Chapter 315 Monster Hospital (XIV)
In the corridor of Area B, everyone, including President Yan and Nurse Zhang, stopped temporarily. President Xuan and others in the back also looked unhappy.
After all, they just learned from Nurse Zhang that the Acting Dean once mobilized the entire hospital to find a patient who disappeared inexplicably in this place where no one could leave without the Acting Dean's consent, but failed. But now the system assigned this strange incident to them as a side quest to be completed. Why is that?
"Didn't we make a choice when we entered this instance? Why did this inexplicable mission happen? And from what I've seen, even the NPC couldn't find the patient. Why does the system think we can definitely find him?"
The loan shark president couldn't help it, and immediately communicated with President Xuan and President Top Students in the three people's private communication channel. Although the system restricted players in different wards from communicating with each other, it did not restrict players in the same ward from communicating with each other. This made it convenient for the three people who had already formed an alliance. President Yan, who was standing in front, might know nothing about this situation, or might have anticipated it to some extent.
When President Xuan heard the question from the loan shark president, he first glanced at President Yan who was standing in the front, and found that the latter also seemed to be shocked by Nurse Zhang's words. He just stood there with a frown, not knowing what he was thinking.
President Xuan didn't want to show off too much. Firstly, in terms of rank, President Yan was higher than the three of them. In this strictly hierarchical hospital, this was not a good thing. Moreover, because of this mission, they were no longer under the jurisdiction of their own area. Secondly, he wanted to test President Yan's attitude and win him over. If they were discovered by the other party, it might not be appropriate for them to be secretive in the same mission.
But now that the loan shark president has spoken, and his tone is quite complaining, he has to explain, "It's not necessarily that the system is targeting us and making us trigger this side quest. It may also be that they want us to stop President Yan from completing the quest, or there may be other purposes. It's just that we are not clear yet, so don't be too nervous. In addition, this doesn't look like a punitive quest. Even if we can't complete it, we won't be forced to stay here. After all, we are not the doctors in charge of Area B in name."
"And judging from the current situation, I am more inclined to believe that this task system is mainly targeting President Yan. We are just here to cooperate. After all, this is not the ward we are responsible for, and his position is higher than ours."
President Xuan has been thinking about this all along the way. "So we don't need to react too much to this mission. We just need to follow the other party and don't be too negative."
After hearing these words, the president of the loan shark guild and the president of the honor students guild relaxed a little and clarified their main purpose of this mission.
President Yan also had many questions in her mind at this time. After all, compared with the other three presidents, she knew the whole story of the incident in which Patient X was falsely accused of trying to escape, so it was easy for her to connect this incident with Patient X who had been missing frequently since that day.
But she didn't know before that without the permission of the acting dean, no fly or person would leave Area B, so she had always been inclined to think that Nurse Hao, Nurse Wang and security guard Guo had teamed up to do this thing mainly to drive Nurse Zhang out of Area B. But now it seems that there should be more than that, or the focus of this matter has been on Patient X from the beginning.
"You just said that no one noticed when he came back?" Nurse Zhang didn't seem to intend to hide anything on this matter, so President Yan naturally continued to ask, "Didn't the dean or you ask Patient X afterwards? He will have an explanation himself, right?"
Judging from Nurse Zhang's description of Patient X just now, apart from this so-called strange psychological allergy to sexophobia, he behaves like a normal person at other times. That means he can communicate normally. He did not just leave, but disappeared every night and came back during the day. There must be a reasonable explanation.
Who knew that when Nurse Zhang heard this, she spread her hands and showed a helpless expression, "Of course, we found that he disappeared quietly on the first day and then reappeared. We asked him about it, but Patient X insisted that he slept in the room all night and didn't go anywhere. He also flatly denied that he disappeared every night."
"Is this okay?"
The president of the top students behind him couldn't help but ask. President Xuan said that they didn't want President Yan to find out that they really didn't care about this task, so he asked at the right time, "Then didn't you install a 24-hour surveillance camera in his room? Don't most mental hospitals have such things?"
Nurse Zhang didn't know whether she had a certain area filter or was able to keenly sense that President Yan's relationship with several other people was not good, so she did not comment on the question asked by the president of the top students and had no intention of answering. She just looked at the other person as if she was looking at an idiot.
President Yan held his forehead with one hand and explained helplessly, "Think about the plot outline we heard. How long ago did the Monster Hospital exist? How could there be such electronic equipment at that time? And didn't you find that the geographical location here is very remote? It has maintained the ancient rules and has continued from generation to generation to its current location. Tradition and persistence are its characteristics. They don't have the things you mentioned. And how much do you think surveillance cameras can play a role in a hospital where patients may have other strange abilities?"
President Yan discovered a sense of contradiction in the entire Monster Hospital the moment he entered Ward B, or in other words, the moment he entered the lobby on the first floor. For example, during the preliminary examination just now, and even the players' illnesses inferred by the system, were, to some extent, illnesses that only emerged after society had developed to a certain level. However, these were very common in the backward Monster Hospital.
Moreover, for a hospital that can conceal its ward to such an extent, there is not even a trace of modern technology.
"Also, please be careful with your wording. I don't think they are very evil. You call the Monster Hospital a 'mental hospital'. At least some of the patients' illnesses are difficult to understand from a normal person's perspective."
President Yan thought about it and added that as a staff member, apart from the rules listed in the signed informed consent form, President Yan was not sure whether there were any other death rules in Area B. Moreover, she did not want to bear any adverse consequences due to the momentary verbal complaints of her temporary comrades.
The president of the honor students did not feel ashamed of being scolded. He understood the deeper meaning behind President Yan's words. He just gave him an apologetic look and did not say anything else.
In the end, it was President Yan who spoke up and revealed the story. "So after your evaluation, you think that what Patient X said might be true?"
Although President Yan's words were accompanied by a question mark, his tone was almost affirmative, as if he was certain that the medical staff's comprehensive assessment was in favor of Patient X.
Nurse Zhang's eyes were obviously filled with surprise, and she looked at President Yan with a little more respect. "We have examined and evaluated Patient X, and confirmed that he was not lying, nor was he just trying to evade further questioning. He is very sorry for the trouble he caused us. He also tried not to fall asleep at night, but he just couldn't do it. As long as he closed his eyes, strange things kept happening."
"We also had medical staff stay by his side at night, but he would still disappear in front of everyone. There was nothing wrong with his mental state. We can only speculate that the last time he was falsely accused of escaping might have had some effects on him that he himself was not aware of, which led to this effect."
After Nurse Zhang finished explaining all this, she led them forward. The entire corridor was silent, with only the hurried footsteps showing a sense of presence.
"Since that incident, have other patients become particularly close to Patient X, or has his lifestyle changed in any way?"
In fact, President Yan was more inclined to agree with the medical staff's assessment of Patient X, that is, President Yan believed that Patient X was truly unaware of his disappearance every night for some reason.
After all, according to the rules of the Monster Hospital, the medical staff in Area B have been there for quite some time, and according to tradition and hospital rules, all medical staff know the patients very well and even accompany them for a long time, so if the other party really lied, those medical staff would not be able to fail to notice it, and lies cannot deceive people who are with them day and night.
So in comparison, President Yan is more inclined to believe that there is someone else involved in the disappearance of Patient X. As for what purpose this person wants to achieve with the disappearance of Patient X, it is still unknown, but the first suspects are the other patients in Area B.
After all, the one who is close to the water gets the moon first, not to mention that the previous false accusation was also made by the nurses and security guards in Area B.
"Patient X is quite popular in Area B. He has a few good relationships with patients. After this incident, the interactions between them are not much different from before." Nurse Zhang knew what President Yan wanted to ask, and she recited the information fluently without any hesitation. "If there is any change, it is not that there is a big change in lifestyle, but I found that the other party's sense of smell seems to be much more sensitive than before. But I can't be sure, maybe this is just my guess."
Nurse Zhang didn't want to add the last sentence, but after hesitating for a while, she chose to tell the truth.
"Sense of smell?" President Yan had never expected that he would actually discover it. "How did you notice this? How sensitive is it? If it was just an ordinary sensitivity, you shouldn't have noticed it."
After saying this, President Yan realized his mistake when he saw Nurse Zhang's hesitant expression. He quickly assured her, "You also know that the acting dean asked me to investigate this matter. I can't miss any clues. And since you have been investigating for so long and there is no good news, I think my ability may not be as good as yours. Of course, I am also prepared for a protracted war, so don't worry, just tell the truth."
President Yan understood Nurse Zhang's psychology. Perhaps Nurse Zhang had reported the point about sense of smell but no one paid attention to it, or maybe she felt that this non-existent thing had nothing to do with the other party's disappearance so she did not report it at all. Now she told him about this situation entirely because of his questioning, but Nurse Zhang must be worried that if this clue was not used, he would settle the score or put the blame on her.
With President Yan's assurance, Nurse Zhang did not hesitate any longer. "Generally speaking, in order to ensure the comfort of the patients in the ward, we will replace the flowers in the ward every week. This will also help alleviate the symptoms of some patients. This work is usually done by other nurses under my command. Sometimes I will be responsible for checking the flower stems to make sure there are no thorns that will hurt the patients."
"But that day, several patients' symptoms were not stable and needed treatment, so my staff were busy. If the fresh flowers were not watered quickly, they would wither easily. I happened to be free at that time, so I helped to sort them out.
When I moved to Patient X's ward, I opened the door and saw Patient X and his former roommate No. 665. They both stared at me, or more precisely, at the flowers in my hand. Then No. 665 threw the after-meal snack to Patient X in annoyance..."
This happened just a day or two ago. Nurse Zhang had a deep impression, so she remembered clearly what No. 665 said at the time, "You've been really lucky lately. This is the nth time you've guessed correctly. Forget about the lunch boxes and the other things before. You can even guess the flowers correctly. You should ask a nurse to take some time out to buy you a lottery ticket or something. Even though we can't use it here, it's good to get a good start."
Patient X opened the snack with a smile, glanced at the other person and said defensively, "I'm not guessing, I can smell it."
But No. 665 didn't believe it at the time, "I said a few words to you, and you're still panting..."
President Yan was a little unsure. "It seems that this is not very rigorous. After all, lunch boxes and other things will have a smell. Even if they are sent to the next room, there will be a little smell. He can tell the difference without having a very sensitive sense of smell..."
"No," President Yan was interrupted by Nurse Zhang before he finished speaking. "I had the same idea as you at first. I thought Patient X was just guessing, or that his sense of smell was better than that of ordinary people, so he boasted to No. 665. But when I came to their ward again the next day, I found out that I was wrong. At that time, they were still betting. Patient X accurately said the contents of our lunch box the next day. It was only 11 o'clock in the afternoon. When I left the nurses' station, lunch had not been delivered yet. While Patient X was talking, I received a message from me saying that lunch had just been delivered."
At this point, Nurse Zhang just happened to walk to a ward, stopped and looked back at President Yan, "From such a distance, can you smell the scent of the lily on the nurse's stand?"
President Yan was frightened quite a lot tonight. Every time she thought that her endurance had reached a new level, the facts she heard next would make her readjust her mindset in time.
Following Nurse Zhang's words, she turned back to look at the nurses' station, and discovered that she couldn't even see the nurses' station clearly, let alone smell it. After all, they had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes. Even if they stopped and walked in between, the distance was at least one kilometer. How could a normal person's sense of smell smell the scent of a lily in the nurses' station?
But in Nurse Zhang's description, Patient X actually did it. "So Patient X won the lunch bet, and you finally found this strange. Didn't he show any proficiency in this area before?"
"No," Nurse Zhang had already stretched out her hand to push open the door, and turned sideways to invite everyone to come in. "And I also found an opportunity to confirm with Patient X during the day today. He confirmed that he suddenly found that his sense of smell became unusually sensitive the day after he was falsely accused. In his own words, he could lie on the bed and easily distinguish where each person was by the different smells on the nurses without much effort. He could also confirm what they were doing based on the other smells on their hands and bodies. He could locate a person 100% by smell, which was more sensitive than navigation."
This was no longer the feeling of his sense of smell being redeveloped, but more like God had opened a door for him. The timing of this change was particularly coincidental. The level of surprise was no less than when President Yan first discovered his personal skills and confirmed what kind of existence his words meant to others.
"I think that whether it is from the point of time or this special change, this change must be related to the other party's disappearance." President Yan didn't know where her confidence came from. In short, she did have a certainty, but she couldn't explain it yet. "By the way, Nurse Hao and Nurse Wang..."
President Yan was about to ask a question, but stopped talking when he entered the ward. "Why is there no one in the ward? I mean, where is his roommate? Aren't they supposed to be in the same ward?"
It was already past the time for the patients to go to bed, so President Yan naturally knew that they would not be able to see Patient X even if they arrived, but what surprised him was that the other roommate's bed was also empty.
"Oh, that's right." Nurse Zhang also heard the question that President Yan didn't finish asking, but she didn't ask immediately. She just explained, "To be honest, the condition of Patient X is a bit scary. We are also worried about the situation of No. 665. In the end, we moved him to a new place and let Patient X live here alone. At least if something happens, it won't scare others. So he has lived here alone for the past few days."
The furnishings in the room were simple, with only two beds and a table. It was obvious at a glance that there was no place to hide anyone, let alone a hidden space. President Yan then noticed that the bed that originally belonged to No. 665 was made clean and the quilt was folded. It seemed that it was just temporarily unoccupied and might be changed back in the future.
But on patient X's bed, the quilt was spread out, and even the rolled-up quilt showed that a person had been lying in it not long ago, but now there was nothing.
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