Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Late at night.

The Druid was prostrate, almost clinging to the floor, hiding in the shadowy angle where the reception desk met the floor, positioning himself in a blind spot as if he were an emotionless potted plant.

He silently counted his heartbeats, not daring to exit the game to browse forums, as he wasn't sure if he would miss his only chance.

The nurse at the reception seemed to be watching a drama, munching on snacks like chicken feet, occasionally making sounds of crunching bones, thoroughly enjoying her meal, completely oblivious to someone hiding nearby.

As time ticked away, the Druid grew impatient and even more so as he realized it was nearly 3 a.m. With nurse shifts changing every three hours, if he couldn't find a flaw to steal the keys soon, he would be discovered once the shift change began, and the perfect stealth roll he had managed earlier would be wasted.

The game had a death cooldown of a full 12 hours. With the beta test ending in 10 hours, a death now would render all his previous exploration and efforts futile.

Fortunately, it seemed like the game's admin had heard his pleas. Just as the Druid contemplated the angle of his impending death, a phone call suddenly came through to the reception.

The nurse, apparently irritated, stood up. Her large body made a loud noise as she left the chair. Restricted by the short phone cord, she had to move from her station towards the right side of the reception.

Now was the moment!

The Druid fixated on the keychain beside the reception computer. Seizing the moment as the nurse moved, he swiftly bent down, suppressing his almost bursting heartbeat, roaring in his mind:

"Now, blocking out everything else! I must steal these keys!"

As his heart rate spiked and adrenaline surged, a cold voice echoed in his mind.

[Condition met, activating 'Burn Fortune' (Consuming necessary points for Luck Replenishment).]

[Skill 'Sleight of Hand': Failure.]

[30 luck points consumed.]

The keychain vanished from the desk without a sound, completely unnoticed by the massive nurse who never turned around. The Druid, pretending not to see the human fingers she had gnawed on, stealthily moved from one shadow to another, slipping into the corridor.

Once safely away from the danger zone, the Druid clutched the keys, obtained at the cost of 30 luck points, hardly believing his own success.

To have survived in this level 30 map as a mere level 10 player and even acquiring the crucial keys was an achievement.

It was vital now, with the beta test drawing to a close, to gather more intelligence for an advantage in the upcoming closed test.

Confidently, the Druid began to piece together the clues he had gathered so far.

First, this hospital was clearly abnormal; by day and night, it was like two different worlds. The normal nurses and doctors morphed into bizarre creatures at night, like the huge nurse at the reception, a stark contrast to her slender daytime form.

Secondly, the hospital was filled with eerie occurrences, people vanishing without a trace, unnoticed by anyone.

This was undoubtedly a high-difficulty instance!

The Druid had been live-posting his exploration of the hospital on the forum, but due to the game being in beta, live streaming was prohibited, so he could only share through text and pictures.

Having obtained the potentially key item, the Druid couldn't wait to boast online. He was about to photograph the keys when he noticed a photo underneath them.

Too tense earlier, he hadn't paid attention to what he had grabbed, likely swiping the photo along with the keychain.

On seeing the photo, the Druid froze.

The person in the photo... was incredibly attractive.

Could humans really possess such perfect features?

The Druid, having scrolled through countless videos of famous beauties from different eras on the information-rich internet, from the deep features of Western men and women, the charm of Hong Kong beauties, the lively essence of Japanese style, to the flawless perfection of AI-generated faces, thought he had seen the pinnacle of creation by Nuwa and God.

But the face before him made him realize that indeed, there are greater things in the world.

In the photo was a young man in hospital garb, his hair a platinum color close to white, with eyes like emerald lakes set into his visage.

His skin was so pale it was almost translucent, giving off the impression of someone who had just recovered from a serious illness, fragile and easily broken. Damn, Druid, a straight guy, actually got the concept of 'fragility' often hyped by the fan circles online. It seemed like the boy in the photo could be broken with just a bit of force.

[Willpower check in progress…]

Druid snapped back to reality, shocked by the system prompt that suddenly popped up.

"What the hell? A willpower check? I haven't done anything... Hey, at least tell me the result, it's not another secret roll, is it??"

The system gave no response, and just as Druid was about to furiously message the administrator, a sudden jolt ran through him.

A loud roar came from the direction of the reception:

"Who! Who stole my photo!"

Fast and heavy footsteps approached from behind. Just then, the time for his stealth skill had elapsed. Druid cursed under his breath and hurriedly tried to use stealth again.

[Stealth: Failed]

'Big brother! Goddess! Don't mess with me at a time like this!'

The game system offered no response, but the footsteps grew louder. Druid could faintly see the hulking figure appearing at the corner of the corridor, scaring him into tiptoeing quickly in the other direction.

Unfortunately, the sound of high heels clicking on the floor echoed from the other end of the corridor.

Caught between the sounds of footsteps, Druid instantly panicked and accidentally knocked his toe against the hospital's long bench, immediately feeling dreadful.

Worse yet, the nurse at the front desk seemed to have heard the commotion. Her footsteps paused momentarily, then she clearly started rushing in his direction.

The sound of high heels behind him also noticeably quickened.

It's over.

Druid knew that his end was inevitable in the game. Resigned, he activated the game's recording feature, preparing to document his final moments in this beta test phase.

Just then, the door of the hospital room behind him swung open. A pair of arms reached out, pulling Druid into the room with a forceful tug from behind. Before he could react and cry out, a pair of hands covered his mouth.

"Shh— they're outside," the person whispered into Druid's ear.

Druid shivered uncomfortably, unable to articulate his feelings as the voice sent tingles through his head, like an electric current.

Before he could ask anything, a deep, hoarse voice of the front desk nurse resounded outside, "Despicable little rat, I'm going to tear you apart piece by piece and find my photo in your corpse!"

An uncontrollable image of the front desk nurse appeared in Druid's mind: layers of fat piled upon her body like a mountain of flesh, sitting at the front desk, her skin so thin that the red veins and yellow fat underneath were visible. Her small eyes occasionally flashed with greedy hunger, and her mouth, with lipstick as red as if she'd just eaten a child, had teeth sharp as a shark's, capable of easily crushing bones.

After Druid uploaded the nurse's image to the forum, the players spontaneously dubbed her 'The Butcher of Flesh Mountain'.

The heavy footsteps stopped right outside the hospital room. Just as Druid almost believed the Butcher of Flesh Mountain was about to break in, another voice sounded from outside.

"What are you doing?"

This voice was sinister, also belonging to a woman.

Hearing this voice, even the terrifying Butcher of Flesh Mountain sounded slightly frightened.

"I'm terribly sorry, it's just that a thief sneaked in..."

"Return to your post."

"But..."

"Do I need to say it a second time?"

"Yes, yes!"

Hearing this, Druid suddenly remembered where he had heard this voice before; it was the voice of the red-haired head nurse!

The red-haired head nurse, one of the few NPCs he had interacted with in the hospital. Known for her fiery red hair, lovely features, and angelic nurse attire, she had a bit of fame on the forums. Druid had even considered her as one of his 'game wives'.

Only, her voice was more shrill and sinister at night, which is why he hadn't recognized her at first...

But that didn't mean much. After all, the Butcher of Flesh Mountain was a slender, blonde, blue-eyed girl during the day. This eerie hospital was completely different by night and day. From their conversation, it was clear that the red-haired head nurse was far more terrifying than the Butcher of Flesh Mountain.

Fortunately, the voices outside quickly faded away, with the sound of high heels moving further away, seemingly on patrol elsewhere. Druid exhaled in relief, finally having a moment to see the face of his savior.

At just one glance, Druid was stunned.

He had seen this person before, recently, in the photo that came with the stolen keychain.

Druid had thought the photo was an exaggeration, but the person in reality was even more attractive than in the picture.

Druid: (﹃)

[Willpower check in progress...]

The system's prompt snapped him back to reality, and it took almost all his effort to tear his gaze away from the young man's face, "Thank you for saving me just now."

"No need to thank me, I just lent you a hand," the young man said with a light laugh, as if remembering something. "And you don't have to rush to thank me, because your crisis is far from over."

In the dimly lit hospital room, the young man's smile was meaningful yet calm, which, coupled with the eerie hospital environment, gave Druid a sense of going from the wolf's den into the tiger's lair.

"No, no, no, I won't impose any further, I'm leaving right now..." Druid immediately turned to reach for the door handle of the hospital room.

At that moment, Lain's calm voice came from behind him: "You want to go out? Are you sure?"

"The person outside hasn't left yet."

Druid paused, following Lain's gaze and slowly looking towards the door. Hesitating for a moment under Lain's steady gaze, he gritted his teeth, crouched on the ground, and peeked outside through the gap under the door.

What he saw next made his blood rush to his head.

A pair of red high heels stood silently outside the door.

The red-haired head nurse had never left from the beginning. The sound of her leaving earlier was a trap!

How could this be happening...

Druid huddled in a corner of the room, trembling, while outside, the red-haired head nurse seemed to realize that she had been discovered inside. She no longer pretended, her voice becoming seductively sweet, a stark contrast to her earlier coldness.

"Mr. Lain, it's Mary. It's time for your medication change, please open the door for me."

"How can there be a medication change at this time! Boss, please don't open the door!" Druid wailed in despair, "I don't want to die, wuwuwu..."

Though a player's death was just a logout, now, in such a dangerous core area of the instance, surviving even an extra second was a victory in terms of intelligence gathering!

Little did he know, Lain was equally baffled at this moment.

Where did this guy come from?

Lain, a transmigrator, had died in a fire in his previous life and then transmigrated into the body of a person who had also been rescued from a fire. Initially, he had marveled at his luck, but after two or three days, he no longer felt the same way.

This world is just too dangerous.

The hospital, entirely different by day and night, patrolling non-human nurses, various monsters roaming at night, and the inability to escape or tell anyone about his situation, all these filled him with utter despair.

What kind of messed-up world is this?

The worst part is that his current body is exceedingly handsome. In a normal world, that would be a huge advantage, but where is he now? Being a heartthrob in this ghastly place, is he just asking for a quicker death?

Last night, after witnessing the patient in the next room being dragged away by a massive night shift nurse, becoming a pre-meal snack, Lain had given up all hope for this world. The great sorrow and joy even led him to a state of resigned indifference.

Tired of it all, let it all end, quickly.jpg

The red-haired nurse was an old acquaintance by now, knocking on his door every night trying to get in. The ghosts and monsters in this hospital seemed to follow a special rule: they couldn't enter a patient's room unless the patient opened the door themselves.

Ever since he saw what happened to his neighbor, Lain vowed never to open his door. He could die, but he absolutely refused to die being squeezed dry or swallowed whole.

He said he would never open the door, but seeing someone outside, Lain still reached out to save them. He had no other thoughts; if he was destined to die in this world, then saving one more person was worth it.

The seductive shouts outside had gradually faded. The red-haired nurse seemed to sense the determined resolve of the person inside not to open the door. Her voice grew increasingly agitated, and the knocking on the door was so loud it was almost like she was trying to break it down. Druid, watching the trembling door, felt like the monster outside could burst in at any moment.

"Sir, shouldn't we think of something?" Druid asked, trembling with fear.

Lain, still caught in his resigned mindset, glanced at Druid calmly and said indifferently, "Everyone has their own fate; life and death are predestined. Don't worry, when it's time to go, we'll go."

Druid: ...

From that casual glance, Druid certainly didn't delude himself into thinking 'everyone has their own fate' meant 'them.' Obviously, the 'when it's time to go, we'll go' referred only to himself.

Druid, feeling like the only weak human surrounded by powerful beings, felt completely overwhelmed.