What happened just now was quite simple.
The director fought against the evil god, and the two forces entangled with each other.
Perhaps because of the previous dungeon, Gu Zhan used the method of imprisoning the director, leading to the director's death in the mental hospital of the dungeon, resulting in his ownership being transferred to the dial watch.
And the watch is an item that belongs to Gu Zhan.
Therefore, although the director wanted to kill Gu Zhan, Gu Zhan also had a certain level of restraining power over him... When the two forces entangled with each other, Gu Zhan used that restraining ability to pull the two indistinguishable energy masses into the dial watch.
“…”
All that can be said is that this item is really powerful; it's worthy of being an epic-level item.
As expected, the space in the mental hospital of the previous dungeon should also be inside the dial watch. The reason he couldn't enter before was likely related to the director being inside.
He didn’t know what would happen to the space inside once he went out this time.
Gu Zhan reached into his pocket and pulled out the familiar scale.
After being stained with his blood, the color of the scale seemed to have changed slightly; it no longer had that lifelike feeling when he held it... it felt like a dead object.
Never mind; after all, he had already cleared the dungeon through abnormal means, and this thing was no longer useful.
Gu Zhan stuffed the scale back into his pocket and stepped forward.
As he had expected, the dungeon did not prevent him from leaving just because his sanity had hit zero.
The familiar darkness enveloped him, and Gu Zhan slowly closed his eyes.
【? He can really leave!】
【That means his sanity hasn't completely returned to zero; impressive! He faced the evil god in battle and still managed to remain rational.】
【In this dungeon, Chishida Kei and Nakano Akasa have both indicated their talents. Miyamoto Satoshi's talent should be related to his eyes... but Gu Zhan hasn’t revealed any information about his talent at all. Could it be that his talent is related to his sanity?】
【That... seems unlikely.】
【The last talent related to sanity...】
【Was ranked first! Damn, if that's true, then my wife is amazing!】
【A talent related to sanity has only appeared once in so many years. Is it really that easy to obtain?】
【They say it has only appeared once in all these years, so is it wrong to have a second one appear after all this time?】
---
The noisy sounds in the dungeon disappeared, and the system's electronic voice rang out.
【Congratulations, you have cleared the dungeon "Haizhu Village."】
【Your performance in the dungeon is rated as A rank, earning you 30,000 points.】
【In this dungeon, you completed side quests... 0.5 + 0.5, specifically <You Chase Me, I Chase You> and <You Chase Me, I Chase You (Upgraded Version 2.0)>.】
【Side quest rewards have been settled, totaling 1,000 points.】
【You received the item <Shimmering Scale>, dragon scale? Fish scale? Mermaid scale? What kind of scale is it? It seems impossible to tell.】
Gu Zhan's heart stirred, and the scale appeared in his hand; it was the same one he had taken from the wooden box at the shrine.
The edge was still stained with his blood.
Gu Zhan rubbed it a couple of times to clean off the blood.
Looking at it back and forth, it was just an ordinary scale.
【Congratulations, your epic-level item <Celestial Dial Watch> has been unlocked over 50%, and you can now freely use it and enter the space within.】
Freely use and enter?
Gu Zhan revealed the watch, and the dial looked the same as before, with the star points seeming even colder. This was the dungeon reward settlement area, so he couldn’t enter the watch here, so he tried placing the scale inside.
It went in easily, disappearing in an instant, but when he tried to take it out again… he couldn’t do it.
“…”
He suspected the system was intentionally not telling him, waiting for him here.
Never mind; to Gu Zhan, these items were just extras for clearing the dungeon, whether he had them or not didn’t matter.
He wasn't very concerned.
After putting the watch away and reviewing the settlement rewards, he left the settlement interface.
The darkness in front of him and the settlement screen faded away, and he appeared once more at the dungeon's entrance.
Every day, many people came and went at the entrance, so no one immediately noticed him.
But Gu Zhan had a premonition that someone was waiting for him here.
As soon as he landed, he didn't delay and headed straight for the place with the densest crowd.
He quickly disappeared at the dungeon entrance.
Just as he thought, shortly after he left, two people arrived one after the other to search for him.
The first was Yu YeZhou, who had been watching the live stream the entire time. As soon as he discovered Gu Zhan had cleared the dungeon, he rushed to the dungeon entrance.
Yu YeZhou knew Gu Zhan lived in Area A, which had the largest dungeon entrance in Area A.
Eighty percent of the players in Area A came out from here.
But after waiting at the entrance for a long time and not seeing Gu Zhan, he realized he might have missed him.
“Damn it, why didn’t you wait for me?” Yu Ye Zhou said, looking at the crowd, unwilling to accept it.
Yang Lin was beside him, and upon hearing this, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Did he promise to join your team?”
“If he promised, he must join, whether he likes it or not,” Yu Ye Zhou said stubbornly.
Yang Lin looked around and said, “Not likely. People are speculating that his talent is related to sanity, so there will be many people looking for him; he’s become a hot commodity. Can you snag him?”
Yu Ye Zhou: “I believe in myself!”
Yang Lin: “...You’re hopeless.”
The second person looking for Gu Zhan was his teammate from the dungeon, Nakano Akasa
Nakano Akasa appeared more youthful than he did in the dungeon, dressed in loose sportswear with dyed yellow hair. He peeked around at the dungeon entrance for a while but wasn’t sure if Gu Zhan was here... so he turned to leave.
He was just trying his luck; not finding him was perfectly normal.
---
Gu Zhan took the bus back to the hive.
After being away for several days, his home was still spotless. When he entered, the system greeted him, welcoming him home.
The fatigue from days of running around in the dungeon hit him all at once; Gu Zhan took a shower and went straight to bed, planning to deal with everything else after he got some rest.
That night, his dreams were sweet, without any memories of the past or unpleasant events.
When he woke up, the sky was bright and vast.
The system prompted him, stating that rent would be deducted.
Lying in bed, he opened his system shop. This time, since the dungeon level was relatively high, although he hadn't completed the side quests, the base rewards from the dungeon were quite good.
His account had gained tens of thousands, alleviating his financial worries for the time being.
Before leaving, Gu Zhan emptied the kitchen of food. While waiting for the new delivery to arrive, he took out the watch and began to examine this item that had undergone many changes.
The exterior didn’t look different, but upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a faint outline of something on the watch face that circled around it, as if it were… numbers?
Minute marks?
Gu Zhan shook the watch, but it didn’t react at all.
The system mentioned that there was a space inside that he could enter.
But how could he get in?
Gu Zhan thought about it experimentally. Unlike last time, this time, he was enveloped in darkness and smoothly arrived at the space inside the watch.
The space inside the watch was still the same, resembling the mirrored space of the Changhe Mental Hospital.
Gu Zhan landed in the punishment room of the hospital. He pushed the door open and stepped outside, finding it empty; there wasn’t a soul around. As he walked, the echo of his footsteps resonated in the silence.
He wandered outside and soon arrived at the central fountain.
To his surprise, the fountain had changed; the white sculpture at its center had transformed into a human figure. The figure was depicted with its eyes closed and hands cupped together, palms up, holding the missing scales that had vanished from Gu Zhan’s possession.
The scales emitted a faint glow, and water flowed from them into the pool below.
“……”
Gu Zhan didn’t expect to find the scales here.
Moreover, from the looks of it, they couldn’t be removed.
The figure resembled the director of the hospital… Despite being a statue, the director’s face was still handsome. With his eyes closed, he had a kind of divine compassion.
Especially since the white sculpture, resembling a material akin to plaster, obscured many of the director’s more perverse features… His upper body was naked, showcasing a perfect physique, while the lower half was clad in loose trousers that covered his feet, standing barefoot on the base.
Gu Zhan leaned forward, placing his hand on the statue. He could feel warmth and a pulse emanating from it.
This statue was alive.
Or perhaps it meant that a living being was sealed beneath the statue.
Gu Zhan stood by the pool for a while, contemplating the scales, unsure if he could still retrieve them… The statue towered over him, standing over two meters tall. The scales had also grown larger when they fell into the statue's hands, making it seem impossible to take them back.
Just then, a voice of confusion broke through the silence.
“It’s you.”
Gu Zhan turned around to see two unexpected figures.
The little girl in a red dress, clutching a doll, beamed with excitement as she let go of the woman’s hand and rushed towards Gu Zhan. “Brother! It’s you!”
“……” It turned out to be Xiao Ling and… Sun Jingqiu?
At that moment, Sun Jingqiu looked different from before; her legs had miraculously healed, and she wore a new outfit that resembled the gentle, serene appearance described in Gu Zhan’s patient files.
He was surprised. “How did you two end up here?”
Sun Jingqiu replied, “I’ve been in here all along. Xiao Ling is the one you brought over. Did you forget?”
Gu Zhan certainly hadn’t forgotten, but how could Sun Jingqiu, as an NPC in the instance, follow the item into this place?
Sun Jingqiu explained, “After you brought the director in, everyone else went crazy trying to catch him. I held no grudge against the director, so I just hid nearby… Then those people suddenly disappeared, leaving the director wandering around the hospital all day. Xiao Ling and I found a place to hide, and recently he also disappeared… and then a statue appeared here.”
Though it felt a bit awkward, there was a space in his item, and it seemed there were people in that space.
Sun Jingqiu and Xiao Ling probably weren’t considered living beings.
Seeing Gu Zhan lost in thought, Xiao Ling looked up and asked, “Brother, aren’t you happy to see us?”
Gu Zhan: “……”
Sun Jingqiu added, “Has anything happened outside? Ever since those people disappeared, I’ve returned to my original self. Do you know why?”
Sun Jingqiu was originally an NPC in the instance, while the others were players. After the instance ended, they should have been liberated… which was why they suddenly disappeared.
As for why Sun Jingqiu had restored her form, perhaps it was because she would revert to her “initial setting” after leaving the instance? Gu Zhan was unsure and could only shake his head. “I don’t know… Just stay here for now. If you need anything, just let me know.”
He could put the director and the scales into the space; he figured he could bring other items as well.
“Really?” Sun Jingqiu felt a bit embarrassed, remembering how she had once tried to drag Gu Zhan down with her. Now, with a request, she said, “The beds here don’t have any bedding; they’re too hard. Xiao Ling can’t sleep well at night. Could you bring us a blanket?”
Gu Zhan replied, “Sure, I’ll bring you some daily necessities.”
“Thank you so much,” Sun Jingqiu said gratefully.
Gu Zhan then asked, “Is there any other change in here?”
Sun Jingqiu shook her head. “Everything else is the same as before, but Xiao Ling can’t go back into the wall space anymore…”
She nudged the child forward, saying, “Do you see? She seems to have grown a bit taller.”
Gu Zhan looked down; he didn’t quite remember how tall Xiao Ling was before, so he couldn’t tell.
But under their expectant gazes, he nodded.