Chapter 1492: 1490: Starting Out

Chapter 1492: Chapter 1490: Starting Out

Due to forcibly compressing his level down to that of an ordinary person,

even someone like Han Dong, with the Black Vortex Trunk, had to slowly adjust to the sudden sense of “weakness.”

Thus, Han Dong decided to feign sleep and remain lying on the bed, avoiding any ‘getting up’ or ‘leaving the private room’ actions that might trigger some kind of dangerous storyline.

During this Adaptation Period, Han Dong carefully observed his surroundings in the [Private Room].

1. The room was equipped with a sunlit glass window, currently covered entirely by blackout curtains… What seemed odd was the eerie stillness—no sounds of car horns or bustling noises came through the window.

2. A television was mounted on the wall opposite the sickbed. A red dot in the lower right corner confirmed it was powered on, but considering that turning on the TV might activate a storyline, Han Dong refrained from doing so for now.

3. There were bedside tables on either side of the bed.

The left-side table held a pot of green ivy, with a visible ladybug crawling on one of its leaves. Han Dong silently made note of this detail—after all, the world he was in was called “Ladybug Day.”

Though, perhaps the term ‘ladybug’ held deeper significance.

On the right-side table was a platter of fresh fruit, with a newspaper dated several months ago tucked underneath.

The headline on the front page instantly caught Han Dong’s attention.

“Serial Killer Disappears Again, Public Questions Police Competence”

“A massacre occurred at the Baynum Street Club, involving 73 casualties—including the local gang [Nest Organization] and several civilians.

The suspect, despite sustaining severe injuries, mysteriously vanished. The police currently have no leads on the case…”

“Hm?”

Han Dong’s first thought upon reading this report was about himself.

What’s more, the newspaper’s date matched the timeline of his hospitalization.

What was puzzling, however, was that if he truly were the suspect, his free arm would likely be cuffed to the bedframe.

The room itself would also be under strict surveillance.

But no detective had appeared, nor could he spot any cameras… This type of peaceful and quiet private room didn’t resemble a suspect’s holding environment at all.

“I’m more likely to be a survivor of this massacre.”

Based on the information in the private room, this was the extent of what Han Dong could deduce.

Another matter was the issue of his teammates.

“The team must have been scattered at the start of the incident. If everyone is staying in this hospital, with Green’s personality, I should have heard some sort of commotion by now… But nothing has happened.

For now, let’s gradually explore the hospital and figure things out.

This Fate Event, which is exceptionally difficult, makes the opening moves particularly important.”

Once he had mostly adjusted to his physical state, Han Dong prepared to make a move.

He didn’t press the bedside bell but instead removed the IV needle himself… If the entire hospital was compromised, touching the bedside bell would be equivalent to suicide.

“The Crow outfit is unusable too?”

Dressed in hospital pajamas, Han Dong repeatedly tapped the back of his right hand, to no effect. Eventually, he found a set of clean clothes in the wardrobe—a leather jacket, jeans, sneakers, and a baseball cap.

He didn’t find any related identification documents or a wallet, however.

When he tried to turn on the television, it displayed a “No Signal” message.

Opening the curtains, the scene that greeted him left Han Dong momentarily stunned. There was a strange sense of returning to his world of the living…

Judging by a rough estimation, Han Dong’s private room was likely on the [13th floor], overlooking a bustling cityscape.

Streams of people and vehicles passed by, and the skyscrapers allowed him to deduce that “Ladybug Day” corresponded to a human world close to the 21st century.

However, one thing was distinctly odd.

Even after he opened the window, the entire private room remained eerily silent.

The car horns and street chatter he should have heard were completely absent, to the point where Han Dong began wondering whether the character he was playing might be deaf.

Until he clapped his hands and the crisp sound echoed clearly through his ears.

“This complete inability to hear outside sounds… Does it imply the hospital itself exists in a sort of isolated state?

What would happen if I climbed out from here? With my physical fitness, scaling a building like this wouldn’t be a problem.”

Since there were no instructions explicitly forbidding it, Han Dong climbed out of the window without hesitation.

The muscles in his right arm swelled, and veins wriggled like worms beneath the skin.

Although his level was forced down to a common person’s, certain physical traits remained intact.

His right arm retained a small amount of Ghoul-fused, G-virus-modified traits. In terms of strength, Han Dong estimated he could perform around eighty one-arm pull-ups.

His left arm retained faint traces of the Yellow Sand system. It couldn’t cast magic, and its Death-related traits were completely absent.

The only thing it could do was “Contact Weathering.” By pressing his palm against an object, Han Dong could gradually sandify it. The process’s speed depended on the material’s strength.

With the combination of these two traits, climbing was effortless for Han Dong.

Whenever he encountered a section without footholds, his left hand easily created a small sandified indentation, while his right hand’s strength easily supported his weight as he moved up and down.

And so, Han Dong climbed downward slowly.

Something unsettling happened… Each floor corresponded to an identical private room. For a hospital, this was normal.

However, the rooms Han Dong observed through the windows were unnervingly similar—practically carbon copies.

Not just in their layout,

but even the bedside fruits, newspapers, and greenery were exactly the same.

After descending eight floors, there were no distinguishable differences among the rooms… That was when Han Dong shifted his focus away from the rooms and looked down below.

The scene before his eyes abruptly startled him, to the point where he almost slipped and fell.

“What is this? I’ve climbed down eight whole floors… yet the distance to the ground hasn’t changed at all! It’s still around ten or so stories high.”

Han Dong dared not release his grip and jump down. With his current physique, the fall would surely shatter him to pieces.

Resolutely abandoning the idea of escaping the hospital through the window,

Han Dong climbed back up the same route to his own floor, re-entering the private room.

Huff… huff… Sweat

streamed down his forehead incessantly.

“Physical stamina is another issue; it’ll take time to adjust… Jeez, this Fate System really doesn’t cut me any slack. Couldn’t it just prevent me from climbing out of the window in the first place? Why go through all this trouble?

Perhaps the only way to leave the hospital is through proper channels.”

After resting briefly to recover his spent energy from the climb,

Han Dong cautiously pushed open the private room door.

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed nurse was standing right at the doorway, her expression somewhat flustered.

“Mr. Nicholas, why did you get out of bed by yourself? Well, on the bright side, it’s good to see you moving around freely.

We’ve just received a notification that a highly dangerous serial killer has sneaked into the hospital and is hiding somewhere. The police are on their way.

Please stay in your room and lock the door. We’ll notify you once the danger has been fully eliminated.”

After saying this, the blonde nurse hurriedly left to inform the next patient.

“A serial killer? Hiding in the hospital…”

With a puzzled expression, Han Dong waited for the nurse to move out of sight before quietly slipping out.