The doctor displayed obvious hostility, hard to ignore. Shen Lin calmly greeted him, “Hello.”
Wang Jing’an’s face turned ugly. He pulled Ning with a cold tone, “Let’s go.”
“Hey, what are you doing?” Fang Ning was pulled up by him, turned to look at Shen Lin, and apologized, “Sorry, Dr. Shen. He’s like this, don’t pull me. What are you doing?!”
“Infatuated,” Wang Jing’an sneered, pulling Fang Ning forcefully towards the doctors’ lounge.
Shen Lin, hands in the pockets of his coat, watched him leave.
KP: “Passive listening.”
Shen Lin rolls: 40/32. Successful.
He heard Wang Jing’an say with a bad temper, “What’s so good about him? Just good-looking, isn’t it? Take a look at yourself in the mirror, eager to stick your face on others.”
Fang Ning’s temper rose, “He’s a medical doctor! Much better than you. If you’re really jealous, go openly challenge Dr. Shen, instead of doing it behind his back. If you can’t stand it, just resign!”
“If it weren’t for you, would I want to stay in this hospital? It’s just a bunch of useless people.”
“Here we go again. Wang Jing’an, can’t you open your eyes and see the world? I just won an award for the hospital! The mayor presented the award. You can’t deny the whole world just because you feel unappreciated! Do you need to see a psychiatrist?”
“I am a psychiatrist! I know more than he does! This hospital is just an empty shell! Do you know that, Fang Ning!”
The voices faded away until the door slammed shut, disappearing completely.
Shen Lin: “…”
“He’s always like this,” Liu Xiaotao quietly approached, enjoying holding other people’s fingers. He lightly hooked Shen Lin’s little finger with his index finger. “Uncle Wang is in love with Sister Ning, but she doesn’t like him. She likes you.”
Shen Lin: “You know too much.”
Liu Xiaotao looked proud, “I know more than just that.”
Shen Lin, expressionless, said to KP, “No need to add this kind of drama, not necessary.”
“Looks too high sometimes lead to this,” KP smiled, asking, “So, what kind do you like? Innocent doctor or charming security guard?”
Shen Lin: “???”
Shen Lin lowered his head slightly, pushed up his glasses with his index finger, sighed helplessly.
He held Liu Xiaotao’s hand and walked back to the ward, carrying him onto the bed. Liu Xiaotao sat on the edge of the bed, swinging his legs back and forth. Even with such childish actions, he didn’t reveal the innocence of a child.
Shen Lin asked him, “When did you first see that scene?”
Liu Xiaotao lowered his head. His split personality disorder made him indifferent to emotions, making his voice sound particularly ethereal and eerie. “I won’t tell you.”
Shen Lin furrowed his brow. Was it because the NPC’s favorability wasn’t high enough that he couldn’t get information?
Understanding, Shen Lin said, “Although it’s regrettable, I respect your choice.”
Liu Xiaotao looked up at him, “Big Brother Xiaolin1he is basically saying little big brother Lin, can you be my attending doctor? I’m not sick, it doesn’t matter who treats me. I just like you.”
Shen Lin asked, “Don’t you like Dr. Wang?”
“No,” Liu Xiaotao nodded, “He’s too fierce.”
Shen Lin surveyed the ward, “Investigate.”
With a successful roll, he quickly found a handmade teddy bear under Liu Xiaotao’s blanket. The bear was obviously hand-sewn with crude materials, and it seemed to be stitched together from the edges of fabric. There were also some old stains on it.
What was weirdest was that a small piece of yellow fabric was sewn over the bear’s face, covering the right eye like a mask.
Shen Lin asked, “Is this your teddy bear?”
“Yes,” Liu Xiaotao stuffed the bear back under the blanket. “You can’t share it with Big Brother Xiaolin.”
Unable to obtain any more useful information from Liu Xiaotao, Shen Lin temporarily set this aside and went to check the situation on other floors.
As Zhao Xin said, the mental patients here showed significant improvement in their conditions, with stable emotions. However, the variety of symptoms on display left Shen Lin astonished.
Several fear phobia patients were on the second floor – fear of vegetables, fear of symmetry, fear of phones, fear of the color yellow, and various other phobias. On the third and fourth floors, there were patients with delusional disorders who believed they were possessed by evil spirits, those obsessed with scratching their own skin, fur fetishists obsessed with having fur, and those who gave away gifts to others upon meeting them, including even their underwear…
KP kindly reminded, “You don’t need to remember them all. They are useless clues for the overall world view.”
“Too late, I’ve remembered them all,” Shen Lin said coldly. “Thanks for your hard work in ensuring my gaming experience.”
KP: “…”
KP said meaningfully, “Not hard at all. You might need them in the future.”
Shen Lin: “?”
KP said, “These are symptoms that may manifest during a crazy plot. Personally, I really like the bed fetish; it gives me a good excuse to lie in bed forever.”
Shen Lin: “Death is also an option.”
The KP in the game room, just like the previous room, maintained the image of a magician wearing a black top hat, a tailcoat, and holding a curved black cane. Even though the background changed to modern Huaguo, he still appeared as a mysterious magician with the brim of his hat lowered, saying with a mysterious smile, “Let me teach you a truth – it’s impossible for someone to experience death after death.”
Shen Lin was taken aback, but before he could ask further, the KP’s figure dissipated from in front of Shen Lin. Shen Lin called out a few times but got no response. The surroundings fell silent, and the clean and tidy mental hospital seemed like a meticulously structured ice cellar.
Before nightfall, the group gathered in the lobby on the first floor. The golden twilight spilled in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, making the wing of the building secluded in the corner appear even more tranquil. Not far away, trees were scattered, and as the light dimmed, the vegetation, pulled upward, seemed to embrace Building B behind the twin towers more tightly.
Shen Lin sat in a corner of the waiting area, sharing the information they had gathered.
He was most interested in the empty room on the third floor.
Zheng De said, “It’s locked over there. We tried hiring a locksmith, but it failed and attracted attention. We can’t go in there tonight.”
Xia He tried to salvage some dignity for himself after the failed locksmith attempt, “I inquired about it. That room used to be a patient’s room. He had latent symptoms of mental illness that hadn’t been discovered. Later, during an outbreak, he injured several people and, it seems… there was even a fatality. That room is the scene of the first incident, and the director felt it was ominous, so he sealed it. The details inside are still unclear.”
Han Qianqiu said, “I mainly checked the hospital’s doctor list. Most of the doctors hanging on the wall have vague faces. It seems they are not very important NPCs. I did some tests with a brother, and it seems many things on his profile are ambiguous.”
“Ambiguous?” Zheng De didn’t quite understand.
“It means both true and false, a mix of reality and illusion.”
Xia He curiously asked, “Isn’t this hospital just awarded? Can doctors still have false information? Why did they win an award?”
“Probably because of the high discharge rate. There’s a magazine at the entrance that praises the hospital in the first article, saying the discharge rate here is over 40%, and the transfer rate to lower-level hospitals is even higher, ranging from 50% to almost 60%,” Han Qianqiu paused and added, “I don’t know if that’s considered high; KP said it is.”
KP: “Anyway, it’s quite high.”
Everyone: “…”
Shen Lin said, “While wandering around, I noticed that the nurses are not very active, and I didn’t see many doctors. Oh, I did see one who seemed to have symptoms of mania. That person also said the doctors here are all just idling around. Combine that with your information, and this hospital is most likely…”
“An empty hospital.”
Shen Lin didn’t respond.
He remained silent, his eyes hidden behind the golden-framed glasses, his dark eyes seemingly inscrutable. Han Qianqiu felt uneasy, swallowed hard, and tentatively asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Wait a moment, wait a moment,” Zheng De didn’t understand, “If it’s an empty hospital, how is such a high discharge and transfer rate achieved?”
“Are they hiring actors to pretend to be mentally ill? Creating fake cases?”
Zheng De retorted, “You really have a vivid imagination.”
“Let’s integrate the clues first. There’s no need to rush to find answers immediately. Don’t get caught up in this,” Xia He looked at everyone somewhat excitedly, “What about tonight? I’m definitely staying here. Are you all planning to spend the night here?”
“Didn’t the kid advise me not to stay overnight?” Han Qianqiu instinctively sought Shen Lin’s opinion, “What should I do?”
“But we have nowhere else to go,” Shen Lin said, “I walked around the hospital, and the main gate is blocked. It’s all invisible walls. In other words, I’m trapped here.”
With no other options, the group went to the front desk to register, each paying for accommodation. Shen Lin didn’t need to pay; he could go to the doctor’s dedicated lounge. Yan Xiuyi didn’t need to pay either; he would sleep in the security room.
So, when night fell, each of the five individuals had a room, occupying a corner of the building.
Yan Xiuyi was in the security room at the front door, Shen Lin was in the doctor’s lounge on the third floor, Han Qianqiu was on the same floor as Shen Lin, but the doctor’s lounge and the accompanying lounge were far apart. Zheng De was in the lounge on the first floor, and Xia He, being bold, went to the fifth floor. If it weren’t for the electronic door blocking the sixth floor, she would have chosen to stay there.
The night quickly arrived, and each person had a single room, each in a corner of the building.
Before falling asleep, Shen Lin felt that this night didn’t seem quite calm. For some reason, fatigue surged over him. He gradually sank into a dream.
In a half-asleep state, he heard KP’s voice in his ears, “Passive listening.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice, succeeding.
His consciousness was vague, as if he could hear the rhythmic sound of water droplets.
Drip, drip, tap, tap—
A continuous, rhythmic sound echoed in the spacious room, one after another.
Shen Lin smelled the odor of decay and mold, and the pungent dampness made him open his eyes. However, what greeted him wasn’t the pristine walls he remembered but a dark, grayish ceiling covered in dark, murky stains.
Thick dust floated in the air, making him sneeze softly.
The overly clear sensations forced Shen Lin to admit that he didn’t seem to be in a dream right now; he seemed to be in an indescribable space.
KP said, “Conduct an investigation.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice, succeeding.
With the dim moonlight flying in from the window, he quickly noticed that the area of this room was similar to the doctor’s lounge where he stayed. However, this room appeared more old and dilapidated, as if it had been abandoned for several years.
Fortunately, there was a worn-out flashlight in the drawer. Shen Lin picked it up and tried it; there was still a faint charge.
He walked outside the door, using the flashlight to explore. The corridor was pitch-black, and almost nothing could be seen. However, the sound of water droplets continued rhythmically.
Drip—
Drip—
