The players stood there, staring blankly at Jiang Yan, who was surrounded by roses and thorns, momentarily forgetting the group of "gods" eyeing them.
"Roar—!"
The "gods" launched their attack while everyone was caught off guard.
"Not good!" Cao Yufeng shouted.
Some of the newer players were so terrified that they collapsed to the ground, watching as the "gods" were about to devour them, turning them into food for the gods.
However, just as the "gods" were about to reach them, they instantly transformed into withered rose petals, scattered by the wind.
One, two, three...
In the end, all the gods turned into countless withered petals, and the blood-red roses swirled through the air, seemingly about to swallow the entire hospital.
When the last petal disappeared into the black mist, the players finally snapped out of their daze.
Cao Yufeng stared at the data displayed on the "Number Concealment Card," his voice filled with disbelief. "S-rank?!"
In an instant, the game forum erupted.
[Did I hear that correctly?! What rank?]
[S-rank!! Cao Yufeng said it's S-rank!!!]
[Wait! Is there a mistake?! A real NPC with the worst stats across the board has an S-rank item?!]
[How is this possible?!]
[How could the Number Concealment card be wrong?! My God!!]
"This is impossible..." Li Yun climbed up from the ground, his face twisted in disbelief. "How could this happen?!"
Jiang Yan quietly put the item away, and the thorns and roses surrounding him quickly withered and disappeared.
The others also retrieved their items and gathered around.
Tao Shi crossed his arms, smiling with a hint of curiosity. "Where did you find such a good item?"
Jiang Yan adjusted the hem of his clothes. "I picked it up."
"You're really lucky," Tao Shi raised an eyebrow, offering a meaningful compliment.
[Is this the power of a bug? Other people's items come from NPC drops, but he just picks them up.]
[It must be from the "Sheep's Forest"!]
[So jealous... Why is it that every time he picks something up, it's an S-rank item?]
[Now it makes sense. Jiang Yan’s low stats in other areas are probably because he maxed out his luck stat.]
Just as Tao Shi was about to ask something else, a black tentacle shot out and wrapped around Jiang Yan’s waist, pulling him back into the massive, dark body.
Faced with the huge, pitch-black monster in front of them, the group instinctively took a few steps back.
"Today's entertainment time is over." The monster swallowed its wife, its tone carrying a faint hint of anger.
These guys had taken up too much of Jiang Yan's time and attention. He didn’t like it!
"Wish you all sweet dreams. Choose whether you want to be torn apart by the Creator God or become food for these scraps!"
With that, the black monster transformed into a cloud of black mist and disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
"Boss, what do we do now?" Cao Yufeng asked.
Tao Shi’s previously smiling expression instantly turned serious. "Let’s go back and rest. There shouldn’t be any more issues today."
"Go back? Just like this?" Li Yun pushed up the golden-rimmed glasses on his nose with a sharp look.
"What else would you suggest?" Tao Shi asked, a bit irritated. "Would you like to stay here and observe the spreading pattern of the black mist?"
Tao Shi knew that Li Yun harbored hostility toward Jiang Yan, as it was rare for anyone to not feel some animosity toward their ex. However, according to the guild's investigation, Li Yun and Jiang Yan had supposedly parted on good terms, but Li Yun’s hostility toward Jiang Yan was so intense that it was affecting Jiang Yan’s safety in the dungeon. The guild had no need to continue interacting with this player.
Li Yun fell silent.
Without saying another word, Tao Shi left with Cao Yufeng, heading back to the hospital's main building.
The crisis had been temporarily averted, but no one had expected that the one to lead them through the danger was Jiang Yan, the NPC with the worst stats across the board.
Cao Yufeng followed Tao Shi into his hospital room.
Once the door was closed, Cao Yufeng lowered his voice and said to Tao Shi, "Boss, something’s not right with Jiang Yan."
"You noticed too." Tao Shi tried to pull a cigarette from his pocket, but it was already empty, which made him a bit irritated.
Lying back on the bed, Tao Shi muttered in frustration, "That monster, Jiang Yan’s husband... The last words he said to us... He made us choose between being torn apart by the Creator God or becoming food for those scraps."
"Isn’t his husband also one of us?" Cao Yufeng’s expression darkened. "A man who would write a 400,000-word thesis for his wife—would he really just stand by and watch him die?"
"Clues." Tao Shi’s voice turned serious. "We need more clues."
Cao Yufeng fell silent for a moment, then leaned in close to Tao Shi’s ear and whispered, "Boss, if it really is Jiang Yan, then..."
Tao Shi’s brows furrowed. He then pulled a withered rose petal from his pocket.
He raised the petal above his head. The thousand withered petals, illuminated by the fluorescent light from the hospital room's overhead lamp, appeared faintly translucent, their red hue almost ethereal.
Tao Shi spoke softly, his voice carrying a tone of resignation, "Then... it’s just that his luck ran out."
—
"You are only this obedient here"
In a hospital room with round glass windowsills, a pale young man is pinned on a spacious, soft hospital bed by a pitch-black monster.
The black tentacles restrain his pale, slender wrists, lifting them to the head of the bed, while another tentacle has pushed his blue-and-white uniform to his chest, and another is undoing the waistband of his pants.
His wife no longer resists as before, which excites him greatly. Just as he is about to indulge, his wife languidly declares, 'It’s fine to satisfy your cravings, but don’t expect more after this.'
The entire monster suddenly deflates, collapsing onto the bed like a puddle of black slime.
Why? His wife still rejected him.
'Why bother? We’ve come this far.' 663 mocked.
'Not willing,' Jiang Yan responded.
663 continued, 'Didn’t you say before that he’s just a system NPC? Just a toy made with your ex-husband’s data, and I thought you were open-minded. I didn’t expect you to be so conservative.'
Jiang Yan calmly refuted, 'You misunderstood. I just didn’t want you to live-stream this.'
663: '....'
At this moment, the monster on top of him grunted, expressing its displeasure: 'But Yan Yan...!'
'No buts, we’re about to die. This isn’t the time for indulgence,' Jiang Yan said seriously.
'But we won’t die. Yan Yan knows we won’t die.' The monster tried to argue for its rights.
'I said no, and that’s final.' After learning that this creature was created using Yu Xiu’s data, Jiang Yan found handling the monster incredibly easy.
As expected, seeing his wife’s attitude so firm, the monster grumbled in compliance, agreeing not to continue to the end.
Jiang Yan smiled, a rare genuine tenderness flashing in his water-blue eyes. 'You’re only this obedient here.'
The monster didn’t respond to its wife but instead eagerly swallowed the person beneath it whole.
Not continuing to the end doesn’t matter. It can still make its wife thoroughly.
—
“Zzi... Zzi... Dinner time is here, all patients... please head to the cafeteria to eat...”
When Jiang Yan heard the broadcast, he looked like he had just been pulled out of water.
He lay on the bed, letting the sweat trickle down his temples, dripping heavily.
After hearing the broadcast, Jiang Yan who was beneath him bubbled up with excitement and said, “Hurry... I’ll give you ten minutes to clean me up.”
“Okay!” The monster’s voice carried a hint of laziness.
The next second, it grabbed its own wife and walked into the bathroom.
When Jiang Yan appeared in the cafeteria, the players were already gathered.
Outside the window, the black fog had swallowed up a large portion of the sky, and faintly, some seawater flowed through the air.
The entire cafeteria was dim, with an old incandescent bulb on the ceiling flickering miserably.
At this point, a variety of exquisite food had already been set out on the dining table.
No one knew where the food came from. The previous dinner seemed like the Last Supper, and no one dared to touch it.
Until Jiang Yan was placed in a chair at the table by his husband, lazily greeting everyone, “Good evening, everyone.”
He then naturally picked up the knife and fork and began enjoying the food before him.
The players did not move, silently watching him.
Jiang Yan didn’t care about them. He hadn’t eaten anything all day, and now he was starving!
“Madam, we want to know your opinion on the Creator God,” Cao Yufeng said seriously.
It was an obvious probe, with no attempt at concealment.
It was clear that Jiang Yan's performance this morning had been too high-profile—too abnormal. And his strange husband, a powerful NPC who couldn’t even have specific data measured by the [number-concealment card], had no impact on the main story?
No! It should be said that up until now, this instance had not set clear, distinct main characters, nor a clear worldview.
Illness, black clouds, human limbs—the world seemed to have been created purely for violence and bloodshed.
And from all the materials and clues found so far, the only person closely connected to this world was one—Jiang Yan.
This hospital was the world, and Jiang Yan was the wife of the hospital director'son, the wife of this powerful S+ system NPCs!
Now that there were no clues about the Creator God, the players naturally suspected him. Or rather, every clue was pointing to him.
Cao Yufeng observed Jiang Yan’s expression, not wanting to miss any subtle change.
Jiang Yan calmly responded, “I have nothing to say. I don’t know him, and I don’t understand him.”
The players exchanged looks.
A new player whispered to their companion, “There’s never been an example of a real NPC getting a boss character card before.”
[Although Jiang Yan does seem to be the prime suspect right now, this... is ridiculous!]
[Usually, the main system would give the boss character card to a high-level player or a promising new player to increase the difficulty of the instance. It’s never been given to a real NPC!]
[If it really is Jiang Yan... does the main system think that giving him this card would make the instance harder than giving it to Tao Da and the others?]
[If the main system was going crazy, it would never do this!]
[But... did you forget about Jiang Yan’s bug-related incidents?]
It must be you!! Li Yun slammed the table.
He then pulled out a stack of documents from his chest and slapped them onto the table. It was a divorce agreement.
Li Yun looked down at him with a victorious expression, “Jiang Yan, we’ve found out that you and your husband were already in a marital relationship before he was turned into a god! Can you explain why, after you ended your marriage, your husband still acts so obsessed with you?”
Jiang Yan stopped cutting his food, his expression still calm, “Please tell me how my marriage is related to the Creator God?”
The atmosphere in the cafeteria grew tense.
“Grr...”
The monster hiding in the corner let out a plaintive whine when it heard the words “end the marriage.” It sounded like a large dog feeling wronged.
Jiang Yan: “....”
At this moment, could the drama please not be added?