“This isn't a hospital?”
Zhang Yangqing muttered to himself.
He currently lacked the intelligence to reasonably understand that sentence.
He touched the wall; it was indeed solid material, not some hallucination.
However, two rules were related to this matter.
[Rule 10: Those in gray clothes are psychiatric patients; please ignore what they say. Those in white clothes are ordinary patients; please try to satisfy their requests.]
[Rule 14: If someone tells you this hospital does not exist, you must believe them—this hospital truly exists!]
The person who had just spoken to Zhang Yangqing was clearly a psychiatric patient, because normal patients all wore white.
Furthermore, his behavior was very strange. A normal person, being startled like that by Zhang Yangqing, would certainly be trembling with fear.
But this man was not only unafraid, but also looked quite accustomed to it.
This was a psychiatric patient?
Could a psychiatric patient be trusted?
Many Chosen Ones with strong anti-reconnaissance abilities had also noticed this gray-clad psychiatric patient.
But they were all left utterly bewildered by his words.
On the contrary, it seemed to disrupt their normal thinking.
Even Misugi Saburo, acting as a master detective, was unable to comprehend the situation after receiving this information.
He couldn't exactly go and ask the doctor, could he?
However, Misugi Saburo did observe one thing.
Once his illness had been treated, the doctor returned to that "indifferent" demeanor.
It was as if the doctor could only "see" the patients.
But a problem arose: the person who had just helped him resolve the "dog barking" incident was, if he guessed correctly, that very psychiatric patient.
Normally, such characters in a dungeon provide a certain level of assistance to the Chosen Ones. He seemed to be trying to warn him of something, yet the rules explicitly told the Chosen Ones not to believe him.
This contradiction was something Misugi Saburo could not resolve, so he could only make a note of it for now.
Meanwhile, in front of the large screen, many viewers were baffled by this sudden piece of intelligence.
Did the Chosen Ones go to the wrong place? Is this not a hospital?
I think something is fishy. The Director's behavior from the very beginning was very eerie. Could the whole thing have been a scam from the start?
Is it possible that after the Chosen Ones inhaled toxic gas, they experienced certain hallucinations? They might have made wrong judgments during their previous consultations. Could it be that this entire hospital is fake, just a hallucination of the Chosen Ones?
That actually makes some sense.
Impossible. It's one thing if the Chosen Ones can't tell, but we haven't inhaled any toxic gas. How could we not see it?
I think you're all overthinking it. The rules say not to pay attention to the psychiatric patients, so ignoring them is the right move. The Weird World is full of false information, or rather, redundant information. The Chosen Ones only need to survive.
I disagree with that. Before Master Zhang entered, many Weird World dungeons left mysteries unsolved even after the Chosen Ones passed through. Many hidden locations were never entered. I think this information might indeed be an instruction; it just depends on whether the Chosen Ones choose to explore the secrets behind it.
Come on, this dungeon already said there are lethal things, and there might be more than one. Master Zhang is a sure bet, but it's not worth dying because of recklessness.
The Weird World was filled with an eerie atmosphere everywhere. In the past, Chosen Ones preferred to avoid trouble whenever possible; as long as they passed, they were satisfied.
Just like the last time in the Wax Museum, Rahman, a Chosen One from the Land of the Pyramids, knew there were surely many hidden things in the staff lounge, but he didn't dare to go, nor was he willing to.
While many people looked forward to Zhang Yangqing decoding the mystery, they also hoped he would remain safe and sound.
While discussions raged outside, Zhang Yangqing and the other Chosen Ones had already arrived at the inpatient department.
Since time was limited and they didn't know what the psychiatric patient's words meant, they would continue to gather intelligence.
As long as they found the apple, they could go to the Director's office; perhaps there would be some special information there.
The inpatient department was not just a single building, but a complex.
Several buildings formed a circle, with a playground in the center.
A few scattered patients were performing rehabilitation exercises on the playground.
To Zhang Yangqing, they gave the same impression as the white-clad patients from the "dog barking" incident—they were quite thin.
If there was a chance, he could go down and ask them.
Many ward doors were marked [Full].
Slogans like [Do Not Wake the Patients] hung on the doors.
There were glass windows on the doors; looking from the outside, the beds inside were full.
All signs indicated that there were many patients here.
Upon arriving, the Chosen Ones felt something was slightly strange.
While there were some people on the playground, the corridors were very empty, with very few people passing by.
Approaching the ward doors, one could hear soothing music playing inside.
In such a bizarre atmosphere, the music inside the wards could actually make the Chosen Ones feel physically and mentally relaxed.
For some reason, it had a sleep-inducing effect.
Most of the patients in the wards were sleeping soundly, both in white and gray clothing.
But more or less, one or two were not sleeping.
This put the Chosen Ones in a difficult position.
If they wanted to find the apple, they would definitely have to enter the rooms to check.
Rule 6 mentioned: When a patient is sleeping, please do not disturb them.
In other words, while communicating with a non-sleeping patient, if they accidentally woke a sleeping patient, that patient would attack the Chosen One.
This was the trigger for the eerie events in the inpatient department.
Just like the previous areas, if the Chosen Ones failed to follow the rules, the consequences would be dire.
The wards here were like gaping mouths; choosing the wrong room might mean never coming out.
Through observation, the Chosen Ones did indeed find some rooms with fruit baskets.
That was their target.
Jones, a Chosen One from the Land of Kangaroos, began to analyze after observing several rooms.
"There must be a trap in most of the rooms where the patients are sleeping. Perhaps I need to find a room where all the patients are awake, so I can ensure I won't be attacked."
Jones was a cautious person; he looked for rooms with fewer beds where he could see that all the patients were awake.
The rooms here had a minimum of six beds.
Some Chosen Ones were unluckier. A Chosen One from the Land of Windmills saw that the six patients inside were indeed not lying in their beds, so he quietly opened the door and stepped in, intending to swipe an apple.
Who would have thought that one of them was actually sleeping while standing up!
The Chosen One from the Land of Windmills only saw him stand up with his back to the door, seeing only the back of his head, not his face, so he thought he was awake.
After being startled awake by the sound of the door opening, the standing patient revealed a terrifying expression. After a scream erupted from within the ward, the large screen went black.
A Chosen One from the Land of Rubber had it even worse. He entered a ward where all six patients were awake.
But once inside, a white-clad patient demanded that he kill the patient in the opposite bed in order to give him an apple.
The patient in the opposite bed made a similar demand.
The absurd demands didn't stop there; there was even a requirement for the Chosen One to lull the patient to sleep.
A Chosen One could not stay in a ward for more than three minutes, otherwise, something bad would happen.
And so, abnormal states appeared one after another.
But one thing was certain: the patients in the inpatient department could communicate with the Chosen Ones.
After completing a patient's task, the patient would answer some of the Chosen Ones' questions, acting as the "informants" mentioned in the rules.
The master detective Misugi Saburo from the Land of Sakura watched the inpatient department for a while. He was not in a hurry to find the apple; instead, he was observing the patients on the playground and in the wards.
"Something is wrong! Something is very wrong! These people don't seem to be sick. Why are they still here?"
(End of Chapter)