A Sudden Turn

"What did they say?"

Xia Shou's question snapped Wang Long out of his daze.

He adjusted his glasses and looked fearfully at the strange patient, who was still inching forward. "The wardens in the other inpatient building encountered an anomalous patient similar to ours. He seemed to have tuberculosis, and he also climbed in through a window from outside.

"Some of them were touched by this patient and developed the same symptoms.

"Things were chaotic at the time. A patient with mania was provoked during the commotion and hacked the strange patient to death with a fire axe."

Xia Shou's expression shifted slightly. "Killed him? Then what?"

"That man developed symptoms of tuberculosis too. Later, he came into physical contact with several other people, spreading the disease.

"But the lung disease he had seemed to be divided among them. Everyone infected coughed noticeably less often, and all their symptoms eased."

Xia Shou's eyes lit up, and he let out a long breath. "That sounds like good news. In other words, as long as we kill the source of infection, we can keep the losses within manageable limits."

Wang Long's gaze was icy. "I'm not finished. The patient with mania was subdued, but the situation over there spiraled completely out of control. The patients' families got into a violent clash with hospital security, spreading the symptoms again.

"Now everyone has been infected, whether they're guards, doctors, patients, or family members.

"And ten minutes after that, their initially mild coughs all started getting worse. Some even began coughing up blood or suffocating.

"In the end, after discussing it as a group, they unanimously decided to transfer all the lung disease symptoms back to the patient with mania.

"A few minutes ago, that patient died of respiratory failure. Before he died, he coughed both his lungs out of his body, completely intact... Mind you, I'm not exaggerating. I'm stating a fact."

"Damn it!" Xia Shou cursed under his breath.

Coughing whole lungs out of one's body clearly defied common sense.

It seemed those anomalous patients' abilities weren't limited to spreading disease. They could also manifest people's fearful imaginings of illness in reality.

Xia Shou looked at the old man in the wheelchair. The burly man had touched him earlier, transferring his entire disease to him.

The old man sat motionless in his wheelchair, yellow tears lingering on his face. His skin was a vivid yellow all over, and his slightly swollen abdomen seemed filled with fluid. He appeared to have stopped breathing.

At the sight, Xia Shou's brow furrowed even more deeply.

It wasn't grief over the tragedy. If they could concentrate every negative effect in one person and eliminate them all, that would actually count as a good thing.

In an anomalous incident like this, that would certainly qualify as an outcome everyone could be happy with.

But this incident clearly wasn't that simple. Xia Shou could tell Wang Long wasn't finished. The truly bad news was probably still to come.

"Then what?" Xia Shou asked.

"Then, after the patient with mania died, someone who had recovered completely suddenly started coughing again. One of the wardens briefly came into contact with him and started coughing too."

"So even if the strange patient who serves as the source is killed, someone else will still become a carrier. And even if that person dies naturally without being attacked, the same symptoms will still appear at random among healthy people."

By the time Xia Shou finished his analysis, his mind was almost mush.

The situation was even worse than he had imagined.

How were they supposed to deal with this?

There was no way to stop this thing!

"Xia Shou."

Su Weiyu tugged at Xia Shou's sleeve.

"Hm? Wait, let me think."

"No! Look! Don't you think this guy is walking a little faster than before?" Su Weiyu urged.

Xia Shou's head buzzed. He turned to look at the Yellow-Skinned Patient, who had previously moved at a snail's pace. The patient was now approaching a ward. He stopped outside its door, reached out, took hold of the handle, and tried turning it.

After discovering that the door was locked from inside, he turned woodenly and headed toward the next ward.

Xia Shou sucked in a cold breath.

This damned thing really did seem to be moving a little faster!

And he seemed to have gotten a little smarter too!

Before, he could only move straight ahead like a puppet. Now he was actually trying to open doors!

"Cough, cough! Cough, cough!"

The Yellow-Skinned Patient suddenly broke into two bouts of coughing.

A chill ran down both Xia Shou's and Wang Long's backs when they heard it.

Was it a coincidence?

Wang Long lowered his voice and spoke gravely into Xia Shou's ear. "That's no ordinary cough. It sounds like the kind only someone with a serious lung disease would have."

"Dr. Wang, contact your colleagues. Tell them not to kill these anomalous patients under any circumstances. There's a good chance that when one anomalous patient dies, his disease transfers to the others."

Wang Long nodded and raced to the service desk, snatching up the phone and dialing.

Meanwhile, after repeatedly failing to open any doors, the anomalous patient who had just acquired the lung disease immediately turned and fixed on Xia Shou in the middle of the corridor. Then he walked straight toward him at a normal pace!

"Cough, cough... cough, cough, cough..."

The coughing went on and on, like a warning of death.

The patient was now walking as fast as an ordinary person.

Xia Shou suspected that if another anomalous patient died elsewhere, this one might start jogging. An anomalous patient who could jog would be a walking killing machine!

Anyone he touched would effectively receive a death sentence.

Unless they could lock him inside a room, killing him would be their only option, since they could neither touch nor injure him.

But once they killed him, the anomalous patients elsewhere would grow even stronger, and the number of diseases they carried would increase further.

These patients would become increasingly dangerous as their mobility improved and the variety of diseases they carried grew. By then, Xia Shou and the others would have very few options left.

At that moment, Xia Shou could only pray that Wang Long would make his calls faster and get this information to the other wardens immediately.

"Hasn't anyone picked up yet?!" Xia Shou shouted.

"This is Wang Long. Have abnormal patients appeared over there too?... If you encounter an anomalous entity that looks like a patient, whatever you do, don't..." "Hello? This is Wang Long! You..."

Wang Long made one call after another. As soon as the third call connected, before he could speak, his colleague on the other end spoke first:

"Wang Long? Be care-

"-ful of patients coming in from another space. They might be anomalous entities! Don't let them touch you. You'll get infected. Kill them right away!"

Wang Long's heart sank. Rapid footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. He whipped his head around. The patient, who had been walking normally just moments before, had suddenly broken into a run!

In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Xia Shou!

Su Weiyu's pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively raised her blade.

At that instant, time seemed to slow countless times over in Xia Shou's eyes, while thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.

0.5 seconds...

Faced with two terrible options, he made his decision.

Xia Shou pushed Su Weiyu away and raised his own hand.