Welcome players to the dungeon
Private Hospital on Jianshe Road
On a snowy night, a train slowly winds along the railway, with thick smoke in hues of purple, green, and black disappearing into the dark sky with the wind.
The mechanical sound of the main system echoes in this cold world:
[Dungeon Level: S, Dungeon Progress: 0%]
[Players: 14, Real NPCs: 3]
[System NPCs: Several]
[Game Objective: Survive for 7 Days]
Hooonngg!
The train blares its high-pitched horn as it enters Shandong. Immediately, the train car is plunged into darkness.
A few faint sparks flicker in the dark, and a circle of white smoke dissipates. The inside of the car is eerily silent, so quiet that even the sound of breathing is barely perceptible, and it's impossible to tell that there are 14 living people present.
The train passes through a tunnel. Through the window, the looming structure of Private Hospital on Jianshe Road is visible, perched on the edge of the desolate city, its gray concrete silhouette shadowed by the dark night.
Cough cough!
A young man leaning against the window, smoking a cigarette, coughs twice. He looks pale and appears to be only in his teens, holding a cigarette carelessly, slouched against the window as though he'd just been dragged out of an all-night gaming session at an internet cafe, his face showing complete exhaustion.
Meanwhile, the game forum’s barrage of comments goes wild—
[It’s Tao Shi!!! The legendary Tao Shi!!!]
[Has his ranking risen again? I just saw that the he is now ranked fifth!!!]
And Cao Youfeng and Yuan Xu!! The “Dawn Guild” has three people here this time?]
A boy wearing a short-sleeve hoodie, his neck and hands wrapped in white bandages, sits in front of him and asks, “Boss, are you still adjusting to the time zone?”
“This time, I’m definitely going back to my country once I leave this dungeon! The system’s rules are too weird, it’s using domestic work hours to set the schedule! It hasn’t considered foreign players at all!” Tao Shi exhales a slow puff of smoke.
[Even Su An and Jiang Xiu from "Valen Church" are here!! That’s the joy of watching an S-tier dungeon!]
[There are also new players! That handsome guy with the gold-rimmed glasses, he’s a newcomer!]
[Newcomers in S-tier dungeons are like cannon fodder, right?]
[But if they perform well and catch the big boss's eye, they can make it big.]
“Did you have any leads on the person the Boss asked you to investigate?” asks Cao Youfeng, his body wrapped in white bandages.
“Nothing, it’s like they vanished off the face of the Earth.” Tao Shi extinguishes his cigarette and yawns. “Let’s wait and see when we meet that NPC."
“I’m curious, is he really as special as the Boss says?”
“I watched the replay of The Sheep’s Forest dungeon and it seems more likely a coincidence. After all, his score has stayed at 100, constantly on the brink of being corrupted,” Cao Youfeng said, pulling out an A4 sheet of paper from his pocket, unfolding it, and placing it in front of Tao Shi.
On the paper was someone’s information, accompanied by a 2-inch photo with a blue background. The person’s eyes appeared even bluer against the blue backdrop. The name section read “Jiang Yan.”
Tao Shi glanced at the report in front of him for a moment before saying, “He’s indeed good-looking.”
He then chuckled lightly and replied to Cao Youfeng, “These days, the forum is saying all kinds of things. Some claim he’s the main god’s illegitimate child, others say he’s the main god’s lover, and his performance in the last dungeon... well, it wasn’t bad, but the main system did malfunction several times at critical moments. Whether it’s because of him is hard to say.”
“Who knows?” Tao Shi said nonchalantly, lighting another cigarette. “Maybe our Boss just took a liking to him?”
“I wonder what role he’s playing this time,” Tao Shi mused.
—
The dark room was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and large patches of red stains were exposed on the worn-out walls.
In the center of the room was a rusty iron-frame bed, with a faded blue-and-white striped sheet spread on it. A pale young man was curled up on the bed, naked, resembling a fragile butterfly.
“Welcome to…! Damn!!”
The voice of 663 finally rang in Jiang Yan’s ears.
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you wearing any clothes? Tsk tsk! This is indecent. We’re in a healthy and proper game here!” 663 nagged.
Jiang Yan wrapped himself in a thin blanket, a cold expression on his face. “Are you asking me? I also want to know why this time, I wasn’t guided into the game by you, but was pulled in randomly while I was showering.”
“Ah, sorry about that,” 663 chuckled nervously. “The main system has been busy lately.”
Jiang Yan took in the environment around him. The decaying, weathered walls, the cold and shaky iron-frame bed, the air filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the hospital-like blue-and-white patient clothes. All of it made him frown.
Jiang Yan was a very “delicate” person. He had been well cared for by his parents when he was young, pampered by Yu Xiu after marriage, and even when he entered this insane game, he had rarely encountered a harsh survival environment.
The last dungeon, The Lamb’s Forest, was not exactly a pleasant environment, but thanks to his role as the “Hunter’s Pet”—
In the ice-cold forest, he had a fireplace, velvet sheets, thick silk quilts, hot water for bathing, and although it would get tiring after a while, the roasted deer meat and chestnuts weren’t bad at all.
But now, in this dungeon, he was lying in a filthy, dark room that smelled like disinfectant for seven days??
It was really quite unbearable.
“Is there water? I want to take a shower,” Jiang Yan asked, somewhat displeased.
“It seems like there is, in this room,” 663 replied.
“I think you should focus less on taking a shower right now,” 663 kindly reminded. “I need to emphasize that this is an S-level dungeon. You’d better remember the rules, or your mental strength will surely be corrupted.”
Jiang Yan sat up on the bed, covering his body with the sheet. His pale, slender legs swayed in the air. “Go ahead, what is it?”
663 pulled up the dungeon script from Jiang Yan's main control panel and started explaining the dungeon rules, player information, and the role Jiang Yan needed to play.
Jiang Yan nodded while listening, yawning. "Rules? Strange stories?"
663 sighed, "I knew you wouldn’t listen seriously."
"Clearing the game isn't my problem. Why should I care about all this?"
Jiang Yan shrugged, clutching the thin blanket around him. His eyes glanced at the words "Hidden Item" displayed in the item bar, and his long eyelashes trembled slightly.
"Fine, you're the boss." 663 helplessly pulled up Jiang Yan’s dungeon identity card—
Ding! The system’s voice rang in Jiang Yan’s ears:
[Dungeon: Private Hospital on Jianshe Road, Dungeon Progress: 0%]
[Real NPC: Jiang Yan, Dungeon Role: A long-term tuberculosis patient in the hospital, schizophrenic, the wife of deceased hospital director’s son.]
[Key Clues: 1. He’s gone mad. 2. Don’t accept it.]
Suddenly, a faint sound came from outside the room. Jiang Yan instinctively looked up at the door.
At that moment, 663 said meaningfully, “Are you ready to meet your husband?”
---
The train stopped at the station in front of the hospital. The 17 players had just disembarked and hadn’t had time to react when they were immediately blocked by the cold, glinting barrels of machine guns aimed at their backs.
“Go inside,” the leader commanded.
The 14 players raised their hands in unison and walked into the weathered iron gate, which had "Private Hospital on Jianshe Road" written on it, under the watch of the gun barrels.
Once inside, they were greeted by a withered, decaying European-style garden. Though the hospital appeared dilapidated, the area was quite large.
The towering spires and the large octagonal stars atop them made the building look less like a hospital and more like a church.
Creeeak...
The giant iron gates of the hospital closed behind them.
At the same time, the hospital's PA system echoed through the night—
“Zzz...Zzz... Attention all patients and staff! Attention all patients and staff!”
“In the past few days, our hospital has admitted many patients suffering from black disease and tuberculosis. To ensure your health, we will be dividing the patients’ activity times into batches starting now... Zzz... Zzz...”
“Rules??” Cao Youfeng looked at Tao Shi beside him.
At this moment, another person stood next to Tao Shi. With sharp features and a crew cut, it was Yuan Xu, another member of the Dawn Guild.
Hearing the broadcast, he replied, “The last dungeon I did was a ‘Urban Legend’ one. Normally, the main system wouldn’t assign two dungeons of the same type consecutively.”
However, the hospital rules continued to play in the background, and the night wind scattered fallen leaves from the garden, howling like a ghost.
“Now, let me go over the hospital rules:
1. For your health and safety, patients in psychiatry, internal medicine, and pediatrics must take their medicine at 8 a.m. daily.
-Please note! You must ensure that you are a patient in psychiatry, internal medicine, or pediatrics.”
“2. Patients in infectious diseases, orthopedics, and oncology must take their medicine at 8 p.m. daily.
-Please note! You must ensure that you are a patient in infectious diseases, orthopedics, or oncology.”
“3. The hospital provides hot water from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily. You can bring the thermos from your bedside cabinet to the water supply room downstairs in the internal medicine building to get hot water.
-Please note! You must go during the time period from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The water supply room is downstairs in the internal medicine building. If you see a water supply room in any other location, do not enter. Otherwise, the hospital will not be responsible for your safety.”
“4. If you hear children laughing during the day or women crying at night, please do not be concerned; it’s a normal phenomenon.
-Please note! If you hear scratching sounds on walls or doors, it’s also a normal phenomenon, so don’t overthink it.”
“5. He will... Zzz... he will...”
Several newcomers trembled in fear at this. Seeing that the veteran players remained still, they dared not move either, terrified that any misstep could result in their demise.
The soldiers who had pressed them in with guns also entered the hospital. Currently, there were no other NPCs in the hospital, so the 14 players were left standing in the garden.
The dim glow of Tao Shi’s cigarette was the only light source visible to the players, besides the moon.
At this moment, the door to the hospital's "Outpatient Department" building opened — three nurses in pink uniforms stepped out.
They wore rigid, standard smiles on their faces: "Starting today, you will undergo a week-long treatment at our hospital. The wards have already been arranged for you, please follow us."
"...."
The players remained motionless, standing in place.
"Please, all of you, follow me."
The nurse’s smile grew even more rigid, and her voice became distorted and harsh.
A few new players were scared, their backs drenched in sweat, but seeing that the veterans remained still, they dared not move.
Tao Shi exhaled a puff of white smoke, glanced around at the others, and asked in confusion, "Why isn’t anyone moving?"
Yuan Xu replied, "Because you haven’t moved either."
Tao Shi raised his cigarette and said, "...I just wanted to have a smoke outside."
"...."
"Fine, fine!" Seeing the gaze of everyone, Tao Shi tossed the cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with his foot.
Then, he put his hands in his pockets and, addressing the nurse who was stiff like a paper doll, said, "Sister, lead the way."
The nurse’s voice returned to normal, and she nodded, "Alright, please follow me."
As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp scream suddenly cut through the night.
"I can’t believe it! What was that?!" One of the new players pointed in the direction from which the scream came.
The group froze in shock, and their steps collectively halted as they followed his pointing finger.
From the top of the tower, one could see a pale, naked body pressed against the ornate glass window of a well-lit room. A dark, unidentifiable mass of something pressed against the glass, struggling violently.
Clearly, in the face of absolute power, his struggles were futile.
The enormous black unknown entity quickly extended its black tentacles, grabbing the thin, delicate leg that had just extended out the window. It then "swallowed" the person attempting to jump down, pulling them into its dark body before swiftly disappearing from the windowsill.
"Monster... it ate someone..." Several new players clutched each other’s hands, afraid that one wrong move would make them lose their balance.
"That’s..." Tao Shi pointed toward the tip of the tower.
The nurse remained unfazed, still wearing her professional smile, and explained:
“Everyone need not be afraid. That is the hospital director’s son and his beloved wife."