Chapter 2338: Upgrade Complete
The changes at the Seventeenth Hospital lasted for about an hour before stopping.
The original three buildings ultimately expanded to eight, and these eight buildings were no longer clustered together as before. Instead, they were scattered along a sizable lake, with considerable distances between each building and ample greenery surrounding them. The overall external environment was much better than before.
Of course, the hospital buildings had also been renovated. The hospital entrance had been moved to the outermost area. From the main gate, one had to walk several minutes to reach the Outpatient Building. This building, serving as the hospital's facade, mainly consisted of diagnostic rooms and interventional treatment rooms, which were further subdivided into specialized departments. However, it was highly likely that these would be temporarily unused. The primary function of this building was to receive players who had just entered the instance.
Passing through the Outpatient Building and walking further back led to the First Inpatient Building. The First Inpatient Building was located diagonally behind and to the left of the Outpatient Building, while the Second Inpatient Building was diagonally behind and to the right. Beyond the First and Second Inpatient Buildings were the Experimental Building and the Convalescent Building. The Experimental Building was the former infectious disease isolation and treatment building, off-limits to non-medical personnel. Although the Convalescent Building still had wards, its environment was far superior to the First and Second Inpatient Buildings. Each floor had only four or five rooms, spacious and bright, with separate bathrooms, showers, and reception areas.
The Convalescent Building offered the best accommodation. However, the environment in the First and Second Inpatient Buildings wasn't too bad either. That was because the Third Inpatient Building, located past the Experimental Building, had its doors and windows welded shut with metal. Any ventilated openings were too small for a person to pass through. Furthermore, the corridors within the building and the floors themselves were equipped with fences. Not only were floors separated from each other, but patients were also separated from one another.
Beyond the Third Inpatient Building was the former Pathogen Storage Building. This building was now divided into above-ground and underground sections. The above-ground section still stored pathogens, toxins, and similar materials, with specialized rooms and reinforced laboratory doors that isolated not only incoming patient-players but also the hospital's medical staff. The underground section had a new morgue.
The appearance of this morgue was likely related to the item "Best Director."
Finally, the farthest building from the Outpatient Building was the Office Building. Though called an office building, it actually provided accommodation and activity spaces for the director and medical staff. Daily office work was mainly conducted in the offices of the various other buildings.
["Seventeenth Hospital" upgrade complete. This instance has successfully upgraded to a C-grade high-level random instance. Holder Passerby A, please note: This instance must be opened at least twice within twelve calendar months. As it has no limit on player count or time, please be mindful of the instance's capacity limit.]
[Note: Because "Seventeenth Hospital" has been opened infrequently over the past twelve calendar months, failing to meet the minimum standard for a permanent random instance, this instance cannot be assigned an initial coverage zone. Therefore, the instance holder cannot maintain a Gray Player identity for extended periods. To retain a Gray Player identity, please open the instance at least once per month for three consecutive calendar months.]
[Background Introduction: This was once a world-renowned psychiatric sanatorium. Using a unique set of targeted psychological treatment methods, the hospital cured hundreds of mental patients, including some celebrities who later shone brightly at art festivals. Everyone who walked out of the Seventeenth Hospital praised it highly, considering it the most perfect hospital in the world.]
[After the death of the first director, this psychiatric sanatorium gradually declined. At one point, it didn't have a single patient, and the medical staff were forced to resign. It wasn't until the last two years that a new director inherited the sanatorium and carried out a bold transformation. Not only was the hospital expanded to ten times its original size, but new equipment was also added, and three full-time night security guards were hired to maintain order.]
[However, since the hospital's renovation, patients have frequently gone missing without a reason. Over time, strange rumors have circulated within the hospital—about a monster that only preys on people at night, a morgue that one can enter but never leave, and invisible prisons.]
[The director, who invested a huge fortune, hopes someone can dispel these rumors.]
This was the background introduction after the instance upgrade, completely different from its D-grade content. So, the instance introduction came first, prompting the holder to fill in the relevant clearance tasks.
As the instance holder, Xu Huo was well aware of the situation inside the hospital. The so-called strange rumors were likely the "features" of the upgraded instance, the difficulties players needed to overcome. Therefore, the instance tasks this time could no longer be as casual and simple as before. They had to be set based on the source that prompted the instance's upgrade.
The monster that preys on people at night actually referred to the three stone statues acting as "full-time security guards." Their patrol range covered the entire hospital. The sign-in books in the various inpatient buildings recorded their patrol times, which should correspond to the times they could pull people into spatial rifts.
The morgue that one could enter but never leave was an effect brought by an item. Its range was compressed, sealing only the three underground floors of the morgue. Originally, the item would seal a space to tell a movie story, allowing the holder to participate. Now, this had become a new space, so the movie and director naturally no longer existed.
Xu Huo went in to take a look. "The morgue you can't walk out of"—it was impossible to leave by taking the stairs or elevator. Once someone entered, the entire three underground floors would automatically seal. Under normal circumstances, it was one-way in, no way out. Someone had to find the only exit.
As for the invisible prison, it existed as another space within the hospital. It was somewhat similar to the mirror space of the spiritual realm, acting on people. At night, multiple random portals leading to this other space would appear throughout the hospital. Entering one would take you to that other space. Although the person was still physically inside the hospital, they were now in a separate space from the people in the original hospital, with no interaction between them.
Unlike the morgue, this space would randomly open portals every night after dark, giving players a certain chance to get out.
None of the three rumors were particularly difficult. Even if one wasn't a Mental Super Evolver, they would more or less sense when a strong spatial fluctuation occurred, at least understanding what was happening. The difficulty lay in the fact that this was a mental-type instance. Players entering other sealed spaces might be completely unaware, mistaking it for an illusion.
For a C-grade mental-type instance, having this level of difficulty wasn't surprising.
The instance background introduction had already given clear direction, so the clearance tasks Xu Huo filled in were also very simple.
[1. Solve the mystery of the night-prey monster.]
[2. Walk out of the morgue.]
[3. Escape the invisible prison.]
After submission, the game did not modify his clearance tasks but added a supplement:
[Completing any one of the three tasks is sufficient for clearance.]
[Instance holder may independently fill in instance hints. Fill in?]