The hospital was massive.

Although no lights were turned on in the hospital. The moonlight cascading through the windows served as enough illumination for the others to see that the hospital was indeed quite massive, and...

Terrifying.

But it wasn't terrifying in a sense that there were mutilated bodies strewn across the floor similar to the Main Hall of the Administration Block. Instead, it was terrifying for you would always have that feeling of being stared upon by the unknown upon entering this place.

"We are now at the hospital of this asylum. The medical ward, according to the map that I got from that custodian is still a few corridors away from the decontamination chamber. He also gave me a certain tip. He said that if we somehow entered this place. We must never bother about what we hear nor see...

"We must continue without any care for what is happening around us..."

"We should only stop once we've arrived at the Medical Ward."

"A-All right..." A pale-faced Jane struggled to answer.

The others nodded their head, but it was clear from their soft whispers and slightly trembling bodies that they would rather stay in the gory and morbid Administration Block than stay in this place. Unlike the Administration Block where the danger has a physical form, yet could be avoided with a steadfast mind and quick wit. 

The terrifying part of this hospital seemed to be omnipresent.

"Before moving, I suggest that we should whisper a calming mantra to ourselves." Calvin proposed.

"A calming mantra? What is that?"

"Anything... You can even chant song lyrics, so long as it can give you that sense of security. You are free to chant anything, just don't be too loud." Calvin explained.

The others didn't say anything anymore.

Once they started moving, they also started chanting.

"Pie is 3.1415926535..."

"The nipa hut may be small, the vegetables there are assorted, turnip, eggplants, and some winged beans..."

"When you're happy and you know it, shake that ass..."

"What the fuck is that weird chanting, Nicholas?" Ray complained upon hearing Nicholas's weird chanting.

"Oh, shut up, man... Calvin told us that we can use anything as long as it calms us down..."

"That makes sense...." Ray was speechless.

He didn't say anything anymore and just started his own chant, "Come, dear fellow stewards of the earth... Planting rice is never a joke..."

"To become the perfect predator, one must never become the prey. I cannot make the same mistake that I did in that battlefield a few years ago." Hugo walked forward along with the others. Since he could be considered as the main source of physical strength and security for the newbies. He took the responsibility of protecting the others from behind.

As someone who slaughtered his way through that battlefield a few years ago, Hugo was never afraid of bloodshed. But behind this strong man was a fear that he had never managed to get rid of. In fact, contrary to the expectations of everyone, Hugo was never a cold-blooded killer. 

Whenever he killed a person, he would always, without fail, dream about that person.

Haunted by his nightmares, Hugo always went crazy.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

In the end, he resorted to drinking himself to sleep as well as gambling.

In just a few years after that gruesome battle, Hugo lost everything that he had to his addictions.

Fast-forward in today's time. He had no other choice but to accept that tantalizing offer.

A chance to clear all of his debt and start anew. 

But Hugo knew that no matter how many times he prayed for forgiveness and no matter how many times he started anew. The nightmares would never stop. He would forever dream about the people that he mercilessly killed and they would forever haunt his dreams.

Hugo may not be afraid of a life and death battle, but there was something that he was absolutely scared of.

And that was ghosts.

In the Administration Block, he showed no substantial fear on his face and his movements never lagged no matter how scary nor terrifying their position was. But inside this hospital, everything changed.

Hugo's entire body was now shivering in fear.

"I can't panic... If I panic and lost my mind here, what will happen to them? I can't lose it here... They are relying on me to support them. How can I let everything be reversed at this moment? I must never be a deadweight for them!" Hugo told himself, but he found it difficult to even move his feet. His body was instinctively protesting against him.

"Don't be afraid... Ghosts are ghosts... There's a popular idiom in my hometown that one must be more afraid of a neighboring thief, than a neighboring ghost! What's more, they can detect your fear, so if you are afraid of them, the more they will try to come and haunt you..."

"You can do this, Hugo... You've endured through countless life and death battles, and even killed a hundred terrorists back in that war at Afganistan, yet how can you falter here in the face of intangible ghosts?!" Hugo tightly clenched his fists, he raised his head up and discovered that...

Everyone had disappeared.

"W-Wait... Where did they go?"

"Did they already reach that turn at the end of the corridor?"

"Does that mean that they left me here alone?!"

Hugo's eyes widened in shock. Fear was now visible on his face.

His body urged him to run, yet he didn't dare to do so.

Slowly, he took a step forward.

After taking this step. Two kinds of footsteps echoed in the darkness.

One was his own footstep, while the other was the sound of wet shoes submerged in something sticky and slick.

"!!!"

"No... That was just my imagination..."

"All right, I can do it..."

"There's no one behind me..."

"No one behind me."

Hugo squeezed these words out of his throat.

He repeated these words again and again as if he was hypnotizing himself.

He took several steps forward and those slick footsteps rang out once again.

It seemed to be following him which made Hugo even more scared.

"No... There's no one behind me... Once I make that turn on the end of that corridor there, then that sound will disappear... It's just my imagination. No one is behind me... No one is behind you, Hugo..." Hugo repeatedly whispered and after taking a few more steps, he seemed to have gotten used to the sound of those slick footsteps.

But his movements suddenly came to a halt as he slapped himself across the face.

"What is wrong with you, Hugo? You promised yourself that you would definitely protect your comrades! Why are you being such a scaredy-cat at this moment? Are you trying to imitate Jane?" Speaking of Jane, that kind-hearted, yet easily scared young lady. Hugo's heart suddenly warmed up.

He didn't feel so scared anymore.

Taking several steps forward, he ignored the echoing footsteps behind him and walked down the single corridor where his comrades had disappeared into.

According to Calvin's words, the hospital itself wasn't that big. What's massive was the Medical Ward dedicated to treating the patients of Mount Spirit Sword Asylum. From Calvin's words earlier, the Medical Ward was only a few corridors away from the decontamination chamber that they used to go inside the hospital.

In other words, Hugo wasn't that far from the others.

He just needed to pick up his pace and he'd soon catch up to them.

Hugo picked up his speed, but after walking for a few seconds.

He suddenly heard a strange noise coming from his right. He subconsciously turned to the source of the noise and he discovered that it seemed to be coming from another corridor with the bright-red "exit" word, written above it.

"That noise? Did it come from the emergency exit? There are also some lights there. But why is it that only the corridor leading to the emergency exit is illuminated?" Hugo pondered for a while. He could seem to vaguely remember some of Calvin's words earlier, but due to the fear creeping up in his heart.

He seemed to have transformed into a moth attracted to a flame.

He approached the corridor leading to the emergency exit.

There was a cold draft coming from the corridor and a few doors of the sickrooms beside the emergency exit was left half-opened. Since there was no light, Hugo didn't dare to sneak a peek into the sickrooms for who knows what would appear in his vision the moment that he did such a thing?

Hugo finally realized at this moment that he had strayed from his original path.

"Damn it, I should go back..." He softly uttered a curse.

Not daring to stay any longer.

He turned around, and the moment that he did so.

He found a pair of bloodied footsteps on the floor directly in front of him.

Written beside the bloody footsteps were the words...

"Big Brother, please don't leave me alone."