Chapter Five: A Debt of Pain

Gu Chen arrived while she was stitching herself in a treatment room. “The bus guidance signal was altered,” Zhou said from a bed. “Same signature as the subway.” The clock changed to 11:59. Every ER exit locked. 【Qualifier Four: The Painless Hospital.】 White light copied the building into an inverted battlefield. Real patients floated inside transparent rooms, each with a life line. The enemy could win by destroying central life support. Echo had to keep all twenty-three patients alive until time expired. 【Special rule: players cannot feel pain. Damage still accumulates.】 Wanqing went pale. “Without pain, I can't measure damage or turn it into strength.”