Chapter 1 Nightmare Assault

A massive fear washed over Tang Qisheng like a tide, suffocating him. And this was just the beginning. More and more corpses in the exhibition room began to move. A corpse with only the upper half of its body crawled out of a murky glass container. It fell to the ground and struggled, its body slapping the floor like a dying fish out of water.

One terrifying corpse after another advanced towards the door in an organized manner, quickly blocking Tang Qisheng's only escape route.

A bizarre scene unfolded. The corpses raised their eyelids one after another, revealing glass beads embedded in their eye sockets. Even Director Mei was the same. Their eyes had been gouged out, and the glass eyeballs protruded outward, creating a horrifying appearance.

"Pat."

"Pat."

The glass eyeballs fell to the ground, revealing empty eye sockets. The horde of corpses grew even more frenzied.

In this critical moment, Tang Qisheng suddenly recalled the boy's final instructions before he left: In this hospital, eyes are the greatest bargaining chip.

As the corpses twisted and moved closer, Tang Qisheng didn't hesitate. He bent his finger and plunged it into his left eye socket, gouging out his eyeball. "You want eyes, don't you? Here, take them!"

He clenched the eyeball and threw it hard into the corner. Director Mei was the fastest, darting over and snatching the eyeball from the air before it could land.

Ecstasy filled her face, but before she could even put the eyeball into her eye socket, she was swallowed up by the horde of corpses.

Eyes held a fatal attraction for these creatures. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tang Qisheng rushed out, ignoring everything else. The ground trembled slightly; the commotion here had even attracted the Dean.

He ran down the stairs, but several doctors from the second floor were blocking the way, clearly having waited for a long time. One of them, a triangular-eyed doctor clutching a scalpel, shrieked excitedly, "That's him! The one who's been hiding! I recognize his scent!"

At this critical moment, a hand suddenly grabbed Tang Qisheng, hoisted him onto its back, and charged towards the doctors.

It was the rag doll. It smashed into the doctors, not even looking as it casually grabbed one and threw it behind. A gust of fishy wind blew against the back of his head. Tang Qisheng turned his head to see the Dean, a giant, insect-like creature, had also chased after them, waving dozens of arms and tearing the thrown doctor to pieces.

The rag doll clearly knew its way around the hospital. It used its agility to shake off the Dean, and the ordinary medical staff were no match for it. Before long, they were back in the elevator and descending into the hospital's underground world.

Tang Qisheng fell from the rag doll's back. He looked at the boy in front of him, his hand trembling as he pulled the file bag from his chest. "I found your mother. The Dean has transformed her into Director Mei, who guards the first floor. The information here proves what I'm saying."

Forcing down the blood and saliva in his mouth, Tang Qisheng struggled to throw the file to the boy. "I've fulfilled my promise. Now it's your turn to fulfill yours. How... how can I save my friend?"

"Also, my wife is waiting for me outside, but I didn't see her along the way. Do you know what happened to her?"

Zhu Jie's whereabouts were Tang Qisheng's greatest concern. He already had a vague premonition, and it wasn't good.

After all, Director Mei had disguised herself as Zhu Jie, which meant that Director Mei must have seen Zhu Jie. He suspected that the story Director Mei told him was true, except that the protagonist had been changed to him, and the real Zhu Jie was already...

Hearing this, the rag doll walked to the boy's side, bent down, and pressed its face against the top of the boy's head. After a moment, the boy began to write: "My father said he sensed the presence of a living person in the hospital. That must be your wife."

Hearing that Zhu Jie was still alive, hope burst forth from Tang Qisheng's only remaining right eye. "That's great. It's good that she's okay. Then please, hurry and save my friend!"

The situation with Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui was extremely critical. Any delay, and it might all be over.

After collecting the file, the boy didn't seem to do anything, but the old-fashioned television, which had been displaying static, suddenly emitted a crackling sound. Then, the picture gradually cleared up, and sound began to emerge.

The picture was gloomy. Judging from the background, it was inside a building resembling a Buddhist temple. Tang Qisheng first saw Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui. A young and spirited woman was standing beside them.

They were facing the camera and speaking, seemingly asking someone questions, but Tang Qisheng couldn't understand any of the questions.

The scene made him feel like he was watching an ancient costume suspense movie. It was hard to imagine that this was actually an experiment.

Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui's bodies were immersed in tanks containing the Dean's brain, but their consciousnesses were trapped in a mental world created by the Dean.

Thinking of this, Tang Qisheng couldn't help but shudder. He suspected that once Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui's consciousnesses died, the Dean would seize their bodies, and use their identities to return to the real world and continue living.

As Tang Qisheng thought, the camera gradually turned. When the camera turned to face Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui, the scene before him made Tang Qisheng's eyes widen. He never would have imagined that the one talking to Jiang Cheng and the others was actually a rotting corpse wearing a Daoist robe and holding a white bone whisk!

The next moment, the camera shook violently. Standing in a god-like perspective, Tang Qisheng saw an even more horrifying scene. Behind the Daoist corpse was a Buddhist monk corpse embedded in its back, wearing a kasaya.

No, that's not right. Tang Qisheng suddenly understood. The monk and the Daoist were one, except that viewed from the front it was a Daoist, and from the back it was a monk. It was a ghost!

And judging from the picture, Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui had obviously been deceived. They hadn't recognized the ghost and had already fallen into its trap.

Slowly, the camera gradually zoomed in. Tang Qisheng saw a wooden box on the rotten, maggot-filled altar. Inside the wooden box was a purple-gold alms bowl, and Jiang Cheng and the evil ghost's conversation was focused on how to deal with this alms bowl.

The evil ghost was trying to persuade Jiang Cheng to break the alms bowl, but Jiang Cheng clearly realized that something was wrong with the alms bowl and kept stalling for time.

Suddenly, Tang Qisheng noticed that Wang Fugui, standing behind Jiang Cheng and the woman, put his hand in his pocket, then took out his phone, glanced at it, and quickly put it back. The next moment, the fatty's brow furrowed even deeper.

Tang Qisheng felt pain in his heart. He knew what Wang Fugui was waiting for. He was waiting for him to send a message, and everything he and Jiang Cheng were doing was just buying him time.

Staring at the purple-gold alms bowl, Tang Qisheng had a very strange feeling, as if... as if that thing was very close to him, very close, as if he could touch it with just a reach.

And the shape of that thing looked increasingly familiar to him. After a moment, he suddenly widened his eyes. He remembered. The shape of that alms bowl was clearly the same as the tank in the laboratory that contained the Dean's brain and Jiang Cheng and Wang Fugui's bodies!