Chapter 220 Split the Hospital

Time passes quietly.

Xu Zhiyan didn't expect that he would actually enjoy a rare quiet time at the mission site after entering the dungeon.

However, there was no clock or any timing device here, so he just estimated the time, took back the small bone, and waited quietly.

In the garden at night, street lamps serve as light sources, slowly illuminating the entire area.

"Isn't it time yet?"

Sitting on the bench, Xu Zhiyan glanced sideways.

After making sure there were no unusual noises around him, he stood up and stretched his arms and legs, then took out a screwdriver from his bag and began to remove the nuts on the bench.

"If I get sick, can this chair turn into human skin... Never mind, let's take it off and take it away to see."

He still remembered that when he had the disease before, the flower pots on the rooftop turned into monsters, and there were even rotten internal organs in the wall that was smashed by the monster security guard.

It would be nice if these internal organs weren't rotten.

If it is not rotten, you can take it for slices and change the medicine.

Xu Zhiyan sighed deeply, put the removed screws into his pocket, and looked around from time to time, thinking about what to do after taking down the chair. It would be great if he could find a flower pot!

Perhaps the operation was too shocking, and the audience in the live broadcast room expressed their ignorance.

[Awesome! Even the chairs were not spared! ]

[Xiao Baiwan, aren't you afraid that the chair will jump up and bite you after it mutates? ]

【Chair: I should have known this was a rotten factory. 】

[What kind of crazy things can a dog profiteer do when he is bored? Why hasn't the monster for the mission appeared yet? If he doesn't appear, is he going to dig up the soil in the garden? ]

[He, he, he really took the bench off! Fuck!]

[Yes, you read that right! ]

[I laughed so hard... Little Millionaire not only took down the bench, he even started walking around looking for a flower pot! ]

The Silent Garden was tragically destroyed by the vicious fish.

The bandit with a screwdriver was not satisfied with taking down the bench and began to look around in the garden for flower pots that could be moved away.

After passing two corners, Xu Zhiyan finally found a flower pot that looked movable.

The flowerpot is made of clay and is filled with soil, so it is very heavy.

He tried to hug it but failed. However, considering that if he cut it open during an attack, the internal organs might be exposed, he hesitated for a moment and finally took out his duck backpack and put the large flowerpot in it.

"Next time I get sick, I'll try it out in a deserted place."

The old building I saw before was pretty good. It seemed that the rooms inside were all arranged for doctors to use free of charge, and there should not be many people there on weekdays.

The evening breeze blew and the temperature dropped.

After putting away the flower pots, Xu Zhiyan looked at the garden without any unusual sounds, called up the control panel, and looked a little surprised.

[Mission 3: Man-eating Tree Stump [Random/Level 1]]

[Progress: 5%]

“Has it started yet?”

After closing the panel, Xu Zhiyan became a little tense.

The panel did not respond when the bench was removed.

But when he left the bench and walked towards the center of the garden, the task progressed.

The first place he chose to stay was a bench near the edge of the garden. That place was on the main road of the garden, relatively open and with a better view.

Xu Zhiyan showed no signs of panic. He walked slowly and calmly, trying to return to the place he had originally chosen.

Soon, he returned to the bench according to his memory.

An accident... no, it should be said that an expected accident happened!

The place in front of him was completely different from when he left. The bench had clearly been taken down and put into his backpack, but now, the bench was still there.

There were no living things around, and the moment of total silence was particularly eerie.

Xu Zhiyan stood in the middle of the deserted main garden road, with street lights from all directions casting complex shadows under his feet.

It is inevitable that there will be timid viewers in the live broadcast room who will start screaming.

【Ahhhhh! Ghost wall! 】

【? ? What kind of ghost wall is this? If you can't speak, you don't have to speak. 】

[It's possible that the direction was switched. Many copies will have mental interference, causing the player to go to a completely symmetrical place when turning back. ]

[Indeed, no monsters have been seen so far.]

[Hey? What is Xiao Baiwan doing? Damn, he picked up a screw from the ground? ? ! ! Oh, I see! When he was taking down the chair just now, he deliberately left some screws on the ground. ]

[However, Xiao Baiwan has a really good attitude. After such a long time, he is not anxious at all. If it were me who hadn't found the task information for such a long time, I would definitely be anxious! ]

In the center of the live broadcast, Xu Zhiyan looked at the screw lying on his palm, raised his leg and kicked the reappearing chair with his toes.

"Hey, can you talk?"

As expected, there was no answer, and the only sound around was the rustling of the vegetation caused by the wind.

Taking out the backpack containing the bench and taking a look at it, Xu Zhiyan confirmed that the chair he had taken away was still inside, so the chair in front of him was indeed the one that was replicated after he left.

A little weird, but not dangerous.

Especially the name of the mission, it is called "Man-eating Tree Stump", but all the trees are very honest and there is no change.

As time went by, the atmosphere in the garden became much weirder.

But Xu Zhiyan seemed not to see it.

He didn't care and sat down on the bench again. He was not in a hurry to walk to the center of the garden or to the subsequent tasks.

Anyway, after the time is up, the task progress will start to jump continuously, and sooner or later it will reach 100%.

Taking out a screwdriver, just as Xu Zhiyan was about to dismantle the bench again to pass the time, the smell brought by the wind changed.

No longer the refreshing smell of the garden at night.

The inexplicable floral scent was mixed with a hint of fishy smell.

Sniffing, he put away the screwdriver, quickly climbed over the bench, hid behind the bushes, and looked out into the garden.

In the darkness, a figure was staggering towards them.

When he saw the person clearly, Xu Zhiyan frowned and looked hesitant.

That was a patient in hospital gown.

The patient had two bandages wrapped around his head, and his right hand seemed to be broken and in a cast. But at this moment, his eyes were slightly narrowed and his expression was very intoxicated. It was obvious that he was suffering from both physical and mental illness.

In this state, it is impossible for him to be a player.

Xu Zhiyan hid in the shadows of the trees and bushes, a little unsure. What was going on? Why would the NPC go against the nurse's instructions and come here at night?

The ground beneath my feet shook slightly.

He turned and looked towards the center of the garden.

When he passed by there with the nurse during the day, he remembered that there was an open space in the center of the garden and there were no street lights around it. Now there was only endless darkness.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Zhiyan stood up from the shadows and planned to call out to the patient who was walking towards the center of the garden.

But the moment he raised his arm, his body froze.

Countless gazes came from all around.

He caught a glimpse of the shaped trees around him from the corner of his eye, and all of them had undergone subtle changes.

The original trees were trimmed into various shapes, including animals and humans, in different poses. At this moment, these trees, whether they were in the shape of animals or humans, all seemed to have life and turned towards him.

The closest one was the one on the right side of the bush where Xu Zhiyan was hiding.

The tree shaped like an athlete holding a javelin, with its head covered with leaves, was staring at the human hiding right below. The decorative javelin in its hand had unexpectedly turned into an extremely sharp metal tip at some point.

A cold light flashed by, and Xu Zhiyan quickly dodged the possible attack while the other party was not making a move.

"Bang!"

“Crash——”

Sure enough, after a few seconds the javelin was thrust into the ground, causing a rustling sound in the bushes.

After dodging the attack, Xu Zhiyan quickly left the bushes, returned to the main road, and asked the NPC who was walking towards the center of the garden.

"Hey, which building are you from? Didn't the nurse tell you that you can't come to the garden at night?"

Maybe because there were many monsters in the safe house, Xu Zhiyan had more conscience when facing the NPC in the copy. The NPC in front of him was obviously in an abnormal state, and he was not sure whether the one in front of him was also controlled by the player.

The patient who walked past him seemed to be deaf. He did not look back at him, but continued to walk towards the center of the garden in ecstasy, muttering something.

While the tree that had just attacked him had not yet fully reacted, Xu Zhiyan quickened his pace, intending to go forward and grab the NPC.

Unexpectedly, before he got close, the NPC seemed to have discovered something and suddenly ran away. He turned his head and looked at it in horror, shouting, "Don't come over here! Monster! You can't stop me from going home!"

Unable to catch up, Xu Zhiyan felt his hand bones getting slightly hot, and he suddenly stopped as a warning.

"Bang!"

The next second, the javelin fell and made a big hole in the ground in front of him.

In just a moment, the NPC patient had already disappeared, and along with the disgusting floral fragrance, he blended into the darkness in the center of the garden.

"...Damn, it looks like there's more than one mission here." Xu Zhiyan cursed inwardly, his expression somewhat unhappy.

At this time, the surrounding sculptured trees no longer covered the view, as if they had come alive.

Especially the props that match the shaped trees, no matter it is a sword or a long axe, each one has become a killing tool, flashing with cold light and extremely sharp.

There are also two two-meter-high solid wood tree stumps without leaves. They are clearly carved into the image of cute round frogs, but when they open their mouths, there are multiple rows of teeth inside, and a human finger is still stuck in the gap between the teeth.

Looking at the shaped trees around him that were rushing towards him with bared fangs and claws, Xu Zhiyan did not move; when he saw the shaped tree stump of the mission target, his eyes brightened a little.

Cannibalism? Living people?

If it has not been fully digested, I wonder if there will be some internal organs inside if I cut it open now!

Forget about the weird NPCs for now.

Xu Zhiyan stared at the shaped tree stump that jumped over.

Behind him, a knight-shaped tree with green leaves on it swung its sword and fiercely chopped at the tiny human in front of it...

"Bang!"

“clang——”

The weapons came into close contact, and the harsh sound of metal collision was heard!

With his brass hand raised high above his head, the attack from the Tree Knight was caught by the Human-Skin Buddha with bare hands, with great ease.

Immediately afterwards, the Human-Skin Buddha did not let go of his hand, but instead exerted force with his palm and forcibly pulled the Tree Knight out of the ground along with the sword and the tree!

In the live broadcast room, comments were amazed as they had never seen anyone use protective props like this.

[Wow! This defensive item is so powerful when used offensively? ]

[After all, the consumption is high, and the evil props are almost catching up with the disposable props. Unless there is an unlimited supply of tributes like in the current dungeon, it is difficult to use. ]

[…I have calculated before that Xiao Baiwan needs to use half a room’s worth of skins to offer to the evil Buddha. A rough estimate is that it would take at least fifteen or sixteen skins.]

[If converted into black market purchases or real-life skinning, each use would kill fifteen or sixteen people, which is indeed too expensive. ]

【??? What is Xiao Baiwan doing???】

[Fuck, why is he trying to stop Pipfer? why? ]

In the garden, Xu Zhiyan was not as proud as the audience thought when he saw the props pull out the shaped tree.

He rushed to the side of the human skin Buddha in great fear, with a somewhat nervous expression.

"Gently! Pull it out gently! Don't break the roots!!"

Those two man-eating tree stumps may not be preserved, but these decorative trees are different. They are such rare things!

Although they don't seem to have high IQs and their movements are not fast, they can be used as decorations when they are quiet. You don't need to bother trimming them when you have seen enough, just change their posture. They can also serve as porters when something happens. It is just right to put them in the green belt of the Nightmare Community. They are perfect!

The human-skin Buddha didn't understand.

But it is a mirror spirit that is easily satisfied.

After eating its fill every time, it was completely loyal to its owner, so even though it didn't know why it couldn't use too much force, it still did it.

"This, this is beautiful, pull this out!"

"The one in the front is a little bald... Well, forget it, I'll just remove it. It's better to have it than not."

"Wow~ There are actually small vase-shaped ones! Quite unique, little thing. Pull them out! Be careful not to break the roots."

"Another group is coming from the right! Ah Fo, you should work hard, and when you're done we'll burn incense and offer sacrifices..."

Next, the audience in the live broadcast room saw Xu Zhiyan following the Human Skin Buddha closely and starting the joyful tree-pulling session.

Although he was not so short of money, his greed made him not want to miss out on any decorative tree.

…

An hour later, all the monster-shaped trees that had swarmed into the garden at night, whether they were trees with leaves or stumps without leaves, were uprooted from the soil, tied up with iron chains, and placed aside.

While Little Gristle was busy setting the table and burning incense to offer the skins, the Human Skin Buddha carried the last two man-eating tree stumps to their owner.

Xu Zhiyan was holding a small electric scooter and tying the chain to the back seat of his beloved vehicle while trying to advertise the live broadcast room.

"I plan to take these trees to the old building, and wait until daybreak when everything returns to normal, and see if I can fit them into storage props. If I can, I might sell them in Shell. I wonder if anyone is interested."

If he could, he would sell those ugly bald trees.

If that's not possible, plant it near the old building first, and when the dungeon is over, let other monsters dig it up and bring it back to the safe house.

Well, it’s a win-win situation, perfect.

He had put flower pots and benches into the bag before, actually just to test whether the things in the garden could be put into the storage props.

"Of course, this thing probably can't be brought to the real world to grow, but if anyone has bought a house in Shell, they should be able to plant a few! Wouldn't it be very face-saving to bring friends to visit it then?"

The quiet, well-behaved and fighting human Pifo has been holding down the man-eating tree stump for a long time.

“Ka-ka—”

Little Ke Gu, who was tidying up the altar, couldn't help but give a reminder.

Xu Zhiyan turned his head and looked at the man-eating tree stump, his expression hesitant for a moment.

Mission 3 stops progressing after reaching 95%.

These two tree stumps should be the targets that need to be cleared this time.

He took out the Violator's Blade engraved with a mermaid and walked towards the tree stump that was still struggling.

“Bang, bang, bang—”

I reached out and knocked on the edge of the frog's shell. It seemed to be hollow inside, and there was a sound of liquid flowing.

The blade pierced the stump.

“Puff!”

At the moment Xu Zhiyan pulled out the dagger, the tree stump split open from the wound, and a stream of smelly blood instantly gushed out.

Even though Xu Zhiyan was prepared, he took many steps back the moment he pulled out the sword, and his clothes were still stained.

But there was no time to worry.

He was already shocked by the huge amount of blood and the number of broken limbs and debris inside.

The man-eating tree stump is two meters high and oval in shape. Even if it is completely hollow, the capacity inside will not exceed eight cubic meters.

But now, he had only poked a hole in a tree stump, and the blood and shredded limbs that gushed out had almost formed a small hill, half-burying the Human-Skin Buddha and the other tree stump.

Pulling his ankle out of the pile of minced meat, Xu Zhiyan took a few steps back.

Behind him, Little Grit lifted the altar of the Human Skin Buddha high with both hands, and the table was almost soiled and washed away by the gushing blood.

After one of the tree stumps died, the shaped tree that had just been tied up and was struggling from time to time became much quieter. After Xu Zhiyan completely pierced the two man-eating tree stumps, the shaped tree stopped struggling, as if it had accepted its fate.

The human-skinned Buddha was completely buried by the broken limbs.

It walked out from the pile of minced meat, and its entire copper surface was dyed red.

Xu Zhiyan scratched his hair, guesses constantly popping up in his mind.

Starting from Mission 3, players will be forced to explore the strange rumors and secrets in the hospital at night. It seems that the curfew at night is to protect the patients.

But it is still unclear why the main system assigns these tasks to players.

The fact that NPCs can be easily controlled by players means that the game system does not impose additional mental restrictions on these NPCs; they are consumables.

After the Man-Eating Tree Stump died, it could be seen from the minced meat on the ground that countless NPCs had died...

If the purpose of the system assigning tasks to players is to protect NPCs, there probably wouldn't be so many corpses.

get away.

get away……

Glancing at the mental power he had accidentally lost when it was stained with dirty blood, Xu Zhiyan grabbed a handful of candy in his hand, biting it while thinking.

Before he could figure out what was going on, a new NPC appeared in the garden that he had already destroyed!

As for why Xu Zhiyan could tell at a glance that the other party was an NPC, it was because a little girl of six or seven years old could not be a game player.

A little girl with disheveled hair was hiding timidly outside the garden. When she saw Xu Zhiyan, there was no fear in her eyes, she just looked at him blankly.

Xu Zhiyan turned around and put on a gentle smile as usual.

"Little sister, what do you want?"

However, even though the voice was extremely gentle, the combination of the smelly pile of broken bodies behind him and the blood all over his body created a very strong visual impact.

Not to mention that he has a white skeleton on his left and a multi-armed evil Buddha on his right. This configuration makes him look more like a villain BOSS.

In the live broadcast room, the audience screamed and shouted that Xu Zhiyan would scare the children.

[Ah - how scary! Xiao Baiwan doesn't look like a good person! ]

[Why doesn't this little girl leave? Is she scared silly? ]

[It’s possible. If I were only six years old, I would definitely be scared to death when I saw this scene.]

[…There’s something wrong with her. Is she being controlled? ]

[It's not right, the look in his eyes is weird, but this hospital is full of mental patients, so a dull look in his eyes seems normal? ]

Same as barrage.

Seeing the little girl looking very dazed, Xu Zhiyan's first reaction was that she was being controlled like the two NPCs before, but then he realized that this was a mental hospital...

Well, that's a bit difficult.

After instructing Xiao Cui Gu to drive away the electric scooter loaded with shaped trees first, Xu Zhiyan walked forward with the Human Skin Buddha and stopped at a safe distance of five steps away from the girl.

The human-skin Buddha, who had just eaten the offerings, was very powerful and was not very afraid even if the little girl in front of him turned into a monster.

However, this little girl in a children's hospital gown did not really seem to be a monster. She looked at Xu Zhiyan with a slightly dull gaze and spoke hesitantly.

"Big brother, do you have medicine to suppress the onset of the disease?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the little girl's eyes were filled with tears, as if she was about to cry at the next moment.

"Um?"

Xu Zhiyan was stunned and looked the girl up and down.

He does look like an NPC, weak, pitiful and helpless. He is the easiest person to kill and the most sympathetic person in the dungeon.

He did have a pill in his pocket, which he took in case he got sick while on a mission. But every time he got sick it was very difficult. He was not a saint, and this little pill was not enough for himself and his teammates, so how could he give it to the NPC for free?

But Xu Zhiyan did not refuse directly.

He wanted to know why the other party came to him.

"I have medicine, but whether I can give it to you depends on how you answer my questions next."

He half-knelt down to the same level as the girl, and asked with a smile: "Every patient should have medicine. Why did you come to me? Did anyone tell you anything?"

Hearing the words "there is medicine", the confusion in the little girl's eyes faded a little, and her eyes became much clearer.

"My mom needs some medicine, but the doctors never give her enough."

She spoke very slowly, and as soon as she opened her mouth, tears as big as beans flowed from her eyes. Her expression was very painful, as if she was thinking of her suffering mother.

Xu Zhiyan thought about it for a moment, then asked.

"How much do you want to pay, no, your mother wants to pay for my medicine?"

The little girl stopped crying weakly, and opened her mouth, looking a little overwhelmed: "...Money?"

She seemed unable to understand why the person in front of her would ask her for money.

Xu Zhiyan stood up and walked a few steps forward, touched the little girl's forehead, and said solemnly: "Of course!"

As he spoke, he bent down and stuffed a piece of the sweet candy in his hand into the girl's mouth.

"This is very sweet. Just eat it while you listen to me."

"Taking other people's things for free is called freeloading. I am very pitiful and I don't have enough medicine. If you force me to give it to you for free, then this behavior is called moral kidnapping, which is very bad. We must resolutely put an end to it!"

"But if you give me some material compensation, it will become a pleasant transaction. Do you want to go back and ask your mother?"

He pretended to be mature, as if he was teaching and answering questions for the girl in front of him.

"You can ask your mother if you want to buy it. I'll wait for you here. Or if you have anything else that you can give me, I can give you a pill first."

The little girl nodded ignorantly.

She began to dig into her pockets.

With a piece of candy in her mouth, she couldn't speak. After rummaging for a long time, she finally took out some small things.

Small rubber bands, ballpoint pens with nurses' names on them, pretty little stones...

It's all little things.

"Then...then how can...?" The little girl didn't finish her candy and her speech was unclear.

Xu Zhiyan tilted his head and replied.

"I can't hear you clearly when you talk like that. Why don't you spit out the candy in your mouth first?"

After hearing this, the little girl spit out the sugar cube in her mouth and repeated what she had just said: "Is this okay?"

"Can."

Xu Zhiyan reached out and took the ballpoint pen with the nurse's name on it, then stood up and turned around, took out the paper wrapping the medicine from his pocket, carefully wrapped the medicine in his hand, and handed it to the little girl.

"Go ask your mother. If you need any other medicine, you can come back here to find me. My name is Xu Zhiyan. You can pass on the message."

The little girl was very happy to get the medicine. She turned and ran out, muttering, "Then...then I'll go back and ask my mother."

Xu Zhiyan stood there, and only stopped smiling when the girl's shadow disappeared from sight.

Just at this time, Xiaokuigu came back riding an electric scooter.

It looked at its owner who had an unhappy expression, then glanced at the cold Human Skin Buddha, not understanding what had happened during the time it was away.

“Ka-ka—”

[Brother Xu, what's wrong?]

Glancing at the sugar cubes on the ground, Xu Zhiyan shook his head.

"It's okay. I just didn't expect some players to be so beastly as to use such a small NPC to blackmail others."

After getting closer, he found that the little girl's body temperature was abnormally low, so he gave her some candy, hoping to test whether she was alive or not.

As a result, the child held the sugar cube on the ground in his mouth for a long time, but it didn't melt at all and still had clear edges and corners.

It’s not certain whether the little girl just now is dead.

But anyway, it’s not a living person.

"Let's go first, leave here first. It will be troublesome if that beast really comes."

…

Outside the inpatient department’s convenience store.

Song Longchuan supported his chin and looked at the NPCs in front of him with a serious expression.

There were not many NPCs left from the ones he sent out, and the feedback was very bad.

But things took a turn for the better when it came to the turn of an inconspicuous little girl.

"I used a ballpoint pen to exchange a pill with an older brother!" It was the girl who had just run into the garden.

Song Longchuan was a little surprised.

"Huh? There are still such saintly players these days? Interesting." When he took the medicine, the disdain in his expression almost overflowed, and he kept mocking.

Seeing the paper wrapping the medicine, which was the paper used to distribute medicine in the players' dormitory, Song Longchuan sat up slightly straighter.

"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly—"

His voice stopped abruptly.

Inside the opened package, there were not small oval-shaped pills. Although they were also white, they did not look like suppressant drugs... They looked more like someone had just pinched them.

I sniffed it carefully, and the smell of cheap perfume rushed straight to my head.

Song Longchuan held the large pill and activated his skill.

A green light flashed at the fingertips.

It's safe, this thing won't hurt anyone.

With a skeptical attitude, he stuffed the big white pill into his mouth.

[Spirit +1]

"???"

Looking at the content that popped up on the panel, Song Longchuan was a little dumbfounded.

He turned his head to look at the little NPC girl who was under mind control and asked her in detail what happened.

Ten minutes later, after listening to the NPC little girl's incoherent narration, the veins on his forehead almost popped.

"Xu Zhiyan is such a beast, he even stole a child's things? Does he still have any shame?"

That ballpoint pen was a personal item of a nurse in the hospital that he had asked the NPCs to collect. He didn't expect it to be exchanged for a piece of candy?!