Chapter 143
Chapter 143
There were ten rules in total, thoughtfully accompanied by phonetic guides. Even Liu Ye could understand them. He had learned quite a few characters recently and would soon escape the ranks of the illiterate.
“Has everyone finished reading?” Director Jia asked. “We will now distribute your employee badges. Remember: you must wear them at all times. Do not remove them even when you use the toilet.
“Patients will say all kinds of things to confuse you and avoid treatment. Never believe them.”
Nurses brought over the badges. Wang Weiwei examined hers. It bore a black-and-white photograph, along with her name and position.
This badge was a tool for survival. She put it on immediately.
On the way to the wards, Li Wei studied his handbook. He had survived six games and gained some insight into missions in the Fiendish World.
The first rule said that every patient’s needs must be met.
The key word was “needs,” not “requests.”
If it had said requests, they would have to obey anything a patient said. That would be incredibly dangerous. What if a request conflicted with another rule? If a patient refused medicine, for example, while the handbook required them to take it, which rule took precedence?
Needs were different.
Rule Six said their badges represented their identities. Did “patient” also represent a particular identity? Perhaps they could refuse unreasonable demands unrelated to a patient’s medical needs.
Li Wei favored that interpretation. The alternative led to certain death.
More importantly, the mission listed seven participants, yet there were eight caregivers.
The System could not be wrong.
That meant a Fiend had infiltrated their group.
Click.
While he pondered, they reached the wards. A nurse opened a door and motioned for him to enter.
An emaciated man sat on the bed inside. The number 01 had been stitched into his chest. Hugging his knees, he looked up at Li Wei.
Gooseflesh covered Li Wei’s body.
The patient hardly resembled a human. His skin was an unnatural green, and his head was grotesquely oversized, making him resemble a macabre bobblehead.
“H-hello. I’m Li Wei, your caregiver.”
The man said nothing. He remained seated with his knees clutched to his chest.
Li Wei carefully took a chair, then opened the medical record the nurse had given him.
The patient’s name was Zhang Shun. He had been diagnosed with delusions and violent outbursts.
According to the file, he repeatedly dreamed of traveling to a strange realm where countless demons and monsters tortured him. Time passed differently there.
At first, one night in reality equaled three days of torment. Each subsequent dream lasted longer. The nurses said Zhang Shun now claimed to have spent over seventy years in that realm.
Terrified that he might fall asleep and never wake again, he tried everything possible to remain conscious.
Li Wei swallowed.
The file called it a delusion, but he knew Fiends existed. Zhang Shun might be telling the truth.
If so, his fate was almost unimaginably horrific. The torture would continue forever, because no one could truly die inside a dream.
Wang Weiwei reached Ward 04, where her assigned patient waited.
The woman was in her forties or fifties. Her chart diagnosed her with macropsia, a condition that made everything appear enormous. Even an ant looked like a terrifying behemoth.
The middle-aged woman tilted her head far back to look at Wang Weiwei.
“Hello, miss.”
“Hello. My name is Wang Weiwei.”
She extended her hand. The patient recoiled in terror.
Wang Weiwei immediately understood and apologized. “I’m sorry. I forgot!”
“It’s all right. You approached too quickly. I wasn’t prepared.”
The woman pressed a hand to her chest, still shaken. From her perspective, Wang Weiwei’s simple gesture resembled a giant reaching down to crush her.
The description horrified Wang Weiwei. An ordinary person would surely lose her mind after developing such a condition.
Fortunately, the woman behaved normally in every other respect, and they enjoyed their conversation.
“I’d like some water. Could you pour me a glass?”
Wang Weiwei nodded immediately, found some water, and brought it to her. The woman took one sip and set the glass on the table.
“Actually, make me a cup of coffee. This is too bland.”
Wang Weiwei did not mind. Serving patients was a caregiver’s job.
But when she picked up the glass, her expression shifted.
She went to the hospital shop downstairs, bought a packet of coffee, and entered the restroom. Opening her palm, she found a slip of paper.
It read:
RUN! LEAVE THIS HOSPITAL! DO NOT TRUST DIRECTOR JIA. EVERYTHING IS A LIE!
Wang Weiwei clenched the note. She had unexpectedly discovered a crucial clue.
After hiding it against her body, she hurried back toward the ward.
Liu Ye was already inside the elevator, accompanied by a nurse. Wang Weiwei wanted to tell him what she had learned, but the nurse’s presence made her remain silent.
They exchanged a brief greeting, and Wang Weiwei moved to the corner.
Liu Ye had not yet reached his ward because he had been added to the staff at the last moment, after every existing patient was assigned. The hospital had eventually brought in an extra patient specifically for him.
He felt deeply uneasy. Competition for this job was fiercer than he had ever imagined. If he performed poorly, he would have to begin searching all over again. His big brother and the others had helped him so many times that he was beginning to feel embarrassed.
Lost in their separate worries, neither spoke as the elevator rose.
Ding!
The doors opened. Two people pushed a bed inside. A white sheet covered the figure lying on it, clearly indicating a corpse.
Wang Weiwei’s heart tightened-not because she feared the dead, but because a red wristband encircled the corpse’s wrist.
She immediately understood Rule Five.
The two attendants left after only one floor. On the way out, they accidentally bumped the nurse.
Wang Weiwei saw the nurse’s exposed wrist.
She wore an identical red band.
This was bad.