Chapter 30: Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital (Part 30)

Chapter 30: Lan Shan Psychiatric Hospital (Part Thirty)

Qi Chanyang hurried over to take a look.

Inside the lump of muck, an eyeball was rolling around, glancing from Jie Fangcheng's face to Qi Chanyang's, appearing so vivid that it seemed as if the mud had sprouted an eye on its own.

Qi Chanyang asked, "How can you tell this eye belongs to Liu Hanxi?"

"How to explain it..." Jie Fangcheng found it easy to recognize from his vast experience, but explaining it was another hassle. After a brief contemplation, he decided to slack off, "Just a guess."

Qi Chanyang stared at him speechlessly, yet acknowledged that despite this man’s mysterious and eccentric demeanor, his words were quite credible.

It seemed Liu Hanxi was no ordinary individual, exhibiting peculiar similarities with the hospital director in this pool of muck.

Could there possibly be some connection between Liu Hanxi and the director?

The eyeball kept rotating and took the opportunity while they were talking to dart back into the muck. By the time Jie Fangcheng tried to stir the mud again with the stick, the eyeball had vanished without a trace.

"Eh?"

Jie Fangcheng was puzzled, continuing to dig fervently with his stick, exerting so much force that Qi Chanyang began to suspect that even if the eyeball had been there, it would be gone by now.

"No need to search anymore." Qi Chanyang recalled his previous encounter with the director, "The spaces within these clumps are interconnected. The eyeball probably escaped to another clump."

Indeed.

On the first floor, in Liu Hanxi’s room, a large amount of muck seeped out from the wall, forming squelchy heaps on the ground. Soon, skeletal hands emerged, rapidly regenerating flesh before using a slight force to pull the rest of the body out from the muck.

After crawling out of the muck, Liu Hanxi sat on the floor, patiently waiting for his flesh to fully regenerate before reaching back into the muck to retrieve and reinsert his eyeball.

Clearly acquainted with this room, Liu Hanxi sat for a moment before standing up and heading towards the desk. After wiping it clean and organizing it, he opened a drawer to flip through a photo album.

All the pictures of Liu Hanyue in the album showed her with eyes tightly closed, evidently unwilling to engage with him.

Liu Hanxi grimaced, placing the album back into the drawer.

However, a thought seemed to strike him as he retrieved the album again, flipping it open to a blood-stained page in the middle.

The Liu Hanyue on that page maintained an expressionless face, eyes firmly shut. Liu Hanxi knocked on the door behind her in the picture, echoing a faint knocking sound from inside the room.

"Sister, it's time to leave." A joyful smile spread across Liu Hanxi's face. "We can finally be free and meet mom."

In the album, Liu Hanyue suddenly opened her eyes, tears of blood slowly trickling down from her eyes.

It seemed like she wanted to say something, but the person confined to a photograph evidently could not communicate with Liu Hanxi.

Liu Hanxi giggled softly, then reluctantly placed the album back into the drawer.

The mud squeezed into a thin, narrow strip, extending out the door, and quickly disappeared along with Liu Hanxi.

Inside the closed album, Liu Hanyue had her eyes wide open, her fingers were frantically moving, as if writing something in the air.

She applied too much force, and thick blood began to seep out from the album.

By the afternoon, when everyone gradually woke up and continued searching for clues in the reading room, Qi Chanyang was the first to notice something amiss.

"There was a blood-written message on yesterday's evening paper, it read: 'Run!'"

It still remained visible only to those players like Qi Chanyang who had taken the medication, a hint from Liu Hanyue.

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances.

Gu Shanshan analyzed from the side, "Last time Liu Hanyue warned us not to trust 'Ge Juan', now she's urging us to 'run'. It seems she is an NPC on our side. Liu Hanxi and the patient NPCs could potentially be persuaded to join us, considering the attitude of number nine towards Brother Jie, if we manage to find all the clues, they should be able to ally with us. Doctors like Director Han Qi are our enemies. The only one left is the fake Ge Juan."

The fake Ge Juan was highly aggressive at night, but when she appeared during the day, whether or not her words were intentional, at least she didn't show extreme hostility.

The stance of this NPC is somewhat peculiar.

Gu Shanshan quickly ran through the clues they had at the moment in her mind, "If we are a group of novice players aiming to survive in this game without taking the medicine, we need the patient NPCs not to attack us. Hence we need clues like Wang He's diary. We've searched the reading room in the past two days and apart from this diary, we found nothing."

"If we decide to take the medicine, we'll have to confront the Director... Since every player has a chance to clear the game, there must be a clue that prevents the Director from attacking us. Currently, we presume this clue to be this ring."

Gu Shanshan furrowed her brows, "Qi Brother, don't you think that all the clues we've found so far seem like remnants overlooked by someone who had scavenged through them before?"

Qi Chanyang also joined in pondering.

In a decryption-type instance, theoretically, there should be an abundance of clues, but in this instance, it's the exact opposite, the clues they could find were extremely scarce. Yet, judging by the normal standards of a level one instance, the capabilities of the NPCs here clearly exceeded what would be expected in a typical level one instance.

Qi Chanyang's gaze slid over each person's face once again.

The new players were still engrossed in searching for clues, their bodies undergoing transformations due to the two pills they had ingested.

Lu Xiaotong underwent the most noticeable change. Originally a dancer with a straight back and a slender figure with a dignified demeanor, now she was different.

Now, a large bump protruded from Lu Xiaotong's back, forcing her to hunch over. Her formerly slender limbs had become swollen, and her oval face had almost doubled in size, appearing bloated.

This group of newcomers understood that they were hindrances in the instance, hence everyone was behaving particularly obedient and docile.

The only disobedient one was the enigmatic Jie Fangcheng, whose exact identity remained a mystery, leaving everyone uncertain if he was even a player.

"...Where has Jie Fangcheng gone off to again?"

Xue Kai said timidly, "Brother Jie went to play badminton."

This guy!

Despite everyone being well aware of Liu Hanxi's disappearance and the looming unknown dangers, he doesn't seem worried in the slightest!

Could it be that he...

A thought of this nature barely crossed Qi Chanyang's mind when he was suddenly overtaken by a jolt of realization.

In fact, ever since the end of the nap period, when he noticed that Jie Fangcheng and Gu Shanshan had morphed into strange creatures in his eyes, Qi Chanyang felt an indescribable discomfort deep within whenever he looked at them.

Contrarily, when he encountered He Xin a moment ago, Qi Chanyang experienced a sensation of kinship, as if he were looking at a fellow of his own kind.

Has the process of being assimilated by the instance dungeon already commenced?

A surge of helplessness welled up from the depths of Qi Chanyang's heart.

Maintaining vigilance all along and being a seasoned player with a wealth of clearance experience, he was now gripped by this feeling. What about the others?

The peculiarities and horrors of this instance dungeon had transcended Qi Chanyang's understanding.

He looked at Gu Shanshan — in his eyes, she now resembled a monster cloaked in an orange-red jacket and wearing a bizarre mask, her appearance engendering an unsettling feeling upon mere glances.

"Shanshan," Qi Chanyang whispered, his voice laden with gravity, "I have a premonition that we might meet our end here."

Gu Shanshan's head jerked up sharply.

Qi Chanyang managed a smile, remarking, "Perhaps from day one, 'not taking the pills, not venturing into the side dungeons' was the only correct route to clear this level."

At that moment, the door to the reading room was pushed open.

The other person who had refrained from taking the pills and entering the side dungeons had returned from playing ball, greeting the duo by the newsstand near the entrance with a casual nod.

"Hey, slacking off, are we?"

The infuriating casualness of his tone made Qi Chanyang realize how foolish he had been a moment ago, suspecting that "key clues within this dungeon were potentially pilfered by Jie Fangcheng."

Without further ado, if this person truly wished for their demise, simply abstaining from lending a hand would suffice.

After greeting them, Jie Fangcheng sauntered over, asking, "What were you guys discussing?"

Qi Chanyang hesitated momentarily.

"Just now, I was telling Shanshan that I believe you two have chosen the only correct path to victory. Those of us who consumed the pills are gradually being assimilated by this instance dungeon," Qi Chanyang said, a note of regret in his voice. "Before entering this dungeon, I thought I could lead everyone to victory. I didn't anticipate that I too might perish in a level one dungeon."

Gu Shanshan looked visibly shaken, replying, "Qi Ge, the night hasn't even fallen yet. No one knows whether or not this is the correct route to clearance. It's too early to speak of such things."

Jie Fangcheng chimed in, "Quit with the incessant chatter about life and death."

A touch of warmth blossomed in Qi Chanyang's heart, realizing that despite Jie Fangcheng's casual demeanor, he could offer comfort in times of distress.

Jie Fangcheng continued, "It's kind of cringey."

Qi Chanyang: “...”

He knew it!!

“In any case... let's all be extra careful tonight.”

But by the time dinner rolled around, everyone had already noticed that something was amiss.

Lu Xiaqin’s transformation had progressed to the point where she was almost unable to communicate normally; she resembled another patient NPC, fixating solely on the meatballs on the table.

This young girl usually ate very little, and dining in this instance felt even more like a punishment; she scarcely initiated eating on her own.

But this time, Lu Xiaqin was devouring her food as if afraid someone else would snatch it away, her head buried in her bowl.

Even Qi Chanyang found that the food on the table seemed more fragrant than usual. His mind seemed to have nearly seized up; it took him a while to understand what Gu Shanshan was whispering to him.

"... look at He Xin, he seems to have only just realized that Liu Hanxi is missing, acting very panicked. But we saw the missing person notice for Liu Hanxi in the newspaper yesterday. Tonight, we should get to the security room as soon as possible to get tomorrow's newspaper and see what will happen tomorrow... Qi brother?"

Qi Chanyang nodded slowly: "Yes."

Gu Shanshan fell silent.

After dinner, they found themselves standing up unconsciously, ready to follow the footsteps of the patient NPCs into the badminton hall.

It was only when Gu Shanshan urgently called out that everyone suddenly snapped back to reality.

The group returned to the reading room, which was engulfed in an eerie silence.

Lu Xiaqin sat in front of the bookshelf, seemingly intending to continue her afternoon work, but as her hand moved across the books, she eventually let out a sob.

"I'm sorry... I can't remember... where I... left off..."

Lu Xiaqin's voice became fragmented, each complete sentence uttered at a painfully slow pace, reminiscent of the speaking style of the patient NPCs.

Qi Chanyang shook his head: "It's not your fault."

He looked at Gu Shanshan silently, marshalling his remaining mental capacity to carefully construct his words.

"Tonight, you and Xie Fangcheng... prioritize protecting yourselves." Qi Chanyang took out a pink bottle, hesitated, then also took out the medicine that was given to the patient NPCs, distributing one to each person.

"Tonight... if you find yourself harboring violent urges, take the medicine. First try the one given to the patient NPCs, if that doesn't work, take the one we've been using these past few days."

Everyone gripped the medicine tightly, all eyes on Gu Shanshan and Xie Fangcheng, with no objections raised.

Tears glistened in the corners of Gu Shanshan's eyes.

When it was time, He Xin poked his head through the door to remind them it was time to return to their rooms for rest.

"Let's go." Qi Chanyang also took two pills for himself, then gripped his weapon firmly. "This is our last night."

.

Inside the sick ward, every player and patient NPC took up residence in rooms according to the order they had on the first day they arrived.

However, Lu Xiaqin was in room one, and since Liu Hanxi, who was supposed to be in room three, had disappeared, she was alone. Concerned that having only one patient in the ward might trigger certain rules, Qi Chanyang swapped places with her.

Xie Fangcheng and Gu Shanshan were both situated in room four, with the original patient from that room being moved to share with the patient in room nine.

Gu Shanshan seized the time to ponder over strategies for the night.

"After the doctor's rounds, we should first go to get the evening newspaper to see what will transpire tomorrow, and then..." Gu Shanshan became entwined in indecision, "I feel we should stay here to watch over them, but right now, they are in a sub-instance we cannot access. But if we don't keep watch, Liu Hanxi seems to be planning something significant tonight."

There was also the message conveyed to them by Liu Hanyue: Run.

Run to where? The psychiatric hospital only has three floors; where else could they flee to?

Time was ticking away minute by minute, but Han Qi and He Xin, who were supposed to appear, were nowhere to be seen.

In room one, Lu Xiaqin was facing the first patient. During the wait, Lu Xiaqin, who should have been fearful of these NPCs, began to find them increasingly familiar.

She slowly realized her current state was deteriorating, she was being assimilated by the instance, and soon might remain in the instance as a monster.

But at this moment, she felt immensely grateful that the assimilation had alleviated her fear of these NPCs.

"Hello."

She greeted the first NPC.

The first turned his head to look at her, moving significantly to do so, his body turned away from Lu Xiaqin, but his head fully rotated to meet her gaze, his eyes seemingly growing larger as they stared intently at her.

Even now, Lu Xiaqin found the clarity of mind to think, had it been her past self, would she have been frightened to tears at this point?

But now, she was engaging in composed communication with the first.

"Time's up, why hasn't the doctor... arrived?"

The first kept his gaze on her: "The doctor won't be coming today."

Lu Xiaqin tilted her head slightly: "Why?"

The first's mouth spread into a grimace: "They have run out of medicine."

Lu Xiaqin tried to process this, shaking her head in confusion: "Why?"

The first elucidated: "Because the medicine belongs to the director, and tonight the director..."

Just then, the belated sound of a small cart approached from the corridor.

Almost simultaneously, NPCs in each sick room stood up in unison upon hearing the sound, their faces reflecting disbelief as they looked towards the door.

Soon, a series of "thud, thud" knocks resounded from outside the doors.

"Hello, time for the doctor's rounds."