Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System - Chapter 205: Hospital

Vikram, who had initially thought this was just an exploration of a regular Hospital, widened his eyes at the enormous Hospital complex ahead.

Because in his sight, even though the buildings at this resource point were already quite large, a portion of them was still obscured by black mist.

This sprawling area, if it were on Earth, would at least be a grand Hospital.

Just standing outside the Hospital, Vikram could already imagine how many resources were inside.

He wasn’t the only one with this thought; he could even hear some Survivors swallowing their saliva.

Even Andres, who had maintained a stern expression earlier, now had a smile playing on his lips.

Seeing that all the members were ready, he spoke, “I can guarantee that this resource point is the first one discovered by our Brown Wood Shelter.”

“Once inside, everyone will split into two teams and proceed separately. Take all the supplies you can see.”

“If anything happens, report it through the territory group chat.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the team was unexpectedly split into two.

Clearly, they were not unfamiliar with such arrangements.

Vikram naturally had no choice but to follow one of the teams into the Hospital.

Unlike the hospital he had imagined, filled with the sharp smell of disinfectant and sterile white walls, this place, apart from a faint scent of decay, didn’t seem like a hospital at all.

The dim, lightless interior, combined with the biting cold, gave Vikram a peculiar, almost eerie feeling. The hallways were shrouded in shadows, and the silence was broken only by the distant creak of old structures and the shuffling footsteps of the group ahead.

He shook his head, casting those uneasy thoughts aside. In fact, the dark and gloomy environment suited him perfectly.

He had been following this group precisely because he didn’t know the hospital’s exact location. Now, with the poor visibility and their attention focused forward, it was the perfect opportunity for him to quietly slip away.

Thinking this, Vikram didn’t hesitate for even a moment. At the very back of the team, he immediately activated his Moonshadow Cloak.

In the dim, lightless environment, as soon as he put on the equipment, Vikram’s body became semi-transparent, blending seamlessly with the shadows.

He tested it by waving his hand directly in front of one of the members’ faces. Seeing no reaction whatsoever, a small smile formed on his lips. Vikram silently slipped past the entire group, moving ahead of them right under their noses without anyone noticing.

While secretly pleased with his successful stealth, he adjusted his state and quickly planned his route in his mind.

The pharmacy was his immediate target.

Although his territory had a wide variety of supplies, when it came to medicine, they had never maintained a large reserve. The main reason was that the Healer Druid and Light Mage Druid were far more effective than most ordinary medicines. Because of this, he had never bothered to specifically stockpile such supplies.

But now that he had arrived at a valuable resource point like a hospital, the most valuable items, aside from medical instruments, were the various types of medicines.

“I just don’t know if the medicines in this resource point are still usable.”

Most medicines don’t have a very long shelf life, but Vikram still headed for the pharmacy on the first floor.

“As long as my hands are fast enough, I won’t leave you a single item that I can take.” With a sly grin, he strode away.

Soon, he arrived at a place resembling a queuing window.

Although the light in the Hospital was dim, he could vaguely make out several large characters above the window, “Western Pharmacy.”

Without overthinking it, he used the system to break the window, then climbed through it.

He turned his head to look at the distant team; they were still at the Hospital entrance, picking and choosing.

It seemed they even intended to take the Hospital’s metal door frame.

Seeing this, Vikram scoffed, then proceeded to take all the medicines in the pharmacy, both familiar and unfamiliar.

If one were to ask how he would carry all these supplies, Vikram had already considered this problem.

For this, he had also found a perfect solution…

—

The first floor of the massive hospital was pitch black due to the complete lack of indoor lighting, making it impossible to see even one’s own hand in front of one’s face.

Yet, in such a dark and eerie environment, the hospital was not empty of people. The group from Brown Wood Shelter was carefully inspecting and salvaging supplies near the main entrance.

Meanwhile, Vikram had already reached the Western Pharmacy. With the help of the Phantom Druid and his Night Vision device, he could clearly see every item even in the complete darkness.

Inside the pharmacy, rows of iron shelves stood neatly arranged. Vikram quickly scanned the area and saw at least a hundred drawers and cabinets of various sizes, all filled with medicinal materials.

“Holy moly! If these medicines haven’t expired, storing them in the warehouse would mean we’d have enough supplies for a lifetime!” Vikram couldn’t help but exclaim in excitement.

Without wasting any time, he began opening each medicine cabinet and drawer one by one. The supplies inside did not disappoint him, they were mostly boxes of seemingly intact medicines.

Various prescription and over-the-counter drugs were neatly organized: antibiotics, pain relievers, cold medicines, anti-allergics, and many more. Almost every common type was available.

Upon seeing this, Vikram didn’t bother checking the expiration dates and simply stuffed them all into the sacks he had brought. The biggest haul consisted of cold medicines and pain relievers, he estimated he had collected at least sixty to seventy boxes of each. For the other medicines, he gathered at least thirty boxes of each type.

Additionally, he took first-aid kits, tourniquets, bandages, gauze, cotton balls, cotton swabs, and everything else he could find without hesitation.

In no time, the three large sacks Vikram had brought were completely filled to the brim.

He didn’t put these supplies into his backpack because different types of medicines simply couldn’t be stacked together in a single slot. Physical sacks were far more practical for this kind of bulk looting.

However, he had no intention of carrying these heavy sacks while trying to sneak out. Sneaking into Brown Wood Shelter this time had been an impromptu decision, so he naturally hadn’t brought Divya and Anjali along.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be of use.

After he had almost completely emptied the pharmacy of its medicines, Vikram immediately opened the chat interface. He placed the three sacks, filled with various medicines, directly onto the trade window with Sophia, Divya, and Anjali.

In just two seconds, the heavy sacks of medicine disappeared from his hands.

From beginning to end, these hundreds and thousands of medicines didn’t occupy even a single slot in his backpack.

Meanwhile, in Vikram’s territory, many medicines were scattered inexplicably around Sophia, Divya and Anjali’s feet.

Upon closer inspection, these were precisely the supplies Vikram had just taken from the Western Pharmacy.

“Oh my goodness, where did Vikram get so many medicines? He brought them all back as if they were free!”

They had only been told by Vikram to accept a trade and didn’t know that Vikram had snuck into Brown Wood Shelter early that morning to scavenge.

Now, seeing the medicines scattered all over the floor, both their eyes widened.

Returning to Vikram, after having just collected all the medicines from an entire Pharmacy, Vikram smacked his lips.

This feeling of a “zero-cost shopping spree” truly left him wanting more.

Just as he was planning his next location for collecting supplies, the sound of people moving finally came from the hall behind him.

At the same time, Andres, the leader, spoke, “Alright, let’s go look for more important supplies first. We’ll come back for the small bits of metal at the entrance later.”

“Piling up is too slow. You all spread out and search. Report any situations in the group chat!”

It seemed Andres felt there wasn’t much danger in the Hospital, so he directly abandoned the idea of searching in a group.

As his words fell, everyone understood and immediately dispersed.

Vikram, still hiding in the Pharmacy, felt a sudden sense of unease.

People spreading out meant that the good items in the Hospital might be taken by their people first.

Thinking this, he didn’t intend to stay in this emptied Pharmacy much longer.

He immediately climbed out the window and left under the cover of darkness, not forgetting to take the metal shelves with him on his way out.

Just as he climbed out of the Pharmacy, he saw several Survivors running towards the direction behind him.

Unlike Vikram, who had a Night Vision device, each of them held a torch.

They were collecting supplies relying solely on the faint torchlight.

Seeing the other party approaching his direction, Vikram scoffed.

“You all can search slowly here; I’m going up to the second floor first.”

He had already scanned the entire first floor with his Night Vision device earlier, and besides the Western Pharmacy, there was nothing else worth exploring on the first floor.

Most of the clinical departments were upstairs. While their vision was unclear and they couldn’t react, he could still collect many supplies first.

He then quietly made his way to the stairwell on the side of the Hospital.

Upon arriving, Vikram frowned.

This was because four Survivors had already given up on the first-floor supplies and arrived before him.

Not only that, but the few of them were standing in the middle of the stairs, as if something was blocking their way.

“What’s going on? Going upstairs is fine, but what’s the meaning of blocking the way here?” Looking at the motionless figures, Vikram felt a slight doubt in his heart.

Even with the Moonshadow Cloak, Vikram couldn’t bypass them to get upstairs.

The Cloak’s ability only provided concealment in dark environments; it couldn’t achieve true invisibility.

With four torches held up simultaneously, passing through them seemed highly unlikely.

Seeing them with their backs to him, Vikram decided to take off the Cloak directly.

Anyway, they had all dispersed now, and he hadn’t exposed himself before, so no one would find it strange if they saw him.

Just then, “Roar!!!”

“What the—?” A sudden roar startled Vikram.

He had just taken off the Cloak and hadn’t had time to see what the hell it was.

One of the Survivors who had been blocking the way had already fallen at his feet.

Blood splattered onto Vikram’s foot, then soaked into the Hospital floor.

Vikram looked down and found that this guy’s head had been punctured by something.

“Run!” The remaining three Survivors on the stairs yelled at Vikram, completely disregarding their fallen comrade on the ground, and fled from there at high speed.

Only then did Vikram raise his head, his gaze sweeping upwards diagonally.

And the object truly blocking the way was exposed in Vikram’s vision, completely unhindered.

It was a Zombie that had completely lost its limbs, replaced by four slender tentacles.

The previous Zombies, Vikram could somewhat still discern as humanoid.

But this Zombie, due to its lower limbs mutating into tentacles, only had half a body remaining.

Its body was in a nauseating state of decay, its surface covered in sticky pus, emitting wafts of foul odor.

“Tentacle Zombie — A blue-purple Mutated Zombie with a partially liquefied body, from which thick, sinewy tentacles extend. Though they appear soft, their tips can instantly harden into sharp points, allowing them to pierce flesh and light armor with ease.

It attacks from a distance, striking with fast, whip-like stabs from unpredictable angles. The tentacles extend and retract rapidly, making its movements difficult to anticipate.

This creature can climb walls and ceilings effortlessly, often attacking from above or blind spots, giving it a dangerous advantage in combat.”

“Whoosh!”

Vikram had just finished reading the system’s description when a tentacle, accompanied by a whooshing sound, struck towards his face.

This Zombie was clearly speed-oriented, and the flying tentacle reached Vikram in an instant.

It looked as if it was about to pierce through his forehead with a single strike…