Jiang Yan was tightly wrapped in the monster's embrace. The small hospital room became even more cramped with the monster’s entrance.
The smell of disinfectant mixed with an unknown rotting stench filled the air. Black tentacles waved angrily, and the last trace of sunlight outside disappeared into the horizon.
Ding Wanyu quickly put on the plague doctor's black raven mask—
[Item—Black Raven Mask]
[Function: Can resist all diseases, and grants absolute control over patients and the deceased.]
With the Black Raven Mask and his summoning banner, it had to be said that Ding Wanyu's mobility in this instance was far superior, even compared to Tao Shi.
Although the monster strangled his neck and lifted him up, Ding Wanyu still tried to rebuke it in a stern tone, "This is not your room. Please leave and don't disturb other patients!"
In theory, the son of the deceased hospital director should have been intimidated by the "doctor" wearing the Black Raven Mask, instinctively obeying his orders.
Even if the monster's mental strength was stronger than Ding Wanyu’s, under the suppression of the Black Raven Mask and the summoning banner, it should have at least shown some fear.
However, the monster was completely indifferent!
It tightened its grip on Li Yun's neck and asked in a probing tone, "Is it you?"
Li Yun, whose neck was now constricted by the monster, panicked instantly. The monster's slippery tentacles were choking him, making it hard for him to breathe. Already weakened by the game’s effects, he felt even worse now, losing all previous grace and composure.
"Ugh... cough..." Blood spurted from Li Yun’s mouth as he coughed violently.
He was infected with tuberculosis!
Seeing this, the trio of Tao Shi, now dangling from the ceiling, finally showed signs of panic.
Something was wrong!
In S-level game scripts, the boss is never revealed so early, but based on their experience, this director’s son should not be the boss of this instance!
Ding Wanyu's Black Raven Mask was supposed to be an all-purpose tool for this game!
How could it not work against this monster?!
[What the heck? Is this NPC that strong? Ding Wanyu’s Black Raven Mask and summoning banner couldn’t suppress him?!]
[It's understandable—no one likes seeing their wife stolen!]
[Ding Wanyu’s still too inexperienced! He might need more polishing before breaking into the top ten NPCs.]
[If Ding Wanyu’s tools are useless, and Li Yun’s a newbie, will we finally see Tao Shi’s legendary items?!]
[I’ve never seen Tao Shi’s equipment in action!]
When they saw that Ding Wanyu's Black Raven Mask was useless against the monster, the bandaged youth glanced at their leader, who was also hanging in mid-air.
Tao Shi, swaying from the ceiling by his neck, frowned and shook his head slightly when he met his comrade’s gaze. His eyes shifted to Jiang Yan, who seemed on the verge of being devoured by the monster.
Jiang Yan, barely managing to struggle free from the monster’s cotton-like body, said hurriedly, "We were just joking."
He quickly held the monster’s head, which was wearing a paper mask. Noticing how the crude and strange facial features twisted in anger, Jiang Yan hesitated for a second before blurting out, "I... I am your wife."
"You are my wife." The monster's scribbled facial features instantly changed. Its eyes and mouth turned upward in a smile.
Jiang Yan’s words had clearly pleased it.
The tentacles that had been restraining the others loosened, and with a loud thud, they fell to the ground.
Li Yun lay on the floor, clutching his chest as he coughed up more blood.
Jiang Yan looked at Li Yun, who was lying there, blood all over his chest, barely hanging on. Just as he was about to say something, the monster scooped him up with its tentacles, pressing its cold paper mask against Jiang Yan’s face.
The monster repeated, satisfied, "You are my wife."
Then, as if showing off, it lifted Jiang Yan high into the air, displaying him to the others.
Afterward, the monster swiftly withdrew its tentacles, wrapping Jiang Yan in its pitch-black body.
"Dinner time is over; now it’s time for Yan Yan to take his medicine."
With that, the monster proudly carried its "wife" away, leaving behind the five shocked people and the forum filled with dumbfounded players.
Watching the monster’s retreating figure, Tao Shi chuckled, "At this point, 'items' seem irrelevant."
Ding Wanyu quickly rushed forward to help the half-dead Li Yun, putting away his Black Raven Mask. "It’s my fault for being too weak."
"No, that NPC’s strength is just off the charts," said the bandaged youth beside him.
He took out a card from his pocket, and the card floated in the air, emitting a blue glow. A yellow data screen appeared in front of everyone—
[Item—Data Concealment Card]
[Function: Can display and collect data on any person or object within the holder's line of sight.]
The youth spoke slowly, "Your mental power is currently at 1200. In a typical S-level game, the mental power of regular ghost NPCs ranges from 1000 to 3000, while boss-level NPCs have mental power between 5000 and 10000. But just now, that NPC..."
"The 'Data Concealment Card' couldn’t capture his stats."
[What the heck?! What kind of monster is this?!]
[The Black Raven Mask didn’t work, the Data Concealment Card couldn’t detect anything—what is this thing???]
[Did the main system bug out again?]
[A bug in the game is one thing, but if the items bug out and you die because of it, who’s responsible?!]
"What’s Jiang Yan’s current mental power?" Tao Shi asked, rubbing his sore neck.
The bandaged youth hesitated for a moment. "Uh... 50."
"...What?" Tao Shi’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"50." The bandaged youth’s face darkened. "Let’s just hope... he survives the first night."
Tao Shi rubbed his neck and looked at the broken door the monster had left through. "What are you worried about? Our mental power and items mean nothing to his ‘husband’."
---
Jiang Yan was carried back to the room where he had bathed before dinner, slowly held in the monster's embrace.
It was time for activities in the Infectious Disease and Psychiatric wards. Along the way, Jiang Yan saw people using the wall as a mirror, someone coughing up blood while holding onto the stairs, and another lying in the hallway covered in black pustules, screaming loudly.
Some were laughing, some crying, others were numb and awaiting death. They all gathered in the dim and peeling hallway.
A person sitting in the hallway, constantly scratching at their black pustule-covered arm, reached out to the clean-looking Jiang Yan the moment they saw him.
There was a crazed look on their face, as if they wanted to turn this clean, fair boy into someone like themselves. But in the next instant, a black tentacle whipped them away!
Jiang Yan buried his face in the monster's chest, understanding that if he were to be touched, death would be inevitable.
However, what he couldn't understand was how, just earlier during dinner, the patients had appeared fine. Though they seemed mentally unstable, none of their symptoms were so severe on the surface.
Why were the people in the hallway now so critically ill?
At that moment, Jiang Yan felt a wave of tightness in his chest. The familiar sensation of coughing up blood rose again.
"Cough..."
Jiang Yan let out a light cough, and the monster immediately panicked. "Yan Yan needs to take medicine!"
It quickly quickened its pace.
Back in the room filled with monkey plushies, the monster carefully laid Jiang Yan on the bed.
Its black tentacles swiftly retrieved a white pill bottle from under a monkey plush by the bedside, while another tentacle expertly poured water into a cup.
Within seconds, the medicine and water were at Jiang Yan's lips.
Jiang Yan's breathing had already started to become labored, so he quickly swallowed the medicine with the water and collapsed onto the soft bed.
The monster gently used its tentacle to pat his back and massage his chest, saying tenderly, "Yan Yan must remember to take medicine on time."
On time.
Jiang Yan thought of something and asked 663, "So, based on what we've seen, this dungeon doesn't allow us to break the hospital's rules, right?"
"That's correct," 663 replied.
"The hospital rules state that patients in the Infectious Disease and Psychiatric wards must take medicine at 8 AM and 8 PM," Jiang Yan said. "But this afternoon, when I was coughing up blood, this monster gave me medicine."
Nothing happened. He hadn't followed the hospital's rules, yet he wasn't punished.
Could it be because the medicine this afternoon was given by the monster, so it didn't count as him breaking the rules?
If NPCs could break the rules, then why were the two people who died in front of his room, and the one who kept repeating '69' after dinner, punished?
Could they have been players?
As Jiang Yan lay in bed, closing his eyes to reflect on the day's events, he noticed the tentacles massaging his back and chest were becoming restless.
He grabbed the tentacle that was trying to sneak into his collar and opened his eyes, staring at the two curved slits on the monster's paper mask. Being a married man, Jiang Yan naturally knew what the monster was trying to do.
He immediately rejected it, saying, "I'm not feeling well. I want to sleep."
The monster was about to say something when the hospital announcement interrupted: "It is now time for the Infectious Disease and Psychiatric ward patients to exercise. Exercise can speed up recovery. Patients, please go to the hallway for activities, or face the consequences!"
Group exercises for Infectious Disease patients?
A bunch of plague patients and tuberculosis patients mixed with psychiatric patients doing activities together—how would that help them recover?
It seemed more like they were trying to make them die faster!
-
Jiang Yan finally understood why this was a survival game dungeon. Lasting seven days here would be no easy task.
"Does Yan Yan want to go out and play?"
"No," Jiang Yan refused without hesitation.
He remembered during dinner, the hospital announcement had made the monster leave him alone.
Now, would the monster leave again, like it did before dinner?
Jiang Yan thought back. When the monster left after hearing the afternoon announcement, it had seemed bound by the hospital's rules.
Yet it had also given him medicine outside of the prescribed time, and neither of them had been punished.
What was this? A contradiction in the main system?
"Then we won't go out. Yan Yan, get some rest," the black tentacle gently patted Jiang Yan's back.
Jiang Yan was a bit surprised. "Is it really okay? I'm not going out."
"If Yan Yan doesn't want to go, there's no need to." The monster spoke as it pressed its paper mask face against Jiang Yan's.
"Yan Yan should sleep."
Jiang Yan hesitated and glanced at the door. After waiting for a while, there were no knocks, no sudden nurses or doctors barging in—nothing happened.
Seeing this, he finally closed his eyes slowly, just as the monster had suggested.
As he did, Jiang Yan realized that tonight would not be a peaceful night.
He thought of Ding Wanyu's black raven mask. With that mask and the soul-summoning, Ding Wanyu had an unmatched advantage in this dungeon.
Jiang Yan also thought of the "item" he'd just obtained before entering the dungeon. He couldn't understand why everyone else's items seemed so useful, while his seemed utterly incomprehensible in terms of function or purpose.
Each player's item was supposed to reflect their unique characteristics. Ding Wanyu was playing the role of a corpse driver, so his items made sense.
Jiang Yan figured his strange, seemingly useless item must be because he had been so clueless when he stumbled into the game.
As Jiang Yan's breathing evened out, the monster wrapped its soft, cotton-like body around him.
At this point, Jiang Yan wasn't lying on the bed but instead completely enveloped by the monster's body.
"Good night, my wife."
"Good night."
Meanwhile, in Jiang Yan's inventory, the card he'd ignored still lay quietly—
[Item: "Zhang San" Card]
[Function: The cardholder is a fugitive with the silent approval of the gods.]
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