Chapter 3

The next morning, after Shen Shu struggled to perform the "separation from the blanket" ritual, he stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing his teeth. The icy water felt like his equally frigid heart—even in this new world, regardless of the work itself, going to work was always a fundamentally painful and sorrowful experience.

Shen Shu glanced at the time. Holy shit... no time for self-pity. I'm going to be late in twenty minutes!

He sprinted downstairs and managed to snag a public electric scooter. The scooter carried him away in a blur. As he turned onto the road leading to the hospital, he encountered a colleague also riding an electric scooter. They exchanged a look, twisted their throttles to the max, and barely made it to the time clock in the final minute.

Both let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

"Coffee's on me?" Shen Shu offered.

This was his commuting buddy, Zhang Ziran, a resident physician in cardiac surgery. Though not in the same department, they were considered colleagues as they worked at the same hospital. Zhang Ziran's entire work routine revolved around barely scraping by, always clocking in at the last possible moment. Whenever Shen Shu ran into Zhang Ziran on the road, it meant they were both teetering on the edge of being late that day.

"Okay, okay, thanks," Zhang Ziran replied, and he and Shen Shu headed toward the staff convenience store.

The hospital offered excellent employee benefits, including an in-house convenience store and coffee shop—chain brands with guaranteed quality. Each month, employees received vouchers that, if used sparingly, could cover all their meals.

The staff corridors were bustling with hurried medical personnel, and Zhang Ziran and Shen Shu were no exception. Although they weren't seeing patients today, they needed to return to their wards quickly—they would be joining the Chief Physician for rounds soon.

After all, it was Friday.

Zhang Ziran took a sip of his latte and sighed contentedly. "I really don't want to go back for rounds... I've got this patient who's a real pain every day. Yesterday, he even argued with a nurse, insisting she'd swapped his IV bag."

Shen Shu looked at him sympathetically. "You guys have it rough."

There was really nothing they could do with patients like this. They couldn't refuse treatment, so they could only do their best to manage the situation and hope the patient would be discharged soon. Once a patient filed a complaint, regardless of its validity, bonuses would inevitably be docked.

Zhang Ziran, looking like a lazy fish, gazed up at the stark white ceiling. "I really want to quit... Cardiac surgery is just too exhausting."

Shen Shu walked out of the staff exit with him and casually remarked, "Why not transfer to our Special Department? We're always short on staff anyway."

Their Special Department, officially the Sentinel-Guide Special Treatment Department, had four Guide Doctors (including Shen Shu) and three general practitioners. Their patient load was light; most were low-ranking Sentinels or retired Sentinels living in the city. Often, there were more doctors than patients.

Most Sentinels were busy eliminating contaminants or on their way to do so. Unless a Contaminated Zone suddenly appeared near the city, the department rarely had many patients.

Every city had a hospital with a Special Department. The probability of Sentinels and Guides awakening wasn't high, but as the saying goes, if you're a one-in-ten-thousand genius, in China you'd still have at least 140,000 such geniuses... And all 140,000 of them need medical care, right?

Awakening didn't automatically strip people of their human rights.

"We lost one recently; she got married," Shen Shu explained. "The Director wants to get the team up to eight doctors, and with your cardiac surgery expertise, you'd be a huge asset."

Zhang Ziran's eyes lit up. "Then I'll go back and submit an application to try..."

"No rush," Shen Shu said, glancing at his watch. "I need to do my rounds first. Come find me this afternoon, and I'll introduce you to the Director while I'm at it."

"I'll treat you to a feast!" Zhang Ziran gave Shen Shu a thumbs-up. After all, meeting in person always builds goodwill—it'll make his application easier to approve.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps and the squeak of wheels came from behind. Both men instinctively stepped aside. Moments later, several nurses rushed past, pushing a hospital bed. The patient was restrained but thrashing violently, his voice hoarse: "Mark me—! Mark—! Mark me—!"

His body was covered in blood, his eyes bloodshot. A large wound gaped across his abdomen, and one of the nurses was kneeling on the bed, pressing gauze against it. The fabric was already soaked crimson.

Massive hemorrhage. We'll need to assess the wound itself to be sure.

Shen Shu's eyes met the nurse's, and he immediately hurried after her, pushing open the door to the medical corridor. "This way!"

The nurses quickly wheeled the patient inside and took him to the special department via the medical elevator. Shen Shu grabbed the Sentinel's bulging, vein-covered arm and began administering the Guiding Substance. Almost instantly, the Sentinel stopped struggling, murmuring, "...Save... me..."

"Don't move now," Shen Shu said gently. "You're in the hospital. Everyone here is here to save you. Don't attack, don't fall asleep. Hold on... Remember this."

"Now, repeat it back to me."

The Sentinel slowly closed his eyes and said weakly, "I'm in... the hospital... Everyone... will save me... Don't attack... don't fall asleep..."

With one hand still on the Sentinel's arm, Shen Shu breathed a sigh of relief when the man successfully repeated the words. The Sentinel retaining some level of rationality and consciousness would make treatment much easier. If he couldn't answer, Shen Shu might have had to sedate him immediately.

Shen Shu turned to the nurse. "What's the situation?"

"A passerby found him and called the ambulance," the nurse said. "He's classified as severely injured, Grade II. The extent of mental contamination is unknown; the medical department is still investigating."

A passerby found him?

Was it a car accident, or did he get into a fight with another Sentinel?

Shen Shu had been working at the hospital for over three years, but he hadn't seen such severe injuries since that long-haul Sentinel who'd been transporting a truckload of steel bars. The accident had turned him into a sieve—for a normal person, it would have been a meat paste.

Ding. The floor arrived.

The entire 17th floor was the territory of the Special Department. Over 2,000 square meters were meticulously divided into isolation wards. Shen Shu immediately opened the nearest one. Three layers of sealed doors hissed open one after another, ushering the patient inside.

Shen Shu could finally move freely in this place. Through the control panel, he released a 30% concentration of sedative to substitute for his own Guiding Substance. Meanwhile, the nurses rushed to connect various instruments to the Sentinel's body. His clothes were quickly cut away, and with a coordinated "Three, two, one," they collectively lifted him onto a specialized, space-capsule-like bed.

Emergency medications were brought in. Only then did Shen Shu release the Sentinel's arm and signal the nurses to remove the gauze pressed against his abdomen.

As the wound was revealed, Shen Shu stepped forward, pressed the gauze firmly against it, and turned to bark, "Everyone out! Three rounds of sterilization before you leave the isolation zone!"

The nurses froze momentarily before scrambling out of the room like startled birds. After passing through the first sealed door, a thick white mist billowed from the airlock, beginning the sterilization process. These nurses had been in direct physical contact with the patient and required decontamination.

The journey there hadn't posed a risk, of course—contaminants couldn't survive in the air.

Only after confirming everyone had left did Shen Shu remove the gauze.

The wound was crescent-shaped, with clearly torn edges and exposed organs, along with corresponding missing tissue—not the result of a car accident or a knife fight, but a bite from a Mutant!

This Sentinel had nearly been devoured alive by a Mutant!

Shen Shu immediately sealed the treatment pod, locking the Sentinel inside. After verifying his identity with retinal scans, mechanical arms extended from the pod to insert an IV drip into the Sentinel's body. Simultaneously, the pod displayed the Sentinel's basic data. Shen Shu's pupils constricted: Grade B Sentinel, Contamination Value at 96%!

In the time it took him to read that, the Contamination Value had already risen to 97%!

He had entered the Alice Line!

Without hesitation, Shen Shu injected the Sentinel with 70% concentration SG21 to remove the contaminant. This highly concentrated contaminant removal agent was normally reserved for Grade A and above Sentinels, but there was no choice now but to dilute it. He was certain that without SG21, this Sentinel wouldn't survive two hours.

The Sentinel suddenly opened his eyes. Under Shen Shu's gaze, hair began to grow across his body at an almost grotesque speed, covering nearly all his skin within seconds. His ear tips gradually elongated and sharpened, his upper jaw began to cave inward, and a thin fissure appeared—he was mutating.

He looked at Shen Shu, his lips moving. He seemed to be forcing a bitter smile. Shen Shu read his lips and nodded. "Don't worry. The alarm has already been triggered."

The Sentinel's mutation value had exceeded 95% and was still rising rapidly. The System would automatically trigger an alarm—because he had to be killed before his Contamination Value reached 100%.

We can't let a warrior who defended his country become a bloodthirsty monster after death.

"I have intel. Contact superiors," the Sentinel said. "Hold on," Shen Shu replied, commanding the treatment pod to inject a large dose of highly concentrated sedative.

At least the sedative would ease his pain.

The azure liquid flowed into the Sentinel's body, and his tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed. Shen Shu sat beside him. He couldn't leave yet; the Sentinel could die at any moment, and he needed to be ready to intervene.

He glanced at the observation wall. The Director and colleagues were already waiting outside. Shen Shu raised his phone to signal them to check the work group chat and initiated a voice conference to discuss how to keep the Sentinel alive until official personnel arrived.

The official team arrived quickly, in about twenty minutes. It was a towering Sentinel. He gestured for Shen Shu to open the isolation chamber and let him in. When Shen Shu met his gaze, he felt an instinctive urge to avoid him.

Very strong—at least Grade S.

The Sentinel entered, his voice devoid of emotion. "Doctor, you may leave."

"After you exit, open the treatment pod and close the Observation Wall."

Shen Shu didn't say anything more and immediately left the isolation ward. He followed the Sentinel's instructions while sterilizing himself in the interlock chamber.

The Observation Wall closed, blocking the view from the outside.

During his third sterilization cycle, he heard a faint yet distinct thud from inside.

The Sentinel emerged, meeting Shen Shu in the interlock chamber. He looked at him as if asking, "Why haven't you left yet?"

Shen Shu's face remained impassive as he activated the sterilization program. "Disinfection will now commence. For safety, please remain calm."

His previous sterilization had been wasted. Now he had to repeat the process three more times with the Sentinel.

After three cycles of dense white mist, Shen Shu and the Sentinel exited together. Shen Shu saw the Sentinel signal to the personnel waiting outside, and then the team carrying the coffin entered the chamber.

With the body removed, Shen Shu and his colleagues stood at attention along the corridor, watching the team depart.