[Current Viewers: 2,500 -> 5,000]
[Fear Points: 150]
The air in the Morgue froze. Even the buzzing of the fluorescent lights stopped.
Ryan stared at the man with the galaxy-eyes—The Collector's Avatar.
Dr. Smiles' headless body lay on the floor, twitching.
"Give it back," the Collector repeated. He didn't shout. He didn't growl. He spoke softly, like a parent asking a child for a toy.
But the pressure...
Ryan felt like gravity had increased by ten times. His knees buckled. His 'Nerves of Steel' skill was overheating, trying to keep him from passing out.
[System Alert: MENTAL CRITICAL!]
[The Enemy's presence alone is causing 10 HP damage per second.]
[HP: 90/100... 80/100...]
"Give what back?" Ryan gasped, playing dumb while his brain raced at a million miles per hour. "Your manners?"
The Collector frowned. He didn't like jokes.
He took one step.
ZOOM.
In a blink, he crossed 20 meters. He was now standing directly in front of Ryan.
He reached out a perfect, marble-white hand to grab Ryan's throat.
Ryan's survival instincts screamed.
He didn't think. He reacted.
He raised the Desert Eagle. Point blank range.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots. Straight into the Collector's face.
The blue spirit bullets hit the target.
Piff. Piff. Piff.
The bullets didn't explode. They didn't penetrate.
They dissolved.
The Collector's skin simply absorbed the energy like a sponge sucking up water. He didn't even blink.
User_Slayer69: "WTF? Immune to guns?!"
User_RichKid: "Ryan! Run! That's a Demon Lord!"
The Collector grabbed the barrel of the Desert Eagle.
CRUNCH.
He crushed the magical steel gun like it was made of paper.
[System Notification: Weapon Destroyed.]
"Okay," Ryan squeaked. "You made your point."
Ryan activated the 'Butcher's Bloody Apron' active skill: [Stench Bomb].
A cloud of thick, black, toxic smoke exploded from Ryan's waist, covering the area in darkness.
It smelled like a thousand rotten eggs.
The Collector paused, wrinkling his perfect nose. "Filthy."
That split-second pause was all Ryan needed.
He turned around and sprinted.
Not to the elevator—that was a death trap.
He ran towards the Emergency Staircase.
"System! Shop! Defensive Items! NOW!"
[Shop Open]
Holy Shield (1000 Points) - Too expensive.Flashbang (50 Points) - Buy!Random Teleport Scroll (100 Points) - Buy!
Ryan bought them instantly. He had 0 Points left. Again.
He burst through the stairwell doors.
He didn't run up. He ran down.
Why? Because everyone expects you to run up.
BOOM!
The wall behind him exploded. The Collector walked through the concrete wall as if it were mist. He floated down the stairs, his feet not touching the ground.
"You have my Mother's scent," the Collector said, his voice echoing in the stairwell. "Why did you steal her?"
"I didn't steal her!" Ryan shouted, jumping over the railing and landing on the floor below. "I saved her! You were the one scaring her!"
Ryan pulled the pin on the System Flashbang.
"Catch!"
He threw it up the stairs.
SCREEEEEEECH!
A blinding holy light, brighter than the sun, exploded in the stairwell. It was designed to blind spirits.
"ARGH!"
For the first time, the Collector showed emotion. He covered his eyes. "Light... annoying."
Ryan reached the bottom floor—the sub-basement. It was a dead end. Just a boiler room.
There was nowhere left to run.
The heavy footsteps of the Collector were getting closer. The building was shaking.
Ryan pulled out the last item he bought.
[Random Teleport Scroll (Low Grade)]
Description: Teleports the user to a random location within a 5km radius. Warning: Location is RANDOM. You might end up in a bank vault, a lady's bathroom, or mid-air.
"Please don't be a volcano," Ryan prayed.
He ripped the scroll in half.
The door to the boiler room melted. The Collector stood there, his eyes glowing red with rage. The holy light had burned his face slightly. Now he looked truly demonic.
"NOW... YOU... DIE."
He fired a beam of black energy from his finger. A death ray.
It raced towards Ryan's chest.
Ryan grinned, holding the torn scroll.
"Sorry, bro. My shift is over."
ZAP!
The death ray hit the wall.
Ryan vanished into thin air just a millisecond before the beam touched him.
The boiler room exploded behind him, taking half the hospital wing with it.
Somewhere in the City...
PLOP.
Ryan fell out of a portal in the sky.
He fell about five feet and landed face-first on something soft.
"Oof!"
He groaned, rolling over. Every bone in his body ached.
"Did I survive?" he checked his body. Arms attached. Legs attached.
"I'm alive!"
He looked around.
He wasn't in a volcano. He wasn't in mid-air.
He was in... a garbage dumpster.
Surrounded by banana peels and old pizza boxes.
[System Notification: Teleport Successful.]
[Current Location: Alleyway behind 'Golden Dragon Restaurant'.]
[Mission 'Hospital of Despair' - ABORTED/SURVIVED.]
[Evaluation: C-Rank (You ran away like a coward, but you lived).]
Ryan laughed. He lay there in the trash and laughed like a maniac.
"C-Rank? Who cares! I survived a Demon Lord!"
He checked his phone. The livestream was still on, but the signal was weak.
[Stream Connection Unstable...]
[Viewers: 8,000]
User_Slayer69: "Is he alive? He vanished!"
User_RichKid: "He's in the trash! LOL! The greatest Ghost Hunter is sleeping with the rats!"
User_MysteryMan: "He survived Lord No. 7. This kid... is interesting."
[Stream Ended Automatically.]
Ryan climbed out of the dumpster, smelling terrible. He wiped a banana peel off his shoulder.
He looked at the night sky. The moon was full.
He had no gun (destroyed). He had no points. He looked like a beggar.
But in his pocket, he felt the warm hum of the Mother's Tear. And in his inventory, the Weeping Mother spirit was safe.
He had saved Sarah. And he had saved a tortured soul.
"Worth it," Ryan whispered.
Suddenly, a black luxury car pulled up at the entrance of the alleyway.
The window rolled down.
A woman in sunglasses looked at Ryan. She was beautiful, sharp, and looked like she owned half the city. This was ACP Zoya (or a mysterious agent).
"Get in," she said.
Ryan blinked. "Uh, I smell like a morgue and a dumpster. Are you sure?"
"We saw your stream," the woman said, unlocking the door. "The Government is interested in your... unique talents. And we know about the Collector."
Ryan sighed.
"Can we stop for a burger first?"