Volume 1. Let the Game Begin
My vision kept flying forward, and I could clearly feel my Evil Spirit Form slowly merging back with my body.
I could also clearly see the strong unwillingness and anger in the goat-headed monster’s eyes.
Finally, the Evil Spirit Form completely merged with the body.
At that instant, time suddenly returned to normal.
I opened my eyes, looked straight at the goat-headed monster, and my body was sent flying backward, little by little... merging into the darkness at the hospital entrance.
‘Bang~Clang~’
My body... slammed hard onto the cold marble outside the main door and slid backward a bit.
Suddenly, I felt my body become lighter, and right after, the world spun around me.
I directly rolled down the steps!
“Roar~~~!!!”
The goat-headed monster’s strange roar came from the main door.
I forced myself up and barely glanced at the hospital entrance.
I won... this guy really couldn’t leave the building.
Seeing it constantly roaring at me from inside the door but unable to step out, I laughed.
“Hehehe~Hahahaha~~~F**k you!! Come out then! Cough cough cough~Come out if you dare!! Catch me? Catch me and I’ll hahaha! Cough cough cough cough...”
A feeling of surviving a disaster made me burst into laughter.
I cursed and laughed at the goat-headed monster walking back and forth at the hospital door, and after a series of angry roars, the goat-headed monster finally... chose to retreat.
Powerlessly collapsing onto the ground, I looked up at the sky above my head... and witnessed a scene I would never forget.
The scarlet moonlight began to shrink continuously.
A bizarre sense of distortion appeared in the entire sky.
At the same time, my vision also began to twist.
The whole world started distorting, and this strange visual distortion slowly approached me, engulfing me.
“Does this mean... I survived?”
Before being swallowed by the distortion, I asked my final question in my heart and then closed my eyes weakly.
My mind spun wildly, and in a daze, my body seemed to regain some strength, making me instinctively open my eyes...
“Where am I...”
Suddenly coming to my senses, I instinctively looked around... this, wasn’t this the hospital room where I stayed?
And lying there... wasn’t that Aunt Zhao?
Wait?
Could it be that it was all just a nightmare?
“Uh~!”
Just as I was about to get out of bed to confirm, a sudden pain shot through my left leg.
Lifting the quilt, I saw... my left leg was wrapped in bandages, and those steel bars that had pierced into my flesh were now messily placed on the bed.
“Wait, does that mean everything that happened in the Interdimensional Space has been reversed?”
Not having time to check my wounds, the first thing I looked at was my watch.
The World Watch was right on my left wrist, proving... that everything just now was not an illusion.
The watch's clock now pointed to 12:35.
“I survived... and... all the injuries I sustained in the Interdimensional Space are gone.”
Seeing all these unbelievable things, everything just now... was definitely not an illusion!
Slowly reaching out, I controlled the Evil Spirit Form to separate from my right hand.
The moment it detached, it immediately reached toward Aunt Zhao not far away!
“Damn it, this guy is way too disobedient!! Stay still, no wait, I should stay still... no wait! Damn it!”
Forcibly controlling my Evil Spirit Form not to attack Aunt Zhao, as expected, everything just now was not an illusion.
The Evil Spirit Form felt much stronger than before.
That goat-headed monster really did nourish me, huh?
Right!
Instinctively, I looked for my phone, and immediately saw it on the bedside table.
I hurriedly picked it up, and upon turning it on, a notification from an app appeared at the top notification bar.
Pulling down the notification frame, the app notification clearly said.
【Congratulations to the player for surviving, rewards have been issued, please check inside the app.】
“I survived...”
Upon seeing this message, my tense nerves finally relaxed.
My body collapsed onto the bed with a ‘bang’... staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above, I couldn’t help but rejoice at my narrow escape...
I survived... really survived.
No longer in the mood to check the survival rewards, putting away my momentary relief, I couldn’t help but worry... how should I explain all of this?
On the bed, messy steel bars, blood and pus, and Aunt Zhao sleeping nearby...
“Sigh... Let Aunt Zhao sleep well first... I'm tired too...”
Although my body had been restored, the mental exhaustion still left me extremely fatigued.
I knew... I had left the game early, but the game had not ended, which meant there were still people inside...
I didn’t know how many could still survive, but right now I no longer had the mood to care...
Slowly closing my eyes, my thoughts sank into chaos, and darkness filled my vision... when I woke up again, the room was already in an uproar.
Liu Wanqian had arrived, Gong Lianyu had arrived, and there were also three doctors.
Aunt Zhao kept apologizing while crying... the whole room was in chaos.
Groggily sitting up, I glanced at the faintly bright sky outside, then looked down at my watch.
Hmm... it was just after six o’clock...
Looking at the still noisy hospital room, a nameless fire rose inside me, and I opened my mouth.
“All of you shut the hell up! What damn time is it, making such a racket!? Have some decency as adults! I'm a patient! This is a hospital room!!!”
After speaking, I no longer looked at the shocked faces.
With a ‘bang’, I fell back onto the hospital bed and continued to sleep.
But before I could fall asleep again, Gong Lianyu’s voice sounded by my ear.
“Yunyan... Yanyan... what’s wrong with you? Are you sick, tell Mom... did Aunt Zhao bully you? Tell Mom... don’t be like this... sob sob sob...”
Ah... damn it, is it so hard for me to sleep?
Slowly opening my eyes, I once again surveyed the messy situation in the room.
The three doctors were still discussing.
Aunt Zhao’s tears were flowing.
Liu Wanqian’s face was grave.
And Gong Lianyu sat by the bed sobbing...
And the most eye-catching thing was the few steel bars placed at the foot of my bed.
In an instant, I pieced together the sequence of events.
The development probably went like this:
Aunt Zhao got up early to prepare breakfast.
When she got up, I probably kicked off the quilt...
Then, Aunt Zhao naturally discovered the bloodstains and steel bars on the bed and notified the doctors.
After the doctors arrived, they didn’t dare to wake me but immediately notified Gong Lianyu and Liu Wanqian.
Then, Gong Lianyu and Liu Wanqian rushed over and scolded Aunt Zhao for her negligence.
Finally, because of my explosive waking tantrum, things became what they were now.
In my mind, a 3D simulation of the whole process instantly played out and then gradually faded away.
“Um... well, Mom, it wasn’t Aunt Zhao’s fault, ah~~~”
Halfway through speaking, a wave of sleepiness made me yawn.
“Then what was it... pulling out the steel bars yourself, do you know how painful that is... do you know how worried I was about you!”
Gong Lianyu looked at me, both angry and crying.
I nodded.
“Of course I know. After all, I did it myself...”
“Why would you do such a foolish thing? Don’t you know that if you messed up pulling them out, you could have been disabled for life!”
Gong Lianyu looked at me.
She genuinely seemed very angry.
But... I couldn’t exactly say ‘I pulled out the steel bars to prepare for the Honkai App game’, right?
After hesitating for a long time, I came up with what I thought was a perfect explanation.
“I don’t like steel bars, so I pulled them out.”
As soon as I said that, the room instantly fell silent.
“...Just because of that?”
Gong Lianyu’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at me.
Liu Wanqian beside her also showed a stunned expression, and even the three doctors revealed faces of existential doubt.
Aunt Zhao was even more aggrieved and frightened...
Sigh...
“Well, um... Mom, it's okay, it was just pulling out a few steel bars. My bones seem to have healed quite well. If you don't believe me, ask the doctors. It really didn’t hurt that much when I pulled them out...”
Seeing the tears welling up in Gong Lianyu’s eyes, I couldn’t bear to tell the truth that I had forced myself to endure the pain.
I could only make up a lie to comfort her.
“You child, you child... you...”
Gong Lianyu repeated a few times, tears starting to spin again in her eyes.
Seeing this gave me a headache, and I couldn’t help but cast a pleading glance toward that woman’s... cough cough, that woman’s husband.
Liu Wanqian seemed to understand my look.
After giving me a fierce glare, he lightly coughed.
“Ahem... well, since Yanyan says she’s fine, then there shouldn’t be a big problem. You shouldn’t dwell on it either. Doctors, check whether these injuries will affect Yanyan’s future recovery. Also, Zhao Xiuyu, you can go back... your salary will be paid in a few days. After that...”
“Wait a minute!”
Seeing that Liu Wanqian was about to fire Aunt Zhao, I quickly stopped him.
Liu Wanqian glanced at me and said in a deep voice.
“When you were pulling out the steel bars, she didn’t notice you doing such a dangerous thing. That alone was a mistake.”
Liu Wanqian’s words were reasonable.
But... I had my own reasons.
Aunt Zhao was a very good experimental subject.
Besides, a devoted caretaker like her wasn’t easy to find these days.
Although money could always find someone, I genuinely liked Aunt Zhao a bit.
Compared to strangers, I was more comfortable with someone like her around.
“Liu... Dad! Aunt Zhao is taking care of me. It’s my decision.”
Honestly, calling him ‘Dad’ was really hard to say out loud.
But the moment that word left my mouth, Liu Wanqian’s body visibly stiffened, and he instinctively glanced at me.
“You just now... never mind.”
Seeing the change in his eyes, I suddenly remembered something... Liu Yunyan had apparently not called him ‘Dad’ for several years.
Forget it.
It’s not the right time to talk about whether this change is good or bad.
Only time will tell.
Liu Wanqian saw my insistence and turned back to look at Aunt Zhao helplessly.
“This time, let it go. If such a thing happens again, I won’t need to say much more. You understand.”
The matter... was more or less resolved.
Afterward, I comforted Gong Lianyu, promising that I would never do such a stupid thing again.
Only then did she finally put away the tears that could have filled a whole basin.
After the doctors checked me, they confirmed that removing the steel bars did not affect my bone recovery.
They didn’t put the steel bars back in but applied ointment and called a traditional Chinese doctor to set up splints.
Then the doctors left.
After that, I spent a long time comforting Aunt Zhao, repeatedly promising that I wouldn’t do stupid things again, and finally, this unexpected incident was wrapped up...
After coaxing Aunt Zhao to go out and buy groceries, I lay down for a while... my curiosity suddenly rose again.
Just as I was about to pick up my phone and check, the door to the hospital room was suddenly opened.
Aunt Zhao came in with a terrified face and said to me,
“Someone died in the hospital!”