Chapter 26: Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital (Part 26)

Chapter 26 - Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital (Twenty-Six)

Gu Shanshan couldn't help but glance sideways.

Brother Xie doesn't seem to be in a great mood, he's usually quite arrogant, but most of the time he's rather... um, restrained?

The thought of associating the word "restrained" with Xie Fangcheng made Gu Shanshan break out in goosebumps.

Over there, Xie Fangcheng had already pulled out a bundle of rope, swiftly picking up Han Qi from the ground and rapidly tying him up in a manner that prevented escape, yet allowed his hands some freedom of movement.

This was exactly what Gu Shanshan had suggested earlier.

"Considering the NPC is a doctor, and there are normal medical instruments in the outpatient room, I think... they should be able to heal."

However, these two NPCs, upon seeing Xie Fangcheng, behaved like rabbits sighting an eagle, fleeing even faster than when Qi Chenyang used his skill.

Having no other option, Gu Shanshan proposed she first go to the outpatient room, while Xie Fangcheng waited on the first floor.

Now having successfully captured Han Qi, who assumed he would be split in half upon falling into this person's hands, was somewhat disbelief-stricken to find himself still in one piece.

Xie Fangcheng didn't mince words with him, after tying him up, he asked, "You can heal injuries, right?"

Han Qi, feeling at a loss, nodded, only to be hoisted up like a bag the next second.

It was only when he was brought to ward number one that Han Qi understood why he was asked that question.

In the corner of ward number one, two players with unclear fates lay there, covered in blood and seemingly breathless.

"These two, can you cure them?" asked Xie Fangcheng.

At a glance, Han Qi could tell that all the injuries on these two patients were inflicted by the dean.

The dean had lost his temper greatly today. He Xin, for not performing his job properly, had half his body consumed by the dean, and his whereabouts were now unknown.

How could Han Qi dare to agree in such circumstances?

Just as the "no" was about to form on his lips, the staff in Xie Fangcheng's hand struck the ground, producing a sound that grates on one's nerves upon contact.

Xie Fangcheng smiled benignly at him: "If you can't cure them, you'll join them in death."

He had perfectly mastered the lines often used by emperors in period dramas when addressing the imperial physicians.

The "no" that Doctor Han was about to utter immediately retreated back down his throat.

He first moved to Sun Miao's side, shaking his head after examining him.

Xie Fangcheng raised his staff again.

Han Qi quickly added, "No, no, no, I mean there's no need to treat him. Mr. Sun has been very compliant with medical advice, having taken the medicine twice already. All he needs is a good sleep, and he will be back to his original state by tomorrow."

Considering that the patient NPCs also possess the ability to reset, Gu Shanshan nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Han Qi moved to Lu Xiaqin's side, and shook his head again.

"No need to treat her either?"

Han Qi cautiously responded, "She can't be treated; she has been beaten to a pulp..."

"Then what use are you?" Xie Fangcheng raised his staff again.

Han Qi immediately retorted, "But there is a solution. If you administer the medicine to her once more, her wounds will heal."

With one more dose, Lu Xiaqin would have taken the medicine thrice.

According to Qi Chenyang's speculation, taking the medicine three times would result in death.

She might either become prey for the monsters, or transform into a monster herself, permanently trapped in this instance.

Han Qi's eyes fixed on Lu Xiaqin, who was barely breathing, and despite the presence of a terrifying individual beside him, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Just administering the medicine will do?" Xie Fangcheng inquired.

Fearing the repercussions of not explaining the situation thoroughly and potentially facing a lethal beating later, Han Qi hurriedly added with a suppressed greedy expression, "Although the medicine is effective, it has a slight side effect."

"What side effect?"

Han Qi gave a peculiar smile, "Her hysteria will intensify significantly, making her capable of seeing things that the average person can't."

Gu Shanshan instantly understood.

In this instance, "hysteria" referred to the side quests within the instance.

Those who hadn't taken the medicine remained in the main instance, players who had consumed less than three doses were in the dean's side instance, while those who had taken three doses found themselves in another side instance.

Presumably, the instance associated with the third dose was incredibly brutal, hence Han Qi couldn't help but reveal an unrestrained excitement in his eyes when mentioning this.

She cannot take it.

Lu Xiaqin was already timid by nature, sending her into such a vicious instance alone was clearly unrealistic.

They needed to find another way...

Just then, Xie Fangcheng at her side uttered an "oh".

"You said that she would recover if she takes the medicine," Xie Fangcheng said, tucking the staff under his arm as he rummaged through his bag, extracting a small bottle containing the red potion for players. He poured a single dose onto his hand.

Gu Shanshan was stunned for a moment before hurriedly stopping him, "No! Xiaqin is naturally timid, sending her into a side instance alone..."

"It's inadmissible."

As he spoke, Xie Fangcheng took the pill into his hands.

On the tiny pill, minute tentacles resembling soft fur were still writhing and expanding. It looked harmless, but the sight of it made Gu Shanshan feel a stinging sensation at the root of her tongue.

Once this thing enters the mouth, it would transform into a terrifying monster.

Xie Fangcheng held the pill with both hands: "Why does it have to be consumed whole? Discussing side effects without considering the dosage is absurd."

Saying this, he applied force with his fingers.

Han Qi sneered inwardly as he watched from the side.

This thing only resembled a pill, but in reality, it was a parasite found on marine fish. One pill equaled one parasite. Despite its fluffy tentacle-like appearance, it was actually covered in an indomitable layer of armor inside...

"Crack."

Han Qi wore a blank expression.

After breaking the pill apart, Xie Fangcheng gestured a bit and first fed Lu Xiaqin the slightly smaller half.

The drug emitted a scream inaudible to human ears. After entering Lu Xiaqin's mouth, it expanded instantaneously, occupying her entire oral cavity before wriggling its way into her body.

Visibly, Lu Xiaqin's originally faint breathing gradually steadied, and her wounds began to heal at a slow pace.

Han Qi: "..."

Xie Fangcheng tossed the other half back into the bottle, seemingly planning to use it again next time.

After completing all this, he turned his gaze towards Han Qi.

Han Qi took a horrified step back: "I was so cooperative just now; you're not really planning to attack me, are you??"

Xie Fangcheng looked surprised: "What are you talking about?"

Before Han Qi could even breathe a sigh of relief, he heard Xie Fangcheng continue, "What does your obedience have to do with whether or not I will hit you?"

Damn it!!!

Han Qi twisted frantically, trying to wriggle free from the ropes.

Xie Fangcheng couldn't help but chuckle at the sight: "Look at how frightened you are, I didn't say I was going to hit you now."

Tears welled up in Han Qi's eyes.

Xie Fangcheng spoke to him with heartfelt gravity, "You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't kill you while you're still of use. Rest assured."

Having said this, Xie Fangcheng actually began untying the ropes.

Han Qi's face displayed vulnerability mingled with bewilderment, and within the confusion lay fear. Unable to restrain himself, he blurted out, "Then why did you say that just now?"

"What did I say?" Xie Fangcheng asked kindly.

"You said! ‘What does your obedience have to do with whether or not I will hit you?’ Now you're saying you won't kill me!"

"Exactly!" With that, Xie Fangcheng raised a stick, "Just because I said I won't kill you doesn't mean I won't hit you!"

Before his words fell, the mouths on Han Qi's body let out screams. Twisting his body, he darted out the door in an instant.

Xie Fangcheng hadn't actually intended to hit him. Now, he leisurely followed to the door and peeked out, then turned his face back, commenting, "He sure runs fast."

Gu Shanshan, who had watched the whole process, wore a complex expression: "He won't dare to come back, will he?"

"He probably won't."

Only then did Gu Shanshan breathe a sigh of relief.

Xie Fangcheng stretched his limbs: "Let's go, let's look for some clues."

.

Since entering the instance, Gu Shanshan's nerves had been on edge.

Although she seemed calm on the surface, the panic inside was unavoidable for anyone who suddenly found themselves in such a ghastly place after a normal death.

Last night, Gu Shanshan was alone in the room waiting. Knowing that she was nothing but a burden to Qi Chanyang, she didn't express her fear. But being awake and sharing a dark room with an NPC whose fate was unknown, anyone would be scared.

... This was the first time she felt that this hospital... seemed, not that big of a deal.

"Look at this wreck."

In the security room.

The original security guard had disappeared, but the things in the security room— a blood-stained hammer, unidentified creature bones in the corner, and a blood-red calendar hanging on the wall were all still present.

Everything seemed so horrifying under the moonlight.

Upon entering, Xie Fangcheng flipped the light switch "click", showing disdain as he tapped the peeling wooden table.

"This table, not even fit for the junkyard."

Gu Shanshan: "..."

Turning his head, he saw the calendar hanging on the wall, still wearing a look of disdain.

"This calendar... huh?"

Xie Fangcheng walked over.

A new page had already been turned on the calendar.

August 12th.

Gu Shanshan also found the latest issue of the newspaper on the table.

The newspaper was still the Blue Mountain Evening News.

According to Qi Chanyang, this was a "cheat" the system provided them with.

The newspaper displayed events that were going to happen tomorrow.

Gu Shanshan's face turned serious as she opened the newspaper.

"Brother Xie, look at this!"

The last page of the evening news featured a missing person notice.

"Liu Hanxi is going to disappear tomorrow?" Gu Shanshan frowned, "Where could he possibly go missing to? Why would he disappear? Could he really leave the psychiatric hospital?"

This instance unfolded within the Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital, where despite the scenery outside the instance seeming normal, there was actually no way to get out.

Qi Chanyang had mentioned that before, some highly capable big shots tried to breach the boundaries of the instance, but encountered a strange membrane.

The heavily system-enhanced hand of that big shot disappeared the moment it touched the membrane, and since then, no player has attempted to breach the boundaries of the instance.

Xie Fangcheng also shook his head: "No way out."

Beyond the membrane was actually a thick fog, Xie Fangcheng had opened the doors of the psychiatric hospital last night, and had walked in the fog for a while before returning.

His sense of direction was not too great, especially in such dense fog, it was like being blind despite having open eyes, he didn't want to venture out again without a guide.

Gu Shanshan hadn't realized that the person beside her had already ventured outside the psychiatric hospital once, and was currently racking her brain to decipher the meaning behind the missing person notice in the newspaper.

"Liu Hanxi is a normal person, he is Ge Juan's son, Liu Hanyue's brother, he entered the psychiatric hospital to 'seek treatment'... Could it be Ge Juan? Did she take Liu Hanxi away for some reason? But why?"

Gu Shanshan unconsciously exchanged a glance with Xie Fangcheng beside her.

Xie Fangcheng wore an innocent face: "How would I know?"

Gu Shanshan withdrew her gaze.

Seeing her deep in thought, Xie Fangcheng declared boldly: "No worries, tomorrow I will directly tie up Liu Hanxi, no one will be able to do anything about it."

Gu Shanshan was shocked: "Can you do that?"

Xie Fangcheng was even more shocked: "Why not? Didn't we already do it once today?"

Gu Shanshan: "..."

She felt that this wasn't quite how one was supposed to clear this instance... right?

Seeing her expression, Xie Fangcheng had an epiphany.

Subsequently, he extended his hand and tossed the ball of paper on the table into the trash bin.

It wasn't long before the sound of knocking came from the door.

Xie Fangcheng smiled, "See, this works better than summoning."

Having said that, Xie Fangcheng swiftly pulled the door open.

At the door, Ge Juan was still dressed in her janitor's attire, her hand raised in a knocking position, not yet having the time to lower it before a familiar yet terrifying face came into her view.

Xie Fangcheng exclaimed joyfully, "Oh! What a coincidence... Hey! Don't run!"

Ge Juan ran at a lightning speed, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Xie Fangcheng sighed, turning around with a look of helplessness, "It seems we won't be getting any information from Ge Juan. How about we ask Liu Hanyue? She's pretty easy to summon too. The only issue is that the young girl can't speak, we need to communicate through written text."

His demeanor of treating everything as precious and his expression of treating the NPC like a close family member.

Gu Shanshan: "..."

At this moment, for some unknown reason, Gu Shanshan felt she particularly understood why Qi Chanyang would often roar at him.

.

The two of them also made a trip to the third floor.

The third floor didn't have much to explore now, with each room being empty and devoid of life, it was hard to imagine that just yesterday it was housing several test subjects.

Gu Shanshan searched all around the third floor but didn't find anything noteworthy.

Seeing that the time was nearing midnight, the two had no choice but to return to the patient room.

Room number one housed Sun Miao and Lu Xiaqin, so the two of them entered room number three instead.

Upon reaching room number three, Gu Shanshan stared at the hole between the two rooms, momentarily stunned.

"Brother Xie, don't you think... this hole seems to have shrunk a bit?"

Xie Fangcheng glanced at it and shook his head: "I didn't notice."

Gu Shanshan took another look, wondering if it was just her imagination.

But now was not the time to discuss such matters.

Gu Shanshan pulled out paper and pen, sketching on the paper while pondering the current situation.

It was known that the conditions to clear this instance were to survive for three days, but the doctor NPC insisted on the players taking medicine daily, along with daily consultations.

After taking the medicine for three days, the hysteria would worsen, and it was very likely that this represented a side quest in the instance - here, Gu Shanshan marked a triangle symbol.

Qi Chanyang speculated that the medicine absolutely must not be taken three times, or it would lead to death.

Therefore, the difficulty of this side mission might be insurmountable for players, so the correct approach to clearing the level should be to abstain from taking the medicine from the very beginning.

But that's not quite right.

Veteran players like Qi Chanyang actually possess the ability to resist the patient NPCs.

The condition for clearing the mission is to survive for three days; theoretically, as long as the veteran players avoid taking the medicine, they should be able to survive until the end.

But judging only by Qi Chanyang's performance, the mortality rate in this mission is frighteningly high.

Hence, merely abstaining from the medicine will not guarantee safe survival for three days in the mission.

Something else is bound to happen...

The clues within the mission feel like fragmented pieces of a puzzle. Gu Shanshan always felt as if there was some original clue that was deliberately removed by someone, preventing them from connecting all the existing clues.

What could that clue be...

Gu Shanshan, staring at the paper in her hand, suddenly spoke, "Brother Xie... in all the photos inside Liu Hanyue's album, is she the only one present?"

"Ah? Yes, that's right."

"No!" Gu Shanshan suddenly stood up, "An album documenting her growth cannot possibly feature only herself!"

"?" Xie Fangcheng, inexperienced in this aspect, said, "Shouldn't her album be exclusively about documenting her life?"

"It is about documenting her! But in such an album, which even includes her infancy, why isn't there a single photo of her parents? This is illogical!"

After a child has their photo taken to compile into an album, logically there should be family portraits featuring the parents holding the child.

But from beginning to end, Liu Hanyue's album contains only pictures of her.

Her essay stated "I don't have a mother"... back then, everyone including Qi Chanyang assumed it was just a child's frustrated utterance.

But thinking about it now...

"Is Liu Hanyue really Ge Juan's daughter?"

"Ah?" Xie Fangcheng scratched his head, "But Liu Hanyue and Liu Hanxi look quite similar."

The resemblance between Liu Hanyue and Liu Hanxi is of the kind that doesn't strike you at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the details appear increasingly alike.

Gu Shanshan boldly hypothesized, "Then... perhaps Liu Hanxi isn't Ge Juan's son either."

Saying so, something occurred to Gu Shanshan, "Brother Xie, let's make a trip to the reading room now! If what I suspect is true, I think I understand what is going on!"

"Alright."

The two hurried to the reading room. Without further ado, Gu Shanshan approached the magazine rack and flipped open the promotional brochure for the Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital.

On the page featuring the profiles of the doctors, Han Qi, He Xin, including Chen Xiangyuan, all of their photos match their respective ages, all except for Ge Juan.

The profile indicates that Ge Juan, who is 41 years old, looks only 31.

—— Perhaps because... this Ge Juan is indeed only 31 years old.

“Do you remember the surgeries they performed?” Gu Shanshan swiftly jot down all the clues on paper.

"They were researching how to replace human organs, and they succeeded, with Liu Hanyue as the evidence. But— Liu Hanyue is just a little girl, why replace her legs, chest, and organs with those of an adult... Liu Hanyue said, 'she feels it's not good enough yet'. We initially assumed that Ge Juan was a stern mother imposing excessively strict demands on her daughter. Yet, if she were imposing such demands, it must be because she had extraordinary expectations for her daughter! Assuming Ge Juan merely hoped for her daughter's success, why would she agree to transplant Liu Hanyue's mouth onto Han Qi?"

"There's only one reason— Liu Hanyue's body is the one Ge Juan intends to use for a head transplant!! Hence, she doesn't need Liu Hanyue's head!! Nor does she need Liu Hanyue's mouth!"

"However, later on, Liu Hanyue was devoured by the dean because she refused to take her medicine diligently. Therefore, Ge Juan brought Liu Hanxi into the psychiatric hospital as well."

"Her next target for a head transplant is Liu Hanxi! The current Ge Juan is not the mother of both Liu Hanyue and Liu Hanxi!!"

Just then, the clock struck twelve.

Simultaneously, Xie Fangcheng and Gu Shanshan heard a “thud” coming from the bookshelves in the reading room, as if something had fallen onto the floor.

Gu Shanshan turned her head, her face drastically changing.

On the previously empty floor lay a charred, blackened skull. Its hollow eye sockets seemingly “staring” silently at them.