Chapter 83: The Air Suddenly Freezes
The double metal doors in front of Su Xiao swung open. The silver-gray doors were made of an unknown metal, not only indestructible but also exuding a deep, cold feeling from the ocean depths.
As the hospital room door opened, Su Xiao saw complete darkness inside. Wispy cold mist drifted out along the edges of the door. In the darkness ahead, purple light spots flickered on and off, blurring the line between reality and nightmare. The scene ahead held both the mystery and terror of a nightmare, while also evoking a deep sense of foreboding.
Almost tangible madness rushed toward him. Without strong willpower, one would not be qualified to step into the "purple-black nightmare" ahead.
Su Xiao had entered a similar nightmare before in the Sand World's Eternal Watch Town. Back then, he fell asleep at a fixed location in Eternal Watch Town and entered Nightmare: Eternal Watch Town, where he encountered Pig Brother and saw Swollen Eye, among other things.
In principle, [Nightmare: Castle Hospital Room] and [Nightmare: Eternal Watch Town] were both similar and fundamentally different.
Both places required consuming Sanity Points to enter—this was the "admission fee." After entering, Sanity Points would continuously decrease. These were the similarities.
The difference was that Nightmare: Castle Hospital Room was directly connected to reality. As long as Su Xiao took one step forward, he could walk into the darkness ahead, meaning he would enter the hospital room.
This situation was terrifying. Nightmare and reality had almost no boundary. There was no need to fall asleep first to enter the nightmare.
From this inference, entering Nightmare: Castle Hospital Room would not be as a spiritual entity but as Su Xiao's entire physical body.
Entering Nightmare: Castle Hospital Room required consuming 430 Sanity Points. Su Xiao's current Sanity Points were 429/495. If he chose to enter, he would immediately undergo Spiritual Beast Transformation the moment he stepped in and die instantly.
If Su Xiao equipped the full five-piece Sun Church Set, it would increase his Sanity Points by 50, raising the cap to 545 points.
Su Xiao's existing [Sun Head Barrel] and [Church Knight Head Barrel] were both good items. One increased his own Sanity Points by 50%, while the other decreased Sanity Points but improved resistance in that area.
The [Sun Head Barrel] lent to Molei and Yueshitu involved many issues. He would need to have a "serious talk" with Molei and Yueshitu later.
[Liancheng] Su Xiao closed the hospital room door and turned back toward the room with the ф mark on its door. That was the safe room, a place certified by Reincarnation Paradise.
Along the way, he passed Room 5. Room 5 was knocked on from the inside.
Thump, thump—thump.
The last knock was very heavy.
"It's you. How was it? Have you been to the desert?"
An aged voice came from inside the door. The voice was hoarse and weak. Then, the old man behind the door began to dry cough, as if suffering from tuberculosis, wanting to cough his lungs into pieces and then cough out those pieces before he would stop.
"Huff—, huff—," Room 5's old man only calmed his breathing after a moment. He said, "An old problem, don't mind it. Since you've already been to the desert, you must know a bit about the Dynasty."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't respond.
"A blade-wielding strongman, why don't you speak? Oh, that person must have spoken ill of me. As noble as she is, she actually slanders a prisoner like me. How ridiculous, isn't it? Just like this world, just like the Trace Kings. This is an inevitable fate. It's clearly a problem with the ink traces, yet they tear the canvas apart. Ridiculous."
The old man in Room 5 chuckled softly. After a while, he found that Su Xiao still hadn't spoken, and didn't mind, continuing on his own:
"Things born from evil, yet they hope they can bring light. It's darkness. The origin of all colors is black. Without black, how can there be white? Without darkness, how can there be light? Darkness... inevitably brings madness, blood, and beasts. Isn't that interesting?"
After saying this, the old man in Room 5 fell silent, even his breathing disappeared.
Su Xiao looked at the door for a moment. The Young Miss had warned him earlier not to pay attention to the old man in Room 5.
Note, it was "don't pay attention," not "don't believe" or "be careful of the old man in Room 5," etc. The Young Miss's meaning was more that interacting with the old man in Room 5 would bring unimaginable danger, but this danger probably didn't come from the old man himself, but from the information he gave.
The Young Miss was a neutral unit certified by both Void Tree and Reincarnation Paradise. Scroll fragments were submitted to her. Even if her origins were mysterious, comparing the Young Miss to the old man in Room 5, the Young Miss was definitely more trustworthy.
Su Xiao had quite a few troubles now. Sun Bird Taihakak was the most troublesome issue, followed by the Crow Woman from Arcane Eternal Star.
According to information revealed by Lilim, the Crow Woman was an anomaly of Arcane Eternal Star. She wasn't a Spellcaster but was cultivated by the Spellcaster sect to eliminate dissidents.
Some dangerous and dishonorable tasks were handled by the Crow Woman. After killing, she wouldn't clean up the scene and would even leave survivors to spread the word.
This was a subtle way of expressing that this was the consequence of angering Arcane Eternal Star. More cleverly, the Crow Woman was a "prisoner" of Arcane Eternal Star. She could both represent Arcane Eternal Star and not represent it.
Simply put, she bore the dishonorable side, claiming she escaped from prison on her own. At the same time, it let those with restless intentions know that this was a method from Arcane Eternal Star.
As for sending the Crow Woman into battle this time, Arcane Eternal Star's public statement was that the Crow Woman had behaved well in prison and was given a chance to atone for her crimes. In reality, everyone knew it was because the Crow Woman was a capable fighter. What prisoner? She was a killing girl cultivated by Arcane Eternal Star.
Whether that side had arrived was still unclear. Compared to that side, Su Xiao was more curious about who the two new factions that entered this time were, besides Death Paradise's Water Brother.
Not to mention anything else, this newcomer was extremely good at hiding. Saint Dan City had been fought to that state, yet this person never showed up. He/She was even better at hiding than Yueshitu.
Besides the hospital room door and the ceiling cover, there were seven doors on each side of the shelter hall. Among the seven doors on the left, Room 7 was already open. Kaiser had been inside earlier.
Su Xiao had checked the situation inside Room 7. It was about 6 square meters, with nothing noteworthy except a broken hole in the wall.
Room 6 was the kneeling man. When Su Xiao knocked earlier, this tenant immediately knelt down with a thud inside.
Room 5 needed no further comment. This old man was full of suspicion.
Room 4 was the fierce brother. His voice was fierce, but he was actually very cowardly. The sound of his voice, fierce on the outside but weak inside, made it believable that he had already wet his pants in fear.
Room 3 was a little girl. When Su Xiao knocked, she cried with sobs. Ignored.
Room 2 was a slippery man, somewhat cunning, but only to the level of a common street thug, not a great villain.
Finally, Room 1. Inside was the Knife Sister. She was called that because her voice, fierce yet fearful, easily made one imagine a disheveled, hollow-eyed woman in her 30s, wearing loose robes, holding a dinner knife, and somewhat neurasthenic.
Based on Su Xiao's experience reaching the Eighth Rank and dealing with many native inhabitants, Room 1's tenant (Knife Sister), Room 2's tenant (Slippery Man), and the old man in Room 5 were the three most likely to know something.
Su Xiao arrived at Room 1's door and knocked. A few seconds later, a voice came from inside.
"It's you. Didn't I tell you? Go away, don't bother me."
Bang.
A dinner knife pierced through the door panel, revealing a third of it. This surprised Su Xiao. The door was reinforced by an unknown energy, making it extremely difficult to damage. This dinner knife must be very special.
Knife Sister had a very bad temper. Su Xiao used two fingers to clamp the front half of the pierced dinner knife. As soon as he touched the knife, he felt a bone-deep coldness. This feeling was... nightmare! Yes, only metal tools in nightmares had this kind of touch.
After clamping the dinner knife with two fingers for a few seconds, Su Xiao felt a pulling force at his fingertips. From Knife Sister's voice inside the door, she was using all her strength.
"Let go!"
Knife Sister roared. Hearing this, Su Xiao released his index and middle fingers. The dinner knife was pulled back with a whoosh.
Thud.
The sound of a head hitting the floor came from inside the door. Just now, to pull out the dinner knife, Knife Sister must have been holding the handle with both hands, possibly even bracing both feet against the door. When Su Xiao suddenly let go, Knife Sister would inevitably fall backward, and then the back of her head would hit the floor with a thud.
Soon, Knife Sister's pained moans with a trembling voice came from inside the door. One could imagine her lying on the ground, holding the back of her head with both hands, her body gradually curling up like a shrimp.
After recovering for a while, Knife Sister shouted angrily and stabbed the wooden door with the dinner knife several times. But after a few stabs, the room door creaked open.
Su Xiao saw that in the dim room, a disheveled figure stood inside the door. She held a dinner knife. Due to her hair covering her face, only one eye was visible—a terrified eye.
The atmosphere was awkward enough to suffocate. It was like a keyboard pianist who had just "performed" a world-famous piece with a keyboard, cursing a netizen to the point of being drenched in blood, only to turn around and find that the netizen he had just cursed was the guy sitting next to him in the internet cafe, within arm's reach.
Bang!
The door was slammed shut, followed by the frantic sound of locking. Although Knife Sister closed the door quickly, Su Xiao had seen the situation inside her room.
Knife Sister's room was not small, about 80 square meters. It had all kinds of facilities, with gauze curtains around the bed. Besides these, Su Xiao also saw many hanging clothes.
Those clothes were clearly not Knife Sister's. A very small piece of Sun Stone was placed near the washed but still wet clothes, emitting sunlight that could gradually dry them.
From the style of these clothes, they looked very much like... the Young Miss's clothes? Thinking this way, Knife Sister should be a servant of the Young Miss or something similar.
"Can all six of you tenants open the door from inside?"
Su Xiao asked. After a few seconds of silence, the answer came from behind the door: "Only I can. I'm not a tenant. I'm the Young Miss's servant."
Knife Sister had the qualifications of a keyboard warrior. After the door accidentally opened earlier, her voice was now gentle and calm.
"I opened the hospital room door earlier."
Su Xiao was probing. He had seen many bottles and jars of medicine, as well as old-fashioned syringes and IV stands, in Knife Sister's room earlier.
"Did the Young Miss tell you the cipher code? Tell me the first half to prove you know it."
"14. That's the third-to-last and second-to-last digits of the cipher code."
"14... Hmm, that's correct. The password isn't needed yet. For now, having the cipher code is enough. Remember, before entering the fourth painting, you must use the cipher code, or it will lose its meaning."
Hearing Knife Sister's words, Su Xiao looked thoughtful. Knife Sister seemed fierce, but her malice was not strong. She was more like a hedgehog pretending to be tough to seem unapproachable, using the dinner knife to stab the door the whole time.
For this kind of person who seemed chaotic but was actually leaning toward good, physical negotiation could achieve phased results. For subsequent negotiations, unless [Endless Darkness] was used, it would be difficult to continue. Since the Young Miss had helped drive away Sun Bird Taihakak earlier, and Knife Sister was the Young Miss's servant, physical negotiation was somewhat inappropriate.
"Open the door."
Su Xiao continued probing. If it really didn't work, he would have to resort to physical negotiation.
Knife Sister hesitated for nearly half a minute before opening the door a crack. From the width of a finger, it gradually opened to the width of a fist. Su Xiao threw something through the crack.
"Ah!!"
Knife Sister screamed. If someone didn't know, they would think Su Xiao had thrown in an Apollo.
After a few seconds, things calmed down behind the door. What Su Xiao had thrown in was [Warm Sun Stone]. He had obtained 492 from the Sun Church, so using one didn't hurt.
For the people in the castle, [Warm Sun Stone] was a rare treasure. The main painting world only had one castle left. Outside, purple-black semi-fluid rushed past, and there was no sun anymore.
The Sun Stone in Knife Sister's room was not only low quality but also only the size of a grain of rice. In contrast, the [Warm Sun Stone] Su Xiao had thrown in was almost the size of a fist. This was the purest and rarest Sun Stone in the Sun Church.
After a while, the door was reopened a crack. Knife Sister's hand reached out, holding a long, narrow box. After Su Xiao took the box, Knife Sister quickly withdrew her hand, slammed the door shut with a bang, and said nothing more.
Su Xiao opened the wooden box. Inside was a very thin metal syringe.
[You have obtained Extracted Sedative (Holy Spirit Rank Potion). This is a technological remnant of the Dynasty. It can stabilize your mind, expel the madness invading your body, and thus greatly restore your Sanity Points. It can restore 300 to 390 Sanity Points (the amount varies depending on the user).]