Chapter 507: Doctor-Patient Relationships in the Psychiatric Hospital
The metal cube left his hand and shot forward at extremely high speed, piercing through obstacles along the way—which appeared to Ashis and the others as the hospital's walls—before crashing into something hard with a bang and flying back.
Retrieving the item, Ashis said, "This area is sealed. Unless we completely destroy the instance space, we can't get out."
With time-space items unusable, forcibly dismantling an instance area was extremely difficult, not to mention that being inside it, they had no idea where the instance's boundaries actually were. Leveling the hospital to the ground? What if the instance's boundary was in a chaotic space zone?
"This mutated ocean itself is unstable and has no value as a game district, which is why it became an annual travel route. I never thought we'd end up shooting ourselves in the foot this time." Captain Matt shook his head, looking in the direction where Bai Kou had disappeared. "I've lost control of the ship now, and my senses are somewhat dulled. Perhaps we're sailing toward a space convergence zone."
Not to mention Ashis and the others' hesitation in facing the "Seventeenth Hospital" instance, for Xu Huo's side, it was a twist of fate. The players thought all hope was lost, but who would have guessed a random instance would suddenly appear, pointing them straight to a clear path.
"Great! An E-rank instance with three tasks to choose from—we can pass it easily!" someone clapped and cheered.
"One psychological treatment, kill one doctor, find the hospital's main entrance. The hardest of the three tasks should be the last one," another player began analyzing the instance. "The first two involve doctors. We should go find a doctor now."
Although the Seventeenth Hospital loomed above them, the environment on the ship's third lower deck had partially changed. For instance, the several elevators that should have been there were gone, replaced by staircases. The strange seaweed patterns in the corridor had vanished, giving way to somewhat worn white walls with ward numbers and emergency exit signs.
Of course, some of the ship's original features remained.
The instance area hadn't completely separated from its generated location; there were signs of fusion.
"We need to go upstairs to find a doctor, right?" someone hesitated. "I wonder what the situation is like up there?"
"They're probably busy with their own instance tasks too," Xu Huo interjected. As the instance holder, although the game imposed many restrictions on his actions, his control over the instance area was genuine—especially since this instance was tied to mental evolution. He could place his entire spiritual realm within this instance, so he was aware of every change anywhere inside it.
Of course, those nobles had several high-level players. An E-rank instance and his spiritual realm might not be enough to trap them, but fortunately, there was Bai Kou. As a high-level player, her mental evolution far surpassed his, and this instance was like a fish in water for her.
Earlier, she had been in direct confrontation with Yu Guo and Whale, but now she had already distanced herself from that group.
However, the other players took his words as a joke, believing that high-level players wouldn't waste time in an E-rank instance. They thought Captain Matt would soon counterattack with the ship.
A counterattack was probably hopeless. If there was no reaction when the instance appeared, it proved the ship had failed under the influence of "Three Seconds of Life."
Touching the stopwatch in his pocket, he stepped out first. "Instead of waiting for them to tear down the instance and come kill us, it's better to go out and take our chances. If we can clear the instance, we can leave this damn place immediately."
"Mr. Xu makes a good point." Selin followed him out, smiling. "I told you earlier, God will protect us."
Survival instinct overcame their fear of the red and black bracelets. The white bracelet players filed out of the third underground floor and climbed the central staircase to the fourth floor.
The fourth and fifth floors were originally staggered, overlapping only at a small central area. But when the players went up, they found it had transformed into the hospital's outpatient building.
"There's not even a nurse. Where are we supposed to find a doctor?" a player said, looking at the empty space.
"Isn't that a nurse over there?" a female player pointed down the corridor.
The others immediately looked, but saw nothing there.
"She just walked past," the female player said, chasing after her. "I'll go ask where we can find a doctor."
Besides her, a few other players followed. The rest scattered to look around the building.
"Aren't we patients? Why isn't any doctor coming to receive us?" another person asked. "Are mental patients left unsupervised?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a nurse appeared at the reception desk. Expressionless, she pulled out a stack of wristbands. "Put these on yourselves. Go upstairs and find a place to stay. The room doors have names on them."
The players exchanged glances, none daring to reach out.
Selin stepped forward, smiling. "Dear lady, may I ask when we can see a doctor?"
The nurse showed a hint of a smile. "The doctors are off duty now. You'll have to wait until tomorrow morning."
"Isn't it broad daylight outside? What do you mean off duty?" a player shouted.
The nurse's face fell again. "If your mind isn't clear, go to bed early. It's already one in the morning."
The startled player turned to look at the front of the outpatient hall—where the main entrance should have been. Earlier, it had indeed looked like the entrance, but now, the light outside had turned into an overly bright fluorescent glow.
Remembering that it had indeed been nighttime before entering the instance, the player said nothing more.
The nurse snorted and handed Selin a keycard. "Swipe it and hang the card on the door. I'll come collect it later. Don't take it away."
"What happens if we take it?" Selin asked with a smile.
"Not following medical advice is a common patient problem. Usually, this results in increased medication," the nurse explained patiently, glancing at his face. "Our Seventeenth Hospital doesn't like treating patients this way, so you'd better not cause trouble for the medical staff."
Just then, the few players who had left earlier returned. The female player said, "There are photos of the hospital doctors posted in the corridor."
The players grinned and scrambled to look.
"Truly a worrying doctor-patient relationship," Xu Huo remarked. He turned to ask the nurse, "Are there surveillance cameras in the corridors and wards?"
He could also see the "nurse" that some players imagined and believed in. Just like when he had been trapped in this hospital before, imagined things would gradually become real in others' perceptions over time, and the more they believed, the more real they became.
"Of course there are." The nurse didn't seem to care why they were so interested in the doctors. She sat back down to play a game.
"These people... I think I've seen them before," a player said after looking at the photos. "One of them seems to be a noble from District 011."
"More than one. Everyone in the photos is a red bracelet," Lu Yun said.
(Chapter End)