"Bang!"
The one-armed man's body slammed onto the corridor floor, his only remaining arm hanging limply at his side.
"One-on-one, much easier." Chen Ge gripped the iron hammer and turned his gaze toward Deformed Face. The man was wearing a hospital doctor's uniform, and his face looked like it had undergone some kind of skin-grafting surgery — unsettling either way.
No pleasantries, no opening remarks. The moment Chen Ge laid eyes on Deformed Face, his first instinct was to swing the Skull Crusher straight into the man's shoulder.
Tonight's main event was the Third Ward, and before heading in, Chen Ge wanted to neutralize as many threats as possible.
Truthfully, this was the first time the two sides had truly met face-to-face, and Deformed Face never would have guessed that the person behind the door would be this savage.
Even a madman would be alarmed by such unhinged, unreasonable behavior. Deformed Face stumbled backward, spun around, and bolted down the opposite end of the corridor.
The one-armed man on the ground was even more agile — he had long grown accustomed to life without hands. His lower body was powerful; he rolled to his feet in one fluid motion and took off without looking back, running even faster than Deformed Face.
Neither of them so much as put up a token fight before fleeing for their lives, which caught Chen Ge slightly off guard.
But he recovered quickly, hammer in hand, and gave chase.
In the pitch-black ward, frantic footsteps shattered the stillness of the night. A "victim" trapped inside the ward, armed with an iron hammer, was frantically hunting down two "masterminds."
The life-or-death pursuit had already reached a fever pitch — neither side had time to exchange a single word.
Chen Ge chased them from the third floor all the way down to the first. The two psychopaths knew the terrain well and ran up the other staircase. Chen Ge, bristling with killing intent, stayed right on their heels as the three of them raced from the first floor back up to the fourth.
After several back-and-forths, as they passed through the third-floor corridor, the two psychopaths split up.
"Sacrificing the pawn to save the king?"
Chen Ge hadn't expected the two psychopaths to suddenly resort to strategy. He made his decision in an instant: "The one-armed man already has both arms broken — all he's left with are his legs. Fast runner, sure, but not much of a threat. I should focus everything on catching Deformed Face. Take him out, and tonight's entry into the Third Ward will be far safer."
His reasoning was crystal clear, but just as he moved to pursue Deformed Face, the one-armed man — astonishingly — stopped in his tracks and turned back to block Chen Ge.
Deformed Face seized the opening and made it to the fourth floor, charging toward the passage connecting the two wards.
"The corridor between the Second Ward and Third Ward has an iron gate installed midway. The lock on the second floor is rusted shut. I haven't checked the third floor yet — could the fourth floor's still be functional?"
Facing the oncoming one-armed man, Chen Ge's response was simple and direct. He aimed for the man's legs, raised the hammer, and brought it down.
In just a few seconds, he had dealt with this lunatic and turned to resume the chase toward the fourth floor.
In the corridor above, Deformed Face's eyelids were twitching wildly. This was probably the first time he had ever encountered prey that fought back this hard.
Entering the passage between the Second Ward and the Third Ward, Deformed Face shoved the iron gate in the middle open and fled into the Third Ward as if taking flight.