[New City - St. Stans Hospital]
The taxi carried the three of them to the parking area in the front yard. The new hospital’s scale was unexpectedly large; the country must have invested quite a bit of money here.
Even though strange things happened, the City Investigation Bureau only closed off the ward,
the overall operation of the hospital remained unaffected, and the news was tightly sealed off, so not even related rumors got out.
As soon as they entered, a young nurse came forward to receive them.
"Is this your first time visiting our hospital? Feel free to ask me if you need any help."
Luo Di responded softly, "From the Investigation Bureau."
The nurse’s expression changed as she quickly realized and verified their identities through scanning their wristbands, "I assume you must be Detective Luo Di? These two should also be from the Capital. Please follow me.
The passage on the floor with the ward in question has been closed off, and no one has approached or contracted hypersomnia, and no spread has been detected yet."
Luo Di originally assumed there would be professionals responsible for receiving them, little did he know that an ordinary nurse would lead him up, which made it seem as if the incident itself wasn’t that important.
"There’s no hypersomnia patient inside the hospital currently, right?"
"There are regular patients, but there are no patients with the special hypersomnia from that ward; those infected have already been transferred to the City Research Bureau."
Very quickly, Luo Di and the other two were led to the hospital’s inpatient department, taking the elevator to the ninth floor.
The elevator was located at the center of this floor,
and the left passage was still in normal use.
The right passage had a drape with "Under construction, do not enter" and was barred with iron railings.
"The incident ward is [0908], here is the ward key. The City Investigation Bureau specifically instructed us not to interfere much; just bring you here.
If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first."
Luo Di didn’t directly proceed to the blocked passage but went straight to the nurse’s station on this floor. After all, only the right passage was closed here, while other areas were still in use.
He needed to confirm that these people weren’t affected.
The nurse at the station just got up as Luo Di suddenly leaned his face in, almost touching hers.
the entire space displayed the gritty texture of movies from the 80s, but the movie effect quickly dissipated, and Luo Di didn’t notice any issues with the nurse.
"Squad Leader, how do you feel?"
Wu Wen, who had somehow already entered the nurse’s station, placed her hand on the other person’s palm, sensing all over her body.
"What about Hua Yuan?"
Hua Yuan stood in the back, looking around, shrugged, "Don’t waste time, it’s just a Monster Avatar that’s good at hiding, let’s handle it quickly, maybe we’ll have time for a vacation."
This confirmed that the so-called hypersomnia hadn’t spread outward, at least this nurse closest to the ward wasn’t affected.
The three of them turned towards the closed passage, leaving behind a bewildered young nurse who seemed to have no idea what had just happened.
They lifted the drape,
and Luo Di vaulted over the railing into the right passage with one hand.
Except for the lack of activity, there was nothing eerie about the passage itself.
The new fluorescent lights provided ample illumination, and maintenance robots were responsible for cleaning daily.
In front of the ward [0908].
Besides the "Do Not Enter" sign on the door, there were no protective measures.
Without hesitation, Luo Di used the key to open the door.
A clean, tidy single-person ward appeared before him.
There was nothing out of the ordinary to the naked eye, and regular perception couldn’t detect any dangerous aura.
Gray tentacles covered his eyes,
as Luo Di raised his arm, aligning his palm towards the room.
A caw of a crow was heard,
as something inside his right palm tore through, allowing a unique, pitch-black eyeball to peek through the wound.
Overlaying dual visions, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ noveⅼfire.net
the combined images were processed and analyzed by the brain, revealing a starkly different scene, unveiling the ward’s anomaly.
Particles of pale blue crystalline substances floated like dust.
despite the room being completely sealed with no airflow before opening, the crystals still floated. Even when Luo Di opened the door, the dust didn’t spread outward.
Luo Di noticed the source of this crystalline dust.
On the central bed, the crystalline dust lay flat, outlining a humanoid silhouette, as if the patient once lying there turned into crystalline dust overnight, disappearing.
Luo Di’s question received no response; turning around, he found the two sisters had already backed away against the wall—both Hua Yuan and Wu Wen sensed danger.
They were just Avatars present here, bound by the world’s limitations.
If the Avatar were destroyed, their essence in the corner would suffer significantly, potentially damaging the plant, affecting future growth.
"Luo Di, both Sister Hua and I sense a kindred spirit. The underlying monster may not be a superficial creature, perhaps not even weaker than us.
Since this hasn’t caused severe harm to humans, it’s advisable not to interfere—we must return to the corner, and provoking a major entity would be problematic."
"Is there a major entity in the corner related to sleep?"
"Among the monsters I know, none are related, but that doesn’t mean none exist. For example, the entity your tongue corresponds to, low-key yet formidable."
"If you don’t know, it’s fine... How about this? You two wait outside while I try it alone.
Being human, I won’t be suppressed by the world; however powerful the other is, one Avatar can’t fully kill me.
Moreover, I just obtained something from Hell and wanted to try it out."
"Alright, Sister Hua and I will monitor your physical condition."
Torture Device Construction,
Luo Di first fitted himself with a Jaw Splitter as he stepped into the ward.
Though the Jaw Splitter filtered his breathing, preventing the dust from entering his airway,
Luo Di quickly noticed the dust penetrating the skin, transforming into a finer substance akin to a Spiritual Body.
Throughout the process, Luo Di didn’t feel a thing, as if nothing had happened.
The presence of these substances was so negligible, even once inside, they moved toward the brain with extreme slowness, likely taking days to reach it, before the so-called hypersomnia would appear.
"No wonder regular investigators couldn’t detect it; even I, without prior knowledge of the ward’s anomaly, would have been silently influenced.
This is probably the most subtle, slow invasion I’ve encountered.
Let’s see if these substances can be eradicated."
Clack! The sound of chopping meat echoed again.
Luo Di, hands in pockets, made no cutting motion, yet the dust floating in the air was instantly erased.
"Cleaning is possible; removing all crystalline dust from the ward will eliminate the influence here.
However, there’s no tracing the entity behind it.
Even colors can’t locate these dust particles; they’re all ownerless entities.
Must ’enter the fray’ personally?
Since I promised the director, I’ll assist completely. Furthermore, the monster’s objective is mysterious, its intentions unclear."
Curiosity increasingly piqued,
Luo Di approached the bed, staring at the humanoid silhouette formed by pale blue crystalline dust.
He first cleared all floating dust within the air, then stated towards the ward door, "I’ll absorb all crystalline substances here, and soon should fall asleep completely.
The outside situation is up to you.
If something seems off with me, give a little help."
To accelerate internal access to the brain,
Luo Di lowered his head, vigorously inhaling along the crystalline outline on the bed! With one breath, he absorbed all dust from the bed, a faint bodily warning issued.
Soon after, an irresistible drowsiness took over.
Luo Di abruptly opened his eyes.
He still stood before the bed, maintaining the same posture as before, though the feeling differed, Wu Wen and Hua Yuan weren’t at the door, and the hospital was silent.
"Have I already fallen asleep...?"