Chapter 219: [Blessed with Longevity] Leaving the Ward Building
As to whether Lin Hong being tripped would attract the attention of the monitoring staff and lead them to notice changes near her feet, Bai Cha didn’t care much.
Let them notice if they will.
“She” was asleep in the room with her back to the door, after all.
Right now, she was heading downstairs.
The sixth floor wasn’t terribly high, but she moved very slowly, carefully controlling her steps to avoid making any sound.
Lin Hong’s fall had made quite a commotion earlier, so her tiny rustles were negligible.
Even so, she tightly gathered her garments, doing her best to prevent her clothing from swishing or stirring up a breeze while she moved.
She exercised the same caution now.
The Invisibility Cloak only concealed her form—it couldn’t muffle sound.
Upon reaching the third floor, Bai Cha heard footsteps.
They were hurried.
Accompanied by voices and the clatter of overturned objects, the noise echoed down from the upper floors.
“Catch him! Don’t let him get away!”
Bai Cha prudently ducked into a corner.
Soon, a figure came tumbling and sprinting down the stairs.
It was an acquaintance—Meng Bian.
A swarming crowd pursued closely behind him.
Bai Cha slipped right behind the crowd. With these people serving as cover, she didn’t have to worry about the sound of her footsteps. She wasn’t even wearing shoes.
After all, there was only one pair of slippers in the room, and she had left them for the puppet.
Trailing them down to the first floor, she spotted the tightly closed iron-barred gate before even reaching the main entrance.
Meng Bian had already reached the iron gate, rattling it frantically.
The gate was secured with a heavy iron chain and a massive padlock; breaking it by force would take considerable time.
The medical staff pursuing Meng Bian rushed up behind him. One held a tranquilizer syringe, preparing to jab it into him.
Meng Bian dodged. Possessing decent martial skill, he traded blows with them right then and there.
Bai Cha seized the chaotic opportunity to slip over to the gate.
While no one was paying attention, she released her Dodder Vine, pressing it flat against the seam of the gate before threading it into the keyhole of the padlock.
After a few attempts, a soft click echoed as the lock sprang open.
However, the brawl over there was far too intense, and the space near the entrance was narrow, with everyone bunched together to subdue the target.
Seeing Meng Bian pinned down with the syringe about to pierce his skin, Bai Cha raised her hand, yanked the lock free, and tossed it to the ground.
The metallic clatter instantly drew everyone’s attention.
Meng Bian seized the chance to break free from the orderlies once again, yanked the iron gate open, and bolted outside.
“Contact security! A patient is escaping!”
Someone immediately called for backup over a walkie-talkie.
Once the pursuers dashed out, the person holding the walkie-talkie stowed the device, walked over to the dropped lock, picked it up, and examined it closely.
How did the lock open?
Was it not locked properly? Impossible—that guy couldn’t pull it open no matter how hard he yanked earlier.
He looked around with deep suspicion.
By then, however, Bai Cha had already slipped away, trailing close behind the team of medical staff that had rushed out.
This was as far as her help for Meng Bian went—it was mostly for her own convenience anyway.
Descending from the stairwell brought her to the side of the ward building.
After a quick thought, Bai Cha ran toward the back of the building.
Escaping outright like this was likely impossible, given that another care section lay ahead.
Otherwise, the difficulty of this game would be underwhelmingly low.
If the game had wiped the players’ own memories—much like in the Gold Medal Salesperson instance—they might have been able to run off directly.
She hadn’t visited the rear during the day. Security personnel were stationed here constantly under the pretext that discarded medical supplies were stored in the back, requiring specialized handling to prevent certain supplies from spreading contagious pathogens.
The grass poked at her feet, so Bai Cha wrapped Dodder Vines around her soles to act as shoes. She soon spotted the so-called waste disposal site behind the building.
She glanced upward before looking toward the perimeter wall behind it.
The perimeter wall here was likewise planted with thorny roses.
Would the outside of this wall be the exterior of the nursing home?
Bai Cha didn’t head over. The reason she had run to the back was that she sensed an extraordinarily dense presence of Dodder Vines coming from beneath her.
Directly beneath her feet.
Is it underground?
Bai Cha moved cautiously while pressing herself against the wall, as the rustling of walking on grass was still too loud compared to the concrete perimeter around the ward building.
To be safe, she wrapped layer upon layer of Dodder Vines tightly around her garments. After all, her pajamas were too loose and easily caught the wind.
The Invisibility Cloak concealed the wearer based on their height, outline, and attire as long as it was worn properly.
It was styled as a cloak, so Bai Cha kept a firm grip on its hem.
When she rounded the corner near the center of the ward building, the curtains of an adjacent window suddenly pulled back.
A light was on inside.
Bai Cha’s eyes flickered. Stopping in her tracks, she pressed her back flush against the wall while cautiously peering toward the window beside her.
The window slid open, and someone poked their head out to look around.
It was actually Qin Fa.
Standing inside the window, he scanned the yard outside with an inscrutable expression.
He looked around very meticulously, as if searching for someone.
Bai Cha stood right beside the window, her hand already gripping Overcast Cold Mountain, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
Qin Fa peered intently at every corner outside the window, failing to spot anything amiss.
Only then did he retract his gaze.
Bai Cha remained completely motionless throughout.
After about ten minutes, Bai Cha caught the sound of footsteps.
Someone was walking over.
That figure soon entered Bai Cha’s line of sight; sure enough, it was Qin Fa again.
He continued inspecting the surroundings as he walked.
Shortly after, he arrived beneath the rose bushes, crouched down, and did something. An entrance to a descending flight of stairs appeared on the ground nearby.
He stepped inside.
Bai Cha narrowed her eyes, turning her head slightly to glance inside the room.
The lights inside had been turned off, making it hard to see clearly, but it appeared to be a lounge.
If it was a lounge, it ought to be Qin Fa’s private break room, meaning no one else should be inside.
She raised her hand to test the window; it slid open with a gentle push.
The wall on this side of the ward building was inherently a blind spot for surveillance anyway—the cameras primarily covered the area where Qin Fa had descended.
And Bai Cha didn’t plan on heading down right now.
Judging by the sheer density of Dodder Vines below, the true main body of the so-called Tai Sui was likely located right down there.
That entity shared a similar trait with her skill: absorbing life force.
If she clashed with the Tai Sui, it was hard to say who would drain whom. Bai Cha didn’t want to take that risk for the time being, given that she had already planted her seeds.
She pushed the window open wide enough for herself to squeeze through, flipped straight inside, and pulled the window shut behind her.
No one was in the room. Inside stood a single bed, a desk, a bookshelf, and a wardrobe.
Numerous file folders were stacked on the bookshelf.
Another file folder rested on the desk alongside a pen, looking as though it had just been filled out and closed.
Bai Cha walked over, cautiously using a Dodder Vine instead of her hands to flip the folder open.
[Patient File Record]
Name: Li Qin-shu.
Date of Birth: May 3, 1910.
Bai Cha paused.
1910? That would make her 112 years old by now.
She looked further down the page.
Treatment: Initiated experimental Tai Sui therapy in the year 2000. Name currently changed to Zhang Tian-tian, having usurped her granddaughter’s life. Current public persona: 21 years old.
Side Effects: Incapable of departing from the Tai Sui. Age will grow uncontrollably younger, but should consumption cease, the individual will instantly age and perish.
A line was drawn here in red ink, followed by a row of small characters written underneath.
