After spending a little time in Room 216 and then coming out, there was no need to worry about encountering Chad again anytime soon.
Thus, Feng Bujue slowed his pace slightly.
To make a long story short, ten minutes later, he reentered the elevator and pressed the button labeled B1.
The elevator doors slowly closed, and a rumbling sound echoed.
Before long, the doors opened again. In front of him was a corridor only five meters long, and opposite it was a thick metal door.
"What is this, a bank vault or something..." Feng Bujue muttered as he stepped out of the elevator.
In those few steps from the elevator door to the blood bank door, he seemed to have figured something out, and suddenly smiled. "Right... in a kingdom of monsters, blood is definitely something that needs to be carefully guarded."
Soon, Feng Bujue took out his key and opened the blood bank door. Before he even went inside, he heard someone speaking, "Who is it?"
This "person's" voice was very unique, like the hooting of an owl. Even when saying a short sentence, there was still a strange "coo..." sound coming from their throat.
"It's me..." Feng Bujue reacted quickly. Without even thinking, he replied, "Lester."
"Oh..." the speaker responded casually.
While answering, Jue-Ge had already poked his head into the room...
Behind the metal door was a space of about two hundred square meters. Compared to the other rooms in the hospital, this place was surprisingly spacious. In the very center of the blood bank was only a desk, and low-temperature blood storage cabinets were neatly arranged around the room, standing against the walls.
At this moment, the "person" sitting at the desk was slowly flipping through a magazine, seemingly used to "Lester's" visits.
"Because it's underground... is that why the space is so spacious..." Feng Bujue muttered as he walked into the room, looking around.
"You're on duty today." The one sitting at the desk spoke again.
After getting closer, Feng Bujue noticed that this guy was also an unbelievably bizarre NPC...
This person's face could be divided into three layers... First, the bottom layer of his skin was like rock, pitted and uneven, faintly glowing; then, on top of this layer of skin, grew a sparse layer of light green hair, which looked quite soft... Finally, on the outer layer of his face, was a layer of material like a fence, crisscrossing and covering his face, with a texture much like human fingernails.
When Feng Bujue saw this face, three sentences immediately popped into his head: "What is your purpose in coming to Earth? Is this performance art? Are you itchy?"
Of course, he wouldn't actually say those words.
"Yeah, it's me." After quickly glancing at the other person's name tag, Jue-Ge continued, "How's it going tonight... Frank?"
"Same old, same old." Frank replied. "It's always the same for us who work in seventy-two hour shifts (some monsters only sleep once every few days)." As he spoke, he glanced at Feng Bujue. "You're just in time. Can you help me peel an apple?" He nodded towards an apple placed on the table.
When Feng Bujue heard this request, he couldn't help but feel a little strange, thinking: Can't this guy peel it himself? And... how does he know I happen to have a folding knife on me?
Although he was a little suspicious, in order not to give himself away, Feng Bujue did as he was told. He picked up the apple, leaned against the edge of the desk, and began to peel it over a wastepaper basket.
"Thanks, you always go to the trouble." Frank said, putting down the magazine in his hand and taking out a file and pen from the desk. "You're here to get blood for the Earl, right?"
"Could this guy be able to read minds..." Feng Bujue thought to himself, "That's impossible... could he have already seen through me?"
"Ah... yes." Jue-Ge was breaking out in a cold sweat, but on the surface he still acted normal, responding to the other person with a calm tone.
"Okay, I just need to fill out a few forms." As Frank spoke, he busied himself, lowering his head. "Just wait a moment."
At this time, Feng Bujue noticed that Frank's left hand seemed to be disabled. He had no fingers on that left hand, only two short pieces of stone (meat for him) protruding from the palm. Frank could barely use this hand to hold the paper, but he certainly couldn't hold an apple or a knife.
"You're such a good person, Lester." Frank said. "Ah... I wonder who else will specifically come and peel apples for me after you leave." As he spoke, he shook his head and let out another long sigh.
"Heh..." Feng Bujue smiled and replied, "Perhaps... other people have a different opinion than you, there must be quite a few people hoping I'll leave, right?"
Jue-Ge remembered very clearly that the opening monologue at the beginning of the script mentioned... "No one likes you, Lester"; "The human resources department has decided to fire you, you will be replaced by a gentleman who is about to retire... everyone thinks he can do better than you"...
"What are you talking about?" Frank raised his head, his eyes gradually glowing. "You're the most popular employee here... although you often do things that are against the rules, you're always helping everyone out. I heard the Director is determined to fire you, and everyone is very sad."
"What?" Feng Bujue stopped peeling the apple, his expression changed slightly, and he asked, "Wait... what about... Chad? He should be hoping I'll leave, right?"
"What's wrong with you today? Why are you saying such strange things." Frank replied with a puzzled expression. "You and Chad are best friends, you've been buddies since preschool all the way through high school." He sighed slightly. "I know that Chad has been unable to get over the pain of his sister's death, and has even blamed you for it, but I think you will eventually make up..."
When Feng Bujue heard this, his expression suddenly changed drastically, and his mind raced: "What's going on... this is different from the monologue at the beginning of the script..." Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, "Wait... if the person who said that monologue... is the Director..."
............
Two minutes later, Feng Bujue finished peeling the apple and placed it in front of Frank, smiling and saying, "Alright, buddy."
Frank said, "Ah... I still have to work here for a while." He tilted his head slightly. "Type B blood is in the usual place, in cabinet number 17, just take two bags."
"Okay." Feng Bujue replied, walked to the wall, opened the freezer, and took out two bags of type B blood.
Then, he turned around and headed towards the door.
"Uh... I'll just ask." When Feng Bujue reached the door, he stopped again, turned his head and said, "You should know the current date and time, right, Frank?"
This was a very obvious thing. A person who works in an underground blood bank, rotating shifts every seventy-two hours, should have something to keep track of time. Otherwise... if the person taking over his shift never came, he might unknowingly stay there forever...
"It's..." Frank didn't look at any clocks or instruments, his eyes suddenly became very serious. "December sixth, three thirty in the morning." He paused, looked up and stared straight into Jue-Ge's eyes and said, "Lester... your time is really running out."
He wasn't the first person (or monster) to remind Lester to pay attention to "time"... but the system had never given any related prompts.
"I'll be as quick as possible, don't worry." Feng Bujue replied, then he was silent for two seconds, and before leaving, he still left a sentence, "You... take care."
At this time, Jue-Ge's eyes were solemn, he seemed to already know something...
He quickly walked into the elevator, returned to the second floor, and immediately ran down the hallway.
"As expected..." Feng Bujue said as he ran, "After I 'realized' it, the physiological reaction appeared..." He looked down at his hand, his entire palm had turned purplish-black.
"Huff..." He tried to exhale, and white mist appeared.
"Time is indeed running out." Feng Bujue thought to himself, "The currently unexplained props are... a white sock, a backup key that I don't know what door it opens, and a small mirror... hopefully they'll be useful..." He glanced at his palm again, "Huff... after dropping off this blood delivery task, I have to go to the third floor no matter what... judging by the current situation, I can only last for another hour at most... Lester's 'body' will die..."