Knees knocking on the ground, sore. Rong Yi propped up her body to climb up, not fully accustomed to the dim light in the room. The first sensation was a pungent sour smell drilling into her nostrils.
She blinked forcefully to see the furnishings in the room clearly.
More a prison cell than a sick ward, the room housed only two steel beds firmly nailed to the ground. The source of the sour smell was a set of yellowed, uncleaned toilet utensils by the wall.
On the left bed, a blanket that no longer showed its original color wrapped around a small mountain-like lump that seemed to move slowly like a living creature.
There was a person underneath!
The person in the blanket moved sluggishly, apparently awakened by the closing door sound.
Rong Yi immediately rolled under the other bed.
Few NPCs in this game were well-intentioned towards players, so hiding first seemed wise.
A pair of pale, slender bare feet dangled from the opposite bed.
“Huh?”
It was a young boy’s voice, lacking the clarity of youth, sounding hoarse and dry. Perceiving no one in the room despite the door being open, he sat back on his bed, puzzled.
Rong Yi, relieved, suspended herself under the bed frame, watching the bare feet circle the room quietly before the figure sat back on the opposite bed.
Sighing, she saw on the floating screen that almost six hours had passed in the game; they still needed to climb four increasingly difficult levels.
Following the broadcast’s advice, this level required adhering strictly to rest times. She was confined to the room by a nurse, signaling it was now the game-mandated “rest time,” advising against going outside.
She wasn’t sure how long this break would last. She had to seize every moment to gather more information about the dungeon.
Rong Yi: Do you know what’s the deal with that always-dying NPC?
X: Huh, why ask about that? I thought you were more curious about the dungeon’s big boss.
Rong Yi: It dies too frequently and purposefully. I’m a bit curious. So, tell me about the dungeon’s big boss first.
X: The dungeon’s big boss, like the Shark Man, used to be a player. But unlike the Shark Man, he was a player who had already completed the game.
Rong Yi: Completed the game? Are there really players who completed this twisted killing game?
X: There are, though very few.
X: He can become the boss in this dungeon as a reward from the game.
Rong Yi: What kind of reward is being trapped in a game?
X: Actually, being a boss is like a job, earning points. Due to the huge gap in strength between him and the players, dungeon boss points are easy to obtain.
X: And when the dungeon is not open, he goes back to the real world, where he can exchange points for real wealth, living a carefree life; rich, close to home, perfect.
Next, the companion told her a story that could be used in judicial proceedings.
The boss of this dungeon was a two-faced person in the real world. By day, he was a respectable, successful psychiatric doctor; by night, a twisted scientist conducting illegal experiments on patients, reveling in their suffering cries and his own maniacal laughter.
Due to the peculiarities of mental patients, almost no one believed their accusations against the doctor. Moreover, many families viewed psychiatric patients as burdens, thinking it easier if they died, making them grateful to doctors who took in such patients.
He continued this unchecked for nearly a decade. Eventually, a patient’s brother discovered his brother’s abnormal behavior and the injuries caused by “treatment.”
Fortune smiled upon them as this brother was a detective and deeply cared for his sibling, making him the first patient to escape the doctor’s clutches.
It is through the younger brother that the detective elder brother continuously gathers evidence of doctors persecuting patients, even causing harm and death to patients, exposing the shocking “series of tragedies involving mental patients” that has been going on for years, shaking society.
Rong Yi: Ah! I think I remember, it was —
X: Three years ago.
Rong Yi: Yes! About two months nearly three years ago, the hot search was all about this case. But it’s strange, there were no follow-up reports after that, as if suddenly no one cared about this case anymore!
Rong Yi: If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten about it!
Rong Yi: He actually escaped legal sanctions?!
X: That’s the game’s reward.
Rong Yi: !!!!!
X: In the game, rewards for players come in the form of points, which can be exchanged for items in the store. There are ordinary clearance items, like the stamina recovery potion I bought you. There are also many items that can be called “magic” in the real world, such as love potions, lucky charms, doom curses, and even higher-level items that can change reality.
Rong Yi: So he changed reality?
X: Yes.
Rong Yi: So where did all the evidence of his crimes in reality go?
X: …I don’t know.
Rong Yi felt her worldview being turned upside down. She had thought this was just a tasteless future high-tech holographic game, but it turns out to have the power to change reality, something akin to “godlike” abilities!
Rong Yi: So to defeat the current director, I need to find where he’s hiding the evidence?
X: In theory, yes. But it’s very difficult in practice.
X: He’s a complete madman, and this instance has already killed many players.
X: But don’t worry, I just bought you a C-level instance escape card. It won’t let anything happen to you!
Rong Yi: What about Luo Huayue? Zhang Haiyang? What about other players? What kind of endings will they face here?
X didn’t reply.
Rong Yi already knew the answer.
Her young boyfriend then told her that this instance was originally a normal mental hospital instance, a bit scary, but as long as the players cooperated, no one would die.
But three years ago, the entire game suddenly underwent a major overhaul, with many instance rules drastically adjusted, and in the Jikasburg Mental Hospital, a psychotic new director was airdropped.
Under the reform led by the new director and the system, the Jikasburg game instance became extremely dangerous, with a high death rate among players.
Rong Yi suddenly remembered the scarecrow who always rolled his head under her feet.
Although it was an NPC that could be constantly refreshed, it seemed to be using its infinite life to tell them where the danger was and what not to do.
If the new director really was a complete madman, why would he kindly arrange for an NPC to do such things?
She couldn’t help but ask this question, and her young boyfriend immediately responded.
X: Oh, that’s why you asked about the scarecrow.
X: Rong Rong, you’re really amazing, did you figure it out?
Rong Yi: …I don’t even know what I figured out.
Her young boyfriend seemed to have a thick filter on her, thinking she could predict everything?
X: You mean you didn’t guess it was either the scarecrow or the original director?
Rong Yi: ?????!!!!!!!
She didn’t at all! She just felt that the existence of this NPC didn’t fit the style of the current director!
But this information shocked her even more. She had thought —
Rong Yi: Shirenmo said that everything in the game is code, the original director became obsolete, and the game didn’t destroy him?
X: Although they’re all code, they’re not something that can be created haphazardly. You could say it’s an “incubation of data” AI, which can be seen as another form of life.
The conversation suddenly turned into science fiction, leaving Rong Yi feeling dizzy.
Rong Yi: So, do these NPCs, while following the game rules and fixed processes, actually have their own thoughts?
x: That’s right. There are some abnormalities, and some NPCs are quite interesting.
Rong Yi: … How long have you been playing in the game to notice things like this?
x: [Panicked dog.jpg]
x: Not much, just once every seven days like a normal player…
x: It’s just that I am more, um, observant!
Rong Yi: Why are you panicking? Are you having an affair in the game?
x: No way! Impossible! In whichever world I am in, there’s only Rong Rong for me!
x: Just Rong Rong!
x: [Looks up to the sky.jpg]
x: Let me tell you why the former dean has ended up like this now, you must be really curious, hahaha!
Rong Yi: I think you’re the curious one. So tell me.
The young boyfriend immediately started talking non-stop, trying to divert attention from sensitive topics.
After the new dean took over, the former dean was demoted to vice-dean to assist the new dean in dungeon activities.
However, the two deans’ philosophies were completely contradictory.
The new dean saw players’ lives as his game, viewing them as his experimental guinea pigs and rewards he deserved. Without violating the basic rules of the game, he played with players’ lives using the cruelest methods.
But the vice-dean maintained the original game philosophy: the dungeon was a test of players’ strength and courage, not simply for the sake of killing.
In the psychiatric hospital dungeon, the dean had supreme power, and no one dared to oppose him. To secure a place in the dungeon, almost all NPCs sided with the new dean.
They began to ignore the vice-dean, gradually undermining his authority, mocking his ideas, belittling him…
x: And so he fell to become the lowest level NPC demonstrating how to die.
x: [Sighing cat.jpg]
Rong Yi: … Isn’t this workplace bullying?
Rong Yi: I never thought that the twisted ways of the human world had seeped into the game.
Rong Yi: Do you think if the former dean stages a comeback, is there a chance to defeat the current dean?
x: In terms of power, the two deans don’t differ much since both are dungeon boss-level. But the problem is, the former dean no longer has that fighting spirit.
He resigned himself to being a small NPC who dies every two minutes, just getting by.
Rong Yi was still contemplating the power struggle between the new and old deans, the possibility of players benefiting, when suddenly a broadcast sounded: “Rest time is almost up, please get up and wait patiently for the nurses to come.”
Great! Rong Yi thought, it’s right to get up and go! When the nurse opens the door, she’ll rush out!
She checked the time, realizing that she had been in this room for fourteen minutes, meaning the break time was fifteen minutes.
Hold on! She told herself, just one more minute!
Her limbs were nearing their limit, aching and trembling. She tried her best to keep her body still to prevent the steel bed from making noise.
x: Rong Rong, how are you now? Does this dungeon really have such a long safe time?
Rong Yi: … Don’t ask.
Rong Yi: I can, I will survive!
x: I believe in you! The escape card is in your backpack, remember to use it!
x: [Heart biubiubiu.jpg]
Suddenly, Rong Yi felt a warm breeze brush past her ear.
Turning her head, she came face to face with a chillingly pale smile!
The boy grinned, showing blood-red gums, eyes like pinpoint pupils, pointing to the bed, sneering, “Such a pity – exposed, huh.”
Rong Yi raised her head, only to find it was her holographic screen –
Her holographic screen moved with her body, slightly tilting upward, it would penetrate the bed, revealing a glimmer of blue from the other side!
Rong Yi: … Died from clipping through objects?!
