Midnight Forest Bar. Get full chapters from novｅlfire.net
The deep bass of electronic dance music hit everyone’s eardrums like waves.
The air was thick with a blend of alcohol, perfume, and hormones.
Xu Hao, with his arm around a sultry woman, swayed his body casually to the beat of the music.
The woman exhaled a fragrant breath, tracing circles on his firm chest with her fingers:
"Brother Hao, don’t leave tonight, okay?"
Xu Hao suddenly let go of her and gently pushed her away, a roguish smile on his face:
"Can’t do that, need to get up early tomorrow to see my mom."
"Using your mom as an excuse again."
The woman pouted, unwilling to give up, clinging to him: "You’re almost the busiest person in East Capital now."
"Of course, I’m filial."
Xu Hao laughed heartily, ignoring her pestering, and turned to squeeze out of the crowded crowd.
Passing through the bustling first-floor hall, he returned to his own resting room upstairs, where the world instantly quieted down.
He took off his shirt, which was covered in the scent of alcohol and perfume, revealing a sharply defined upper body.
Walking into the bathroom, the water flowed with a splash as Xu Hao hummed a tuneless melody, squeezing a big blob of facial cleanser onto his face and rubbing it carelessly.
The foam covered his face, and he made faces at himself in the mirror, grinning widely to reveal his white teeth.
"Tsk, even more handsome now."
After washing up, he dried his face with a towel, a mood out of sync with the lively atmosphere below filled his heart.
Ever since that night of narrowly escaping from Noah Building, his life had fallen into this peculiar state of disconnection.
Station Chief Feng had issued a strict order, making all staff lay low for a while.
The scandal of Noah Pharmaceutical secretly conducting human experiments had made headlines nationwide, and the Special Search Team was like a pack of rabid dogs, biting at everything.
Colleagues were either on the run or caught.
In the past, Xu Hao would have been so nervous he couldn’t sleep.
Though he was just an insider...
But now, he felt as steady as an old dog.
Nervous? Worried? Nonexistent.
As soon as he closed his eyes, the scene from that rainy night would vividly reappear in his mind.
His own boss stood suspended in the air, surrounded by roaring flames, punching through the Inner World, shattering Luo Lie’s world.
That was no longer a mere person; it was practically a god!
Following such a boss, who’d be afraid of the Special Search Team?
Xu Hao even thought it would be better if all those Station Chief’s people died in the Inner World.
Without the bothersome folks from the Noah Organization, the boss, with Xu Hao, could blast through all the major forces in East Capital, unite the Martial World, and climb to the top.
By that time, he would at least get to be a Gang Leader or CEO.
As for luxury cars, beauties, money...
Those would be mere trifles.
Just thinking about it made him too excited to sleep.
He pulled the curtains shut, completely isolating the city’s neon lights.
Lying on the bed, with hands folded behind his head, Xu Hao happily fantasized about the future.
His eyelids grew heavier, and his consciousness gradually blurred.
The music from the bar seemed to come from another world, becoming more distant...
A piercing scream cut through his mind without warning, reaching the extreme!
Xu Hao’s heart leapt, as if hit by a jolt of electricity, and he instantly opened his eyes.
What he saw was not the familiar ceiling of his bedroom.
A large expanse of moldy gray-white from dampness filled his entire vision.
The air was filled with a nauseating smell, like a mix of formaldehyde, rust, and the stench of rotting flesh.
He sat up abruptly, realizing he was lying on a thinly covered iron bed.
Surrounding him was darkness, as if there was a power outage.
On the cabinet beside the bed lay an old-fashioned metal flashlight.
"What the hell is this place?"
His mind was in a daze.
He had just been sleeping in the bar’s resting room, and now he was in a different place upon opening his eyes?
Could someone have kidnapped him in his sleep?
He quickly checked his body for any signs of binding.
But the clothes he wore gave his heart a sudden lurch.
It was a blue and white striped hospital gown, with a few blurred words on the chest: East Capital Seventh Mental Hospital.
Xu Hao was dumbfounded.
His first thought was that the damn Special Search Team was up to something.
Had they come up with a new mission, purposely staging this to scare him into submission?
He shouted into the empty room: "Quit the theatrics, just say what you want directly."
However, the only response was his own voice echoing in the dead silence, making it all the more eerie.
Unwilling to give up, Xu Hao reached for the wall switch.
No response; there was indeed a power outage.
He turned to the side, where there was a grimy window.
Through the blurry glass, he could vaguely make out what was outside.
In the pitch-black courtyard stood several statues of bizarre design.
A thick gray fog rolled outside the window, like a cage isolating the mental hospital from the world, allowing no hint of external light to penetrate.
Even more unsettling was that somewhere in the depth of the fog, massive shadows seemed to be moving slowly, exuding an indescribable eeriness that discouraged a second look.
A more terrifying thought slithered into Xu Hao’s mind like a venomous snake.
Had the escape from Noah Building been just a dream?
Was he actually trapped in some cursed Inner World again, only truly waking now?
The idea made his hair stand on end.
Xu Hao immediately turned over and got off the bed, grabbing the metal flashlight at the bedside, heavy enough to serve as a weapon.