The beautiful nurses held their mouths tightly, not daring to breathe.
"Should we run back?" Zhang Yuxiu swallowed nervously, whispering in a barely audible voice.
"Where can we run to? Everywhere is dangerous..." Tian Qi also replied in a trembling whisper.
"At least I don't want to be eaten by this kind of monster!" another young nurse couldn't help but shed tears.
"Shush, pray they don't come upstairs."
Everyone's heart was pounding in their throats, some even clasped their hands together and began to pray.
Pitter-patter...
The footsteps grew closer, they were coming upstairs!
Everyone's hearts sank. Duan Chen pressed his back tightly against the wall, a position that allowed him to peek through the gaps between the walls. He saw a little boy, about four or five years old, hopping into view, looking around as if he couldn't find his mother.
Four yellow toy ducks followed him, their little feet making crisp pitter-patter sounds on the floor.
A child?
Duan Chen had been ready to act instantly, but when he saw it was a child, his body instinctively paused.
Zhang Yuxiu, standing at the front, relaxed immediately upon seeing it was a child.
"It's Naonao from room 228, I recognize him. He was admitted for pneumonia caused by a viral cold. He must have gotten separated from his mother. We should go help him." Saying so, she prepared to step out from behind the wall.
Suddenly! A large hand clamped over her mouth from behind, dragging her back.
It was Duan Chen.
"Shush!" Cold sweat broke out on Duan Chen's forehead.
"That's not an ordinary child, that's a Siren," he said in a low voice.
"Haven't you forgotten that Sirens have the ability to transform into humans?"
At this moment, the little boy struggled to climb the stairs while humming a duckling's rhyme—
"Four little ducks in a row,"
"Hopping, hopping, up the stairs they go."
"Wagging their tails, hurry on your way,"
"Kill and plunder, collect their hearts today—!"
As he sang, he held the ducks up high and swayed like a duck.
"This looks like a normal kid to me," Ding Ding asked, confused. "If we don't help him, he'll be torn apart by the monsters. He's just a child..."
As expected, several grotesque-faced monsters floated towards the little boy, their sharp claws about to tear him to shreds.
Zhang Yuxiu's maternal instincts flared. She struggled free from Duan Chen and rushed downstairs.
"Child! Danger! Come here!"
This is bad! Duan Chen's pupils contracted. She's courting death!
Upon seeing Zhang Yuxiu, the little boy's eyes gleamed. He bared his teeth and giggled.
"Prey, prey, hee hee hee, prey has appeared!"
"Go! Polly, it's decided, it's you!" A duck with a tuft of green hair on its head was thrown by him towards Zhang Yuxiu.
The green-haired duck toy spun twice in the air, its size continuously growing, growing! It finally reached the size of a normal duck, landed on the stairs, and waddled towards Zhang Yuxiu.
"How did a toy turn alive?!"
Zhang Yuxiu was greatly alarmed. She sensed danger and tried to dodge backward, but the duck ran incredibly fast, closing the distance instantly.
The moment they made contact.
*Boom—!*
The duck self-destructed.
Zhang Yuxiu was blown to the ground, bloody and mangled.
Seeing this, the young nurses turned pale with fright, covering their mouths to stifle their screams.
Behind them, the fat man showed a look of disdain. He reached out with both hands and groped the ample, perky buttocks of two beautiful nurses forcefully.
The two nurses jumped forward like startled rabbits, but they dared not move too far for fear of being exposed. They could only endure it in silence.
"Heh heh heh..." the fat man chuckled with satisfaction.
Seeing the head nurse severely injured, Xiao Lian was burning with anxiety. She lifted her cannon and aimed it at the boy.
*Bang—!*
The bullet hit the boy, sending up a puff of smoke.
"Hit!" Joy flashed in Xiao Lian's eyes.
Two young nurses quickly ran out and dragged the dying Zhang Yuxiu back.
"Hee hee ~ hee hee hee hee ~~"
The smoke quickly dissipated, and a fat duck stood in front of the boy. The boy was unharmed and grinned at the nurses.
"Found you, found you ~ hee hee hee ~ new prey!"
Xiao Lian's heart sank, filled with terror. "Impossible! I clearly hit him..."
"One, two, three, four~" The little boy counted the exposed nurses on his fingers.
"Just right, my ducks are also exactly four~"
He clapped his hands, excitedly counting the duck toys around him. "Polly, Holly, Molly, and... wait a minute! Where's Dylan?!"
The boy clutched his head, panic in his eyes.
Duan Chen felt an extremely bad premonition. His gaze swept to the ceiling...
"Gaaah!!!"
A large yellow duck was standing upside down on the ceiling, opening its mouth wide and quacking ferociously at Duan Chen.
"Run!" Duan Chen's pupils constricted, but it was too late.
The large yellow duck swooped down from the ceiling.
*Boom—!*
A violent explosion erupted, smoke billowed everywhere. Duan Chen only managed to shield the four nurses closest to him.
The smell of burning flesh wafted through the air, accompanied by painful wails. The fat man lay in a pool of blood, his other hand also blown off.
"Damn it! Who the hell pushed me! Save me! Nurses! I'm injured, bandage me quickly!"
Several nurses exchanged glances, none of them stepping forward to help him.
Duan Chen felt suspicious. The fat man had been at the back just now. Logically, the nurses should have been injured, so why was he the one who got blown up?
But he didn't have time to ponder. The little boy had already climbed up the stairs, still humming his rhyme—
"Four little ducks in a row,"
"Finding prey, they feast and glow."
"Bang bang bombs brightly shine,"
"Urging us to dig out their hearts, oh mine—!"
Pitter-patter...
The ducks hopped onto the little boy's shoulders, their pitch-black pupils reflecting the nurses' pale faces.
"Hee hee hee, so it was Dylan who found the hidden prey, giving me such a big surprise."
"So many people, so many hearts. If I bring them all back, Master Apostle will surely praise me! Hee hee hee!"
"You are not allowed to harm my husband!"
Hong Ying leaped into the air, and flames suddenly struck towards the little boy.
"Red-clothed bride? You actually obey a human, have you no shame?" The little boy looked at her with contempt.
"I am married to him, and thus I am his person." Hong Ying waved her sleeves, showing no mercy.
"Hahaha, truly the funniest joke I've heard this century! Since you're so love-struck, don't blame me for being impolite. It's decided, Molly, go!"