I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 116

Because of ventilation needs, even in winter, the bathroom window was left slightly open.

Jing Qizhen gently pushed the window open with barely a sound.

He shined a flashlight inside through the opening, and all of them were instantly stunned.

The floor and walls of the bathroom were covered in splattered blood. Due to oxidation, the blood had long since dried and turned black, leaving only a creepy, filthy color behind. It looked like a crime scene, or a textbook horror game setting, completely different from the chaotic yet orderly old building full of ghost doctors and nurses.

Wang Feizhou was so shaken that his teeth were chattering and he could barely speak. “How… how did it end up like this in here?”

Jing Qizhen didn’t answer. He first closely inspected the dried, blackened bloodstains and the scattered footprints leading toward the hallway. Only after that did he softly say, “The blood’s long dried and there’s dust on top. It looks like no one’s been here for a while.”

Judging it relatively safe, Jing Qizhen braced himself on the window and climbed inside first.

Wang Feizhou was stunned by his priorities. “You’re seriously going in?”

Jing Qizhen looked back at him. “Logically speaking, a murder scene with dried blood is much safer than a clean place where a new killer might pop out.”

Wang Feizhou: “…”

Fair point. Just like how walking alone at night, most people fear ghosts, when in reality, it’s usually humans that pose the real danger. But emotionally, it was still hard to shake off.

Lu Lingxi, who had already gone to unlock the main entrance, had now returned through the dark.

Seeing everyone climbing through the window, Lu Lingxi was surprised and immediately realized something must have happened. He asked in a low voice, “What’s going on?”

Manman summed it up simply, “It’s the right place.”

Lu Lingxi perked up and, peeking through the window to see the bloodstains, understood instantly. “It really is.”

As someone who had seen plenty of cadavers, practiced suturing wounds, and was steadily developing that mature-doctor mindset of seeing the body as just a system of bones and tissues, Wang Feizhou suddenly felt out of place.

Everyone around him seemed normal, was he the abnormal one?

Seeing the anguish on his face, the gentle Grandma Fang kindly consoled him, “Maybe it’s because you’re in general surgery and mostly see live patients, so you’re not used to old blood. If you studied forensics, maybe this wouldn’t bother you as much?”

Old Xiao commented objectively, “If Little Wang studied forensics, he probably wouldn’t have stumbled in here by accident.”

Wang Feizhou chuckled helplessly. He had no comeback for that.

As everyone finished climbing in, Wang Feizhou asked quietly with hope, “We can get out of here, right?”

“Yes,” Jing Qizhen answered firmly. But after a pause, he added unexpectedly, “Tang Song’s erosion area briefing document was way too long. We really need a short version with just a few key lines.”

Jin Guijuan, who had once been dragged into English lessons by Lu Lingxi, understood immediately. “Like vocabulary flashcards?”

Wang Feizhou: “…” He felt his intelligence being insulted.

Wilcox gave Wang Feizhou a sympathetic glance and suddenly spoke in a familiar Sichuan-accented Mandarin, “What’s wrong with you, huh? That document Little Jing gave you clearly explains how to protect yourself and how to exit the erosion area!”

Hearing a foreigner suddenly bust out Sichuan-style Mandarin, Wang Feizhou was stunned for a moment before guiltily muttering, “I… I haven’t read that far yet…”

Jing Qizhen: “Mm, time was too tight, it’s not your fault. That instruction document really should be streamlined or at least have a brief summary at the beginning.”

Jing Qizhen planned to tell Tang Song about that once they got out.

Bringing up the rear, Wang Feizhou also climbed the window quickly. However, just as he jumped in, from the corner of his eye, he seemed to catch sight of a huge shadow flashing past the bushes.

“Eh?”

Wang Feizhou shivered instinctively and looked in that direction.

But all that met his eyes was a biting cold wind and the shadowy outlines of black trees swaying in the wind.

He couldn’t help but tremble. Even though he told himself it was probably a mistake, he still reported what he saw to Jing Qizhen and the others in full.

Jing Qizhen immediately doubled back and silently placed a pinhole camera on the edge of the window. “Alright, let’s go!”

Wang Feizhou: “=口=!!!” So they could do that? He should’ve thought of it earlier!

Once inside the bathroom, Grandma Fang pulled out a small sample collection box from her backpack.

Knowing she was about to collect samples, Jing Qizhen hurried over to help. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Can you test DNA from dried blood like this?”

The last time they collected blood samples from the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store, they had mostly been fresh.

Grandma Fang: “It depends on the preservation conditions. If it’s been a long time in normal, humid environments, you’ll usually only get microbial samples. But since the environment inside an erosion area is unique, there’s a chance the DNA might still be preserved!”

Wang Feizhou asked in confusion, “And who are we testing it against?”

Jing Qizhen: “Everyone from Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital.”

While they spoke, Grandma Fang had already collected the sample and tucked it back into her bag.

“Let’s go!” Jing Qizhen said softly, already creeping toward the corridor.

***

In the bushes, a huge figure wearing a fine red gentleman’s vest and monocle was lowering its head. In its paw was a golden pocket watch. After checking the time, the March Hare muttered to itself with its three-lobed mouth, “It’s so late already, I should’ve been asleep ages ago. Oh dear, poor Sir Rabbit can’t even find a bed to sleep on!”

Having circled the entire hospital but been blocked by the locked inpatient building, the March Hare grumpily bounced back in the direction of the hospital cafeteria.

Outside, the lighting was extremely dim. Inside the small cafeteria, however, a slightly aged incandescent bulb gave off a dim yellow glow.

Yun Shuanghua sat there with a bowl of poorly made noodle soup in front of him. However, as long as you didn’t look inside the bowl, the hazy steam rising from it along with the warm light and his quiet, handsome profile, gave the scene a strange sense of domestic peace.

Hearing the bounce of the March Hare’s steps, Yun Shuanghua didn’t even look up. Stirring the lump of noodles with some effort, he asked with a teasing smile, “Still couldn’t find a place to sleep?”

The March Hare put away its golden pocket watch and sat opposite Yun Shuanghua, propping up its head with one paw. Even its fluffy ears drooped in disappointment.

“Nope,” it sighed. “The inpatient building’s door was locked and the windows were covered in dried blood. It’s probably dusty inside too. I don’t want to dirty my clothes or fur.”

Yun Shuanghua gave a totally unhelpful suggestion, “Then try the other building, the one with the ghosts. If you can’t find an on-duty bed, surely there’s an operating table.”

The March Hare’s eyes lit up. “I’ll go to the operating room and get an operating table to sleep on! Do you want one too?”

Yun Shuanghua shook his head and pointed his chopsticks toward the empty, ghost-free back kitchen of the cafeteria. “No need. I just steamed some rice. I’m not sure how it turned out.”

It should be better than the lump of soggy noodles, right?

Yun Shuanghua was also confused why his cooking never turned out like Si Jiayang’s. They both just added rice or noodles, water, heat, and waited until it was done, right?

Plus, Yun Shuanghua considered himself more focused. Si Jiayang would chop veggies, stir-fry, and even make fruit platters at the same time. Yun Shuanghua, meanwhile, had stared into that pot without blinking!

The March Hare, who was equally bad at cooking, stared at Yun Shuanghua’s steaming bowl of food and felt a sharp pang of hunger.

Honestly, it would rather go munch on grass in the landscaping outside!

Rubbing its belly, the March Hare bounced off toward the old three-story building filled with ghosts.

Ten minutes later, the March Hare from the fairytale kingdom came face-to-face with the ghosts inside the hospital.

Apparently knowing even less about ordinary humans than Yun Shuanghua, the big furry creature wasn’t fazed at all by the ghost doctors and nurses. It even greeted them cheerfully as it hopped along.

The March Hare nodded politely and said cheerfully, “Good evening, doctor!”

One ghost doctor was so startled that his pupils dilated, and half his body stuck in the doorway.

The March Hare went up one floor and encountered a ghost nurse in the hallway. Smiling brightly, it peeked around the corner and said, “Good evening, nurse!”

The nurse froze and immediately screamed in terror. The missing person notice in her hand, bearing a haunting photo, was hurled at the March Hare like some haunted talisman.

The March Hare bounced over and caught it. Seeing Yun Shuanghua’s face on the flyer, its big red eyes widened. “Eh? When did His Highness the Prince get a photo taken?”

Moreover, the March Hare was familiar with the missing person notice and the search for the Prince!

It hopped over enthusiastically, tipped its little top hat, and bowed gentlemanly to the still-screaming ghost nurse. “Excuse me, who’s looking for His Highness the Prince? I can deliver a message from the one posting the notice to the Prince!”

The ghost nurse was utterly terrified by the fluffy physical presence of the March Hare up close that her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.

The March Hare was stunned, hopping back in shock. “Miss Nurse!?”

***

Although they had installed a pinhole camera by the bathroom window, the footage hardly changed along the way and failed to capture any valuable information.

Wang Feizhou scratched his head. “Maybe I really did see it wrong.”

Jing Qizhen casually comforted him, “That spot also counts as an emergency exit. Keeping an eye on it doesn’t hurt.”

The bloodstains in the bathroom extended into the hallway of the inpatient building. The dried, darkened blood still appeared in large splattered patterns.

Just from looking at the formation of the bloodstains, it clearly seemed like an arterial wound caused by a sharp weapon. It made one wonder how many murder scenes had occurred there…

Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but say, “There’s too much blood…”

Manman muttered, “And it’s too evenly spread.”

Sure, in horror games, dark, dirty blood is always splattered everywhere like it’s free.

But in reality, even at a murder scene, it’s rare to see only splatter patterns with no pools of blood on the ground, nor any traces of a victim crawling or being dragged.

Jing Qizhen: “…So you’re saying this blood looks like a staged horror scene?”