The bus steadily made its way forward, the warm sunlight of an autumn afternoon filtering through the window and onto QiLeren. If it werent for the girl tearfully arguing into the phone with her boyfriend beside him, this could almost be a pleasant journey.
Hah, as if. Journeys with broken laptops to fix were scarcely considered pleasant, especially when said laptop had only been subjected to a few gas of minimum hardware requirents before dying completely. What absurdity; the laptop was only a few months old!
With that being said, QiLerend be lying if he said the ga wasnt scary. It was quite a well-known ga, titled The Nightmare Gas, which he downloaded on a whim while browsing a gaming forum. With its simple na and lack of even gaplay screenshots, QiLeren had fully prepared himself for a terrible ga only to be shocked by its quality.
As a casual fan of horror gas, QiLeren had limited experience but was by no ans a beginner with his eye for detail. Aside from the fantastic plot, a feature that made him by far the most satisfied was the large number of save slots, with which he could fully bring into play his skill as a save scumr. There was not a single slot left unused, totalling at around a hundred saves without even overwriting any of them. Upon completing the ga with a bad ending typical of the genre, a notification popped up in the upper right corner: Achievent unlocked: [Save-scumming Maniac].
Thats aninteresting achievent, to say the least.
Almost imdiately, another notification appeared: Would you like to restart? Y/N. It didnt take much thought for QiLeren to select yes, the soft click of his mouse sending the graphics onscreen tumbling down into pure black. After many unsuccessful reboots, there was nothing left for him to do other than to pack the laptop into a bag and haul it to a hardware store to get fixed, all the way berating himself for pirating gas. It probably gave him bad karma.
The girl next to him was still crying. That is, until her boyfriend ran out of patience with a yell of sothing QiLeren couldnt make out that finally made the girl snap. You wanna break up, huh?! Sure thing, buddy, see if I give a shit. Ill make sure to mail this baby over after I abort it, you hear ? I wont let you just run off with that bitch and live out the rest of your lives like nothing happened! Hanging up, she hunched over scread into her hands.
The atmosphere inside the bus was extrely awkward. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, QiLeren dug out a packet of tissues from his backpack and held it out to the girl, only to be t with a murderous glare. I dont want your fake pity, she hissed.
QiLeren retracted his hand awkwardly and turned to face the window instead. This is what single people got for butting into a couples fight.
It was then that the scenery outside flew backwards, white noise overtaking QiLerens vision. A truck appeared seemingly out of nowhere, barrelling towards the bus furiously braking to no avail; the two vehicles crashed with a loud clamour, throwing all its passengers forwards. QiLerens hands imdiately flew out to catch himself, arms buckling under the montum as his head cracked against the hard back of the seat. Amidst the bloody screams around him, QiLeren could see nothing but black.
It was to the sirens of an ambulance that QiLeren finally stirred. He blearily opened his eyes and was greeted by a face re centitres away from his.
Both n let out a yell of Whoa! before regaining their composure. QiLeren sat up, head throbbing in beat with his pulse. There was a doctor sitting beside him. Perhaps he was a paradic brought here by the ambulance. Are you alright? the doctor asked.
Im okay, just a little dizzy, QiLeren replied. He gingerly brought a hand to his forehead; it had been bandaged.
You hit your head when the bus crashed, said the doctor. You might have a concussion; itd be best to double check that at the hospital.
The idea didnt seem particularly appealing to QiLeren. Hospital fees werent cheap and besides, it was probably just a skin wound. He turned to the doctor, suddenly taken aback at his appearance. Since when did they let minors practice dicine? Have you even graduated university? he scrutinised. This person looked to be a high schooler at most, so might even believe him if he claid to be in middle school.
The doctor glared at him venomously. Im twenty-seven already. Got my PhD. Been working for three years.
QiLerens suspicious scrutinising imdiately turned into one of awe at the academic prowess before him. Still a little dizzy, he lied back down and made casual conversation with the doctor. Dr Lu had started school at an earlier age than everybody else in his cohort and skipped a few grades thereafter. He completed his PhD at the tender age of twenty four and obtained employnt at the First Peoples Hospital at X City, at which he hopped around speciality departnts for two years before finally settling in internal dicine. His soft voice and youthful features gained him adoration from almost all nurses, centing his status as the lucky charm of the hospital.
It was with great empathy that QiLeren listened to Dr Lus woes about having been single for his whole life.
Suddenly, a wave of sluggish sleepiness washed over them, prompting yawns from both n. Im sleepy, Dr Lu muttered, slumping into the wall as his eyelids fluttered closed. QiLeren did likewise, closing his eyes to the rhythmic lullaby of ambulance sirens.
Upon waking, QiLeren found himself lying on a chillingly cold tal chair. It was quite possibly the best sleep hes ever gotten; he hadnt even dread. His head still throbbed though, he discovered as he sat up with a start, and the dizziness hasnt subsided. It took him a few seconds to notice that he was probably at the hospital.
Hospital. Right.
But the words Infusion Hall on the wall opposite him inford him that he was in the infusion hall and not a ward, which made no sense. His surroundings were completely silent, devoid of even re glimpses of people. QiLeren pushed himself up and stumbled a few steps towards the service counter, taking in the pens, post-it notes and syringes lying haphazardly across it. Wisps of steam rose from the mug as if there had been sobody sitting there just a second before.
How bizarre; QiLeren had never seen such an empty hospital. This was the First Peoples Hospital, for goodness sake, they had problems with overcrowding no matter which day of the week it was. Barring the apocalypse, this hospital would never be void of people.
Is there anyone here? Helloo, where did everyone go? he called, voice echoing off the walls. He looked around him and made a beeline for the exit, intent on leaving. It was very cold, he noted, a fact that he hadnt realised among the sea of people that was usually present but now made itself very prominent. It wasnt just the temperature; the hospital itself gave off a sinister feeling that chilled him to his very bones more than re temperature could ever do.
Unfortunately, the glass doors that served as an exit were locked. QiLeren peered through the glass into the likewise deserted hallway beyond, feeling slightly claustrophobic at the stark white walls that boxed the empty space. Compact fluorescent lights that stretched into the darkness glowed softly in the absence of natural lighting. It was dayti, yet the hospital felt like the dead of the night.
QiLeren spun on his heels and approached the window, rolling up his sleeves. As he swept his eyes across the room, a reflection in the mirror caught his heart in a vice-like grip there was a lone, pale figure occupying the tal chair not a step away from him.
His whipped around; the chairs were as empty as they had always been. Rows of them stared back at QiLeren innocently, mockingly littered with rubbish and abandoned luggage with no trace of humans to be seen. An oppressing sense of claustrophobia leapt at him from the eerie emptiness.
Turning around once more at the shiver that ran down his spine, QiLeren hesitantly peeked at the mirror. His own pallid, bandaged face stared back at him. Behind him were rows upon rows of unoccupied seats waiting for their rightful occupants.
There was no one. Only mistaken instincts.
QiLeren forced down his unease, made his way back to the window and opened it as far as he could. Caging over the opening were security grills that denied any form of escape and did not budge in the slightest. Thick fog swirled out in the open and clouded his vision for any potential humans that he could see. Fear crept into the edges of his perception.
He let out a curse. The door was locked, the window was sealed, there was sothing off about every nook and cranny of this place and not to ntion the ghostly figure in the mirror he was trying his best to not think about. Despite his furious insistence on it being non-existent, he couldnt help the tiny voice that offered its suspicions.
This was just like a horror room escape ga! Just as he considered the possibility of being wrapped up in so form of supernatural event, a few lines of notifications popped into his mind:
[Player QiLeren has completed Tutorial Quest 1: The Awakening]
[Card slot unlocked x2]
[Tutorial Quest 2: Leaving the Infusion Hall]
[New Ga : Save-scumming Maniac achievent reward, obtained skill card Law of S/L]
[Sync Countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Sync Complete]
A sudden pain erupted behind QiLerens eyes as if thousands of tiny needles were being pushed into them. Wiping away tears as the pain subsided, he blearily opened his eyes to see the tal chair through his tears. Silently sitting on it was a pale figure-
-looking straight at him.
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