Swish—!
Gao Tiankai's left shoulder was slashed open, but he smiled and created distance.
"Why aren't you attacking me?" Duan Chen snorted.
"If I said it was out of brotherhood, would you believe me?"
"Hmph, you can fool little girls with that."
"Heh, it's because the Apostle instructed that no one is allowed to touch you. Duan Chen, I don't know what charm you possess, but you're actually being specifically protected by that Apostle... I naturally can't disobey."
Gao Tiankai extended a hand, his telekinesis gathering the dozens of hearts scattered on the floor, which he then bundled up in a bedsheet.
"What? Stop spouting nonsense." Duan Chen attacked again.
"You should know whether I'm lying or not, since you can cheat and read minds."
Duan Chen indeed found no issues with Gao Tiankai's thoughts, but what kind of damned Apostle would protect him?
It was absurd.
This time, it was Gao Tiankai's turn to be surprised.
"No way, no way, you don't even know the great Evil God? Interesting, heh heh heh... Too interesting, Duan Chen, you better pay attention."
Evil God again. Duan Chen remembered what Gu Sang had said before leaving, and his heart immediately felt extremely displeased.
At this moment, Gao Tiankai flicked his wrist, and several psychic blades flew towards Duan Chen. He, however, walked towards the table and picked up an unopened bottle of mineral water.
Duan Chen's pupils contracted, sensing immediate danger.
Suddenly! The stinging sensation in his left eye returned, his vision blurred, feeling as if it were about to leap out of his eyeball!
He ignored the pain tearing at his eye and roared—
"Don't you fucking run!"
Gao Tiankai sliced open the mineral water bottle, the water flowing onto a small rhombus-shaped mirror he hid in his palm, then smiling and waving goodbye to Duan Chen.
"Goodbye, brother. Enjoy yourself in the hospital. If you die here, it's none of my business."
With a *splat*, Gao Tiankai vanished from the spot, taking the more than 30 hearts with him. The room fell silent.
Duan Chen's blade fell, but it was half a step too late, embedding deeply into the tabletop.
"Damn it!!"
The nurses had already been watching from the doorway. Seeing the horrific scene inside, they couldn't help but cover their mouths in a gasp.
Even though they were professionals who had seen too much bloodshed, the intense smell of blood made their stomachs churn and their faces turn pale.
"They're all... all dead...?"
"Oh my god!!"
"There's still one person alive!" The head nurse, Zhang Yuxiu, with sharp eyes, spotted Qin Ze slumped in the corner with a faint breath.
"I don't dare go over," Ding Ding said, shrinking back with a frown. "If you're going, you go."
Zhang Yuxiu gritted her teeth and rushed in. Tian Qi and a few other nurses followed.
The two gently laid Qin Ze down, noticing he was gravely injured and had a slim chance of survival.
"Three ribs are broken, lungs severely damaged, respiratory failure."
"Left arm is crushed, skull is fractured, and there's a penetrating wound larger than an inch in his abdomen."
"Head Nurse... he... he seems beyond saving," Tian Qi whispered.
"We still have to try our best to save him! That's our responsibility as medical professionals!" Zhang Yuxiu cupped her hands over Qin Ze's bleeding chest.
Qin Ze painfully opened his eyes. He trembled and saw himself surrounded by nurses. Their mouths moved, and their expressions were anxious and sorrowful.
Judging by this, he was probably beyond saving.
At this moment, he saw Duan Chen beside him, his face as gloomy as a volcano about to erupt.
The only part he could move, his right hand, twitched. He then, with extreme effort, grasped Duan Chen's trouser leg.
Duan Chen felt the force and suddenly snapped back to reality.
He tried his best to remain calm. The dead could not be brought back, but the living could still be saved.
Duan Chen squatted down and grasped Qin Ze's trembling hand. The latter seemed to have something to say to him, and was extremely urgent.
"This must be his last words," Zhang Yuxiu sighed, looking apologetically at Duan Chen.
"Teacher Duan..."
Qin Ze clutched Duan Chen's hand tightly. The intense pain and fear of death made him convulse.
He could no longer speak clearly, but he kept opening his mouth with all his might. Blood gushed from it, and he gasped in pain, the light in his eyes rapidly dimming.
Duan Chen felt a mix of emotions. In this tragedy, Qin Ze was the only one he could still save.
How could he let him die so easily?
Duan Chen took a small green bean from his pocket and put it directly into Qin Ze's mouth.
He suddenly remembered what Wu Suowei had told him then. Was all of this within Wu Suowei's calculations?
Duan Chen didn't have time to think further, because under the miraculous effect of the Senzu bean, Qin Ze's injuries rapidly healed. Soon, he was pulled back from the brink of death.
"Don't be afraid, Qin Ze, I won't let you die so easily."
Duan Chen sighed. He saw that in Qin Ze's crushed left hand, he was still tightly gripping the white cloth puppet, having not let go until the very end.
Duan Chen felt a lump in his heart.
Room 202 was no longer a place to stay. Everyone collectively moved to the adjacent room 206. Under the protection of the white cloth puppet, they could finally catch their breath.
The nurses chatted amongst themselves, but Duan Chen's mood remained heavy. He didn't have the Magic Mirror and couldn't go to Mirror City, yet Gao Tiankai had fled there.
Qin Ze, having barely regained his breath, clutched Duan Chen tightly and trembled, saying, "Xue'er, Xue'er... she, she also came to the hospital..."
Duan Chen's eyes narrowed instantly.
"She said she wanted to come and... make noodles for you... maybe in the... restaurant... Save her... save her..."
Qin Ze's chest heaved violently. He squeezed out fragmented words through gritted teeth with all his might.
When he was waiting here earlier, he hadn't seen Mi Xue'er and wanted to go out and look for her, but Duan Chen had given him the puppet and told him not to leave, so he couldn't disobey his teacher's instructions and act on his own.
Then, the space within suddenly erupted, and in an instant, everyone was dead.
Perhaps it was because he was an Awakened and his physical condition was stronger than ordinary people that he wasn't instantly killed.
He had initially been relieved that Mi Xue'er hadn't experienced the slaughter here, but the hospital was filled with white-clothed monsters. Without the puppet's protection, Mi Xue'er wouldn't survive either!
"Save Xue'er, please, Teacher Duan..."
Two streams of tears rolled down Qin Ze's eyes. He pleaded, gripping Duan Chen's hand.
Since he could pull him back from the brink of death, he must have a way to save Mi Xue'er!
If Mi Xue'er died, or, worse yet—
Turned into a sea monster wearing Mi Xue'er's human skin... Qin Ze dared not think about it further.