Chapter 314 Monster Hospital (Thirteen)
These words were like snowflakes suddenly falling in the scorching heat, and the chill directly invaded people's internal organs, making the dozen or so players present realize that something was wrong instantly. They could even feel a chill running from the soles of their feet straight up to the top of their heads.
Twelve finally realized that something was wrong. It was not only because Area C was too quiet, but also because there was no one else in this place except them. What about the players who were assigned to Area C and chose to become staff members?
Just now in the lobby, those players clearly went upstairs with them, but it was impossible that other players who were also coming here showed no signs of appearing here.
"Could it be that they came in before us and received some side quest?"
In addition to their own players, there were also several players from neutral guilds in Area C. Twelve did not avoid them when he spoke. After all, except for the moment when he stepped into here just now, which was most suitable for a sneak attack, the current situation was really not an opportunity for a head-on breakthrough.
President Barbie and Nineteen obviously had the same idea. President Barbie shook her head and said, "It doesn't look like that. If they have been assigned tasks, then we should have corresponding tasks as well. In order to ensure fairness, confrontational tasks usually only give some hints to the disadvantaged party. However, as the disadvantaged party, we have not received any information until now."
Not only was it news, she didn't even feel threatened. She just felt that this area was too quiet.
The neutral players who were selected to participate in the ultimate copy should not be underestimated, so they soon sensed some other meanings in President Barbie's words. Of course, in addition to that, they were also very shocked that the president and core members of a guild alliance did not seem to intend to avoid them for such important content and conversation. Instead, they talked about it in front of them very generously, which changed their minds a little.
I don’t know whether President Barbie’s words came true or the system had planned it all along, but as soon as she finished speaking, the familiar prompt tone finally caught up with the rhythm.
【bite--
Congratulations to the player for triggering the side quest - Dinner in a Dream.
Task Description:
Although the usual dinner time has passed, the medical staff has prepared a variety of delicious food in advance because Area C has welcomed a large number of patients today. As newcomers, you have taken the initiative to distribute the food. Please distribute all the food before dawn and get a friendly response.
Tip: If the dinner is not to his liking, he will get angry. 】
This side quest came in a strange and mysterious way, and to some extent explained why the medical staff did not show up. However, the weird atmosphere around them showed no signs of abating. It was just that the moment the system spoke just now, it was as if an invisible barrier was broken.
President Barbie and Nineteen relaxed their guard slightly, but did not take any immediate action.
"It doesn't sound difficult to distribute all the food," Nineteen looked at the endless corridor, "but we can't identify all the patients here at all. What does it mean to get a friendly response?"
From the moment she realized something was wrong, Nineteen had tried to use the communicator to contact the Young Miss and President Yi, or President Alice and President Hongfen who had entered Area D, but it turned out that after they confirmed entering different wards, they could no longer establish communication. Now without the Young Miss and President Yi to analyze the side quest, they had to do it themselves, but Nineteen always felt that this quest sounded weird.
"The mission has a time limit. There is still a lot of time between now and dawn. The system generally won't give players a mission that seems to be completed, especially since this is an ultimate dungeon." President Barbie also frowned, her face very serious. "So I suggest that everyone act together for the time being and find the food that needs to be distributed first. No one should fall behind. If you find any problems, you can ask them. Is that okay?"
There will definitely be no problem with the players on their side. After all, they have been together for such a long time and have already formed a tacit understanding. Therefore, the purpose of President Barbie's remarks is mainly for those neutral players who fight alone. After all, the eldest lady has already explained that there is no need to deliberately recruit these people, but try to help as much as possible, so President Barbie still gave a brief explanation.
Fortunately, these people are much easier to talk to than the players from the Anti-One Guild Alliance. What's more, this is an ultimate dungeon. Compared to their inexperience, President Barbie, who was able to successfully survive the guild league dungeon, obviously has more experience. Even for players who do not want to participate in the struggle between the two sides, surviving in this dungeon is the primary goal.
"President Barbie, don't worry, we all know what's going on."
One of the players, as a representative, made this promise and stood there for a while before finally taking the first step.
This time, Twelve did not squeeze to the front of the line, but stayed at the end. Before leaving, he glanced around and whispered to Nineteen beside him, "I think there must be something fishy about this place. Although we came in confusedly, we can't see an entrance or exit here, and there are no signposts leading to other areas. It's like an isolated island. Once you enter, you can't get out."
She was not too worried. After all, even if they were not strong enough, the eldest lady and the president might have other progress. Those two would not watch them being trapped here. But she was puzzled as to why the system separated them and caused such trouble. Could it be that it wanted to catch them all in one fell swoop?
"Don't think too much. Since we are here, we should make the best of it." Nineteen patted her on the shoulder and dragged her forward to catch up with the main group. "Since the system has given us a side quest, let's do it. We will know what it or they are trying to do."
Nineteen's idea was even simpler and more crude. After all, it would be clear whether it was a mule or a horse just by pulling it out for a walk.
Twelve understood the implicit meaning of her words and said nothing more.
The group quickly found the nurses' station. Not surprisingly, there was no nurse on duty in the nurses' station. There were only disposable lunch boxes piled high on the long table, roughly several hundred of them, which formed a sharp contrast with the somewhat empty ward. Even the air seemed a little weird.
"Braised pork, green vegetables and tofu, stir-fried pork and fried chicken legs..." Twelve had taken out a lunch box without knowing when, and looked at it through the transparent lid. "This looks like an ordinary patient meal. Even if it is a little better than the average and a little unhealthy, it can't be called the 'various delicacies' mentioned by the system, right? I think if this kind of system is put into the real world, it will be regarded as false propaganda, or the kind that can be debunked."
Everyone was originally confused and was walking around the nurses' station looking for clues, but after hearing Twelve's words, the atmosphere inevitably became a little more lively and not as depressing as before. A few people with good personalities almost laughed.
Nineteen did not stop Twelve, knowing that this was her way of easing everyone's tension.
Two minutes later, Moka Meng ran out of the room behind the nurses' station holding a few papers in her hands. "President, I found a list of patients. Including us, there are a total of 370 patients in the entire C area. The numbers of the other patients, from 701 to 1055, are all connected. Only the numbers of the fifteen of us are a bit messy, but they are all listed here."
So this list was printed out and placed here by someone on purpose after they were confirmed to be assigned to Area C. They didn't know whether it was some props prepared by the system for them to complete the task, or whether it was left here intentionally by some other person with ulterior motives. However, with this list, they could finally figure out who these lunch boxes were for.
Nineteen was also busy, and he led the others to quickly count the lunch boxes. "President Barbie, the number of lunch boxes has been counted. There are a total of 355. I also had people use simple props to test the lunch boxes. There is no poison. They are all ordinary lunch boxes."
"So we don't get any of these lunch boxes, we're just responsible for distributing them?"
President Barbie raised her eyebrows. "When I first heard about the task, I thought the system required us to distribute dinners suitable for everyone, so it would take some time. That's why there is a system reminder that if the dinner is not to their liking, they will get angry. But now it seems that it is not as simple as I thought. From the perspective of time, this task is not difficult, so the focus of this task is on 'getting a friendly response'."
President Barbie's analysis makes sense. After all, if we control the variables, everyone's meals are the same, so this cannot be used as a criterion for patients to judge. Therefore, they must have other criteria to judge whether the food meets their taste standards.
"President Barbie, we have checked. Apart from the few pieces of paper that Mocha Meng just found, there are no more clues here. The medical records, examination conditions, and treatment records of each patient are all missing here. The system does not seem to want us to quickly determine the condition of each patient based on this."
Twelve followed the other players and searched the two rooms behind the nurses' station, but the two rooms were visibly blank. Not to mention an extra piece of paper, there wasn't even an extra medicine bottle for decoration. It was as if the system was worried that the players could judge the patient's condition based on the drugs they used, so there wasn't a single clue.
"Then let's go directly to the ward and take a look."
President Barbie was very decisive. She knew that she would not find anything else by continuing to look here, so she asked Mocha Meng to take the list with her. In order to save time, she asked the players to put their lunch boxes into their control panels first so that they would not have to run back and forth.
After leaving the nurses' station and walking for about two more minutes, they finally saw the wards on both sides of the corridor, but the corridor still seemed to be endless.
Nineteen was the first to look inside through the small window on the door. He found two beds in a ward. The patients were lying on the beds covered with quilts. They seemed to have fallen asleep and did not notice the uninvited guest outside the door at all.
The furnishings in the ward were simple and everything could be seen at a glance from outside the door. But she didn't know if it was Nineteen's illusion or for some other reason, but when she looked into the room, she felt a strange feeling in her heart for no reason, as if there was something she had deliberately ignored. But she looked at it carefully again and still couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Finally, Nineteen had to retract his gaze and looked at President Barbie. At the other's signal, he reached out and knocked on the door of the ward.
There were two knocks. Even though the sound didn't seem noisy due to Nineteen's politeness, it still created an abrupt feeling in the quiet ward.
There was no ambush as expected, nor any malicious waiting, only two sleeping patients. This did not look like a trap at all, and it was even a bit inconsistent with the players' estimation of the level of the ultimate copy side quest. However, no one dared to take it lightly, and they were prepared for a fierce battle, anxiously waiting for the patient inside to wake up.
But soon, this invisible tension was replaced by a question, because the patient inside the door did not respond to the knock at all, let alone waking up and opening the door, even his breathing rhythm was not affected.
"What's going on? Is he sleeping too soundly? Do we have to wake him up?" Twelve was confused for the first time. After all, the tasks issued by the system in the past were very straightforward, and there were rarely such twists and turns. "What if I just leave the lunch box outside the door? Can it be considered as assigned?"
Nineteen seemed to have been prepared for this. She had already stretched out her hand and gently pushed the door open. She did not go in immediately, but observed carefully for a while before turning her head and saying, "It can be considered that the distribution is complete, but it certainly cannot be considered that they have a good reaction. After all, they didn't even react. And you see, they even opened the door for us considerately. It seems that this wake-up service must be done."
The ward is not big. Once any dangerous situation occurs, it will be difficult to deploy, and it is not suitable for everyone to squeeze in. "Nineteen, Twelve, you two come in with me. The rest of you stay outside. Mocha Meng, please pay attention to protecting everyone's safety."
President Barbie made a prompt decision, left the brigade headquarters outside, and followed Nineteen and Twelve into the ward.
With the patient number found by Mocha Meng, President Barbie took the lead in choosing No. 701 on the bed on the left. He was a man who was so ordinary that he couldn't be more ordinary. He was thin and had his eyes closed. He didn't look like a monster who did all kinds of evil, nor did he look like a victim of some mental illness. In short, he was very ordinary.
"Sir, sir, wake up, we are here to bring you dinner."
Twelve held the whip in one hand and pushed the other's shoulder with the other, trying to wake up the sleeping patient. She did not call the other person's number. After all, they were not staff members now, but patients. There were only numbers but no names on the record sheet. She could only compromise and call the other person "Sir".
Even though he knew in his heart that any normal human being, after being awakened in this way, would not be able to calmly accept the fact that they were just there to deliver food, Twelve still subconsciously lowered his voice.
But just as she finished her words, President Barbie and Nineteen grabbed her shoulders and dragged her back several meters. In an instant, a dagger was pressed against Twelve's nose and stabbed into the door behind her.
None of the three expected that this man would wake up after being called, let alone that he would be so irritable when he woke up. Without even waiting for Twelve to react or explain, he directly drew his knife.
The moment President Barbie pulled people, the image of King Kong Barbie appeared in her right hand. She quickly blocked Twelve and Nineteen behind herself, and with her metal-wrapped hand, she directly strangled the throat of the person on the hospital bed.
In just a few seconds, the situation was reversed. The man didn't expect to face these when he opened his eyes. In the moment of confusion, he was strangled by someone. The remaining two people quickly took out his weapons from under the quilt, with one move after another.
The players at the door were originally standing near the small window to watch the situation inside, ready to go in for support at any time, but when they saw the situation inside, they all turned their heads away at the same time. Only the few neutral players who had just arrived were a little confused. "What is this for? Aren't we expecting a good reaction from the other party? Why is he using knives? Should we go in to support? What if the patient has some special abilities?"
It wasn't that they had any sympathy for the sneak attack by Unit 701, but they felt that this might be detrimental to the completion of the mission.
Mocha Meng had been unconsciously influenced by the first president and the eldest lady for such a long time, so he quickly understood the intention of his own president and waved his hand at them, "No, no, if he is really that strong, even our president can't be his opponent, then we will just die if we go in, just wait and see the show, it won't affect the mission, after all, the eldest lady said that no matter whether it is a black cat or a white cat, the one that catches the mouse is a good cat."
The confused players didn't hear what Mocha Meng wanted to say at all, but they knew that she said a lot. If even President Barbie, Nineteen and Twelve couldn't deal with the patient, it would be useless for them to go in.
"Look, look, I said that everyone has bad tempers regardless of gender or age." Twelve quickly got out from behind President Barbie and came to the bedside, putting on a smile that he only wore when trying to trick people. "We are even now, right? After all, you almost ruined my face by accident just now."
She didn't care at all about the heated confrontation between the two. As if she didn't see President Barbie strangling the other party, she silently explained the current situation, "Mr. 701, we have no ill intentions. We are just here to bring you dinner as requested by the medical staff. Why don't you at least express your attitude? Why are you so angry?"
She didn't know what the man's illness was, but when he swung the dagger, he was quite skillful. However, after President Barbie launched the attack, he did not put up a strong resistance, but just lay there and expressed his dissatisfaction with his eyes.
While Twelve was speaking, he had already handed over the lunch box. If it weren't for President Barbie's threatening gesture, it would really have looked like an enthusiastic patient who had worked tirelessly to deliver the meal.
"Oh……"
The man couldn't make a complete sound, but still expressed his contempt with a sneer.
This time, the smile on Twelve's face disappeared. After exchanging a glance with President Barbie, his face immediately darkened.
"I've said before, as a caring patient, I need good feedback, and this feedback can save your life."
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