Chapter 9: The Stairwell That Doesn't Exist

(You enter the game.)

(You glance around and find that, as the buzz-cut man said, everything is so real it feels impossible. It leaves you both startled and strangely refreshed.)

(So you give Li Ruyao a light tap on the side.)

(Li Ruyao looks up in curiosity. "What?" she asks.)

(You wave a hand to show that it's nothing.)

(You only have ten minutes. Time feels tight, so you stop wasting it.)

(You walk to a wall in the activity center, where a water dispenser stands.)

(You shove the dispenser aside a little, exposing the outlet panel behind it.)

(The panel is extremely old. One of the screws meant to hold it in place is missing, and the other is hanging by a thread.)

(You pick at the edge of the panel with your fingers.)

(The panel comes loose from the wall, revealing the wires behind it.)

(The insulation on the wiring has already aged and cracked. If you just let the wires touch, short them out, and place something flammable nearby, you can start a small fire.)

(Not far from the water dispenser, there happens to be a floor-length curtain hanging all the way to the ground.)

(You find that strange. There isn't even a window here, so why is there a curtain?)

(But you decide not to dig into it. Instead, you grab one corner of the curtain and wrap it around the outlet panel.)

(You take off your shoes and use the soles to force the old wires together.)

(Crackling pops.)

(You see sparks flare when the live wire and neutral touch.)

(You hurry away, moving to the entrance and waiting for chaos to break out.)

(You hear the sound of dice rolling across the floor.)

(A result of 1 appears before your eyes.)

(The curtain catches fire. Someone notices and starts screaming.)

(The two caregivers standing guard at the door rush toward the flames. The moment they leave, you sprint out of the activity center.)

(A fork in the road lies ahead. You recall the way you came and remember that you arrived from the path on the left.)

(So you choose to explore the path on the right.)

(You pull the map from your shoe and study it as you walk.)

(Then you notice something strange: there is no stairwell marked on the map.)

(Could it be that the only way up and down is by elevator? you wonder.)

(A wall blocks your way. The path ends here.)

(So you decide to go back and check the middle path. Maybe the elevator is there.)

(The dice sound comes again, and your luck is good this time: a 3.)

(You quicken your pace.)

(But you still don't find an elevator in the middle corridor.)

(Could the elevator be on the path you came from?)

(That can't be. You remember that the corridor you came through was walled in on both sides, with not a single door.)

(You stare at the map and fall into thought.)

(When you came from the dormitory to the activity center, you did not pass any stairs, which means the activity center should be on the second floor.)

(The map has four different floor plans, which means this building, like the ward building, has four floors.)

(If that's the case, then this building must have stairs or elevators for staff and patients to go up and down. Otherwise, there's no way the staff would have to take such a huge detour through the ward building every time they came here. That would be far too unreasonable a design.)

(A thought suddenly strikes you: could it be that the stairs and elevator do exist, but you simply can't see them, just as you couldn't understand what the doctors and nurses were saying?)

(The dice sound rings out again. This time it's a 7.)

(A doctor rounds the corner into the long corridor. The moment she sees you, she freezes, then points at you and starts yelling.)

(Soon, a caregiver comes over, grabs you by the neck, and when you try to fight back, he strangles you unconscious.)

(...)

(When you wake again, you're in a deep, dim ward.)

(This isn't your original room!)

(Just as you're about to take a look around, countless hateful, furious howls suddenly flood into your mind.)

(You died!)

!

Li Xuan flings the piece in his hand away all at once, breaking out in a cold sweat.

("What's wrong? Are you okay?" Li Ruyao asks anxiously. She lifts her arm and uses her sleeve to wipe the sweat from Li Xuan's forehead.)

(The buzz-cut man isn't surprised at all. He raises an eyebrow and asks, "Died?")

("Yeah." Li Xuan nods, looking at the piece he had just thrown onto the table.)

(The piece is covered in chaotic, twisted colors.)

(He remembers that this piece had been a solid color before.)

(The buzz-cut man casually tosses the piece into the game box. "How did you die?")

("I wanted to find a stairwell or elevator, but I couldn't. Then a doctor found me, a caregiver knocked me out and threw me into a strange ward, and then I died. How did you die the previous times?")

(The buzz-cut man shrugs. "The first time, I took the medicine and the game ended right there. The second time, I tried to run and got my head smashed in by a caregiver. The third and fourth times, I tried to catch a doctor or nurse alone and ask something useful, but I got killed by them instead.")

("Did you find anything useful after leaving the activity center before?")

("No. I had bad luck. After I left the ward, I rolled a 12.")

(Li Xuan's interest is piqued. The numbers he rolled in that run were low, and by the rules, 12 counts as a high-risk event. So he asks, "What happened?")

(For a split second, Li Xuan sees fear flash across the buzz-cut man's face.)

("I ran into a nurse in white. She took me into a ward, then tied me to the bed and used a scalpel to peel off my skin!")

(The buzz-cut man's underlings all suck in a sharp breath. Clearly, he hadn't told them about that before.)

(Thinking of the experience he just had when he died in the simulation, an experience almost indistinguishable from real death, Li Xuan even feels a little respect for the buzz-cut man.)

(The buzz-cut man doesn't say it outright, but Li Xuan feels that when the nurse skinned him, he was probably still conscious.)

(If he runs into that kind of event himself, he should kill himself immediately!)

(Li Xuan silently warns himself.)

(Suddenly, Li Xuan thinks of something. "When the nurses brought you to this building, did you pass through a stairwell or elevator?")

(The buzz-cut man shakes his head.)

(Li Xuan looks at the buzz-cut man's underlings too, but they all shake their heads as well.)

(Li Ruyao also shakes her head.)

("What floor do you live on?")

(The buzz-cut man glances at Li Xuan, considering whether he should tell him.)

(Because after midnight, the door lock automatically releases. If the other side learns his floor, and if they have bad intentions, sneaking up to his room while he is asleep in the middle of the night to commit murder, he probably wouldn't be able to defend against it.)

(Li Xuan immediately understands the buzz-cut man's concern, so he takes the initiative and says, "I live on the second floor.")

(With Li Xuan breaking the ice first, the buzz-cut man no longer hesitates. "I live on the third floor.")

(On the same floor as Li Ruyao.)

(Li Xuan feels Li Ruyao's hand tighten in his own.)

(Without saying anything, Li Xuan pats Li Ruyao's small hand under the table, signaling that she doesn't need to worry.)

("I live on the second floor, you live on the third, and Li Ruyao lives on the fourth. Even though we're on different floors, when the nurses brought us to this level, they didn't pass through any stairs or elevators...")

(To avoid exposing Li Ruyao's real floor, Li Xuan deliberately gives the wrong one.)

(You can never be too careful. Even though he's cooperating with the buzz-cut man and the others right now, he still knows far too little about them. Li Xuan, as a man, isn't too worried about the buzz-cut man and the others doing anything to him, but Li Ruyao, a stunning beauty, is a different matter.)

(When Li Xuan deliberately says the wrong floor for Li Ruyao, Li Ruyao merely leans quietly against his side and does not do something foolish like correcting him.)

("Do you think there's something wrong with this building? Or with the doctors and nurses?")

(The buzz-cut man quickly realizes that something about this doesn't add up.)

("It's hard to say yet." Li Xuan shakes his head. "We have too little usable information in our hands. Feeling around blind like this will only make us guess wrong again and again. Let's run a few more simulations. Once we have more useful information, we'll be able to find the real source.")

(The buzz-cut man nods in agreement.)

(He gives Li Xuan another piece and hands the dice to one of the men beside him.)

(Li Xuan takes a deep breath and looks at that underling.)

("Let's begin!")

(You enter the game.)

(Through arson, you leave the activity center.)

(This time, you don't rush to look for the stairwell or the elevator door.)

(Instead, you try opening every door one by one to check the layout inside.)

(Apart from the activity center, there are six rooms on this floor.)

(They are the multimedia digital room, the tennis room, the tea room, the recreation room, the lounge, and the changing room.)

(But the lounge, tea room, and recreation room are all locked and cannot be opened.)

(You search through the multimedia digital room and the tennis room, but find nothing useful.)

(You hear the sound of the dice for the fourth time in this game, but your luck is still good, and the result is still no higher than 5.)

(You stand in front of the changing room door, ready to go in and take a look.)

(But when you see the red door, you hesitate for a moment.)

(You remember that in the previous simulation, the changing room door was not this color.)

(You remind yourself that this is only a simulation and that you will not really die, so you push open the changing room door.)

(Your eyeballs burst.)

(You died.)

(With the last experience behind him, Li Xuan is much calmer this time, but the terror that comes with death does not become easier to face just because you've experienced it before.)

(Li Xuan takes a few deep breaths, forcing down the surge of fear inside him.)

(At least last time he knew what had killed him. This time, he had simply opened the wrong door and died on the spot!)

(This hospital is packed with killing intent everywhere.)

(Li Xuan tosses away the piece in his hand, the upper half stained red, and exchanges it for a new one.)

(He looks up at the buzz-cut man's underling, signaling for someone else to take over as the one running the game.)

("Again!")

(You enter the game.)

(Through arson, you leave the activity center.)

(The death last time makes you certain that this bizarre changing room is definitely connected to the strange things happening in this building!)

(So you walk straight to the changing room door. This time, the door is normal.)

(You push the changing room door open.)

(There is no one inside.)

(You study the arrangement of the room.)

(The changing room is large, with seven rows of lockers, and at the far back there is a shared shower room.)

(You try to open the lockers, but find that they are all locked.)

(The dice sound rings out.)

(Your luck explodes, and the die comes up 16.)

(You walk to the next locker and give it a gentle pull, opening the door.)

(Inside hangs a pink nurse's uniform and white thigh-high stockings with garters.)

(You rummage through the pocket of the nurse's uniform and find a note.)

(Judging by the format, this note should be the nurse's handbook, but you can't read the words on it.)

(After thinking about it, you take off the patient gown you're wearing and change into the nurse's uniform and stockings.)

(To your surprise, you can now read the words on the note.)

(Nurse's Handbook)

(Congratulations. After passing layer upon layer of trials, you have become one of the staff members of this hospital. On behalf of all employees of this institution, I welcome you to join us. This hospital aims to provide staff with the most generous pay, the most comfortable working environment, and the most satisfying benefits, but during working hours, you must strictly follow the rules below.)

(1: At all times, keep your employee handbook and uniform safe. Every employee receives two sets of uniforms and one handbook upon being hired, and no replacements will be issued. Make sure your uniform and handbook are never lost, because they are as important as your life.)

(2: You must change clothes only in the changing room. Remember the locker number where you store your clothes. You may use the corresponding key to open the matching locker in any changing room. However, please note that you may enter the changing room only when its door is white. If the changing room door is red, leave immediately and go to the lounge, and wait there until the caregivers arrive to tell you that you may enter the changing room. During this time, do not leave the lounge.)

(3: Before eight o'clock each day, go to the patients' wards, bring them to the activity center, and assist the doctors in supervising the patients as they take their medicine. If a patient refuses to take medicine, inform the caregivers. They will handle it properly.)

(4: After five o'clock each day, assist the doctors in examining the patients. The doctors will only wear white uniforms and black stockings, and they will not wear any animal ornaments. If you encounter a doctor wearing a non-white uniform or carrying an animal ornament, do not pay them any attention and notify the caregivers in time. They will protect your safety.)

(5: Your working hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. You may be late or leave early, but absolutely do not arrive early or work overtime. After work, leave the work area immediately. You will bear the consequences of any violation.)

(6: If, due to some accident, you remain in the work area outside working hours, go to the recreation room before dark and carefully inspect the dolls inside. If the dolls are hamsters, raccoons, or bears, you may stay there overnight. If a puppy doll appears, leave immediately and go to the changing room. You may stay there until dawn. After dawn, change into the white nurse's uniform in the locker.)

(7: The caregivers are reliable. You can always trust them.)

(8: This hospital does not keep any animals. If you hear a dog barking, go to the lounge immediately and wait there for half an hour. If you can still hear barking after half an hour, go to the changing room and change into the white nurse's uniform.)

(9: Do not go near any plants.)

(10: This hospital has no morgue. If anyone tries to ask you about the morgue, ignore him and leave.)

(After reading the nurse's handbook, you fall into deep thought.)

(Compared with the patients' handbook, the nurse's handbook has far fewer contradictions, but it contains many more bizarre details.)

(From this handbook, you faintly guess that the animal dolls in the recreation room and the animal noises in the hospital must be connected in some special way.)

(The puppy doll that means you must leave when you see it, the barking you need to avoid, and the caregivers wearing dog-head masks.)

(These three things have two points in common.)

(They are all connected to dogs, and they are all dangerous.)

(You vaguely sense that in this hospital, there may not be only two opposing factions, patients and hospital staff.)

(Might there be a third faction, and might that faction be the true source of all the strange events and bizarre rules in this hospital?)

(You think of the door lock that stops working after midnight. You think of the grocery shop owner's words that the hospital by day is different from the hospital by night. And then there is the line in the nurse's handbook saying employees are forbidden from being here outside working hours, yet they are even allowed to be late or leave early, but not to arrive early or work overtime.)

(Also, green-coated doctors are just as dangerous to nurses, and the nurse's handbook adds another rule: white-coated doctors carrying animal dolls are also dangerous, but the patients' handbook doesn't say that.)

(In addition, you notice that after hearing barking and spending the night in the changing room, female nurses need to change into white uniforms, which are dangerous to patients. Yet you remember that after hearing barking, patients are supposed to go find the caregivers.)

(You think of the mutation in your own body and conclude that barking may well mean contamination.)

(Patients need medicine to resist contamination. Hospital staff may be immune to contamination, but if they break the rules, they can be contaminated too, and then they become a threat to others.)

(So the nurses need to change into white clothes to be distinguished, while patients are probably dealt with directly by the caregivers.)

(After thinking it through carefully, you become more and more convinced that your guess is correct.)

(You silently keep all of this in mind. For now, all you want is to find a way out of the hospital.)

(You plan to leave the changing room wearing this nurse's outfit and see whether the layout of the hospital changes under the identity of a nurse.)

(You step out of the changing room. Because the uniform has no underwear, you feel a little chill between your legs.)

(This is the first time you've worn women's clothing, and you feel a bit embarrassed. The nurse's skirt is a little short, especially, which leaves the front half of your little brother exposed outside the hem.)

(You search all three forked paths, but still can't find a stairwell or elevator.)

(You stand there, unable to figure out what you've missed.)

(You hear the dice again. It's a 10.)

(A female nurse appears in front of you. She looks horrified at the sight of the little brother swinging under your clothes and screams.)

("There's a pervert!")

(You look up and see a caregiver walking toward you.)

(You are knocked unconscious by the caregiver and thrown into a deep, dark ward.)

(You died.)

(After the first two deaths, Li Xuan is much calmer this time.)

(But his head is still a little dizzy. It seems that the game's simulations do have a cost after all.)

(Once the dizziness in his mind fades, Li Xuan looks at the piece in his hand. Just like the first piece, it is covered in chaotic colors.)

(Li Xuan hands the piece to the buzz-cut man. The buzz-cut man gives him another piece and asks, "How was it? Take a break, or go again?")

(Li Xuan takes the piece and holds it in his hand, feeling the cold texture against his palm.)

("Wait a moment first.")

(After speaking, Li Xuan lowers his head and closes his eyes in thought. Seeing this, the buzz-cut man promptly swallows the words he was about to say.)

(For everyone present, the faster Li Xuan finds a way out of the hospital, the sooner they can escape this bizarre place.)

(In the calm atmosphere, Li Xuan slowly sorts through the thoughts in his mind.)

(First, in these three simulations, several of his guesses have been confirmed.)

(The first was his earlier theory that the hospital staff are converted from patients.)

(In the nurse's handbook, the very first sentence says, Congratulations on passing layer upon layer of trials and becoming one of the many employees.)

(From that sentence alone, Li Xuan's guess is completely correct.)

(He still does not know, however, why every doctor and nurse in this hospital looks exactly the same.)

Second was the identity-recognition hypothesis.

After he put on the nurse's uniform and obtained the nurses' rules, he could read the text on the nurses' rules and understand the language spoken by the nurses.

But from the female nurse's shout of "pervert" before his third death, it seemed that only female patients could transform into nurses and be accepted by the other nurses, and the doctors were probably the same.

Should he let Li Ruyao try it?

After thinking about it, Li Xuan still felt there was no need. One simulation only lasted ten minutes; bringing Li Ruyao along would only waste time that was already too tight.

In addition to the first two hypotheses that had already been confirmed, there were a few that now seemed wrong. For example, he had previously believed this place was on the second floor, but now he was no longer certain.

He felt that this was very likely a unique space.

Of course, there was still one very troublesome problem unresolved: Li Xuan had not found the stairwell in the main building.

Maybe he should try the ward building side? There was a stairwell there.

Thinking of this, Li Xuan lifted his head and said to the flat-headed man, "Come on, let's try once more!"