Inside the elevator.
Shen Ru thought about the employee rules he had just seen in the office. Judging by the clues they had, the animals' cognitive contamination was most likely caused by their awakening to self-awareness during treatment.
And the fourth employee rule clearly stated that if the livestock showed signs of infection, the three preceding rules were void.
That meant there was currently no safe period in this mental hospital.
They also had no way of knowing whether their appearance had changed in the monsters' eyes.
At that thought, Shen Ru took a Name Badge from his pocket. The words "level 3" were clearly printed on it.
In the livestream chat:
[???]
[When did he grab that? I remember that swollen pig at the end didn't have a Name Badge??]
[I think he grabbed it the last time he escaped the ward. It flashed past on-screen, and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me...]
[...Holy shit, he was already eyeing its Name Badge that early?]
After the time reset, Shen Ru had crossed paths with that monster at close range. When he noticed the Name Badge, he hadn't given it much thought. He had simply pulled it off during the fight, just in case.
And now it had come in handy.
The young man then handed the Name Badge to Ruan Ping.
Ruan Ping wasn't stupid. Naturally, he understood that this was an identifying mark from a monster. In many instances, it was a key item for changing a character's identity. In their current situation, for example, it could very well be the crucial item that changed their fate.
"Th-this is something you found, Shen Ru. I can't wear it!"
Although Ruan Ping desperately wanted it, he couldn't take it. If he wore it, what would Shen Ru do? Everything about the Fourth Floor was unknown. He couldn't just stand by and watch his idol walk into danger.
Looking at his earnest expression, Shen Ru suddenly realized that this guy must have started dreaming up another melodramatic storyline.
"Put it on. I'm not sure what we look like to them right now. In a moment, tell them my condition has worsened and you brought me up for treatment."
The young man's crisp, decisive voice shattered Ruan Ping's lovely fantasy:
"If the monster's attitude toward you seems off, your main quest from then on is to stay alive. Understood?"
Ruan Ping blinked. His bewildered eyes gradually focused, as though he hadn't quite grasped what Shen Ru meant.
Shen Ru chuckled and lifted the corners of his mouth, his eyes tilting up with a hint of teasing. "Weren't you the one who told me to use you however I liked?"
Ruan Ping: ...
In the livestream chat:
[Hahahahaha, the poor kid's stunned. One second it's "I'm eternally grateful," and the next it's "fuck you."]
[Aaaaaah, wifey, he's your fan! You can't just use him and toss him aside!]
[I think Beauty Shen is protecting him in a roundabout way... If they're both patients, moving together is more dangerous. If Ruan Ping can successfully pass as a nurse, he'll definitely be a lot safer!]
[Yeah, that's what I think too. Normally, this would be the key to changing identities. It would actually benefit Beauty Shen more to test it himself, but he didn't.]
[Waaah, my wifey really does have a sharp tongue and a soft heart.]
Shen Ru did intend to use this to determine whether the Name Badge was the key to changing identities. And if that hypothesis held true, it would prove that the Name Badge was one of the sources of cognitive contamination.
"Ding!"
They had reached the Fourth Floor.
The elevator doors slowly opened.
Unlike on the third floor, the instant the doors opened, a powerful, pungent stench of decay hit them in the face.
Only two lights lit the long corridor, crackling as they gave off a faint glow. Chaotic black-and-red bloodstains covered the walls, and mangled chunks of flesh lay scattered across the floor. Like freshly cut flesh that still retained its nerve reflexes, they kept writhing on the ground. Everywhere they looked was a scene of carnage.
The lighting was poor, and Shen Ru couldn't make out exactly what those things were.
Suddenly.
"Hiss-"
Ruan Ping abruptly sucked in a breath, then stopped dead in his tracks.
Something cold and slimy wrapped around his ankle, even trying to climb up his trouser leg.
Shen Ru immediately turned his head. Following the young man's gaze, he saw the true form of the creature that had been dismembered.
An octopus.
An animal like this had only recently died, and its nervous system had not yet completely stopped functioning, so its limbs could still move independently even when disconnected from its brain.
Shen Ru calmly pried the octopus tentacle away, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
The tentacle was coated in blood, its suckers packed tightly together. Round, white, ball-shaped objects were actually stuck to them.
Ruan Ping noticed this too and peered at them curiously.
The moment his gaze met the black pupils on those two round objects, his face turned deathly pale with fright. He clamped a hand over his mouth and hurriedly backed away two steps.
They were a pair of eyes.
They looked as though they had been forcibly sucked out.
Shen Ru immediately ruled out the possibility that a player had been killed. Judging by the scene, the octopus monster had been torn limb from limb. Even if it still retained its nerve reflexes, it would soon be completely dead.
An NPC's death would cause the game to reset. In that case, he should have been back on the third floor, not here on the Fourth Floor.
So these eyes either belonged to another NPC or to the octopus monster itself.
Just as that thought occurred to him, a system notification suddenly sounded in both their ears:
"Ding! Players Shen Ru and Ruan Ping have discovered an illogical anomaly: a strange octopus corpse." "As my condition worsened, I had no choice but to be transferred to the Fourth Floor for treatment. Yet both the mangled octopus corpse and the chaotic corridor told me of the hospital's strangeness."
Once the announcement ended, Shen Ru turned to Ruan Ping. "Let's go to the Nurses' Station now. Stick to the plan."
As though he had been entrusted with a grave responsibility, Ruan Ping nodded solemnly.
There was no one at the Nurses' Station, so they had to go to the office to find someone.
Ruan Ping stood rigidly outside the door, frantically psyching himself up. He gritted his teeth hard and told himself that whatever he saw next, he must not scream.
He was just about to take a deep breath and raise his hand to knock.
Then a fair, slender hand appeared before his eyes, and the elegant wrist flicked lightly twice.
Knock, knock, knock.
A rapid burst of knocking rang out.
Ruan Ping: "..."
????
Are you really in that much of a hurry???
In the livestream chat:
[Hahahahaha, holy shit, I'm dying.]
[My wifey: Nobody's more eager than me when it comes to courting death, hahahahaha.]
[Even the monster's shocked by this. Hurry up and open the door! Your new overlord is here!!]
As Ruan Ping's nervous gaze darted around, a wet, nauseating, gurgling sound of crawling came from inside the room. It drew closer and closer, until the door was pulled open with a creak.
A strange, dark red eyeball glowing faintly green abruptly appeared in the gap.
Ruan Ping's pupils instantly contracted. Forcing down the chattering of his teeth, he spoke as steadily as he could:
"Hello, I'm a nurse from the third floor. This patient's condition has deteriorated, so I brought him to the Fourth Floor for treatment."
The moment he finished speaking, the eyeball in the gap suddenly shifted its gaze to the red-eyed young man behind him.
Their gazes met. Shen Ru's lips involuntarily curved upward, and his hands trembled slightly.
It wasn't from panic or fear. That gaze brimming with malice filled him with an inexplicable excitement.
What better way was there to find pleasure than walking on the edge of death!
A shrill voice came from behind the door. "Nurse, wait in the office. Patient, come with me."
With that, the soft-bodied monster slipped easily through the gap in the door, exposing its entire form to both of them.
Before you continue