Chapter 621: Time to Take Your Medicine
Gu Yu was startled and quickly went over to push Zheng Liang. The latter opened his eyes and slowly came to his senses, "I fell asleep just now!"
"This isn't normal." Brother Liang also woke up Guan Zuhong. Who would dare to fall asleep in this situation, especially after only sitting on the bed for two minutes?
"Don't touch the bed, and don't close your eyes," he said. "Everyone wake each other up to avoid accidents."
Not daring to touch the bed, the group simply sat on the floor. They managed to stay steady for the first ten minutes, but after Zheng Liang was the first to fall asleep, Wen Xuelin also leaned against Gu Yu and closed her eyes, followed shortly by Brother Liang and Guan Zuhong collapsing to the ground.
"Thump, thump, thump!" The ward door was knocked on. After several attempts with no one answering, those outside began to ram the door. The bed frame blocking the door soon fell along with the door panel...
"Bang!" The scarred player and several other players were staying in a room on the fifth floor's middle section. They clearly heard the crashing sound coming from upstairs, but the door that fell was theirs. A black-brown monster as tall as the door walked in from outside—it had a basic human shape, torso and limbs, but the exposed skin was uneven in color, with stitching and patchwork marks all over its chest and arms.
In its hand was an axe connected by a chain to its forearm. After breaking through the door, it lunged straight at the nearest player, grabbing his throat while swinging the axe at the scarred player.
Everyone in this room was a cannibal player. Without the ability to develop traits, they were generally stronger in evolution rate and had enhanced muscle strength. So the player whose throat was grabbed immediately clamped down on the monster's hand, sidestepped, and twisted the monster's wrist clean off!
On the other side, the scarred player dodged the axe, used an item to pin the chain behind the axe to the wall, and then pulled hard. The monster's right forearm flew off entirely!
The remaining players also joined in. One of them scattered a handful of powder-like substance. When the powder landed on the monster, it ignited, burning the monster until it died.
The monster's screams echoed through the building, but before the sound could fade, other noises joined in from the hallway outside.
"There's more than one monster wandering the hospital." Players scattered in different rooms all realized this.
Although no one opened their doors to come out, some players managed to get a look at the monsters. The stitched-together mishmash resembled certain bizarre medical legends about human experiments. This was a hospital, and everyone who came in were "mental patients" with no rights—it wouldn't be strange if doctors used them for experiments.
With the situation unclear, no players risked going out afterward. The scarred player and his group simply changed rooms and locked the door again.
But the footsteps and knocking in the hallway didn't stop, and they seemed to be increasing. In corners no one was watching, monsters kept appearing out of thin air and joining the night patrol. Most looked like products of twisted experiments, and a few xenomorphs appeared as well.
The most surreal thing was the "female ghost" conjured by Wen Xuelin.
Xu Huo came down from upstairs and found the female ghost wandering the corridor.
As the female ghost walked, the lights flickered on and off. When the lights went out, she moved forward; when they came back on, she stood still.
Watching her approach him, Xu Huo raised his hand, and the lights lit up in sequence, illuminating the entire corridor brightly.
The female ghost's head hung forward, her hair reaching below her knees, dripping water incessantly.
He placed a door in front of her, but the female ghost refused to leave, her toes always pointing toward him.
Xu Huo tapped his foot on the ground, and the corridor floor turned into a blurry black mist. The female ghost fell through, and soon screams erupted from a room on the fourth floor.
One wasn't enough for excitement. He walked back and forth along the corridor, stuffing "things" into several rooms. Soon, players came running out, and he casually chose a ward, opened the door, and entered the room where Gu Yu and the others were.
He woke them up, and Gu Yu looked at him with surprise, "You're in here too!"
Xu Huo nodded, "A bit earlier than everyone else. This is a mental-type random instance. Things you imagine might become real. It's best not to think too much."
Wen Xuelin's face changed color. She quickly took out her phone, "Since we can't get out anyway, I'll play a couple of games and wait until dawn."
"Things imagined in this instance become real?" Brother Liang couldn't believe it. "Do imagined things have attack power?"
"Yes, as long as someone believes they have attack power," Xu Huo said. "In short, the more you think it's real, the more real it becomes. When I came over, I saw xenomorphs and ghosts outside. It's best not to go out at night. Wait until dawn to do anything."
"Also, I've checked the building in the back. It's best not to go there. The easiest of the three tasks should be the first one."
"Are our items useful against ghosts?" Wen Xuelin quickly asked.
Xu Huo paused, "Can you still open your personal panel now?"
Gu Yu and the others' expressions changed in shock, "This instance is this powerful!"
Xu Huo nodded, "Most of what happens in the hospital is fake, but influenced by the instance's power, players will think it's real."
"That's amazing! I have a bold idea." Zheng Liang looked at them, "If players can't open their personal panels once they enter, doesn't that put everyone on the same level?"
"That's a good idea," Gu Yu said, "but there's no guarantee every player will be like that."
"True enough," Xu Huo said. "But it should work for most players."
"Then that's settled!" Zheng Liang clapped his hands, "Once we get out, we'll notify the Special Defense Department to drive the cannibal players over here."
"We haven't cleared the instance yet." Brother Liang calmly reminded them, then looked at Xu Huo, "Do you have a plan?"
"We'll find out tomorrow." Xu Huo listened to the sounds outside, "I'm going out for a bit. Don't look for me. If you can clear it, feel free to leave first."
Without waiting for them to respond, he pulled open the door and walked out. Gu Yu took two steps after him, just about to say something while holding the door, but Xu Huo was already gone from sight, and the corridor was dead silent!
She turned back in shock, "Was what we just saw an illusion?!"
"It shouldn't be," Wen Xuelin stammered. "Could we have imagined a real person?"
Guan Zuhong added from the side, "Do you think the nurses and security guards are real?"
The room fell silent, but Zheng Liang waved his hand, "It's definitely Xu Huo. Look at that expression of his—even with a different face, he still looks like he's asking for a punch. No way that's fake."
Gu Yu looked at him speechlessly, then said after a few seconds, "Let's wait until tomorrow."
The group waited, but they couldn't help falling asleep again. However, when they woke up this time, everything from the night before felt like a hallucination. Their clothes had been replaced with patient gowns, and when they walked out, they saw others in the same attire. Middle-aged nurses moved through the corridors delivering medicine to different rooms. Vehicles drove up outside, and people got out carrying fruit and bread—family members of patients.
"Room 407, it's time to take your medicine." A nurse approached them.
(Chapter End)