Chapter 42

Chapter 42

After witnessing Soren being taken away, Amos couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

It's not that he wanted to laugh, but it was just too funny! Soren, the cult leader, was taken away by the police. It must be the biggest joke of the year!

"Is it that funny, Amos?"

Soren's voice suddenly appeared in Amos's mind, and he immediately stopped laughing: "Leader?"

"Yes. I might not be able to return to the hospital for a while."

"I understand. Albert and I will stay here."

"No, I want you and Albert to lead the team and set up the two most important nodes on the city's edge," Soren said. "If you encounter Lann's followers, don't hold back. Kill them, even if it means exposing ourselves to ordinary people."

Amos: "What about the hospital? There might still be evidence at night that could overturn your position as the director."

"Don't worry about it. I can't return to the nighttime hospital for now."

Soren spoke calmly.

The nighttime hospital was a very peculiar place. Although it was constructed by foreigners, they were only victors who intervened on the foundation of the original 'grounds.'

Now, with Soren taken away by the police in broad daylight, witnessed by all the doctors and nurses, his position as director wasn't yet revoked as long as his guilt wasn't declared. He remained the director of Arkham Hospital.

Conversely, if he disregarded the police and forcibly stayed in the hospital, especially appearing in its 'nighttime' state, it would truly undermine his authority and position as the 'Director.'

He hadn't expected Lann to discern one of the hospital's rules so quickly: that daytime changes in the hospital could easily affect the nighttime situation.

Is this what being a 'god' entails?

"Besides, if they think those documents can easily shake my position, they're being naïve," Soren said. "You don't need to worry about the hospital for now; setting up the nodes is more important."

"Understood," Amos replied.

After the voice in his mind faded, Amos looked at the man standing before the director’s office window, surveying the hospital layout. Through the glass reflection, Amos could see Albert’s expression was not good.

He seemed a bit... agitated?

Amos curved his lips slightly and approached him: "Unfortunately, we have a mission."

Albert's gaze shifted from the door's commotion back to Amos, filled with inquiry.

"A command from the Leader, asking you to extract someone from the police station," Amos said earnestly.

Albert: ???

"Didn't you see? Our beloved Leader has been taken away by the police. We have to rescue him."

Albert's feelings were incredibly complex at that moment. After so many years of effort, Lann’s followers had managed to get the foreign deity into police custody within ten minutes...

But he quickly sorted through a series of complex thoughts, his mind racing with numerous plans, including tampering with the police station’s holding cell, bribing guards, luring auditors to ambush Soren... Opportunities like this were rare.

"Just kidding. The actual command from the Leader is for us to leave the hospital. Those ants wandering around Arkham City are too bothersome. To ensure the success of our plan, we must set up the crucial nodes for the ritual," Amos laughed heartily. "Look at how tense you are, were you thinking of something bad just now?"

At that moment, numerous curses flashed through Albert's mind, his gaze dangerously roaming around Amos's neck.

Amos, in a good mood, turned and left the director’s office, waving without looking back: "I'll go ahead then. You also need to do your job well; this is an important node in our plan."

Albert's gaze flickered, but he remained outwardly composed.

……

On the players' forum, countless threads were continuously updated, with players celebrating their incremental victory.

Particularly, the photo of Soren being led away by the police without any expression had topped the hot list on the player's forum, with comments continuously refreshing underneath.

1l: This reminds me of that meme, police car, ropes, and onlookers.jpg

2l: "Hahaha, I can't stop laughing, who's the genius behind this idea!"

Baba: "Humbly speaking, that would be me (dog head emoji)."

NightNight: "A big thank you to all the players involved. Once again, the troublemakers have made a significant contribution to world peace (throwing flowers)."

Uncle Hao: "Haha, it's my first time saving the world in such a way, quite fun when you think about it!"

5l: "It's super fun, okay? Although fighting bosses on regular days is interesting, this kind of ingenious method to deal with bosses is something you only find in role-playing games! And you don't have to worry about getting penalized by the GM!"

6l: "Laughing so hard. Seeing the boss’s crestfallen face brings me so much joy, hahaha!"

7l: "Hmph, making use of social rules isn't exclusive to him. If it comes to being devious without counting the cost, you have no idea how cunning players can be!"

8l: "It's time for the boss to experience a beating from the real world (dog head emoji)."

9l: "He looked so angry, like he was about to start a fight right there. Amazing he held back, tsk tsk."

10l: "Worthy of a game boss, such composure!"

11l: "@Druid, Druid, we've got the boss occupied, he won't be back at the hospital anytime soon. Go for it!"

Druid: "(Tears of laughter) Thanks, troublemaker brothers!"

Knowing the actions of the other players, Druid first laughed heartily three times, then felt even more motivated to conquer this dungeon.

Druid successfully obtained the information he wanted from the 'Director' – the hospital nurses and orderlies' patrol schedule.

Strangely, the entire night's patrol area appeared to be like a turntable. The orderlies and nurses alternated in guarding areas numbered 1 to 5, patrolling back and forth, automatically moving to the next number's area when the time came, without needing to meet with the person taking over.

This created a gap in the schedule. For example, when an orderly from area 1 moves to patrol area 2, the person replacing them would start from their original area and walk to the first orderly's original post. Due to varying distances and thus different time taken, a five-minute time discrepancy arose.

Within these five minutes, Druid had the chance to leave his assigned area and sneak into the doctors' rest room to steal the keys.

After discussing with the 'Director,' Druid made his own request: “I’ll go and steal the keys, but I need your cooperation.”

"Me? What can I do?" the 'Director' asked somewhat reluctantly, "I'm just an old man, there’s not much I can help with."

Druid: “I need you to make a big scene, something that would alert the nurses and doctors.”

"I won't do it," said the 'Director.'

“Oh, then never mind,” Druid suddenly sighed. “Upon thinking about it, why should I help you? Besides offending the current director, there's no benefit to me. Ah, forget it, I'm leaving.”

With that, Druid turned to leave nonchalantly. The 'Director' was taken aback and hurriedly called out in a lowered, hastened voice, “Wait, wait! Come back, I understand now, I'll help you!”

Druid smugly mouthed to the live chat, ‘See that? No rhetoric beats plain talk.’

[Got it, got it hahaha]

After agreeing on an action plan with the 'Director,' Druid left the ward contentedly and quietly.

Unseen by him, old Luke opened his eyes, watched him for a moment, then closed them again, turned over, and continued sleeping.

At this moment, time was gradually approaching midnight.

After the first round of patrol ended, Druid tried several times in a secluded spot and finally succeeded in rolling a stealth check.

Although according to the 'Director,' as long as he took advantage of the timing gap, this time point was absolutely safe, Druid felt it better to be cautious after seeing the 'Director' being administered various hallucinatory medications by the nurse.

Taking advantage of the five-minute discrepancy in the night patrol of the orderlies, he left the ward and headed straight for the duty room of the chief doctor.

In the building housing the psychiatric ward, the duty and rest rooms of the chief doctor were connected. Druid, having rolled several successful stealth checks while unobserved, quietly lurked outside the duty room, hidden behind the blind spots created by potted plants and the architecture.

He focused intently on the door of the doctor's duty room.

[Listen: Success]

[You faintly hear snoring sounds coming from inside.]

Druid tiptoed over, quietly affixing a slightly sticky, raised sticker to the door. He then retreated to his original hiding spot behind the potted plants and corner, patiently waiting.

He had already agreed with the 'Director' that ten minutes after his departure, the 'Director' would find a way to call the chief doctor to the ward, and then every fifteen minutes, lure the doctor to the ward three times in total.

As expected, not long after Druid had settled in, the hurried footsteps of a nurse approached. The nurse didn't notice the extra trash on the floor, or perhaps didn't care. The doctor inside was called out by the nurse, the door opened, and the doctor casually pushed it back, making Druid's heart pound.

He had tried many times at home out of boredom, using this kind of sticker on the ground. If not careful when closing the door, it was easy to not close it properly.

Indeed, in his rush, the doctor didn’t notice whether the rest room door was closed tightly. After the two left, Druid quickly approached the door, peered through the crack, saw no one inside, and slipped in.

[Investigation: Success]

[Investigation: Failure]

[Investigation: Success]

As soon as Druid entered, he began frantically using his investigation skills, scanning the surroundings.

In sight were two ordinary single beds, a desk, chair, clothes rack, and a makeshift assembled shower and toilet.

Where's the key, where is it?

Druid carefully searched around but didn’t find the key, instead, he stumbled upon several newspapers. Out of investigator instinct, he glanced at them.

"Faction Struggle, Current Director Resigns Amidst Controversy"

"New Director Assumes Office, Multiple Incidents in the Reformed Medical System"

"Arkham Hospital Doctor Found Dead at Home, Tied to Hospital's Internal Black Market Dealings?"

The three newspapers were worn from frequent flipping. Druid felt a damp sensation when picking up the newspapers and instinctively flipped them over.

Blood-drenched letters caught his eye

'I'm sorry'

[Wow, a clue.]

[This 'I'm sorry' is written on the back of the newspaper about the doctor's death. Does this mean there's more to the doctor's death?]

[This hospital is kind of eerie. Could it be involved in human experiments or something?]

[But isn’t this hospital the way it is because of the Exiles' conspiracy?]

[Then why not choose another hospital? There must be a reason behind specifically choosing this one.]

The barrage continued analyzing, and Druid recalled that during his previous exploration of the hospital, both doctors and nurses always appeared weary and impatient, seemingly lost in thought.

Wait, why am I thinking about this now? The key, focus on the key!

Before Druid could continue searching, heavy footsteps were already sounding outside the door.

Back already? That was fast!

Druid quickly rolled under the single bed to hide.

The door to the duty room swung open, and the eccentric doctor he had seen earlier walked in, muttering strange words under his breath.

Druid held his breath involuntarily; the rush earlier had left him no time to put some things back in their place. He hoped the doctor hadn’t noticed.

Fortunately, it seemed the doctor indeed hadn't noticed.

The doctor, resembling a classic mad scientist, threw himself onto the bed as soon as he entered the duty room. Druid initially thought with relief that he would fall asleep immediately, but five minutes later, the doctor began to roll around and squirm on the bed, emitting indistinct noises.

Druid: “?”

Based on his experience with the Runcraft group, could this be a sign of mutation?

Ten minutes later, the doctor sat up from the bed, sighing as he took a seat at the desk, mumbling to himself while clutching a few newspapers:

"I'm overworked, I hate the hospital, I hate my job, I hate the director..."

Druid was instantly dumbstruck.

[Damn, I thought it was some horror script, and indeed it is - the horror of being a corporate slave.]

[Sob, sob, I can so relate, ah, ah, ah, I don’t want to work either!]

[Early mornings, late nights, the 996 schedule, stupid boss, ah, ah, ah (squirming) (crawling) (hating everything).]

Five minutes later, the doctor fell asleep again, sprawled over the desk. Druid carefully crawled out from under the bed, his gaze sharpening as he noticed a string of silver keys on the doctor’s trousers.

He looked up at the doctor, now asleep on the desk, analyzing him psychologically.

[You think he’s immersed in a dream, his face filled with the resentment of a corporate slave towards overtime and sleepless nights.]

So, so real.

Druid carefully observed the expressions on the doctor’s face, fearful he might suddenly wake up, and gritted his teeth as he prepared to apply for the Runcraft again.

[Runcraft (24-hour cooldown, confirm?)]

Confirm! Activate Crafty Hand!

This moment, just like that one.

Druid had used Runcraft to stealthily obtain the crucial key in the past, back in the beta phase. If he hadn't done so, his risky infiltration into the high-danger instance would have been in vain.

Now, the situation was similar, and he was carrying not only his own burden but also the hopes of other players on the forum who were striving to buy him time!

[Crafty Hand: Successful]

The keys silently transferred from the doctor's waist to Druid's palm. He carefully wrapped them and slid back under the bed. A few minutes later, the sound of nurses' footsteps echoed again in the corridor outside.

"Doctor, it's urgent, the patient in the ward is causing trouble again."

The mad scientist-like doctor opened his eyes, cursing as he got up and left the duty room with the nurse.

After they left, Druid too slipped out of the room, unable to suppress a grin.

Success!

[Look at you smiling, one would think you just cleared the instance haha]

[Hurry, hurry, go to the third floor, quickly release my wife, I've missed her so much.]

"Don't worry, everyone's 'wife' will be there soon." Druid quickened his pace.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep—

Suddenly, the entire hospital was filled with the sound of alarms, and red lights turned the originally pale corridors into an ominous blood-red.

The urgent sound nearly made Druid lose his grip on the keys, his face paled: "What's happening?!"

The chat was flooded with rapid comments.

[It's the Black Cat team! They accidentally bumped into a nurse going to the bathroom, and now the whole hospital is on alert, hunting for intruders!]

[Luckily, they have Dr. Alchi with them, or they would have been in serious trouble.]

[Be careful, Druid, you're in danger too!]

Just after the chat's warning, Druid heard footsteps behind him.

It wasn't time for the patrol shift change yet, but the hospital-wide alarm had thrown everything into chaos!

Druid, currently on the first floor of the psychiatric ward, gritted his teeth and, ignoring the footsteps behind him, dashed up the stairs!

The footsteps and shouts behind him intensified, making Druid's heart feel like it was pounding out of his throat!

As he reached the second floor, the alarm had awakened all the patients, causing a riot and forcing the staff to maintain order. This chaos provided Druid with the perfect opportunity to quickly make his way up to the third floor while everyone was distracted.

This was his second time on the third floor, a vastly different experience from following the red-haired nurse previously.

The moment he stepped onto the third floor, a chill ran down his spine, and the live chat exploded.

[Whoa, what’s going on here!?]

[Druid, just run straight ahead, don’t look around!]

[Don’t look, damn it, why did I look! What kind of place is this!?]

Druid, a seasoned investigator, was terrified but heeded the advice of the chat room strictly, avoiding looking into the rooms on either side and focusing solely on reaching the room at the far end.

The relentless footsteps continued behind him. Reaching the deepest part of the third floor, right in front of Lan's room, Druid, with nowhere else to run, turned around resolutely, ready to confront the pursuing staff.

He stared intensely at the corridor corner, expecting the staff or a nurse or doctor to appear, but it wasn't any of them.

“Black Cat!?”

Druid’s guarded expression faded, replaced by surprise as he saw the two figures on the third floor. Black Cat was in bad shape, limping, leaning heavily on Alchi, his face pale from blood loss. He managed a difficult smile upon seeing Druid.

“Heh, I made it here too.”

“What's going on here...?”

“Ran into some trouble on the way. If it weren't for Dr. Alchi, I would have probably died there,” Black Cat explained briefly, leaning on Alchi as they reached the third floor. He too sensed something off about the place and instinctively turned his head, “This place is...”

“Don’t, don’t look!”

Druid's warning came a moment too late.

Black Cat's eyes widened in horror as he saw a tentacle covered in eyes flash by the window of the room on the right.

[Sanity Check: Failed]

【san-3】

Already barely standing with Alchi's support, Black Cat completely lost his balance and fell at the doorway opposite the tentacle room, his hand hitting the ground only to feel a wet sensation.

He instinctively looked down to find a pool of blood seeping from under the door, the sticky, eerily smelling red liquid climbing up his skin as if alive, accompanied by the faint sound of children's shrill laughter.

“Stop.”

Lan opened his eyes and uttered instinctively.

The blood immediately froze mid-air, then reluctantly receded from Black Cat, flowing back to the ground. Alchi snapped back to reality and quickly pulled Black Cat to safety, “Hurry! Open the door, we've got pursuers behind us!”

Druid, hearing this, wasted no time and began trying keys on the lock of Lan's room, but after several attempts, none of them worked.

Druid clenched his teeth and invoked Luck!

[Luck: Failure]

The footsteps behind them grew closer.

In his haste, Druid almost dropped the keys. Alchi quickly snatched them, handed Black Cat over to Druid, and without a word, examined the keys and lock. He then precisely selected one and inserted it into the lock, giving it a turn.

Click, the lock opened.

The group hurriedly ducked into Lan's room, closing the door just as a menacing group of orderlies appeared at the end of the third-floor corridor.

As soon as they reached the third floor, Lan opened his eyes and coldly observed them.

Sensing his unwelcoming aura, all the rooms on the third floor became restless. The doors closest to the corridor began to thud, some with blood seeping from underneath, while others had windows filled with eyeballs staring intently at the newcomers.

The orderlies hesitated, exchanging looks. Finally, a two-meter-tall cockroach was pushed forward, reluctantly asking, “Sorry to disturb your rest. We've had a few 'rats' sneak into the hospital, and they seem to have headed this way. Have you seen anything?”

My goodness, a two-meter-tall cockroach??

Lan was nearly suffocating, his gaze at the orderly growing more ominous.

It was a look that screamed a desire to smash the cockroach with a three-meter-long flip-flop.

This gaze, to others, felt like an immense mountainous pressure. If the other rooms were scenes from a horror movie, facing Lan was like an ant confronting the stars. Worse, as if sensing Lan's murderous intent, the rooms on the third floor began to stir menacingly.

The cockroach orderly opened and closed his mouth: “Sorry to have disturbed you.”

The cockroach orderly immediately turned around, leading the other orderlies away in a dejected manner.