Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital 13

[Ding—Player Qi Chanyang has triggered the side-instance quest: The Girl's Question.]

[The adorable little girl has some questions she can't figure out. Perhaps you're the person who can answer them?]

[Hint: If you answer incorrectly, the bad-tempered little girl will get angry!]

Under the desk, a little girl in a floral dress and pigtails lay on the floor, staring straight at him.

In her right hand, she held a strangely shaped pen. The pen had pierced through Qi Chanyang's foot, pinning him firmly to the floor.

The little girl slowly crawled out from under the desk.

She looked no older than eleven or twelve. Her hair was neatly combed, and once she was out, she even patted the dust from herself.

Then she tipped up her face. "Big brother, why did you take my test paper?"

The little girl looked well-behaved, but Qi Chanyang's The Clay Figure's Self-Cultivation was going wild with warnings.

This child was on the same level as Ge Juan!

Qi Chanyang had cleared six instances, after all. He steadied himself and took a lollipop from his System Inventory. It was an item too, called Nobody Dislikes Lollipops. It had no attributes; its only effect was that it "might make an NPC favor you, because who could refuse a lollipop that nobody dislikes?"

The little girl's eyes lit up. She accepted the lollipop, but did not eat it.

She smiled sweetly at Qi Chanyang. "Big brother, you still haven't answered my question."

Qi Chanyang crouched down to meet her eyes, his expression gentle. "Are you Liu Hanyue? I think your handwriting is beautiful, so I wanted to keep your test paper."

The moment he finished, the system gave a ding.

[Ding—Unfortunately, you have angered Liu Hanyue.]

The system did not need to ding for him to know. The little girl who had just been smiling sweetly had already darkened, her eyes fixed on him with venom as she shrieked, "Beautiful? She thinks it still isn't beautiful enough!!!"

As she spoke, Qi Chanyang watched Liu Hanyue's lollipop-holding hand bulge beneath the skin, as though it had been infested by something. Before long, the thing burst through what had looked like a young girl's soft, lovely hands, forcibly splitting open another pair of hands from within them.

The new hands were beautiful, their fingers long and slender, their nails translucent pink. There was a thin callus on the middle finger of the right hand. They were not the hands an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl should have, but more like those of a grown woman.

Liu Hanyue raised the bloodied hands and asked him, "Big brother, do you think my hands are pretty?"

Qi Chanyang went rigid all over and could only nod vaguely.

Only then did Liu Hanyue's dark expression soften a little.

She smiled brightly. "I think they're pretty too. I picked them out myself!"

Qi Chanyang could not help asking, "Whose hands are they?"

The little girl cocked her head, looking innocent and adorable.

"They're my homeroom teacher's hands. She said herself that she was willing to help me."

As she spoke, the little girl blinked. "Big brother, are you willing to help me too?"

Qi Chanyang gave a stiff little laugh. "What do you want me to help you with?"

Liu Hanyue thought carefully, lowering her head to look at her body.

"Hmm... My hands have my homeroom teacher helping me already. My feet have my deskmate helping me already. My arms have big sister helping me already..."

Each time she named a body part, something newly grown burst through her skin there.

Very quickly, the petite, adorable child who had made Qi Chanyang crouch to meet her eyes turned into a grotesque monster.

Every part of her was as beautiful as a work of art, yet she looked like a stitched-together rag doll.

She had long adult legs, but a pair of child's feet growing from them.

She had a slender child's waist, but a pair of full, rounded adult breasts.

The stitched-together rag doll stared at Qi Chanyang.

"Big brother, are you smart? Maybe... would you be willing to help me become smarter?"

Cold sweat covered Qi Chanyang's forehead. He forced a smile. "I'm not a smart person."

"Really?"

Liu Hanyue suddenly leaned close, her round eyes nearly pressed against his face.

Qi Chanyang's body stiffened.

Those eyes moved, scrutinizing him.

At last, a broad smile bloomed across Liu Hanyue's lips.

"Then how about this, big brother? I'll ask you a few questions, and if you can answer them, I'll let you go."

Her expression turned cold. "But if you can't answer, Yueyue will be unhappy!"

Qi Chanyang froze. He understood.

He could not answer too many questions wrongly, but if he answered them all correctly, she would decide he was smart and he would have to "help her."

"First question—"

"Big brother, can one person's head be exchanged with someone else's?"

......

Drip... drop...

Qi Chanyang exchanged for the last bottle of medicine in the System Shop, but after hesitating, he did not drink it.

He took out a roll of bandages and wound them tightly around his leg to bind the wound. Then he picked up his pen and swiftly continued writing down his deductions.

"...After Ge Juan divorced her husband, she blamed her daughter for it, believing that Liu Hanyue's inadequacy was what made him ask for a divorce. That was when the Director, Chen Xiangyuan, approached her and promised to turn her daughter into the most outstanding child. Nearly every organ in Liu Hanyue's body has been replaced, but not her head (uncertain). Liu Hanyue hates Ge Juan. If you encounter Ge Juan, you can lure her into the small room beside the first-floor cafeteria..."

"La la la, la la la... Big brother, where are you hiding?"

The little girl's clear voice came from the hallway outside.

Qi Chanyang leaned against the wall beside the door.

His lung had been punctured. A long finger had once passed through his chest, and now every breath brought bloody foam trickling from his nose.

He had multiple fractures, and his left hand was already broken. There was absolutely no way he could fight an NPC like this again.

But Qi Chanyang's mind was crystal clear.

He continued writing quickly on the paper. "Can't let it drag on to the third day!! Find the 'normal person'! The clue is in the read..."

"Oh my! Big brother, are you inside the room?"

Before the words had faded, the monster outside kicked the door open.

Qi Chanyang gripped the note tightly. Gritting his teeth, he abruptly activated Kicking Rabbit, nearly brushing past the monster at the door.

But Liu Hanyue, standing at the door, had been ready. Her arm suddenly stretched out, and she grabbed his right foot.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking rang out.

Qi Chanyang let out a muffled groan. After coughing up a mouthful of blood, he held Gift of the Whale Fall steady in his right hand and reached it behind him.

A burst of water suddenly erupted from the bone spur, but it was not aimed at the monster.

The stream was a blade, slashing toward his ankle.

Riiip—

The force restraining Qi Chanyang abruptly loosened. Pushing off hard with his only remaining left foot, he used every ounce of strength he had to flee past her, almost as if he were flying.

"Aaaaaah—" The monster's shrill voice echoed through the hallway, her venomous gaze following the prey escaping from her grasp.

Qi Chanyang felt as if he were burning.

Clearing six instances had strengthened his body, but it did not dull the pain.

He knew he would burn away soon.

But before he died—

His eyes bright, Qi Chanyang charged straight for the easternmost end of the second-floor hallway.

The hospital rooms were on the east side of the hall. It was the only place in this instance where humans remained.

Qi Chanyang moved fast. He really was flying.

Ignoring his stamina, ignoring the immense strain each use of the skill placed on his legs, he drove Kicking Rabbit to its full power.

Soon, he passed Room No. 1.

Qi Chanyang did not stop. He kept going.

No. 2.

No. 3.

...

Until No. 9.

From behind, he looked as though he were out of strength as he braced his right hand against the wall, then continued onward. Ahead was a dead end, so he could only turn around.

Liu Hanyue, who had rushed up to the second floor, stood at the stairwell and watched him quietly, as though watching a useless little bug make its final struggle.

Faint moonlight seeped up from the first-floor stairwell, falling across the pitch-black corridor.

Qi Chanyang clutched his chest and coughed up blood mixed with chunks of flesh.

His left leg had been used past its limit, its blood vessels violently ruptured. Tiny beads of blood rolled down, and his knee was so worn that it could barely bend.

Supporting himself against the wall, Qi Chanyang took one "step" forward.

His hands were empty. Even his System Inventory was empty.

Because when he had braced himself against the wall just now, he had tossed all his belongings and weapons into Room No. 9.

That strange player named Jie Fangcheng... he could only leave it to him.

Hopefully, Jie Fangcheng would get the note and discuss it with Gu Shanshan.

There were still eight of them. They could definitely clear this instance, right?

And now, the last thing Qi Chanyang could do—

He slowly bent down, nearly level with the floor.

Kicking Rabbit.

Take off again!

......

With a bang, the door at the easternmost end of the third floor opened.

How strange. Jie Fangcheng had searched every room. Where had all those doctor NPCs gone?

Could they be on the first floor?

What a pain. He would have to climb the stairs again.

Jie Fangcheng dug at his ear and gave the stick in his hand a shake.

The blood on the stick would not shake off.

He needed to find Qi Chanyang. The rag was still sitting in his stomach.

With that thought, Jie Fangcheng swayed toward the stairs. Faintly, he heard the sound of something smashing downstairs.

"Hm?"

Jie Fangcheng's eyes lit up, and he quickly headed downstairs.