No sooner had Xiao Qian left than the old man in the next bed picked up the medicine from the bedside table and swallowed it right down.
Lu Yun glanced at the clock on the wall, cleared his throat, and said, "Grandpa, didn't the Nurse just say we're only supposed to take the medicine at nine o'clock? It's only seven right now."
The old man took a sip of water to wash the pills down, cleared his own throat, and said, "Young man, you don't understand. This way we launch a surprise attack on the virus. I'm as smart as they come, you have no idea."
Lu Yun: "..."
Lu Yun figured this old man ought to be transferred to the psychiatric ward.
After a moment, Lu Yun picked up his phone and tapped it a few times. Thankfully, the password was the same; whether over there or here, the original owner liked to use the same password.
He unlocked his phone and messaged Xiao Qian to tell her he was being discharged.
"What? You're being discharged? Alright then, do you want to wait for me to get off work so we can go together? It's kind of unsafe for a young guy like you to go home alone this late," Xiao Qian replied.
"It's fine, Sister Xiao Qian. This is Chongqing, not neighboring Chengdu. Where are the traps here?" Lu Yun replied.
Xiao Qian agreed in the end. Rest was the same anywhere, so she just went ahead and processed his discharge paperwork.
"Well, still be careful on your way back. Remember to take the main roads," Xiao Qian cautioned.
"Got it, I'll keep that in mind." Lu Yun changed into his own clothes and left the hospital.
He looked back at the hospital's name.
"Sacred Heart Hospital? Where on earth did it send me? By all rights shouldn't this be called the People's Hospital of somewhere-or-other?"
Lu Yun opened the mapping app on his phone.
The navigation showed he was at the Fifth People's Hospital.
"Oh, never mind then. So that's how it is. Seriously, scaring myself over nothing."
Lu Yun had thought Identity V had broken through into reality.
He opened the phone's app store rankings and found that Identity V actually was a game here.
"Damn it, it really did break through."
While waiting at a pedestrian crossing for the light to change, Lu Yun saw a cosplayer dressed like Kaito Kid walking over, when suddenly someone rushed up to him to snap a photo together.
"Hello! Excuse me, are you cosplaying the Prophet?"
With that, Kaito Kid put away the rose in his hand, pulled an owl plushie out from goodness knows where, and said, "Yes, I am cosplaying the Prophet."
"Then, teacher, may I take a photo with you?"
"Certainly."
After taking the photo, the person said, "Teacher, your cosplay is really great, thank you!"
And then they scampered off.
No sooner had that person run off than another young girl approached.
"Hello, teacher! May I ask if you're cosplaying Kaito Kid? So cool!"
The cosplayer put away his owl plushie, took out the bundle of flowers from before, and said, "That's right, I'm cosplaying Kaito Kid. Would you like to take a photo together?"
"Can I? Thank you, teacher!"
After taking the photo, the young girl also said thank you to the teacher and walked away.
At that moment, a schoolboy came by, saw this Kaito Kid waiting at the red light, and asked, "Hello, teacher! Are you cosplaying Marco Polo?"
Kaito Kid skillfully stowed away the bouquet, drew two prop revolvers from his pockets on either side, and said, "Yes, little buddy. Big brother is cosplaying Marco Polo. Would you like to take a photo?"
After finishing the photo, the kid said thank you and walked away too.
Once the boy was out of earshot, Kaito Kid wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, "Good thing I came fully prepared."
Lu Yun: "..."
Lu Yun gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Awesome, buddy."
Kaito Kid gave a hearty laugh and said, "We cosplayers are all a bit eccentric, totally normal, I'm already used to it."
After a short while, a Wuling Hongguang minivan pulled right up onto the crosswalk. Kaito Kid hopped straight into the car, and the Wuling Hongguang ran the red light and sped away.
"Come on, buddy, you... do you mind giving me a ride?" Lu Yun was left standing alone in the wind.
After waiting for two minutes, the red light finally turned green, and Lu Yun crossed the crosswalk to continue on his way.
He saw that Kaito Kid again.
This time, Kaito Kid was standing in front of a skewer shop, and someone had walked up to take a picture with him.
Kaito Kid said something, the person put both hands behind their back, and then Kaito Kid took out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on him.
Lu Yun couldn't figure out what kind of operation this was, so he stepped forward, wanting to ask what was going on.
He just heard the handcuffed person say, "Bro, your Kaito Kid cosplay is really good. You even have such complete gear."
With that, Kaito Kid gave him a sudden shove and said, "Cut the chatter, you're under arrest."
As he spoke, Kaito Kid flipped off his fedora, pulled out a police cap, and flashed a police badge.
Lu Yun was utterly at a loss for words.
Then the man pulled out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "Chief, target secured."
Before long, several police cars drove up, and a few officers surrounded the prisoner as he was led into a squad car.
At this, Lu Yun couldn't help giving a double thumbs-up and saying, "With people like you around, society is guaranteed to be safe and sound."
Kaito Kid removed the police cap, put his fedora back on, and said to Lu Yun, "Just serving the people, plus being able to play undercover and live the life I want—how great is that?"
Having enjoyed the spectacle, Lu Yun continued walking toward home.
Lu Yun remembered there were three roads ahead; the left and right paths were the same distance, both requiring a detour around the park.
However, one path cut straight through the park and led directly to the foot of his apartment building.
Yet, looking at the pitch-black park, Lu Yun still felt a bit scared, because this world possessed Specters.
Ghosts were what humans turned into after death, whereas Specters were various objects transformed after being contaminated by Anomalous Energy.
The former might still retain a shred of humanity, but the latter... well, there was no telling.
So, Lu Yun chose to cut straight across the park. The straight line is always the shortest distance between two points...
Half an hour earlier...
Xiao Chun was leading his Anomalous Incident Response Team in an attempt to capture the Soul-Devouring Specter that had harmed his younger brother three days ago.
Soul-Devouring Specters, as the name implied, were Specters that fed on the souls of humans or various animals. Their origin was unknown, and they always appeared suddenly in human cities.
"Get ready, it's about to make a move on the bait." Xiao Chun raised a hand, preparing to give the order.
A young woman was walking down a dim alleyway. A black shadow followed closely behind her, and a terrifying tentacle extended from the Soul-Devouring Specter's mouth.
Just as the Specter's tentacle was about to brush the back of her head, her hand suddenly shot out and grabbed it.
Then several people popped out of nowhere, armed with various weapons, ready to bring it to justice on the spot.
However, this Soul-Devouring Specter possessed intelligence; sensing it might die, it directly severed its own tentacle, transformed into a wisp of black Qi, and decisively plunged into a nearby storm drain.
"What? This thing can run?" One of the team members was dumbfounded.
They had agreed to Captain Xiao Chun's request specifically to eliminate the Soul-Devouring Specter that had nearly killed the captain's brother, only to find the target intelligence was completely wrong.