Chapter 596: Scream

Crawling out of the vent, I ducked into the shadows behind the building. This spot fell perfectly within the cameras' blind spot, so I didn't worry about being discovered. I steadied my breathing and casually walked out of Century New Garden, blending into the crowd.

"Still an hour left." I glanced back at the towering building. Most of the lights on the sixteenth floor were already out. No one had noticed me slipping away.

I hailed a taxi and told the driver to head straight for the border between Xinhu and Jiangcheng. Sitting in the back, I constantly urged him to speed up.

Rushing the whole way, we finally reached the outskirts before eleven-thirty.

Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital sat in a remote area. Whether intentionally or not, both Jiangcheng and Xinhu City avoided this district, cutting it off from urban planning and leaving it to fall into ruin.

To avoid exposing my true destination and arousing the driver's suspicion, I had him stop in front of a residential house.

After getting out, I hugged the wall and slipped between several houses, sprinting the rest of the way.

The paved road grew narrower until it was gradually replaced by a dirt path. It was uneven, overgrown with weeds, and littered with gravel, rocks, and animal droppings.

Knee-deep weeds lined both sides of the path, occasionally interrupted by one or two gnarled, misshapen trees.

"How long has this place been abandoned?" The night was already deep. I walked for another five or six minutes, and just as I thought I had taken a wrong turn, a rusty street sign appeared by the road.

It stood slanted in the weeds. Its text had long been blurred by the wind and sun. Even using Judging Eye, I could only vaguely make out a couple of characters. "Hu... Cancer? This should be it."

Looking deeper down the road, it was pitch black, like a tomb that even the moonlight refused to touch.

I was just about to follow the direction the sign pointed when a noise came from behind me—the roar of an engine.

"Someone's coming? Are they other live show streamers?" I hid behind a nearby large tree and peeked out. Bright yellow headlights pierced the darkness as a private car drove in.

"They're being this flashy?" I continued to observe. The private car also stopped at the street sign.

The man driving took out his phone and shone it at the sign, but after looking for a long time, he couldn't make out anything.

"A'Bei, is this the place they mentioned?" While the man inspected the sign, a woman's voice came from inside the car. It was incredibly weak, as if she were suffering from a severe illness and entirely lacking in energy.

"It should be..." The man couldn't be sure either.

"Let me see."

The woman in the car said this and was about to step out, but the man hurriedly stopped her. "Why are you getting out? Hurry up and stay in the car."

The woman refused to listen and stepped out. She wore black low heels. It was obvious she had left in a rush and hadn't really dressed up, yet even this casual look gave her a striking, fashionable appearance.

She was a very beautiful woman. Shifting my gaze away from her, I finally began to observe the man.

He wore a gray suit and was about my age. He was tall and handsome, though his face carried a look of sorrow and anxiety.

"Let me see. Those people took our baby, I..." As the woman spoke, tears began to fall, and she started sobbing uncontrollably.

"It'll be fine. Don't they just want money? We brought the money. The baby will definitely be alright."

"But I..."

"Don't worry. Didn't we just watch a video of the baby? They promised they would never hurt the child."

"Okay..."

The woman leaned gently against the man. The two exchanged a few more words before getting back into the car and driving further down the road.

Only after they had gone far did I step out from behind the tree. "Baby? Hand over money? Is this a kidnapping case?"

I was completely baffled, feeling that things were starting to get complicated.

"Their destination is also the hospital, which means these people are innocent bystanders? Tonight's livestream happens to be taking place at Xinhu Cancer Research Hospital, and it ends up colliding with a kidnapping case. Is there any causal link between the two?" The desolate dirt road bore the car's tire tracks, and the crushed weeds took a long time to spring back into place.

"Never mind, I'll go in first." Tonight's broadcast was destined to be highly complex, which seemed somewhat different from the frantic slaughterfest I had initially guessed it would be.

With that private car blazing the trail ahead, my pace quickened significantly. Finally, just before midnight, I arrived at Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital.

Looking at the sprawling abandoned hospital in front of me, I furrowed my brow. "Such a massive place—even if there isn't any danger at all, exploring it in one night would be impossible."

I offered a bitter smile. Before coming here, who would have thought that a secluded corner of a bustling city could hide such an abandoned ghost town?

This place was similar to Xinhu High School—deserted, sealed off, and eerie. The difference was that in terms of floor space, Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital was larger than two Xinhu High Schools combined.

Several buildings of unknown purpose stood silently in the dark. Looking at them gave me a strange sensation, as if they were looking back at me.

The rusty main gate of the hospital was locked tight with iron chains. The private car I had seen earlier was parked outside. The man held a Black Leather Suitcase in one hand and a phone in the other, as if waiting for a message. The woman had also stepped out of the car, pacing anxiously beside him.

A minute or two later, the phone in the man's palm lit up. It seemed he had received a message.

He told the woman to stay in the car and not wander about, then left by himself, walking along the hospital's outer wall.

"If it really is a kidnapping, why didn't they call the police? The location the kidnappers chose is also quite strange, happening to be this bizarre hospital. How did they even know about this place? Could the kidnappers be other live show streamers besides me?" I hid in the dark, not daring to show my face. Undercurrents were surging here, and lethal dangers hid in places I couldn't see. I had to be extremely cautious.

"I can't trust anyone, at least not right now." The man and woman had split up, so I could only trail one of them. After a moment of thought, I quietly tailed the man, wanting to see where he was going.

After we walked for over a hundred meters, a large swath of blood-red graffiti appeared on the hospital's ivy-covered exterior wall. It looked like it had been painted by the families of disgruntled patients, filled entirely with vicious curses.

The man stopped here, holding his phone completely still. He was probably waiting for further instructions from the kidnappers.

I checked the time. It was almost midnight.

Bending down, I retreated into the distance and took out the Underworld Live Show Phone and the Plum Blossom Brooch Camera. "Hopefully, I can survive this broadcast."

I turned on the camera and plugged in the Portable Encoding Stick. I covered the screen with my hand to prevent the light source from leaking out. To keep the Human Skin Mask from being exposed, I also put on the Good and Evil Asura Mask.

"Connecting to the chat..."

"Acquiring image..."

"Data stable. Start the live broadcast?"

"Yes."

"Welcome Teletubbies Died of Murder to the livestream channel, welcome Master Tieling Biao to the livestream channel, welcome Daoist master Wan to the livestream channel..."

The image stabilized, and my figure appeared in the livestream channel.

Sweeping my eyes over the viewer count, I was just about to interact with the livestream viewers when the man carrying the Black Leather Suitcase seemed to receive new orders. He suddenly ran off in the opposite direction.

To avoid losing him, I put away my phone and broadcasted using only the Brooch, cautiously chasing after him.

After running for about a dozen meters, the man stopped. He tore away all the ivy covering the wall in front of him.

A wooden ladder was hidden there. Mustering his courage, he climbed up the ladder, quickly vaulted over the wall, and disappeared from my line of sight.

"The ladder was prepared in advance. The kidnappers are very familiar with this environment." I didn't have the leisure to play hero, nor did I care whether this man lived or died. I merely wanted to follow him and see the other people in the abandoned hospital.

Climbing the wooden ladder, I had just sat atop the wall when a scream rang out from the hospital's main gate!

"It's that woman! What did she run into?" Without hesitation, I jumped down from the wall and sprinted toward the main gate.

The wooden ladder was over a hundred meters away from the hospital's main gate. By the time I reached the entrance, the private car was completely empty.

"She's gone?"

The headlights were off, and the surroundings were pitch black. Only after using Judging Eye to confirm that no one was nearby did I quietly approach the car.

"Where is she?" The car door was open. Everything inside was arranged neatly, with no signs of a struggle. "The woman left voluntarily. What did she see? Why did she suddenly scream?"

I tried to search the interior of the car, but only found some baby supplies and a driver's license.

Flipping it open, I saw a photo of that man pasted inside.

"His name is Gu Bei?"