn't let his guard down. He stepped out of the elevator and first checked how many people were in the cafeteria. One quick glance left him stunned.

Perhaps because Xu Kai had arrived early, he didn't see a single person standing. Nurses, doctors, and patients alike were crawling on the floor. Some had already developed webbing on their hands, with their fingers almost fused together.

They lay coldly on the floor, staring straight at the food service windows as they waited for service to begin. They paid no attention to the newcomers.

Xu Kai found his place and sat down. He looked at the button on his table. The light beside it was red, indicating it wasn't time yet.

He checked his watch. Only about five minutes had passed, and the cafeteria was still quite empty.

Ding-dong!

The next elevator arrived, carrying Leng Chong. There were four elevators in the cafeteria. The one near the hallway by Xu Kai's ward was the first, and counting counterclockwise, Leng Chong's was the second.

Leng Chong didn't look well. His clothes were somewhat torn when he emerged, as though he had been through a fierce battle. He walked in Xu Kai's direction.

Seeing Leng Chong approach, Xu Kai said nothing. He simply took a toothpick container from the next table. It was made of clear plastic.

Xu Kai dumped out all the toothpicks, then held out a finger. A stream of Weird Energy turned into ink and dripped from his finger into the container. His face twisted in a rare grimace before becoming calm again.

"Xu Kai, I came to talk about working together... Huh? Holy shit, damn impressive. That's ruthless!"

Leng Chong had just started speaking to Xu Kai when he saw him hand over a toothpick container full of black liquid. After sensing it carefully, he realized it was Xu Kai's Weird Energy.

Leng Chong had little to say. He only wanted to say one thing: damn impressive! He was glad he was working with Xu Kai. He had never seen such a ruthless "Evil" before.

The pain of having Weird Energy outside the body was no less than the pain of having one's internal organs shattered. Moreover, it would continue for as long as the energy remained outside. Xu Kai was using his own Weird Energy as a means of communication, allowing Leng Chong to return to his seat so they could cooperate in secret.

It worked well enough, but it was crippling. Leng Chong, an ally now but an enemy in the future, couldn't help giving this ruthless man a thumbs-up.

Leng Chong took the toothpick container back to his seat and sat down as though nothing had happened.

The container began to move slightly. An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to tell what it was, but to an "Evil's" senses, Xu Kai was writing with Weird Energy.

"Our cooperation starts now. Have the two nurses you saw on the monitors appeared? Where are they?"

Leng Chong had mentioned two nurses before, and Xu Kai remembered them clearly. One had repelled Leng Chong, and the other had killed Tun. Of the two nurses, one was skilled with a blade and the other at repelling people. Leng Chong had seen both their faces, so it would be easy for him to identify them.

Leng Chong looked around and was startled. He used his Weird Energy to gesture at the container:

"I don't think I need to tell you. Look at the elevator covered in blood. Those two nurses have teamed up."

After hearing Leng Chong's words, Xu Kai pretended to step out of his booth to see whether the food service windows had opened. Sure enough, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that elevator number three was covered in blood, and two nurses were emerging from it.

Both nurses were covered in bloodstains, and there was a trace of disappointment on their faces.

When Xu Kai saw them, his gaze sharpened.

It was simply that the nurse with the blade had an overwhelming killing aura. The elevator hadn't closed after the two came out, and the corpses inside were piled into a mountain.

They seemed to have wanted to try their luck by killing everyone in the packed elevator. Presumably, they were a little disappointed to see no change on the game panel.

"Xu Kai, this is a little tricky now. One of those players can repel and control people, and the other's blade skills counter Weird Energy. They won't be easy to deal with..."

"Don't rush. Do you see booth number eight? It's about time. Let's first probe the third player. If the third player isn't strong, you and I will make our move."

"...How?"

"After you finish eating, quietly slip inside..."

"That method does have a chance, but... heh, I'm the one doing the probing? Then what will you do?"

"I'll hold those two nurses back. You don't want to? How about we switch?"

"...No need."

Leng Chong fell silent for a moment, then withdrew his Weird Energy and stopped communicating with the toothpick container.

When the two nurses came down, everyone, whether crawling or standing, kept well away from them, as though there was something especially terrifying about the nurses.

The nurse without the blade stopped and looked at the crowd in the cafeteria. A bloodthirsty desire rose in her heart, and she said to the nurse with the blade:

"Ms. Lin, since everyone's gathered together, why don't we kill them all? That way, the other participants will definitely die too."

"You want to challenge everyone? If you're looking to die, don't drag me into it."

Ms. Lin spoke coldly. She put away her long blade, somehow shrinking its meter-long length neatly into her sleeve. The nurse without the blade watched with a hint of envy in her eyes.

At that moment, Ms. Lin suddenly spoke to the nurse without the blade:

"Be careful, Liu Fang. The people in this cafeteria aren't as simple as you think. I sensed someone spying on us just now, but unfortunately, I couldn't find them."

With that, Ms. Lin and Liu Fang separated to look for their seats. They seemed to be in luck, though, as they ended up sitting together again.

Their seats were close. Liu Fang was a nurse at the third-floor nurses' station, while Ms. Lin was from the fourth floor. The tables seemed to be arranged by floor, so their places were close together, in two adjacent rows. And because the booth openings faced each other, they were seated almost face-to-face.

Xu Kai speculated that perhaps the two players had also been able to make contact and reach an agreement to cooperate so quickly because they were both nurses, with the same identity and similar missions.

Ding, ding, ding...

A broadcast sounded from the pillar. A large clock above the food service windows showed exactly twelve o'clock, and all the windows opened at once.

Following the rules, Xu Kai pressed the button to join the line and waited for the broadcast to call his name.

Then the people crawling on the floor moved. Making whimpering noises, they rushed toward the food service windows and nearly flooded straight inside.

Bang!

After a tremendous crash, a whole swath of them fell.

A fat auntie came out holding a large serving ladle. With a single swing, she scared the doglike people back.

"Get lost! Every last one of you, get back to your seats!"

The fat auntie's voice was extremely loud, and it immediately frightened the doglike people back. At the same time, Xu Kai felt an inconceivable restraint, as though he couldn't leave his seat.

Xu Kai didn't give up. He activated the Weird Energy inside him and sent it out beneath his feet to probe around the entire table. After confirming that the table wasn't joined to the others, he withdrew his Weird Energy.

He hadn't been trying to defy the fat auntie. Rather, he had a suspicion about that power, and now he was much more certain.

The fat auntie was definitely the central figure in the cafeteria. She had played the broadcast just now, too. Moreover, the tables weren't joined together, and even the lights fixed to them weren't electric but flashed on their own. Yet after the fat auntie shouted, even the lights stopped flashing.

Xu Kai narrowed his eyes and carefully reviewed the cafeteria rules from earlier. Something dawned on him, and he felt more confident about probing the third player.

Unfortunately, there were no further incidents while food was served and eaten in the cafeteria, all because the fat auntie had shouted.

Everyone obediently collected their food. When it was Xu Kai's turn, he made a point of asking whether it was a nutritious meal.

The fat auntie glanced at him and said:

"Isn't the doctor seeing you tomorrow? We'll talk about it then."

Xu Kai's heart tightened at her words. He remembered the nurse's suggestion that morning: she had thought his condition had worsened and that a doctor needed to be called. He hadn't expected the trap to be here.

After she said that, however, the meal in the cafeteria proceeded normally. No one dared make a move.

Like everyone else, Xu Kai quietly returned to his seat after collecting his food. He ate one grain at a time, watching the clock.

After all, he was invincible during this period. No one dared disturb him, and no one else was disturbed either.

Only when the meal was over did the whole cafeteria seem to awaken, enveloped in an atmosphere of murderous intent.

"Ah! Woo, woo, woo!"

At that moment, patient number eight, wild with joy, bounced out of booth number eight with a thick sheet of paper in his mouth. Clearly inscribed on it were the words:

"Discharge Certificate."