Chapter 510: Everyone's Shared Hospital
Allison's eyes showed a momentary daze, and with that brief pause in thought, his mental state underwent a significant change. The sharp struggle he had displayed earlier became uncertain, as if his convictions were wavering.
By the time Xu Huo injected the "injection" into his arm, the light in his eyes gradually faded.
Xu Huo sat down across from him, picked up the notebook, and asked, "Name?"
"Allison Douglas..."
*
The same scene appeared in other parts of this building. Of course, the "doctors" appearing before the "patients" also had different appearances—some based on the patients' own imaginations, others were illusions created by Xu Huo using the instance's power.
In reality, these people had already been divided upon entering the instance. The strongest group of advanced players and Captain Matt were directly assigned to the top floor. Bai Kou was also there. The fact that the instance hadn't been dismantled yet was largely thanks to her.
The others, nobles like Allison, were also split into several groups. Some were harder nuts to crack and not easily trapped in illusions, which naturally required Xu Huo to help them deepen the concepts of "hospital" and "patient."
The first two tasks of the game were connected, and these players—who neither had the ability to destroy the instance nor were eager to find a way to clear it—would naturally choose to kill the doctors. Where could doctors be found? Of course, in the psychotherapy rooms.
But the psychotherapy rooms were a trap. If players hadn't reached the range Xu Huo had preset, they would only open doors until their hands grew tired. Only after they had sufficiently adapted to the instance's environment would "doctors" appear in the offices.
With this prerequisite, the abilities of the Red Bracelet and Black Bracelet players were greatly weakened. For example, Allison thought he couldn't call out his props, but in reality, he never went through the process of summoning one—he just believed he was taking out a prop.
Once unable to use props or traits, the players' psychological defenses would develop cracks. Of course, this might also provoke a rebellious mentality, making them judge this as an instance illusion.
But knowing they were deep in an illusion yet powerless to escape—with just a little guidance, another layer of defense would break, plunging the players into self-doubt.
It was like being the only sober person in a drunken crowd. When you alone are clear-headed while everyone around treats you as insane, even the most steadfast person would waver.
This was, of course, just the appetizer. What followed were fantasy products from themselves or others. The more fantasy objects this hospital had, the more complete the instance would become. The fantasy medical staff or certain monsters would approach physical form in the players' perception.
By then, the players would sink deeper and deeper, and the hospital would become a real mental institution.
For the Red Bracelet and Black Bracelet groups, Xu Huo used induction methods to make them delve deeper into the instance. Of course, there were some with stronger mental fortitude, but that no longer mattered much, because Xu Huo had also posted the doctor list in front of them. Like the White Bracelet players, if they wanted to clear the instance, they had to kill a doctor.
Xu Huo methodically divided the Red and Black Bracelet players. When he felt the timing was right, he opened up some internal areas of the hospital, allowing the White Bracelet players to find their targets.
Some of the Red and Black Bracelet players who were nobles had systematically studied instance classifications and some instance precautions, so most of them exercised some restraint upon realizing this was a mental-type instance. But the White Bracelet group was different—they were the main body of fantasy.
Last night, after Xu Huo induced a few players with poor mental states, more and more players joined the army of imagination. Before dawn broke, some White Bracelet players had already seen "ghosts" with heads but no feet, faces but no eyes.
Additionally, there were mentally ill patients wandering the hospital at night hunting for prey, medical staff with psychological issues who enjoyed abusing patients, toilets that would emit crying sounds when someone approached, monsters hiding under beds waiting for people to look... and so on. By the time Xu Huo came from the Red Bracelet side to inspect the results, the floor where the White Bracelet players were located had completely transformed. Even the corners and ceilings were covered in growths, and there were even things like hair extending from the windows all the way to the sea.
Even the sea surface near the hospital had changed. It was no longer a black ocean filled with floating giant octopus corpses, but a boiling pot of soup, filled with bobbing human heads.
"Quite the imagination," Xu Huo remarked, not expecting such results in less than a night. He then connected the White Bracelet and Red Bracelet areas, letting the Red Bracelet players come and witness the White Bracelet players' imagined world.
Only about a dozen Red Bracelet players were let in at a time. These people were still in relatively good mental states, constantly telling each other that what they saw in mental-type instances wasn't real. But the moment they entered the White Bracelet area, they were instantly horrified by the scene before them. No one could look at a female ghost dragging half her body across the floor, frantically crawling toward them, and say it was fake!
The Red Bracelet players turned and ran, but this building had become like a bizarre otherworld, filled with things that couldn't exist in reality. Two Red Bracelet players were too slow and were immediately pulled into the wall by several hands, swallowed by growths that bulged like organs.
Besides the players who disappeared into the fantasy products, several more were caught up by the White Bracelet players.
The White Bracelet players had also been tormented all night and were eager to clear the instance. When they saw the Red Bracelet players appear, they didn't care whether they were real or not—they charged in and killed. Without the help of traits and props, the fight between the two sides could be described as a clumsy chicken pecking match.
Some Red Bracelet players were still formidable, but unfortunately, the White Bracelet players outnumbered them. Once injured, even if not killed by the White Bracelet players, they would be dragged down by the hospital.
One after another, Red Bracelet players were killed, but no one cleared the instance. The White Bracelet players stopped, looked at each other, and then said, "Could it be that the ones we killed weren't real people?"
"Impossible!" someone retorted. "They were alive!"
"Then why didn't we clear the instance? The Red Bracelet players are the doctors—killing them should let us clear!" A player clutched his head and asked what many wanted to know. "Are we really crazy?"
"This is an instance!" Lu Yun, who had caught up panting, said. "Instances naturally set obstacles for players. Maybe the list we saw wasn't the doctor list at all—the doctors are someone else!"
"Then who is it?" Chen Zi, who had followed, pressed. "Could the doctors be among us?"
For a moment, the White Bracelet players became wary of each other.
"Wait a moment." Xu Huo appeared from around the corner. "Maybe there's no strict distinction between doctors and patients. The players who entered could be either patients or doctors. Although we got wristbands, that doesn't mean we can't become doctors."
"How do we become doctors? By imagining?" Chen Zi closed her eyes, seeming to imagine hard. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked down at herself. "I didn't turn into a doctor."
(Chapter End)