Chapter 14: The Unexpected Turn (Part 2)
Chapter 14: The Unexpected Turn (Part 2)
Anna!!!
As the slender girl plummeted, Lyon, who was observing the situation through a telescope from an oblique angle, felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. In that instant, the concept of death didn't even cross his mind. His mind went blank, and his heart felt like it was clenched by an invisible giant hand, as if all blood flow to his body had stopped. His limbs went numb and stiff as if they had lost all sensation.
For a moment, the world became eerily quiet. Everything froze in that instant, captured on the pale, small face of his sister, her lips tightly pressed together, falling helplessly downward. Lyon could only watch, his eyes wide open, as his sister plummeted from the sky, her eyes filled with despair.
"BOOM!!!"
The deafening roar echoed through half the street, followed by the shattering of glass and the low, piercing shriek of metal deforming under immense force.
More than half of the hospital's windows were shattered by the powerful impact, and the fourth-floor exterior wall took a severe hit. The embedded metal frame bent and protruded, pushing out the outer layer of bricks, which shattered and rained down onto the street below, leaving it in a state of chaos.
However, to Lyon's delight, Anna, who had been falling rapidly, suddenly stopped just short of hitting the ground. She seemed to have fainted from the tremendous impact and was possibly injured by the shattered glass fragments on her thigh. But as Lyon peered through the telescope, he could still see Anna's chest heaving violently, confirming that she was, at the very least, alive!
Thank you... Thank you! I owe you my life!
Just as Lyon was overjoyed, staring at Anna being slowly lowered to the ground, and feeling immense gratitude towards the reliable Bandage Lady, the Black Sheep narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows.
"This is bad... We're in trouble!"
Yes!
Upon hearing the Black Sheep's words, Lyon's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. The impact had occurred right outside Anna's room! The Bandage Lady was still inside! Although the fact that she caught Anna proved that she was alive and her soul remained stable, could she have survived such a massive impact unscathed?
"I'm not saying Emma is in danger. Rest assured! The Bandage Lady's survival skills are among the best in the entire Cleaning Division. Even if you die, she might not!"
Sensing Lyon's soul's unease, the Black Sheep shook his head and explained, "What I mean is, this incident is unusual. That out-of-control Infector is most likely not a 'natural' occurrence. He probably knows about the existence of the Cleaning Division."
As the Black Sheep spoke, Lyon's expression turned grim, realizing something was amiss.
The hospital had only gained a soul the moment the Bandage Lady stepped in, and the impact on the Special Care Ward happened just as she was pulling Anna out the window, leaving her unable to dodge. Everything seemed too coincidental, as if the attack was specifically targeting the Bandage Lady.
So... there might be accomplices? Staying outside might not be safe either.
Lyon watched as Anna was untied from the window curtain and carried away unsteadily by a nurse. He breathed a sigh of relief, trying to suppress the fear that urged him to flee. He continued searching for the soul of the out-of-control Infector while gritting his teeth and asking, "Do... we have any enemies in the Cleaning Division?"
"Oh, there are plenty."
The Black Sheep smirked and chuckled, "Devil God Infectors, True God Moon Clan Prehistoric, and countless others are our sworn enemies! If they ever joined forces, the Cleaning Division would be in grave danger, even if we were ten times stronger. But the good news is that our enemies don't get along with each other. They'd rather undermine each other's progress or secretly expose each other's weaknesses to the Cleaning Division. So, for now, you're safe."
After explaining the Cleaning Division's predicament, the Black Sheep noticed Lyon's increasingly pale face and laughed.
"Don't worry yourself over things you're not yet qualified to handle. Focus on your task! As for Emma, she's an experienced employee of the Division. She must have sensed something amiss. Just keep an eye on those souls and be ready to lend a hand when needed."
...
Indeed, there was something off about this Infector, even earlier than the Black Sheep had guessed.
The moment the bolt inexplicably broke, and the metal corner cabinet smashed towards her, the Bandage Lady had already suspected something.
She had encountered no anomalies on her way up to the fourth floor, but the attack came precisely when she was rescuing Lyon's sister, leaving her no chance to dodge.
Therefore, this out-of-control Infector must have known about the Cleaning Division and understood that regular attacks would be ineffective against them, which is why they chose to strike at this critical moment.
However, despite realizing the attacker's intentions, the Bandage Lady neither let go nor attempted to dodge. Instead, she stood silently, taking the full force of the collision.
The impact not only bent her thigh bone backward under immense force but also crushed her entire spine, causing her to collapse helplessly onto the tilted windowsill.
Is she dead?
The young nurse, who had been stuck on the outer wall, had been begging for help just moments before, but now seemed to have calmed down. She gazed at the Bandage Woman with a detached expression.
The Bandage Woman's body was broken in multiple places, her eyes unfocused, and her chest had been crushed by the stone windowsill. The bandages that had been wrapped around her body were now scattered all over the floor, and it seemed likely that she was beyond saving.
The young nurse climbed up the wall like a gecko and approached the Bandage Woman. She removed the Bandage Woman's mask with her bloody right hand and checked her breathing.
She was indeed dead.
The young nurse tossed the bloody mask aside with a look of disgust and was about to leave when she noticed that the Bandage Woman's hand was still clutching the curtain, her knuckles white with tension.
The young nurse let out a sigh and muttered, "With her physical condition, she shouldn't have died even if she had jumped out directly... but she didn't even try to dodge... how boring."
Just then, the young nurse heard a voice behind her. "Originally, it was you!"
As she turned around, she saw the Bandage Woman's bandages suddenly spring to life, wrapping around her arm like a snake and twisting it in the opposite direction. The young nurse let out a pained cry as her joints were dislocated.
The Bandage Woman shook her head and said, "You have some ideas, but your methods are still rough. You set up this trap, but it's full of holes."
She pushed the young nurse away and began to reset her own broken bones. Even her chest, which had been crushed by the windowsill, began to return to its normal shape as she took deep breaths. If not for the bloodstains on her bandages, it would have seemed as though she hadn't been injured at all.
The Bandage Woman walked over to the young nurse and removed the bandages that had been wrapped around her mouth. "You must have guided them to jump out the window, right? This plan is passable, but it's full of flaws."
The Bandage Woman looked at the young nurse with a calm expression and asked, "You're not smart enough to come up with this plan on your own. Someone must have taught you. Tell me, who is behind you?"
The young nurse glared at the Bandage Woman and said, "You're the stupid one! You think you've caught me? This woman is just a puppet I control! You're finished!"
As she spoke, the young nurse's expression changed, and she seemed to realize that she was bound and in pain. She let out a cry of agony before passing out.
Had she caught the wrong person?
The Bandage Woman raised an eyebrow, wondering if the young nurse was just pretending to be unconscious. Just then, a heavy footsteps echoed from outside the intensive care unit.
The hospital director, who had assigned Anna to the intensive care unit, appeared at the door with a cold smile. "Now do you believe me? Everyone in this hospital is my tool! I can control them as I please! You don't even know who I am, so you'll never be able to catch me!"
The director pointed to the Bandage Woman's feet, which had sunk into the floor. "My true ability is to devour the sick people in this hospital. Within its walls, anyone who is infected will be unable to resist its power. Do you understand? I didn't attack you earlier because you were wearing a Prevention Mask, but now it's been removed! You're finished!"
The Bandage Woman looked at the director, feeling a sense of regret. She had been cautious for six years, but it seemed she had let her guard down.
Although she could have torn the director apart in an instant, it would have been pointless since the people in the hospital were not his true body. The Bandage Woman realized she had made a mistake by relying on her Immortal Body to withstand the attack, and now she had lost the Prevention Mask that could have blocked the director's ability.
"Hmm... Besides fishing, the reason I chose to endure it myself was also to deliberately make things difficult for myself, so that the new guy would owe me a favor and I could ask him for help later."
As she spoke, Bandage Woman couldn't help but feel a little disheartened. She had never expected that her plan would backfire like this, and now she might have to ask him for help...
After three days, when the director finds out, she doesn't know how she'll be ridiculed...
With a sigh, Bandage Woman felt a bit disheartened. She was too lazy to continue the conversation with the director, so she closed her eyes, choosing to ignore her. However, the director didn't seem to be satisfied, and she called in more doctors and nurses, in addition to the fat director. Standing outside the ward, they mocked her one by one.
"Do you think you're smart? You're just a fool!"
"There are over five hundred people here. Once I absorb them all, my power will become even stronger!"
"Haha, you want to know who's targeting your Cleanup Bureau, don't you?"
"I'll tell you, and I'm not afraid! The one preparing to strike against you is a great True God!"
At these words, Bandage Woman, who had been preparing to wait silently for three days for her teammates to arrive, couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.
This guy is even more foolish than she had expected!
Not only did he carelessly reveal the range of his abilities, but he also blurted out the identity of his backer. If the True God he mentioned knew how foolish this guy was, they would probably want to descend and kill him themselves.
Unaware that his intelligence had plummeted in Bandage Woman's eyes, the 'Fat Director' looked down at his opponent, whose lower body was already half-submerged in the floor tiles. With a euphoric expression, he raised both arms in a sun-embracing gesture and then, with fervent eyes, announced:
"Listen up, stupid woman! My god was born in chaos..."
Just as Bandage Woman was about to listen intently to this crucial information, something strange happened. The expressions of the dozen or so doctors and nurses around her froze, and then, as if receiving a command, they all simultaneously collapsed to the ground. At the same time, her lower body, which had been bound to the floor tiles, was mysteriously 'spat' out.
When she looked up in confusion, a piercing sound of air bursting emanated from the rooftop of the mall across from the hospital...
"Bang!"
...
'Kid, you sure hit the mark!'
Looking at the dim soul on the sixth floor of the hospital, which had instantly gone out, the Black Sheep licked its lips in anticipation. "You shot it from almost three hundred meters away and took it out in one shot. You might have a natural talent for guns!"
Talent... that was definitely not the case. The reason this shot hit its mark was half because Bandage Woman had already adjusted her position, significantly reducing the aiming difficulty, and half because of the external assistance.
Shaking his head silently to indicate that it was just good luck, Leon looked at his badge slot. Two badges, glowing with a dark gray light, had just deactivated.
The efficiency boost from the [Probationary Worker] and the accuracy improvement from the [Shooting Rookie] seemed to have a synergistic effect, greater than the sum of their individual benefits.
In the moment before he fired the shot, these two badges activated simultaneously, and his hand, guided by fortune, slightly adjusted the gun's aim, raising it by about two millimeters.
That tiny adjustment was crucial; what might have been a non-lethal shot became a perfect headshot!
As for how he confirmed the target...
'This Infected's mind is probably not functioning well.'
Looking at the spot where the evil soul had dissipated with regret, the Black Sheep couldn't help but chuckle.
'This fool probably doesn't know that when he controls someone, the soul fluctuations of the controlled person become identical to his own.
If he had only controlled once, it wouldn't be a problem. Even if he only focused on those with dark souls, finding him among six or seven hundred people wouldn't be easy.'
"But he controlled them repeatedly, even making them surround Emma... Senior. He created a bunch of souls with identical fluctuations, which made him stand out."
After hearing the Black Sheep's words, Leon, recalling the slightly comical scene from earlier, couldn't help but smile. With a serious expression, he added:
"After finding the souls with identical fluctuations, the only one who didn't go to the fourth floor was the real Infected... Oh, and I remember you saying that the Cleanup Bureau also has performance-based rewards?"
'Yes, and there are additional benefits!'
Hearing this, the Black Sheep nodded vigorously. If it still had a body, it would probably give Leon a thumbs-up.
'You've only been here for three hours, and under my guidance, you successfully discovered and eliminated the Infected, and even rescued the trapped old employee. The reward will definitely be huge! And, hahaha! This time, we worked together so smoothly and efficiently, even that red-haired woman will have to treat us a little better, right?'
(End of Chapter)
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