In the spacious, brightly lit corridor, a hunched old man in a blue-and-white patient uniform hobbled forward with the aid of a cane.
Ordinarily, there should have been nothing remarkable about such a scene.
But with every step the old man took, dense patches of black mold tinged with dark green sprouted across the mirror-smooth tiles.
Every place the old man passed became densely covered in those mold patches, forming a long trail of mold behind him.
The entire corridor was terrifyingly silent. Other than the faint sound of the old man's cane striking the floor, there was no one else here.
Several minutes later, once the old man turned a corner, the corridor returned to its original calm.
More than ten minutes passed after that. Just as the mold on the floor began silently dissipating, a trash can beside the corridor suddenly stirred.
The hospital's trash cans were large, green, and tough-skinned, standing about chest-high on an adult. A flap at the top was specifically meant for disposing of medical waste.
At that moment, as an arm slowly lifted the flap, Xia Wen's head poked sneakily out from inside...
"Good. Safe!!"
Looking at the empty corridor before her and sensing that the terrifying aura which had previously filled it had vanished, Xia Wen nodded solemnly.
...Then she climbed out of the trash can, looking somewhat disheveled.
According to their original plan, they had intended to head toward the outer area to search for another way out. But halfway through, for some unknown reason, huge numbers of patients had gathered in the outer area. The Danger Level there had surged sharply, so they had no choice but to settle for moving inward instead.
The Ninth Medical Zone they had entered was an enormously sprawling building, its interior as complex as