After spending a day touring the monster world, Gu Zhan sat on the roof to rest and suddenly remembered, “Is Chun Bai Cheng still there?”
“Of course it is.” Mo Tuo looked at the endless night sky above, casually replying, “That’s the place where players live.”
“Are there any players now?”
Gu Zhan showed a bit of interest.
Mo Tuo sat up. “Why are you asking this?”
Gu Zhan replied, “I want to take a look. Yu Ye Zhou and the others should have left Chun Bai Cheng by now.”
Mo Tuo thought for a moment, then said, “I suppose we could go, but there probably won’t be anyone there now. Are you sure?”
Gu Zhan nodded.
“Let’s go.” Mo Tuo stood up and jumped off the roof.
His shadow disappeared into the air, suggesting he had teleported.
But this guy didn’t tell Gu Zhan how to get to Chun Bai Cheng!
Thinking back to how he came to the monster world, Gu Zhan walked to the edge of the roof and tried to imitate Mo Tuo, jumping down.
Sure enough, in the next second, the surroundings became bright.
After landing, Gu Zhan staggered a little, but a pair of hands reached out to steady him.
Gu Zhan raised his head and saw the familiar city.
However, compared to when he lived here, the place had become incredibly quiet, with not a single sound.
“How is it?” Mo Tuo stood beside him, smiling as he asked.
Gu Zhan carefully observed. The place looked exactly the same as when he lived here, though some of the buildings had been renovated, making it look newer.
Gu Zhan paused for a moment before saying, “It feels like when I just graduated from college and moved to a new campus.”
Mo Tuo didn’t quite understand this statement. After staring at Gu Zhan for a while, he said, “You humans really have some strange customs.”
Gu Zhan replied, “Do you want to visit the human world sometime?”
"En?" Mo Tuo seemed surprised; it appeared he had never considered this question before.
"I'm not sure either. Can you leave this world?"
Mo Tuo seemed to have had a door to a new world opened by Gu Zhan, and immediately became interested in the matter.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Should I ask?"
Gu Zhan wasn’t sure where he would ask, but Mo Tuo had already disappeared after saying that.
Gu Zhan wandered around Chun Bai Cheng by himself. The buildings were still the same familiar ones, but the people who used to be here were gone.
Thinking that new players might gradually join in the future, Gu Zhan felt an oddly untimely sense of nostalgia.
It was as if this were a school of wishes, where people came with their dreams, either to have their hopes fulfilled or to leave in disappointment.
Since no one was left in Chun Bai Cheng, there was no point in staying here. After a short while, Gu Zhan decided to return to his own instance.
To stay in this world, the instance was essentially his home. And since it was his home, he needed to take care of it.
Over time, the town had developed quite well. There were now various taverns and attractions, and the town’s residents seemed to have changed over several generations, not recognizing Gu Zhan anymore.
This made Gu Zhan feel quite pleased. After wandering the town for an afternoon, as night fell, he entered a tavern.
The bartender lazily recommended a type of wheat beer, and as Gu Zhan sat in his spot drinking, he suddenly overheard someone nearby murmuring, “That haunted house is really scary. After Allen came back, he got a fever and now he’s so sick he can’t even think straight. He might die!”
“Ah, so if you go, you die? That’s so dangerous. Should we go check it out tonight?”
“I’m not going! It really will kill you. I don’t want to risk my life.”
“I should tell my old man not to go up to Beishan recently. There’s a ghost up there! Once you go, you’ll never come back.”
Gu Zhan continued to drink while listening to the conversation nearby.
Gu Zhan witnessed firsthand what it meant for rumors to spread.
It started with just a mention of a haunted house on Beishan but by the time the conversation was over, it was rumored that no one should even go to Besihan at all.
(Note - Beishan mean North Mountain)
However, Gu Zhan became a bit curious. What kind of haunted house eats people?
He didn’t remember making such a thing in his instance.
Could it be that something strange from Mo Tuo’s world had been brought here?
Well, since he had nothing else to do, Gu Zhan decided to check it out.
After finishing his drink, Gu Zhan left. In the instance, everything could be done as he pleased. Going to Beishan was no more than a blink of an eye.
To his surprise, there were already a couple of houses at the foot of Beishan, which had once been abandoned. It seemed like they had been moved here from the small town.
Gu Zhan didn’t know where the haunted house was, so he knocked on one of the houses to ask for directions.
Perhaps it was because Gu Zhan was the owner of this instance, but the residents had a very good impression of him and were very friendly.
When they heard that Gu Zhan was looking for the nearby haunted house that ate people, the homeowner waved his hand and said, "Eh, what haunted house that eats people? There’s no such thing. That’s a hospital! The only problem is that the head of the hospital is a bit strange. He doesn’t like to interact with strangers and often scares off people who come to watch, which is how the rumor started."
“A hospital?”
Gu Zhan hadn’t forgotten that the background of this small town was set in a medieval world under the rule of divine power. The term "hospital"... really didn’t fit at all.
However, mentioning a hospital did remind him of something else.
A psychiatric hospital... it seemed he had put it here.
Suddenly, Gu Zhan understood where the haunted house came from.
Well, it certainly was a haunted house.
After bidding farewell to the homeowner, Gu Zhan headed toward the psychiatric hospital.
The hospital was deep in Beishan. He passed through a narrow alley, circled around springs and scattered rocks, and finally saw the entire psychiatric hospital.
On the wooden board next to the iron gate, the words “Ankang Psychiatric Hospital” were written in large, bold letters.
Gu Zhan had mostly been active within the hospital and rarely left. It was the first time he had seen the name of the psychiatric hospital from the outside.
So it was called Ankang.
Gu Zhan approached and knocked on the door. After a long while, the dean finally came to open it.
When he saw Gu Zhan, the dean was immediately stunned.
Suddenly, he snapped back to his senses and tried to close the door.
Gu Zhan was quick to react, reaching out to grab the door handle and stopping the dean from closing the door.
“I heard you turned the hospital into a haunted house?” Gu Zhan grinned ominously through the crack in the door.
Dean: “I didn’t, I didn’t do that.”
Gu Zhan: “Still trying to lie?”
Dean: “…”
For the first time, the dean experienced what it meant to be unable to explain himself.
In his own instance... no, this was already Gu Zhan's instance.
The dean, who had just refused to talk, now hung his head in defeat. Yes, he was now just a monster in someone else's instance, and he had to obey the instance owner.
His life was basically over.
The dean immediately lost his temper and opened the hospital door to let Gu Zhan in.
As Gu Zhan walked through the gate and deeper inside, he noticed that the psychiatric hospital had changed a lot. Once he entered, the sky seemed darker, and the buildings were in disrepair, resembling more of a haunted house.
Perhaps the original style of Ankang Psychiatric Hospital was like this...
Gu Zhan thought for a moment and then asked the dean, “Did you go to the school Xiao Xiu opened?”
The dean froze for a moment, confused, and replied, “I’m the dean of the hospital. How could ?”
Before he could finish his sentence, Gu Zhan interrupted, “No, I meant, did you go to attend the classes?”
“What?” The dean’s eyes immediately widened in disbelief. He angrily said, “You want me to attend classes?! I’m an adult, I’m not going to go to school!”
Seeing the dean react so strongly, Gu Zhan quickly reassured him, “Don’t get mad. I just want you to meet some other people.”
The dean had been hiding in the dark corners of the psychiatric hospital, avoiding people. Even if he was a monster, being isolated for too long would surely cause problems, right?
When he was the instance owner before, he could still hang out and chat with other monsters on Dark Street. But now that he was a monster in his own instance, he probably couldn’t even go out. If he didn’t interact with the residents of the town, wouldn’t he eventually turn into a recluse?
Gu Zhan suggested he attend classes so that the dean could meet others.
“I don’t need it!” The dean was extremely resistant, turning to leave. “I’m from a different world from them. There’s no need to force myself to interact.”
Seeing how stubborn the dean was, Gu Zhan thought for a moment and then said, “Then, why don’t you turn the hospital into a haunted house?”
“What?” The dean stopped dead in his tracks.
Gu Zhan continued, “I’m not sure if any players will come into this instance. If you renovate the hospital, it won’t make a difference. Instead, why not let others come to explore? They’d be quite interested, and you should hold back a bit, don’t really hurt them.”
The dean was a creature Gu Zhan had brought into this instance, and he felt responsible for making sure the dean’s life was properly managed.
Leaving him alone in the deep mountains isn't ideal. It’s better to make use of him, enrich the lives of the town's residents, and prevent the dean from being so lonely.
After Gu Zhan spoke, the dean fell into deep thought.
He neither agreed nor disagreed.
Gu Zhan added, “You can think about it some more. If you don’t agree, I’ll figure something out…”
Before Gu Zhan could finish, the dean suddenly said, “Alright, I agree.”
Gu Zhan didn’t expect such a quick response. Surprised, he looked at the dean. “You don’t have to agree so quickly. This is just a suggestion, I’m not forcing you to agree.”
“I know,” the dean turned his head, looking a bit uneasy. “I’m already a creature under your command. Whatever you ask of me, it’s only right to do it, after all, we all live off your energy. You’re even willing to come and discuss this with me, which is rare. I’m not that lacking in understanding, and... you’re right... being here alone is rather boring.”
Gu Zhan didn’t expect the creature to be so honest.
Seeing the dean’s face gradually redden as he spoke, Gu Zhan couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, I understand your thoughts. Go ahead and discuss the details with Xiao Xiu later.”
“I understand,” the dean replied quietly, still looking a bit unwilling.
“Show me around the hospital,” Gu Zhan said.
He wanted to see how the hospital had changed after being relocated to Beishan.
The dean didn’t say anything, just led Gu Zhan inside.
The fountain in Zhongshi Square was still there, though the sculpture inside was gone. Xiao Xiu's river had also been moved outside the town.
The vegetable garden where Sun Jingqiu and others had planted was still there... The dean had actually taken over managing it, with rows of well-maintained vegetables growing in the yard, which seemed somewhat amusing.
After walking around for a bit, Gu Zhan asked, “Where are you living now?”
The dean said, "My office. The inpatient building, Sun Jingqiu is quite averse to it and rarely goes there."
Every time Gu Zhan visited, it was usually just to admire Mo Tuo's sculpture; he had rarely gone to the inpatient building.
Now, that inpatient building had a real owner.
Gu Zhan nodded and said, "Alright, let's leave it at that. Have Xiao Xiu contact you later."
After bidding farewell to the dean, Gu Zhan left the hospital. Just as he stepped outside, Mo Tuo excitedly swooped down from the sky and said to Gu Zhan, "I found a way to get to your world!"