The insect chased after the insect for a while, but suddenly seemed to lose its way and started spinning in circles. After a short while, it gave up completely and flew back.
The two stepped out of the rose bushes and collapsed onto the grass, heads tilted back. The sun overhead wasn't as intense as it had been; dark clouds drifted in slowly, and an hour was almost up.
Xiao Cheng gasped for breath, the pain in her ankle finally erupting, blood staining her entire trouser leg red.
“There’s no way to get over there. How are we supposed to find a gardener?” She tilted her head and looked at Fang He on the other side.
"Even in this state, you're still thinking about the gardener. You must be deeply in love with him." Fang He stood up. "Can you still hold on? It's time to go back."
“This is clearly called the relentless pursuit of the truth.” Xiao Cheng sat up with some difficulty, struggling a few times but still unable to stand up. “Don’t just stand there watching, please lend a hand and help me up.”
The two unfortunate men helped each other back to their ward, their pitiful state leaving the patients in beds 3 and 4 stunned.
"So dangerous?" Bed number 3 looked outside in surprise.
"Are you... alright?" Bed number 4 looked at Xiao Cheng's blood-soaked ankle.
Half a flower branch was still wrapped around it, and the wound was swollen high, making it look terrible.
"Fortunately, they're all superficial injuries, not as scary as they look." Xiao Cheng bent her knees and sat down on the hospital bed, carefully rolling up her trouser legs, and began to treat the thorns embedded in her flesh.
"I'll go see if I can find any anti-inflammatory drugs or alcohol; you're all at high risk of infection like this," said the patient in bed number 3.
Xiao Cheng didn't hold out any hope for this, since the walls were all glass, and everything was clearly visible. Besides, this unreliable hospital would never have any proper medical supplies.
Fang He quickly wiped the blood off Zi's body and then came over to help Xiao Cheng treat the flower branches.
"I'll do it, just bear with it." He pressed down on Xiao Cheng's calf with one hand, and with the other hand he slipped between the flower stem and her skin.
Xiao Cheng gasped, but knew that a short, sharp pain was better than a long, drawn-out one.
"Come here." She closed her eyes, turned her head away, and gripped the blanket tightly with both hands.
Fang He didn't speak, but looked up at her, then suddenly pulled hard and ripped the entire flower branch off. The thorns had barbs, which were torn off along with the flesh, and blood immediately began to gush out.
Xiao Cheng couldn't help but groan, cold sweat pouring down her forehead, her whole body trembling with pain: "...Is it done?"
"Wait, stop the bleeding." Fang He pressed hard on the area above the wound, and at the same time turned to bed number 4 and said, "Help me tear off a sheet."
Before the person in bed number 4 could respond, Su Xin walked in hesitantly, holding two strips of cloth in her hand: "Can we use these?"
"Okay, thank you." Fang He nodded and took the strip of cloth from her hand. After a quick check, he stretched it out and wrapped it around the wound.
"Won't he die of tetanus like this?" Xiao Cheng questioned his treatment method.
"Then get out of here before you die." Fang He even tied a delicate bow for her.
Once the pain subsided slightly, Xiao Cheng turned to look at Su Xin in the corner: "Are you alright?"
Su Xin gave her a somewhat forced smile. Her eyes were still a little red, but thankfully she had recovered from the effects of the medication.
Bed number 3 went out for a look around, but unsurprisingly found nothing. He returned somewhat dejectedly: "What did you find outside?"
Xiao Cheng briefly recounted the story of the flowerbed and the black beetle: "The gardener shouldn't be in the small garden; at least, we can't find him there."
This is not good news.
Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere became tense for a moment.
“Let’s think about it another way. What clues do we have now?” Fang He broke the silence. “Three slips of paper, three rules, and that promotional poster.” He took the three slips of paper out of his pocket and spread them out in front of everyone.
The information on the note basically matched what Xiao Cheng had, except for the first medical report, in which Fang He's description of his condition was that he always imagined himself as someone else.
“My medical record describes my symptoms as bulimia,” said Bed 3. “Everything else is the same: the timeline, and then the second rule.”
“I have paranoia,” said the patient in bed number 4.
After listening for a while, Su Xin visibly panicked. After hesitating for a long time, she whispered, "I... the second rule I have is different from yours."
She took out a crumpled note from her pocket, unfolded it, and placed it in front of everyone.
At first glance, it was no different from other people's cutouts, all saying: "Rule Two, No fellow patients."
But directly below this sentence, there is a line of very small and faint handwriting, which looks like it was written by hand, with a free and unrestrained style.
Fang He read the sentence aloud: "Only bed number 5 is the real patient."
Bed number 5, Xiao Cheng.
The four people looked over with different expressions.
"What does that mean?" Bed number 3 stared at Xiao Cheng with a questioning gaze. "We all have our own medical records, so why are you the only real patient?"
Fang He interrupted his questioning: "Don't be so nervous, it's not time to be suspicious of each other yet. Let's start from the very beginning of the dungeon and see what we did that she didn't?"
“I…I haven’t left the ward,” Su Xin said, raising her hand.
“That doesn’t hold true. None of us stayed in the ward properly.” Bed number 3 shook its head, denying her guess. “To be more specific, let’s start counting from the time we entered the instance. This is my fifth day in the instance, and so is bed number 4’s.”
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