His pupils suddenly dilated

Yu Qing immediately put away his knife and looked up warily, just in time to see eight people running together into the small three-story building.

The moment he spotted them, the livestream chat grew excited again.

[Hey, quite a few newbies survived this time. This should be interesting.]

The eight survivors were panting, led by a young man in a Tang Suit, with copper coins and paper talismans hanging from his clothes.

They seemed to have formed an alliance. After confirming they were safe, they counted everyone, then finally found a spot to lean back and rest. They were so tense that not a word passed between them.

The deep night was deathly silent.

No one knew how many man-eating horrors lurked in the endless darkness.

Tonight, perhaps...

Nothing else would happen...

[Beep, beep, beep-beep, beep, beep-]

Yu Qing was woken by the alarm.

When he opened his eyes, a dazzling beam of light shone straight at him, making it difficult to adjust.

Yu Qing raised a hand to shield his eyes. A shrill announcement pierced his eardrums, carrying the force of an order: "It is eight a.m. All danger has passed, and the sanatorium is now officially open. All patients who have received a name badge must proceed to the first-floor lobby to register for admission."

"Repeating: it is eight a.m. All danger has passed..."

Yu Qing rubbed his aching ears, a little dazed.

It was... morning?

The Tang-Suited Young Man pulled him to his feet. To stay alive, the burly man covered in injuries limped downstairs after them.

Except...

As they passed the stairwell, the black mist had completely dispersed.

Sunlight shone everywhere, the flowers and greenery were vibrant, and even the walls that had been covered in scarlet bloodstains were now smooth and white. At a glance, the place looked no different from an ordinary sanatorium.

The boss that had clung to him as he explored last night was gone.

The stairwell was empty.

Yu Qing's fingertips trembled, and he put the knife into his system storage.

For some reason, he lingered on the stairs on his way down, his lashes lowered and his emotions unreadable.

The livestream chat explained: [He's thinking about his husband.]

Their rustling footsteps reached the ground floor together. The pretty, sweet-voiced nurse at reception wore a white coat and handed a bell to every streamer who passed.

She kept saying, "The director had a master bless these bells. They're essential proof of your identity."

"The sanatorium is haunted at night. Ghosts won't kill anyone wearing a bell, so make sure you tie yours securely around your wrist."

"Also, only doctors are allowed to harm patients here. You must not come into conflict with a doctor. Please remember that."

Her voice was gentle, and her outstretched fingers were slender, pale with a reddish tinge. The rapist unconsciously swallowed at the sight, his eyes fixed on her.

But... mindful that he was inside an instance, the man only took his bell, gritted his teeth, and reluctantly walked away.

There was no telling how much of the nurse's explanation he had actually heard.

Yu Qing was at the back of the line, staring at the system screen as he walked forward.

The livestream viewers watched him closely. Before they could wonder what he was doing, they saw him reach out and buy a bottle of "healing potion."

[Item name: healing potion]

[Item effect: take three consecutive sips to heal all injuries on your body]

[Price: 30,000]

Healing medicines were the best sellers in the system shop, and their prices always stayed high, especially a bestseller like this that could heal both internal and external injuries in just three sips.

[Yu Qing doesn't have many points left.] A worried comment appeared in the chat: [The only injury on his arm is that little bruise he pinched into it himself. Does he really need something this good?]

[Please, he earned those points himself. What's wrong with spending them to heal himself? Is it a crime for our wife to be a little delicate?]

[No, I'm just worried about how many points he has left. Why are you snapping at me?]

The livestream's viewer count held steady at over ten thousand. Scattered comments argued back and forth, debating when Yu Qing would drink the potion, only to see him wait until everyone else had walked away, then hand the bottle he had bought for thirty thousand points to the young nurse.

The nurse froze, looking at him with watery eyes as he said, "Three sips might heal your injuries. If that doesn't work, drink it all."

With that, he took his own bell, tied it around his wrist with one hand, and followed the others away.

The young nurse stood there in a daze, then lowered her head. After a long while, tears began to well in her eyes.

Her hands trembled as she reached for the bottle. Her sleeve slipped down slightly with the movement, revealing a patch of bruises on her wrist.

After collecting their bells on the first floor, they had to go to the doctor on the second floor for an examination and to register their names and conditions.

Yu Qing's livestream chat had been in an uproar ever since.

[Seriously, is this streamer out of his mind? That was thirty thousand points. Thirty thousand! Who can afford to be that generous and tip him every day? And he goes and spends it comforting an NPC?]

[Actually, that nurse has a lot of injuries. On her neck and her head, too. You can see them if you pay attention. Qingqing must have noticed them and given her the potion because of that.]

[Aw, my wife is so kind.]

[I think Yu Qing must have his reasons for doing this. (Profound.)]

Not long after those comments appeared, the psychiatry department's door on the second floor opened, and the doctor began asking for their names one by one.

The rapist was at the front. Seeing that the male doctor before him wore glasses and looked mild-mannered, he immediately slapped the desk and said, "Hu Zibiao."

The doctor smiled, nodded, and began typing on his computer.

Perhaps it was because daytime wasn't frightening, or because all the NPCs today were so well behaved, but Hu Zibiao's inexplicable confidence surged back.

Bang, bang, bang-

He kept slapping the desk with his good hand and asked, "My shoulder's shattered. Can you treat it here?"

The doctor replied with a smile, "No. This is a sanatorium. We only have a psychiatry department."

"Fuck." Hu Zibiao grew impatient. He could have bought medicine himself, but Yu Qing had tricked him out of all his points, leaving him no choice but to turn to an NPC.

So he threw caution to the wind and grabbed the doctor's collar. "You think I'm some pushover? A sanatorium this big can't even treat a little injury-aaagh!"

Before he could finish shouting, he discovered that the hand gripping the doctor's collar had begun to mutate.

Its flesh peeled away at a visible speed, soon exposing stark white bones.

Hu Zibiao trembled all over from the pain. He wanted to call for help, to scream, but a needle loaded with a sedative plunged straight into his neck. Before long, he was foaming at the mouth and collapsed to the floor, convulsing.

The people behind him stared with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Some of the more timid ones had already turned away and begun vomiting, unable to bear the sight.

The doctor frowned, looking somewhat impatient. He was about to reprimand them when he spotted the director passing outside in a suit. His expression immediately brightened, and he hurried out after him.

The door clicked shut, and faint sounds drifted in from outside-

"Director, what brings you here in person?"

"I just came to remind you to record the names properly. We have a use for them."

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll make sure..."

After the doctor left, the room grew even more chaotic, voices mingling with sobs.

Only Yu Qing and the Tang-Suited Young Man ahead of him remained relatively calm.

The young man spoke, offering a measured reminder. "The nurse just told us that only doctors can harm patients. So as long as we don't break the rules, we'll be fine. When he comes back, everyone should cooperate and give their names...?"

Before he could finish, however, he felt someone tug at his sleeve.

He turned and saw Yu Qing shaking his head to stop him.

Then he watched Yu Qing walk forward of his own accord, moving to the head of the line beside the doctor's desk.

Just then, the doctor returned. He kicked Hu Zibiao out of the way, raised his right hand, and pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, looking like a judge pronouncing a death sentence.

"Next," he said slowly.

At his words, the room fell silent again. Mingled with the bloody smell from Hu Zibiao, that silence bore down on everyone so heavily that they barely dared to breathe. The longer it lasted, the more deathly it became.

Yu Qing stepped forward and began gesturing, making inarticulate sounds.

The doctor grew impatient. "Tell me your name."

"Ah... ah... aba... ababa..."

Yu Qing opened his mouth, his brow deeply furrowed. He struggled to make simple sounds and pointed at his throat with a distressed expression.

The doctor watched for a moment, then understood. "Oh, so you're mute."

At that, Yu Qing's expression froze as though he were genuinely hurt. His eyes drooped, tears coming at once, and his tightly clasped hands shifted back and forth, as if he were apologizing for his inability to speak.

Even the doctor felt a little sorry for him when he saw that.

So he set paper and a pen on the edge of the desk. "Write it. Write it down."

But the instant Yu Qing saw the paper in front of him, he took half a step back, his pupils suddenly dilating.