Chapter 163.1 Frank Hospital
Given the mini octopus’ performance at the Crimson Sunset Cosmetic Surgery Clinic, it shouldn’t have been assigned a spot for brain paralysis.
Wen Shi thought the problem was in the word “assembled.” The shadow, which was the Lord of Terror’s brain, had returned to its original body. If the hospital rules used these nine brains and the shadow as a control group, then it is indeed paralyzed. No wonder it had been singled out.
“Hold on a little longer. I will find you as soon as possible.”
How soon exactly, Wen Shi couldn’t guarantee, but since it wasn’t in danger, Wen Shi needed to rescue Ji Yuanzhi first.
“This hospital insulted my intelligence…” the mini octopus wanted to complain more, but Wen Shi gently interrupted, “Little Clever, tell me about your surroundings.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
Wen Shi immediately grasped that if the mini octopus could have shared this information, it would have mentioned the deep zone’s conditions from the start.
The game placed restrictions.
【The call time limit is less than ten seconds.】
【The cooldown time gate for answering calls from the Intellectual Disability Zone is twelve hours.】
Wen Shi added a couple more instructions and ended the call.
After putting away the item, Wen Shi said, “It’s indeed the smartest one in that zone, otherwise, it wouldn’t have found a phone receiver.”
The mini octopus’ phone call confirmed Wen Shi’s earlier guess. Patients of the same symptoms gather in the same zone, and there were more than one phone receiver. Otherwise, given the mini octopus’ combat strength, it wouldn’t have been able to find the only phone receiver among a group of formidable patients.
Yu Xingzhou, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up. After thinking it over, he agreed with most of Wen Shi’s assessments, but he had a contradictory opinion. “The archive room might not necessarily be on the first or second floor.”
Li Nan nodded in agreement.
The quest prompt emphasized paying attention to the patients’ mental states. The activities of the medical interns were limited to the first two floors. It wouldn’t make sense if the archive room were located higher up. They hadn’t seen it yet, which meant it might be hidden quite well.
“I didn’t finish exploring the second floor, and the first floor…” Wen Shi originally wanted everyone to split up and check different wards and departments, but he stopped himself before saying more.
When discussing work matters last night, A’Ao had emphasized not wandering around. Besides necessary prayers, they were strictly forbidden from going to different wards during the day.
The importance of his official position was clear. Some things Wen Shi could brush off, such as being caught checking the duty roster on the second floor. He could use the excuse of passing by, which was flimsy but enough to evade consequences. But for Li Nan and others, minor transgressions might result in punishment, and serious ones could lead to expulsion from the hospital.
It wasn’t possible to administer medication for seven days. There would undoubtedly be a new quest tonight, but waiting until nightfall to search wouldn’t be enough time.
Li Nan: “The best way to make sure the staff hasn’t been wandering around is to do bed checks. Nurses should visit the staff dorms at regular intervals, so we need to figure out that schedule.”
Wen Shi nodded. “Alright, you guys go back to the dorms, and I’ll go take a look around first.”
The ward doors were tightly locked during the day, but at night, it was easier to come and go. Wen Shi had walked this corridor back and forth multiple times, finding all the doors shut. The hallway looked narrower and more isolated, offering nothing of particular interest to investigate.
While passing by the treatment room, he noticed that the door wasn’t completely locked. Wen Shi stopped and, almost instinctively, reached out and pushed it.
The door was heavier than he expected, and the first push didn’t open it. Seeing that there was no one around, he decided to use his body and forcefully bumped into it.
There was a loud thud.
A chilling breeze swept over him.
Having experienced the filth and disarray of Frank Hospital, Wen Shi was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness of the room as the door swung open. The walls were pristine white, the floor tiles were intact, and upon closer inspection, the treatment room, though not large, was almost entirely occupied by three torture devices: an electric chair, a brain-pressing contraption, and a rack capable of splitting bones apart.
Bloodstains covered the ropes on the rack, along with bits of flesh that couldn’t be cleaned off. However, judging by the smooth surface of the devices, they were diligently cleaned every day.
Wen Shi had only seen this level of cleanliness in the prayer room.
His gaze slowly moved up along the rack, finally stopping at the solemn crucifix hanging on the wall.
In the prayer room, the image of the plump nurse turning the crucifix like a steering wheel flashed in his mind.
Wen Shi shifted the unstable rack aside, bending over to push the electric chair to the same spot. After standing on it, he realized he was still a bit short of reaching the end of the crucifix. He stretched his arms while standing on his toes until he finally gripped the end of the crucifix with both hands. Uncertain of what would happen when he twisted it, Wen Shi took precautions and put on the【Small Cloak】, entering stealth mode.
The red cloak over the white coat looked strangely out of place, but in the chilling treatment room, its insulation helped raise his body temperature.
“Here goes nothing.”
As Wen Shi gave the crucifix a strong twist counterclockwise, he heard a mechanical-like sound.
I’m quite clever…
The wall automatically rotated, and as the hidden door opened, light spilled in, dispelling the darkness. Behind the door, a thin woman in a nurse’s uniform stood, coldly staring at him.
Wen Shi’s casualness abruptly changed, and his scheming thoughts vanished. Standing on the electric chair, he was forced to look down at the nurse, their eyes locking.
The invisibility effect of the small cloak had about forty seconds remaining.
However, Wen Shi didn’t move. The nurse deliberately lifted her eyelids, her two eyeballs seemingly frozen in their sockets, neither blinking nor moving.
It was like…
It was like she could see him.
Wen Shi tried to step down from the electric chair.
Frank Hospital had a shortage of nurses. If the plump nurses were responsible for the patients on the first and second floors, then the thin nurse who had just appeared might be one of those taking care of patients in the deep zones. The woman lacked the rich expressions of the plump nurses, and there was no sign of liveliness about her. She seemed much more formidable than the plump nurses.
Wen Shi held his breath. The【Small Cloak】couldn’t completely hide his presence. Meeting an NPC with special abilities while wearing it would be a waste.
Just as he was about to step down cautiously, right before his shoes were about to touch the ground, the nurse suddenly seemed like a marionette on strings. Her lifeless hand rested on the electric chair, and it started to sizzle… sizzle… Even though the chair wasn’t electrified, a current surged through it at lightning speed.
Wen Shi’s body suddenly went limp, his knees buckling. He hung halfway on the electric chair. He tried to collapse, seeking relief against the icy-cold tiles to ease his spasming muscles, but it was as if his body was glued to the chair. He convulsed like a dead fish, his neck arching involuntarily.
Desperation gripped him as darkness closed in, but before his eyes went completely black, Wen Shi summoned his last bit of strength and retracted the coat.
It might have been this stubborn willpower that prevented him from losing consciousness entirely.
He felt cold, his head throbbing as if it were splitting, and his limbs ached with a dull pain, but some remnants of awareness clung to him.
It seemed like he was being dragged somewhere.
When Wen Shi fell moments ago, his lips remained slightly parted. His once soft lips cracked and bled. Besides that, his eyes throbbed with pain, accompanied by a high-pitched ringing in his ears. There was not a single comfortable spot on his body.
Finally, Wen Shi managed to open his eyes with great effort. He had one thought in his mind: there couldn’t be anyone unluckier than me.
For once, everything was going so smoothly, cloak and all, and then a brand new NPC popped up. It was heartbreaking just thinking about it.
There were no windows. In the darkness, Wen Shi summoned the Old Man Ghost to free himself from the rope, and took out the small lantern. The nurse was gone, and across from him, from the same angle, a man lay on his side, staring back at him like a creep.
Fucc!
Wen Shi’s heart skipped a beat, but reason prevailed over impulse, preventing him from hurling the lantern directly.
The Old Man Ghost seemed to dislike this place. Instead of complaining, as it usually did, about being locked away for too long, he voluntarily retreated into his Ghost Box.
Before inquiring about the Old Man Ghost’s unusual behavior, Wen Shi brought the lantern closer to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. It was indeed the Seventh Commandment Guild Leader lying there. He had managed to free himself from the ropes, but the electrical shock experienced by the intern was even more intense. He still couldn’t sit up straight at this point.
“Why are you here?”
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader didn’t explain.
People who could become guild leaders definitely had good analytical skills. From the moment he saw the plump nurse turning the crucifix, he immediately wondered if there were other similar mechanisms within the hospital.
In the morning, Seventh Commandment Guild Leader had already figured out the routine of the nurse’s bed checks. He had some of the players accompanying him to keep an eye on the area near the prayer room, while others returned to the dormitory. He used the excuse of further exploring the first-floor map to leave. If there really were hidden rooms, finding them might trigger a special quest. He planned to see the quest details before deciding whether to share it with others.
Instead, he ended up with an exclusive package of the nurse’s electric shock treatment.
Now, Wen Shi had also joined the deluxe package. He struggled to stand up, and within the illuminated area, he saw many old filing cabinets.
Instantly, his spirits lifted.
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