"Let's... get moving," Li Xiaobai said, wrinkling his nose. He pulled out two tissues from nowhere and stuffed them into his nostrils.

"Are you okay, Xiaobai?" I moved closer and gently felt his forehead.

"Pfft~" He suddenly clamped his hand over his nose again.

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously.

Moxiaoi yanked me away, shooting Li Xiaobai an exasperated look. "Stop hurting him. He's suffered enough—it's his own fault."

"Huh? How am I hurting Xiaobai?" I gave a puzzled expression.

"...Don't make that face at me." Moxiaoi froze, stunned. Damn! That look was unfair~ It worked on everyone!

Oh no—I even felt a sudden urge to tackle this adorable little cross-dresser. No! Moxiaoi, you're a seventeen-year-old girl! How could you think such shameless things?

"Move! No more chatter!" Moxiaoi snapped, striding ahead toward the opposite stairwell.

"Xiaobai, you good? Let's go." I tugged his arm.

"Mhm~ Going~ going." He kept his nose covered as we followed Moxiaoi.

Since Xiaobai had already scavenged the entire fifth floor, we reached the stairwell down to the fourth without obstacles. Unlike the one we'd descended earlier—which blocked access upward—this stairwell led freely downward.

The moment we prepared to descend, Moxiaoi and Li Xiaobai instantly turned serious. Moxiaoi checked her new compound bow; unlike before, she now carried a quiver with at least five or six black arrows. She nocked one carefully and stepped down.

Beside me, Li Xiaobai had swapped to a fresh machete.

Ugh... I'd changed into a nurse uniform too. This skirt was way too short, leaving my thighs exposed to the cool air. I held it down with one hand as I descended slowly.

Suddenly, Li Xiaobai grabbed me and shoved me back.

"Huh?" I gasped. Was he getting lecherous again!?

"Hey~ We've got company," he called to Moxiaoi ahead.

"Seen it." Moxiaoi had already raised her bow, drawn and aimed—but I couldn't see the target from the stairs.

"Stay sharp," Li Xiaobai muttered. Flashlight in his left hand, machete in his right, he rushed to Moxiaoi's side.

"Ahhh, my hat!" I pressed down my skirt, steadied the nurse cap on my head, pulled scissors from my chest, and hurried down.

Moxiaoi and Li Xiaobai stood at the stairwell entrance, looking utterly bewildered.

I joined them. At the left corridor entrance sat a man on a chair he'd dragged there. He watched us with relaxed amusement. He wasn't Asian—a young white guy, clean-cut and refined, yet idly twirling a black, claw-shaped dagger.

In this eerie setting, he felt jarringly out of place.

Moxiaoi, Li Xiaobai, and I stayed silent, waiting for him to speak. He didn't seem hostile, but Moxiaoi kept her bow trained on him, alert.

He smiled, stopped playing with the dagger, and said playfully, "Not that fifth-floor couple? Oh, two pretty girls instead." His Chinese was fluent.

"Who are you?" Moxiaoi asked coldly.

"Hello, lovely lady. William Smith." He rose slowly, bowing like nobility.

He seemed polite. I gripped my scissors tighter, standing beside Xiaobai.

"Your teammates?" Li Xiaobai asked, his tone neutral—he sensed William was decent too.

"Dead. I killed everyone on this floor," William replied lightly, smiling.

"..." Moxiaoi's eyes turned icy.

"..." Li Xiaobai narrowed his eyes.

"..." I flinched.

Instant regret—I'd thought he was nice!

"I expected that couple who fled back to five to finally challenge me~ Guess they got taken out." William sat back down, resuming his dagger play.

Had that fifth-floor pair come here? Why flee back? Challenge? My head spun with questions.

"You think you can beat all three of us alone?" Moxiaoi sneered.

"No!" he shot back instantly.

Moxiaoi, Xiaobai, and I exchanged silent stares. This guy was unhinged—impossible to read.

He just smiled, stood again. "Let's play a game."

"...What game?"

"Hide-and-seek. Like the killer's game. Fourth floor only. Find and kill me—you win. I kill you—you lose. Rule: I only use this little claw knife." He waved the black blade.

"What's your gain?" Moxiaoi asked coldly, puzzled.

"Fun." William shook his head, still smiling.

"You... are you the killer?" I whispered timidly.

"No. Call me his biggest fan, beautiful nurse." He grinned elegantly.

Another psycho with a twisted moral compass! Why was this hospital full of them? And I'm not a nurse! I raged internally.

"Skip the game. I'll kill you now—that's our win." Moxiaoi's voice was icy, arrow ready to fly.

"Heh. Try it, lovely lady." He remained poised, supremely confident.

"...Die then." Moxiaoi frowned and loosed an arrow without hesitation.

William hooked the chair with his foot, kicked it up—and blocked the arrow mid-air at the last second.

Unfazed, Moxiaoi drew another black arrow, nocked it smoothly, and aimed.

William tossed something at his feet. "Bang!" Thick smoke flooded the corridor. He vanished. Moxiaoi lost her target.

"Homemade smoke bomb..." She kept her bow raised, guarding against the fog.

"Stay back," Li Xiaobai ordered, shielding me with his body. Machete ready, his face was stone-cold.

"Game start~" William's voice echoed from the smoke.

The fog cleared. He was gone.

"Gone."

"Chase him?" Moxiaoi lowered her bow slightly.

"Trap!" I hissed from behind them.

"Right. Could be a trick. Truth or lie about his team? Dead or hiding?" Moxiaoi analyzed calmly, glancing at Li Xiaobai.

Li Xiaobai stood silent, eyes closed.

"He's not lying. Only him on this floor. He's moving—I can't pin his location." He opened his eyes, serious now.

"Then what's there to fear?" Moxiaoi stepped forward.

"His confidence. I don't trust it. It unsettles me." Xiaobai moved too, signaling me to follow close.

As Moxiaoi reached William's former spot, the floor gave way beneath her. It shattered—she plummeted into the pit.

"Moxiaoi!" I screamed.

Xiaobai lunged, grabbing her arm at the edge.

"Pull me up!" Moxiaoi shrieked. Below, the third-floor ground was littered with bear traps among the rubble.

Fall, and she'd be crushed to paste.