Sorry, I Might Be About to Die

"What is it? Is there something on my face? Nurse Kana, why do you keep looking at me?"

"No, do you know what you just did? You turned from a monster into a human!"

Stunned, Kana told Xu Kai exactly what she had just seen.

"So that's what happened..."

With that, Xu Kai fully understood what Kana had described. This cognitive pollution was terrifying. If Xu Kai hadn't noticed something was wrong just now, he would very likely have turned into a mindless beast.

Only after considering that did Xu Kai realize that Kana hadn't died. With the half bottle of milk he had given her, she had managed to survive in the ward!

"Do you feel like anything's wrong with you?"

"Wrong? I'm fine, just a little hungry."

Nurse Kana immediately understood that Xu Kai wanted to know whether she had suffered any punishment. After all, the rules were written in the ward, so she could see them too.

Xu Kai nodded and looked at the Ward Rules again.

The second Ward Rule, in full, read:

2. Patients must eat on time. Breakfast is from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., and dinner from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Breakfast will be brought to the ward by a nurse. If the nurse is late, please ring the bell. Please eat lunch and dinner in the cafeteria, located on the second floor.

When Xu Kai had asked Kana to stay in the ward, trying to exploit a loophole, it had been a huge gamble.

He had bet that the rule's punishment mainly applied to those who failed to eat on time, and that the requirement to eat lunch and dinner in the cafeteria was only a subsidiary rule.

Unexpectedly, the gamble had paid off.

It also confirmed, from another angle, that Nurse Kana's words were trustworthy.

Xu Kai looked at the clock in the ward. It was now 6:40, and he still had twenty minutes during which he could enter and leave the ward.

In other words, excluding the two loads in which Xu Kai had died, only ten minutes of real time had passed on the walk from the cafeteria to his ward. Yet to Xu Kai, that stretch had felt like at least half an hour.

That was probably another effect of cognitive distortion.

The chance to go out was hard to come by. Xu Kai gathered his scattered thoughts and asked Nurse Kana:

"Since you're all right, and there are still twenty minutes left to go out, can you find your way back from here the way you came before?"

"I-I'll try my best."

Nurse Kana nodded and agreed to go out with Xu Kai.

Xu Kai tried walking to the door and looked outside the ward through the observation window. The layer of carpet on the floor had disappeared.

The entire corridor was also very quiet.

Creak. Xu Kai pushed the door open and stepped into the corridor with his left foot. Instantly, the doors of several nearby wards suddenly opened.

Those patients also thrust out both hands and braced them outside their doors. Their heads popped out, revealing scarlet pupils as they looked at Xu Kai and Kana.

"Ah!"

Kana couldn't help letting out a scream. Xu Kai turned around, only to find that Kana had already turned to ash.

His pupils immediately contracted, and he released all the weird energy in his body. It formed blades that shot out through the heads of the nearby patients in the corridor, killing them all at once. Then Xu Kai heard the game's voice.

[Corridor Rules violated. Punishment: elimination; Non-Killing Zone rules violated. Punishment: elimination]

As soon as the game's voice uttered its final word, Xu Kai saw two beams of white light rush toward him, and he turned to dust.

On his ninety-third Save-Load, Xu Kai regained consciousness. His hand was already on the doorknob, and he was about to open the door.

He stopped his hand and glanced back. Fortunately, Kana was still there.

He had deliberately killed himself to trigger the Save-Load, intending to keep Kana alive. Without Kana, his chances of finding the pills that suppressed aberration in just twenty minutes were too low.

Killing himself to ensure Kana's survival was the more efficient approach.

Now, Nurse Kana stood quietly behind him, watching his movements.

Xu Kai suddenly turned around and said to Nurse Kana:

"No matter what you see in a moment, don't make a sound. There's a rule in the corridor: if you make a sound louder than 55 decibels, you'll die."

Xu Kai spoke seriously, and Kana nodded, but he still didn't think that was enough. He rummaged through a ward drawer, found a cloth and said to her:

"Bite down hard on this cloth. No matter what you see, don't scream."

"Patient, I think you're underestimating nurses. What haven't we nurses seen? We can handle more than you."

"..."

Xu Kai fell silent for a moment, then put the cloth in his pocket. He looked closely at the corners of Nurse Kana's mouth, seeming to be considering something.

Seeing Xu Kai stare straight at her, Kana blushed, a rare sight.

"W-what are you looking at me for? You saved me, but don't use that to make me do anything. I said I'd repay you my own way. If you have any other ideas, I-I'll fight you! I can undergo aberration too!"

Kana's voice was a little weak and didn't sound very convincing. Xu Kai realized she had misunderstood, but he didn't explain. He simply looked away. She would understand what he meant soon enough.

Xu Kai turned around, quickly pushed the door open and stepped out with his left foot.

The moment he stepped out, he immediately stepped back and turned to look at Kana.

By then, Kana's eyes were filled with extreme terror. Her little mouth flew open, and she was about to scream when Xu Kai shoved a large cloth straight into her mouth, making her choke.

Kana's eyes went wide. She suddenly understood why Xu Kai had been looking at her earlier: he had been trying to find an angle to plug her mouth!

He didn't stop after stuffing the cloth in. Xu Kai clamped his hand tightly over her mouth, stared into her eyes and said:

"No matter what you see, it's an illusion. Your perception is wrong. Wake up, quickly, and don't scream."

"Mmph, mmph!"

The sudden stuffing had already brought Kana to her senses, but with the cloth blocking her mouth, she couldn't speak.

Xu Kai was baffled. Seeing that Kana was still shouting through her covered mouth, he was sure she was too frightened. He had no choice but to retreat into the ward and close the door.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Once the door was shut, Xu Kai finally let go. Kana pulled the cloth out of her mouth and protested to him:

"You almost choked me to death."

"If I hadn't, the rules would have eliminated you."

"You almost eliminated me!"

"I didn't even use that much force. I'm a patient."

"A patient?"

Kana looked at Xu Kai's build in confusion. She really wanted to know what kind of patient could single-handedly kill a fully aberrated monster.

"What did you see just now? Why were you so scared?"

"Cough, cough, tsk... Don't ask. I don't want to remember."

Kana shook her head, seemingly still not over her fright. She touched her head in distress, then suddenly felt the ears hidden beneath her hair and froze.

She lifted her hair and asked Xu Kai:

"Take a look. What's wrong with my ears? Why do they feel furry?"

Xu Kai looked where Kana pointed, a complicated look in his eyes, and replied:

"They've aberrated. They're already cat ears."

"..."

"That joke isn't funny at all. Are you serious?"

Kana couldn't believe it. She reached up to feel her ears again, and they still felt furry.

Crack. Something broke inside her.

Have I become a catgirl? And in front of someone else? Is this aberration real?

All sorts of jumbled thoughts suddenly went through Kana's head. Just then, Xu Kai tapped her head with a finger.

"Ow, that hurts! What are you doing?"

"Checking whether you're still a human or a monster after aberrating this much."

"Tsk."

Kana covered her head in displeasure. The tap also brought her back to her senses. Seeing that Xu Kai was still examining her condition, she didn't get in his way and stood still. After all, she was worried about the extent of her aberration too.

Xu Kai bent down slightly and examined Kana's ears. Fur had already grown behind her cheeks. The aberration seemed to be permanent, but the good news was that it hadn't progressed any further.

Looking at the nurse, Xu Kai saw that she could breathe and speak. Aside from her expression being a little strange—probably because her intelligence had dropped after aberrating—everything else seemed fine. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're all right. The aberration isn't serious. Are you still going out?"

"Of course. I feel like if I don't get out soon, I'm going to die."

Xu Kai was taken aback. He suddenly remembered that Kana was a nurse, and nurses had tasks to complete. If they failed, the game would eliminate them all the same.