Chapter 1036: Chapter 720: Path to Survival_2
Sure enough, after Yang Xiao ran a dozen steps, the deathly ringing of the bell reappeared, and his stamina began to drain. His speed slowed uncontrollably, but ultimately, it was his own body, and his physical ability far surpassed that of Dou Jie and Xi Huijun.
"Just keep running, I’ll hold it off!" Captain Zhou had already planned ahead. He had hidden a manageable patient in the ward beside him, intending to use this person to buy time for Yang Xiao.
It was the last day. They had no reservations because if they failed the mission and Yang Xiao met a tragic death, two hours later, the entire hospital would be massacred by the female ghost.
Captain Zhou opened the ward door and dragged out an unconscious guy. In the nick of time, Yang Xiao dashed past Captain Zhou’s side, also exiting the north corridor. After breaking away from the female ghost’s direct pursuit, Yang Xiao’s speed increased significantly.
But this wasn’t enough to allow him to safely cross the open space and dash into the east corridor. At that moment, Captain Zhou was blocking the exit of the north corridor, and as the female ghost approached him, he quickly shoved the scapegoat forward and shouted into the intercom, "Keep running! Don’t stop!"
This time, the scapegoat only delayed the female ghost for less than two seconds, catching Captain Zhou off guard. He had originally intended to retreat to the break room and use himself as bait again to buy a few more seconds for Yang Xiao, but now he couldn’t.
He immediately fled into the open ward and closed the door in time, while the female ghost was already standing at the door.
Even with Captain Zhou’s strong psychological resilience, cold sweat dripped down his back. This ghost was harder to deal with than before. It seemed the more scapegoats used, the less effective they became, suggesting that next time a scapegoat might only delay it for just over a second, if even that.
Fortunately, Captain Zhou and the night shift doctor ranked low in the female ghost’s priority. After losing direct contact, the female ghost gave up on Captain Zhou and continued to pursue Yang Xiao. Just as the female ghost rushed into the east corridor, the agile Yang Xiao had already burst through the ajar door of room 317 and immediately turned around to close the door.
Unexpectedly, there was an additional latch behind the door, obviously cobbled together by Captain Zhou, possibly taken from another door, still rusted. He wasn’t sure if it would be effective against the female ghost, but he secured it anyway for a little psychological comfort.
Quickly inspecting the room, Captain Zhou proved reliable. This time, the room was empty of patients, with only two vacant hospital beds and an iron cabinet that looked safe for hiding.
This was Captain Zhou’s contingency plan for himself.
At the window, a coil of rope hung from the sill, the other end already secured to a bed leg.
Yang Xiao grabbed it and tugged hard twice. No problem—it was very sturdy. These preparations bought Yang Xiao precious time.
To Yang Xiao’s surprise, the bell sound came even faster and more intensely this time. He could almost be sure that the female ghost was just outside his door, no more than three meters away.
This was terrifying; while he was progressing with clues and experience, the female ghost’s insight and search precision were also escalating at a terrifying speed. Tonight, it was still uncertain whose fate it would be.
One end of the rope was looped into a circle with a clever slipknot—something Yang Xiao and Captain Zhou had agreed on beforehand.
Putting the rope loop around his waist, Yang Xiao pushed open the window and squeezed through the gap, which was challenging this time because he was much more robust than Xi Huijun. He exhaled forcefully, emptying his chest, and barely got through the gap.
Meanwhile, the bell sounds grew closer, and Yang Xiao could feel that the female ghost had almost locked onto his position.
Yang Xiao moved quickly, reporting back to Captain Zhou, and started descending along the rope. The key was tucked in the pocket against his skin, always felt with every large movement—more important than the intercom.
Swiftly descending to the first floor, just outside room 117, Xu Yiqiu, already informed, had arrived and was ahead of Yang Xiao, opening the window to room 117.
After opening the window, she quickly backed away. According to their assessment, it was best if they didn’t have any physical contact, as their positions in the hospital’s world were different, akin to the paths of a man and a ghost.
After squeezing through the window, the rope suspended outside was swiftly pulled up by an inexplicable force and disappeared.
"I’ll open the door, follow me closely, listen to my commands!" Yang Xiao shouted into the intercom and ran quickly to the other side of the corridor. The real danger began now; he had to successfully pass through the hospital lobby and run the entire length of the north corridor to reach the iron gate leading to the basement level minus one.
Most critically, he didn’t know how the temporarily lost female ghost would come after him or from which direction.
Now Xu Yiqiu’s cooperation was needed, as she could serve as his eyes. Yang Xiao had heard from Captain Zhou about Xu Yiqiu’s actions the previous night—bold and efficient, quite formidable, not losing to Qu Hong.
The two managed to pass through the hospital lobby successfully, but their luck ended at that moment. Xu Yiqiu grabbed the intercom on the wall and loudly warned Yang Xiao that the female ghost appeared, chasing from behind at amazing speed.
"Block her!" Yang Xiao shouted.
Now it was a race against time. Even when he reached the end of the north corridor, Yang Xiao wasn’t finished. He still had to use the key to open the door, which required enough time.
And all this required Xu Yiqiu to buy time—a task that had to be accomplished. They only had this one chance.
Xu Yiqiu also steeled herself, blocking the middle of the north corridor. She was ready for this night with scapegoats prepared—and two.
"Give me 10 seconds!" Yang Xiao shouted into the intercom without turning back.
In Xu Yiqiu’s sight, the female ghost moved deliberately, step by step, but with an impossibly fast speed, near a blur.
Dragging out a patient with a silly grin, Xu Yiqiu pushed him forward forcefully. He collided with the female ghost, and as soon as contact was made, his hands and feet clasped onto the ghost like an octopus, turning his head aside while still grinning foolishly as snot and tears flowed down his face, as if he had grasped something fun.
But in the next second, the patient’s body went stiff, maintaining the hugging position as he fell straight off the female ghost, his eyes empty, dying instantly.
This exceeded Xu Yiqiu’s expectations by a wide margin. In previous attempts, a patient could at least delay the ghost for over five seconds. With two patients properly arranged, there should have been no problem lasting over ten seconds. Theoretically, it was more than enough time.
But this time, the man couldn’t even last two seconds. The female ghost didn’t even move, and he died instantly.
In a rush, Xu Yiqiu quickly pulled another unfortunate soul, pushing him forward the second before the female ghost could touch her.
This time it was worse. The person fell to the ground bleeding from every orifice the moment he hit, with no struggle at all.
Yet, it was this split-second diversion that allowed Xu Yiqiu to use the pushing force to back away a few steps, where she hurriedly crashed through another room door behind her, sealing it shut at the last second, escaping death by a hair.
But scarcely able to catch her breath, she realized an even more terrifying matter—there were two hospital beds in the room but only one had a patient lying in it.
"Damn it..." Xu Yiqiu’s heart sank. She remembered this was room 139, and it had once housed a patient who had been taken upstairs as a scapegoat.
This meant there was still a ghost in this room!
With a ghost in the room and one outside as well, Xu Yiqiu knew she was in a desperate situation. She gritted her teeth, made no hesitation, turned around, and threw the door open. If death was unavoidable, then she would fight to carve out a path for her teammates.
