Enforcer Manual
Chapter 398: Welcome Home_1

Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Welcome Home_1

Fengling collected many messages about the Benevolent Prosthesis Hospital on the website. Although no one had ever conducted a complete exploration here, the current known information indicated that this area was Medea’s domain, the Pollution Master, filled with pollution and monsters transformed by the pollution.

Those "Adventurers" who wandered in would never be treated kindly.

Father Bruno reminded all "Adventurers" not to be fooled by the hospital’s name. With monsters rampant inside, if one must explore this place, they should be prepared with a great deal of weapons, supplies, and hand sanitizer for unforeseen circumstances.

Fengling thought of the upcoming battle, but what awaited her at the other end of the hospital’s doors was a different scene altogether.

The hospital was bright. The light kept the fog at bay outside.

Its interior looked just like an ordinary hospital, filled with doctors and patients, but both the doctors and the patients were blurry silhouettes. Their faces couldn’t be seen clearly, and they seemed to completely ignore her presence.

The haziness in front of her was like a memory stored deep within her heart. She could clearly sense their presence, yet she could never quite grasp it.

However, once she set foot in the hospital, Fengling was suddenly struck by an intense thought.

Even though she had never been here in theory, the layout of the hospital felt incredibly familiar to her, almost instinctively leading her to the third floor.

Following her intuition, Fengling took steps forward but involuntarily stopped in front of a ward door.

Her reflection was mirrored on the glass of the ward door.

Time seemed to suddenly rewind several years. She was much shorter, still dressed in the attire of a swordsman practicing Sword Drawing Art. She remembered she always ran to this place in a hurry without having time to change out of her swordsman uniform.

Fengling quickened her pace, feeling as if she was racing against time.

She ascended the familiar staircase, walking past those who ignored her as if they were mere phantoms. With each step, the sealed memories seemed to crack open a little more.

She started to remember some things and suddenly realized that she should not be here.

Because the gradually resurfacing memories told her one thing: at this moment, she should be confined, "grounded" within her family home.

The family’s trial was coming up soon, and her father had great expectations of her.

He also promised her that as long as she completed the trial excellently, the family would lift the restrictions on her freedom. She could go anywhere she wanted and meet anyone she wished to see.

Clear-minded and calm, with a heart like still water.

She almost involuntarily thought of the mysteries of the Sword Drawing Art and the days and nights she spent grounded at her family’s house.

Then, she heard the doctors’ conversation.

They were standing in front of the ward, seemingly unconcerned that the patient on the bed might overhear their discussion.

"The test results are out. Complete collapse. She probably won’t last the night. Prepare to notify the company to start the recovery process. She held on for such a long time, the project team is very interested in her."

"But, what about her family?"

"When she was brought in, we had already signed the rights to her remains. They’ll also get a substantial sum of money. Maybe they even wish the girl would die sooner."

"Do we need to notify the family?"

"I’ll notify them."

...

The blurred figures of the doctors quickly allocated their tasks. They passed by the panting Fengling, disappearing at the end of the corridor.

She looked through the glass of the door and gazed from afar at the person on the bed.

The patient seemed very cold. She curled up in the blankets, wrapping herself tightly, but even that seemed unable to ward off the chill.

Unliked the last time Fengling saw her, this time there was no one beside the bed, only the patient alone.

The alarms from the various machines around her had become quite bothersome.

The person on the bed seemed unable to tolerate the cold any longer. She slowly propped herself up, reaching toward the side cabinet and taking out a matchbox someone had put in there.

She also picked up the saber that was leaning against the headboard, holding it in her arms, as if it could bring her some warmth.

Then, she struck a match.

The match ignited with an ice-blue flame. She seemed to feel no heat from the fire at all, stretching her mutated hand, covered with white scales, into the flames.

The first match quickly burned out, and its ashes fell onto the bedsheets.

The person on the hospital bed seemed unsatisfied with the fleeting light. She lit a second match, and this time, the patient brought the flame close to the blanket.

Before the ice-blue flame could touch the blanket, someone caught her wrist.

The person on the bed was taken aback and looked up at Fengling, who had suddenly burst through the door and was also looking at her.

Clear as day, Fengling could see the patient’s face and every detail on her body. She might be the only person in the hospital who remained lucid. Her breathing grew heavier, and her heart felt as if it were in her throat.

She felt a real touch on her palm.

The object she was holding was as cold as ice, so cold that she couldn’t help but shiver.

At that moment, she finally understood the Adventurer’s advice.

Perhaps, this was indeed the best possible ending.

One afternoon, she sensed something and evaded all the guards and servants, fleeing from her family home. She raced to the hospital recklessly and burst in just in time for this final meeting.

Fengling’s hand was starting to feel numb from the cold, but this allowed her to grip the other’s hand tightly.

Those sealed memories kept flashing through her mind, incessantly reminding her of one thing.

Right now, she couldn’t possibly be here.

After those two doctors had left, the patient was left alone in the ward. Therefore, no one was there to stop her attempted act of setting the blanket on fire.

She learned the news three days later.

The fire had resulted in one death and twelve injuries.

Staff from Man Sheng Biopharmaceutical found her saber in the charred remains of the ward and returned it to her.

And the person on the hospital bed...

In the words of the company employees, the fire had burned everything to a crisp, leaving nothing behind.

For a moment, Fengling harbored the thought of freezing time at this moment, perhaps to preserve this relatively perfect ending, so she wouldn’t have to return to reality and face an alternate ending provided by her memories.

The truth was, she hadn’t been to the hospital for almost half a month due to being grounded before the fire broke out.

She had never heard the conversation of those two doctors, nor did she know how the other had walked the last path of her life.

Fengling didn’t know how long she had stood by the hospital bed, but both she and the patient maintained a tacit silence.

Until she saw a look of relief spread across the other’s face. She fumbled for a capsule and slowly brought it to Fengling’s lips.

In an instant, all light vanished without a trace.

The peeling walls revealed their charred forms.

Neither the hospital bed nor the person on it were to be seen anymore.

An icy chill spread through Fengling’s entire body; the place was as cold as hell, and she was now right at the boundary leading there.

No longer was there any warm scene before her, only a monster with a fearsome and terrifying face, whose huge body nearly filled the entire ward. The monster still retained traces of human contours.

The monster looked down at Fengling, its eyes showing a hint of timidity.

However, faced with the hideous monster that could scare anyone into nightmares for several days, Fengling squinted her eyes and smiled.

She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around the monster’s body.

—"Welcome home."