Chapter 65: Hospital Basement

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Hospital Basement

Xiang Yi didn’t confirm that his Spiritual Energy had anything to do with mechanical equipment. What he did acknowledge was that the Blood Crystals weren’t his Spiritual Energy: "You’re right that the Blood Crystals aren’t my Spiritual Energy. They are a type of Abnormality."

As he said this, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a fist-sized ordinary Blood Crystal — one he’d pocketed when he slipped out of the prison.

He also produced a small piece of High-Quality Blood Crystals, which he’d taken from the bodies of the two pilots when the ship went down.

Ning Ye took both pieces with a pleasantly surprised look on her face.

"You’ve actually been controlling other Abnormalities too? I figured you could only control Corpse Ghosts."

"I’m not sure ’control’ is the right word. What actually happened is that I got infected by this Blood Crystal substance. They only show up when I’m bleeding and completely drained."

"Either way, both of these came directly from the Abnormality itself — they didn’t come off my body."

"What do you think they’re worth?"

The robot was shaping up to be a decent trading channel, but you never put all your eggs in one basket.

Better to spread the goods around than to be left scrambling if something went sideways with the robot one day.

"Hard to say on price right now — this is Blood Crystal Material I’ve never seen before."

Ning Ye studied the crystals for a moment, then gave her verdict: "If I’ve never seen it, buyers almost certainly haven’t either. There’ll be no trouble finding a buyer, and I’d expect a solid price."

"I’m curious — what does the Abnormality itself actually look like?"

"A big fat maggot covered in a mess of centipede legs sticking out all over the place."

Ning Ye turned the image over in her mind and frowned slightly. "This Abnormality wouldn’t happen to be the same one you let loose in the prison, would it?"

"Yeah. The situation at that prison was... unusual. Let’s just say the place had a certain old-fashioned approach to things."

"Let me guess — human experimentation?" Xiang Yi nodded, and Ning Ye added, "Classic."

She found a containment box to store the Blood Crystals temporarily and set it on one of the lab’s desks. Clearly she planned to come back and find a buyer later.

But right now, Xiang Yi was honestly a little short on cash.

"Any chance I could get a partial payment for the Blood Crystals upfront?"

Ning Ye looked at him oddly. "Can you even spend money? You can’t set foot in the city, can you?"

"I have my ways."

"Fair enough. For this quantity..."

Ning Ye thought it over. "I can front you fifty thousand now. The final sale price should only go higher. Once the deal closes, I’ll take a 10% cut."

"10%..."

"I am brokering this for you, you know. You can’t exactly expect me to starve."

Xiang Yi wrestled with it. Money mattered a lot to him — that much was undeniable.

10% of fifty thousand was five thousand. Three times that and he’d have enough to buy another bulletproof vest.

Then an idea hit him. "You want to study this material, don’t you? Give me the full 10% back, and I’ll supply you with more Blood Crystal Material to research."

"Well..."

Ning Ye hesitated.

Her original plan had been to study the material on the side while brokering the deal — get a cut from both ends, and maybe even squeeze out a paper from it.

But the way Xiang Yi had just laid it out made things awkward, like getting caught cheating on an exam.

Xiang Yi pressed on: "As far as I know, only two people have ever come into contact with this Blood Crystal Abnormality. One has a mountain of human experiment data. The other has a piece barely the size of a thumbnail — whether they’ll even do anything with it is anyone’s guess."

"You mean the prison? Who’s the other one?"

"They only just got their hands on the material. Nothing to worry about."

Xiang Yi didn’t elaborate, and Ning Ye didn’t push. She was weighing whether it was worth it.

There wasn’t really much to weigh. It was straightforward: give up the immediate financial gain, get something more valuable in the long run — a stable partnership with real potential.

"Alright. We’ll do it your way."

Ning Ye pulled out her terminal and transferred the funds on the spot, leaving Xiang Yi with enough to head over to the robot and stock up on some "equipment."

"I should get going. The scavenger crew doesn’t get a long lunch break — I need to head back."

Before she left, Ning Ye seemed to remember something and turned to Xiang Yi. "The Containment Box you asked for is upstairs. The tritium fuel is inside it."

"Don’t go touching random equipment. If you’re planning to do anything with your Spiritual Energy, think through the consequences first."

"When there are people outside, don’t just wander out — you’ll blow this place’s cover. There are a lot of hidden cameras in the area. The computer’s right over there; check the feeds before you leave."

"Let’s use this place as our meeting point going forward. If you don’t have anywhere to stay for now, you can crash here on the floor."

"I’ll leave you a Permission Card too — that way you can let yourself in."

"Right... I think that’s everything. I’m off."

"Hold on."

Xiang Yi called out, stopping Ning Ye. "One last thing — anything major changed in the city lately?"

"Changed?"

Ning Ye thought back. "More police than usual. Foreign trade seems to have slowed down. Fewer inbound ships getting cleared through. Other than that, nothing I can think of."

"That so?"

"I got that from someone else. That’s what they said."

Ning Ye didn’t seem particularly concerned about the government situation. Was that her business partner giving her that confidence?

And was that information itself coming from her business partner too? It didn’t quite line up with what the robot out southwest had told him...

So who was he supposed to believe?

When it came to information this critical, the only source he could really trust was himself.

Xiang Yi had always felt that the growing number of guards in the city was a sign that something was coming.

He’d need to play it conservative for a while.

Ning Ye left the underground lab.

Xiang Yi went and dug out the tritium fuel cells she’d mentioned, then swapped in a fresh battery for the Laser Rifle.

Holding the fully-charged Laser Rifle again, the slight weight of it in his hands gave him a deep, solid sense of security.

He probably should have left the lab too — the Containment Box wasn’t needed yet, and there wasn’t much reason to stick around.

But his curiosity got the better of him. He started running his hands over every piece of unusual equipment in the lab.

He used his Spiritual Energy to probe each one. Any standalone unit, he could pull up its interface panel.

They were all Spiritual Energy-related, each one designed for a different Spiritual Domain.

Compared to this place, the robot’s hardware shop might as well have been a glorified junkyard.

The lab’s central control unit was even within reach. If he wanted to, he could take command of the entire facility.

Same old problem, though — his Spiritual Power reserves just weren’t deep enough to hold an entire lab.

And even if he could, he had no idea how to actually operate most of the equipment tied to the main control. Poking at things blindly served no purpose.

Curiosity satisfied, Xiang Yi didn’t linger underground any longer. He checked the security feeds, confirmed there was no one nearby, and made his way back up to the surface of the abandoned district.

He’d meant to head back to the sewers, but a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

What if he swung by the hospital again?

The place had been shut down for years, yet the basement had held nearly forty bodies. Wasn’t that a few too many? Could there be something else hidden down there?

Last time he’d been in a rush. This time, he had all the time he needed.

And it wasn’t like there was much waiting for him back in the sewers anyway.

The one thing on his mind lately was tracking down some study materials — proper ones — but that could wait.

Decision made, Xiang Yi didn’t second-guess himself. He headed back to the familiar hospital with Shi Tie in tow.

In the daylight, the hospital looked like nothing more than a worn-out old building. Far less unsettling than when he’d come by at night.

Xiang Yi made a full sweep of the first and second floors.

The bodies that had turned into Shuffling Monsters were all gone, cleared out by someone. The tents from the camp and the supplies he hadn’t taken were gone too.

It seemed like there was nothing left — except the basement, which he hadn’t checked yet.

The moment he stepped inside.

The lingering smell of formalin hit him, followed by the faint, stale stench of decay.

He swept his flashlight around the space. The hospital basement wasn’t large.

Just a few rooms that had probably housed high-radiation equipment at some point, plus a morgue.

Whatever equipment had been down here was long gone. Xiang Yi didn’t waste time searching those rooms — he walked straight toward the morgue.

The morgue was pitch black. No bodies, no equipment — just a few autopsy tables shoved up against the wall.

It was deep enough from the stairwell that even the sounds of insects and birds from the abandoned district outside couldn’t reach it. The silence was complete.

Not that Xiang Yi had much to be afraid of with Shi Tie right behind him.

He searched the morgue carefully, paying particular attention to the dust on the floor.

The dust wasn’t all that obvious — when the Shuffling Monsters had been active, they’d already stirred up most of it.

But then Xiang Yi noticed something odd.

The floor along the wall where the tables were piled up was spotless. Like every last trace of dust had been swept clean.

Sure, the bodies rising up in the morgue would’ve dragged some dust with them — but that stretch of floor was clean in a way that went well beyond that.

Xiang Yi shoved the stacked tables aside and knocked lightly on the wall behind them.

Thud. Thud.

Hollow.

He pressed his palm flat against the surface and ran his hand slowly across it.

No question about it — this was a false wall, and a thin one at that, built sometime within the last three days.

Someone had put it up to hide whatever was on the other side.