In the hospital room, a pale boy curled up in the corner of the bed, facing a large, pitch-black elongated monster on the mottled wall in front of him.
The monster clung to the wall, almost dominating the entire front, making the small hospital room feel even more cramped. Its dark robe enveloped its entire body, revealing not a single inch of skin, while its head, adorned with a paper mask, turned flexibly.
It gazed at Jiang Yan as if it were a venomous spider hiding in the shadows, watching a beautiful butterfly stumble into its web.
"Cough cough cough... Ugh..."
Jiang Yan clutched his chest and coughed up another mouthful of fresh blood.
One had to admit that the character bonuses granted by the quest were quite intense; at that moment, Jiang Yan truly felt the near-death experience brought on by the arrival of his "terminal illness."
The black monster clinging to the wall, indescribable in nature, was the grim reaper come to take him away.
Blood dripped from the boy's pale jaw, a sight both shocking and distressing.
"Yan Yan!" The monster on the wall suddenly straightened its body, extending a hand like a tree branch to carefully cradle the boy curled up in the corner.
Sunlight streamed into the dilapidated, mottled hospital room through a small window, as the pale boy was cautiously held by the black monster.
"What happened?" The voice behind the mask grew anxious, as Jiang Yan felt like a fragile plaster doll in its embrace.
The truth was that Jiang Yan was indeed on the brink of breaking apart; he had never known that illness could inflict such immense pain on the body.
Each breath was accompanied by agony, as if every inhalation was a crime.
He even doubted whether he was suffering from tuberculosis or lung cancer!
Forget about living for seven days; he wondered if he would survive the night.
"Cough cough cough cough cough... cough cough..."
Jiang Yan grasped the black robe of the monster holding him, trying to draw warmth from it.
However, the body beneath the robe felt as hard as cement; it was hard to imagine how such a body could squeeze through the narrow window and contort into such a shape on the wall.
The "strange man" lowered its lower body from the wall, and when it stood fully upright, its head barely brushed against the ceiling. Jiang Yan finally realized how tall this monster was.
The forehead of the paper figure suddenly pressed against Jiang Yan's forehead, forcing him to meet its lifeless eyes painted with green.
"Yan Yan is sick and needs to take medicine," the monster said. "After taking the medicine, we'll go take a bath."
Jiang Yan felt the temperature from the paper face, which wasn't cold but somehow sent a chill down his spine.
The paper mask lingered on Jiang Yan's forehead for a moment before it moved away. At the same time, its body, which was as hard as cement beneath the robe, extended tentacles that resembled gel-like petroleum.
One black tentacle crawled up to the bedside table, swiftly and accurately picking up a bottle among a collection of jars and bottles, while another tentacle slipped through the narrow crack of the door that the nurse had just opened.
Before long, a loud "bang" echoed as the tentacle burst through the hospital door, revealing a heap of shredded flesh at the entrance.
The black tentacle skillfully poured water, opened the medicine bottle, and brought it to Jiang Yan's lips, demonstrating the monster's adeptness at caring for him.
Jiang Yan obediently opened his mouth and swallowed the pill with the water. The warm liquid flowed down his chest and into his stomach, soothing the burning pain.
"Yan Yan, has anyone bullied you while I was away?" The monster kindly inquired of its little wife in its embrace.
Rather than holding Jiang Yan, it felt more like he was cradled in those gigantic hands resembling withered branches.
He couldn't tell what kind of medicine the monster had given him, but it seemed effective; Jiang Yan had lost most of his urge to cough, even though each breath still carried a strong metallic taste of blood.
Unsure whether it was the effect of the medication, Jiang Yan found himself drowsy as he listened to the monster murmur comforting words akin to those used to soothe a child.
"Yan Yan?" The monster noticed that the pale little figure in its arms had fallen into a doze.
The monster stopped its rocking motion, and the paper-masked head rotated several times on its neck.
Once it confirmed that the person in its arms was breathing steadily, the stiff mouth on the paper mask suddenly curled upward, as if an unintended stroke had been added by an unseen hand.
"Yan Yan, we're going to take a bath."
---
Jiang Yan was awakened by a series of screams.
As he opened his eyes, the bright fluorescent lights in the hospital corridor made him want to cry. He realized he was being held by something as it moved forward, and the entity holding him seemed particularly cheerful, even humming a soft tune.
The gentle, lively singing echoed through the empty hospital corridor, mixed with screams coming from an unknown patient room:
“Let me go! I’m not crazy! You’re the crazy ones!”
“Crazy! You’re all insane!”
“Administer the sedative!”
“No! Let me go! You can’t—!”
“You are ill, sir; you need help.”
“No! I’m not sick! You… you bunch of devils possessed by Satan… you…”
“…”
“The situation in Room 23 has been dealt with.”
Jiang Yan drowsily listened, and when he fully opened his eyes, he saw the glaring lights and the even paler face of a paper figure under the lights, its mouth painted with an upward curve.
With a “crack,” the paper figure turned its neck, cautiously filled with joy: “You’re awake, Yan Yan?”
Jiang Yan tried to locate the source of the voice, but the monster in front of him was simply too tall. Its pitch-black body, akin to oil, almost filled the entire corridor. All Jiang Yan could see while being cradled in its arms was its black body and the disharmonious paper mask hanging around its neck.
As he was required to participate in the main storyline, Jiang Yan paid more attention to the movements within the instance than before.
He scrutinized the paper mask, but there was no color to assess; however, the incorrectly drawn mouth proved it was in a good mood.
Jiang Yan tugged at the entity's black robe and cautiously asked, “What… are they doing?”
“They’re treating,” the monster said without hesitation. “They’re ill, just like you. You all need treatment.”
Jiang Yan fell silent. He looked at the indescribable shape of the monster before him, pondering who might be the sicker of the two!
At the moment, this monster seemed to have no intention of killing him, perhaps because he was its “wife.” But…
Did Jiang Yan want to know if it knew he was dead?
If it didn’t know, would accidentally revealing the truth of its death trigger its murderous intent?
If it did know, how had it died?
Typically, the appearance of a ghost after death reflects the final moment before death or the moment of decay.
It usually involves blood and flesh, appearing terrifying and disgusting.
But this monster was different; it looked nothing like a human and wore a paper mask.
Jiang Yan tugged at the monster's black robe, curious about what its body looked like beneath the robe, how it could be as cold and hard as cement yet smooth and pliable like oil, capable of changing shape at will.
Could this really be a ghost?
Jiang Yan felt doubtful.
“663,” he whispered, “Was this person’s husband human when he was alive?”
663 responded, “According to the instance content provided by the main system, he was indeed human; otherwise, how could he have married you?”
“How did he die?” Jiang Yan asked.
“The system instance does not mention it; you will likely need to discover it yourself,” 663 replied.
Discover?
He was not interested in such explorations; years of watching horror films told him that the more curious someone was, the quicker they would meet their end.
Just then, another scream came from behind the monster:
“Ah! You… you will suffer retribution!”
“Don’t you fear retribution?!”
The voice belonged to an elderly man, who shouted in anguish and accusation, his cries echoing alongside the monster’s singing throughout the corridor.
Yet, the other patient rooms remained eerily silent, as if no one heard the old man’s desperate screams.
The louder he shouted, the more cheerful the monster’s song became, as if its mood was improving along with it.
Jiang Yan felt a chill run down his spine as he listened to the old man’s heartbreaking struggles and shouts.
Ironically, he was currently without clothes, and the monster before him was the only thing providing him with any warmth.
The old man’s voice gradually grew hoarse, releasing a desperate yet unyielding roar:
“God will punish you… God… will punish… you for your transgressions…”
“Room 56 has been dealt with.”
In an S-level instance, the main system does not provide information about the survival of players and NPCs, nor about escape situations.
Jiang Yan silently closed his eyes, not daring to ponder how these people had been dealt with, nor whether the ones being dealt with were merely NPCs or fellow players who had entered with him.
Just then, the hospital's announcement system rang out again, the voice echoing down the corridor, more eerie than in the patient rooms:
“Attention, all patients! Please remember that you are ill. Always keep in mind your illness and its causes, especially for psychiatric patients.”
“Patients from other departments should not engage in conversation with psychiatric patients to avoid infection.”
“The hospital will serve dinner starting at 7 PM. The cafeteria is located at the entrance of the fire escape on the right side of the main hospital building.”
“Please note! It is the entrance to the fire escape on the right side of the first floor! If you see the cafeteria sign at any other time or place, please ignore it.”
“…”
Jiang Yan focused on recording the broadcast’s rules and details on his control panel. As the broadcast came to an end, the monster's footsteps stopped as well.
Jiang Yan realized the monster had brought him to a room at the end of the corridor.
“Yan Yan, it’s time for us to take a bath.”
---
“Are you sure you saw it was him?”
In a rundown hospital room, three men gathered by the windowsill. At that moment, a handsome man leaning against the windowsill and smoking spoke up: “Are you sure you didn’t mistake it?”
“No, I can’t possibly be wrong about those eyes.” The man standing next to him wore golden-rimmed glasses, and his refined demeanor made it clear he was not an ordinary person.
“Indeed, blue eyes.” The smoking man nodded.
“I remember that mixed-race people rarely have blue eyes.” Another man said, his buzz cut and wheat-colored skin making him look much more robust than the other two.
Yet, it was this seemingly strongest man who currently had an IV drip hanging from his hand.
“He’s not mixed-race.” The smoking man replied. “According to the information from the guild, Jiang Yan inherited a retinal pigment deficiency from his grandmother.”
“However, unlike his grandmother, whose eye color was light red, he has blue eyes.”
[Impressive! They can even track down genetic diseases from his ancestors.]
[A major guild investigating the life of an ordinary person isn’t difficult, right? Don’t forget how many big shots exist in the guild.]
[It seems that the big boss Tao Shi is indeed interested in Jiang Yan.]
[It must be related to a guild mission, right? Frankly speaking, that Jiang Yan really is just lucky; he’s not worth the big boss bringing him into the guild. He’s less valuable than a corpse driver.]
[Fun fact: there’s already a corpse driver here, and he’s also in this instance. I just saw him.]
“Let’s chat with him during dinner tonight and ask him about his key clues.” Tao Shi took a puff of smoke, white rings wafting from his mouth.
“By the way… Boss, won’t it be dangerous for the three of us to stay in one hospital room?” the buzz cut asked nervously.
“What’s there to be afraid of?” Tao Shi lifted his gaze and smiled. “In this kind of rule-based instance, we have to follow its regulations. It said a whole bunch of things; did it mention we can’t all stay in the same room?”
Compared to the two tense men beside him, he appeared calm and carefree.
After all, he was already an S-class veteran player in the game, and this level of S-class instance wasn’t enough to make him overly nervous.
[The boss really is impressive!]
[Though that’s the reasoning, I doubt many would dare to test it.]
[In this game, having too little courage leads to… death, while having too much also means you can’t survive.]
[So, you need to know when to be bold and when to be cautious.]
“I really want to meet this Jiang Yan now.” Tao Shi’s eyes crinkled with a smile, and he looked nothing like someone trapped in a horror instance.
Instead, he resembled a high school student sneaking a smoke with friends on the rooftop during a ten-minute break.
The man with the golden-rimmed glasses frowned slightly, clearly not understanding where the curiosity about Jiang Yan came from.
“I think he seems pretty ordinary,” the man with glasses said. “You could say he’s relatively good-looking, but that’s thanks to those eyes.”
“Ordinary?”
Tao Shi chuckled, extinguishing his cigarette against the wall, the mottled surface making a hissing sound as a wisp of white smoke rose.
“The first real ‘Judgmenter,’ the first person to survive without completing a personal mission—he’s far from ordinary.”
“But isn’t it said it was due to a main system bug?” the buzz cut responded, confused.
Tao Shi’s expression darkened: “Main system bug? Do you know how this game came to be?”
Both the buzz cut and the man with glasses were momentarily stunned. The man with glasses was a newcomer, knowing very little about the game's origins.
And although the buzz cut was already considered an old player, he also had no clue about the game’s origins.
He hadn’t even thought about where the game came from; it seemed to have inexplicably appeared on various paranormal forums one day, becoming an urban legend.
Tao Shi’s long eyelashes fluttered: “Only players with scores under ten thousand would believe in such nonsense as a main system bug.”
“However, that makes it even more interesting, doesn’t it?”
Just then, the door to the room swung open, and a pale, frail man with bandages wrapped around his arms and neck walked in.
“What did you find out?” Tao Shi asked, still smoking.
The heavily bandaged man wore a solemn expression: “Two people just died, one of whom was a player.”
“What was his name?”
“Zheng Tu. But…”
“But what?”
The bandaged man frowned deeply, his pale face conveying a sense of oppression: “According to the information I have, he was a player from eighty years ago.”
“How many years??”
**
The sunset streamed through the lattice window, illuminating the room filled with various stuffed toys.
The toys were new and old, with one commonality—they were all monkeys.
There were cloth, semi-silicone, clay, movable, and immovable types—everything imaginable.
In the corner of the room stood a bed piled high with monkey toys, and in the corner of the bed, a half-worn little monkey stiffly struck a drum with its drumstick, the drum long forgotten.
Next to the window was a bathroom; the door wasn’t fully closed, and white steam seeped through the gap.
Along with the steam came the voice of a boy resisting: “No… don’t… get out!”
“Listen to me, Yan Yan!” The monster's voice was tinged with helplessness.
“You… get out...!”
“Bang!”
A black mass was pushed out from the door, its huge black body blocking the sunlight from outside.
It twisted its neck with a “crack-crack,” and the expression on its paper mask instantly changed. Its green eyes seemed to be painted poorly, curving upward, and its mouth turned up as well.
The entire mask looked like a child’s haphazard drawing, which was chilling.
However, the black tentacles beneath it swayed gently, resembling oil, indicating that it was in a good mood, likely smiling.
“Yan Yan’s temper is getting worse and worse,” the monster said helplessly.
Its tone sounded like a husband complaining about his wife’s little tempers in a spoiled manner.
In the bathroom, Jiang Yan curled up in a bathtub filled with hot water, exhaling deeply.
He felt as if he had come back to life.
“You’re too bold.” 663 said, sounding a bit fearful. “Aren’t you afraid it will swallow you whole? Someone like you could easily be eaten in one bite.”
“Afraid? Of course I am,” Jiang Yan said, pouring water over himself.
“Then why are you so arrogant?” 663 asked.
Jiang Yan was silent for a moment before smiling lightly: “663, have you ever been married?”
663: “... No.”
Jiang Yan wore an expression of “I knew it”: “I’m its wife now; a little quarrel between us is just fun.”
“You haven’t been married, so you wouldn’t understand.”
663 chose to remain silent.
After enjoying a hot bath, Jiang Yan felt as if he had been reborn.
There were no pajamas or bathrobes in the hospital, only hospital gowns, but the monster’s gown was much cleaner than the one in his hospital room!
Though it was a bit too large, it likely belonged to the monster when it was alive.
As Jiang Yan stepped out of the bathroom, he was startled by the countless monkey toys in front of him. Although the impact was not as strong as when he first entered, seeing so many monkey toys still startled him.
Monkeys and toys are both strange; sometimes they resemble humans extremely well—facial features, expressions, movements.
But they could never be human!
This is why many find monkeys or toys terrifying: a creature that looks so much like their own kind but isn’t one of them causes an instinctive rejection ingrained in their genes.
When monkeys and toys are combined, this fear is amplified to the maximum.
The room was filled with these eerie monkey toys, making it hard for any normal person not to feel scared.
Fortunately, Jiang Yan had a high tolerance for horror; after being startled, he quickly accepted their presence.
“Yan Yan, are you done with your bath?” The monster’s voice came from the bed nearby.
As Jiang Yan turned around, he saw the monster sprawled on the bed like a pool of black oil, its black robe seemingly merging with its body. The enormous black figure became shapeless, constantly bubbling due to its mood.
The eerily childlike paper mask turned on its neck, which had completely merged into its body, making “crack-crack” sounds.
What he saw was a hundred times more bizarre than the room full of monkey toys.
“Come here, Yan Yan!” it excitedly waved its tentacles.
Jiang Yan suddenly felt a bad premonition rising in his heart.
663, somewhat gloating, said, “Aren’t you married? You’re its wife; what do you think it wants to do now?”
“What does it want to do?” Jiang Yan’s voice sounded a bit shaky.
“You.” 663 replied succinctly.
“Yan Yan, come here!” Seeing his little wife not moving, the monster urged.
Jiang Yan instinctively took a step back.
But in that instant, the monster’s black tentacles wrapped around his waist.
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