As the taxi stopped, the three, wearing masks, appeared in front of the Heaven Affiliated clinic.
To make it look authentic, the three specifically bought flowers and some fruits from the surrounding area.
In the nearby supermarket, Keli once again witnessed Japan's mysterious way of selling things. For example, items like cabbage weren't weighed by the jin; they were directly cut into quarters, wrapped in plastic wrap, and sold by the portion.
Fruits like apples were also sold individually, and two were enough for a normal office worker to have a "pre-made meal feast" at a convenience store, while watermelon was sliced and sold by the slice.
But it didn't matter; Keli had enough money in his bank account to cover his father's losses directly, so he didn't care at all.
The three entered the clinic, pretending to be visiting a patient.
"Excuse me, which patient are you here to visit?"
However, as soon as the three entered the clinic, the security guard spoke up, stopping them.
The three clearly looked like they were there to visit someone, so there was no need to say it, but none of them expected the doorman to ask where they were going.
This was somewhat unreasonable.
"Ah, I forgot. We'll wait until we're inside to message them and ask which bed they're in. By the way, how do we get to the inpatient department?"
Kazuma, without batting an eye, took out a mobile phone and pretended to show it to the other party.
"Oh, I see. Then remember to tell me where you went when you come out. This clinic has a lot of rules."
The security guard didn't make things difficult for them and casually pointed them in the right direction.
This clinic was quite large. In a place where, apart from Tokyo, Osaka, and Nara, generally so-called large clinics looked like the dental clinic next door, it had its own bicycle shed and several parking spaces. It even had separate buildings for the inpatient department and the outpatient building, several green belts, and its own ambulance-only parking space.
It didn't look like a noble clinic but rather one that accepted patients from outside, and people could be seen coming and going on this workday, some of whom were nearby residents working here.
The three nodded and went straight into the inpatient department, bypassing the nurse's station and miniature convenience store on the first floor, and found the elevator.
Fortunately, it was after the economic bubble now; otherwise, if there were a dedicated elevator operator, it would be inconvenient for the three to act.
Keli raised his hand and pressed the top floor directly.
This clinic was quite large, but it wasn't Takigahara; it wouldn't have a hundred-story inpatient department.
The top floor was the 16th floor.
No reaction. The three frowned, thinking there might be some single-floor or double-floor rule for this elevator that they hadn't noticed.
They successively pressed the 15th, 14th, and 13th floors, still with no reaction.
"Is the elevator broken?"
Keli, before leaving, pressed 12 with some surprise.
It worked.
The three looked at the slowly closing elevator doors in surprise. Originally, they wanted to try a different elevator to see if they could reach a higher floor, but because it was a public clinic, it was rare to find a time with so few people, and they were afraid of arousing suspicion by going in and out, so they just went up.
The door opened to a narrow elevator lobby and corridor.
It was early morning, and doctors and nurses could still be seen walking around.
And the few of them also saw the sign for the 12th floor.
Since they were investigating the situation, the three didn't act rashly. Instead, they walked towards the stairs.
The stairs leading up were visibly dustier than those leading down. As the three walked up, they found something strange: there was an iron door here.
And it wasn't a single-story iron door, but one that directly blocked the stairwell, sealing off the path to the three floors above.
"There's a problem."
They pushed it, but the door couldn't be opened from this side.
The three randomly found a patient room, found an old person who was sleeping and seemed unattended, left the gifts , then remembered the room number and bed, and went downstairs.
Then they split into three groups and walked around the clinic.
Kazuma located the manhole cover where he had poked his head out to look at the clinic. It was next to the clinic's central courtyard car shed. That night, he had poked his head out from there and seen the outpatient building. Based on the location, the abnormal outlet should be connected to the inpatient building's sewer pipe.
Kirito went to the outpatient building to confirm the attire of the doctors and nurses there.
Pretending to visit a patient still left too many places they couldn't enter. The three had decided from the start to pretend to be staff or patients there.
Although Keli proposed the astonishing theory that one could sneak into even the Senate just by wearing a uniform and carrying a ladder, making nowhere out of bounds.
However, they ultimately decided on a more stable plan.
Keli walked around the clinic, confirming the surveillance camera locations and escape routes in case of an accident.
After coming out, the three split into three groups.
Keli went to Kappa to stock up on some disposable firearms.
Kazuma took a picture of the iron door's style to try learning lock picking from videos and buying professional lock-picking tools used by locksmiths.
Kirito went to buy a cosplay outfit.
In the evening, the three set off again, but when they returned home, they didn't see the little blue-haired person next door; he might have gone to work illegally.
"Yo, you've come to visit again, how filial of you. But what's with you guys?"
The security guard, with whom they had chatted that morning, was about to change shifts and looked at the three carrying instrument bags with some confusion.
"We're a band. After visiting the elderly, we're performing nearby. If you have a chance, Uncle, you can come and watch."
"Oh, oh."
The security guard nodded as if he understood, but he was clearly not interested.
The three then directly entered the hospital.
This was the busiest time for the hospital, when people preparing to care for patients overnight could go out to eat.
And for some whose conditions were not severe enough to require constant care, family members would bring dinner to the patients at this time.
Patients undergoing procedures like dialysis or physical therapy were also picked up by their families at this time to go home and sleep.
Many people came and went, but only Keli and the other two felt out of place.
But then again, ever since they gained their immortal bodies, let alone infiltrating, even living in society or entering a shopping mall gave them a sense of disconnect, like people returning from a battlefield who generally feel that this prosperous place is less than a day's drive from that living hell.
The three took the elevator to the 12th floor and went to the stairwell, taking out the food they pretended to bring for the patient and eating it.
Occasionally, they would see people coming to the stairwell to chat, but they didn't pay much attention to Keli and the others.
As night fell, the previous bustling scene seemed like an illusion.
The familiar quiet and darkness once again covered the land.
The three also pulled out clothes from their bags.
To act separately and enter multiple places, the three wore different outfits: Keli was in a patient gown, with a fake patient wristband on his hand.
Kirito and Kazuma were dressed as a nursing aide and a doctor, respectively.
Kazuma took out a wire and began a desperate struggle with the iron door.
Kirito, meanwhile, started checking the situation in each patient room from the 12th floor downwards.
Keli pretended to be a curious patient and asked the nurses about the situation upstairs and if there had been anything unusual at the hospital recently.
Keli's task was relatively easy to expose, so he needed to ask night shift nurses on different floors.
However... the first clue did not come from Keli.
"Click!"
Kazuma, who was prying the lock with a wire, heard a click, and the door opened.
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