I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 120

Regarding the existence of the midnight diner, Manman said honestly, “It definitely looks like there’s a story there.”

After all, in a place where ghosts often show up, if there’s light, it’s either a person or some other kind of surprise. Either way, it’s definitely not ordinary.

Jin Guijuan was worried about something else. “What if it closes during the day?”

Si Jiayang: “It doesn’t matter if it closes or not. We can open the door ourselves. As long as there’s food and vegetables inside, that’s good enough.”

Wang Feizhou looked over and hesitantly asked, “Can we actually eat the rice, grains, and vegetables here? What if they’re poisoned?”

Si Jiayang: “I don’t know about poison, but if we stay in this erosion area for too long, we’ll definitely starve if we don’t eat…”

Wang Feizhou nodded in despair. “You’re right.”

Jing Qizhen: “I remember Manman even sprouted some mung beans last time…”

Wang Feizhou: “…” He had clearly underestimated this group.

Lu Lingxi looked at Jing Qizhen. “Should we go check it out now, or wait until morning?”

Jing Qizhen didn’t answer right away. He was considering it too.

Although it wasn’t clear exactly when the cafeteria lights turned on, judging by the current situation, it was likely related to the appearance of the ghosts in the old hospital building.

According to what those so-called survivors said in the adjacent ward, the ghosts would temporarily disappear once daylight came. If that were true, then the movement in the cafeteria might also vanish with them. If so, they might find nothing if they waited until morning.

After much thought and deliberation, Jing Qizhen made up his mind. “I’ll go take a look now. The rest of you should rest.”

Si Jiayang stepped up right away. “I’ll go with you. If there’s nothing wrong with the cafeteria, we can use the opportunity while the doors are open to check the food supply and maybe even make dinner.”

Manman checked the sockets in the ward, plugged in a phone charger, and after confirming it worked, nodded and reminded them, “Bring back a pot if you can. The power supply here is still working.”

The old hospital building, the inpatient building, and the unexplored cafeteria were like three different maps. No one knew when specific changes might happen, so spreading out the useful supplies couldn’t hurt.

Si Jiayang confidently made an ‘OK’ gesture without hesitation.

Suddenly, the Earth went, “Sluurp…”

Jing Qizhen rubbed his forehead. “…Babyball, what are you doing?”

The Earth: “Little Jing, tell me, how is Si Jiayang’s cooking so good? I can’t recall seeing him make the same dish twice. Sluurp… And it’s both good-looking and delicious!”

Jing Qizhen: “I don’t know. After all, my cooking isn’t nearly as good as his.”

The Earth: “Ah!”

Jing Qizhen said calmly, “Anyway, you can’t eat it right now, so why bother with these details?”

The Earth: “(sF□′)s Hmph!”

Lu Lingxi didn’t say that he wanted to go along but directly took out the gun from his backpack, put on the night vision goggles, and steadily set up the sniper rifle at the window.

Knowing that Jing Qizhen and the others had weapons was one thing, but being in close proximity to such weapons gave a completely different feeling. Wang Feizhou couldn’t help but gasp.

After confirming his shooting range, Lu Lingxi emphasized a few boundary points to Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang. “When you two are walking, try not to go beyond this range. I have good visibility in this area. If there’s danger, go through this path. If something goes wrong, I’ll clear the way and cover you.”

Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang nodded simultaneously.

Manman pointed to her headset and whispered, “Stay in contact.”

Then, instead of leaving through the hallway, Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang wrapped themselves tightly in surgical gowns, masks, and goggles, tied a rope to the bed frame in the ward, and climbed out of the wide-open window, sliding down with gloves on.

After they left, Lu Lingxi pulled the rope back up and tied a loop at the end.

Jin Guijuan hesitantly asked, “Is that to make it easier to pull them back up later?”

Putting the rope aside, Lu Lingxi nodded as he set up the sniper rifle again. “Yes, just preparing in advance.” After saying that, he gestured toward the light switch and whispered, “Everyone else should rest; I’ll keep watch here. Call me if anything happens.”

Grandma Fang nodded and took the initiative to turn off the light in the ward.

It was already late at night. Everyone found a bed to lie down on, and the night was quiet, but their minds were full of thoughts.

Downstairs, Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang were already tightly wrapped before sliding out the window, making it impossible to tell whether they were humans or ghosts inside the surgical gowns.

They moved cautiously in the dark, heading toward the hospital cafeteria within the range Lu Lingxi had marked earlier. In the deep darkness, only the small light from the cafeteria remained as a guide.

***

Meanwhile, in the old hospital building, the March Hare squatted in the hallway, holding a missing person notice with Prince’s photo on it, looking troubled while staring at the unconscious ghost nurse.

Scratching his furry ears anxiously, the March Hare sighed deeply.

Just half an hour ago, it was still looking for an operating table in the old hospital building, planning to move one for sleeping. But unfortunately, the first ghost nurse it encountered was so frightened by the fluffy, lively The March Hare that she fainted.

Usually, the March Hare would have just left, but the ghost nurse was holding a missing person notice related to Yun Shuanghua.

Since it was now following the Prince, it couldn’t just ignore a notice about him.

Reluctantly, the March Hare squatted down, using his fluffy paws to shake the ghost nurse’s sleeve for a long time, saying, “Wake up! Nurse, wake up!”

Despite his efforts, the nurse remained unconscious. Sighing in frustration, the March Hare mumbled in a dejected voice, “Looks like Sir Rabbit has to find you an ambulance. What’s the emergency number here again? Is it 911? Why does that feel off…?”

Still mumbling, the March Hare took the missing person notice to the nearest doctor’s office. The large, fluffy hare in a red vest startled the ghost doctor inside, causing him to fly off his chair and slam into the ceiling.

With wide, bright red eyes, the March Hare pointed to the desk phone with a paw. “I’m making an emergency call.” Then, the hare skillfully dialed 911.

The ghost doctor, still stuck to the ceiling and watching in shock as the hare dialed, was stunned. “=口=??!”

Moments later, a mechanical voice from the phone repeated in both Chinese and English, “For police, dial 110. For fire, dial 119. For medical emergencies, dial 120. For traffic accidents, dial 122.”

The March Hare mumbled, “So for medical emergencies, it’s 120… Can’t it just transfer directly?” Then, it hung up and promptly redialed 120.

After the call connected, the March Hare said fluently, “Hello, I saw a nurse fainted in the hallway. Please send an ambulance to help!”

The March Hare: “What? Why didn’t I just call the hospital doctors? Because the doctor next to her ran away, of course! The doctor dashed out faster than a rabbit!”

***

The closer they got to the cafeteria, the more cautious Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang became.

But as they approached the lit area, Si Jiayang suddenly stopped and whispered, “Do you smell something?”

Jing Qizhen slightly lowered his mask, carefully sniffing the air. “Does it smell a bit burnt?”

Si Jiayang nodded. “Yeah, it smells like something got scorched. I wonder if someone’s cooking something weird in the cafeteria. I bet the pot is ruined. Scary.”

In such a creepy hospital, cooking in the middle of the night seemed inherently eerie and suspicious.

Having seen horror movies and games before, the Earth shivered. “Could it be someone boiling corpses to make corpse oil?”

Jing Qizhen: “…That’s unlikely. The smell of pig fat and the scent of burnt food are completely different.”

The Earth: “Oh, right. 0.0!”

The ball clearly knew it couldn’t smell, but still couldn’t help being curious. “What does it smell like…?”

Jing Qizhen: “Next time Si Jiayang cooks, I’ll stand next to him and show you?”

The Earth: “Whimper… QAQ!”

The closer they got, the clearer the smell from the hospital cafeteria became. Even with masks on, the strong burnt odor was unmistakable.

Si Jiayang frowned unconsciously and muttered, “It smells like burnt porridge…”

Jing Qizhen was puzzled. “There’s so much water in porridge; how could it get burnt?”

Si Jiayang gave him a look as if to say, ‘Clearly, you’ve never been in a kitchen,’ and whispered, “Some people cook porridge in a way that leaves water on top, while the rice at the bottom burns and turns black, giving the whole pot that burnt smell.”

Jing Qizhen: “…”

Three minutes later, as they carefully approached the hospital cafeteria, they suddenly came face to face with Yun Shuanghua coming out. The three of them were momentarily stunned, wondering why the other(s) were there.

Yun Shuanghua was the quickest to react, flashing a bright smile at Jing Qizhen and blinking. “Come in and sit down. I just made some food!”

His reaction clearly belonged to the Yun Shuanghua they had first met at the Yunhai Wancheng Department Store. Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang quickly exchanged glances. To be honest, even in the erosion area, encountering the suspicious Yun Shuanghua rather than some strange creature was somewhat reassuring for both Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang.

Si Jiayang walked over to the rice cooker and casually asked, “Were you making porridge?”

Yun Shuanghua replied matter-of-factly, “I was steaming rice!”

Si Jiayang’s hand, which was about to lift the lid, froze. “…” He had underestimated the situation.

Jing Qizhen was more straightforward. Most importantly, the rice had turned into porridge, and it was burnt. The burnt smell was really overwhelming…

Jing Qizhen: “Buddy, are you sure this is still edible?”

The Earth in Jing Qizhen’s mind asked curiously, “What happened?”

Jing Qizhen: “We’ve encountered a kitchen disaster.”

The Earth was momentarily stunned. “Huh?”

Yun Shuanghua’s sunny and innocent smile remained, and he looked at Jing Qizhen with a hint of confusion. He blinked and replied warmly, “It should be okay, right…?”

Jing Qizhen stared at him, deep in thought.

It seemed that Yun Shuanghua, who had always lived in the erosion area, not only had a strong stomach but also a sense of taste quite different from ordinary humans.

No, that wasn’t entirely accurate. Judging from how much he liked the food Si Jiayang made last time, he did have a preference for good food. It was just that his tolerance for questionable cuisine was significantly higher than that of normal people!

Looking at the pot of rice-turned-porridge with burnt black at the bottom, Si Jiayang was silent for a long time. He wiped his face and decisively said, “Let me cook something!”

Honestly, Si Jiayang didn’t know whether strange ingredients or terrible cooking skills did more damage to the pot…

Jing Qizhen sincerely said to Si Jiayang, “You’re working hard.”

Si Jiayang sighed. “Maybe this is what serving the people means!”

Just then, the sound of bouncing footsteps came from outside the cafeteria.

Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang both froze in shock.

Si Jiayang, who was busy cleaning the rice cooker, paused. “What’s going on?”

Yun Shuanghua: “Oh, it’s nothing. It might be coming back after eating grass.”

Jing Qizhen and Si Jiayang: “…???”

To be honest, the rhythmic footsteps felt strangely familiar to them.

The March Hare didn’t care that it was the middle of the night. When it reached the hospital cafeteria entrance, it raised the missing person notice in its paw and enthusiastically called out, “Your Highness Prince!”