The escort had always believed that he had a huge responsibility to get the sanatorium out of the control of Frank Hospital. When he heard that the superiors had sent someone over, he thought of a series of countermeasures. A strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake, and it would be best if Dr. Aaron could "accidentally die" during the inspection.
They never expected that the doctor who looked harmless was actually wilder than them.
The effect of the truth serum is not as long as that during the interview, but it is very strong and has a greater impact on the nerves.
After Wen Shi woke up, he had a severe headache and could not remember what had just happened. He just felt that he seemed to have said something like he would not leak the secret.
He tapped his temple with his fingers to ease the pain, frowned and asked, "Can I come in?"
If he had violated the confidentiality rules, he would have been dead by now. The fact that the two sides could still talk face to face showed that he had successfully passed the confidentiality test.
The escort turned off the recorder and nodded reluctantly.
"You can't take the file away." After saying that, he left quickly. This time, he didn't let Wen Shi finish reading it before coming to find him.
After watching the escort disappear, Wen Shi asked sideways, "What did I just say?"
Why is the other party's reaction so strange
Gatekeeper Ghost: "You talked about your dream and said you wanted to be the dean of something."
"!"
There was an exclamation mark on Wen Shi’s head, and his tail also stood up to form an exclamation mark.
His first reaction was that he was exposed. Should he kill the witness to silence him? Then he thought that just silencing the witness would not work, and he had to find a way to destroy the video footage. Wen Shi was not so proud as to increase the difficulty of his mission in an S-level copy. In the end, he sighed, "Forget it."
Let him be, and focus on the present.
Wen Shi walked into the room carefully. This room was normal and the lighting was fine. There were at least hundreds of files on the shelf. He pulled out one at random. There were words on it, but he couldn't recognize them, as if there was something wrong with his brain's recognition ability.
"strangeness."
Gatekeeper Ghost: "The words appear and disappear, which is quite strange."
"It's not this." Wen Shi opened the document further. The thick stack of documents looked like a book without words to him. "The person who brought me here said it had to be kept confidential and emphasized that I couldn't take it out, but he didn't say I couldn't destroy it."
Is it a simple omission, or...
The system's cold prompt sound rang, interrupting Wen Shi's thoughts.
[Side quest: Archives, each archive is a life.
After completing the mission, you will have the opportunity to increase the sanatorium exploration rate to 60% to 75%.]
In an instant, Wen Shi's hands seemed to be glued to the paper, and he couldn't move them even a little bit no matter how hard he tried. The clean white paper collapsed in the middle, and from his fingers to his arms, he was swallowed up by the paper uncontrollably.
Wen Shi had seen a horror movie before, in which the protagonist was dragged alive into the TV screen. The situation now was similar, except that he was dragged into the record paper of the archive.
Buzz.
The phone vibrated at this moment.
The security guard ghost quickly helped him connect the phone, and at this time half of Wen Shi's body had been pulled into the paper.
"Humanity... nature..." came a staccato voice from the other end of the line.
The temperature in the archive room dropped sharply and communications were interrupted.
Wen Shi gritted his teeth and watched his body disappear. This feeling was similar to going back in time in the quality inspection area, except that it was much longer and more torturous.
The gatekeeper ghost could feel that the other party was being swallowed by another space, and did not dare to pull him easily, for fear that his body would be shattered.
In less than a minute, Wen Shi was completely engulfed by the archives. From the outside, the entire archive room was empty, with only a horrifying silence.
Tick. Tick.
There seemed to be a sound of dripping water in his ears. After an unknown amount of time, Wen Shi woke up from his extremely drowsy state. He opened his eyelids with great effort, and the first thing he saw was the pure white ceiling.
Having had an experience in the quality inspection area, Wen Shi was not too panicked when he suddenly appeared in an unfamiliar scene map.
After overcoming the initial severe dizziness, Wen Shi felt a coldness on his wrist. He turned his head and found that he was receiving an infusion.
He stared at the needle for a few seconds, and his sight moved down along the infusion tube, finally fixing on the pale fingers... The fingers were still slender and white, and even the joints were just right, but this slenderness was only compared with people of the same age. This hand was obviously that of an underage child.
In belated surprise, Wen Shi sat up suddenly.
He touched his head and found that the cat's ears and tail were gone.
Upon further inspection, Wen Shi couldn't even see the attribute panel, but the bell around his neck was still there.
There was no mirror in the room, but there was no need to confirm. I just lifted the quilt and looked at my hands and feet to know what was going on... I had become smaller.
"Well."
The sudden sound made Wen Shi alert. He looked in the direction of the sound and found that there was a child lying in the bed next to him.
Wen Shi pulled out the needle, and almost at that moment, his heart began to rise and fall violently. He tried to adjust his breathing, covered his chest and walked towards another bed.
The child lying on the bed was curled up, his whole body was hot, and yellow water was flowing around his eyes. The child was so skinny that if he hadn't just made a sound, it would have been difficult to find him lying on the bed.
"Wake up." Wen Shi looked around the bedside but couldn't find the call bell.
Just as he was considering whether to go out and call for help, his eyes suddenly narrowed and he saw a number behind the child's ear: 81.
The door of the ward was suddenly pushed open, and several staff members in protective clothing came in. After inserting the thermometer, they pried open the child's eyelids and examined the pupils under light.
"No. 81 is no longer viable. Take it away and destroy it as soon as possible."
After saying that, he pulled Wen Shi by the collar, touched his forehead and asked him if he felt unwell anywhere.
Wen Shi shook his head.
"Everything is normal at No. 82." The employee said with a hint of excitement.
No. 82.
When Wen Shi heard this number, his heart tightened.
Is it a coincidence? Or is it related to the mission of deleting file No. 82
The staff gave Wen Shi another infusion. After the child was taken away, Wen Shi was the only one left in the ward. He looked at the back of his hand and hesitated for a few seconds, but did not pull out the needle again.
"Each file is a life." Wen Shi pondered the words in the task and gradually figured out his current situation. He was now experiencing a life recorded in the file.
The system prompt sound rang again unexpectedly. When I couldn't see the attribute panel, the mechanical sound brought a little comfort, at least it seemed that everything was not an illusion.
"Requirements for loading the game: 1. Try to survive 2. Escape from the control of the sanatorium."
Like the videotape mission, the game also gives two requirements here.
"The last call was from Ji Yuanzhi. It just speaks to human nature. He wouldn't call me for no reason..."
It is unlikely that Ji Yuanzhi will accidentally discover clues about his mission. Wen Shi thought of Zhou Xiaochun. If the other party is smart, he should know that his teammates are his only lifeline.
The word "human nature" is most likely the result of Zhou Xiaochun's divination.
"Testing human nature?" Wen Shi raised the corners of his mouth silently.
This is the topic he is best at.
There are no windows or clocks in the ward, and one cannot feel the difference between day and night. When one loses the sense of time, one becomes extremely irritable.
Wen Shi set his first goal: to figure out whose life he was experiencing.
When only one-third of the infusion bottle was left, the door of the ward opened.
Wen Shi looked in the direction of the sound, but the door was empty and there was nothing to see except the dark corridor. He frowned and was about to look away when he suddenly met the pale-faced child at the end of the bed.
Wen Shi almost blurted out "Fuck!"
The child had a pair of big eyes with clear black and white, his skin was pale and the corners of his eyes were eroded. It was No. 81 who had just been taken away.
Wen Shi's body was very fragile now, and his chest barely rose and fell when he breathed, not to mention that he couldn't open his backpack and use his props. In this situation, he would definitely die if he faced a ghost.
The performance of [Tiannan Scattering Flowers] was ineffective. The child had no urge to call for his mother and just stood there quietly.
Wen Shi calmly looked away, pretending not to see it.
He gained a new understanding of No. 82: he could see dirty things.
The child stood at the end of the bed for a long time. The temperature where the monster was was very low, and even under the quilt, his feet could not be warmed up.
"It feels bad to be destroyed." The child said faintly: "Escape and survive."
After saying this, the child disappeared, as if he had no intention of harming anyone.
I don’t know if Wen Shi took these words to heart, he closed his eyes and lay on his side to sleep.
The drip was finally finished, and the staff came in on time to remove the needle. At the same time, they brought in a child with the number 83 engraved behind his ear. No. 83 was about ten years old, with a pure and bright smile. He took the initiative to greet Wen Shi when he entered the door.
Awakened by the act of pulling out the needle, Wen Shi nodded perfunctorily.
No words were spoken that night.
I didn't know how long I slept in a daze when a worker came over with a tray of food.
"Eat." He spoke in a commanding tone.
There was only a piece of meat on the plate, which looked like it had just been cut and was actually moving.
Since Wen Shi became smaller, his hunger has disappeared. Now, looking at the meat on the plate, he only feels extremely nauseous.
While the staff was delivering food to other wards, No. 83 whispered, "If you don't want to eat, I'll help you."
He gritted his teeth, his round face wrinkled in pain, as if he had made a great decision before saying it.
Wen Shi was silent for a moment: "No need."
He skillfully cut the meat into small pieces with a dinner knife and swallowed it with his eyes closed while it was still warm.
It's best not to do anything out of the ordinary until you understand the situation.
After breakfast, some employees came to teach them to read and write. This was not to improve their educational level. According to the employees, proper brain development is also good for preventing infection.
This was probably the most relaxing moment of the day. After finishing his studies, Wen Shi was taken directly to the laboratory.
He didn't have to do anything but lie on the cold table, with his hands tied, and watch a group of people draw blood or inject various types of drugs into him.
The researchers spoke professional terms that Wen Shi could not understand, and carefully recorded the data. Then Wen Shi was taken to a transparent glass tank, and several tubes were inserted into his body.
A slightly older voice said, "Don't use anesthesia. We need to increase his pain tolerance."
Wen Shi was in so much pain that he didn't even have the energy to curse. He soaked in the potion and for the first time experienced what it meant to "feel like your body was hollowed out."
The insertion site was so painful that Wen Shi could only half close his eyes and keep thinking about other problems to divert his attention.
Games are about relevance. Ji Yuanzhi and the twin sisters were able to do the blood donation task because they had been to the quality inspection area, where they had to undergo a biopsy before donating blood, which was similar to the sampling and biopsy in the quality inspection area.
Similarly, the videotape and archive missions would not be issued out of thin air; they must have been triggered by him.
After a long while, Wen Shi used his remaining strength to utter three words: "Jian Qingrong..."
Jian Qingrong's diary and videotape have similarities, both recording the causes of death of employees in large factories.
What would the archive task be associated with
Escort? Judging from his professional identity and the conversation before entering the archives room, it is not impossible that he is an escort. Wen Shi habitually wanted to rub his fingertips to think about the problem, but the wound was pulled by a little force, and he couldn't help but let out a painful "hiss".
His brain nerves twitched, and when the pain eased a little, Wen Shi also put Jian Qingrong into the alternative options.
Jian Qingrong often came to the sanatorium to donate blood. He was able to use viruses to kill the factory director, and the pollution source boxes he privately kept also came from the sanatorium.
To be honest, there is a closer connection between Jian Qingrong and the sanatorium.
"Take him back." The old voice spoke, indicating the end of today's experiment.
Wen Shi wanted to see the man's face clearly, but his vision was blurry.
He had only been resting in the ward for a few minutes when the staff who delivered meals came. It seemed that they knew Wen Shi did not have the strength to get up, so they mashed the meat into a paste and forced him to drink it down his throat little by little with water.
Unable to feel the passage of time and the physical pain, No. 83 was Wen Shi’s only comfort.
When he was receiving an IV drip, he would use his little hands to gently rub Wen Shi's frozen wrists. When Wen Shi couldn't sleep, he would rack his brains to make up stories to comfort him. Once, he sang out of tune, and Wen Shi couldn't help laughing. No. 83 was so excited that he ran over barefoot and said, "You laughed!"
Because there were no entertainment activities, Wen Shi developed an extra hobby of playing with bells.
No. 82 was very lucky. During the repeated experiments, he was not infected like the other test subjects. Instead, he stimulated some strange power.
Until one day, when Wen Shi was playing with bells, he accidentally discovered that he could use sound to temporarily control people with pollution sources in their bodies.
"It's you..."
Bells, sounds, there is no such coincidence in the world.
The bell is the key to triggering the archive mission. Gently touching the copper surface, Wen Shi finally knew whose life he should be in. The escorts would not send gifts through the elevator. Only Jian Qingrong, who even sent gifts to his "father", would give him a bell.
In order to better empathize with the other person, Wen Shi began to learn to write a diary like Jian Qingrong, and the content of the diary also became closer to the other person, specifically recording ghosts.
He could see dirty things. The most abundant thing in the sanatorium was the dead. Wen Shi would carefully record the way these people died and their specific conditions after death. The thickness of the diary was increasing. When there were only a few pages left, Wen Shi paused and the tip of the pen cut through the paper.
No. 83 heard the noise and asked, "What happened?"
Wen Shi lowered his eyes: "Nothing."
He finally understood the real research value of the videotape.
It's another ordinary day of infusion.
On this day, No. 83 had a fever, and his beautiful eyes, which seemed to be able to speak, began to ooze yellow water.
The worker in protective clothing came in and kept complaining to his colleagues: "It's Chinese New Year, why should we be left on duty?"
"Stop talking nonsense and get rid of No. 83 immediately."
No. 83 whimpered weakly like a wounded cub.
Wen Shi lay on the bed, holding the bell tightly. The escort revealed that there were also sources of pollution in the employees' bodies, so he could use sound to prevent the destruction of No. 83.
There weren't many people in the sanatorium during the New Year, so it was the best time to escape with No. 83, but it was very risky.
"Human nature..." Wen Shi muttered this key word and suddenly sneered.
The skill of divination is really a scam.
The word "humanity" seems to imply that he should save No. 83, but in fact it is not the case. What he needs to substitute is the humanity of No. 82, Jian Qingrong's human choice.
The game is tricky.
He was first given the task of escaping from the control of the sanatorium. The child ghost he met on the first night also kept giving him psychological hints: escape, escape quickly.
There are many ways to actually escape, and escaping is only the narrowest interpretation.
If I were Jian Qingrong during this period, I would never escape. Instead, I would hide in the dark, understand everything about the sanatorium, and wait for the opportunity to take control of it.
[Each file is a life story.]
He experienced the life of No. 82, so he could only make the choices of No. 82. Once he did something that No. 82 had not done and that was not recorded in the file, the consequences would be disastrous.
No. 83 had been moved from the bed to the stretcher, and Wen Shi remained motionless throughout the whole process.
No. 83 used up his last bit of strength to stretch out his little hand, as if he wanted to warm Wen Shi’s wrist again. He tried to hum a song out of tune: "Sleep, sleep..."
Wen Shi closed his eyes tightly.
Jian Qingrong has never encountered redemption in his life. No. 83 does not exist at all. This is a death trap set in the mission to lure him into saving people.
Wen Shi suddenly felt inexplicably ironic.
The game seems to have created No. 83 based on the good guy role he played after meeting Jian Qingrong, and then allows himself to experience Jian Qingrong's state of mind.
He is the only person who is willing to help me. I like him very much, but I will still abandon him at the critical moment.
As the boy said -
There is a flower on the road, it is very beautiful, so you like it. When you see a small animal for the first time, you feel it is new and you like it because you have never seen it before. But would you lose your life for a flower or a small animal
The answer is no.
No. 83 was taken away, and the discordant singing disappeared into the silent corridor as the door closed.
At the same time, the system prompt sounded:
"Congratulations on completing the archive mission. The current exploration level has risen to 75 percent."
The world turned from darkness to light, and the incandescent light above my head hurt my eyes.
The hospital bed, the IV bottle... all of these disappeared, Wen Shi leaned against the bookshelf almost exhausted, everything seemed like an illusion. Surrounding him were densely packed file bags, and he was still holding a file tightly in his hand.
The cover was made of kraft paper, and the number 82 was written in large letters. The blood-red letters seemed to be imprinted through the paper and into the eyes.
In order to complete the mission, file No. 82 should be destroyed immediately.
However, Wen Shi didn't know what he was planning. He tried to put the files into his backpack, but when he found that they couldn't fit in, he put them in the safe.
This time it worked.
The guard ghost looked at him worriedly: "Are you okay?"
Wen Shi shook his head.
The exploration degree is given in a range. The archive mission is not as difficult as the videotape mission. In the end, he was able to get an exploration degree of 75, which was not unexpectedly due to the addition of his teammates' exploration degree.
It seems that Ji Yuanzhi also successfully completed the blood donation task.
"How long have I been gone?" he asked.
Gatekeeper ghost: "About ten minutes."
Wen Shi took out his cell phone and made a call.
It took a long while before the call was connected. Ji Yuanzhi was weaker than ever before. At first he couldn't even say "hello" and only heard panting.
Wen Shi: "Are you okay?"
"I feel like my body is... hollowed out." Ji Yuanzhi smiled bitterly and made a joke.
Wen Shi snorted when he heard this.
He was the one who was hollowed out.
The two of them stopped talking and began to exchange the clues they had obtained.
"My mission reward is to see the monster. After the mission, I got a video of the monster. You may not believe that there is a monster imprisoned in the sanatorium. The meat in the cafeteria is cut from this monster, and it also..."
"Is it right to be alive?" In the time that Wen Shi recalled, the meat he ate every day was very fresh.
"To be exact, he is in deep sleep, and there are signs of waking up." Ji Yuanzhi finished speaking in one breath and asked, "What about you? What did you find?"
"Jian Qingrong is Dean Jin," Wen Shi dropped a bombshell as he spoke, "He has been collecting and studying various death data."
What he experienced was the childhood life of No. 82. Jian Qingrong is still alive today. Given his personality and abilities, the former dean has most likely been killed.
Ji Yuanzhi wondered: "Why study this?"
Wen Shi closed his eyes: "I suspect he is looking for a way to become the most powerful ghost."
In the diary, Jian Qingrong indirectly or directly contributed to the deaths of many people. These people died in different ways, some died of infection, some died of suicide... The information on the videotape is more complete, including whether the person has a physical body or not, how much sanity can be retained after death, how strong the person is, these are all Jian Qingrong's test items.
He has been able to see dirty things since he was a child and has never stopped observing.
How could a good person want to become a ghost? Ji Yuanzhi suddenly had a terrible guess, and for the first time his tone was a little unstable: "He wouldn't want to..." He paused for a few seconds before he suppressed his fear and lowered his voice: "He wants to devour the monsters in the sanatorium... Is he crazy?!"
Just from the brief description in the information, one can feel the power of the monsters imprisoned in the sanatorium.
Wen Shi's voice was cold and calm: "Jian Qingrong has been able to see ghosts since he was a child. According to folklore, his fate and physique are not ordinary. Moreover, he grew up eating monster meat. When he was used as an experimental subject, he awakened the ability to control monsters. It is not impossible that he will succeed."
Ji Yuanzhi was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Whether he or the monster dies in the end, the victor will be stronger than you can imagine."
Not to mention the mission, during the fight between the two big bosses, the entire sanatorium and even the world will partially collapse.
The only ending left for the players is to be reduced to ashes.
Having considered this, the two of them did not speak again.
Finally, it was Ji Yuanzhi who broke the silence, and said in a dry voice: "How could the game allow such a powerful monster to be born?"
The party that successfully devours has the possibility of directly upgrading to the legendary true spirit.
Wen Shi said something strange for no reason: "So I came."
"What?"
Wen Shi did not answer, but looked quietly at the file in his hand. He was not talking about himself, but the 'me' in the parallel world.
This is the reason why the game condones teenagers to kill indiscriminately in the quality inspection area.
Before the boy left, he said that the game wanted to use him to deal with something, which was very fragrant and very nutritious. Jian Qingrong had not yet turned into a fierce ghost, so the tonic was undoubtedly a monster.
Demons have a strong desire for exclusivity and will not tolerate others' sharing of food. When Jian Qingrong becomes a ghost, the latter will also become food in his eyes. Of course, the same is true for Jian Qingrong.
Part of the boy's power was sealed, and his most proficient charm technique seemed useless against Jian Qingrong, and he might not be able to gain the upper hand.
The purpose of the game is to let these three parties fight each other in order to balance the entire copy.
Five floors.
Many sanatorium staff members don't know that the sanatorium has five floors in total. The structure of the fifth floor is completely different from the other floors. It is like an independent space with only endless darkness.
No matter how good the air purification system is, it can't remove the bloody smell here.
A thin hand gently crushed the suction cup extending from the darkness. Without feeling the blood burst out, the boy frowned and said, "Another illusion."
This thing's ability to create auditory and visual hallucinations is one of the most powerful in the world.
The milky white horns on the boy's head became the only light source in the darkness. He bit his fingertips which were stained with the fishy smell in the air and said, "I'm almost there."
He made it so difficult for himself to find it, and once he found it, he would definitely grab the heart of the food bit by bit, and then slowly eat it alive.
Countless illusions were piled up on the five floors, and the boy only walked one-third of the distance.
At the end of the vastness and darkness, there is a monster of extremely huge size imprisoned. It once lived in the deep sea, and the waste gas and waste water leaked from the laboratory made it the most powerful alienated creature in the world.
The source of pollution can no longer affect the monster, and its flesh and blood can even help other creatures resist some of the pollution. Unfortunately, during the evolution process, the toxins affected its nerves too deeply, and it had to fall into a deep sleep.
The monster's flesh and blood has the ability to regenerate. In order to obtain an inexhaustible supply of meat to alleviate its predicament, the sanatorium has been feeding it with blood.
This method of drinking poison to quench thirst is about to come to an end. More than 20 years have passed, and this monster is finally waking up again.
It knew that humans were taking its flesh and blood, but it didn't care. To the monster, humans were just food that it raised, and it would soon be time for it to enjoy them. The only thing that made it anxious was that a strong breath was approaching it. The suction cups around the monster's mouth moved a little, making a gurgling sound. It was ready to wake up in advance. Once it devoured all the humans here, its abilities would be able to reach a higher level.
Unlike the undercurrent on the fifth floor, the fourth floor is much quieter, just one floor away.
There was only one office with lights on in the long and narrow corridor. Various bloody photos were hung on the walls, and thick data were piled on the desk and the floor. On the other wall, there were more than a dozen display screens, showing the chaotic scene of the fight on the second floor.
Jian Qingrong stood quietly by the wall. Without the obstruction of her long hair on her forehead, her cold and perfect face was truly revealed.
After a while, he reached out and took down the bloodiest photo on the wall. His pure black eyes showed an indescribable weirdness.
"Sure enough, this is a better way to die."
(End of this chapter)