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I replied calmly, "He was never part of the plan."
"Was your intention in splitting up to monitor both Death Apostle and Yao Long at the same time?" Li Zhisheng asked.
"Exactly, because the three of you are more familiar to me, and I've spent more time with you than with them. This way, I can spot any issues right away. However, they could be outsiders, so we have to be cautious."
After hearing this, Li Zhisheng nodded and said, "That makes some sense. But what if this person with ill intentions isn't possessed but has been planted beside you from the start? How would you guard against that?"
His words struck a chord with me. I had assumed that Gu Kai was referring to someone who might be possessed, but I hadn't considered Li Zhisheng's point.
I pondered for a moment and replied, "That's also possible. If that's the case, we wouldn't be able to guard against this person at all. Right now, Yao Long and Death Apostle can't move and are separated. To monitor both of them simultaneously, we can only split up. One reason is to ensure their safety; the second is that among us here, one of you could be the insider..."
At this point, I scanned the other three with my gaze and continued, "If we gather together, it's likely that none of us will escape. By splitting up, at least we can protect the others. The purpose of setting up a code is also to minimize danger."
After listening, Meng Zhuang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, that makes sense. You really thought this through, Shen."
With that, I turned my head and pulled Meng Zhuang aside to whisper, "Do you have any good ideas for a code?"
As I spoke, I thought to myself, "If it really is the Evil Spirit possessing someone, then even if we design a code, it won't help because it would know the code too. So I need to come up with something it can't find out..."
While I was deep in thought, Meng Zhuang suggested, "How about you ask me a question and I'll answer? What do you think?"
I had a sudden inspiration and said, "Sure! Can you tell me what you like?"
Meng Zhuang quickly glanced upward as if recalling something. After a while, he said, "I actually like quite a few things—like watching movies, exercising, listening to music... sometimes I even enjoy reading..."
I chuckled and patted him on the back. "Don't you have any unique hobbies? These seem pretty ordinary." With that, I reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his Cigarette Case. "I'll have one more; hope you don't mind?"
Meng Zhuang gestured for me to go ahead while replying, "As for unique hobbies... I don't think I really have any. Does smoking count?"
I opened the Cigarette Case and glanced at the few remaining Cigarettes inside. "This definitely doesn't count; let me think if there's anything else," I said, pulling out one of the cigarettes and counting—there were still four left in the Cigarette Case.
"Ah, right, there's one more, but..." Meng Zhuang lowered his head shyly.
"But what? It's fine," I replied, lighting the cigarette and putting the lighter I had borrowed back into the Cigarette Case before stuffing it back into Meng Zhuang's jacket pocket.
Meng Zhuang mumbled, "Uh... sometimes I sneak a peek at a beautiful girl in the building next door... Ah, of course, not that kind of peeking! It's just a crush; I've never seen her while she's showering or changing clothes! I swear!"
Hearing this, I almost spat out the smoke I had just inhaled. "See? I knew you'd laugh at me!" Meng Zhuang said, fidgeting.
I quickly reached out to catch the cigarette that was about to fall. "No, I'm not laughing at you; it's just that your reaction is a bit hard for me to handle."
Listening to him, Meng Zhuang looked down at himself and noticed that he was standing on his tiptoes, drawing circles on the ground with his right foot.
"Cough cough," he hurriedly cleared his throat and steadied himself. "Shen, do you think this counts?"
I replied, "Hmm, this is acceptable. But can you describe the features of that beautiful girl you were sneaking peeks at?"
"She has dyed blonde hair and likes to wear blue long dresses. She has a dog at home—a female dog that's really obedient..."
I thought to myself, “Are you spying on a beautiful girl or her dog?” Then I raised my hand to interrupt him. "Alright, that's enough. So it's a blonde girl who likes to wear blue dresses, right?"
Meng Zhuang nodded in agreement.
At that moment, a nurse's voice came from a distance. "Hey! You there, smoking! Go smoke by the stairwell; don't smoke in the hallway. This is in front of the patient rooms—there are so many patients here; is it appropriate..." The nurse pointed at me and scolded sternly.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't notice..." I said as I lifted my foot to extinguish the cigarette butt on my shoe and then tossed the half-smoked cigarette into a nearby trash can.
"Be more careful next time..." The nurse muttered as she turned to leave after I extinguished my cigarette.
Feeling a bit awkward, I smiled at Meng Zhuang and said, "Let's use your crush as our code. Let's go see if they've made a decision..." With that, I walked over to Li Zhisheng, grabbed his arm, and asked, "Have you all decided?" At the same time, I wrote the number "4" on his arm with my thumb.
Li Zhisheng sensed something was off and turned to look at me. I quickly pretended to smoke again and laughed, "I just got scolded by the nurse for smoking here. What bad luck."
"Who told you to smoke here? You deserve to be scolded..." He glanced at the half-visible Cigarette Case sticking out of Meng Zhuang's pocket and then nodded slightly at me, indicating he understood.
This series of actions took place in a very short time, and Hu Fang and Meng Zhuang didn't notice a thing. I knew that only Li Zhisheng and I had the capability right now; if I didn't inform him about this news, he wouldn't know whom to help if something went wrong.
It seemed Li Zhisheng was on the same wavelength as me; he also found something unnoticed by Hu Fang. He pulled his hand away from mine and touched his neck.
Seeing this, I quickly looked at Hu Fang, who had turned around. I noticed she was wearing a red bow around her neck, which originally had three decorative gems on it, but it was clear that one was missing.
I glanced at Li Zhisheng and nodded in understanding.
At that moment, Hu Fang asked me, "So, have you all decided on your code?"
"We've decided! You definitely won't guess this code!" Meng Zhuang answered proudly before I could respond.
Thinking to myself, "With such a lame code, how can you be so proud?" I helplessly asked, "What about you guys? Have you decided?"
"Yeah, we're good. So how do we distribute the roles?" Li Zhisheng asked.
"How about this: I have the ability to foresee danger. Right now, Death Apostle is quite dangerous; if something happens to him, it will definitely be linked back to me. So I think Meng Zhuang and I should wait outside the Intensive Care Unit while you two go keep Yao Long company."
"That makes sense..." Li Zhisheng said as he turned to head into the ward. Hu Fang followed closely behind but paused just as she stepped into the room. She turned her head and called out to me, saying, "Shen Xu, be careful."
I don't know what's wrong with Hu Fang lately; it seems like she's always worried something might happen to me. I replied, "Got it, you all take care too."
After hearing that, she appeared to hesitate, but in the end, she didn't say anything and simply walked straight into the hospital room.
"Let's go see Mr. Death..." Meng Zhuang urged me from the front.
"I'm coming..." I responded and followed behind toward the Intensive Care Unit.
Arriving at the hospital room, I looked up and saw a sign with the letters "iu" lit up on the door. Moving aside, I peered through the thick sealed glass window and saw the Death Apostle lying in the hospital bed, a tube inserted in his mouth, with a nearby respirator working steadily.
"It looks like Mr. Death is in pretty serious condition," Meng Zhuang muttered as he observed the Death Apostle inside the room.
I furrowed my brow and said, "If he really is a victim as Li Zhisheng claimed, then I have many questions to ask him. He can't just die like this."
"Hopefully, he can turn this crisis into safety..." With that thought, I took a few steps back and sat down on a bench in the corridor.
I pulled out my phone to check the time; it was already past nine in the evening. The empty corridor had only me and Meng Zhuang.
Since the Intensive Care Unit was relatively close to the Nurse Station, I noticed only two nurses were on duty inside.
After a while, one of the nurses approached and asked, "Aren't you going to take care of the patient in the room?" I smiled and replied, "We can't go into that room~" as I gestured toward the Intensive Care Unit.
The nurse turned her head to look: "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot..." With that, she headed toward the elevator.
"That's strange; how could she forget even this... Wait! No way! Is she a new nurse? Otherwise, how could she not know such an obvious Intensive Care Unit? Even if she didn't know there was an Intensive Care Unit here, with such large letters written on it, there's no way she could miss it unless she's not really a nurse at all!" Realizing this, I quickly got up and rushed toward the elevator.
But by the time I got there, that nurse had already vanished without a trace. The empty elevator lobby had only me left, anxiously looking around.
At that moment, Meng Zhuang noticed something unusual about me and hurried after me. He asked from behind, "Shen, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly run over here?"
I widened my eyes, looking around, and replied, "I think I just saw a nurse who wasn't really a nurse, but she disappeared in the blink of an eye..."
Just then, the elevator chimed with a "ding." After my previous experience in the Cursed Realm, I had become particularly sensitive to such sounds.
"Could she have come back?" I murmured, stepping back and positioning Meng Zhuang behind me.
Meng Zhuang looked confused and said, "It's just the sound of the elevator. Shen, you're overreacting."
Hearing this, I turned my head and said seriously, "A ghost might come out of this elevator any moment now. Are you scared?"
As soon as I finished speaking, Meng Zhuang quickly shrank behind me. "Shen, don't scare people if you're fine..."
Before he could finish, there was a sudden "bang," and everything around us plunged into darkness. "Ah—" A woman's scream suddenly echoed from behind us...
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