# Chapter 295: Escaping the Mental Hospital
Xu Huo turned around and saw several medical staff on the fourth floor pulling a red-haired man back from the window. The man was shouting, "I'm not crazy! I'm a Vanguard Player member of the Special Defense Department's Ting City branch!"
"Hey, don't jump! This is the fourth floor—even if you don't die, you'll be crippled!" Dai Wenqian shouted from behind.
"I'm an Evolver! What's the fourth floor? Even jumping from the tenth floor wouldn't hurt me! Don't hold me back!" The red-haired man's clothes were already torn. "You people pretending to be medical staff—just wait until I get out, I'll come after you!"
Several medical staff members were angered into laughter. Dai Wenqian said, "Hold him down. Give him a shot first."
The red-haired man turned his head and must have seen the syringe, because he struggled even harder. Several people almost couldn't hold him, and half his body was hanging out the window, directly facing Xu Huo who was looking up from below.
"Xu Huo!" The red-haired man shouted excitedly. "How did you end up in here too? Come help! These people want to inject me!"
Xu Huo turned to ask Yu Qingqing, "Who is he?"
"Sima Xiao'er." Yu Qingqing said, "This isn't his first admission. He gets sent here by different relatives every time."
"Bullshit!" Sima Xiao'er yelled from upstairs. "I'm an orphan, where the hell would I get relatives? You damn NPCs, let go... don't inject me! Don't inject me! I don't want a shot!"
As he spoke, his voice grew quieter, and Dai Wenqian pulled him back inside.
"Do you still remember him?" Yu Qingqing asked softly.
Xu Huo shook his head slightly. "Generic face. Dye his hair red and throw him into a crowd, and no one could distinguish his features. I generally don't remember ugly people."
Yu Qingqing covered her mouth and chuckled upon hearing this. "So you're saying I'm pretty."
Xu Huo nodded. If Yu Qingqing could be a celebrity, her looks certainly weren't bad.
"It's almost lunchtime. Let's go back and eat first. The food today is pretty good—I specifically asked the shopping auntie to buy what you like." Yu Qingqing said with a smile. "After the meal, take your medicine and have a nap. What do you want to do this afternoon? Writing or painting are both fine."
"I'll paint." Xu Huo replied casually.
Most of the patients in the hospital had nothing to do most of the time. They could move freely, but the methods and scope were limited.
After lunch, Xu Huo collected a few crayons and some drawing paper and returned to his room. The patient in the opposite bed was gone again. When he took his medicine, he asked Yu Qingqing about it, and she said the person had been transferred to the fourth floor.
He hadn't been in the room long when the few people he'd encountered last night came sneaking over with books to find him.
"You didn't take the medicine, did you?" The tall, dark-skinned man asked directly.
"No." Xu Huo looked at them. "Who else do you know in the Special Defense Department? Do you know Nie Xuan?"
The tall, dark-skinned man looked very surprised. "You know Captain Nie?"
"Considered an old friend." Xu Huo said. "During this dense fog incident, didn't he come in with you all?"
The few people looked somewhat troubled. Xu Huo didn't press further but instead asked, "Do you know what type of patients are housed on the fourth floor?"
The tall, dark-skinned man nodded. "The more aggressive ones. If you know Captain Nie, you should know Sima Xiao'er."
"The redhead?"
"That's him. He's on the fourth floor. He doesn't understand—we're all trapped here, and without our abilities, we're no match for the hospital. To successfully break out, we have to rely on strategy. Making noise and causing trouble will only get us injected." The tall, dark-skinned man had an expression of frustration, then paused and asked Xu Huo, "Do you have any friends in the hospital?"
"No. It's just me alone." Xu Huo looked around at these people. Tang Guangbo and Yu Qingqing naturally couldn't be real. As for these Special Defense Department people and Sima Xiao'er upstairs, they should have entered the Seventeenth Hospital from Ting City—they were real.
"Do you remember the name of this hospital?" He asked.
The tall, dark-skinned man was stunned for a moment, his expression briefly confused, but he quickly said, "The Seventeenth Hospital. It's written at the duty station."
Xu Huo frowned slightly. The appearance of Tang Guangbo, Dai Wenqian, and the others clearly indicated that this place was formed based on his consciousness—otherwise, there wouldn't be so many familiar people.
He didn't know these Special Defense Department people. They themselves had memories before and after entering here. Even if their experiences overlapped, they shouldn't think the hospital's name was the Seventeenth Hospital.
Was he influencing these people, or was he being influenced himself?
"Forget about that. We have a good plan for how to escape." The tall, dark-skinned man said. "Although there are security patrols outside the hospital at night, the intervals are quite long. The trickier part is the electronic alarm system on the wall. We need to turn that off from the control room, otherwise we'll be exposed when we get within three meters of the wall."
"The control room is on the first floor. The corridor doors on each floor are locked at night. Going from the third floor to the first floor requires opening two doors and passing two duty stations. But that's not a problem for me—both doors have ordinary locks. I've made two master keys that can definitely open them."
"I'll go down with Xiao Gao to open the doors first. If there are no unexpected incidents, the others can come down later, so we don't all get caught if something goes wrong. Once we reach the first floor, Xiao Yang will go to the control room to turn off the electronic alarm and the lights behind the hospital. We'll synchronize our timing, avoid the security guards, and buy enough time to get far away. There are also the duty doctors' cars outside—no problem."
The plan was clear and straightforward. After listening, Xu Huo asked, "What kind of lock is on the door by the third-floor duty station?"
"A combination lock." The tall, dark-skinned man looked at him with confusion. "Is there a problem?"
Xu Huo shook his head.
"Alright then. You already know the plan. How about you go find Sima Xiao'er?" The tall, dark-skinned man said. "Me, Xiao Gao, and Xiao Yang all have tasks, but we can't abandon Sima Xiao'er."
He said this while handing a key to Xu Huo.
Xu Huo didn't object but said, "There are definitely more medical staff on the fourth floor than the third. If the lights go out and we haven't come down yet, you all go first. You can find a way to come back and save us later."
The tall, dark-skinned man and the others looked at him in surprise, then couldn't help but admire him. "Brother, that's loyalty. If we can get out, we'll definitely find a way to save you!"
They agreed on the time for the night operation. The tall, dark-skinned man and his group left the same way they came. The thin, sickly patient who had been keeping watch outside glanced back at him and said quietly, "There are crazy people on the fourth floor. Be careful."
Xu Huo watched them leave.
Time quickly passed to evening. To prevent himself from falling asleep, Xu Huo kept moving around in his room until the time was almost right, then he opened his door and went out.
The nurse at the duty station was still sleeping. He exchanged glances with the tall, dark-skinned man and his group, then opened the corridor door and headed to the fourth floor.
However, the tall, dark-skinned man and his group hadn't thoroughly investigated the hospital's situation. The fourth-floor corridor had two doors—one with a key lock, and one with a combination lock.
He tried a few passwords but couldn't open it. The electronic beeping attracted others. Just as he saw a shadow cast from the corridor, a person suddenly stuck their head out from beside the wall, grinning at him with bared teeth. "Do you want to come in?"