Just as Lin Wuming was struggling with the embarrassment of being hopelessly lost, a man in a white coat pushed open the door and stepped into the hospital room shared by Lin Wuming and Tigerbee Toumi.
The ward was, of course, completely empty.
The man adjusted his glasses and scanned the room once more. After confirming no one was there, he frowned.
Silently flipping the safety back on the pistol hidden in his pocket, he reached into another pocket and pulled out his phone.
"What's going on?" he demanded into the phone. "The boy isn't in the room! Didn't you say his arms and legs were broken and that he couldn't move? Did you mess up the room number?"
Receiving no satisfactory answer, the man snorted and hung up.
His hand slid back into his pocket, gripping the pistol once more.
A rare chance—his target alone and defenseless—had slipped right through his fingers. What now? Abandon the job, or wait a little longer?
After a moment's thought, he chose to wait.
Tigerbee Toumi and Doctor Sakurai wouldn't be back for at least another half hour. As long as he caught that "007" before then, everything would be fine.
Even if another doctor or nurse stumbled upon him, it wouldn't matter. He was a doctor here, after all. Saying he was making rounds wouldn't be suspicious.
—A Level 3 telekinetic can't withstand a point-blank shot from specially made armor-piercing rounds. Four bullets would be more than enough to send him straight to hell. After that, he could leave the ward, dispose of the gloves, the white coat, and the gun, and it would all be over.
Perfect.
No one would ever suspect a legitimate doctor. After all, doctors didn't even need guns to kill—there were far subtler and more convenient methods.
As long as he wasn't suspected immediately, the follow-up investigation would never reach him. His employer, "Black May," had deep roots and extensive influence—more than enough to interfere with Judgment's investigation.
Running through the entire plan in his mind, the man finally felt at ease.
"Doctor Yamamoto? What are you doing here?"
The door behind him opened suddenly. Doctor Sakurai's surprised voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"D-Doctor Sakurai?!" Yamamoto jumped in fright. He had never imagined she would return so early. "Y-you… why are you back already? Where's your patient?"
"Tigerbee?" Doctor Sakurai replied. "She's in the cafeteria."
It was dinnertime, so they had gone there directly.
Only afterward did Doctor Sakurai remember that Lin Wuming had been left alone in the ward, so she returned to call him along for the meal.
Instead, she found Doctor Yamamoto standing inside the room.
If it had been anyone else, perhaps he could have brushed it off—but both patients in this ward were under Doctor Sakurai's direct care. She knew better than anyone that Yamamoto had no reason to be here.
"So," she asked calmly, "Doctor Yamamoto… are you here to see Wuming-kun?"
"N-no, it's nothing, nothing…" Realizing the situation was unsalvageable, Yamamoto forced a dry laugh and stiffly turned around, preparing to leave.
"Doctor Yamamoto!"
Doctor Sakurai blocked the doorway.
The gentle, warm expression she usually wore was gone. Her eyes narrowed sharply as her gaze fixed on his pocket.
"You should know," she said coolly, "that I once had field training as a battlefield medic."
"W-what are you talking about…?" Cold sweat streamed down Yamamoto's temple. His fingers tightened around the grip of the gun.
"As a doctor," she pressed, her voice turning stern, "what exactly are you hiding in your pocket? Doctor Yamamoto… you wouldn't happen to be bribed into coming here to silence Wuming-kun, would you?"
As one of the attending physicians, Doctor Sakurai was aware of Lin Wuming's situation.
According to Judgment's assessment, he was very likely an escapee from an illegal research facility. To preserve secrecy, such organizations would not hesitate to eliminate witnesses.
For Academy City's underground research institutions, this sort of thing was far from unthinkable.
The hospital had made preparations—but no one expected the attack to come this quickly.
And from an inside man.
Doctor Yamamoto was only a part-timer, not a professional assassin. With his intentions completely exposed, his mind fell into chaos.
Instinctively—following the scenario he had rehearsed countless times—he acted.
He flicked off the gun's safety.
By the time his consciousness caught up, his finger had already tightened reflexively, pulling the trigger again and again.
Four shots rang out in rapid succession.
Doctor Sakurai never imagined he would actually open fire so brazenly.
Even with her battlefield experience—and a bit of luck—she only managed to evade the first two shots.
The last two struck home.
Blood poured out in streams, soaking her white coat in crimson.
Doctor Sakurai collapsed to the floor.
Only then did Yamamoto realize what he had done.
Fortunately, the gun and ammunition were designed for assassination. The noise was minimal—it shouldn't attract attention from outside or neighboring wards.
Panicking, Yamamoto rushed forward, dragging Doctor Sakurai away from the doorway and shoving her under the bed. He didn't dare clean up the bloodstains, carefully stepping over the spreading pool of red before fleeing the ward.
After asking for directions along the way, Lin Wuming finally found the room he was staying in.
"I didn't think I'd have the getting-lost attribute too…" he muttered as he pushed open the door, still worried he might have wandered into the wrong room.
What greeted him wasn't a familiar ward—
But a floor soaked in dark red, and the metallic stench of blood mixed with disinfectant.
There was no time to worry whether this was his room or not.
Following the blood trail, Lin Wuming immediately spotted a body stuffed beneath his bed.
The killer—if this was indeed a murder—had done a sloppy job of hiding it. Probably a desperate, last-second decision. Half the body was still exposed, not even fully shoved under the bed.
To begin with, a hospital bed wasn't exactly a good hiding place.
The fingers of the victim lying in the blood twitched slightly.
Lin Wuming caught that detail instantly.
—She's still alive!
Without hesitation, he rolled his wheelchair straight through the pool of blood, making an even bigger mess, while using telekinesis to lift the bed.
"Doctor Sakurai!"
He recognized her at once—from her unmistakable figure.
—Why would a doctor be attacked in my hospital room?!
Shock flashed through Lin Wuming's mind, but this wasn't the time to dwell on it.
He immediately used telekinesis to press the emergency call button by the bed, then moved closer to check Doctor Sakurai's injuries.
He didn't know proper first aid, but even he understood the most basic principle—
No matter what, he couldn't let her keep bleeding like this.
Most of her white coat was already soaked red. Lin Wuming tore it open, searching for the wounds.
At that moment—
The sound of shattering glass rang out beside his ear.
At the same time, in Lin Wuming's perception, the flow of time around him slowed to a crawl.
—He had entered once more the "bullet time" state he had experienced during his brush with death.
And just as expected, he saw the attack threatening his life—
A blonde, blue-eyed girl burst through the window, sword in hand, thrusting straight toward him!
(End of Chapter)