Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital 1

[Player [Xie Fangcheng], welcome to Infinite Game: Do Not Respond. Generating your personal attributes interface. Please wait.]

[...]

[Generating personal attributes interface.]

[...]

[Generating personal attributes interface.]

[Failed to generate personal attributes interface.]

[Reason for failure: Player [Xie Fangcheng] has been confirmed dead.]

[System disconnecting...]

[?]

[Player [Xie Fangcheng] detected. [Survival Status: Good.] The system will reconnect.]

[Connection successful.]

[Player [Xie Fangcheng], welcome back to Infinite Game.]

[Generating your personal attributes interface. Please wait.]

...

"...Let me stress this one more time: the NPCs in this game are absolutely not something you rookies can take on!! I've met plenty of newcomers who'd just entered the game and immediately started pulling stunts, thinking they were the protagonist. Without exception, every last one of them died! If you don't want to die, then behave yourselves!"

After delivering that stern warning, Qi Chanyang looked at the group of newcomers before him, who did not even dare breathe too loudly, and was finally satisfied.

He was not trying to scare them on purpose.

The survival rate in instances of the infinite game Do Not Respond was no higher than thirty percent. Among newcomers, ninety percent died in their very first instance.

This was the first time Qi Chanyang had encountered an instance where, apart from himself, every player was a newcomer. The death rate would only soar higher.

Still, these newcomers looked fairly obedient, and this instance was only Level 1. Maybe a few more of them would make it out alive.

Realizing he had thought that again, Qi Chanyang paused, smiling bitterly to himself.

He had already cleared six instances. He knew perfectly well how naive that thought was, but people were just...

Qi Chanyang pushed the thought aside and spoke. "I've finished explaining the basics of the game. In a little over a minute, the game will officially begin. Let's introduce ourselves."

In the old elevator, several people exchanged glances.

Before long, a middle-aged man in a suit raised his hand first.

"I'll go first, then. My name is Sun Miao. I used to work in corporate accounting. I died of sudden death from overtime. I don't have any special skills, and you can tell from my build that I'm no good at sports. Please look after me."

"Next."

"I-I'm Lu Xiaoqin, a sophomore. I died in a car accident. I can play the piano, dance, and swim. I'm pretty timid, so please look after me too."

"Next."

...

Before long, seven people in the elevator had said, "Please look after me."

Qi Chanyang frowned.

The instance panel said there were nine people in this instance. Why were there only eight in the elevator? Where was the other...

Just then, a voice came from behind Qi Chanyang. "Huh? Are you introducing yourselves?"

Qi Chanyang turned around and froze for a moment.

Damn! What a gorgeous guy!

At some point, someone had appeared in the corner. He wore a T-shirt and jeans, dressed like a high school student. His shoulder-length hair was tied into a small knot at the back of his head. His skin had the pallor of someone who had not seen daylight for ages, yet his lips were vividly red, his eyes pitch-black. He was so beautiful it was almost uncanny.

If the instance had already begun, Qi Chanyang would probably have taken him for an NPC in a ghost instance.

But recalling what the man had just said, Qi Chanyang furrowed his brow. "What do you mean, 'Are you introducing yourselves?' Didn't you hear everything I just said?"

"I didn't hear it. I just got here."

"How is that possible?" After saying it, Qi Chanyang thought it might be possible after all. With a face like that, there was no way he would not have noticed him if he had been in the elevator earlier.

But didn't all players enter an instance at the same time?

Qi Chanyang was just about to speak when the elevator, which had been motionless until then, suddenly dropped.

The system prompt sounded.

[The instance has begun. Players, please prepare yourselves.]

The number above the elevator swiftly changed from 3 to 2 and was about to turn to 1. Qi Chanyang could only give one last hurried warning.

"Open the system interface and read the instance introduction yourself. You should know this much already: you've died in the real world and entered this game after death. As long as you keep clearing instances and earning points, you can exchange them for a chance to return to the real world. Forget it, there's no time... Just remember: on the first day of a game, as long as you do what the NPCs say and don't court death, you generally won't die."

Ding. The elevator doors opened, and Qi Chanyang gave him a glance.

"What's your name?"

The absurdly beautiful man smiled politely at him, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.

"Xie Fangcheng."

......

[Instance: Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital (Level 1)]

[Introduction: Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital is now accepting patients! If you exhibit strange behavior, hypersensitivity and paranoia, anxiety and obsession, or other symptoms, don't hesitate! Please check in for treatment immediately! Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital, with a 100% satisfaction rating, is your second home! What are you waiting for? Call now for a discount!]

[Details: For some reason, Blue Mountain Psychiatric Hospital always smells strange. Is it the smell of burning corpses?]

[Clear Condition: Survive for three days.]

[The historical peak survival rate for this instance exceeds 20%. Its difficulty level is low, and the hint function is unavailable.]

[Good luck.]

When the elevator doors opened, a doctor in a white coat and surgical mask stood outside. He frowned impatiently.

"Why are you so late?" Having said that, the doctor did not care in the least why they were late. He turned and led the way.

It was a psychiatric hospital that looked as though it had been around for years. The peeling walls were mottled and worn, making it seem like an ordinary small-town hospital. The difference from an ordinary hospital was that every few steps, there was a locked iron gate.

The sky was dim. The doctor took out his keys and unlocked an iron gate in the corridor as he grumbled.

"Since it's your first day here, the cafeteria saved you some food especially. If you're late again, you'll have to figure something out yourselves."

Qi Chanyang hurriedly responded, "Right, thank you for your trouble."

The doctor turned to look at him. Only then did Qi Chanyang notice that the doctor's eyes were unnaturally large. There was very little white in them; the black irises nearly filled their sockets.

One of the players could not help but gasp.

The doctor's eyeballs shifted toward the player who had gasped. For some reason, he let out a regretful sigh.

"Walk properly."

The group passed through two iron gates, and Qi Chanyang silently observed their surroundings.

At the far eastern end of the corridor was the elevator they had arrived in. As they headed west, they passed several locked doors marked Recreation Room, Badminton Hall, and the like.

Ahead, their view suddenly opened up. On the left, past the security office, was the first-floor lobby. The lobby and corridor were also separated by an iron gate. Qi Chanyang looked to the left and saw photos of "Outstanding Doctors" posted in a display case in the lobby. Beside it was a line of scarlet lettering: I love the hospital, and the hospital loves me.

The final word, "me," looked as if the brush had been overloaded with paint. The strokes ran down like blood, leaving several horrifying streaks on the wall.

As Qi Chanyang stared, his heart gave a violent jolt. He shifted his gaze and met the eyes of the security guard inside the security office.

The guard was an old man in his sixties or seventies, with graying hair and age spots all over his face.

But his eyes were enormous too. From a distance, it looked as if he had no eyelids, as if his sockets contained nothing but eyeballs. At that moment, that terrifying face was pressed against the window, staring fixedly at this group of newly admitted "patients."

When he saw that Qi Chanyang had met his gaze, the guard slowly split his mouth into a grin, baring all his teeth.

Qi Chanyang looked away.

Beyond the lobby was the cafeteria. Farther inside the cafeteria was another locked door with no sign on it, and no way to tell what it was for.

When he pushed open the cafeteria doors, Qi Chanyang was taken aback.

For all that the hospital was dilapidated, it had a remarkably large and clean cafeteria, so large one could not help wondering what such a space was actually for.

The cafeteria was utterly empty. In the middle stood only a round stainless-steel table. Nine people in hospital gowns were already seated around it at intervals, with an empty stool beside each of them.

At the sound of the door opening, all nine patients turned in unison to look at the players in the doorway.

Unsurprisingly, these patients' eyes were terrifyingly large as well. Lu Xiaoqin, the most timid one, covered her mouth and burst into tears. The female player beside her held her tightly.

Several players stood rooted to the spot, unwilling to go forward, whispering among themselves at the back.

"What kind of place is this? They're all ghosts, right?"

"Are we supposed to eat the things they give us? What are they going to feed us? Human flesh?"

"Look at that one, the one in the No. 9 hospital gown... I-is he smiling at me the whole time? What's he smiling about?"

The doctor knocked on the table in displeasure. "Stop dawdling. Sit down and eat!"

Qi Chanyang said quietly, "If you don't want to die on the first day, do what he says."

With that, he was the first to walk to the table and sit down next to the NPC in the No. 1 hospital gown.

At the same moment he took his seat, Qi Chanyang caught sight of a figure sitting down almost simultaneously out of the corner of his eye.

He looked up. With one patient between them, the player named Xie Fangcheng had not only settled in calmly but was greeting the patient beside him.

"Hello. What's for dinner tonight?"

The patient beside him was No. 9, the one who had been smiling all along. Hearing the question, No. 9 tilted his head. It wobbled on his neck as though it would fall off the next second.

"Meatballs. Tomato soup."

"That's it?"

Qi Chanyang: "..."

No. 9 kept smiling with his head tilted, his neck nearly bent a hundred and eighty degrees as he looked at Xie Fangcheng practically upside down. The sight was so bizarre it made one's hair stand on end, yet he continued speaking. "Meatballs are tasty. All meat."

"Isn't it nutritionally unbalanced to eat nothing but meat?"

Qi Chanyang: "..."

No. 9 answered honestly, "Vegetables in the daytime. Lunch. Four dishes."

"Oh, oh. Hey, what do we have for a staple? Rice? Can we get more if it isn't enough? Where do we get more? Will we have rice tomorrow too? Do you have steamed buns?"

Qi Chanyang: "..."

Noticing Qi Chanyang staring at him, Xie Fangcheng, who was chatting animatedly with No. 9, looked over and explained, "I'm hungry. I didn't eat before I died."

Watching him hold his chopsticks, Qi Chanyang felt that he did not look as though he were in an instance of a horror game.

He looked like he was waiting for a banquet to begin.