Chapter 186: Extra - : The Urge-Marriage United Front Alliance (3)

Only the four “medical interns” were left standing in the empty registration hall, holding the clipboards for their rounds that they had just received.

“That’s… it?” Wen Xiao blinked her large eyes, not yet recovered from the shock of what had just happened.

“Looks like the first stage was brute-forced,” Wen Yu said with a smile, shaking her head.

Yu Zhengze tossed the keychain to Yu Xian and said expressionlessly:

“Just a… basic life hack.”

He took the lead, striding into the depths of the pitch-black corridor. Yu Xian watched his cousin, who was treating the horror game like he was “out on a field mission,” and sighed helplessly.

The team of four advanced into the deeper darkness of the hallway.

The first room on the left side of the corridor had a metal plaque on the door that read “103.” The lock was a bit rusty, and opening the door produced a teeth-grinding SQUEAK.

The door opened. The room was even darker than the hallway. Only an ECG monitor by the head of the bed emitted a faint green glow, barely illuminating the narrow, single patient bed.

A human-shaped figure lay on the bed, covered by a white sheet. Its chest showed no signs of rising or falling; it was impossible to tell if it was a live NPC or just a prop.

An even thicker stench of decay filled the air.

Wen Xiao clutched the corner of Yu Xian’s shirt, trailing him like a little shadow. She hid behind him, daring only to peek out with half her head, her hands gripping the clipboard tightly as her voice trembled:

“Is… is that the patient? Why does it look like… like…”

“Like a corpse,” Wen Yu finished for her. She took the clipboard from Wen Xiao’s hands and used the pen attached to it to jot down the blood pressure and heart rate.

Meanwhile, Yu Zhengze had already walked up to the bedside. Unlike Yu Xian and the others who were just watching from a distance, his cousin reached out directly and yanked the blanket off the patient.

Before Yu Xian could even react, in that very same instant, things took a sudden turn.

The “patient,” who had been lying with its eyes closed as if in a deep sleep, suddenly shot its eyes open. Then, the hand that had been resting quietly at its side shot up and latched tightly onto the arm Yu Zhengze was using to lift the blanket.

“AH!” Wen Xiao screamed, shrinking behind Yu Xian and burying her face in his shoulder, not daring to look.

Yu Xian’s heart leaped into his throat, and he subconsciously moved to step forward and help.

‘It’s here! This must be the “reanimating corpse” part that so many people in the comments section talked about! According to other players’ descriptions, the patient is supposed to sit up abruptly, let out a bloodcurdling scream, or lunge straight at the player.’

However… there was no scream as expected, nor any panicked retreat.

The scene seemed to freeze.

In the dark room, Yu Zhengze was still in the middle of lifting the blanket, looking down at the hand gripping his arm.

He frowned, slowly raised his eyes, and met the “patient’s” gaze.

The NPC patient, who had been ready to leap up and give the player a face-to-face jump scare, was now frozen with a stiff expression.

He stared blankly at the man before him, who was not only unscared but also placid as still water. Then he looked down at his own hand gripping the man’s arm.

Yu Xian followed his gaze and saw that beneath the black T-shirt, the muscles of Yu Zhengze’s forearm were tensed, his veins popping.

The patient’s pale hand couldn’t even fully wrap around his cousin’s forearm. The contrast made the patient’s hand look exceptionally frail, weak, and even a little comical.

The two of them stared at each other in the darkness for three seconds.

“Is there a problem?” Yu Zhengze finally spoke, his voice deep as he stared down at the NPC.

The patient NPC swallowed and opened his mouth:

“N-no… nothing…”

He let go of the arm as if he’d been shocked, shrinking back into the bed. He managed to eke out his line, his voice quieter than a mosquito’s buzz:

“It’s just… you… you pulled off my blanket… you woke me up…”

After saying that, the NPC frantically grabbed the blanket and, with extreme speed, pulled it back over himself, covering himself completely—even his head. The outline under the blanket shrunk into a tight ball.

The room once again fell into a dead silence.

Yu Xian could still feel Wen Xiao trembling behind him, clearly unaware of what had just transpired up front.

But Wen Yu, who was standing to the side, finally couldn’t help but let out a “PFFT” of laughter. In such a gloomy environment, her crisp laugh had a strangely harmonious feel to it.

“Captain Yu really is… worthy of his reputation,” she said, glancing at the figure balled up under the blanket and suppressing a smile.

Yu Xian’s mouth twitched. ‘Although the plot had developed in a completely different way than I’d expected, still…’

‘Seeing the atmosphere between Wen Yu and Yu Zhengze, it was clearly much more relaxed and harmonious than when they first came in.’

‘It seems… okay, I guess?’

‘Whatever. If the code runs, it’s good code…’

“Alright, go to sleep. We won’t bother you anymore,” Yu Zhengze said, tucking the person in.

“Let’s go. Next one.”

Yu Xian turned and gently patted Wen Xiao on the back, leading her, still weak in the knees, out of the room.

「…」

They quickly finished their rounds for the few rooms on this floor, with some scares but no real danger.

Although the lights in the corridor flickered, and faint, unidentifiable whispers could occasionally be heard, under the leadership of Yu Zhengze, this “human-shaped, walking ghost-warding tower,” the team of four proceeded without a hitch, like a group of executives on an inspection tour.

Just as they stepped out of the last room, the doctor NPC with the dark circles under his eyes popped out from some corner, as if he had timed their exit perfectly.

He took the clipboard from Wen Yu’s hand, glanced at it, and nodded in satisfaction.