Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital 24

Liu Hanxi.

Liu Hanyue.

Liu Hanyue was Ge Juan's daughter, the owner of the unmarked room beside the cafeteria.

The two names were so similar that Qi Chanyang immediately asked, "What is your relationship with Liu Hanyue?"

Liu Hanxi pursed his lips. "She's my sister."

Gu Shanshan and Qi Chanyang exchanged a look.

Gu Shanshan crouched down until she was eye level with Liu Hanxi. "Xiao Xi, how did you end up at this hospital?"

Liu Hanxi cocked his head. His left eye looked at her, while the eyeball in his right eye seemed to slip free of his control and fell straight out. He deftly caught it and pressed it back into its socket.

"Mom said I was sick and needed treatment."

"What illness do you have?"

Liu Hanxi shook his head. "I don't know."

Gu Shanshan continued, "Do you know where your sister went?"

Liu Hanxi shook his head again.

They had found the normal person, yet it seemed nothing had changed.

Liu Hanxi knew very little. They did not know whether it was because he was young or because he did not want to tell them.

"Mom said I was too stupid, and my eyes were bad too. She'd find a way to treat me... I don't know how, either, but Uncle Han said that if I took my medicine properly, I'd definitely get better."

Taking medicine properly again.

Did this medicine do anything besides alter the body? Why had Ge Juan brought her son here to take it?

Just then, Liu Hanxi seemed to hear something.

He looked anxiously at Qi Chanyang. "Uncle, can I take my medicine now? The Director will get angry if I don't."

"Who is the Director? Have you seen him?"

A trace of fear appeared on Liu Hanxi's face. "I have. Director Chen is really tall and strong."

Gu Shanshan hurriedly asked, "What happens when the Director gets angry?"

Liu Hanxi shuddered, his left eye wide open. "When he's angry... he, he eats people."

Gu Shanshan comforted him. "It's okay. That uncle carrying the stick is very strong. The Director won't get angry. That medicine isn't good for you. You can't take any more."

Liu Hanxi's eyeball rolled as he looked toward Jie Fangcheng, then he gave a strange smile.

"But... people who don't take their medicine aren't good. They aren't allowed to see the Director."

Before anyone could understand what he meant, the corridor lights suddenly went out with a snap, though no one had touched them.

The eleven o'clock chime sounded from the first floor of the hospital.

Qi Chanyang's hand suddenly felt lighter. Liu Hanxi, who until now had seemed like nothing more than a brat, took advantage of his inattention to steal the medicine bottle from him and pop a pill into his mouth.

In the darkness, Liu Hanxi smiled, fear and excitement mingling on his face. "You'll see the Director very soon! He's amazing... He ate my sister!"

"What does that mean?"

But after Liu Hanxi swallowed the medicine, it took effect far faster than it had on the other patient NPCs. His eyes closed, and he fell asleep in the corridor.

Gu Shanshan's mind raced.

"'He ate my sister,' but Brother Qi, you clearly saw Liu Hanyue yesterday. She should still be alive, right? ...No! These NPCs now, the patients, doctors, Ge Juan... even the kitchen NPC, we all saw them during the day. Only Liu Hanyue! We didn't see her during the day!"

Gu Shanshan felt that something was still missing.

Just one more clue... and it felt like the entire matter would fall into place.

At that moment, Qi Chanyang's expression changed drastically.

"Something's coming! Everyone, get back to your rooms and shut the doors!"

The eight players immediately returned to their preassigned rooms in pairs. Once inside, they turned off the lights and got into bed.

Qi Chanyang looked at Jie Fangcheng, who was still standing in the corridor.

Jie Fangcheng nodded at him. "I can handle it."

Only then did Qi Chanyang relax and close the door to Room One.

Pitch-black silence.

Qi Chanyang activated The Clay Figure's Self-Cultivation. He could clearly sense an exceptionally terrifying presence slowly approaching.

This presence was more frightening than Ge Juan... no, more frightening even than the bosses from the Level Two Instances he had experienced before.

If he opened the door now, Qi Chanyang felt he might see a monster as enormous and terrifying as a mountain.

Closer...

Even knowing Jie Fangcheng was guarding the door, Qi Chanyang still felt an instinctive shiver.

If he had a chance of escaping Ge Juan, then beneath the aura of this Director NPC, Qi Chanyang had no doubt he might not even dare to move.

Good thing Jie Fangcheng was here...

The monster's presence drew closer and closer, and Qi Chanyang could not help frowning.

Quiet.

Why was it so quiet?

Wouldn't Jie Fangcheng swing his stick the moment he saw the monster?

Why had he shown no reaction at all until now?

The presence at the door came closer, closer still.

Qi Chanyang could feel that it had reached the stairwell. It was only one step away from the door to Room One.

Why? Jie Fangcheng was standing right outside the door!

As Qi Chanyang was still trying to work it out, the monster's presence reached the door to Room One.

It stood outside. In the deathly stillness, Sun Miao, lying in the other bed, spoke with a tremble in his voice. "Who... who's knocking? Brother Jie?"

"What?" Qi Chanyang froze. "There's knocking?"

"Yes! Brother Qi, it's getting louder... l-louder and louder!"

Han Qi had smashed through the wall between Room One and Room Three earlier, so Lu Xiaoqin's voice carried through as well. She said shakily, "I hear it too..."

Gu Shanshan immediately said, "I don't hear anything. It looks like those of us who didn't take the medicine can't hear the knocking!"

First there had been words that only players who had taken the medicine could see, and now there was knocking that only players who had taken the medicine could hear...

Qi Chanyang suddenly realized. "It's not a delusion! It's a side instance!"

At his words, Sun Miao let out a shrill scream from the bed beside him and was yanked into the air by something unseen.

He struggled in midair as the claws of an unknown monster pierced his abdomen. Blood abruptly sprayed out, splattering half of Qi Chanyang's body.

"Sun Miao!" Qi Chanyang's heart nearly burst. Though he knew he could not attack a side-instance boss, he still drew Gift of the Whale Fall and thrust with all his strength at the patch of air holding Sun Miao.

It was like stabbing into a mass of thick fog. Gift of the Whale Fall passed uselessly through the air beneath Sun Miao and drove straight into the wall.

Sun Miao coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Save me! Save me... Aah!"

Qi Chanyang's eyes went bloodshot.

He couldn't save him!

Side-instance bosses appeared in fixed scenes. Liu Hanyue, whom Qi Chanyang had triggered yesterday, for instance, was fixed to her own room on the first floor. Once she left that room, anyone could touch her.

That was why Jie Fangcheng had been able to see and attack her yesterday.

But a boss like the Director... or rather, the Director boss also appeared in a fixed scene.

The scene where he appeared was [Hospital]. They had not left the hospital scene, so aside from those currently in the side instance, players who had not entered it could not attack the boss.

Likewise, the side-instance boss could not attack players who had not entered the side instance.

Which meant... apart from Jie Fangcheng and the other two who had not taken the medicine, the remaining players were all within the Director's attack range.

Jie Fangcheng and the other two could not attack the Director, and the Director could not attack them!

When had Sun Miao and the others entered the side instance?

There had to be a notification when they entered a side instance!

...Last night! They had all taken the medicine last night, and after taking it, everyone had fallen asleep. So even if the system gave a notification, they had not heard it.

Perhaps the Director had come last night as well, but everyone else had been asleep after taking the medicine, so the Director had not attacked them.

But today, the players who had taken the medicine had not taken it again, triggering the Director's death rule!

...The medicine!

The medicine was with Liu Hanxi!

They had to get the players to take it as quickly as possible!

Just then, the door to Room One suddenly opened in Qi Chanyang's view.

Jie Fangcheng had heard the scream and come inside.

The moment he entered and looked up, he blurted out, "What the hell!"

Why was Sun Miao floating in the air like a teru teru bozu? As though something were holding him?

Jie Fangcheng raised his stick.

Qi Chanyang stopped him. "It's useless! Go save everyone first! That medicine bottle..."

Before he could finish, Jie Fangcheng's stick came crashing down.

Qi Chanyang's attack on the side-instance boss had been like plunging into a cloud of fog: it seemed to pass through something, but did no damage at all.

But Jie Fangcheng's strike was like hitting a waterfall.

There was a pop, and this time even Qi Chanyang could hear it.

"What the hell is this thing?" Jie Fangcheng could not help saying.

What was this thing? It felt as if he had hit a wad of cotton through some kind of barrier.

The thing was so weak that Jie Fangcheng could not sense it at all... though, in truth, Jie Fangcheng could not sense anything.

He had spent too long down below. Having suddenly arrived in a place with such a low concentration, he was like someone who had drunk honey as water for years and could no longer taste the sweetness of fruit juice. Everything he saw felt like nothing was there.

But this thing felt sticky when he hit it, and it did not feel as good as hitting Han Qi and the others.

What the hell was this?

Sun Miao had already passed out. Lu Xiaoqin understood from Qi Chanyang and Gu Shanshan's conversation just now. Now, she was the only one in the room who could still see and hear the monster.

Her entire body trembled. Unable to see anything in the darkness, she gritted her teeth, sat upright, and turned on the room's light.

Warm golden light spilled into Room One through the hole between the rooms. Lu Xiaoqin opened her eyes wide, forcing herself to endure the nausea brought on by terror, and rapidly gave directions to Jie Fangcheng, the only one who could attack the monster.

"Brother Jie! You hit its stomach! It screamed... It's going to eat Brother Sun! Its mouth is by Brother Sun's right foot!"

Unable to see where the monster was, Jie Fangcheng followed her instructions. He sprang upward with a fierce push off the wall and brought his stick down hard along Sun Miao's right foot.

Sun Miao fell to the ground like a severed teru teru bozu, his fate unknown.

This time, Qi Chanyang could even feel a clear tremor coming from the floor.

He stared at Jie Fangcheng in shock, confusion, and fear.

Players who had not accepted a side-instance quest could not attack the side-instance boss.

That was not an observation players had come to on their own!

It was written clearly in the system's Player Manual!

What was going on?

How was this possible?

Who was this man?

At that moment, the monster shrieked.

Lu Xiaoqin's voice was clear and bright. "It raised its hand! It's going to smash Brother Sun's head!"

Jie Fangcheng acted as she spoke, swinging the stick viciously upward from above Sun Miao's head.

Lu Xiaoqin shuddered, her eyes widening. "It's... looking at me now!"

The monster was indeed extremely tall, because it was not a "person."

It was pieced together from all manner of human and nonhuman creatures. In the darkness, the black, hill-sized monster turned its head. Its inhuman face nevertheless bore human features.

Lu Xiaoqin recognized them at once.

"It's Chen Xiangyuan! Those features are Chen Xiangyuan's! It's... it's charging this way!"

In Lu Xiaoqin's pupils, the monster shot from Room One through the walls of two wards almost like lightning. It was like a deformable mass of sludge, squeezing through the hole and bringing the stench of blood into the room.

Gu Shanshan wrapped her arms around Lu Xiaoqin in a panic, as if that could keep her from being suspended in the air like Sun Miao.

But the monster's long, pointed fingers had already reached out, and then its huge mouth, like countless mouths sewn together, opened wide.

Lu Xiaoqin screamed, "It's right in front of me!"

The next second...

Bang! The monster in front of Lu Xiaoqin flew like a sack punched by a boxer, spinning as it slammed into the wall.

Under the light, Jie Fangcheng stood with his back to her, still holding the pose from his swing. Strangely, he seemed unaccustomed to using such a weapon. When he swung the stick, it was more like wielding a sword.

With one end of the stick resting on the floor, he absentmindedly gave it a habitual flourish, his brow furrowing.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Brother Jie..." Tears welled in Lu Xiaoqin's eyes.

Jie Fangcheng turned and glanced at her. "You okay?"

"I'm okay..." Before she finished, Lu Xiaoqin's face went white. "Brother Jie..."

"What is it? Where's that thing?" Jie Fangcheng raised his stick again.

Lu Xiaoqin stared blankly around the room. "It... it..."

The hill-sized monster in the room was melting apart, truly spreading over the entire room like sludge.

From time to time, an organ rolled out of the sludge, only to sink back in again.

The monster's voice surrounded them from every direction, male and female, old and young.

"Kill you! Kill you! Kill you!"

Pairs of eyes emerged from the sludge.

"What is it? Where's the monster?"

Lu Xiaoqin looked at him blankly. A hollow emptiness, the kind found only in someone about to die, filled her eyes. "Brother Jie... save me..."

Before she finished speaking, red dots suddenly covered Lu Xiaoqin's body.

Strands of hair pierced through her body, slowly dragging her into the air.

Lu Xiaoqin was timid and easily frightened. She often let out startled screams.

But now her eyes were wide and her mouth open, yet she could not make a sound.

Jie Fangcheng sprang off the wall, his stick swinging out!

It still hit something, but it was completely useless!

Lu Xiaoqin was slowly lifted into the air.

The mouths that had been stitched into one now split into countless mouths, encircling her.

One mouth after another hung open, drooling as they stared at Lu Xiaoqin in the air.

Tears rolled down Lu Xiaoqin's face. Strands of hair had pierced her throat as well, and she was in too much pain even to scream.

She looked at the two people below.

Jie Fangcheng seemed to understand something. He was swinging his stick at the wall.

Whenever he struck the sludge-like monster, it let out a pained howl, but it did not stop the other individual monsters in the sludge from continuing to stare at Lu Xiaoqin.

This time, she really was going to die...

Lu Xiaoqin looked at Jie Fangcheng, then at Gu Shanshan.

Her pupils seemed to be losing focus. At this point, she only had the strength to move her lips.

Thank you.

Lu Xiaoqin mouthed the words.

Gu Shanshan cried out in pain, "Xiaoqin!"

But Lu Xiaoqin had already closed her eyes.

Beneath her, mouths of the monster poked out from the sludge one after another, about to bite into Lu Xiaoqin.

Just then, the door suddenly opened.

Qi Chanyang gripped Gift of the Whale Fall tightly. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he activated its skill. A water sword broke away from the bone spur as though alive, spinning like a dart as it cut through the air above Lu Xiaoqin.

The strands of hair snapped one after another.

"Xiaoqin!"

Gu Shanshan rushed over and caught the falling Lu Xiaoqin, then dragged her into Room One next door, where she placed her and Sun Miao in the corner and tended to them.

Lu Xiaoqin was covered in blood, her eyes shut. It was impossible to tell whether she was dead or alive.

Jie Fangcheng was surprised. "You can attack it now?"

"Yes!"

There was no time to explain. Qi Chanyang clenched his weapon and activated his Kicking Rabbit skill.

When the monster was fused together, he could sense an exceptionally terrifying presence. But now that it had split itself apart, Qi Chanyang still dared to fight it one on one.

This was different from the kitchen NPC. That NPC was essentially just one monster that could split into countless little bats.

But this thing in front of him... how many things had been fused together?

In pain, the monster roared, then formed a massive arm from the sludge and smashed it down at Qi Chanyang.

"Brother Jie! Help me!"

Qi Chanyang instantly activated his item, Broken Shadow Man.

Because the monster was so enormous, its shadow was enormous as well.

The item was not particularly powerful, and Qi Chanyang did not intend to use the shadow man against the monster. But he could still use it to control the shadow's imitation.

Jie Fangcheng's eyes lit up. "Coming!"

Though he could not see the monster, Jie Fangcheng followed the shadow's movements, and his stick accurately struck the arm the monster had formed.

After several exchanges, the monster gave a roar like that of a lion or tiger. Its many pairs of eyes opened, all casting Qi Chanyang a resentful glare. Unwilling though it was, it soon slipped out through the crack under the door like sludge.

Qi Chanyang collapsed onto the floor.

Jie Fangcheng looked at him, then looked at him again.

Qi Chanyang gave a helpless, bitter smile. "I took two pills."

To speed up the onset of the medicine's effects, Qi Chanyang had no choice but to take two at once.

Unlike the newcomers, he could clearly feel changes in his body after taking two at once.

His hair had grown longer, his arms had grown longer, and even his legs had lengthened a little.

It seemed he was developing in the direction of the patient NPCs.

The only fortunate thing was that he had finally heard the timely ding announcing the side instance's activation.

[Ding—Player Qi Chanyang has triggered the multiplayer side-instance quest: The Roomen! The Great Roomen!]

[Ah! Our great Roomen! Though swamped with endless duties! Though burdened with heavy responsibilities! He still comes every night! To! Check! The! Rooms! What a noble spirit! Praise the Roomen!]

[Hint: The Roomen hates patients who disobey medical orders most of all! Are you someone he hates?]

Qi Chanyang sighed inwardly.

He had been before, but now that he had taken two pills, did that make him twice as obedient?

Jie Fangcheng looked at him, unable to keep from feeling moved.

This man... had kept stressing to everyone that they could not take the medicine, that taking too much of it would kill them. Yet now he had willingly taken two pills himself.

The medicine was already taking effect on Qi Chanyang. There was a cut he had made on his own leg.

"I gave the other players one pill each just now. At least that way, they can get through tonight safely. In a little while, remember to give Xiaoqin and Sun Miao one each."

Qi Chanyang felt his mind beginning to cloud.

He looked at Lu Xiaoqin and Sun Miao, lying side by side on the floor.

Both were pale as Gu Shanshan bandaged them.

But the situation was far from optimistic.

Sun Miao looked more seriously hurt. A long puncture wound crossed his abdomen, and blood was still seeping from it.

But Lu Xiaoqin was actually in greater danger.

Her body was covered in dense wounds, like an embroidered ball pierced through by countless needles and threads. Even her internal organs had been punctured, though on the surface she still appeared unchanged.

Qi Chanyang took out a roll of bandages from his System Inventory. "This is all I have left."

His points were all gone.

Gu Shanshan accepted the bandages with trembling fingers and carefully wrapped Lu Xiaoqin's wounds. With her back to Qi Chanyang and the others, Gu Shanshan quickly lifted her shoulder and wiped her eyes against it.

Qi Chanyang's eyelids were drooping.

He knew he had reached his limit too.

"The NPCs in the corridor, please carry them into the rooms too. Tonight... sorry to leave you with this... You need to look for clues... there's not enough time. And..." Qi Chanyang struggled to keep his eyes open and looked at Jie Fangcheng. "If in the end you're the only one who can clear the instance... go to the forum... make a post... tell every... one... to be careful of this inst... ance..."

Qi Chanyang's head tilted to one side, and he fell asleep.

Gu Shanshan wiped her eyes again.

Then she heard Jie Fangcheng seem to mutter something behind her.

"Humans really are..."

Gu Shanshan took a deep breath, turned around, and her expression returned to its usual calm.

"What?"

Jie Fangcheng gave a quiet laugh.

He shook his head.

"Nothing."

Gu Shanshan lowered her head to look at Lu Xiaoqin, then closed her eyes and made a decision.

"Brother Jie, the two of them won't make it. I have an idea. Maybe... we can take a chance."