Looking at the words "Hide Props" on the control panel in front of him, Jiang Yan silently clicked on the option to hide the props.
In an instant, his long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the already cold tears rolled down like a stream.
Jiang Yan lay on the sofa, staring at the photo in his hand, feeling very confused. He couldn’t understand why the photo taken by Yu Xiu had anything to do with the game.
Where did Yu Xiu go? Did he enter this game too?
Why? Was it for his parents?
Yu Xiu's parents had passed away during their third year of college. At that time, Yu Xiu held him and said, “Yan Yan, you’re all I have left.”
So, did Yu Xiu choose to enter this game for the sake of his parents after they divorced?
Is that why he had been searching for him for so long but couldn’t find him?
But that shouldn’t be the case!
Time in the game is disconnected from time outside the game; there’s no such thing as a person disappearing into thin air after entering the game.
Three days is neither long nor short.
It was enough time for Jiang Yan to dust off and wax the pile of things in Yu Xiu's specimen room, and to contact a few friends to prove he was still alive.
“Sometimes we feel like you’re not really alive, like a gust of wind could scatter you away.” This was how his friend Jian Hou described Jiang Yan.
Since Jiang Yan didn’t have a job, he usually just stayed home. Now, as a divorced young man living alone, his friends were worried he might really get blown away, so they urged him to show his face occasionally to reassure everyone.
To understand what happened with Yu Xiu, Jiang Yan had never been so eager to enter the game.
Or rather, he had never been so eager to do anything.
But this time, entering the game was rather sudden—
[Game has started, please NPC Jiang Yan prepare.]
Jiang Yan looked at the shower gel bubbles still clinging to him, silently…
Then he made the fastest movement he had ever made since birth—he grabbed his pants!
Just as Jiang Yan put on his sports shorts, he was sucked into the game instance:
[Instance: “Construction Road Private Hospital,” Instance Progress: 100%]
[Real NPC: Jiang Yan, Instance Identity: Long-term tuberculosis patient residing in the hospital, widow of the hospital director’s son with schizophrenia.]
[Key Clues: 1. He’s insane. 2. Don’t accept it.]
When Jiang Yan regained his senses, he found himself in a small, shabby hospital room wearing only his sports shorts.
The bed was a rusty iron-framed one, covered with a blue-and-white striped sheet that had been washed so much that the pattern was almost unrecognizable. On the bed lay a matching pillow and blanket.
Although shabby, it was fortunately quite clean.
Jiang Yan curled up on the bed, taking in the room:
The room was small, dark, and damp.
To the right of the bed was a bedside table with several medicine bottles on it.
Above the bedside table was an extremely small window, sealed with iron bars. A faint ray of sunlight filtered through the window, allowing Jiang Yan to tell that it was daytime in the instance.
The walls of the room were painted white on top and green on the bottom, but the paint was dark and mottled, with many spots revealing the bare concrete beneath.
There were large patches of reddish-brown stains on the walls, remnants of dried blood.
In the very center of the wall were four bloody words—“I am mentally insane.”
The four blood-red characters faced the bed, striking fear into anyone who looked at them.
“Welcome to… Damn! Don’t look!”
The voice of 663 finally rang in Jiang Yan's ears.
“What are you doing?! Why aren’t you dressed?! Tsk, tsk, tsk! It’s inappropriate; this is a healthy and formal game.” 663 chattered on.
Jiang Yan looked indifferent: “You’re asking me? I also want to know why you didn’t guide me into the game this time, but rather pulled me in when I was in the shower.”
In response, 663 said apologetically, “Sorry, the main system has been quite busy lately.”
Jiang Yan didn’t want to say much more; he just wanted to rinse off the bubbles on him, but it was clear that there was no bathroom in this hospital room.
This made Jiang Yan frown.
In the previous instance, he was able to lie on a bed in a small cabin for five days, all because the “Hunter” took good care of him.
In the icy forest, he had a fireplace, velvet sheets, thick silk blankets, hot water for bathing, and though he could get tired of it, the elk meat and roasted chestnuts weren’t bad.
But in this instance, he had to lie in such a dirty, dark, and disinfectant-smelling hospital room for five days, which was quite torturous.
“Is there any water? I want to take a shower,” Jiang Yan asked 663.
“Currently, it seems there is none in this room,” 663 replied.
Jiang Yan frowned even tighter. Just as he was about to say something, the hospital's PA system began to announce—
“Beep—beep—Attention to all patients and staff! Attention to all patients and staff!”
“Recently, our hospital has admitted many patients with black disease and tuberculosis. To ensure your health, the activity times for patients will now be staggered… Beep… beep—”
At this moment, the originally mechanical male voice on the PA was replaced by a woman’s voice, and the announcement became incoherent:
“Now, let’s go over some important points: 1. For your health and safety, psychiatric, internal medicine, and pediatric patients must take their medication punctually at 8 AM daily.”
“Please note! You must ensure that you are a psychiatric, internal medicine, or pediatric patient.”
“2. Infectious disease, orthopedics, and oncology patients must take their medication punctually at 8 PM daily.”
“Please note! You must ensure that you are an infectious disease, orthopedics, or oncology patient.”
“3. The hot water supply time for this hospital is daily from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM. You can take your thermos from the bedside table to the water room downstairs in the internal medicine building to get hot water.”
“Attention! Please make sure to go to the water supply room between six and seven-thirty in the evening. The water supply room is located below the internal medicine building. If you see the water supply room elsewhere, please do not enter, or else the hospital will not be responsible for your safety.”
"4. If you hear children's laughter during the day or women's crying at night, please do not pay attention to it; this is a normal phenomenon."
“Attention! If you hear the sound of nails scratching against the wall or door, it is a normal phenomenon, so there’s no need to be overly concerned.”
“5. He will… sizzle—he will… sizzle… sizzle…”
In an instant, the broadcast was cut off.
The entire ward fell silent once more; there was not a sound outside, as if the entire hospital was dead.
Jiang Yan curled up in bed, processing the information he had just heard on the broadcast. The Black Death? Tuberculosis?
And his character setup was that of a mental patient with tuberculosis?
There are many types of mental illness; which one is he?
Jiang Yan felt an ominous premonition.
“Why wasn’t I given a copy of the script?” Jiang Yan asked in confusion.
Real NPCs are different from players; players need to explore continuously to understand the entire story of the instance.
Real NPCs receive the instance script from the very beginning, knowing the storyline to better play their roles.
However, he had not received the instance script.
Moreover, this instance hadn’t even announced the completion tasks yet!
What’s going on here?
“The main system hasn’t provided the instance script yet,” 663 explained.
The main system hasn’t provided it?
“Is the main system bugged again?” Jiang Yan furrowed his brow and asked.
“No, it’s due to the instance task requirements; they cannot provide the script to real NPCs yet.”
Jiang Yan’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the completion tasks of this instance are closely related to the real NPCs?
He tried to stay calm; if it’s related, it’s related. After all, the main participants in the instance are always the players.
He looked at the rays of sunlight falling on the mottled wall from above and suddenly asked 663, “663, can you help me look up a person?”
“Who?” 663 replied.
“Yu Xiu, my ex-husband.”
663 fell silent for a moment, then said, “I’m just your personal system and don’t have the authority to access the main system’s player data.”
“He doesn’t necessarily have to be a player; maybe he’s also a real NPC?”
Just then, a child's voice counting came from outside the door: “1, 2, 3, 4…”
Jiang Yan held his breath to listen.
The numbers kept counting up, and that voice grew increasingly mature, then aged.
“65, 66, 67, 68, 69… 69… 69…”
“Bang! Bang bang bang bang!!!”
Suddenly, the door to Jiang Yan’s ward was being pounded!
The old man's voice outside was hoarse: “69! 69!!! 69!!!”
Jiang Yan was startled, his frail iron-frame bed shaking with a jolt.
Before long, the noise outside stopped, replaced by a sweet female voice: “Mr. Jiang Yan, a patient from Room 23 just accidentally escaped and disturbed your rest; we’ll take care of it right away.”
The tone indicated it was a nurse.
“Is it just one?” Jiang Yan asked.
“Yes, there was only one patient in Room 23. Sorry for the disturbance,” the nurse’s voice was sweet and polite.
Jiang Yan sat on the bed, silently hugging himself. He clearly heard more than one voice.
At first, it was a child, then as the numbers increased, it turned into a teenager, then an adult man, and finally an elderly man who was hoarsely shouting 69.
The numbers mentioned seemed to represent age, increasing gradually as the counting continued.
But now the nurse told him there was only one person.
Jiang Yan had a high tolerance for fear, but faced with such a strange situation, it was still hard not to feel nervous.
At least he felt safe in this ward…
Jiang Yan comforted himself.
Little did he know, the nurse’s next words were: “By the way, your husband asked me to tell you that he’ll be back shortly to help you take a bath.”
Jiang Yan was instantly stunned: “Who?”
His husband?
With his mind filled with thoughts of Yu Xiu, he momentarily couldn’t connect the dots.
“Sizzle… sizzle…” The hospital broadcast started crackling again.
“Please do not count… Please do not count any items in the hospital… including steps, wards, etc…”
The mechanical female voice emerged from the crackling, accompanied by the nauseating smell of disinfectant, sending chills down the spine.
“Your husband.” The nurse outside the ward repeated.
Her voice became strange, sounding like a mix of laughter and crying: “Your husband, ah.”
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