There were two other people on the floors above. The nurse on the fourth floor had entered her room at three minutes and forty-three seconds into the loop, just as Jenkins was finishing his conversation with the captain of the Nightwatch Squad in the courtyard. They had missed her.
Jenkins wanted to try opening her door, hoping he might gain another ally, but the boy calling himself "Lack Allan Poe" warned him against it.
"I don't know what you are, but with ti being so tight, I assu you wouldn't want any extra trouble, would you? This hospital isn't as simple as you think. Besides the 'quagmire' we're stuck in, it's also filled with dangers that would be disastrous if released. It's less a training base for that organization's mystic scholars and more a containnt facility for those who have lost control."
Young Lack admitted he was a "patient" here and briefly explained what he knew about Bigges Hospital. When Jenkins asked why he wasn't curious about the empty hallway while he was lost in thought, the boy shook his head and said:
"Before you spoke to , I thought the hallway was just as it always was. It was only when you broke from my musings on the aning of existence that I perceived my surroundings were different from my cognition."
Though he didn't look very old, he spoke with a surprising maturity. When he thought, however, he had a peculiar habit of staring at the ground.
The three of them moved quickly to the rooftop. As expected, the rusted iron door leading from the stairwell was locked, but for Jenkins, that made no difference at all.
At eight minutes and nine seconds, they reached the man on the rooftop before he could start writing. He was a gaunt, middle-aged man with pronounced bags under his eyes and thinning hair. His dispirited appearance was such that no one would doubt he suffered from sothing like depression.
He didn't recognize Jenkins or Miss Los, of course, but he knew the boy, Lack.
"Hello," the man greeted them, his eyes appraising the two strangers.
"You're planning to jump?" Jenkins asked.
"Yes... Who are you?"
He was deeply distrustful of strangers. Fortunately, Lack vouched for them, confirming they weren't hospital staff. Only then was the man willing to explain his situation.
"They said I have the ability to perceive death. I've spent my whole life contemplating what death is, and then I realized... the most direct way to get an answer is to see for myself."
"How did you get up here? Where are your monitors?" Lack inquired.
Miss Los translated his words for Jenkins, her voice echoing clearly in his mind. She was clearly a woman of considerable education.
"Them? Since I can see death, I can naturally bring it. Today, I successfully used my ability for the first ti."
The man looked down at his own hands, which were covered in wounds of all sizes. His face was a mask of confusion and fear. Jenkins's eyes saw streams of decaying grey energy flowing from his fingertips.
Jenkins had assud the powerful, malevolent spirit on the roof was a result of the ritual in the basent that had plunged them all into this ti loop. Now it was clear the spirit's appearance was entirely due to the man himself.
Today, this man had perceived his own power for the first ti and used it to gain a fleeting mont of freedom. But he was weary of the torture and imprisonnt, and he lacked the strength to escape this place. So he had chosen another way to gain his permanent freedom.
A person with such a natural sensitivity to the power of death, who took their own life while filled with resentnt, would inevitably beco a disaster-level malevolent spirit. Had he encountered one of the churches of the Righteous Gods, he could have beco an incredibly capable Enchanter. Unfortunately, he had been captured by an illegal organization instead.
"Uncle Robinson, we're planning to escape. Sothing's happened to the hospital, and there are very few guards left. Do you want to co with us?" Lack asked.
The middle-aged man, Robinson, had been pacing the rooftop for at least eight minutes, hesitating over his decision to kill himself. A man like that, before his resolve had hardened, was naturally open to persuasion. Now, presented with a more suitable path to freedom, he readily abandoned his plan to leap from the building and was easily convinced.
And so, within nine minutes of entering the ti loop, Jenkins had t all the "original residents" of the hospital, save for the nurse he couldn't rescue and the two people in the sealed basent. By stopping the man on the roof, he had also prevented the appearance of the terrifyingly powerful malevolent spirit at the ten-minute and fifty-seven-second mark.
At this point, the only dangers left were the middle-aged female doctor on the first floor who would turn into a ghoul, and the possibility that the ti loop might suddenly jump to the next cycle. According to the plan agreed upon by the Twelve Orthodox Churches, Jenkins now only needed to inscribe the 'Still Water' ritual on the rooftop and activate it after the tenth minute. This would guarantee the safety of himself and everyone else trapped in Bigges Hospital, and it would also banish this Cursed Item.
Jenkins did indeed draw the foundational array for the ritual, but he did not activate it imdiately. After putting his chalk away, he explained the ritual's purpose to his three new companions and then stated with earnest sincerity:
"This ti, I'm going to save everyone worth saving. That includes you."
With that, he gained three very trustworthy teammates.
Unlike the boy Lack, the middle-aged Robinson had been in this sanatorium for much longer. According to him, he was likely among the first group of people to be "hospitalized."
Miss Los and Lack couldn't identify the two n in the basent from Jenkins's description alone. But after hearing a general account of their appearances, Mr. Robinson imdiately guessed one of their identities.
"That's Dr. Debay."
"He was a patient in the sa group as , but he was transferred away very quickly. When he returned six months ago, he had beco an accomplice of that group. The man is a complete lunatic. The first ti I t him, I knew he was insane. He loves to experint with the crazy ideas in his head. Since there's a lady present, I won't give any examples, but I wouldn't be surprised by anything a person like that is capable of."
"Has he officially beco a mystic scholar?" Miss Los asked.
"Yes, I think so," Mr. Robinson replied, nodding uncertainly. Jenkins then turned to the boy.
"With this information, can you 'see' anything related to Dr. Debay?"
Lack closed his eyes, but opened them again almost imdiately.
"I can sense that he's in the basent, but I can't see anything else."
After all, he only possessed the talent; he had yet to beco a formally trained Enchanter in this era's system. To be able to do even this much was already quite remarkable.
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