Chapter 2147: Chapter 2147

Jenkins hadn't expected to learn the town's secret so easily. But he had no desire to delve any deeper into the matter. After a few more brief words with the ghost, carefully steering the conversation away from the town's true nature, he set off, a knot of unease tightening in his stomach.

Unlike the labyrinthine Shadow Castle, the last Mysterious Realm he had faced, this town's hospital was built along the lines of an ordinary one. All he had to do was find the staircase, and he should be able to reach the third floor directly.

The journey, however, was far from straightforward. The ghost nurse hadn't left the main hall in a very long time and had no idea if other monsters had taken up residence in the corridors and stairwells. Before Jenkins departed, she had offered a grim warning, her voice heavy with concern, that if he happened to die, he must ensure his soul remained intact.

"You could always stay here," she'd added. "I've been alone for so long. If you'd like to live on the first floor, I can help you find a nice spot."

She really must have been lonely for a very long time.

The first-floor corridor was blanketed in a thick layer of dry dust, and a horrifying stench of decay hung heavy in the air. Jenkins advanced cautiously, his candle held out before him, pausing to peer warily into each doorway before proceeding. Fortunately, navigating the hospital didn't require rolling dice, which meant his progress was much faster than it had been outside.

He encountered his first problem not long after he started. A desiccated corpse stood in the middle of a crooked corridor, blocking his path. It was clearly some kind of undead creature, mindlessly hopping up and down in place.

Jenkins had intended to slip past it by hugging the wall, but as soon as he drew near, the corpse stopped its incessant jumping and turned to look directly at him.

"Do you know the meaning of life?" it asked.

"I'll have to tell Alexia about this later," he thought.

With that thought in mind, he opened his mouth and replied:

"The meaning of life is warm blood."

Anywhere else, Jenkins might have offered a few philosophical musings, but in this particular Mysterious Realm, the answer was clearly singular.

"I see... so it's warm blood. That's why I could never find the meaning of life..."

The corpse muttered, its head bowed. Jenkins tensed, bracing for a fight. He fully expected it to follow up with something like, "Give me your blood," but the creature said nothing more. It simply stood there, head lowered, completely still.

So he began to edge past it, keeping his eyes locked on the creature to pre-empt any sudden attack, his back scraping against the filthy wall. Just as he drew level with it, the corpse spoke again.

"Can I still find the meaning of life?"

"That's hard to say," Jenkins replied, choosing his words carefully. "But why not try looking outside the hospital? You won't find anything just staying here. You could try the nearby smithy. The blacksmith seems like a very wise man."

He offered the suggestion helpfully.

"That's a fine idea."

The corpse declared and made to walk, but as it shifted its weight, its left arm detached and clattered to the floor. Both the corpse and the man stared at the shriveled limb. Neither spoke. After a long moment of silence, the corpse asked:

"I'm already dead, aren't I?"

Typically, the answer to such a question would determine whether or not a battle ensued. Jenkins wasn't sure which answer was the safe one, so, abiding by the principle of not telling a lie, he simply nodded.

Having received its answer, the desiccated corpse let out a long sigh. It stood perfectly still for a few seconds before collapsing to the floorboards, stirring up a cloud of dust. It was motionless now, completely inanimate, a true corpse once more. In a way, the talking corpse had just died.

"What in the world was that? Utterly insane," Jenkins thought.

He cautiously tiptoed past the body, not even bothering to check if it had left behind any valuable items.

The hospital was indeed fraught with danger. Beyond the peculiar corpse, creatures that defied easy description would occasionally dart out from the rooms lining the corridor. A few paid him no mind, but most of them charged at him on sight.

They weren't overwhelmingly powerful; any ordinary Enchanter above the fifth level could have dealt with them. However, each monster possessed a unique ability, and all were related to blood. Their blood-red bodies were severely mutated, and when they manipulated blood, they could even affect Jenkins himself.

The side effects of injecting so much blood back in town were already becoming apparent. Under these conditions, a direct encounter with the metallic Scarlet Ephemera could cause his body to mutate instantly.

The first floor was a gauntlet of monsters, and the main staircase leading up was completely destroyed. With his physical conditioning, Jenkins could have easily climbed the wreckage, but the gap between the first and second floors was bridged by a layer of reddish-brown fungal growth. This carpet of fungus was impervious to fire and capable of digesting any flesh it touched.

Jenkins dared not take the risk. He had no choice but to continue down the first-floor corridor until he found another staircase on the far side of the building. The moment he set foot on the second floor, a biting wind swept towards him from the depths of the hallway. Having encountered the power of ice and snow before, Jenkins could tell that a creature with an absolute mastery over cold resided on this floor.

Fortunately, his destination wasn't the second floor. He continued his ascent up the stairs, finally arriving on the third floor, which was shrouded in an even deeper darkness.

The first floor of the hospital was the domain of blood monsters, the second was a realm of cold and ice, and the third was a place of utter darkness. Even the glow from his enchanted candle, an artifact fused with countless special properties, was heavily suppressed by the gloom. His own dark vision was rendered completely useless here. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel(ꜰ)ire.net

According to the ghost nurse, the monster that occupied the entire third floor was another of the creatures kept in check by the town itself. It had originally lived in an empty house on the outskirts, but after the hospital was abandoned, it had migrated here and taken over the space.

The nurse had little information about it. The creature hadn't caused any real destruction since its arrival, but its very presence on the third floor impeded many of the hospital's functions. Before, even in its abandoned state, the hospital could occasionally be used for a blood therapy session or two, or to provide certain conveniences for outsiders. But with the third floor completely unusable, the ghost nurse couldn't offer Jenkins any of those benefits. She hadn't even brought out her trading board when he first arrived.

He hugged the wall, holding the candle aloft as he advanced one step at a time, his nerves stretched to their absolute limit.

Suddenly, a colossal eyeball materialized on the ceiling ahead. Its pupil reflected the flickering candlelight, and in that shimmering orb, Jenkins could see his own reflection with perfect clarity.