Chapter 40: The Adversarial Instance (Healthy Hospital 1)
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Aunt Wang placed a plate of washed grapes on the table and asked Liang Dan, “Has there still been no news of the murderer?”
Liang Dan replied calmly, “No.”
Over the past ten years, Aunt Wang had asked her that question countless times, as had countless other people.
Although Liang Dan’s answer was always the same, she was still grateful whenever anyone asked.
Each time she heard the question, she felt that she was not the only person in the world who cared about Liang Wen.
That realization brought her a great deal of comfort.
“However,” Liang Dan said, “we may hear something about the murderer soon.”
Aunt Wang’s eyes lit up at once. “What makes you say that?”
“I found a new part-time job. While I’m working, I’ll meet quite a few remarkable people. Perhaps some of them will have a way to help me find the murderer.”
Aunt Wang immediately looked worried. “Little Liang, I know you’re anxious because the murderer hasn’t been caught, but you mustn’t associate with shady people. Don’t let them lead you astray.”
Liang Dan smiled. “Don’t worry, Aunt Wang. I’ve been the most well-behaved child in the neighborhood since I was little.”
I won’t turn bad.
She did not say the last sentence aloud. She was afraid it would be a lie.
The image of Yang Liuqing flashed before Liang Dan’s eyes, followed by the image of the male player Yang Liuqing had killed.
They had both acquired skills and become so powerful.
If she could acquire a skill like they had, would she be able to obtain a way to find the murderer?
She did not know.
But as long as there was even the slightest hope, she would give it a try, just as she had done throughout the past ten years.
*
After leaving the hospital, Liang Dan did not go straight home. Instead, she went to a luxurious restaurant in the city center and ordered several dishes.
She did not order too much. It was summer, after all, and any uneaten food would go to waste.
Liang Dan devoured the dishes, laden with all kinds of seasonings, even as a wave of nausea rose within her.
She ate quickly and ate a great deal, as though she would never have another chance to eat again in this lifetime.
Afterward, Liang Dan returned home and wrote a will, leaving it beside her bed. She lay down on her pillow and opened the screen before her eyes.
“Peerless Great Benefactor Liang Dan, are you certain you wish to enter the instance?”
“Certain.”
“Please select the level of the instance you wish to enter.”
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Liang Dan hesitated, but in the end she pressed the button marked “Level One Instance.”
The next second, everything before her eyes went black.
*
The first thing she saw was a white hospital bed. Liang Dan sat upon it, staring at the pillow in front of her.
The pillow, sheets, and quilt cover were all sky blue, with a line of red lettering printed across them:
Sky City Health Hospital.
Liang Dan turned to survey her surroundings. The room was entirely white and spacious. Three beds stood side by side, with a bedside table beside each one.
At the head of the bed was a blue sticker bearing the number “503-3.”
Liang Dan put on the slippers beside the bed and slowly climbed down. On the wall not far away was a sheet of white paper.
Rules:
1. Do not wander into other wards.
2. Patients must remain in their wards during the doctor’s morning rounds.
3. Mealtimes: breakfast at 7:10 a.m., lunch at 11:40 a.m., and dinner at 5:10 p.m. Take only as much as you can eat. Leftovers are not permitted.
3. Medication times: 8:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 8:00 p.m.
4. From 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. is the afternoon nap period. Visitors are forbidden, and walking outside the wards is prohibited.
5. From 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. the following morning is curfew. The main entrance will be locked, and going outside is forbidden.
6. Patients must live together harmoniously and affectionately. Assaulting fellow patients is forbidden.
7. Patients must clean their own wards.
We hope all patients will follow the doctor’s instructions carefully. We wish you a speedy recovery.
That same voice, impossible to identify as male or female, descended from above:
“Welcome, Peerless Great Benefactor Liang Dan, to the Level One Confrontation Instance, ‘Health Hospital.’
“The condition for clearing this instance is: find all the players hidden within the psychiatric hospital.”
It seemed that because Liang Dan was no longer a novice, the rules for this instance were unusually concise.
A confrontation instance?
Liang Dan pondered this. She had entered the instance alone this time, but she had no idea how many players had entered before her.
She hoped no more players would enter after her. Otherwise, would she not have to keep searching for players indefinitely?
Liang Dan looked at the two beds in front of her. Clothes lay spread across them, and the quilts had been left in disarray. Cups of water sat on the bedside tables. It appeared that both beds were occupied.
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There was a small room beside her bed. When Liang Dan opened the door, she found a bathroom equipped with a shower.
Three towels and three toothbrush cups sat on the washbasin, each marked with its owner’s number:
503-1, 503-2, and 503-3.
Liang Dan tried the door to the ward. The lock had been gouged out, leaving a hollow where it should have been, so the door could not be locked and opened easily with a push.
Standing in the doorway, Liang Dan saw a large iron door two rooms farther to the right. It was tightly shut.
In front of those two rooms was a spacious common area furnished with several brightly colored tables and chairs, as well as a long leather sofa. A large television hung on the wall opposite the tables and chairs.
Not far ahead on the left was a nurses’ station. Several forms and a few blood-collection tubes lay on the desk. Beside it stood a water dispenser and a large scale.
Liang Dan rose onto her toes and looked over. Several chairs had been placed inside the nurses’ station, with several computers in front of them. There was no one there.
To the left was an endlessly long corridor. Judging by its length, the ward seemed to contain at least twenty rooms.
One surveillance camera after another had been installed in the ceiling above the corridor. The corridor lights were off, making the place look somewhat dim.
Liang Dan looked around but could not find a single clock. She therefore had no way of knowing whether it was currently the afternoon nap period or the nighttime curfew.
But whichever it was, there should have been people in her ward.
Where had her two fellow patients gone during a time when they were supposed to be resting?
The door of the ward opposite creaked open, and a middle-aged woman poked her head out. Lowering her voice, she said, “It’s nap time. What are you doing standing out there? Hurry back and lie down!”
Liang Dan said, “I can’t sleep.”
“Even if you can’t sleep, go back and lie down. Walking around outside during nap time is forbidden!”
“What happens if someone walks around outside?”
The woman frowned. “Forbidden means forbidden. Why are you being so stubborn? No one is allowed outside during nap time!”
Liang Dan said, “Talking should be forbidden during nap time too, shouldn’t it? Why are you talking to me?”
“Peerless Great Benefactor Liang Dan, you have offended a well-meaning person. You are dead!”
*
Liang Dan drew a deep breath. “I’ll go back right now.”
The woman nodded in satisfaction, withdrew into her ward, and shut the door firmly. Through the small pane of glass in the ward door, Liang Dan saw her return to the bed nearest the window.
Liang Dan retreated as well, lay down on her bed, and began to think.
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