Sturdy rope like this could be redeemed very cheaply in the system shop.
Although the Instance did not forbid killing NPCs, doing so would reset the game and raise their hostility.
Then I'll just tie it up.
Ruan Ping was pale with fright, cold sweat streaming down his back.
Back on the hospital bed, he had only narrowed his eyes and stolen a glance, roughly confirming that it was a monster with a pig's head and a human body. He had not dared examine any other details.
But the moment the monster stepped out of the room, the cold white light in the corridor shone directly onto its swollen, hideous pig face.
This time, he saw it clearly-clearly enough to make out the brown hair growing on its face.
Looking at the unconscious monster on the floor, Ruan Ping swallowed with difficulty. Despite his pale face, his trembling lips still managed to form words.
"Shen... Shen Ru, is there anything I can help with?"
He might have been scared, but he could still step up!
The young man lifted his Red Eyes slightly and looked at the boy before him, who was on the verge of crying from fear. Incredulously, he asked, "Are you so scared you've started talking nonsense?"
Was he going to scare the boar off with his tears?
Ruan Ping: ...Thanks. I feel thoroughly insulted.
In the livestream chat:
[Hahahahaha, Ping, get your tongue working properly before you offer to help!]
[I feel like this kid's about to shatter, and he can still offer to help. Wifey! I've confirmed it for you-this is definitely true love!]
After confirming there was nothing else to search at the nurses' station, the two turned and entered the office.
The moment they entered, a bloody stench hit them in the face. The nauseating reek was so sharp that even Shen Ru narrowed his eyes. Something unknown squelched beneath their feet, and the sticky sensation instantly made their scalps prickle.
Ruan Ping felt along the wall, found something resembling a switch, and pressed it down.
Click!
Harsh white light illuminated the entire room, revealing the scene inside.
Scratches of every size covered the deathly white walls, which were riddled with mold. The floorboards had loosened and let out eerie creaks beneath their feet.
Black-and-yellow hardened deposits littered the room. The sticky liquid on the floor might have been saliva dripping from livestock's mouths, or some unidentified discharge from inflamed bodies that had not received timely treatment.
Fighting back his nausea, Shen Ru steeled himself and approached the desk.
The desktop was just as filthy and cluttered, with almost no useful information. The writing on many documents had become illegible, and some were missing entire sections.
While he was still searching, Ruan Ping suddenly cried out from the other side of the room.
"Shen Ru, come look!"
Pale-faced, his pupils trembling slightly, Ruan Ping stared in disbelief at the sentences on the wall.
Shen Ru walked over and saw a set of staff guidelines written on the wall:
1. Patients are susceptible to infection during treatment, resulting in cognitive impairment. They will see monsters with animal heads and human bodies. If this occurs, their condition has worsened. Transfer them to the fourth floor for treatment immediately.
2. Patients affected by cognitive contamination will develop difficulties recognizing information. Do not be easily deceived by their behavior.
3. There is no danger within the mental hospital, except after 8 p.m.
4. If a patient is already infected, none of the above guidelines have any reference value.
Ruan Ping felt those four sentences completely demolish the understanding of the world he had painstakingly built. He had thought this was an exploration Instance in which humans and animals had exchanged roles, but after all their roundabout efforts, those four sentences told them everything was an imagined hallucination.
They were seeing these strange phenomena because their cognition might have been infected.
"Has our cognition been infected...?"
Ruan Ping looked hopelessly at the beautiful young man beside him. Even an expert would have a headache at a time like this.
To his surprise, he saw a playful smile curl Shen Ru's lips. His slightly narrowed Red Eyes gleamed, without a trace of the confusion or turmoil Ruan Ping had expected.
"Who do you think wrote this?"
The clear voice sounded beside Ruan Ping's ear, and the vague questions tangled together like a ball of yarn suddenly found an answer.
Ruan Ping thought for a moment, then ventured, "Probably the director."
Shen Ru nodded and continued guiding him. "Then do you think the director is a human or an animal?"
Ruan Ping was about to answer, but suddenly froze.
Based on their earlier experiences, he had already concluded that everyone's roles throughout the mental hospital were reversed. In other words, he had assumed from the outset that the current director was an animal, so "patients" referred to Players like them.
What if he followed Shen Ru's hint and looked at it from the perspective of a human director?
Perhaps this mental hospital had originally been nothing more than a hospital for treating livestock.
These four rules should have been reminders for the staff. If he replaced "patients" with "livestock," they really did make sense.
Domestic animals could indeed bite people or refuse to cooperate with treatment when sick, so those points had been specifically noted in the staff guidelines.
In the livestream chat:
[Seriously, anyone would have a breakdown when they first read that...]
[I've watched this Instance before. This is actually a smokescreen meant to lure Players up to the fourth floor.]
[Wouldn't Players go there even without being lured? Why bother?]
[Because this Instance has a three-day time limit. Once they realize this floor only has monsters with pig heads and human bodies, plenty of people will refuse to go upstairs to save their own skins and just hole up until the Instance ends.]
[...That's so underhanded.]
For the first time, Ruan Ping witnessed Shen Ru's terrifying mental prowess, rather than his combat strength.
He had watched the Tea Party Instance many times, replaying the spectacular scene of the young man killing two people in succession at the end countless times. But that excessive admiration for his combat strength had instead left everyone with a fixed impression of him as a madman who did whatever he pleased.
In reality, however, Shen Ru had been exceptionally calm ever since Ruan Ping met him.
That composure had even allowed them to find a bug in this Instance that could carry them safely through its three days.
Seeing that Ruan Ping finally understood, Shen Ru nodded in satisfaction. At last, a tremor of intense excitement flashed in his Red Eyes. Their upturned corners curved into lovely arcs, and even his previously steady breathing grew a little hurried.
"Since you understand, let's go to the fourth floor!"
The young man's voice was soft and sweet. Listening closely, one could even hear a tender, affectionate anticipation in it.
But those words were like an icy knife plunging straight into Ruan Ping's heart. He turned to look at Shen Ru in utter disbelief, his expression horrified and astonished.
"What?"
Feeling that he must have misheard, Ruan Ping struggled to ask the young man for confirmation.
In an excellent mood, Shen Ru lifted his lips into a dazzlingly bold smile. His dark crimson eyes brimmed with tenderness, as though he were about to visit an old friend he had not seen in years.
"I said, let's go to the fourth floor together!"
Ruan Ping abruptly stumbled two steps backward.
He's a fucking lunatic!
Aaaaaah, what blind idiot praised him for being calm???
At that moment, even the pig head lying on the floor suddenly looked much more appealing to Ruan Ping...
In the livestream chat:
[Hahahahaha, I feel like Ruan Ping's worldview just took a devastating hit!!!]
[Hahahaha, I swear he was absolutely planning to hole up for three days and clear the Instance.]
[I'm dying. My wifey even made a point of saying "together"!]
[Congratulations, Player Ruan Ping. Your journey of having every last bit of value squeezed out of you by my wifey has only just begun!]
Before you continue