Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 97

Chapter 97.1 Crimson Sunset Expedition

Nightfall, Crimson Sunset Cosmetic Surgery Clinic.

Inside the not-so-big building, the intermittent sounds of chasing and fighting soon subsided into silence.

The VIP ward was on the fourth floor, where there were not only patrolling security guards but also nurses on duty. Players and shadows, attempting to steal patients’ wristbands, was having a hard time. But most of the security guards working the night shift were down on the two underground floors. Wen Shi, who was in that area, didn’t see any improvement as predicted by the turtleguy.

At that time, Wen Shi was in a small room where monsters were kept. The smell of leftover meat in the metal basin reached his nose.

Outside, a dull dragging sound could be heard. The footsteps grew nearer until they stopped right outside the door of the room where he was hiding.

Wen Shi looked up and saw a creature with a goat’s head and a human body standing at the doorway in the dim light. The two black goat horns didn’t look nice, and its odd rectangular pupils were level with the ground.

Blood was flowing in through the gap under the door. The creature opened the door, carrying a nearly lifeless bloody body.

The goat-like creature wasn’t affected by the body’s corrosiveness. Dressed as a security guard, it skillfully placed the body on the operating table. Wen Shi quickly moved to avoid getting hit by the splattering blood.

Putting aside the lewd connotations in Western tales, goats symbolized justice and wisdom. With the uniform he wore, it was enough to show that he was different from the bloody corpse. The two sides could communicate.

Inside the cramped room, Wen Shi deliberately exposed the arm with the wristband, spouting nonsense from his mouth, “I wanted to take a relaxing walk before the surgery, but I got lost.”

The burglar quest had clearly hinted that a patient’s wristband could work as a disguise once.

The game’s prompt sounds might mislead, but they wouldn’t lie. When the goat-headed security guard saw the wristband, he halted his advance. He didn’t exchange any useless words with Wen Shi. He simply turned around.

Wen Shi pondered briefly and followed him out.

This assessment was accurate. Almost the instant he trailed the goat-headed security guard outside, the latter turned back and locked the iron door again. Anyone even slightly slower would have been trapped inside.

The security guard’s muscular frame jolted Wen Shi’s nose bridge. He thought the guard might threaten him to leave or at least keep an eye on him entering the elevator, but nothing happened in reality.

The security guard’s figure vanished once again into the labyrinthine underground floor. The terrifying chains around his waist occasionally made a clattering sound. Wen Shi moistened his dry lips. Emotionless NPCs were the hardest to deal with. They wouldn’t listen to any explanations, acting solely according to the rules.

If he got caught again next time, he would surely be in deep trouble.

“Someone’s deliberately messing with me.”

If, initially, he only had suspicions, now he was certain of this fact.

Wen Shi forced himself to focus. No matter what, he needed to get hold of the blueprint. The game had issued this specific task, proving that without the blueprint’s guidance, he wouldn’t be able to locate that ultra-rare Divine Evolution Potion. Before he could take another step, Wen Shi’s gaze turned sharp as he glanced toward a certain direction. An odd and faint sound was coming from around the corner.

It seemed like today was the day when his luck had reset to 0. Just as he escaped the bloody corpse, he encountered something else.

About ten seconds passed, and nothing happened, but a super intense sense of danger welled up within Wen Shi.

Behind him!

Sensing the source of danger, Wen Shi was about to take out his kitchen knife and strike back when a familiar voice reached him.

“Close your eyes.”

Closing his eyes, Wen Shi twisted and rolled on the ground. Almost simultaneously, where he had been standing, a deformed ghost child fell down. The ghost child was already dead, its mouth gaping in a large “O” shape, a mixture of fierceness and some fear lingering in its savage expression. At the same time, the blood-soaked ceiling was lifted, and a petite figure deftly landed on the ground.

“Are you okay, my deer grandson?”

Wen Shi shook his head.

“This space is quite odd. It took me some effort to squeeze in,” the old lady said with a gentle tone, effectively masking the fact that she had recently used sinister methods to kill a ghost child.

She appeared as if she had just used mysterious methods to kill a ghost child.

This quiet method of killing was somewhat like a curse. The ghost children on the train were the same. Before they died, they seemed to have experienced something extremely terrifying.

Wen Shi looked up at the ceiling, pondering how he could later escape from the lower level through it in case of an emergency.

The old lady knew what he was thinking. “There’s a drainage pipe above. It’s filled with potent toxins, and there’s a blood-red membrane on the outside as a barrier. Ordinary people would find it hard to get out alive.”

Upon hearing this, Wen Shi sighed with regret.

“Your arm…” The old lady frowned.

“It’s alright.” Wen Shi didn’t have time to worry about the corroded wound on his arm. As long as he swallowed the potion at intervals, maintaining his health wasn’t a major concern. “Grandma, I need to find the control room as soon as possible.”

While speaking, he hurriedly continued to explore ahead.

After reuniting with the old lady, he wasn’t sure if she emitted some special aura, but he took two consecutive turns down long corridors without encountering any more experimental subjects.

The decrease in danger didn’t bring any joy. Every passing second heightened the sense of unease.

Where on earth was that damned control room located?

Just as Wen Shi wandered aimlessly in the silent corridor, the old lady by his side asked with an uncertain tone, “My dear grandson, are you sure it’s on this level?”

Wen Shi suddenly paused and shook his head. “I can only be sure it’s underground.”

The old lady: “I mentioned earlier that this space is quite odd. The first time I came to find you, I almost got deceived and didn’t even notice this floor. I went straight down to the first underground floor.

“… Later, it was because I’m sensitive to the aura of these filthy things that I realized something was wrong.”

Wen Shi furrowed his brows. “There’s a folk belief that Yin energy can disrupt magnetic fields. There are many monsters on this level. It indeed doesn’t seem suitable for a control room.”

The old lady nodded. “The first underground floor isn’t entirely safe either. It seems like something is lurking in the shadows there. There’s no light there, only a faint glow from one spot. I don’t know if that’s the control room you’re looking for.”

Wen Shi glanced at his phone. Almost three minutes had passed.

“Time is running out. Wandering around like a headless fly won’t help.” His gaze turned stern. “Let’s first check the first underground floor.”

The old lady nodded.

In the instant they turned around one after the other, Wen Shi suddenly attacked without warning. First, he kicked the old lady’s slender waist, and the next second, he grabbed a kitchen knife. With its sharp edge against her neck, his eyes turned a crimson red. “Don’t move.”

The influence of the knife on a person was substantial. Wen Shi’s throat felt tight. “While I’m still rational, do what I say.”

He took a deep breath. “Take me to the control room. Let’s be clear upfront. At most, I can last about three or four minutes without bloodshed. If we haven’t reached the destination by then, don’t blame me for resorting to violence.”

Questions and defenses were stuck in the throat as the blade had already sunk a centimeter into the skin. To counter the further harm from the blade, the skin of the ‘old lady’ sprouted numerous particles. In no time, her head turned elliptical, eyes bulging, and her back seemed to swell as if it had grown a lump, while her skin’s color changed.

Two words popped into Wen Shi’s mind: chameleon-like creature.

This chameleon-like creature was petite, making it easier for him to control.

The blade scraped against skin and flesh, as Wen Shi’s grip wavered. The aura of killing emanating from him indirectly confirmed he wasn’t lying. If he couldn’t reach the control room soon, he would undoubtedly incapacitate the chameleon-like creature.

“Hurry up,” he urged.

Never doubt the agility of a cat. With one hand gripping the creature’s clothes and the other holding the knife, Wen Shi maintained a brisk pace.

At this speed, even the slightest movement of vocal cords would bring the blade closer, but the chameleon-like creature couldn’t help but ask, “How did you figure it out?”

The chameleon-like creature believed its role-playing was flawless. It was a natural impersonator, emitting an aura of affability. Even the ghost child he had poisoned beforehand showed nearly identical behavior to the one on the train at the moment of its demise.

The chameleon-like creature was also a passenger on the K6666 train. Lurking in the shadows, it had been covertly observing every tourist. As a part of the night shift security team, it was even more cunning compared to the goat-headed security guard. It rode the same shuttle bus as the tourists to prevent any cursed thieves who might be attempting to cause trouble while experiencing the free cosmetic surgery services at the hospital.

“You’ve been leading me towards the first underground floor.”

“That’s it?” The chameleon-like creature didn’t understand what was so suspicious about it.

Wen Shi resisted his urge to explain and didn’t go into too much detail.

The first thing he did upon reaching the first underground level was to observe the ceiling, corners, and other places to ensure there were no cameras. If there were no cameras, it suggested that the control room might be on the same level.

Otherwise, all his movements would be captured by cameras. The night shift security guards would easily catch him, leaving no possibility of completing the quest.

Adding to that, the underground and aboveground surveillance systems were separate. If there were no cameras on the first underground level, it meant that all the cameras would be concentrated there. Only under this premise did it make sense logically. He needed to find the control room on the first underground floor. While the mission demanded taking the blueprint, the actual priority was finding a way to disable the surveillance, setting the stage for his later entry to the first underground level.

“I looked at the time in front of you and acted in a hurry, yet you didn’t propose splitting up.”

If it had been the old lady, she would definitely have suggested going to the first underground level first and splitting up.

Of course, there was one crucial point: There’s no dead end in the game.

Lacking clues to reach the control room himself, a ‘savior’ conveniently appeared at this moment.

Wen Shi sneered. “With your cunning nature, instead of informing the goat-headed security guard, you went through the trouble of disguising yourself to approach me. It reveals two things: catching thieves is a personal achievement for the guards, and your strength is mediocre.”

Only when unable to win would such a scheme be used.

The chameleon-like creature regretted deeply. How could this human be even more slippery than him?

Its ability was injecting venom, but except for the restrained experimental subjects, there were hardly any prey in a stationary state for it to inject toxins into.

If the prey willingly entered the first underground level, things would be different. Bringing food to the lurking monsters there, as repayment, the monsters would grant it a high-level Evolution Potion. One day, it would possess the formidable physical strength like the goat-headed security guard.

Led by the internal traitor, Wen Shi finally escaped the maze. The chameleon-like creature attempted to inject venom into his body several times, but it was thwarted by the mini octopus.

With each attempt, a fresh blood mark appeared on the chameleon-like creature’s neck. Its bulging eyes were filled with rage, almost wanting to roast the octopus right then and there.

The control room was just steps away. Wen Shi didn’t let his guard down. He pushed the chameleon-like creature in first.

The room was empty, only a few square displays stood there. The mini octopus shuffled over, using its injured tentacles to manipulate the mouse, attempting to view the first underground level’s footage.

Seeing this, Wen Shi couldn’t help but laugh, narrowly avoiding falling for the chameleon-like creature’s trick.

He slammed the back of his knife onto the chameleon-like creature’s head and forcefully kicked it into a corner, then headed straight to the desk where the blueprints were kept.

“Congratulations on successfully reaching the control room.”

“Congratulations on finding Blueprint*1.”

As Wen Shi took the blueprint, the dimly lit screen displayed a subtle glow. Suddenly, the mini octopus started playing a keyboard game, its big eyes rolling around.

Wen Shi glanced at it. Indeed, the first underground floor was dark and complex, resembling a maze. He had thought about taking a few pictures, but he remembered the tour guide’s warning about not taking photos, so he abandoned the idea.

“Destroy the computer casing. Let’s go.”

With only about ten minutes left, he had to hurry back as fast as possible.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake violently, not due to the mini octopus destroying the computer casing, but rather due to an earthquake. The whole process lasted for about a dozen seconds. The mini octopus held onto the shaking ground, then grabbed the keyboard and violently smashed the monitor, starting to violently wreck the computer.

“Quick, let’s go.” Wen Shi saw a duty roster posted on the wall.

Security guards would be on duty in the control room from midnight to 3 AM. If they didn’t leave now, they wouldn’t make it in time.

Thud.

Thud.

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