r18novel Chapter 572 It's almost too late!
Chapter 572 It's almost too late!
Bai Xu waited in the darkness, listening to the bathroom door being pushed open and closed again and again.
Footsteps came and went, along with the sounds of rinsing water, washing hands, and conversations, all passing by his ears.
At 4:30 p.m., the bathroom door was pushed open again.
The footsteps were light, the steps were slow and unsteady, with the relaxed pace typical of young people.
The person entered the innermost cubicle, locked the door, and let out a long sigh.
Then he pulled out a magazine, flipped through a few pages, and started reading it casually.
Bai Xu recognized the person through the door – Xiao Ren, the clerk in office 312.
A slight smile appeared on his lips.
This is the person.
At this time, in this state, with a relaxed mind and a completely empty body, it is the best window for possession.
Bai Xu lowered his head, closed his eyes, and his soul, like an old garment being taken off, silently slipped out of his body.
Xiao Ren was grinning at a joke in a magazine when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if someone had gently breathed on his neck.
Before he could even shrink back, his consciousness faded.
Bai Xu took over the body.
Then, he stood up, rinsed the water, pushed open the door, and walked to the sink.
A young face was reflected in the mirror.
Bai Xu stared at the eyes in the mirror, a very faint gray mist rising deep within the pupils, but three seconds later, the gray mist dissipated and the pupils returned to normal.
He straightened his collar, turned and walked out of the restroom, heading step by step towards office 312...
........................
Let's go back 20 minutes.
Psychiatric ward, room 214.
Lin Feng lay on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, taking a short nap, when suddenly his heart clenched as if someone had squeezed it.
My right eyelid started twitching and wouldn't stop.
He opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling for three seconds, then sat up.
Uneasy.
Since using his infinite deduction ability multiple times, his sixth sense has become much sharper than before.
The restlessness in my chest right now doesn't seem like a good omen at all.
Could it be... that something is going to happen in this ward in a little while?
Lin Feng closed his eyes and initiated the simulation.
The scene begins at four o'clock, the perspective is focused on the psychiatric ward, and continues until six o'clock when the role-playing task ends, everything seems normal.
He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the time forward again—to the cafeteria's dinner time.
Su Wan, A Ying, and A Que were nowhere to be seen, and even everyone in the temporary management department had vanished into thin air.
Not right.
Then he saw Chen Lan, the head of the gynecology department, and immediately went up to ask about Su Wan's whereabouts.
Chen Lan remained calm, then uttered a thunderous reply:
"Section Chief Su? He was assassinated by Bai Chan's brother, Bai Xu."
Assassination?!
Lin Feng was utterly shocked, and asked rapidly, "When?!"
"Around 5 p.m., I guess."
Five o'clock in the afternoon... there's still a chance.
Lin Feng immediately switched to the simulation, rewinding the time to around 4:50, and focused his view on room 312 of the administration building.
The door was half-open, and through the crack in the door, the deductive view saw Su Wan lying motionless on the table.
On her back, near her shoulder blades, were three extremely fine wounds. They didn't bleed, but instead emitted a faint grayish-white mist, as if something was drifting out from within them.
Xiao Ren fell straight to the ground.
Aying, Aque, Lao Zhou, and Xiaolin were in a chaotic mess.
There was no murder weapon on the ground, nor was there a murderer in the room.
It was eerily clean.
Lin Feng gritted his teeth and turned the calculation time back three minutes.
The simulation screen started shaking violently at 4:47.
He saw Xiao Ren get up from her seat, holding a document in her hand, and walk towards Su Wan.
"Section Chief Su, please sign this."
With his other hand, he pulled out a bone knife from under the document.
Lin Feng's pupils suddenly contracted.
It's Xiao Ren!
No, that's not right! It's not him!
Xiao Ren is acting too strangely right now.
His eyes were somewhat vacant, and a faint, sinister aura, not belonging to him, clung to the corner of his mouth.
The one controlling this body... is Bai Xu!
Lin Feng abruptly withdrew from the simulation, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
He glanced down at his watch—4:30.
Only seventeen minutes remain.
"It's too late!"
He muttered something under his breath, sat up, put on his shoes, and rushed outside.
Caught off guard, Wasim immediately stood up and asked, "Where are you going?!"
"Su Wan is in danger!"
Lin Feng didn't turn his head; his voice drifted over from around the corner of the corridor.
Wasim instinctively took two steps to chase after him, but then abruptly stopped.
It wasn't that he was disloyal; he just knew that if he went to put Su Wan in a dangerous situation, he would only make things worse.
........................
The administration building is located to the east of the psychiatric ward, separated by a rehabilitation garden.
Patients recovering from COVID-19 were strolling in the garden in twos and threes; some were sitting on benches lost in thought, while others were playing with pigeons.
Lin Feng ran through them, creating a gust of wind that startled the old ladies.
Then he saw that thing.
Beside the fountain in the center of the rehabilitation garden, a hunched figure was squatting.
Calling it a "person" isn't quite accurate. Its limbs were as thin as withered bamboo, and its skin was translucent, revealing a dark green liquid flowing inside.
It was drinking water with its head submerged in the fountain pool when it heard Lin Feng's footsteps and suddenly turned its head.
Its face has no features, only a horizontally split mouth filled with teeth.
"...Food." It grinned, a muffled hiss coming from its throat. "I can smell the soul of a living person."
It stood up from the edge of the pool, crawled on all fours, and scurried towards Lin Feng like a spider.
The mouth opened wider and wider, and the teeth came out one by one, like a peeled pomegranate.
Lin Feng cursed inwardly.
He didn't have time to deal with this thing, nor did he have time to take a detour.
If he goes around in another circle, it will take at least five more minutes, and he definitely won't be able to catch up by the time he reaches 47 minutes.
So he continued charging forward, then suddenly tilted his head back, and a dark golden light flashed deep within his pupils—
"Call of the Wild, activate!"
The sound waves suddenly spread outwards from him, sweeping across every tree and every shrub in the garden.
Three seconds later, crows roosting in the sycamore grove on the east side of the Rehabilitation Garden simultaneously took flight.
They were a dark mass, and the sound of their wings flapping was like a torrential downpour.
Dozens of crows flew low overhead and swooped down toward the eerie creature.
Its sharp beak and claws attacked simultaneously, and black feathers covered its head and face.
The creature was surrounded by a flock of crows, spinning wildly in place, screeching incessantly in its anxiety.
Lin Feng had already rushed out of the back gate of the garden.
........................
4:45 PM, Administration Building.
Lin Feng rushed into the lobby. The security guard saw him and tried to stop him, but was hit in the face by ten strange hundred-yuan bills that he threw out.
Before the security guard could react, Lin Feng had already disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
He rushed up to the third floor in three quick steps.
The door to office 312 was ajar, with a sliver of incandescent light shining through the crack.
He tiptoed closer and peered through the crack in the door.
Xiao Ren stood up from his seat, holding a document in his hand: "Section Chief Su, please sign this."