Someone once gave me strawberry candy, too

What had he seen...?

He had been staring for almost three minutes.

With some of his strength restored, Yu Qing stood, braced one hand against the windowsill, and looked outside!

Their ward opened directly onto the Sanatorium's backyard. In the enormous Wishing Pool, Yu Qing saw piled stone blocks supporting a carved angel statue. A hunched old woman was circling it with her hands behind her back, hopping like a frog.

Her skin was wrinkled like waterlogged tree bark. At this distance, her face was hard to make out, but her neck jutted far forward, and every time she hopped, she spat out a mouthful of water.

Moreover, she only circled, moving with perfect regularity. At first glance, she seemed almost harmless, just... strangely captivating.

Those rhythmic movements were like the simplest little game. Once an exhausted person started watching, it became very difficult to look away.

Like Qian Lai, Yu Qing gradually found himself staring blankly...

Thump, thump, thump...

The old woman's hops became increasingly regular, but the sound grew louder and louder, making their hearts pound with unease.

A moment later, thump!

She abruptly stopped. Yu Qing's heart clenched as though he had realized something. Without moving her body, the old woman suddenly aimed straight at them. "Pfft-"

A jet of water shot directly toward them!

At that moment, Yu Qing's body seemed frozen. He could not even turn his head!

With no time to spare, the boy steeled himself and bit down hard on his tongue!

He bit until he bled, forced his eyes shut, and tackled the dazed Qian Lai to the floor.

The next instant, amid a sizzling hiss, Yu Qing saw the wall beside him melt under that mouthful of water.

A huge hole dissolved through the stone bricks, and the entire ward's electrical system failed.

The fluorescent tube flickered feebly a few times before sinking into deep, desolate darkness.

"Heeheeheeheeheehee-"

Then eerie laughter echoed. The old woman, who had seemed so harmless a moment ago, had turned to face them head-on. Cackling wildly, she came hurtling toward them at terrifying speed!!

Who knew what would happen if she caught them!!

Yu Qing immediately hauled Qian Lai up. "Run!"

But... just as they reached the doorway, more than a dozen towering skeleton orderlies arrived one after another. Like a stone wall, they blocked the exit completely. "Angel's newest sacrifice, we have come to collect you. Join us in basking in the sacred ritual."

Meanwhile, the old woman had already broken through the ruined wall and was about to press against his back. "Big sisters!"

Yu Qing suddenly cried out, "Big sisters, save me!!!"

Before his voice had faded, that rhythmic "tap, tap, tap" sounded again.

The female ghosts who had eaten the Doctor and been strengthened by the Ghost-Attracting Formation approached in formation, appearing behind the orderlies without warning.

Long, slender nails emerged from their grayish-white fingers. A second later, crack-

Sharp nails pierced a neck, and one of the orderlies crashed to the floor. Given a fresh chance to survive, Yu Qing immediately rushed into the elevator and headed straight for the ninth floor!

On the instance's enormous main livestream screen, the pitch-black first-floor corridor soon became a scene of monsters running wild.

Caught completely off guard, the skeleton orderlies were taken down by the female ghosts one after another. Even as they hit the floor, their eyes remained bewildered, as though they could not understand why creatures who had coexisted peacefully with them for years would suddenly attack.

[Hahahahaha, did you guys see the main stream? I'm dying!]

Meanwhile, as the elevator rose, Yu Qing's livestream chat had already been flooded with frantic laughter.

[I saw it, I saw it! Female ghosts versus skeleton orderlies! Never seen that before!]

[Hahahahaha, those orderlies died without ever figuring out that the female ghosts like sweet little brothers.]

[Ooh-where are the dumbasses who said our Qingqing couldn't turn the tables on the Doctor? And the dumbasses who said he couldn't escape Angel's sacrificial ritual? Come on out~~~ Keep talking~~~ (sarcastic)]

Ding-

With a soft chime, the elevator stopped.

Yu Qing stepped out and checked the floor number first. Only after confirming it was nine did he breathe a relieved sigh and rub his chest, as though he had narrowly escaped death.

Qian Lai looked puzzled. "It was just an elevator ride. Did you have to be that nervous?"

"That night when the black fog surrounded us, I took the elevator to the third floor. Then I went down half a flight of stairs and reached the safe zone."

"..."

Yu Qing was momentarily speechless. Remembering his own desperate escape, he could not help asking, "Is this elevator really that safe?"

Qian Lai raised his brows as the other boy continued, "Wasn't that because your luck stat is 103?"

Qian Lai's eyes widened in disbelief. His first reaction was that Yu Qing must be joking.

But his tone did not sound like a joke. "H-how did you know?"

Yu Qing walked forward, feeling around for the hallway light switch, and answered casually, "I tried entering some code into my system to link it to yours. Then I saw it."

Click-

Fortunately, Yu Qing had familiarized himself with the ninth floor when he first arrived, so finding the lights was easy. Qian Lai's expression, however... did not look nearly so good.

The young man in the Tang Suit approached him, his slight movements making the copper coins hanging from his clothes jingle. A moment later, he reached out and offered him a-Strawberry Lollipop?

Yu Qing: ?

A quiet warning came from beside his ear. "Buddy, this candy cost 100 points. Consider it hush money. Don't tell the other streamers about that embarrassing hobby of mine."

To ensure fairness, streamers could not access one another's status panels. Unless someone disclosed their information, all anyone could see were the streamers famous for clearing stages on the various leaderboards.

Yu Qing thought for a moment, then asked tentatively, "You mean how you like watching beautiful women walk the runway... mmph..."

Before he could finish, the lollipop had been unwrapped and stuffed into his mouth.

The sugary sweetness spread across his tongue. Yu Qing's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes flickered several times.

After a long while, his nose unexpectedly began to sting.

A hazy memory took shape in his mind, as though another hand had once unwrapped candy for him, too. "Someone... once gave me strawberry candy, too."

The boy's voice was very soft, cool and subdued, as though he had recalled something painful. Or perhaps... he was missing someone who had long since vanished into the depths of his memories.

"Ah..." For a moment, Qian Lai did not know how to respond. "D-does it taste good?"

"Yes. I'll keep your secret." Yu Qing smiled. With the sweet candy rolling around in his mouth, even his steps grew considerably lighter.

Besides the morgue, the Sanatorium's top floor contained more than fifty small rooms packed closely together. They had only one hour to explore. If they failed to find clues related to the story, they would die!

To avoid wasting time, Yu Qing and Qian Lai split up.

The first room on the far left of the corridor was a Princess Room. Its walls were entirely grayish-white, with dark black vertical lines painted at intervals, making it look like a prison.

Yet the large bed was soft, and dolls with all kinds of strange expressions were neatly arranged on the pink nightstand. They looked... coldly unsettling.

Something told him... a child's room should not be this tidy...

The door was locked from the outside. Yu Qing tugged at it twice but could not open it, so he simply opened the system shop and looked up the Master Key-300,000 points.

Every important item here was outrageously expensive. At this rate, when would he ever...

His slender fingers hovered in deep hesitation, and the livestream viewers gradually grew impatient.

[Buy it, streamer! Are you hoarding all those points just to wait for death? The system's counting down!]

[Obviously a newbie. Always thinks earning a handful of points matters more than staying alive.]

[Hurry up and search the room! That lock's complicated. There's no other way to open it. I just watched another streamer buy this. Stop dragging your feet!]

His lashes fluttered, and Yu Qing finally moved his hand and bought something.

A moment later, the iron lock fell to the floor. The heavy iron door swung open with a bang, releasing a thick stench of blood.

The viewers who had urged him on were gloating, convinced they had made a wise decision, when the system's announcement rang out clearly:

[Streamer Yu Qing has begun exploring. Points spent: 1.]

The livestream chat: [?????]