The cafeteria, shrouded in dim, flickering lights, still carried a faint smell of blood. The hoarse and somewhat off-key music, the system NPCs awkwardly twisting their bodies, and the players standing at the tables with forced smiles...
"Does the dungeon storyline explain that the medical staff is mentally ill too?" Jiang Yan looked expressionlessly at the scene before him, not willing to take another step forward.
How come everyone here looks mentally unstable?
What should he do now? Should he dance with these people? That would make him look mentally unstable too.
At that moment, Jiang Yan noticed the "Mental State Abnormal" label on his character card.
Ah... Could it be that everything in front of him is a hallucination caused by his "mental instability"?
Jiang Yan put on a stern face, feeling a little indecisive for a moment. He couldn’t quite understand what this bizarre and somewhat comical scene was trying to do.
Is this the legendary S-rank dungeon? The test for real NPCs seems a bit too much.
"Haha..." The laugh from 663 was dry. "Maybe it's just the way the medical staff express their welcome and affection. After all, your character card shows that you're a wife of the director's son in this hospital."
"Welcome and affection?" Jiang Yan's eyebrows twitched slightly.
He noticed the tools that Ding Wanyu and Cang Rou hadn't put away yet — a soul summoning banner and a chainsaw.
With this strange music and the twisted movements of the medical staff, there was nothing "welcoming" about it. It seemed more like they were holding a funeral for him instead!
At that moment, the players standing at the table were observing the pale and frail young man at the entrance of the cafeteria, each with their own thoughts.
"So this is Jiang Yan?" Cao Youfeng tugged at the bandages on his body. "He looks a bit better than in the photos."
"Pretty pale," Jiang Xiu remarked.
As for whether he was pretty? Sure, he was. But there were many good-looking players in the game world! Even Cao Youfeng, beside them, was meticulously good-looking, though you couldn’t tell since he was wrapped in bandages and looked a bit dirty.
Jiang Yan's appearance wasn’t the most striking one, and in fact, his delicate features could be considered a bit bland.
But he was very pale, and paired with those blue eyes, the entire person had an almost unreal, delicate aura.
However... Jiang Xiu thought as he looked at the cafeteria, watching the pale Jiang Yan standing in the doorway as though surrounded by a faint glow. If Jiang Yan were only receiving the main system’s favor due to his striking looks, that would be absurd.
Because Jiang Yan hadn't moved from the doorway, the music in the broadcast also stopped, and the medical staff continued their strange and comical dance.
This was quite the spectacle, Jiang Xiu thought.
In general, the roles of real NPCs were usually hidden among the system NPCs, not too important and not too noticeable. Tao Shi kindly explained this to Li Yun beside him.
After all, being outstanding is something only “players” should experience; the more “outstanding” one is, the higher their score. Normally, when a dungeon's score is calculated, the player's total score is twice that of the real NPCs.
In lower-level dungeons, real NPCs might be a little more active. However, in higher-level dungeons, real NPCs would usually do everything they could to minimize their presence.
After all, whether the players could survive in the game depended on their own abilities, and they could use their items to backstab the BOSS. There had even been cases where players had crushed the dungeon earlier than expected.
But real NPCs were under the jurisdiction of the main system, and once they broke their character design, the only outcome was to be "polluted" and turned into system NPCs.
In high-level dungeons, many of the players were elite figures in the game, so actions like breaking the dungeon or provoking the BOSS were quite common.
It was also routine for players to press real NPCs, trying to pry out the "dungeon script" from them.
This was why real NPCs worked hard to reduce their presence.
In high-level dungeons, the main system usually didn’t assign real NPCs particularly flashy character designs, because real NPCs were "human." They were more useful as system NPCs, which were easier to manage and didn’t need special attention.
So, the character design Jiang Yan received—was truly abnormal!
"I've never seen anyone get such a high-profile character design in an S-rank dungeon," Tao Shi said with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
He turned to Li Yun, who had a complicated expression, and said with interest, "You've been in a relationship with him. Didn't you think he was special in any way?"
"No." Li Yun couldn’t put his feelings into words.
To him, Jiang Yan was just someone with an average education, limited abilities, and even poor self-care skills. There was really nothing special about him.
"Did you read the record of the dungeon 'Sheep's Forest'?" Tao Shi asked softly.
"I did," Li Yun replied indifferently.
After reading it, he only thought that Jiang Yan was just lucky. He remembered that the system had malfunctioned once during that time.
Jiang Yan had just played the role of a "pet," and he didn’t think there was anything particularly special about him... Wait!
"You say that... He does seem a little..." Li Yun looked at Tao Shi, hesitating.
Tao Shi's eyes brightened, and he became more energetic: "Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, there isn’t much special about him, but his behavior in that dungeon was a little different," Li Yun explained in a low voice.
"What was different?" Tao Shi asked.
"He..." Li Yun’s gaze shifted toward Jiang Yan, standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, expressionless, like a porcelain doll. "He’s always been a very cold person."
"In 'Sheep's Forest,' he seemed a bit arrogant and timid, but during the time I spent with him, I felt like he... was someone without any internal emotions," Li Yun frowned.
"Oh? How so?" Tao Shi asked, curious.
Li Yun’s eyes flickered slightly.
Yes, he had been in a relationship with Jiang Yan for a few months. At first, Jiang Yan seemed like a quiet, well-behaved person who didn’t talk much.
This was also why he chose to date Jiang Yan back then—he was quiet and easy-going, with no career ambitions or complex thoughts.
But after spending more time with him, he realized that the person in front of him, rather than being simply quiet and well-behaved, was more...
"He doesn’t have the internal emotions a normal person should have," Li Yun said in a low voice. "Fear, anxiety, sadness, or the attachment one should have in intimate relationships... It seems like he doesn’t have any of that."
Tao Shi stroked his chin, unconcerned, "Isn’t it possible that he just wasn’t interested in you? Maybe that’s why he seemed so distant?"
"No," Li Yun adjusted his glasses, their lenses reflecting light, making it hard to see the expression in his eyes. "It’s not just how I feel about him, it’s how everyone around him sees him, even his parents."
That’s right, he didn’t have many internal emotions.
When he was in a relationship with Jiang Yan, Jiang Yan’s parents had specifically talked to him.
He still remembered clearly, the middle-aged couple, dressed neatly and with friendly faces, who spoke to him about their son, Jiang Yan, with both love and helplessness in their eyes:
"Yan Yan is different from others..."
So, when he saw Jiang Yan acting like a kitten in front of the hunters in Lamb's Forest, he was very surprised.
"The exchange is the human obsession. Someone without internal emotions can't get in," Tao Shi said.
Turning his head, he looked at Jiang Yan, standing at the entrance of the cafeteria with a neutral expression, looking as beautiful as a porcelain doll. He slightly curled his lips.
If the fool with the glasses, who thought of himself as a "successful person," wasn’t lying, then Jiang Yan was really interesting.
"Maybe he's just faking it," Li Yun adjusted his glasses. "From the last dungeon, it's clear that he’s extremely lazy and lacks ambition. Maybe in the last dungeon... it was just luck."
[Sheep's Forest performance by Jiang Yan... Aside from luck, I can’t think of any other reasons.]
[Upvote! Can’t be that he’s really the illegitimate child of the main god, right?]
[Don’t know why this person gets so much attention. No real skills, yet so many people are chasing after him.]
[He’s alright looking, but does this really set him apart? Has everyone’s standards dropped this much?]
[So what if people want to pay attention? The big shots are all talking about him! Aren’t they more discerning than you?]
[Exactly! Stop saying others are ugly! Take a look at yourself!]
[Is this a survival horror game, or an idol selection show? When did we start bringing in faces?]
Jiang Yan had been standing at the entrance of the cafeteria for a while. The head nurse, leading the staff in their dance, had her smile freeze, but Jiang Yan finally took a step forward.
For a moment, the atmosphere became tense.
[Why isn’t he reacting? Is he trying to get himself killed?]
[Probably lacks experience in an S-level dungeon. He’s always been in low-tier dungeons before.]
[Damn it! Just give a reaction! Does he think if he doesn’t respond, he won’t die?]
[It's over!]
Seeing this scene, Li Yun, who was standing beside the table, whispered to Tao Shi, "Look, he doesn’t even know how to react. According to the game rules, when an NPC is triggered, if they don’t respond within one minute, they’ll be polluted."
Tao Shi remained silent.
Li Yun couldn’t hide his disdain: "People like him would be eliminated in a normal society, let alone in a terrifying game like this."
"We’ve received information about Jiang Yan from our guild," Tao Shi glanced at Jiang Yan standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, indifferent. "All we can say is he’s just an ordinary person with good luck."
"Ordinary people are just fuel for the world factory. Jiang Yan doesn’t work; he lives off the assets his parents left him. Shouldn’t people like this be eliminated?" Li Yun’s voice was low, almost as if it was a matter of course.
Upon hearing this, Tao Shi’s gaze darkened slightly. He turned to look at Li Yun and smiled softly: "Mr. Li, you truly are someone who earns a lot of money."
Li Yun’s eyes moved away from Jiang Yan. His tone was cold, with a trace of schadenfreude: "Flattery. He should be getting polluted by the system any second now."
On the main system interface, a countdown appeared for the NPC trigger—last ten seconds.
[Dungeon: Jianshe Road Private Hospital]
[Real NPC Jiang Yan trigger countdown: Ten, nine...]
"Alright! After all that discussion about Jiang Yan, he’s going to be polluted right at the start," Cao Youfeng tugged at his neck in disappointment and shifted his gaze away from Jiang Yan.
What a disappointment! The guild had invested so much effort into this person.
He thought Jiang Yan was really "special," after all, the replay rate for Sheep's Forest had reached the top three in the game.
"Jian" was never a game that believed in luck, but it seemed like Jiang Yan really was just lucky... or was he?
"Hm?? What’s that?" Cao Youfeng pointed toward the entrance of the cafeteria.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to the direction he pointed at.
There, in the dim and empty hallway behind Jiang Yan, something black, like oil, seemed to be bubbling.
[Real NPC Jiang Yan trigger countdown: Three, two…]
In a critical moment, a black tentacle wrapped around Jiang Yan's waist. "Yan Yan, why are you standing at the door?"
The countdown from the main system abruptly stopped.
The sudden change left everyone staring in disbelief!
[I... What the heck!]
[How is he still alive? Is this some kind of weird coincidence?]
[It must be a coincidence.]
Li Yun, who had been looking at Jiang Yan with disdain from the table, was now dumbfounded.
How could this be?! He should have been "polluted" for failing to respond to the game!
He... he’s fine!
Tao Shi, standing beside him, chuckled twice, then patted Li Yun’s shoulder: "Mr. Li, if a person has such luck in an S-level dungeon, that’s true strength."
Li Yun gritted his teeth in dissatisfaction.
Strength? What’s so strong about luck? In this kind of horror game, how could anyone survive with just luck?
The black tentacle around Jiang Yan’s waist pulled him into the darkness outside the cafeteria.
Next, he pressed him against the doorframe of the cafeteria and entered him.
He twisted his head 360 degrees on his neck, and everyone heard several sharp "cracking" sounds. Then they watched in disbelief as a grown man slithered in through the window like a snake.
They could see his bones being crushed, unable to fully support his body to maintain a "human" shape.
He clung to the cafeteria wall like a huge human-shaped gecko, his head, with the paper mask, rotating 360 degrees on his neck.
Meanwhile, the pale, beautiful young man, who had been standing motionless at the door, was slowly being "devoured" by the creature, with only his upper body remaining outside, still in the creature's oily, viscous form.
"This... what is this thing?" The players couldn’t help but gasp as they looked at the scene.
Jiang Yan seemed to have merged with the monster in front of him. With his face showing no major expressions, and his eyes barely blinking, he appeared as though he was half-dead, eaten by the creature. His visible upper body seemed like leftovers the creature had carried along.
"Is... is he already dead?" Li Yun asked in shock, staring at Jiang Yan, whose lower body was swallowed by the monster.
"Once a real NPC is polluted, the main system broadcasts it," Tao Shi said, his eyes darkening as he watched Jiang Yan. A deeper smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"This game hasn't had anyone so interesting in a long time," Tao Shi said with narrowed eyes and a smile.
The music in the cafeteria suddenly stopped, and the nurse director, with a stiff, eerie smile, turned to the players standing at the table: "This is the son of our director and his wife. They will dine with everyone every day."
It was clear who was the director's son and who was his "wife."
The players looked at Jiang Yan, whose half body was still hanging outside the monster’s form, their feelings mixed. They weren’t sure whether to feel envious or sorry for him.
If they felt sorry, it was because Jiang Yan's role seemed much easier than theirs.
At least it seemed easier than Ding Wanyu’s and Cang Rou’s roles, one dealing with collecting bodies and the other dividing them.
However, staying so close to the Boss all the time, if his persona were to collapse midway, it would make it much easier for the Boss to swallow him up without even giving him a chance to resist.
Although, so far, no real NPC has ever survived after failing a task and being devoured by the Boss.
But now, there was one survivor.
And this "one" wasn’t just anyone—it was the real NPC from the last failed mission in Sheep's Forest—Jiang Yan.
At this moment, Jiang Yan, whose half-body was still hanging outside the creature’s body, suddenly spoke: “Can we start eating now?”
His voice was cold, with a hint of impatience, as if he were dissatisfied with the farce his husband had created.
[Is he really acting this cool... or is it for real]
[It can't be an act, right? Who would pretend to be like this in a Boss's embrace?]
[Does Jiang Yan have this kind of acting skill? Even the top real NPC on the leaderboard, the Sang Luan the Best Actor couldn’t perform like this while hanging on a Boss.]
Seeing this, Li Yun withdrew his previous surprise, lowered his eyelids, and spoke with a mixture of helplessness and disdain: “He’s still so willful.”
“Didn’t you say he was obedient?” Tao Shi glanced at him.
Li Yun hesitated, unable to answer.
The pitch-black monster, hearing its little "wheat," softly coaxed: “Our Yan Yan is getting impatient.”
Seeing this, the nurse director hurriedly said, “Everyone, please take your seats. It’s breakfast time.”
The players watched as the monster moved to the seat of the player who had just died, standing on either side, the others not daring to make a sound.
The nurses, very experienced, swiftly cleared away the frozen, stiff chairs, bringing in soft velvet red ones instead.
The creature extended its pitch-black tentacle, carefully lifting its "wife" out of its arms and gently placing her in the chair.
Then, the creature bent its snake-like neck. The eerie paper mask wobbled in front of Jiang Yan’s face, and it spoke in a tender, affectionate tone: “Enjoy your meal, my Yan Yan. Could I get a goodbye kiss?”
“No,” Jiang Yan rejected without hesitation.
The creature's graffiti-covered face visibly froze, and the players in the room collectively inhaled sharply.
"My dear host, don’t you think you're being a bit too arrogant?" the creature, now unable to hold back, reminded.
"I just wanted to test the effect of this item card," Jiang Yan casually responded. He was curious about that phrase in the item description, "may slightly break the rules." He wondered what "slightly" meant in this context.
However, the creature didn’t seem angry. It only sighed in disappointment: "I'll come to get you after breakfast."
With that, it leapt onto the wall like a giant humanoid scorpion, and with a speed that seemed unnatural for its massive body, it swiftly exited the cafeteria, disappearing from view.
Once it was gone, the players finally breathed a collective sigh of relief. A few staff members from the cafeteria emerged from behind the door, pushing food carts and beginning to serve breakfast to the "patients."
The breakfast consisted of boiled cabbage, a bowl of rice, and plain water.
Under the dim light, the food reeked of disinfectant, reminiscent of the harsh conditions in Italian prisoner-of-war camps. Two new players picked at their meals and murmured complaints under their breath.
The veteran players, however, ate without showing any emotion. Their ultimate goal was survival—just having food was a blessing. What mattered now was replenishing their energy.
After all, in this dungeon, they were real "patients."
If their stamina ran low, they could meet the same fate as the player who had died earlier—defeated not by the dungeon’s Boss or rules, but by a simple "disease." It was an inefficient way to go.
So, despite how awful the food was, they had no choice but to force it down.
Meanwhile, the nurse director placed a silver tray in front of Jiang Yan. She lifted the cover and, with a gentle and refined smile, said, "A serving of buttered chestnut toast, a bowl of creamy mushroom chicken soup, and a cup of hot milk—this is your breakfast for today."
"Thank you," Jiang Yan replied calmly.
"You're welcome. Please enjoy your meal." The nurse smiled and left, seemingly transformed into a kind restaurant server.
"Ah"
After the nurse left, all eyes in the room were on Jiang Yan.
He paused with his knife and fork, scanning the crowd. "Anyone else want some?" he asked.
The others immediately shook their heads. It was obvious that this breakfast was meant for Jiang Yan personally—or rather, for the monster's "wife." Who knew what would happen if they dared to touch it?
The group quickly lowered their heads and resumed swallowing their food, but the smell of the creamy mushroom soup lingering in the air made the bitter taste of the cabbage, tainted with disinfectant, even harder to swallow.
"This is the first time I've envied a real NPC in a dungeon," Cao Youfeng said, watching Jiang Yan take a bite of the toast with a tempting golden butter glaze, swallowing repeatedly.
"Don't look, pretend he doesn’t exist," Jiang Xiu muttered, forcing himself to numb his senses and not look.
[Though Jiang Yan's role seems dangerous in the dungeon, if I were a player, I'd be so jealous!]
[Why? The big shots are still eating cabbage!]
[This role isn't dangerous, right? He's just playing the BOSS's wife. I could do that too!]
[Does he always get these "VIP" roles?]
There was a buzz of chatter among the players as they continued to eat, trying to distract themselves. To shift focus, Li Yun attempted to chat with Tao Shi beside him.
"Well, breakfast is probably over now," he said, poking at the boiled cabbage on his plate. "We need to survive for seven days. One player has already died this morning, does that mean the elimination phase is done?"
Based on his years of experience watching all kinds of supernatural novels and movies, Li Yun speculated that in a "survival game," once one group was eliminated, there wouldn't be another round of "elimination" for a short while. Their mission was to "survive for seven days," so the difficulty should gradually increase over the next few days.
Typically, there wouldn't be widespread elimination on the first morning, as that would ruin the suspense and excitement of the game.
Just as Li Yun felt pleased with his analysis, Tao Shi, without lifting his head, responded: "Really? I feel like today's game has just begun."
Li Yun slightly raised an eyebrow, about to rebut, when a terrible scream came from Jiang Yan's direction.
Red blood splattered across a pristine white plate, and a black-and-white eyeball, surrounded by a network of red, vein-like blood vessels, rolled into the plate with a dull thud, staring directly at him.
【Player: Qiu Chang, eliminated.】
【Ding! Side quest triggered.】
A raspy children's rhyme echoed from the broadcast:
"The big rabbit is sick, the second rabbit checks, the third rabbit buys medicine, the fourth rabbit brews,
The fifth rabbit dies, the sixth rabbit carries, the seventh rabbit digs the grave, the eighth rabbit buries,
The ninth rabbit sits crying on the ground, the tenth rabbit asks, why does he cry?
The ninth rabbit says: 'The fifth rabbit never came back!'"
【Dungeon: "Jianshe Road Private Hospital"】
【Dungeon Progress: 20%】
【Game Rules: Survive for 7 days in the hospital】
【Total players: 14, Remaining survivors: 12】
【Real NPCs: 3, Unpolluted NPCs: 3】
【Side Quest 1: Find all the rabbits and uncover the murderer of the fifth rabbit】
【Side Quest 2: Find the dungeon BOSS】
The game forum erupted immediately:
[What's going on? Isn't Jiang Yan's husband the dungeon BOSS?]
[What the hell, players can control BOSS now?]
[Can we play it this way?!]
[There was a similar case before, an S-class dungeon. Didn't the number one player take on the BOSS role too?]
Tao Shi smiled as he watched the headless body beside Jiang Yan. He looked at the frozen, speechless Li Yun and said, "See? The game has just begun."
Jiang Yan stared at the eyeball in his plate for a moment before calmly taking a bite of the buttered toast that hadn't been stained by the blood.