I Explore Urban Legends - Chapter 87: How Did Our Numbers Grow? (Patreon)

The next day, the group returned to the area around the hospital.

This time, Liam had no intention of immediately going inside to investigate. Instead, he planned to observe the situation from the outside first.

There was no way he could turn the entire hospital upside down by himself. Doing that would only make him look like a terrorist.

But there was one faction with plenty of manpower that was even more desperate than Liam to find the Reptilians: the Home of Wanderers.

Although they appeared to have gained a slight advantage in their previous clashes, their actual situation was far more precarious.

After all, they had no backing from the government or any major corporations. Once the Reptilians figured out how their organization operated, wiping them out in one sweep would be easy.

There was something else that bothered Liam.

They had been watching the hospital all morning, yet not a single person had entered or left. Not even one car had come out of the parking lot.

Was the entire hospital empty?

Before long, Liam no longer had to wonder about it.

Several vans drove up.

Juan was the first to step out. Apparently, their organization was still pretty short on money if they had to rely on old vans to get around.

Dozens of people followed him out, one after another. Every one of them had a fierce look in their eyes. They were clearly no ordinary people.

They carried out two men wrapped from head to toe in bandages and marched into the hospital lobby in a large group.

Liam looked up and immediately realized they had entered the wrong building. Emergency care was in another building. The main building was only used for directions and administrative offices.

Of course, they obviously hadn’t come here for medical treatment.

Juan led his men inside and immediately shouted the moment they reached the lobby.

“My friend is injured! I need a doctor!”

He shouted several times, but no one answered.

The entire building was deserted.

The two bandaged men awkwardly got back to their feet.

They had prepared for every possibility beforehand.

They had expected to storm into the hospital and either receive treatment while cautiously searching for its secrets, or find a group of horrifying monsters already waiting for them, leading to a brutal fight.

Everyone had been prepared to sacrifice their lives.

Instead, they had charged into an empty hospital, leaving them with nothing to hit.

Juan noticed the strange atmosphere and immediately rallied his men.

“Everyone, don’t worry. No matter what those sneaky lizards are planning, as long as we have Tonatiuh’s protection, their cowardly traps won’t hurt us!”

“For Tonatiuh!”

Everyone began chanting the name of their god.

Seeing the excitement return to their faces, Juan breathed a sigh of relief.

They cautiously searched the building, but still found nothing.

Juan grew increasingly confused.

Something wasn’t right.

Wasn’t this supposed to be a hospital? Why wasn’t there even any medical equipment?

“Juan, I found something.”

A voice came from the first floor.

Everyone returned to the lobby, where a young man was pointing at the directory.

“Juan, do you think this is a map of the hospital?”

“Didn’t we already look at that? The map doesn’t match this building at all.”

“Juan, what I mean is... this hospital has more than twenty buildings.”

Juan’s eyes widened.

That possibility had never even crossed his mind.

But when he looked closely, he saw that the marker at the bottom of the map showed exactly where they were standing.

He cursed under his breath.

“Damn white guys. Who builds a hospital this huge? What a waste!”

Several of the others immediately agreed.

Although they had been living in the city for quite some time, with some of them having stayed for years, none of them had ever gone to a hospital like this.

“I miscalculated. We didn’t bring enough people.”

Juan was annoyed with himself.

He hadn’t imagined a hospital could possibly be this large, so he had only brought his most elite people.

A young man stepped closer.

“Juan, what do we do? Should we come back another day?”

“What are you thinking? You think we’ll get another opportunity this good?”

Juan smacked the young man lightly on the forehead.

His men were passionate, straightforward, and willing to sacrifice themselves. Their only real problem was that they had absolutely no sense of urgency. No matter what they were doing, they always wanted to put it off until later.

“Call in more people. I refuse to believe those things can hide inside the walls.”

Outside the hospital, Liam watched curiously as Juan and his men hurried inside, only to come rushing back out a short while later.

Frank noticed that none of them even had dust on their clothes and asked,

“They’re not fighting anymore?”

“It’s not that simple. Juan knows what he’s doing. He probably noticed something.”

Another two hours passed.

Then Liam and Frank stared in amazement as dozens of vans arrived outside the hospital and a huge crowd of Mexicans poured into the building.

“Looks like they’re going with sheer numbers.”

That was exactly what Liam lacked most right now.

Among his own group, the only real combatant was Liam himself. Watson was still just a bear cub, and Liam was reluctant to send him into battle. Then there was Frank, but he was ultimately just an ordinary person who knew how to use a gun.

If Liam had to fight one of these factions head-on, he wouldn’t be afraid no matter how many enemies came at him.

But searching for something was completely different.

Inside the hospital, Juan pointed at the map.

“We’re splitting into groups. Ten people will search each building. Every thirty minutes, everyone returns to the first floor and exchanges information between groups so we can make sure we’re still receiving updates from everyone.”

To prevent anyone from pretending they understood when they actually didn’t, Juan and his elite squad made everyone repeat the instructions back to them face-to-face.

Once he was sure everyone understood, the groups dispersed.

Juan kept his elite squad together.

Their strongest fighters needed to stay concentrated in one place.

In truth, the people who had arrived later were little more than scouts and cannon fodder.

Every one of them understood that.

To defeat the Reptilians in this city, Juan had brought every follower he trusted.

Time slowly passed until noon arrived.

The Home of Wanderers still hadn’t found anything.

With no other choice, Juan ordered everyone to gather for lunch.

Once everyone had assembled, he began counting heads.

But the longer he counted, the stranger it felt.

“Wait... did we bring this many people?”

Then realization struck him.

“Everyone, watch out! Impostors have infiltrated us!”

But the elite warriors were only a small fraction of the group.

Most of the others didn’t have time to react before the companions standing beside them suddenly burst out of their clothes, transforming into towering Reptilians and attacking.

One man was knocked to the ground, moments away from being disemboweled, when a spear glowing with golden light pierced straight through the Reptilian above him.

Juan was already charging into the crowd, his entire body radiating golden light.

An obsidian saw-blade sword appeared in his hand, and he swung it at one of the Reptilians whose disguise had been exposed.

The Reptilian had no time to dodge and could only raise both arms to block.

But the obsidian saw-blade sword was far too sharp.

It sliced the creature in half instantly.

After killing another Reptilian, Juan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

He immediately turned and charged toward another part of the battlefield.

His speed was astonishing.

Many of the Reptilians were reduced to pieces before they even had time to react.

At the same time, the other elite fighters began their counterattack.