Chapter 584 Long Time No See

Chapter 584: Long Time No See

The barrier of the Eerie Tree vanished, leaving every player exposed inside the 666 Hospital.

No more tangled branches, no more shielding light screen. A tense, deathly silence hung in the air. The air still held the acrid smell of the Eerie Tree's burning, mixed with a thick, sickening smell of rust.

Regardless, the Newborn Ward was still part of the 666 Hospital, but with the Eerie Tree's demise, the ward building had turned into a barren patch of wasteland within the hospital grounds.

The crimson moon hung overhead, like a red eye glaring down at the nightmare world. After the barrier dissipated, the nightmare world's chill flooded back into everyone. It wasn't a cold from outside—it was an icy chill seeping from deep in their bones, making them shiver without meaning to.

Xiao Huo and Ayao had gone back into the puzzle. Blood Epiphyllum waited for Su Bai to nod, then lowered her head and gently carried the sapling back into the puzzle. Her movements were surprisingly tender, maybe she was cherishing a fragile new life, or maybe... treasuring a new toy.

In his previous life, countless companions had told Su Bai to "stay alive."

This time, it was Su Bai's turn to hope that this seedling—still untouched by the outside world—would keep living.

"What happened?"

After Ayao and the others left, Chi Yan and the others, who'd been drugged, finally came to. Their faces were still dazed, like they'd just woken up from a dream. They stood there, hesitantly looking around, only to find everything completely different from when they'd passed out.

The light screen was gone. The massive Eerie Tree had vanished without a trace, like it had never existed at all.

The players whose bodies had regressed because of the Eerie Tree seemed to have recovered, though they still looked a bit younger than before. Not necessarily a bad thing.

"The game is over." Su Bai couldn't explain much more—he'd let them figure out the rest on their own.

"I think I can hear some sounds again."

"My foot doesn't hurt as much." Xu Rui checked himself over, still frowning. "It's just... not as bad."

The other players felt their symptoms easing, but they weren't completely gone.

"After all, we haven't left the 666 Hospital yet." Chi Yan looked around. He could see dim yellow lights flickering in the windows of the dark buildings around them, with ominous figures appearing at the glass.

Su Bai thought back to what he'd learned in his past life. All he remembered was that people who entered the 666 Hospital got symptoms, which were then influenced by the power of the eerie entities in different wards. Some symptoms got worse, others even caused weird physical mutations you couldn't understand.

At least in Su Bai's memory, the symptoms in the Newborn Ward weren't as bad as in the other wards.

Now that the Eerie Tree was dead, the leftover symptoms could still affect others, but not Su Bai.

However, as Su Bai looked around, he could feel unfriendly gazes observing them from the other wards. If the administrator didn't come out to clean this up, things were going to get ugly.

"Dear residents of the nightmare world, we apologize for the unexpected incident in the Newborn Ward of the 666 Hospital that affected your hospitalization experience. As an apology, the doors of the 666 Hospital will still be open for you next time."

The administrator's voice echoed in their ears, but the expressions on everyone's faces were grim.

Did this mean... they would be sent back to this damn place again?

"Congratulations on your full recovery during this treatment, allowing you to be discharged early. You will continue to live happily and healthily under the blessing of the crimson moon." The administrator's voice still had that sarcastic, robotic tone.

"You may now choose to continue exploring the nightmare world or return immediately to the real world. Dear residents, if you choose to stay in the nightmare world, you will be sent to a relatively safe area. If you choose to return to the real world, you will be sent back to the location where the game started."

"Please announce your choice clearly..."

When Su Bai heard the familiar selection prompt, he saw Tian Yue and Feng Xuelan shoving some business cards into everyone's hands. Since many non-personal items from the real world couldn't be brought into the nightmare world, these pieces of paper with hastily written phone numbers and contact information must have had their own origins.

But Su Bai couldn't worry about that now, because a familiar yet unexpected voice reached his ears—

"Mr. Su, you've done something remarkable again."

It was still the administrator's voice, but the tone was different from the previous procedural one. This time, it carried a familiar, teasing inflection.

Clearly, after a long time, Su Bai had run into that weird administrator with all the secrets.