After receiving their wristbands, the patients were herded upstairs to their wards by the nurses, who informed them that they could move around the hospital's public areas during the day but were absolutely forbidden from fighting—otherwise, everyone would be punished.

A total of over sixty people were assigned to different floors, with the majority concentrated on the third and fourth floors, while a few were on the fifth. When they entered their rooms, the hospital's time shifted to nighttime, and the hallway broadcast announced that patients must return to their wards to rest and were not allowed to wander outside.

"If I'm not mistaken, when we first came in and looked out from the hospital, the sky was bright," Gu Yu said. Several of them had been assigned to the same room. After checking everything inside, they peered out the window.

The window in this room faced the hospital entrance. From their elevated position, they could see the grassy area in front of the hospital, but what should have been a distant expanse of heavy fog had transformed into outer railings and streets. The scenery looked no different from an ordinary street.

"Could we just climb over the wall and escape the hospital to clear the dungeon?" Zheng Liang suggested.

"How could that possibly work?" Wen Xuelin retorted. "We definitely have to complete the dungeon task. Besides, it looks like a street out there, but who knows what it'll actually become if we step out? If the security guards catch us and lock us up on the seventh floor, we'll be screwed."

"The first of the three tasks looks easier on the surface, but this is clearly a psychiatric hospital. A lot of things could be deceptive or suggestive. Let's just skip it and go for the second or third task," Brother Liang proposed.

"The hospital's main entrance is right downstairs. Could wiping the door really clear the task?" Guan Zuhong looked around doubtfully.

"Whether it's right or not, let's give it a try first," Gu Yu said. "Do you all have protective items? Use them first. There might be pathogens on the door."

One after another, they put on protective suits or brought out defensive items, and only then did they quietly open the room's door.

"Not a single person came out?" Zheng Liang stared at the empty, silent hallway. "That doesn't make sense. How could those Player-Eaters be so obedient?"

Suppressing their doubts, the group headed downstairs. The hallway door was already locked, but Guan Zuhong used an item to open it. When they reached the third floor, they found only a single flickering light in the corridor, its unstable glow creating a visual effect that seemed to stretch the hallways on both sides.

Wen Xuelin stared at the left corridor. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide, and she instinctively covered her mouth. As the light blinked out, she lowered her voice and whispered to those beside her, "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Gu Yu turned her head. At that moment, the light in the hallway flickered rapidly again, but in the instant it flared up, a woman with long hair covering her face stood facing them just twenty meters away.

"Holy shit!" Zheng Liang was the first to yelp. "Let's go! Let's get the hell out of here!"

They scrambled to leap down the stairs, but when they looked back, they found that the woman, who had been at a certain distance before, had now appeared at the stairwell entrance with the flickering of the light.

Wen Xuelin let out a low shriek and said in terror, "Are there horror dungeons in the game? I've never heard of that! Don't follow us, go find someone else!"

The light flickered once more. When their vision returned to normal, the long-haired woman hadn't followed them.

Gu Yu and the others were a bit shaken. Brother Liang said, "Maybe it's another player using an item to scare people. I've never heard any other players mention a horror dungeon. Ghosts probably don't exist in the game."

"Are you sure?" Wen Xuelin's lips were trembling. "I'm most afraid of these things!"

"Sure," Brother Liang said. "If horror dungeons existed, there's no way there wouldn't be any news on the forums. There are quite a few D-level players in our country now. Even if they haven't experienced it themselves, they could learn about it from other Districts. No one has mentioned it, so it doesn't exist. Don't scare yourselves."

Wen Xuelin calmed down a bit and reassured herself, "Then it's probably just another player. Let's hurry up."

They quietly made their way to the first floor. The Head Nurse and the security guards were nowhere to be seen. In the brightly lit lobby, several other players stood there—specifically, the delicate-looking female player who had spoken earlier, along with her three companions.

These four were now standing in front of the door, making no move. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What are you doing?" Zheng Liang cautiously approached them.

The female player and her group were clearly also after the third task, yet now they stood frozen in front of the door.

"I'm worried there are pathogens on the door," the female player said. "The Seventeenth Hospital has a dedicated building for infectious disease research. Pathogens might appear in unexpected places. I doubt it'll be that easy to clear the task just by wiping the door."

Then why the hell are you here?

Gu Yu and the others found it rather baffling, but the next second, they saw the female player pull out a gun and fire several shots at the entrance. The glass door shattered on impact. She cast a glance at Gu Yu and the others, then left the hospital with her companions.

"Is there something wrong with that person!" Zheng Liang stared at the shattered door scattered across the floor. "How are we supposed to clean this up now?"

Wen Xuelin, however, pulled cleaning tools from her item slot and swept the broken pieces into a pile. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

The group stood in front of the door for a while but ultimately didn't muster the courage to step outside. Brother Liang suggested checking out Building Two, since they couldn't receive psychological treatment at this hour.

Gu Yu was still cautious. "Other players must have gone there. Let's observe from downstairs first."

So they crept through the dark to the transitional lawn in the middle. But before they even reached the entrance of Building Two, a harrowing scream suddenly erupted from inside. Someone shouted in panic, "Don't come near! Don't come—!"

The voice cut off abruptly. A long silence made everyone's heart race involuntarily. Gu Yu and Brother Liang exchanged a glance, then wordlessly began to retreat, planning to head back to Building One. But as they turned around, they noticed some changes on the exterior wall of the outpatient building.

In their rush, they didn't look too closely and hurried back inside. However, when they tried to go upstairs, they found the entire building plunged into an eerie darkness, with only faint moonlight filtering through the windows and hallways. They could vaguely hear a sound like chains dragging across the floor, growing closer and closer.

Zheng Liang, who was in front, abruptly stopped and signaled for them to climb onto the outer wall and return to their rooms from the outside.

Given the earlier encounter with the "female ghost" in the hallway, no one objected. They each used their own abilities to scale the wall and climb back up to the fourth floor.

The ward was just as they had left it. Gu Yu and Brother Liang pressed their ears to the door to listen for sounds outside. They heard the dragging noise stop nearby, followed by a knock.

After a brief silence, a door opened, and then came another stretch of quiet. Two minutes later, the dragging sound returned to the hallway, and the knocking resumed.

Whatever was making that noise was definitely not good. The fact that not a single sound came out after the door opened didn't mean the players inside were fine. And if it could continue wandering and knocking, it meant those players couldn't do anything about it.

Gu Yu and Brother Liang exchanged a look, then dragged a bed over to block the door. Just as they were about to call the others for help, they realized Zheng Liang and Guan Zuhong had already leaned against the bed and closed their eyes.