Chapter 1647: An Imagination Full of Possibilities
Having entered the instance not long ago, Liao Jie's mental influence wasn't too severe. Additionally, as a B-rank player, he far surpassed his companions in both evolution rate and mental strength. He also knew that in mental-type instances, the longer you dragged things out, the more disadvantageous it became, so he decided to use his advantage to directly seek out the director.
The three clearance tasks were:
① Accept at least one psychological treatment session.
② Steal an important pathogen sample.
③ Clean the hospital's main entrance.
Among these three tasks, the one Liao Jie ruled out first was the third, because the simpler a task appeared, the harder it actually was. The "main entrance" in the task definitely wouldn't be the literal door sitting there. Spending time searching for it would only prolong the instance time and bring greater trouble. The second task was similar—no one knew what kind of pathogen the "important pathogen sample" was, or whether protective suits could even block it. There was no need to take that risk.
So he prioritized the first task.
Because accepting treatment only required facing one doctor, and a single psychological treatment session wouldn't necessarily make him completely succumb to the hospital. If the doctor judged him mentally normal, he might clear the instance very quickly.
Of course, he had prepared two clearance templates: first, insisting he was a player, no matter how the doctor brainwashed him, he would stick to his actual situation; second, adapting to the hospital's circumstances. If they considered "player" a manifestation of mental illness, he only needed to pretend to be "normal."
The instance couldn't eavesdrop on his inner thoughts; it could only judge whether he could clear based on his words and actions.
He was now at the director's office to have the director arrange a doctor for his psychological treatment.
"It's not time for psychological treatment right now. Finding the director won't help!" The nurse chased after him, gesturing for the security guards to take him away.
Liao Jie didn't even need to use any items. He just stood still, and the security guards couldn't drag him away, leaving them to watch helplessly as he continued knocking on the director's office door.
"The director has already left for the day. What's the point of knocking?" The nurse grew angry and called for more security guards. "Take him away!"
This time, the guards didn't try to physically pull him. Instead, they used tranquilizer guns and lassos.
Liao Jie refused to submit. Dodging the incoming tranquilizer darts, he reached for the doorknob, but after twisting it twice without success, his expression darkened and he kicked the door—unfortunately, the director's office door wasn't as easy to breach as the ward doors. The kick not only failed to open the door but also knocked him back two steps. As he grew furious and pulled out an item, his hands and feet were suddenly caught by lassos. Pulling from both sides, they yanked him away.
The item was snatched by a reckless nurse who lunged at him, and then several more guards piled on, using tranquilizers and electric shocks to finally calm Liao Jie down a bit—but only barely. He hadn't lost consciousness yet.
So the guards and medical staff put iron chains around his hands, feet, and neck, then bound him tightly with ropes before dragging him away.
After they left, Xu Huo opened the door and stepped out, thoughtfully eyeing the footprints left on the door.
Chi Xian and Tong Qi seemed to be making smooth progress. In that short time, six more players had entered the instance. Although they were all D-rank and E-rank, these people had vivid imaginations and couldn't control their thoughts. As a result, the hospital staff were no longer like the grotesque stitches of a mad scientist from before. Instead, they had upgraded to monsters that could still move even with just one hand or one foot.
Xu Huo admired their imagination. When he opened the instance in Zone 014, even with so many players entering, they hadn't made such extraordinary progress. And as the imagination deepened, the hospital corridors and wards began to show squirming flesh masses. In addition, countless patients appeared.
He couldn't directly kill these people, but some minor manipulations were possible. So Xu Huo placed the A-rank item "The Well That One Person Cannot See" into the instance, while also arranging for a nurse to take Cong Yu to an isolation ward for sedative injections, fearing that if left unchecked, the hospital would soon be filled with identical-looking patients.
Cong Yu was frantically sending messages to Xu Huo.
He had followed Xu Huo's instructions and notified his companions to lure the Hope City players to the random instance, but he didn't know the instance belonged to Xu Huo. He only thought Xu Huo might have discovered the instance in advance or was simply inside it himself. So he was now desperate to know Xu Huo's whereabouts.
Additionally, he felt his mental state was abnormal but didn't know how to improve his current condition.
Xu Huo couldn't directly tell him how to clear the instance, only reminding him to try using the antidote.
"Since you can't leave the instance anyway, why not test the antidote's effects?"
Cong Yu had cooperated with Xu Huo as a last resort. Seeing Xu Huo refuse to give a direct answer, he felt a mix of disappointment and anger, but he quickly calmed down, though a new layer of despair crept into his expression.
Still, he didn't follow Xu Huo's suggestion to try the antidote. Instead, he passed the potion through the Under Dimension to his companion, asking them to find someone to test it.
In Brown Skin City, people often died from exhaustion, so finding someone to test the potion wasn't difficult. Within ten minutes, the companion in Brown Skin City brought back good news, along with a detailed description of the symptoms after injection.
Cong Yu couldn't believe his eyes. He took out another potion and examined it closely.
He had never seen Midsummer Night Star River. The player who had survived that place had run off without a word, so Cong Yu didn't know what could save the people of Zone 013. But at this moment, holding the faintly glowing potion in his hands, it felt like he was holding the hope of Brown Skin City.
After a long silence, he injected the potion into his arm.
Xu Huo observed him from the side after the injection. Within just a few minutes, most of the brown skin on Cong Yu's body had peeled off. The skin parasitized by fungi hadn't fully returned to normal, but he now looked like a real person—the effect was even better on players than on ordinary people.
Having not seen his own body in who knows how many years, Cong Yu frantically turned his hands over, touched his face, and then fell to his knees, covering his chest as he sobbed.
After confirming he had recovered, Xu Huo turned his attention to the cannibal players. Aside from Liao Jie, the others had mostly adapted to the hospital's atmosphere. They began following the nurses' instructions, moving within designated areas, collecting medication, and undergoing preliminary assessments to see if they could receive psychological treatment.
However, one thing exceeded his expectations: "cannibal" staff members had started appearing in the hospital.