STB Chapter 23: Hairball

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.

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Monsters appearing in the Abandoned World.

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Monster? Li Fei was taken aback. He wondered where this monster came from, a creature from a different space? Or living people? Suddenly, he felt a violent shaking from his feet. Li Fei instinctively reached out to pull Jian Hua to an open place. 

Jian Hua’s reaction speed was also very fast. They reached out at almost the same time, then chose the same direction to escape. They almost missed the first time and the back of their hands hit each other. 

Ignoring the pain, they grabbed each other’s cuffs, slid down the cloth, and felt the other’s warm palms. 

Because of the urgent situation, both of them relied on instinct to fumble until finally, Jian Hua’s palm was wrapped in Li Fei’s hands. He instinctively wanted to change to a more secure position. As a result, his thumb was pressed down and couldn’t move anymore, so he could only let Li Fei hold his hand. 

The ground was still shaking. 

They only moved one foot when their view was shaken severely. 

Li Fei quickly discovered that the situation wasn’t right. He didn’t hear any screams. The nurses pushing the wheelchair were still looking down and talking to their patients, their figures swaying from left to right, but they seemed unaware of the abnormal earthquake. 

“Don’t move!”

“Abandoned World!”

As soon as they spoke, they stopped at the same time, endured the intense dizziness from the severe shaking, and calmly looked around. 

This was the first time they saw the coming of the Abandoned World. Before, when they opened the door/went out of the elevator, they discovered that the world had already changed. 

The surrounding scenery shook, so they need to hold each other’s hands to maintain balance. Suddenly, the ground cracked and formed an abyss, then the surroundings seemed to collapse. Li Fei felt his vision go black and found himself still standing in the same place. 

This was the flower garden in front of the inpatient building. The ground was full of fallen leaves and no building changed because of the “earthquake”. There were no cracks in the ground, but the walking crowd was nowhere to be seen. 

There was a cool breeze, but it was silent. 

Jian Hua freed his hand and reminded in a gloomy mood, “Let’s first determine how big is the overlap point.”

“Overlap point?” Li Fei was puzzled. 

“The Abandoned World and the real world overlap. If it happened in this area, potential ability holders will enter the Abandoned World. We need to go upstairs to see Geng Tian.”

If the inpatient building was included, the unconscious Geng Tian would be in danger since he couldn’t protect himself at all. 

The two hurried through the lobby of the inpatient building and took the elevator to the ninth floor of the General Surgery Department. They found no one in the ICU. The needle from the hanging bottles was on the bed, and the instrument that measures heart rate and blood pressure had an image that remained the same. 

“Is the overlap point so small?” Jian Hua muttered to himself. 

They were not even 50 meters from the inpatient building, the difference was just upstairs and downstairs. 

Jian Hua thought that when he sees Major Zhang again, he could throw a conclusion——the overlap point wasn’t an accurate description, it should be overlap space. Because a point is flat and when they were dragged to the overlap point of the Abandoned World this time, it excluded the area above the ninth floor. 

Geng Tian was not here, so Li Fei was also relieved. 

In an unknown dangerous environment, it’s truly inconvenient if they also have to take care of a wounded person. 

“Did you estimate how large the earthquake-like shaking is? How long?”

“Half a minute……but I don’t think it makes sense. The changes we ‘saw’ might not belong to the time course of any world.” Li Fei shook his head. His hands fumbled in his pocket, and then took out a small tube of mashed potatoes and handed it over. 

Jian Hua raised a brow, this looked like a celebrity’s diet of nutritious food. 

“Sorry, if you went to buy lunch, maybe you won’t be involved.”

“We don’t know how big the scope is this time.” Jian Hua blankly said. The street stalls in front of the hospital and the inpatient building were in two entirely different directions. 

The taste of falling into the Abandoned World with an empty stomach couldn’t be mentioned. 

“Keep these. Since the incident, I always brought some food with me.” Jian Hua refused this goodwill. Li Fei was the man who created “General Wu”, and his future employer, so Jian Hua wouldn’t stand by while Li Fei is in distress. 

This “you take care of yourself” look……Li Fei quietly stuffed the mashed potato back into his pocket. 

They walked side by side in the corridors of the empty ward. This depressing environment full of disinfectants made Jian Hua tense. 

“It was very strange when Geng Tian disappeared. My agent was driving the car when he said he saw a strange shadow in the fog.” Li Fei recalled while pressing down the force in his body. 

In the Abandoned World, the sense of crisis Jian Hua brought was magnified by several times. The dormant beast in him excitedly woke up, watching Jian Hua greedily. 

Jian Hua suddenly turned back and found no abnormalities in the corridor, so his eyes fell on the movie emperor. “Your ability?”

“It’s okay.” Li Fei looked away. Jian Hua’s ability, that vicious beast that seemed to be hiding in the dark, completely ignored his provocation and was still lazily sleeping. 

This seemingly defenseless posture was the most tempting. 

Li Fei’s throat moved. 

“What kind of strange shadow, did you see it?”

“No……but after a sudden brake, the car didn’t work.” Li Fei tilted his head, trying to sound calm, “Geng Tian got off to check and immediately disappeared. I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

Jian Hua carefully speculated on the signs that would bring the Abandoned World. 

The shaking of the elevator and the broken light bulb in the bathroom was very similar. 

“Sounds like the Abandoned World is unstable. It crashed into our world, and in that moment of overlap, it could affect the things in our world……”

Jian Hua stopped in the middle of speaking, his body muscles tightening as he slowly took a step back. 

Li Fei immediately followed his line of sight and saw a flat black ball squatting on the nurse’s desk beside the elevator. It was furry and very small. If you don’t pay attention, it’d be really easy to ignore it. 

With this “reminder”, Li Fei quickly looked around. 

In the garbage bin in the corridor, on the soil of potted plants with green leaves, and even on some camouflaged mottled marks in the corners……

Unwittingly, these things actually surrounded them. 

Were they here when they passed by here just now? Li Fei tried to remember and found that his attention had always been on Jian Hua. Even his ability incited him so, how would he know when these things appeared? 

Jian Hua looked ugly. 

He could detect signs of movement from the living creatures in the Abandoned World. There’s nothing in this hospital but suspecting that Geng Tian being unconscious might make him unable to be detected, Jian Hua still went upstairs to check. After discovering that Geng Tian hadn’t entered the Abandoned World at all, he was even more sure that this hospital was safe! 

What’s the result?

If he hadn’t found something dangling on the nurse’s desk, like the black ball slipping from the smooth surface, he would not have noticed it at all. 

These fluffy flat balls seemed to have sniffed out that they were “exposed” from the tense atmosphere. Their elliptical bodies simultaneously twirled, and their curled bodies stretched out. 

It revealed four claws, and the eyes deep in its fur gave out a faint greenish tint. 

They were only the size of a fist when curled up, but after stretching, they’re probably the size of an adult’s hand at most. What’s frightening was their sharp claws flashing coldly under the hospital’s fluorescent lights. 

Jian Hua remembered Geng Tian’s wounds. 

Glancing at Li Fei, the two tacitly agreed to retreat. 

The hairballs bounced on the ground, their walk similar to rolling, and their tiny green pupils revealing a cold light, making them more prominent in the dark. 

In the wards, at the stairs……an increasing number of black hairballs rushed toward them. 

One of them suddenly jumped, fast enough to leave an afterimage——Jian Hua kicked the trash can, blocking it. 

“Sss Sss!” The plastic bag inside the trash can was torn several times by the claws of the little hairball monster. The trash can rolled two times, trapping the hairball underneath. 

Taking advantage of this gap, Jian Hua and Li Fei retreated to the original ICU, shutting the door with a “bang”. 

Then came the sound of claws scratching outside the door.

Li Fei did not relax his vigilance. He looked around the room, making sure there were no furball little monsters. 

There’s no window in the room, so they don’t have to worry about that. Jian Hua just wanted to say something when his keen ears twitched, immediately following the sound to the ceiling. 

“Vents!”

The black hairballs crawled inside the ventilation duct, their claws digging into the gap at the exit. 

Flames rushed past his face, the heatwave making the little hairball monsters let out shrill screams. It rolled away from the vents and the scratching outside the door also stopped. 

Jian Hua looked up at the flame floating in the vent and suddenly envied Li Fei’s ability. 

Li Fei’s fingers moved in random, and the flame immediately disappeared. “Fortunately, they are afraid of fire.”

“Hairy creatures are generally afraid of fire.” Jian Hua sharply answered.

“……”

Jian Hua also felt his slip of tongue. He was able to calmly talk with Li Fei, but when Li Fei deeply stared at him with those eyes, he’s a bit uncomfortable. 

Looking for traces of his favorite character in the movie actor was something he couldn’t help but do as a fan. 

Li Fei is a gentle and elegant man. His charm when talking or laughing could fascinate people. Because this is so different from General Wu, Jian Hua could ignore it. But once Li Fei restrained his smile and look serious or sharp, Jian Hua’s resistance wasn’t good enough. 

That meeting at the coffee shop made Jian Hua boldly confess. Li Fei giving him the magazine showed that he’d seen the truth. It’s also a tacit understanding that the two of them never mentioned this matter until now. 

Under these circumstances, Jian Hua felt that it’d be rude to blatantly watch General Wu through Li Fei, so he tried his best to restrain himself from doing that. 

“How long can your flame last?”

“An hour is not a problem.”

“Very good, let’s get out of here!” Jian Hua acted decisively, “According to what you said, Geng Tian disappeared alone, so can people who enter the Abandoned World at different times meet? If they can’t, then what were they doing running to my door?”

Li Fei did not say anything and just answered with action. 

He opened the door, wantonly brought out a wall of fire. The flames rushed forward like a crimson tide and flushed the entire corridor. Many hairball monsters screamed and rolled around, but they did not escape very far before they were completely engulfed by the flame. 

The ceilings, walls, and floor of the corridor in front of Jian Hua were all blackened.

The fluorescent lights lasted for a few seconds, before falling into pieces with a bang. 

Jian Hua’s eyelids twitched, and sincerely said, “Geng Tian might have nothing to do in the future because, in the Abandoned World, he had to depend on you to protect his life. It’s a plus and a minus. I don’t know who’s the bodyguard for whom.”

Li Fei put his hands down with an elegant and gentle smile, “Rest assured, I won’t charge you.”

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The author has something to say:

CP is Li Fei x Jian Hua

This article enters V on Thursday.

No change tomorrow, three chapters around noon the day after tomorrow. I repeat, this is the last chapter before V. No need to wait for the update tomorrow night.

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Last Edit: November 23, 2021, 6:50 PM

This is machine translated and all copyrights belong to the author. Please note that the translator might take creative liberties for better readability. Thank you for reading.