Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Tu Nan’s dormitory was on the second floor.

After checking her ID badge, the strange man walked over to a small cubicle in the corner. The cubicle was shrouded in darkness, yet it offered a perfect view of everything on the first floor.

She tucked her ID badge away and headed toward the second floor under the flickering lights.

The stairwell smelled of decay, as if it had been sealed away for a long time-damp and thick with dust.

Covering her nose, she made her way up by the dim light.

The second floor was in no better shape. The floor was mottled, the walls were peeling, and dust and cobwebs were everywhere.

Compared to the main hospital building, the staff dormitory felt like a relic from a different century.

Rooms lined both sides of the second-floor corridor, every door tightly shut. The overhead lights were incredibly dim. She followed the room numbers inward and finally found her own about halfway down the hall.

The staff dorms at Fairy Tale Hospital were shared by two people. Not knowing if her roommate was inside and afraid of disturbing them by knocking, she took out her key and opened the door quietly.

The dormitory door was a heavy iron one. As it opened, it let out a deep, heavy creak that sounded exceptionally loud in the silent corridor.

A faint, yellowish light spilled out from the gap in the door.

Tu Nan breathed a sigh of relief-it seemed her roommate wasn’t asleep yet.

“Sorry to disturb you, I’m the new Intern Nurse,” Tu Nan said softly as she pushed the door open.

With the door wide open, she finally saw the interior of the room.

It was a moderately sized room, quite dim, with two bunk beds-the kind with a bed on top and a desk underneath. Directly facing the door was a desk, and a person was currently sitting there with their back to her.

“Hello?” Tu Nan greeted her cautiously. “My name is Tu Nan.”

The person sitting at the desk slowly turned around, looking at her with an expressionless face.

Tu Nan couldn’t help but gasp.

Her roommate’s complexion was identical to the security guard downstairs-pale and sickly, with two massive dark circles under her eyes and colorless lips. In such dim lighting, she looked quite terrifying at first glance.

“Hello,” the roommate greeted her in a light, airy voice. “No need to be so formal. I’m also an Intern Nurse. My name is He Ling.”

“You’re an Intern Nurse too?” Tu Nan asked, somewhat incredulous. “How long have you been interning?”

“How long?” A momentary look of confusion flickered in He Ling’s pitch-black pupils. “It seems like… a month? No, that’s not right. Two months… wait, how long have I been interning?”

Tu Nan carefully observed her expression. She saw the girl’s face shift several times, moving from confusion to clarity, before finally settling back into a state of infinite stillness.

After a long silence, she said slowly, “I don’t remember.”

Tu Nan suddenly thought of something, and a bold suspicion surfaced in her heart.

The names of the NPCs in the Instances were, without exception, foreign. The name “He Ling” was too jarring; it didn’t sound like someone from an Instance at all. Instead, it sounded like she came from the same place as Tu Nan.

“Are you… a Player?” she asked He Ling, unable to hold back.

He Ling’s body jolted, and her pupils contracted.

“Player…” Her pale, cracked lips trembled slightly as she forced the word out.

“I am… an Intern Nurse… no, I am…” A look of agony appeared on her face.

“Are you okay?” Tu Nan stepped forward. “You don’t look like you’re in a good state.”
“It hurts… It hurts so much…” He Ling suddenly reached out to clutch her head, groaning in agony. “My head hurts so much…”

“What’s wrong?” Tu Nan felt a bit helpless. Glancing around the cluttered dormitory, she could only go to the side to pour a cup of water and hand it to her. “Here, have some water first.”

He Ling, still clutching her head, lashed out and knocked the cup from her hand. With a sharp crash, the cup hit the floor, and clear liquid splashed across the ground beneath their feet.

That crisp sound seemed to startle He Ling out of her dazed state.

She snapped her head up, and her eyes, which had been clouded with chaos, suddenly cleared.

“I… I remember now.” She stared straight ahead, her voice sounding like a sleepwalker’s. “I’m a Player.”

This expression, combined with her deathly pale complexion, created an indescribable sense of eeriness.

Tu Nan froze for a moment. She knelt down to look at her, her voice slow and gentle, fearing she might scare her and cause her to sink back into that state of confusion.

“Do you remember how long you’ve been in here?”

“A long, long time.” He Ling was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, her eyes wide with fear. “So long that I can’t even remember the exact time…” She looked at Tu Nan. “Are you a Player too?”

Tu Nan nodded. “Don’t be nervous. It’s just the two of us here. You can take your time.”

He Ling took a deep breath, and her tense body gradually relaxed.

Seeing this, Tu Nan continued, “Do you still remember your mission?”

He Ling sighed. “I remember. My mission is to pass the Nurse Assessment. But… but I just can’t pass it, no matter what…”

“Isn’t the training only supposed to last a month?” Tu Nan asked, puzzled. “Why are you still an intern at the hospital?”

“That’s right…” He Ling’s eyes grew vacant again. “Wasn’t it only supposed to be a month…”

Looking at her, Tu Nan felt an immense weight in her heart. Although she knew the Nurse Assessment wouldn’t be easy to pass, seeing a failed Player here so suddenly still filled her with a sense of shared grief and desolation.

Judging by He Ling’s appearance, she had clearly been affected by the Instance’s Contamination. Even if a shock had granted her a rare moment of clarity, she would soon sink back into chaos.

“I have to hurry and review.” The regressing He Ling began to mutter to herself as she turned back to the materials spread out on the desk. “I have to work hard to pass the assessment…”

“I have to work hard…”

Tu Nan adjusted her mindset as quickly as possible.

Being placed in the same room as He Ling might very well be the Weird’s malice-letting her see the failure of one of her own kind to induce a sense of defeat. That way, her mental defenses could be dismantled as quickly as possible.

She wouldn’t let them win.

Tu Nan walked into the washroom. It was damp and dark, with moss even growing in the corners. Living in such an environment for a long time would cause anyone’s mental state to deteriorate.

Frowning, she filled a basin with water, performed a quick and simple wash, and walked back out.

He Ling was still at the desk reading, completely oblivious to anything Tu Nan did.

Tu Nan stared at her back for a while, sighed, and didn’t bother her.

It was pointless now.

She walked over to her own bed and climbed in.

The quilt smelled of mold and felt damp and heavy against her body. But she was truly too exhausted today-so exhausted that despite the environment, she soon fell into a deep sleep.