23: Chapter 23 Don't answer, your face is in the medical record.

"Doctor..."

"Have you seen my face?"

The moment the voice sounded, the temperature in the entire Basement Level 2 plummeted.

At the end of the corridor, medical record plates were vibrating incessantly. Click. Click. Click. It was as if something was struggling inside, wanting to break out.

Chen Ye's scalp tingled.

"Damn it!"

"This line again!"

The woman's face in the black water had asked it once just a moment ago. Now, the entire corridor was asking.

And the Hand of Rules had already begun to blare alarms frantically.

[High-Risk Rule Triggered]

[Name: Asking for a Face]

[Danger Level: C]

[Current Status: Spreading]

[Warning: Answering is prohibited]

[Warning: Searching for the target's face is prohibited]

[Warning: Do not help the target find its face]

The last prompt was as bright red as blood.

Lin Jin's eyes narrowed slightly.

Do not help the target find its face?

This meant that this rule was not just about "answering." Even searching for, identifying, or confirming the face could potentially trigger a death condition.

Just then, at the end of the corridor, the first figure appeared.

It was a man wearing a hospital gown. His body was gaunt, his skin cyan. But the most eerie thing was—he had no face.

To be precise, the area where his face should be was completely blank. It was as if someone had used an eraser to wipe the entire face away. No eyes. No nose. No mouth. Just a smooth, pale expanse.

The air turned deathly silent in an instant.

Liu Hang's face turned deathly pale.

"What the..."

"What is that thing?!"

The next second, a second, a third, a fourth... More and more figures in hospital gowns emerged from the darkness.

None of them had faces. All of them were slowly approaching this way.

And everyone was repeating the same sentence.

"Doctor..."

"Have you seen my face?"

"Doctor..."

"Where did my face go?"

The voices layered over each other, making one's scalp crawl.

The Short-haired Girl was on the verge of tears.

"They're coming!"

"What do we do?!"

Chen Ye gripped his shield tightly, his palms slick with sweat.

"Brother Jin."

"Can I just ram through them?"

Lin Jin glanced at the Hand of Rules. The answer appeared quickly.

[Direct contact is not recommended]

[Faceless Patients are not physical contamination]

[Current state: Rule projection]

[Normal attacks are ineffective]

As expected. Not monsters. They were rules. At least for now, they could not be solved with brute force.

At this moment, the red light on the Recycling Room's iron door was still flashing.

Lin Jin knew that time was running out. Ward 105 could lose control at any moment. If he continued to stall, the Director would truly initiate the cleanup procedure.

Thinking of this, he crouched down and began to dismantle the door lock. Click. The first screw was removed.

Chen Ye was stunned.

"Brother!"

"At a time like this, you are still fixing the door?!"

Lin Jin did not even look up.

"The more dangerous it is, the more we need to fix it."

"This is the core of the rule."

"Solving this is more useful than fighting these things."

He was right. These Faceless Patients were clearly attracted by the rules of the Recycling Room. If the original properties of the Recycling Room could not be restored, there would only be more and more of them.

Click. The second screw was unscrewed. Inside the door lock, a large amount of black text began to appear. Those characters writhed constantly, like living things.

The Hand of Rules immediately began its analysis.

[Ward-ification rule successfully identified]

[Current overlay: Inpatient rules]

[Cause of failure: Recycling Room was incorrectly registered as a ward]

[Repair progress: 17%]

Sure enough, the problem was found. The Recycling Room originally belonged to the logistics area, but it had been incorrectly overwritten by a rule of The Hospital and turned into a "ward."

And the rules of Basement Level 2 explicitly stated: You cannot enter a ward with the light on. Thus, the entire area fell into a logical conflict.

Thinking of this, a thought suddenly flashed through Lin Jin's mind. If this was a "mis-registration," then who registered it?

At this moment, the Hand of Rules actually provided feedback.

[Registration time: Unknown]

[Registered by: Round Checker]

Round Checker?

Lin Jin's heart jolted. The previous Round Checker? That Bandaged Man? Or someone from even earlier?

Just then, the Faceless Patients in the corridor had closed in to within ten meters. The patient at the very front slowly raised a hand and pointed at Lin Jin.

"Doctor..."

"You must have seen my face."

"Right?"

The Hand of Rules immediately blared an alarm.

[Target is locking onto you]

[Do not answer]

[Do not establish a logical relationship with the target]

Logical relationship. Lin Jin understood immediately. Once you admit to "having seen it," the rule is established. The next step would likely be helping it find its face. And those who cannot find the face will likely become new Faceless Patients.

Thinking of this, Lin Jin ignored it completely and continued to dismantle the lock. Click. The third screw fell off. Repair progress reached 31%.

The number of Faceless Patients had already exceeded twenty. The entire corridor was packed densely with them, all in hospital gowns, all repeating the same sentence.

"Doctor..."

"Have you seen my face?"

"Doctor..."

"Where is my face?"

The voices grew louder and closer, pressing in like a tide.

Liu Hang finally could not hold it together.

"Stop asking!!"

"I do not know!!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the air suddenly went quiet. All the Faceless Patients stopped in their tracks simultaneously. The next second, they all turned their heads to look at Liu Hang. The air froze instantly.

Liu Hang's face was deathly pale.

"I..."

"Did I say the wrong thing?"

The Hand of Rules flashed bright red.

[Warning]

[Target has responded to the Asking for a Face rule]

[Rule established]

[Questioning session started]

Chen Ye's expression changed drastically.

"Damn!"

"Did they not say not to answer?!"

Liu Hang was dumbfounded.

"I was not answering!!"

"I was just..."

But it was too late. The rule did not care if you were intentional or not. As long as you responded, you were participating.

The next second, the Faceless Patient at the front suddenly stood in front of Liu Hang. Its pale face slowly leaned in. Then, a cold palm pressed onto Liu Hang's face.

"So..."

"You know I have no face."

Boom!

Liu Hang let out a shrill scream. His facial features actually began to blur bit by bit!! His nose disappeared, his mouth disappeared, and his eyes began to melt, as if being wiped away by an eraser.

"Save me!!"

"Save me!!"

The Short-haired Girl was so scared she burst into tears. Chen Ye wanted to rush forward, but was grabbed by Lin Jin.

"Do not touch him!"

"This is a rule transfer!"

Chen Ye said angrily, "Are we just supposed to watch him die?!"

Lin Jin did not speak, because the Hand of Rules was analyzing frantically.

[Asking for a Face rule in operation]

[Current logic: Target confirmed to have no face]

[Rule result: Facial transfer]

[Core condition: A person who possesses a face]

A person who possesses a face. At this moment, Lin Jin suddenly understood. These patients were not looking for their own faces at all. They were looking for—someone else's face. Whoever answered, whoever acknowledged that they had no face, the rule would transfer the "face" over.

Thinking of this, he looked up abruptly.

"Liu Hang!"

"Do not acknowledge it!"

"Do not feel like you are losing your face!"

Liu Hang was on the verge of a breakdown.

"What do you mean?!"

Lin Jin said quickly, "The premise of the rule being established is that you accept it!!"

"The more you feel like you have no face, the faster it will take it!!"

Chen Ye realized it instantly.

"Psychological contamination?!"

Lin Jin nodded.

"Yes!!"

The next second, he grabbed a wrench and smashed it hard against the Recycling Room door lock. Boom! The fourth fixing nail flew off!! The repair progress instantly jumped to 49%.

At the same time, the red light of the Recycling Room flickered for the first time. The group of Faceless Patients actually paused simultaneously.

The Hand of Rules immediately refreshed.

[Ward-ification rule loosened]

[Asking for a Face rule intensity decreased]

Sure enough! The source was in the Recycling Room!! As long as this place was fixed, the rule chain of these Faceless Patients would be broken!!

Thinking of this, Lin Jin's eyes hardened. He entered repair mode directly, ignoring all external interference.

And on the other side of the corridor, more and more medical record plates began to vibrate. Click. Click. Click. New patients were waking up. The true danger of Basement Level 2 had only just begun.