The Barrier He Couldn't Cross

She Qingqing had been locked up for three days.

She knew what this place was.

Cihang City was crawling with monsters: urban legends, demons, Hengyu, vengeful spirits, devils... The list went on.

Yet even now, the citizens of Cihang City knew nothing about the supernatural.

That was all thanks to the Fourth Mental Hospital. Whenever someone encountered an abnormal event and decided to tell the media, they were hauled off to the hospital and turned into an imposter.

In short, the Fourth Mental Hospital existed to deal with outsiders.

Humans weren't supposed to know too much. If they did, they became outsiders.

Conversely, demons were supposed to kill humans. If they didn't, they became outsiders too.

The Rabbit Nurse had told She Qingqing, "Normally, an outsider like you would have to be eliminated. But I'm willing to give you a chance."

That "chance" meant killing someone to prove her loyalty and joining them.

She Qingqing was miserable. For some reason, she had never liked killing. But now that things had come to this, she had no other choice.

How did things end up like this?

How could I have been so naive as to fall for that man's trick?

She Qingqing knew she was foolish. She always had.

That was why she kept everyone at arm's length behind an icy facade.

At first, others of her kind had shown her kindness.

But She Qingqing was afraid. Alliances between monsters were fragile, and it was all too common for them to kill one another over territory and resources.

So she had turned everyone away.

She Qingqing had grown used to living alone.

Yet whenever she saw others gathering in groups, she couldn't help envying them.

Sometimes she even indulged in the ugly fantasy that something would eventually drive those people to slaughter one another.

I'm awful.

She Qingqing hated herself for harboring such dark thoughts. Before loneliness could swallow her whole, she left the mountains.

If I want to join them, I have to kill someone.

Otherwise, they'll never accept an outsider like me.

When the tattooed man harassed her at the Internet Cafe, She Qingqing had been furious enough to cross her own line. Then Chen Feng suddenly stepped in to help and confessed, "The moment I saw you, I felt like we had a connection. Like we'd met in a past life."

Huh? He likes me? Someone confessed to me?

She Qingqing had heard plenty of stories: a snake demon marrying an apothecary's apprentice to repay his kindness, or a scholar and a fox demon falling in love at first sight in an abandoned temple.

Whenever she heard those stories, she thought they sounded too far-fetched. How could a human and a demon be together?

But when it happened to her, her heart pounded.

Maybe I'm the exception.

She Qingqing had left home because she couldn't bear the loneliness. Finding a human companion didn't sound so bad.

Once I've broken the Landlady's curse, I'll invite him to live in the mountains with me!

That had been She Qingqing's plan. She never imagined that the one time in her life she worked up the courage, it would all turn out to be a trick.

The moment the Water Ghost appeared, She Qingqing understood. She wasn't the exception. She was the fool.

She Qingqing bit her lower lip and spat bitterly:

"Humans are the worst creatures in the world. Despicable, cunning, and full of lies."

A familiar voice came from outside. "Damn, you're not talking about me, are you?"

Outside the isolation room, the person sneaking around was none other than Chen Feng. He silently said, Check in!

The system didn't respond. As expected, he had to reach the check-in location for it to count.

Then Chen Feng heard a venomous voice from inside the room. "You!"

"Uh... I'm sorry."

After hearing what had happened to her, Chen Feng felt embarrassed. If he hadn't knocked her out, she wouldn't have been locked up here.

"All right, I was wrong to lie to you."

"But you know the Landlady isn't a good person either, right? She put the two of you downstairs as cannon fodder against the Water Ghost."

"So if you think about it, I actually saved your life."

After Chen Feng finished talking his way through it, She Qingqing was thoroughly convinced.

She Qingqing asked, bewildered, "R-really? Then... thank you."

See? She even thanked me.

Chen Feng grabbed the lock on the isolation room door, ready to crush it as he had before.

"Hang on. I'll get you out."

But when he squeezed, there was a click, and the lock didn't budge.

Huh. That's strange.

Chen Feng tried again, using all his strength this time. The result was the same.

She Qingqing told him, "It's no use. There's a barrier around this room. Without the keys, you can't open it."

Keys?

Only then did Chen Feng notice that the lock on the isolation room door had two keyholes.

Recalling the conversation he'd overheard before becoming an imposter last time, Chen Feng instantly put it all together:

So She Qingqing is the new coworker! That's why they mentioned the one they caught a week ago.

So Professor Sheep's office key is for this door. I remember them saying the other key was at the Nurses' Station.

With that, Chen Feng set off.

At the sound of his footsteps, She Qingqing panicked. "Don't go! I'm not angry anymore. Stay and talk to me a little longer."

After three days locked up, the loneliness could drive anyone mad.

Chen Feng knew that all too well after being locked up for seven days himself. He reassured her, "I'm going to get the keys and free you. Wait for me."

She Qingqing asked quietly, "You won't lie to me again, will you?"

"I never break my word."

After leaving She Qingqing, Chen Feng returned to the corridor and headed straight for the Nurses' Station in the lounge.

Inside the station, the Rabbit Nurse was lying on a sofa, resting.

Careful. Slowly.

Chen Feng took off his shoes and crept closer. He did his best not to make a sound, but when he came within five meters of the station, those long rabbit ears twitched.

"Who's there?"

Those ears really are useful.

Chen Feng clenched his fist and drove it into the glass of the Nurses' Station.

Since he'd been spotted, there was no point sneaking anymore.

To hell with the consequences. Come and get me!

Crash!

Glass shattered, sending shards flying at the Rabbit Nurse. But before they could reach her, something stopped them.

A translucent barrier, like a sheet of glass, appeared in front of the Rabbit Nurse.

A shield?

Chen Feng froze for only an instant before attacking again.

At the same time, the system's notification rang in his ear.

[Ding! Congratulations, user. You have successfully checked in at the Fourth Mental Hospital's Nurses' Station.]

A dull boom echoed through the entire lounge.

Damn it!

Agonizing pain shot through Chen Feng's hand. His fist had struck the barrier squarely, but instead of shattering, it had thrown the force back at him and injured him.

The barrier remained intact.

"Hard as a damn turtle shell."

Chen Feng shook out his numb arm.

Meanwhile...

The Rabbit Nurse could see Chen Feng's hospital gown, but with strips of torn bedsheet wrapped around his face, she couldn't recognize him right away. "Who are you?"

Guess.

Chen Feng kept the answer to himself. He wasn't stupid enough to let her identify him by his voice.

That barrier really is tough. Even the Drill Instructor, with that build, would have trouble taking a full-strength punch from me. But the barrier didn't even crack.

At this rate, even if I draw the Three Kingdoms Mythology System again next time and use Lü Bu's Peerless Protection to double my strength, it probably won't do any good.

Maybe there's a weak spot somewhere else?

With that thought, Chen Feng circled around and tried attacking from behind, then dropping shards of glass from above. The barrier blocked everything.

Looks like a dome-shaped barrier. If I could dig underground, I might be able to get in from below.

This ability might have a time limit, but it's definitely longer than a minute. That's enough time for the Nurse to make a name appear.

She doesn't seem to have any other abilities. But a defense that makes her invincible for at least a minute, plus an attack that can kill an enemy instantly after a minute—that's top-tier already.

The clash had lasted less than a minute, but Chen Feng had already worked out the Nurse's capabilities.

At the same time, a name suddenly appeared in the Logbook in her hand.

"So it's you."

The Nurse pulled a gel pen from her clothes.

"I'm off my game today. You win."

Chen Feng picked up a blade-shaped shard of glass from the floor and drew it across his neck.

The next rainfall was still days away. Chen Feng didn't want to spend those days as an imposter again.

"But next time, I'll kill you."

Blood gushed out. Chen Feng had slit his own throat!