Chapter 014: The Infirmary

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When I regained consciousness, I found myself tied to a bed. Night had already fallen outside. Where on earth am I? Who tied me up here?

Su Cheng read these words aloud softly from the diary page. The handwriting was somewhat messy, as if written in haste or under duress.

I remember now—this is the school infirmary. Maybe another teacher will come by and find me here.

Just then, the infirmary door opened, and I saw Ms. Takizawa walk in. Thank goodness! Ms. Takizawa is a very kind and helpful school nurse; she’ll surely find a way to help me. I must tell her about Yumi’s death as soon as possible, or else Mr. Tezuka will destroy the evidence.

At this point, Reiko Sato’s heart tightened with worry for the girl named Kanako in the diary.

Something seems off. Ms. Takizawa’s gaze isn’t the same as usual—it’s filled with disgust and coldness, as if she’s looking at a sewer rat. Her eyes make me afraid; she’s not the Ms. Takizawa I know.

Ms. Takizawa came over. Maybe she found me too noisy and put a piece of tape over my mouth. Then she took a syringe and an unfamiliar bottle of medicine from the cabinet and gave me an injection. After that, my head grew heavy and sleepiness overwhelmed me. Just before I lost consciousness, I suddenly remembered the needle marks on Yumi’s arm…

I don’t know how long I slept. When I woke up again, it was already the next day. Ms. Takizawa was gone, and one of the straps binding my hand had come loose.

I finally escaped the infirmary, but today is a holiday and there’s no one at school. The front gate is locked, and I’m so hungry I can hardly walk.

Wait—the principal stays in his office every holiday. Maybe he’s still at school…

The diary ends here, and Kanako’s fate remains unknown to Su Cheng.

Still, he’d found some important clues in these pages. “From the look of it, the school nurse Takizawa must be Tezuka Koji’s accomplice. She’s likely become a butcher too, right here in this school.”

What puzzled Su Cheng was that the diary didn’t mention anyone else. So who was the bandaged man he’d encountered earlier?

According to his reasoning, the bandaged man was also likely an accomplice of Tezuka Koji, and possessed a bizarre power to cause hallucinations.

In other words, there were actually three butchers in this school.

“Cheng, did Kanako end up being saved?” Reiko Sato looked at Su Cheng with visible anxiety.

Su Cheng shook his head. “I don’t know. Once we clear this game, the truth behind the incidents at this school should be revealed.”

“There’s something else that bothers me. The school’s facilities look very old, like they’re from years ago. When I searched the office, I found a calendar dated September 28, 2007.”

“So… we’ve gone back ten years?”

Reiko Sato’s expression turned strange, as if a shadow passed over her heart.

If there was internet, Su Cheng could investigate what happened at this school, searching for any clues. Unfortunately, his phone had no signal here, not even for emergency calls.

He nodded. The players had likely been trapped by this damned game in a separate space—a parallel world. If they couldn’t complete the game, there would be no escape.

“So, where do we look for clues next?”

“The infirmary.”

“But… what if the killer is still there…?”

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Reiko Sato shrank back, fear all over her face. This game was simply too terrifying. Mother, I want to go home!

“Maybe the clues are on that school nurse, Ms. Takizawa,” Su Cheng said, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly. The mysteries were unraveling bit by bit; once they found the mastermind, it would be checkmate.

…

On the third floor of the teaching building, Yoshio Harano entered a room gripping a baseball bat.

The moment he stepped inside, he caught the scent of disinfectant.

“This is the school infirmary. Perfect, I’ll rest here a bit,” he thought with relief, sitting on the bed without a care.

“Who knows where Maruyama has gone to slack off, leaving me to search a whole floor alone. Just my luck. I wish I could get some sleep…” Exhausted, Yoshio Harano was overcome by drowsiness as soon as he relaxed.

Within five minutes, the sound of snoring rose from the infirmary—he’d drifted off into a heavy sleep.

While he slept, a tall woman with an exceptionally cold gaze seemed to appear out of nowhere, emerging from the infirmary.

Who knows how long passed before a nightmare jolted Yoshio Harano awake.

He found himself tied to the infirmary bed, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. His voice trembled, “Who’s playing a prank on me? Maruyama, is that you? Stop hiding—I know you’re there!”

At that moment, a stranger approached.

It was a woman wearing a surgical mask, only her pitch-black eyes visible.

She wore a white nurse’s uniform, and in her hand was a large syringe, which she brought closer and closer.

When she reached his side, he saw the name “Masami Takizawa” written on the badge pinned to her uniform.

Though Yoshio Harano had fantasized countless times about scenes with the school nurse from adult films, now he felt no excitement—only sheer terror.

“Who are you? Stay away!”

He seemed to realize something dreadful was about to happen and struggled furiously.

He watched, horrified, as the woman injected a suspicious blue liquid into his vein.

“What did you just give me?” he shouted.

A short while later, something felt wrong—beneath his skin, it was as if a thousand ants were biting him.

It itched—so much!

His face twisted in agony, and he let out a wild scream, as though he was being devoured by insects in hell.

The veins on his arms bulged; with a sudden surge of strength, he snapped his restraints and began clawing desperately at his face.

Soon, deep, bloody gashes scored his cheeks.

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Yet the pain and itching only intensified. His face was nearly torn to shreds by his own hands, and hot blood soaked the white sheets.

Masami Takizawa, now a killer, looked on with cold indifference at his frenzied self-mutilation, a gleam of sadistic pleasure in her eyes.

Soon, his face was a mangled mess, and not a patch of his skin was left unscathed.

“Kill me… please, just kill me…” Yoshio Harano’s piercing screams echoed through the infirmary. The agony was worse than death itself, yet he lacked the courage to end it, so his suffering deepened.

“This is the infirmary where Ms. Takizawa works. Something’s not right,” Su Cheng said ten minutes later, as he and Reiko Sato arrived outside the infirmary.

From a distance, Su Cheng could already smell the powerful stench of blood. When he entered, he found a bed soaked through with it.

He searched the room thoroughly, but there was no sign of a single person.

“What happened here?” Su Cheng frowned at the sight of so much blood. It was as if torture had just taken place—a player had likely been caught by the killer and brutally tormented.

But where were the player and the killer now?

“Cheng, come here—I found something,” Reiko Sato called.

She had discovered several suspicious vials in the medicine cabinet and said seriously, “These are all neurotoxins—hazardous drugs banned by the government.”

“What are such dangerous substances doing in a school infirmary?”

Su Cheng picked up a bottle of blue liquid and noticed a syringe on the floor, still containing some of the same blue substance.

“I’m not sure, but these drugs are extremely dangerous. Even a small dose can cause hallucinations; a large dose can have unpredictable and severe consequences, even permanent nerve damage,” Reiko Sato explained, speaking with professional authority.

“You seem to know a lot about medicine—are you a doctor?” Su Cheng asked with curiosity.

Reiko Sato patted her flat chest proudly. “I’m a top graduate from medical university! Analyzing drugs is my specialty.”

“Don’t medical students often have to dissect corpses? You should be used to death by now, but you seem awfully afraid of it.”

At his question, Reiko Sato looked troubled and her chest deflated, her voice weak. “I switched to pharmacology because I was afraid of corpses.”

So that’s how it was.

“Ah! Someone’s been killed!”

At that moment, a terrified scream echoed up from the hall below the infirmary.