Rong Yi sized up his own physique and that of the girl.
Him: One meter seventy-six, although his limbs were not very coordinated, he had biceps and a few abs. He had started training recently and could swing the punching bag at the boxing gym around!
Moreover, she had a sword.
The other party: Less than one meter sixty, frail, had been waiting in the hospital for a long time, probably had never lifted anything heavier than pills.
Up!
When the nurse sister’s cart rumbled away, Rong Yi immediately reached the girl’s side, placing the sword from behind on her slender neck.
“Hello,” she said softly, “Miss with multiple personality disorder.”
Luo Huayue and Zhang Haiyang leaned back to back, panting heavily, with numbers on their heads—one “5” and the other “4.”
“Enough, enough…” Zhang Haiyang wiped his sweat, “We should try it. My backpack is almost full, let’s go?”
Luo Huayue’s hands were sweaty and slippery, she could barely hold the gun, “Wait… wait… we can’t even run away in this pathetic state, if the nurse gets mad and transforms… we won’t be able to escape…”
The other two players, constantly afraid of having limited certificates to go upstairs, were dragged by the nurse next to the stairs, into the dim room with a sign saying “patients not allowed.”
The doctor was cautious, estimating his stamina first by trying to search the patient, but unfortunately, everything they found on the patient was not accepted. Regretfully, the nurse chased them towards the male nurse, shaking her head.
The man with brass knuckles had already reached a two-digit count on his head. Annoyed, he punched down the patient NPC in front of him, shouting, “Damn it! When will this end? Come on, all of you! I’ll tear you apart as proof!”
As he spoke, all the patients suddenly froze in place.
The man with brass knuckles: “…I was just kidding… don’t take it seriously…”
“Don’t be afraid,” Rong Yi’s cold voice rang out. Everyone turned to see her holding a sword against a frail female patient’s neck.
She exerted a bit of pressure, leaving a red mark on the pale skin of the woman, “These patients are just parts of her personality. Right? ID—”
She raised the thin wrist of the female patient, rolled up her sleeve, revealing a red bracelet, “—Miss 448902?”
Raymond widened his eyes in surprise, forgetting his usual elegance, “What?! You mean these are just… personalities?”
Rong Yi: “Without hands, no need to take medicine on time. So, I guess these ‘patients’ are not real patients. Maybe they are part of a real patient, without independent identities.”
“After all, this is a game, the disassociation of personalities from the individual is not an impossible thing to happen.”
The female patient chuckled softly, her voice gentle and hoarse, “Among so many players, you are the first to discover me. Are you studying medicine?”
Rong Yi sighed, “My grades are not good. I just happen to know that the abbreviation for dissociative identity disorder is DID. I just stumbled upon this.”
The patient: “…”
Guided by Rong Yi’s gentle persuasion and the presence of the sword on her neck, the female patient led them to a red bracelet hidden under a seat in the corner of the patient area, with more than enough for each of them.
Rong Yi carefully placed the extra bracelets near the male nurse’s feet. Seeing no reaction from him, the other patients dared not approach, and they all walked towards the stairs.
After taking a few steps, Rong Yi suddenly turned back, “So, if I hadn’t found you, and hadn’t triggered the bug to enter this area, would this level be unsolvable?”
The female patient smirked, “Of course not. You could try breaking in without wearing the bracelets.”
Zhang Haiyang rolled his eyes and securely fastened the bracelet, “Who would break in without the bracelet, foolish!”
Before he finished speaking, the straw man NPC, previously scattered by the patient NPCs, began to roll its burlap head in the scene.
As it rolled, the scattered straw limbs in the field gradually moved closer to it. The upper limbs, torso, lower limbs, it gradually regained human form and rushed up the stairs without hesitation, pushing past everyone!
Luo Huayue nudged Raymond, “Boss, I haven’t played this dungeon much. Are there NPCs specifically demonstrating ways to die?”
Raymond shook his head, watching as the scarecrow just climbed the steps and was grabbed by two angry mutated nurse sisters, one on each arm. “Rip—” The two arms were torn from the body!
Next, the body, the legs… finally, its burlap head rolled down the steps with a thud, once again landing at Rong Yi’s feet.
Rong Yi: …
Zhang Haiyang, puzzled, jiggled the bracelet on his wrist. “We all have bracelets now, so why is it doing this? Afraid we can’t handle a challenge, trying to rush in?”
The man with brass knuckles grunted, muttering “wasting time,” and stepped forward, showing the bracelet to the nurse. She smiled and let him pass.
“Ding ding ding!”
Rong Yi passed the nurse’s inspection, opened the hovering screen, and found out that her little boyfriend had calmed down!
X: I was being willful…
X: Dealing with pursuers, Rongrong is more experienced than me. I should have confidence in you.
Rong Yi: …What made you suddenly mature?
X: I watched the live stream. Haha, you rejecting Raymond was so cool!
Rong Yi knew that with Ai Mo’s sensitive and suspicious nature, he must have seen something with his own eyes to “understand.” Her little boyfriend, in terms of emotions, could indeed be petty.
Oh, but she just thought his emotionally cute and petty appearance was so adorable, what to do?
Can only get entangled.
As they spoke, the group arrived at the third floor.
The third floor was shrouded in a hazy mist, with visibility not exceeding 1 meter. It felt as if some monster might rush out from the mist to attack them at any moment.
The surroundings were very quiet, so quiet that Rong Yi could almost hear her own heartbeat. Bravely, she extended her sword into the mist with a slash—
“Ding.”
The tip of the sword seemed to hit something hard. Rong Yi withdrew the sword, but it wouldn’t budge.
Perhaps as they ascended, the difficulty increased, and even Raymond put away his frivolous attitude, frowning as he reached out his hand. Rong Yi handed him the sword hilt.
Now wasn’t the time to be stubborn; it was better to let someone more experienced handle it.
Raymond grasped the hilt and forcefully pulled back!
As he did so, a metallic-clad head abruptly emerged from the mist!
It opened its mouth, and between its alien-like interlocking teeth, a burst of flames spewed out!
Raymond immediately let go, agilely dodging the flames, crouching and kicking towards the obscured body of the fire-spewing monster in the mist!
“Clang—”
His face contorted as he pulled back his leg, holding it, before finally managing to utter two words through clenched teeth: “…so painful.”
“Welcome, patients, to the special ward!” A broadcast sounded in the mist, with the familiar cheerful yet punchable male voice: “Weapons are not allowed in the special ward, and leaving the room during rest time or this floor is not permitted.”
“Please follow the instructions of the nurses and maintain regular daily routines. Wishing you all a speedy recovery~”
As the broadcast ended, the monster that spat fire in the mist took a few steps forward and revealed its true form before them.
It turned out to be a nurse!
But she was a steel nurse. From her clothes, hair, skin, nurse’s cap – all gleamed with reflective metallic plates, the joints intricately detailed, her features as beautiful as the real nurses downstairs.
If the steel nurse hadn’t snapped the silver sword in her hand with a loud crack and fed it piece by piece into the alien-like mouth, she could easily be considered a marvelous piece of art.
The sound of orderly footsteps echoed in the mist, followed by a row of steel nurses emerging from the mist, stepping in front of the group and assigning one to each person.
The nurses extended their shiny silver metallic palms to the players holding weapons. Zhang Haiyang was the first to hand over his iron fork, and the doctor and Luo Huayue also surrendered their weapons.
The man with brass knuckles frowned, complaining, “I didn’t even bring a weapon.”
The nurse extended her hand and took a step forward.
He quickly took off his brass knuckles, “Is this also considered a weapon? It’s just an accessory! Hey, don’t—”
The nurse didn’t listen to him and put the finger tiger into her mouth, crunching it like a biscuit.
“It’s very expensive,” the man with the finger tiger murmured unwillingly.
After collecting the weapons, the nurses led the players into the mist from behind.
With an unclear path ahead and monsters threatening from behind, Rong Yi nervously initiated a conversation:
Rong Yi: Anyone there?
x: Rongrong! I’m here! What’s wrong? Scared? Don’t worry, I’m here with you!
x: [Huge hug.jpg]
x: You go with the nurse first, I’ll figure something out!
Rong Yi’s heart eased a bit. Her boyfriend had previously given her so many points to buy her bean juice, indicating his skill level. Although getting hints like this felt like cheating…
But losing meant risking her life. In order to survive, what did cheating matter?
This darn game forcibly dragged her in and that was illegal!
x: Got it. You first, then,!
Rong Yi: ???
The floating screen suddenly flickered with chaotic information spots. Then, it went black.
Although Rong Yi worked at a cutting-edge tech company, her expertise in fixing electronic products was limited to a few tricks: restarting, tapping, and system reinstalling.
She tried the first two tricks, and the floating screen returned to normal.
Well, it seemed that even with futuristic high-tech, it couldn’t escape the three sacred methods of the universe’s law.
x: Rongrong! Are you okay?
During this time, the steel nurses led them through one twisting corridor after another, making Rong Yi dizzy. She was both distracted and directionally challenged, already forgetting the way she came.
In the real world, she also got lost often. Sometimes, she intentionally ignored her phone’s navigation, asking her boyfriend how to get somewhere. It was a different form of showing affection and interest.
And while her boyfriend was miles away, he would quickly reply on WeChat, helping her navigate using maps, guiding her bit by bit to her destination.
He was always there for her when she needed.
But now, unable to even tell where she was, how could her boyfriend tell her where to go? There was no need to burden him with worries unnecessarily.
Rong Yi: It’s okay. What happened just now?
x: I triggered the system’s confidentiality clause, and I was forced offline just now. Wow wow wow—I really want to tell you how to pass the level — I’m sorry Rongrong!
x: [Crying cat head.jpg]
Rong Yi suddenly realized that this game allowed adding friends; if someone informs players about strategies in the communication channel, it disrupts the fairness of the game and the system will naturally forbid it.
In the ogre dungeon, her boyfriend just told her about the ogre’s physical condition, not revealing any pass-through methods, thus not triggering the confidentiality clause.
Perhaps, they could follow the same approach as in the first level and find a roundabout way?
Rong Yi: It’s okay, let’s not talk about how to pass. Can you tell me some unknown information about the NPCs?
x: Like?
Like?
Rong Yi fell into thought.
There were few NPCs in the ogre level, making it easy to identify the key NPC for passage.
But with many NPCs in this level, her time was limited; which one should she understand?
As she pondered, she suddenly felt excessively quiet—not a sound except the nurses’ footsteps echoing “crunch, crunch.”
When she raised her head, the surroundings were all misty; Luo Huayue, Zhang Haiyang, Raymond, the man with the finger tiger, the doctor—they were all gone?!
Left alone, she was pushed forward relentlessly by the steel nurses, until finally, they stopped in front of a rusty iron door.
The nurse stepped forward, inserted her metallic finger into the lock, and twisted.
The door creaked open.
The room inside was dimly lit, but before Rong Yi could see what was inside, she felt a strong push from the nurse!
She fell into the room.
The iron door then slammed shut almost brushing against her heels, with a “bang,” closing behind her.
