The sound of dripping and ticking seemed to penetrate the entire corridor, clear and crisp, as if it were right next to the ear.
That sound easily reminded him of the scene described by Liu Tao.
—An anomaly shrouded in black mist would randomly appear in a corner of the hospital in the middle of the night. It carried a black scythe, ruthlessly cutting open a patient’s chest and extracting their soul.
The boy’s delusional world was full of strangeness and absurdity, yet it was firmly rooted in the ability to reflect the real world.
Shen Lin was unsure if the dripping and ticking sound was the same as Liu Tao’s description of the sound of blood dripping, but he quickly saw a strange scene through the peephole.
In the empty corridor, the “safe passage” glowed in emerald green. This faint light revealed a mass of pitch-black fog—or, more precisely, a clump of black mud, denser and heavier than mist. Shen Lin couldn’t see clearly.
KP: “Make a perception check.”
Shen Lin rolled the dice and failed.
Tsk.
Shen Lin was not pleased.
The corridor’s light was too dim; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see clearly. However, he could clearly see that the mysterious black object was approaching him.
The dripping and ticking sound became clearer, and he knew that the thing was about to reach him. Shen Lin squinted, attempting to get a clear look at what it was in this extremely close moment. Unfortunately, just as it approached, his vision was shrouded in thick fog, and the peephole turned pitch black. Deprived of sight, his sense of hearing became particularly acute. The dripping and ticking sound became more distinct.
It stopped on the other side of a door.
Shen Lin held his breath.
It stayed there, as if staring at Shen Lin.
There was a cold, damp feeling underfoot; something seeped through the door crack, climbed up Shen Lin’s feet. The icy and sharp gas gently brushed against his feet, sending a chill into his skin.
Shen Lin tensed all over, and in the next moment, the cold gradually dissipated. Whatever it was retreated from his skin, and the dripping and ticking sound began to change.
The fog dissipated in front of him, but the narrow peephole prevented Shen Lin from seeing where the black fog had gone.
KP said: “Make a listening check.”
Black and white dice appeared in front of him, easing Shen Lin’s tense mood. He exhaled lightly and rolled the dice—
40/3, a critical success!
Then, a clear sound came from the next door. The door to the neighboring room opened, and the dripping and ticking sound extended into the room. Shen Lin walked to the wall, listening to the sounds from the adjacent room.
Shen Lin’s expression was cold; he found that the dripping and ticking sound wasn’t the blood dripping sound described by Liu Tao. It was the sound of a stopwatch, just enveloped in black mist, sounding like water droplets.
“What is this thing? Why does it have a stopwatch?”
A few minutes later, the sound completely disappeared, as if the thing had completed its mission and returned to its designated place.
Shen Lin waited quietly for a while until all the sounds vanished. In the cat’s eye, only the quiet and empty corridor remained. He put his hand on the doorknob and said, “Make a luck check.”
KP: “No need for a check. It’s gone. You can come out now.”
Shen Lin turned the doorknob, and the faint light of the flashlight swept across the room. There was no trace of the thing; the room was clean, covered only in pervasive dust. A simple sweep made him more certain that the place he was in was not the same as the hospital during the day, but the structure of both the room and the corridor was identical.
“What’s going on?”
“Dr. Shen… Dr. Shen?” The suppressed voice called out, and a beam of light shone from the darkness. Someone was approaching.
Shen Lin stopped and gazed.
Han Qianqiu was frightened, trembling all over. Step by step, he cautiously moved forward, shining the flashlight on a dazzling white, and shouted in horror, “Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!”
Shen Lin: “Is it a ghost?”
Han Qianqiu was stunned. He shone the flashlight upward, saw Shen Lin, and immediately pounced, wailing, “So scary, too scary, I’m so scared!”
Shen Lin extended his hand, palm against Han Qianqiu’s forehead, maintaining a safe distance between them.
Han Qianqiu, teary-eyed, said, “Seeing you is even more comforting than seeing my ancestors.”
Shen Lin: “You still feel comforted seeing your ancestors at a time like this?”
Han Qianqiu: “…”
Shen Lin stared at him, “What did you see?”
“Black fog… a big clump of moving black fog. I feel like it’s alive and conscious, wandering around the corridor like sleepwalking. I dare not move or speak, not even daring to breathe. I only dared to come out and find you after it left.”
“Did you see its appearance?”
“No… I dare not make a perception check.”
Shen Lin looked at him coldly.
Han Qianqiu knew he was afraid, but in such a situation, most people would be afraid. Trembling, he explained, “You wouldn’t want to see what that thing looks like, right? It will surely drive you insane! Even if it doesn’t drive you insane, I dare not look. It’s too terrifying!”
“Not looking won’t let us know what it is. If we don’t figure out the mystery here, the KP won’t let us finish the quest. We’ll be tormented until we’re wiped out. What are you afraid of?”
Han Qianqiu pondered and realized the logic, “Dropping sanity doesn’t seem that bad.”
Shen Lin calmly looked in the direction the monster was coming from and the direction it was leaving, contemplating whether its movement had any patterns or if it randomly appeared in some corner, as Liu Tao had described.
What exactly was the random soul-taking of a person?
He tore open the adhesive plaster from Qianqiu’s card and entered the adjacent room.
The door was not locked and easily pushed open.
The room was empty, but it was clear it was a ward. It had been abandoned for a long time, with a thick layer of dust covering both the floor and the table. The dust was so dense it made breathing uncomfortable.
Han Qianqiu closely followed Shen Lin, huddling and said, “I wanted to say just now, is this hospital weird? How did it become so rundown? On my way here, I saw a huge crack on the wall next to the stairs. It’s incredible; the steel bars are exposed.”
“Didn’t notice a change in scenery?” Shen Lin used the flashlight to examine the room, trying to find any traces left by the black fog. Strangely, for some reason, this room seemed untouched by whatever had been there before. Apart from the traces they left, there was no sign of any mysterious elements.
Shen Lin said, “I’ll make a perception check.”
He rolled for a regular success.
In the corner near the wall, there was an old-fashioned iron bed with a thick layer of moldy and rotten sponge mattress exposed. A piece of iron was hanging over the head of the bed, holding a metal plate. Shen Lin squatted down, and with a sweep of the flashlight, he saw the inscription:
[XX Ming] X-shaped XX Syndrome.
This was patient information.
Shen Lin pulled the metal plate off and tucked it into the pocket of his coat.
“What should we do?” Han Qianqiu asked.
Shen Lin swept the flashlight forward and said, “Check the sealed room on the third floor.”
The corridor was too dark; almost everything looked the same. KP said, “Make a navigation check.”
Han Qianqiu rolled the dice.
80/2, a critical success.
Shen Lin said, “6.”
Han Qianqiu, with tears in his eyes, said, “Too difficult!!!”
He vividly remembered the hospital navigation map he saw during the day. With Shen Lin, he described the directions of east, west, south, and north, guiding him to the sealed room on the third floor.
This room didn’t seem to have a lock either. Its structure was similar to the room they were in before, but there were large dark stains on the walls, forming a radial pattern.
KP: “Attempt a challenging investigation.”
Both of them rolled the dice but didn’t succeed.
Shen Lin carefully searched the surroundings, attempting to find any results, but unfortunately, the outcome of the investigation was strongly influenced, and he couldn’t find any useful clues.
At that moment, Shen Lin felt a wave of dizziness, and a gray mist floated before his eyes, gradually blurring his consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he sat up from the bed. Sunlight poured in, illuminating a bright area beside the bed. The doctor’s rest area was bright and quiet. He put on his gold-rimmed glasses and checked the pocket of his coat.
… The metal plate was still there.
The inscriptions on it were somewhat messy, with the originally vermilion-colored text now faded, making it difficult to discern the words in the well-lit room.
He put the metal plate back into the pocket without any changes, feeling annoyed at the lack of creativity in this peculiar game with missing information.
Shen Lin provided a four-word evaluation: “Too unoriginal.”
KP: “…”
After freshening up, Shen Lin left the room and joined the others in the lobby on the first floor according to the agreement.
When he arrived, Xia He and Zheng Du were having breakfast. Xia He handed him a box of milk and a piece of bread. Seeing Shen Lin’s tired expression, she asked, “Did you attempt the listening last night?”
“I did,” Shen Lin replied.
“What happened?” Xia He became curious. “Both Zheng Du and I didn’t attempt it! It’s frustrating.”
“Something terrifying happened!” Han Qianqiu, who had overheard their conversation, described the events of last night. Xia He looked at him with disdain, saying, “You’re scared of that?!”
Han Qianqiu: “It was genuinely terrifying.”
Xia He made a dismissive sound. “You guys are not capable. You didn’t find any useful clues. If it weren’t for me attempting the listening last night, I would have rushed out to see what that thing looked like. It’s infuriating! Why don’t they let the crucial people attempt the crucial checks?”
Han Qianqiu muttered, “Aren’t you afraid of losing sanity?”
Xia He shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. If it happens, it happens. I’ve played this game several times. I have confidence in my sanity. At most, I’ll go temporarily crazy for a while. My enjoyment comes from observing that thing. What’s fun about this crappy game? I only care about the mystery here. Why bother going back to a monotonous life, working nine to five, every day without something to look forward to?”
Han Qianqiu pondered for a moment. “But isn’t that scary? Losing sanity?”
“It’s like this,” Xia He continued, “You need to experience it to understand. There are many ways to play this game. Some are serious about solving puzzles, and others enjoy life. There are those who deliberately play the role of a billionaire, wandering around with a few beautiful women, showering money everywhere, living a carefree life for a few days. Whatever KP assigns you to do, whether you live or die, it doesn’t matter much. Until we are tormented to the point of group annihilation, what are you afraid of?”
Han Qianqiu: “…”
Han Qianqiu scratched his cheek.
Zheng Du, who had been silently listening to their conversation, suddenly spoke, “The gameplay is indeed diverse, and the freedom is very high. I heard in a previous room that there was a powerful player who always managed to find the big boss of each game room with sharp intuition.”
“And then?” Han Qianqiu asked.
“Find a way to kill the big boss. He said he played with that big shot once, and in less than a day, he solved all the puzzles, extinguished all the dangers, and clarified everything in the story. That time was so enjoyable, and even now, every time I think about it…” Zheng Du’s expression revealed a vast emptiness. The memories that should have been engraved in his mind seemed thin and elusive, as if they didn’t exist, only a fanciful imagination.
“I forgot.”
Zheng Du said with a vacant expression.
