Xiao Cheng walked to the door of the ward and tentatively stretched out an arm. The icy touch spread from her fingertips, as if she had put her hand into water.
The space at the doorway subtly materialized, slowly distorting at a visible speed. Xiao Cheng's outstretched arm disappeared from sight and reappeared from the doorway of the ward diagonally opposite. She tried to move, feeling no discomfort; this spatial distortion did not affect her bodily functions.
“Let’s go.” She withdrew her hand and turned to Su Xin, saying, “As long as we find the pattern of the distortion, we can get out.”
They ran back and forth between the wards dozens of times, and finally managed to leave the second-floor corridor with less than five minutes left.
The first floor seemed normal, no different from before, and of course, there was no small garden. Just in case, Xiao Cheng also took a look around the cafeteria, but still found nothing.
"What should we do? There's no time left." Su Xin was already covered in sweat from running.
Before Xiao Cheng could respond, the loudspeaker blared again, the man's tone now tinged with schadenfreude: "There's only one minute left. Lost patients, please make sure you arrive at the small garden on time. To improve some people's sense of time, we'll begin the countdown now: fifty."
"Xiao Cheng!" Su Xin pointed down the corridor in a look of horror.
Not far from them, the walls on both sides slowly began to writhe, raising countless pinkish-red bumps. As the man counted down, those bumps stretched and protruded, gradually growing into fleshy tumors. Then, indistinct facial features emerged on the surface of those tumors, and they struggled to extend tentacles, reaching outwards.
Thirty seconds left in the countdown.
The first tumor successfully detached from the wall, and spider-like tentacles lifted it up. With a burst of strength, it leaped towards Xiao Cheng's head. The facial features on the tumor became increasingly clear, and its newly formed mouth suddenly opened, revealing a mouthful of barbed fangs.
"What kind of low-budget facehugger is this?" Xiao Cheng was disgusted. She twisted her waist and spun around, delivering a flying kick that sent the tumor flying far away. It slammed against the wall with a thud, splashing out a large puddle of slime.
Twenty seconds left in the countdown.
More and more tumors fell to the ground, their surfaces gradually growing shiny black shells, colliding with each other and making a crisp metallic clanging sound.
"Holy crap! Run!" Xiao Cheng made a snap decision, grabbed Su Xin and turned to run towards the stairwell. The tumors chased after them closely, creating an atmosphere as lively as a large fan meeting.
"But the little garden..."
"Garden? What garden? Have you even seen half a leaf? Do you think we're dogs, going wherever we smell... Wait, the scent of flowers!" In a flash, Xiao Cheng's thoughts raced through his mind, and he abruptly turned to look at the wall at the entrance of the stairwell.
The scent of flowers! She smelled it here before!
The tumor behind me drew closer, leaping and thrashing about, a vast, dark mass. The countdown continued over the loudspeaker.
"Ten, nine, eight..."
"Follow me!" Xiao Cheng gripped Su Xin's wrist tightly and fearlessly slammed his head against the wall.
A flash of white light appeared before my eyes, and then everything became clear.
This is a glass greenhouse that seems to have no end. Players are gathered on the grass, with the back wall of the mental hospital behind them.
Warm sunlight streamed through the glass roof, and a man wearing a top hat slowly emerged from a rose bush not far away.
He pulled his hat brim low, his head slightly bowed, almost his entire face hidden in shadow, revealing only half of his excessively pale and thin chin.
"Hello to the six patients who require special attention." The man stood at the boundary between the flowerbed and the grass. "I am your temporary director, but of course, I would prefer you to call me the gardener."
"For certain reasons, you will be receiving treatment from me personally. This process will be quite painful, and if you find it unbearable, please tell me the truth. Once I am satisfied, I will sign your discharge papers."
"For the sake of the treatment's effectiveness, my private garden will be open to you briefly, for only one hour, of course. You may enter when the sun is high in the sky."
"I have my own treatment methods, my dear patients. Believe me, I can definitely free you from the torment of illness." The man took off his top hat and smiled in the sunlight.
He had no eyes; the eye sockets were slightly sunken, with two jet-black beads embedded in them.
Then he turned around and slowly walked into the depths of the rose bushes.
The familiar electronic notification sounded again: "Attention players, the puzzle dungeon 'Mental Illness Ward' has been updated. Rules are being randomly dropped. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience."
The nurses in beds 3 and 4 were still wearing their uniforms, but after the announcement, both sets of clothes disappeared without any warning.
It all happened so suddenly that they looked at themselves, somewhat bewildered: "Is this also one of the rules?"
“Look at that wall.” Fang He pointed solemnly to the back wall of the mental hospital and read out the blood-stained words that had just appeared on it, “Rule one: No nurses.”
The once smooth wall opened up by itself, gradually becoming transparent, allowing them to clearly see the scene inside the hospital. The faceless nurses gathered at the nurses' station and suddenly screamed in excruciating pain.
Their bodies swelled up and up, like hydrogen balloons inflated to their limit, floating one after another until they reached the ceiling.
Their skin was stretched beyond repair, and thick, black blood seeped from the cracks, dripping onto the floor. The cracks continued to widen, and the faceless nurses' skin, like pieces of torn clothing, fell off one by one, seeping into the floor.
The nurses lost their skin, became sticky and clung to the ceiling, and soon began to shrink proportionally, eventually turning into bloody lumps.
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