Chapter 169 Frank Hospital
The number one suspect in Jian Qiangrong’s mind was a fierce, brainless octopus.
After his brain returned to its original body, he got a bit stronger, and the bleeding from where his eyeball had been gouged out stopped. His empty eye socket seemed to be covered with a faint mist.
The eyeball that was originally residing inside had been forcibly removed elsewhere, and the connection between the two parties was temporarily blocked by the game. Jian Qingrong could not use the mini octopus to cleverly obtain information from other zones.
“It looks like it’s doing well.”
Every word dripped with icy and chilling aura.
To the Lord of Terror, the brain, heart, and eye could each hold its consciousness. When they came together, their will was one, but when apart, they showed some individual differences.
The eye couldn’t hold as much will as the brain and heart, so it was less intelligent. The brain was indifferent and tended to hide in the shadows, never to reappear. The original heart was sacrificed within the clone to deceive the game.
In a nutshell, when these separated organs joined forces, they were unbeatable, but on their own, they were rather useless.
Jian Qingrong, with a blank expression, carried the phone receiver and went to feed the patients their midnight snack. He planned to find a way to quickly control these patients so they could make their way through the first two zones and reunite with Wen Shi.
……
On the other side, in the stairwell on the third floor.
The phone call ended with some coquettish antics from the mini octopus.
Each phone call with the receiver wasn’t too long. Of course, Jian Qingrong didn’t know this. He wasn’t the type to just sit and wait. He was used to finding other things to do in his free time.
Nearly half an hour had passed. Just as Wen Shi was seriously thinking whether Seventh Commandment Guild Leader had run into trouble, Ji Yuanzhi suddenly made a hushing gesture, and they heard a very faint sound coming from the third-floor corridor.
It was the deliberately subdued footsteps under extreme control, but with the number of people involved, the noise could not be entirely suppressed.
As the sound gradually grew louder, Wen Shi finally saw the person he had been waiting for.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader’s figure appeared within sight, followed by a few more players. Wen Shi counted the heads and noticed that two players were missing.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader had a small piece of skin torn from his neck, and he was taking a potion to restore his health.
“I might head to a dangerous zone for exploration later. If you’re interested, you can join.”
He spoke plainly, knowing that not many would follow after just experiencing a fierce battle. Even in a 3S instance, if they completed the game’s quests following the prescribed path, the rewards would still be quite substantial.
In the end, only one male and one female player joined in. The black market player, inherently known for slacking off, seemed like he had something else to do tonight and hurriedly left.
“Information exchange?” Seventh Commandment Guild Leader easily guessed Wen Shi’s reason for seeking him out.
The later it got, the less safe it became. Not wanting to waste time, Wen Shi got straight to the point. “When you captured the runaway patients, did you get any clues about going somewhere specific?”
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader’s eyes flickered as he considered how much information to provide.
Guild leaders had a rough understanding of each other. Yu Xingzhou gave him a cold sneer and said, “Don’t bother with your useless ideas. You know the place, we have the key.”
The fourth floor was even riskier, but the rewards were higher. The key was truly irreplaceable.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader maintained his composure and naturally put aside his earlier calculations. Instead, he mentioned the clue. “Between the third and fourth floors.”
Wen Shi and the others were taken aback. Wasn’t that where they were right now?
They had just walked back and forth and hadn’t noticed anything special. Wen Shi turned to look, but besides the blurry darkness, there were no obstacles or items in the hallway. According to the structural design, there couldn’t be a hidden door.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader wouldn’t lie about this kind of thing, so there was only one possibility left: there was a hidden map between the two floors, and they needed to trigger it somehow.
With Li Nan leading the way, the others ascended the stairs once again.
After turning a corner and standing at the staircase on the fourth floor, Wen Shi raised an eyebrow. “One step missing?”
The stairway was quite dark. Previously, everyone’s focus had been on the mission and guarding against potential ambushes in the darkness, so no one had bothered to count the steps underfoot.
The staircase they had just climbed had eighteen steps, but from the third floor to the corner, there were nineteen.
They returned to the corner, staring at that inconspicuous extra step, trying to trigger the hidden map.
A female player in the group took out an illumination item and bent down to examine the slightly darker area in the middle of the steps. “This small area here is darker.”
“There’s another one here, and it’s quite large.”
Following the light, they checked every step, each having a slightly contrasting spot in color.
“It’s a musical note.” Wen Shi stepped back a few paces to get a better view. “When you connect them, it forms a musical note.”
In the space of the crucifix, the true spirit had mentioned that A’Ao used to be a pianist, and musical notes were one of his representative elements.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader narrowed his eyes. “This musical note is drawn in one continuous curve. We can try following this trajectory, starting from the extra step.”
Everyone’s opinions were quite similar.
The seven of them formed a vertical line, making sure to step as much as possible within the marked area. Wen Shi was in the third position. When there was just a short distance left, he watched in astonishment as the figures of Li Nan and Yu Xingzhou ahead of him seemed to evaporate silently and suddenly.
The scene was eerie, and there was no chance of turning back halfway. Wen Shi regained his composure and quickly finished the last two steps. Almost instantly, a rushing wind sounded in his ears, and an invisible force yanked his body downward.
The height was considerable, and under the strong sensation of weightlessness, Wen Shi seriously thought he might hit the ground headfirst. Given the difficulty of this instance, he had to be on guard against the game playing tricks.
Just as Wen Shi was about to activate his transformation skill, several sticky threads passed through the beam and wrapped around the young man’s waist. Wen Shi was securely suspended in mid-air, his body taut like a fish, even bouncing a couple of times.
Yu Xingzhou controlled an item from below and slowly lowered him down.
This brief delay allowed Ji Yuanzhi, who was behind Wen Shi, to arrive first. Seasoned players had items specifically for dealing with such situations and were well-prepared in advance, unlike Wen Shi, who had nearly plummeted headfirst.
“Thanks,” Wen Shi said, once he stood firmly on the ground, still feeling slightly dizzy.
By then, Seventh Commandment Guild Leader and the other two players had also descended smoothly.
The enclosed space was entirely devoid of light, and the air was suffocating.
Due to the small area, consisting of a few walls and a door, they could see everything at a glance. Confirming that there were no monsters, the female player continued to shine her flashlight around.
With her light, the others inspected the environment they now found themselves in. The walls were covered with various-sized musical notes, and even the beams were no exception. It was clear that A’Ao still harbored some regrets about giving up the piano.
Right ahead, there was a black door with the words “Director’s Office” crudely and menacingly written directly on the door panel in blood-red.
Li Nan took out the key they had obtained from the previous side quest and inserted it into the lock. Strangely, the key got stuck halfway in. He tried again, confirming that it didn’t fit.
In the photo, there was a faintly visible small door beside the bookshelf. Wen Shi said, “There’s another room inside. We can try to forcefully break in from the outside first.”
When he said ‘forcefully’, he meant making as little noise as possible.
“I’ll do it,” Seventh Commandment Guild Leader said, taking out a paperclip, adjusting its bend, and smoothly opening the door.
This place seemed to have regular visitors, as apart from the somewhat unpleasant air due to the enclosed environment, there was no sign of dust.
Wen Shi compared the interior to the photo. It was almost identical, down to the books on the bookshelf.
The player behind him took down a few books and hastily skimmed through them, finding no useful information.
Empty-handed, the group’s attention turned to the small door next to the bookshelf, where a red warning sign appeared rather out of place: “No unauthorized entry.”
There was no need to put up such a sign in a private office, implying that this was likely a death rule specifically for players.
The rule only mentioned not entering without authorization, not that they couldn’t enter. Li Nan walked up to the door without hesitation, and this time, the key in his hand finally came in handy.
With a click, the small door opened smoothly.
Right from the entrance, the floor was covered in eerie white bones. Some were fresh, with bits of flesh still clinging to bone clubs, and flies were laying eggs on them. More were dry, pale-gray skeletons, piled up in corners. The inner room was surprisingly twice as large as the outside. On the left, against the wall, there was a worktable with a smooth surface, holding various surgical tools and documents, resembling a secret laboratory.
Furrowing his brow, Wen Shi took a few steps inside, feeling that something was off.
“A zoo.”
Wen Shi looked again after Li Nan’s words and strangely felt it looked like one. Aside from that worktable, there were almost no other items inside, as if this place had housed and fed something before, with someone periodically coming to feed live creatures.
He surveyed the area. “But it feels like something’s missing.”
While everyone was cautiously observing, one male player who hadn’t yet fully entered the room, supposedly in a safe zone, suddenly felt his feet go soft. He hadn’t paid it much attention until he casually glanced down.
In that instant of casual gaze, the male player’s face turned pale.
“Aah—”
His short and urgent cry was followed by the rapid disappearance of everything below his knees. With no legs to support him, he toppled backward. The female player beside him was just about to catch him when Seventh Commandment Guild Leader abruptly stepped back into the inner room. There was a crackling sound in the air as he activated his【Omnipotent Blast】skill.
The female player quickly followed suit, stepping back a few paces.
A rapid current manifested in the air, seemingly forcing something back. Seventh Commandment Guild Leader’s sleeve dissolved, and a small portion of flesh on his elbow met the same fate. Any slower, and his arm might have suffered irreversible damage.
“What the hell is this?”
It was invisible and untraceable, as if they were being attacked by the air itself.
BANG!
First, the outer door slammed shut heavily. As the male player had been trailing behind the others, he was attacked just outside the door. When it happened, everyone reflexively stepped back two paces inside.
In less than a second, there was another loud noise, and the door behind the player also closed.
Without giving them time for extra thought, Yu Xingzhou was quickly attacked as well. He used an item to evade the devouring with near-beastly instinct, but his pants suffered some damage.
The invisible creature disappeared temporarily upon contact with the item.
“Go grab the documents.” There were only a few things in the room, and the only things of value were the documents on the table. Yu Xingzhou activated his【Time Freeze】skill as he spoke to Ji Yuanzhi
“Five seconds.” This dimensional space had different rules that restricted the duration of his skill to five seconds.
As soon as Yu Xingzhou spoke, everything was instantly frozen, as if someone had hit the pause button. Even a tiny speck of dust hung motionless in the air.
The players were confined outside the skill’s effect by Yu Xingzhou.
Within just a few meters, Ji Yuanzhi still activated his speed-boosting item and rushed towards the worktable at top speed.
The injured male player was clearly beyond help, trapped outside the door. Everything below his abdomen had been devoured completely, with his broken intestines mixed with blood scattered on the floor, flowing in through the door crack.
“Damn it,” Seventh Commandment Guild Leader cursed, furrowing his brow deeply and picking up a severed piece of intestine, finding bite marks on it.
It indicated that the creature that had just disappeared had gone outside the door to feed.
“Should we break down the door?” the female player asked.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader shook his head. “The in-game alert tone hasn’t appeared yet. Even if we run outside, we might not be able to leave this space.”
Wen Shi, standing against the wall, agreed with this view. Instead of escaping, he was more puzzled by the order of the creature’s attacks. It had attacked Seventh Commandment Guild Leader and the female player just before the male player, but then it skipped the female player and went straight for Yu Xingzhou, who was further ahead.
Why go for a more distant target?
Wen Shi noticed that Li Nan and Yu Xingzhou were also observing the female player closely.
A person’s instinctive reactions couldn’t be faked. The female player’s eyes still held a trace of relief at not being attacked, which meant she wasn’t under the control of the monster.
When his gaze landed on the slightly trembling hands of the female player, Wen Shi suddenly realized what was missing from this room.
Light!
A place with a worktable but intentionally lacking lighting was definitely not normal.
“Turn off the flashlight.”
Action faster than thought, the female player immediately put away her item, plunging the entire room into terrifying darkness. She belatedly realized that the reason the creature had avoided her was that it needed her to provide continuous illumination with the item. Light might be one of the conditions for the creature to attack people.
Only the heavy sound of breathing remained inside the room.
This kind of restriction was nauseating. There was not a trace of light around, and even though Wen Shi had transformed, his night vision wasn’t very effective in pitch darkness. In such a dark environment, players entering the space would definitely use illumination items to see the interior.
Getting attacked was just a matter of time.
Ji Yuanzhi had already obtained the documents. His fingers touched the edge of the paper document, and the system alert simultaneously appeared in everyone’s minds.
【You have successfully obtained the Feeding Log*1.】
【You have successfully discovered that light becomes an accomplice of the creature.】
【Special Quest: Director’s Pet
Quest Details: Collect six important clues related to the Director’s pet. Current completion progress: 26%.
Note: Collect three clues to leave the Director’s office.】
In this type of escape mission with set conditions, even Li Nan’s money path wouldn’t work. Ji Yuanzhi certainly couldn’t directly interpret the information either, as the backlash from forced decryption would be too much for him to bear.
Mentioning the matter of illumination almost immediately brought thoughts of shadows. Wen Shi had almost been attacked by a similar creature in the archives room. At that time, during the second alarm, the creature had inexplicably run away, ending the threat.
Seventh Commandment Guild Leader also recalled that incident. However, what they were facing now was clearly much stronger than the monster in the archives room. The latter had lurked for several minutes before launching an attack.
The five-second time freeze had already passed, and there were new sounds of the body at the door being chewed.
Ji Yuanzhi spoke very softly, “The Feeding Log has been blurred. The system reminder says we can only unlock it by leaving here. For now, it seems this creature likes hiding in the shadows and attacks from the bottom up.”
Before the words had fully left his mouth, he felt a familiar weight on his shoulder. He had a rough idea of what it was and didn’t immediately shrug it off.
Wen Shi, now transformed into a black cat, silently perched on Ji Yuanzhi’s shoulder, one paw almost stepping on the other.
Among everyone present, Wen Shi was undoubtedly in the most dangerous situation. Even if he used his sword skill, he would first need to know the target’s location. This creature seemed highly skilled at concealing its presence.
Wen Shi had a clear understanding of his own limitations. Faced with such an elusive creature, his reaction speed and items were far inferior to other players. Many rare items could only be obtained within instances and couldn’t be purchased with points alone.
Illumination was just one condition for the monster to attack people, but it did not mean that if they spent a long time in the dark, it would not attack. Should the monster launched another assault later, Wen Shi was well aware that he’d probably be its primary target.
When choosing persimmons, you should pick the soft ones.
It was an instinctive choice for all living creatures.
He was the softest one.
The black cat asked seriously, “Do you think I’m safer tucked away in a pocket, or standing on a titan’s shoulder as I am now?”
Ji Yuanzhi: “……”
Clang!
An unexpected sound interrupted their conversation. Wen Shi was taken aback. It seemed like someone had opened the outermost door.
Heavy, unapologetic footsteps echoed through the room. Hearing the sounds of the creature feeding, the newcomer’s steps paused at the doorway. A pair of sinister eyes scanned the room, finally settling on the small room.
Inside the room, everyone’s breathing almost froze, as they all simultaneously considered a possibility: A’Ao had returned.
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