Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 178

Chapter 178.1 Frank Hospital

After the initial shock passed, Wen Shi, the executioner, immediately snapped out of his daze and asked, “Where are the other players?”

Seventh Commandment Guild Leader answered, “The patients didn’t seem right tonight. We need someone to keep an eye on them. There’s a nurse who occasionally patrols the first floor. We had to pay attention to that as well.”

Hearing this, Wen Shi looked at the female player, who said seriously, “The second floor is the same. We need to send someone to keep an eye on it.”

Everyone was confused. What was there to keep an eye on?

“Check if the nurses came down,” Wen Shi said rapidly, “If A’Ao chose to take off his pants and repair himself, there won’t be anyone left beside him. That’s when we can ambush him.”

He glanced at Yu Xingzhou. “When the time comes, you can use your time-freezing skill as our means of escape.”

The limited number of uses for【One Strike Flattens All】had been exhausted. The next attack would depend on other players.

Each attack would chip away at the enemy bit by bit.

“If the nurses hadn’t come down,” Wen Shi said seriously, “it meant A’Ao had decisively chosen to quickly complete the final wrist repair.”

The nurses’ sole role during surgery was to keep a watchful eye, ensuring A’Ao’s safety. They wouldn’t just stand by with their eyes closed, waiting for the transplant to finish.

If A’Ao gave up repairing himself, the time left for them would become even more limited.

When Wen Shi revealed his surprise plan, even Song Yan found it hard to come up with any fancy words to sugarcoat the situation.

The female player silently turned and went upstairs to begin her lookout duty.

Wen Shi, who had been fully focused throughout the day, immediately turned his attention to another critical question, “Is the piano hidden in my office?”

While asking, he walked right in. The mission of Seventh Commandment Guild Leader and his team was to destroy the piano. They wouldn’t have come here for no reason.

Inside the office, a bookshelf had been moved, and on the dim wall, there was an inconspicuous musical note symbol, slightly depressed. As Wen Shi instinctively pressed it, lime dust instantly fell from the ceiling, and the wall in front of him flipped.

“……”

Wen Shi had once complained about being the only official employee with a small office. Now, looking at it, this single-room doctor’s office seemed to have been converted from a piano room.

The secret room was half bigger than the outer office, with an antique piano placed diagonally in the center.

The piano keys didn’t have the traditional smooth, ivory-white texture. They had a shell-like color, slightly yellowed, with many fine scratches on the piano’s surface. It seemed like there were red insects wriggling inside.

Besides that, there were small honeycomb-like holes in the walls. Right below them was a broadcasting station that resembled a large sealed speaker, responsible for the alarm sounds they heard daily.

The only source of light inside was a strange glow emanating from the piano’s outer shell.

Ji Yuanzhi stood not far from the piano. As if knowing who had entered, he didn’t turn around but shook his head and said, “You can’t destroy it.”

Even items like【Little Steel Ball】that could create explosive effects had been tried, but each time, a system prompt would say: “Important items within this area are protected by the sheet music.”

However, it wasn’t a complete dead end. Ji Yuanzhi continued, “The amplifiers on the wall can be somewhat damaged.”

This could at least ensure that the piano’s music wouldn’t completely cover the entire hospital later.

After giving a brief explanation, Ji Yuanzhi asked, “How’s your progress?”

Wen Shi replied, “I injured the director with my sword.”

In that short sentence, three nouns held significance.

Ji Yuanzhi, who had been through several instances with him, seemed to catch onto something. He deeply glanced at Wen Shi upon hearing this.

The female player had not used the communication item to contact Seventh Commandment Guild Leader, indicating that the nurses hadn’t left the operating room in time.

Yu Xingzhou and Li Nan also entered the secret room one by one. While investigating the surroundings, Yu Xingzhou spoke up, “The cooldown time for the invisibility item is about to end.”

His implication was that they should lie low here, waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal blow. Whether it would be fatal or not, there was only a thirty percent chance of success. After temporarily removing the iron hook from his right hand, A’Ao’s strength would be slightly diminished.

He then looked at Wen Shi and asked, “Can your sword skill still be used?”

Advanced skills usually had limited uses.

Wen Shi shook his head.

“You don’t need to stay here later. After you go out, just move the bookshelf back to its original position.”

Wen Shi glanced at Song Yan, implying that Song Yan should handle this task, while he was going to stay.

Yu Xingzhou said, “No need to insist. Your presence here won’t make much difference.”

Wen Shi was very determined. “In case A’Ao becomes suspicious, I’ll show up promptly. He’ll surely try to focus his attention towards me first. It will give you a chance to strike from behind.”

In any instance, those skilled in drawing draw aggro were rarer than attack-oriented characters against monsters.

There was a moment of silence in the secret room.

No one could find a counterpoint in Wen Shi’s words. In fact, they all instinctively thought: Pei Wenwei is indeed crucial.

Suddenly, Seventh Commandment Guild Leader’s face changed. Just now, he received a message from the female player.

“A nurse has come down! A’Ao is with her.”

The female player spoke with a slight panting, as keeping watch was no easy task. The second floor patients were even more agitated than the first. In the middle of her surveillance, the nurse turned into this floor to prepare to administer a sedative to a patient. The female player was currently searching for a hiding spot.

Wen Shi immediately looked at Song Yan, “After restoring the office to its original state, find a place to hide too.”

Song Yan, of course, didn’t hesitate at a time like this and went out to move the bookshelf.

Wen Shi, the one who stayed behind, began searching for the switch to exit from the secret room. He finally found a matching musical note button near the broadcasting station.

Now, there was only one question left: when should they make their move?

Anyone would be cautious about an ambush when the door opened, especially after the recent encounter. A’Ao would be even more alert.

“Around thirty seconds,” Li Nan pondered, “Ordinary humans die three days after hearing the melody. By interrupting it mid-way, even though the curse still works, the full effect will be delayed beyond that time limit.”

No matter how powerful a composition was, it couldn’t instantly complete a curse with just one note or one section. Delaying the curse’s eruption and leaving the instance before it happened was the plan.

Thirty seconds was the perfect timing. A’Ao’s attention would inevitably be somewhat scattered during his performance, and they also had to consider the duration of the invisibility item.

Ji Yuanzhi suddenly suggested, “If we can’t kill A’Ao, let’s target the sheet music.”

The items in the secret room were protected by the sheet music, and while the musical notes acted as intermediaries, the true source of the curse’s power lay in the sheet music. When A’Ao played, he would certainly take out this sheet.

Once the sheet music was gone, A’Ao’s plan would fail.

“Furthermore, the quest explicitly stated that the piano is the Director’s soul. Whether we destroy or take the sheet music, the piano will lose its protective power, and destroying it can severely harm A’Ao.”

Faint sounds of the bookshelf being moved came from outside, and the falling lime from the ceiling was the sign that the secret room was about to be opened.

Wen Shi’s cloak wouldn’t be usable until tomorrow, and the time he could remain invisible had been halved compared to when he was in the operating room. After activating the item, he stood in the direction visible from the piano room, diagonally opposite to the other players.

Later, he would stand in front of A’Ao, with the remaining players behind him.

The secret door opened.

A massive pale shadow loomed in. A’Ao’s footsteps were slightly louder than usual, and his gait was somewhat heavier.

Wen Shi took a deep breath, pressed his back against the icy wall, and raised his gaze forward.

Considering A’Ao’s size, the hand he forcefully stitched didn’t match his body at all. The patterns at the connection were very conspicuous, but the control offered by those crimson long lines couldn’t be underestimated. A’Ao’s finger dexterity remained unaffected.

As for his expression, the venom in his eyes was so intense that it seemed to scorch through the air. The muscles on A’Ao’s face were twitching, his beard trembling. He was clearly furious, especially when he saw that there was no one in the office. He became even more convinced that he had been ambushed and that Wen Shi was involved.

“Aa-ron…” Each syllable was squeezed out through clenched teeth.

A’Ao had an irrational tendency to pin blame on Wen Shi.

Even though, from the outside, Wen Shi appeared powerless, A’Ao still held him responsible for his lost X. The empty office to A’Ao looked like a sign of a guilty conscience.

Finally sitting down by the piano, A’Ao only perched on half of the stool, mindful of his wound.

He pulled out a sheet of music from his dirty white coat.

Faced with this weapon that could potentially become a super divine item, everyone couldn’t help but hold their breath.

There were no obvious creases on the surface of the sheet. It wasn’t made of ordinary paper but a thin material, possibly some animal’s skin. At this moment, it automatically adhered to the music stand.

In an instant, the glow emanating from the piano’s exterior intensified. A’Ao’s two completely mismatched hands were gently placed on the piano keys.

Ding—

The piano’s sound, amplified through speakers, wafted through the hospital. Even on the fifth floor, one could catch snippets of the melody. Throughout the entire building, all the lurking gloomy emotions were stirred by this music. On this cold rainy day, the indoor temperature dropped a few degrees again.

The sudden temperature drop caused goosebumps to rise on Wen Shi’s skin. He stood sternly across from the piano.

Anger was the best way to disrupt a monster. If A’Ao had been a bit more cautious, he might have noticed that some of the amplifiers had been deliberately damaged by Ji Yuanzhi. He could have chosen to carefully inspect the environment first instead of hastily playing the deadly tune upon entering.

The music had only played a few notes, but Wen Shi’s expression gradually became restless. The chilling sensation creeping under his skin triggered a visceral reaction, making him feel nauseous.

Although the melody was melodious, its effect could easily rival that of the Wandering Corpse’s harp, or even surpass it.

Ji Yuanzhi and the others were in slightly better shape, not because they were stronger, but because they had heard the Wandering Corpse’s performances before. Now, even with the darkest musical styles, they had developed a certain level of “immunity.”

Wen Shi, as the Wandering Corpse’s master, was only affected by one percent each time and did not possess the same formidable resistance to pressure as others.

Amidst the strongly affecting performance, Ji Yuanzhi shifted forward a bit, enduring it for half a minute. Throughout this time, he kept his gaze fixed on the sheet music to prevent the possibility of the piece ending in less than thirty seconds. Shortly after A’Ao got into the rhythm, he made a clenched-fist gesture.

Almost simultaneously, everyone sprang into action.

Wen Shi had witnessed A’Ao’s crisis response in the operating room. He shouted, “Director!” just before A’Ao could vaguely sense something and react.

The piercing sound entered his ears without warning, instantly igniting boundless rage.

“Aaron!”

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