Chapter 232: The First Batch of Selected to Start Escaping the Rehabilitation Center! (Subscribe for Monthly Tickets)
Many rules seem disconnected at first glance, but the key is really to find information to verify them.
As for whether you can find useful clues and connect them to the rules, that requires a certain level of skill.
Selected with less experience usually need to see the clue first before it clicks, realizing that these rules can actually be linked together.
More experienced Selected can use a few clues to predict unknown dangers and what they need to do next.
Those who aren’t so sharp get lost in the maze of complex information and rules.
Andiebu, the transcendent from the Pyramid States, currently had a mind that was complete mush.
Because he didn’t understand the rules well, he had contacted many patients of the same type and gathered a lot of information from them.
But he just couldn’t find the meaning of the rules within all that info.
He hadn’t even realized, after seeing the fake doctor, that he should try to grab his pass.
Now, he could only rely on the information from the yellow-haired man to survive. In other words, he had already fallen into the trap the yellow-haired man had set.
Gregori had some experience and brains. He’d actually guessed some things.
Through his recent encounter with the fake doctor and the timing of the crows’ second appearance, he could verify his suspicions. A vague idea of how to clear the round was forming in his mind.
He needed to plan the specifics further.
That meant finding more useful information tomorrow.
After all, while the yellow-haired man was using him, he was also using the yellow-haired man in return.
Gregori had taken the medicine a few times and recovered some ability, but he didn’t know the strength of the other patients, the fake doctors, or the orderlies.
He needed a certain understanding of all that before he dared to act. Right now, he wasn’t confident. He’d wait and take the medicine a few more times tomorrow.
But before that, he needed to verify some information, unrelated to the rules, to see if it was truly useless.
It was now late at night, eleven o’clock. Most of the Selected were tossing and turning, scratching their heads, trying to figure things out.
Once Gregori knew what he needed to do tomorrow, he checked that his door was locked and then got some rest.
The ward conditions weren’t great—the smell of disinfectant was pungent—but at least there was a bed. When sleepiness hit, he could drift off.
Gregori was among the earlier ones to sleep. Most Selected only fell asleep around one or two in the morning.
The only one who slept even earlier was that guy from the Dragon Kingdom.
Zhang Yangqing had long since filtered out the distracting information and distilled a plan from the correct clues.
Next, he just needed to execute his escape plan based on that.
That way, he could get out early, and he could leave most of the troublesome tasks to that one-eyed kid.
At this stage, Zhang Yangqing and the one-eyed kid were just in a cooperative relationship.
He didn’t see the kid as a follower or a sidekick.
That meant, under certain conditions, Zhang Yangqing was willing to sell him out.
The rules didn’t say who was a good person, and this guy hadn’t actively come to him for protection, so Zhang Yangqing naturally wasn’t going to look out for him.
To put it bluntly, they were using each other.
Zhang Yangqing believed that if he were in danger, the kid would also sell him out without hesitation.
As night fell, the Selected who hadn’t fallen asleep were treated to a sensory feast.
From outside the sealed windows, they could hear certain “footsteps.”
It sounded like a thousand-legged centipede crawling back and forth outside the window, desperately trying to get in.
The dense, pattering sound made many Selected’s hearts tremble.
Many people have an instinctive fear of insects.
It gave you the feeling that “maybe outside isn’t so safe either.”
In the hallway, a huge, pitch-black hand wandered, letting out a sobbing, wailing sound every time it passed a door.
Like a reaper searching for children who wouldn’t sleep at night.
If you opened the door and looked, you could even see countless wide-open eyes staring down from the ceiling.
These eyes glowed with a faint light. Sometimes they were like beacons illuminating the world, guiding lost souls forward.
Other times, they were like dark lamps watching over the world, escorting sinners who had done wrong.
Under normal circumstances, no Selected would deliberately seek death like that.
The exploration phase was over. Even the most inexperienced Selected had at least watched videos of other survivors.
In the horror world, going out at night meant certain death unless you possessed overwhelming power or had rules to protect you.
The next morning, the broadcast sounded.
Breakfast time. From eight to nine, only one hour.
Zhang Yangqing opened his eyes and felt a bit uncomfortable. It was probably the virus starting to act up after a whole night.
Following the orderly’s instructions, he took two pills. Now there were only four left in the bottle.
After taking these two, he could feel his body slowly recovering.
He was much stronger than yesterday. Some transcendents could even sense the faint spiritual energy within them.
As usual, he put the pill bottle in his pocket and left the room.
To avoid cross-infection, everyone needed to stagger their mealtimes, so choosing the right time was important.
Other Selected needed to get to the cafeteria first and wait for the yellow-haired man to arrive before they could get their food.
They couldn’t be sure how much the cafeteria staff would give them.
The yellow-haired man would help them handle the extra portions.
For some reason, the Selected always felt the cafeteria staff were deliberately targeting him.
They served everyone else normally, but gave him way too much.
Was there some hint in that?
Some Selected even tried chatting up the cafeteria staff, asking about the rehabilitation center.
They didn’t seem to hit the right topic, though. They got no answers.
But this round’s Selected from the Bear Nation, Goncharov, seemed to trigger some kind of keyword.
Yes, he was the S-rank survivor of the Doom Cataclysm. He had a special skill and some survival experience.
He noticed there weren’t many cafeteria staff, so he asked the server, “Are you short-handed?”
The cafeteria staff member gave a positive answer.
According to the staff, after the cafeteria closed to patients, they still had to provide meal delivery services for the crow-masked orderlies.
As the rules stated, the orderlies had bad tempers and were picky about the food. You could tell from the very beginning when Zhang Yangqing complained—the food here really was terrible.
Patients didn’t dare say anything, but the orderlies did.
This created some friction between the orderlies and the cafeteria staff.
So, the cafeteria staff didn’t want to see the orderlies. They asked Goncharov to help with the deliveries.
This connected with Rule 6, which mentioned that the cafeteria food was safe, but only the cafeteria food was safe.
This might be the rule hinting that Selected could poison the food during delivery to get the orderlies’ uniforms.
Killing other patients wasn’t too hard, since everyone was sick and they had the yellow-haired man’s help.
But killing an orderly was much harder. The horror world would surely give Selected some opportunities, but they had to find them within the time limit.
As for the poison, it was most likely the pills the Selected took themselves.
According to the yellow-haired man, taking another patient’s pills was lethal poison.
By the same logic, orderlies probably couldn’t just take these pills either.
This was the standard approach. It was quite complex, and one wrong move meant death.
Zhang Yangqing’s approach wasn’t that complicated. He just casually walked into the cafeteria, found a seat, and waited for the one-eyed kid to bring him his food. Then the kid went back to get his own.
It looked like a partnership, but Zhang Yangqing held all the cards.
If the one-eyed kid wanted to get out, he had to follow orders and even try to please Zhang Yangqing.
But it seemed the kid was still a bit wary of him.
That look—acting weak but still being on guard—was actually kind of funny.
As their strength slowly returned, many Selected gained confidence.
Gregori was one of them. His conversations with the yellow-haired man weren’t as submissive or ingratiating as yesterday. They were just normal talks.
Since he didn’t trust the yellow-haired man, Gregori decided he would strike first when the time came.
Some transcendents had already started looking for new partners.
The patients here all seemed to have some skills, one way or another.
But without exception, aside from Zhang Yangqing, no Selected seemed to want the one-eyed kid as a partner.
He just looked too weak. A total liability.
All the above were more or less the correct methods to clear the round.
But where there are correct methods, there are also some pretty bizarre ones.
The transcendent from the Cherry Blossom Kingdom was a ninja, short and wiry.
His advantage was that he thought he could crawl out through the ventilation shafts in the ceiling.
That was something the broader, more muscular Selected couldn’t even dream of.
Besides, ninjas were naturally agile and knew some bone-contraction techniques. He thought this might let him skip this round altogether.
The idea from the Eagle Nation’s transcendent this round was also unique. He thought he could follow the path of the Dragon Kingdom’s Celestial Master.
Get an orderly’s uniform, then find a way to gain recognition. That way, he could change his identity and get a new set of rules.
This idea had some merit. As long as he didn’t die, it proved he wasn’t wrong.
After all, the rules were just suggestions, not the only way.
But they were suggestions that could help you survive.
After breakfast, Zhang Yangqing wandered around the center for a bit, then went back to rest. There wasn’t much he needed to do.
The one-eyed kid got busy with his task again: recording the room numbers of patients with the same symptoms, even staking out the pharmacy door on the second floor.
And these tasks were exactly what the other Selected were busy with.
Whether ordinary Selected or transcendents, they all felt it was more reliable to do things themselves.
The audience could clearly see that the most relaxed Selected in the entire place was the Dragon Kingdom’s Celestial Master.
Around noon, about eleven o’clock.
Just as Zhang Yangqing was about to take his medicine according to the rules, he suddenly heard a familiar yet unfamiliar sound.
It was the honk of a car horn.
It sounded like a vehicle was passing by this place, or maybe departing from it.
Zhang Yangqing’s mind flashed back to yesterday. When he first woke up, he had also heard a car horn.
“So, this car appears at the same time every day.”
This was an important clue.
The horror world followed certain rules. Since it appeared yesterday and again today at the same time, it would almost certainly appear tomorrow too.
Now, all the information was sorted out.
Zhang Yangqing had been wondering when to make his move, but now he didn’t even need to think about the timing. Was this round too easy?
If the other Selected knew what he was thinking, they’d probably spit blood.
They were running around collecting information, guarding against betrayal from the yellow-haired man, preparing to kill other patients… one wrong step here and you’re dead.
You could say the difficulty was enormous, the danger constant.
And this guy? He thinks it’s easy.
During lunch, Zhang Yangqing received a list from the one-eyed kid. It had room numbers on it.
The patients in these rooms were of the same type as them.
There were seventeen room numbers in total. The kid would find a few more later, just in case.
Zhang Yangqing had said he could kill any number, so the kid naturally wasn’t going to hold back.
More pills meant a greater chance of survival for him.
You had to admit, the kid was pretty clever.
The other Selected were also just about ready. They all wanted to leave this godforsaken place as soon as possible.
Gregori had discussed it with the yellow-haired man. The patients all holed up in their rooms after eating, so they had to deal with the crow-masked orderlies first.
The crow-masked orderlies usually appeared in pairs.
How to separate them and take them down one by one was what Gregori and the yellow-haired man were discussing.
If they weren’t using poison, they needed the ability to take one down solo.
After taking the medicine four times, Gregori felt he had the strength for a fight. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
Then came the crucial part. They both had to keep their clothes clean, so the orderlies would serve them.
Once everything was ready, Gregori pressed the call button by his bed.
Before long, two crow-masked orderlies opened his door.
At that moment, Gregori made a request. He wanted to go to the screening room, but he felt weak. Could they help him get there?
Since his clothes were clean, the two crow-masked orderlies agreed.
Gregori was on the third floor. The screening room was on the fourth, so it was a bit of a walk.
A male orderly helped him towards the screening room.
Just then, the yellow-haired man happened to pass by. He said he couldn’t find his pill bottle and asked the female orderly to help him look for it.
That separated the two orderlies.
Soon, the male crow-masked orderly helped Gregori into the screening room.
Gregori pointed to a seat further in and asked the orderly to help him over there.
The orderly didn’t refuse such a request from Gregori.
After all, Rule 2 said orderlies liked serving patients with clean clothes.
This was also why Zhang Yangqing had been proactively served by the orderlies.
Gregori had one hand on the orderly’s shoulder, the other already gripping his prepared weapon.
It was very dark in there. Seeing his chance, Gregori suddenly swung his arm.
Thud!
The sharp, makeshift weapon pierced straight through the male orderly’s chest, stabbing a large hole right through his heart.
It was a sneak attack. The crow-masked orderly never saw it coming.
Beneath the crow mask, those crimson eyes were filled with shock and confusion.
He couldn’t understand why this patient was killing him.
At this stage, to avoid damaging the masks, the transcendents were all aiming for the heart.
Gregori had killed before. He could feel when a heart was pierced. Confident, he didn’t stab a second time.
Those who weren’t as confident would stab a few more times for good measure.
As the orderly fell, Gregori dragged his body to the back rows of seats.
That was the best place to hide a body. It was dark back there, and even if the second orderly came in, they wouldn’t notice the bloodstains.
If he’d killed him in the ward, the space was small with nowhere to hide. The second orderly would have been on guard the moment they entered, and there was a good chance Gregori would have been killed instead.
As for the smell of blood? No need to worry.
The orderlies’ crow masks were high-grade gas masks. They couldn’t smell blood.
With that orderly dealt with, Gregori changed into his uniform.
As he pulled off the clothes, Gregori did want to see what the orderly looked like.
But it was pitch black, and the other one could show up any minute. He’d check later, after dealing with the second.
After changing, Gregori waited by the door for the second orderly.
When the second orderly walked in, it was still quite dark. She didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
Trusting her colleague, she came closer and asked what had happened to the patient.
The answer wasn’t words, but a blade.
The sound of a blade piercing a heart echoed again in the screening room, accompanied by the flickering images from the projector. It felt almost like a scene from a play.
Gregori pulled off his mask, breathing in the bloody scent, a look of ecstatic joy spreading across his face.
He couldn’t resist a pretentious line: “May the Lord forgive my sins.”
Gregori had intended to give a little praise to the Church, but that sinister tone, that craving for bloodlust, combined with his increasingly twisted expression, made the people from the Church sweat a little. Was this guy the villain?
Still, Gregori’s style was consistent. The audience seemed used to him being this way by now.
In the horror world, the ones who aren’t ruthless don’t survive.
At this moment, Sidney, the Church’s paladin, frowned slightly. He felt that Gregori might not be entering the horror world for honor and resource rewards. He was just satisfying his own urge to kill.
Regardless, Gregori was performing better and better. He paid close attention to the details.
Back in the horror world, the yellow-haired man saw that Gregori had handled things and was a bit surprised by his strength.
But he didn’t show it yet. He seemed to have his own plans.
After changing clothes, the two left the screening room.
Their schedule for the rest of the day was packed.
It was now three in the afternoon.
Between three and six, Gregori needed to kill ten patients with the same symptoms and steal their pills.
Then, after taking his own pills, he would go to the pharmacy to get twelve more.
During this time, he also had to change back into his patient’s clothes and go to the cafeteria for dinner.
At nine, he would wait for the crows to arrive and observe whether the fake doctor really came up via the elevator.
At ten past nine, the fake doctor would appear. They needed to grab the fake doctor’s pass.
When the crows came again, if the elevator was usable, they could leave this godforsaken place.
Finally, of course, he would have to deal with the yellow-haired man. He couldn’t wait for the man to make the first move.
But for now, he still needed his help. The two of them had no conflict. Yet.
That was Gregori’s process. It was pretty close to the standard.
The process for ordinary Selected was slower. If they could get out, they also had to manage their time precisely.
The difference from the transcendents was that they lacked strength and had to rely on their wits.
The way to kill an orderly was, of course, poison. Once they got the orderly’s uniform, they could use the same method to poison the patients.
The method wasn’t too hard. They could use their new identity to trick patients of other types into giving them their pills. Then, they’d find an excuse to make a patient of their own type take those pills, poisoning them.
This was a way to kill without relying on the yellow-haired man.
Since they were wearing orderly uniforms, most patients wouldn’t resist.
The patients knew that offending the orderlies had dire consequences.
It was a bit more troublesome, but very safe.
As long as they didn’t slip up, they could basically pass this round.
It might just take a bit longer to clear.
At this point, some Selected were already starting to plan how to deal with the yellow-haired man.
Only now did the audience realize that the yellow-haired man had shown his hand.
But it seemed most Selected hadn’t caught on yet. They still believed what he said.
This made the audience worry about their own Selected who hadn’t figured it out.
As they wondered how their Selected could escape this deadly plot, they suddenly realized that one Selected hadn’t even entered that deadly plot at all.
