As soon as the Hypnotist finished speaking, a crisp, childish voice, full of mockery, came from Gu Rong’s mouth: “Is that so?”

The Hypnotist froze. In front of him was still that round-headed little dumpling, but Gu Rong’s expression and aura had completely changed.

He looked like a soft and cute child with a sinister soul inside.

Gu Rong sat cross-legged on the bed, frowned his little eyebrows, and crossed his little arms. Then, his aura changed back: “Lord Devil, why are you here again?”

The Hypnotist: “…”

Lin Xuezhu: “…”

At this moment, Gu Rong was even more like a split personality than the Hypnotist, his expression sometimes soft and cute, sometimes mocking, sometimes crossing his little arms, sometimes lowering them.

[Oh my god, oh my god, Lord Devil is here!]

[I’ll bet Lord Devil is no more than three years old. How could he be so childish!]

[Why are you calling him Lord Devil? Are you crazy? Call him Lord Lu!]

The devil: “…”

He waved his hand and turned off the noisy livestream comments again.

Livestream Chat: …?

The devil had previously shared a body with Gu Rong, as if establishing some kind of connection. At this moment, it was a wisp of the devil’s consciousness that had followed him out of the dream, not the devil himself.

The devil himself was still sealed in the dream within the Black Forest.

Lin Xuezhu and the Hypnotist looked at the split-personality cub in front of them, silent.

The devil used Gu Rong’s mouth to speak, his voice still Gu Rong’s baby voice: “If the Key of Hope cannot be brought into the dream, then break the dream, and drag everything in the dream into reality. It’s the same.”

The Hypnotist’s two mismatched halves of his face couldn’t show any emotion, but he froze in an instant.

The next second, the calm of the treatment room was broken. A gap was torn in the void, and on the other side of the gap was the mental hospital about to be engulfed in flames.

The scene before them was like a burning painting. No one knew what the devil had done, but in an instant, they were no longer in the treatment room, but in the Black Forest.

The air was thick with black mist, and the fire hadn’t spread here yet.

Countless vengeful spirits swirled in the air, screaming as if they wanted to devour everything that came.

But when they saw the little dumpling, Gu Rong, the screams of the vengeful spirits paused for a moment, then changed their tune.

“Lord Devil’s little lackey is here, gagaga!”

“Little lackey, little lackey!”

In front was the stone tomb, sealed by five crucifixes.

The Hypnotist looked at the Black Forest, which he had hidden in countless dreams and had now been dragged out, and gave a self-deprecating smile, then shrugged.

The Hypnotist said, “Little Rong Zaizai, look, if you put the keys into the slots at the top of these five crucifixes, you can combine them into the master key, but…”

He looked at this little radish head, “The crucifixes are so tall; it’s not easy to do, is it?”

All five keys were in Gu Rong’s hands; the devil had already withdrawn his consciousness.

Gu Rong raised one little foot, gesturing for the Hypnotist to see: “Faceless Brother, look, Zaizai can fly by stepping on the left foot with the right foot!”

The Hypnotist: “…”

Lin Xuezhu: “…”

Gu Rong, seeing that the two didn’t believe him, was about to demonstrate for them on the spot. But before he could demonstrate, five players came running over as if fleeing for their lives.

Gu Rong had good eyesight. He immediately saw Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao and obediently called out, “Big Brother, Little Brother!”

Zhuang Yu and Shen Hanxiao were relieved to see that Gu Rong was okay.

Entering this instance, the two of them hadn’t done many tasks, but they had worried a lot about this little cub.

Everyone was stunned to see Gu Rong and Lin Xuezhu, who had arrived first.

When their gazes fell on the Hypnotist, and they saw this obvious fusion of three NPCs, looking like nothing human, they were even more stunned.

Yang Chunsheng said, “Dr., Dr. Lin, you said we were hypnotized from the very beginning, in a dream created by the Hypnotist. Is this true?”

Lin Xuezhu: “.”

Livestream Chat: …

Damn, they’re on the verge of breaking the barrier between reality and dreams, they’re about to synthesize the master key, and you guys are still completely clueless!

Just now, when Lin Xuezhu had made his deduction, he and Gu Rong had disappeared on the spot, and the Hypnotist’s split personalities… no, his ghost personalities had also disappeared.

The players hadn’t had time to think it through, and the priest was already about to kill them, so they could only run into the Black Forest first to hide.

Unexpectedly, one person, one ghost, and one cub were here before them.

Everyone still couldn’t quite accept that Lin Xuezhu was a player, looking at Lin Xuezhu, their moods were very complicated.

At this moment, everyone discovered that Gu Rong was actually holding five keys in his little hand, an extra green key!

This was… the Key of Hope?

Everyone’s pupils shrank, looking in disbelief at this cub who was the first to collect all five keys.

Little squirt? Who the hell is the squirt, really?!

006 said: [Little host, there are twenty minutes left. It’s urgent. Let’s quickly put the keys back in place and complete the task!]

Gu Rong nodded: [Okay!]

He clutched the keys in his little hand and used the [Hanged Little Ghost] identity card again. This time, his soul didn’t leave his body, so others could see him.

Gu Rong stepped on his left foot with his right foot and flew up, directly flying to the top of one of the crucifixes. The crucifix was thick enough that Gu Rong could stand on it completely.

The people below: “…?!”

Damn, what’s going on? Why did this little cub suddenly fly?

No, how can this little cub fly!!

The players were all stunned. They just felt a little cannonball fly into the sky in front of their eyes. Looking up again, they saw Gu Rong already standing steadily on top of the crucifix.

Yang Chunsheng stumbled. This little cub could not only do mid-air aerobics, but he could also fly by stepping on his left foot with his right foot?

He, he… Could he really be a little ghost? Could he be that NPC who was mixed in with the players?

Damn!!

Yang Chunsheng widened his eyes and then covered his mouth.

Gu Rong was young, after all. When he looked down, he patted his little tummy: “Scared!”

006: [Little host, don’t be afraid. Or… little host, close your eyes, use the Eye of Wisdom first?]

Gu Rong nodded his little head: [Okay, okay, okay!]

Gu Rong stuck the Eye of Wisdom on his little forehead again, instantly transforming into Little Erlang Shen baby, and then closed his eyes.

The Eye of Wisdom rolled around and blinked. It hadn’t been in Gu Rong’s hands for long, but it was already clearly “cub-ified.”

With the Eye of Wisdom, Gu Rong could see even with his eyes closed.

Looking down, the crucifix was still just as high. He patted his little tummy again: [Still scared!]

006: […Little host, don’t be afraid. Don’t look down, and you won’t be scared.]

Gu Rong immediately looked up. Huh, he really wasn’t scared anymore.

Look down, scared.

Look up, not scared.

Look down again, still scared.

Look up again, not scared!

006: […………]

Livestream Chat: …?!

Well, this was unexpected!

LOL, the cub is a natural-born comedian!

Gu Rong didn’t look down, and sure enough, he wasn’t afraid anymore. He began to place the keys.

The slots had corresponding colors. Gu Rong, like playing with building blocks, put the keys of the corresponding colors into the slots, patting them firmly with his little hand. Then, he’d step on his little foot and fly to the next crucifix.

The people below were all dumbfounded.

Seeing the eye on Gu Rong’s little forehead, everyone reflexively covered their eyes, but they couldn’t help but peek through their fingers at the cub, not wanting to miss any details.

Gu Rong placed the keys very smoothly. Soon, he had placed four keys back into their slots, with only one left.

Just as he flew to the top of the last crucifix, and before he could put the key into the slot, a ball of fire struck.

Gu Rong’s five senses were sharp, and he reacted in time, flipping over. Using the [Hanged Little Ghost] identity card, he performed a high-difficulty maneuver in mid-air, dodging the attack.

If you looked closely, you could see that the flame wasn’t aimed directly at Gu Rong, but at the crucifix. The goal was just to prevent the little cub from returning the key, not to harm the cub.

Everyone turned around and found that it was the nun, the priest, and Jessie who had chased after them.

The nun was holding a milky-white stillborn fetus. The stillborn fetus was baring its teeth at the players, making hissing and growling sounds.

The priest had silver hair and cracks all over his face, the cracks filled with flowing lava, giving him a sinister kind of beauty.

Jessie’s mountain-like body stood behind the two of them. He was taller and wider than the two of them combined, his face full of muscles, snorting roughly.

At this time, they all raised their heads, looking at the two-year-old toddler on the crucifix, not paying any attention to the many players.

Just seeing the Hypnotist, the nun frowned: “Aland.”

“Aland” was the Hypnotist’s name.

The Hypnotist was still respectful to the nun, originally standing with his arms crossed. At this moment, he stood up straight and nodded in greeting: “Sister Ishmael.”

He looked at the three administrators and was missing one, “Hmm? Where’s Prometheus? Has he been cremated?”

The three administrators: “…”

As expected of the only mentally ill person in the mental hospital.

The process was skipped, straight to the end.

Nearby, Shen Hanxiao heard the Hypnotist’s name and let out a “tsk,” suddenly understanding.

Earlier, when he was looking through the Annals of the Mental Hospital in the library, he felt like something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

Now he finally understood. The names of the mental hospital’s management, including Chief Morrison, were all Westernized, except for Lin Xuezhu, who had a typical Chinese name, so out of place.

The result proved that Lin Xuezhu wasn’t an NPC at all, but a player.

Everyone’s attention quickly shifted back to Gu Rong.

In order to dodge the flame, Gu Rong flipped off the crucifix. He held onto the crucifix with his two short little hands, hanging there, a tiny little thing, looking like a little frog.

With the thickness of the crucifix, not to mention his hand was less than half a zha long, even adults couldn’t wrap their arms around the crucifix.

Gu Rong slid down with a whoosh. After sliding down a bit, he’d jump up a bit. Then he’d slide down again, and jump up again.

Now he really was a little hopping frog.

The livestream chat was about to die of laughter. Due to the devil turning off the comments, they couldn’t post comments. Otherwise, they would definitely have to add a BGM of “Little Jumping Frog.”

The priest wanted to launch another fireball, but just as he raised his hand, Jessie, who was four or five times his size, punched him and sent him flying.

With a “bang,” the priest was smashed into the ground, creating a human-shaped pit.

The priest: “?”

Everyone: “…”

Livestream Chat: “…”

Okay, okay, fight, fight!

With Hairy Uncle here, no one dares to touch a single hair on the cub.

The next moment, a ball of fire flew out of the human-shaped pit. This time, it wasn’t aimed at the crucifix, but at Jessie. It instantly burned all of his ten-plus-centimeter-long bristles clean.

Jessie: “…………”

Everyone: “…………”

Livestream Chat: “…………”

Jessie’s most prized bristles had been burned off. He was stunned for a long time. He took out the bristle brush he was about to finish from his pocket, but at this moment, the bristle brush was only left with the handle and one bristle.

However, the last bristle swayed, and finally fell off, failing to be preserved.

The bristle brush he was preparing to use to amaze the little doll, which was almost finished, had been completely destroyed by the priest!

Jessie was really about to shatter now. Plus, he was bald now, which was inexplicably comical.

Everyone wanted to laugh but didn’t dare. Now wasn’t the time to laugh.

Gu Rong was leaning on the crucifix, looking down. He let out a “Huh?”. Zaizai was puzzled.

Why did Hairy Uncle turn into Bald Uncle?

Taking this opportunity, Gu Rong hexiu hexiu, climbed back to the top of the crucifix, quickly and smoothly, snap, and put the last key into the slot.

All five keys were in place. In an instant, the five crucifixes, forming a circle, emitted beams of light toward the center, finally converging at a single point.

The light was dazzling, piercing the eyes of everyone present, forcing them to cover their eyes and close them.

When their eyes had adjusted to the light, they opened them again.

They saw that a key had been synthesized above the stone tomb, a pure black key. The key was surrounded by a lingering black mist, emitting an ominous aura.

The master key!

The master key floated in mid-air, then rotated, aimed at the stone tomb, and plunged down.

Light overflowed, and everyone was hit by a powerful energy wave and fell to the ground.

The priest, who had just crawled out of the human-shaped pit, fell back into the pit with a “thud.”

This time, he only moved his fair and slender fingertips, and there were no other movements. It seemed that after this, he was too lazy to crawl out again and lay flat at the bottom of the pit.

The five crucifixes automatically descended, sinking into the ground until they disappeared.

Gu Rong descended to the ground along with the crucifix, landing steadily.

The voice of 006 sounded in his mind: [Ding, congratulations to the little host for completing the task, obtaining one million points and the Devil’s Secret Key.]

A pure black little key gently landed in his fair little palm. The size of the key was adjusted according to the size of Gu Rong’s little hand, two sizes smaller than a normal key, a mini version.

Except for being a little smaller, and possessing a bit of Gu Rong’s cute attributes, it looked like an ordinary key.

Gu Rong held the key between two fingers and looked at it from all angles.

It was too small to even be a toy.

[The Devil’s Secret Key. Function: Please explore on your own. The system cannot evaluate it.]

Gu Rong: “…”

006: […]

It felt like a scam?

006 said, a little nervously: [Little host, even though the system can’t evaluate the Devil’s Secret Key, it must be a treasure. We’ll just have to figure out its use ourselves.]

The more it said, the more certain it became: [That’s right, it’s so mysterious, it must be a treasure. Because a major characteristic of treasures is mystery…]

006 couldn’t continue making things up, and coughed: [Little host, should I put the Devil’s Secret Key into the system backpack for you?]

Gu Rong nodded his little head: [Okay!]

The black mist was still lingering in the air. The crucifixes had disappeared, and in the place where the stone tomb had been, there was now a deep abyss emitting light.

006: [Congratulations, little host, for successfully clearing the instance. We can leave at any time. The previous random task wasn’t mandatory, so it doesn’t matter if it’s not completed.]

Now they had over a million points. So willful!

Gu Rong was an honest and trustworthy cub. He still remembered that he had cooperated with Doctor Uncle, and he had to plead with the devil to let Lin Xuezhu leave.

Gu Rong tilted his head in confusion: [Huh? Why isn’t Lord Devil coming out?]

If Lord Devil didn’t come out, how could he plead with Lord Devil?

Just as he finished speaking, a frustrated, childish voice sounded in his mind: [Little lackey!]

Gu Rong was stunned for a moment, then frowned his little eyebrows: [Lord Devil, why are you in Zaizai’s head again?]

The devil chuckled, not explaining much, only saying: [Little lackey, you have ten seconds to let your Doctor Uncle leave. Ten seconds from now, this Lord will level the mental hospital.]

Lin Xuezhu’s previous guess was correct. Once the devil was released, he would attack everyone indiscriminately.

But the devil, even before Gu Rong could ask, granted his request.

At this moment, Gu Rong realized that the entire Black Forest was frozen, and everyone was also frozen.

The devil had paused time, and everyone remained in the state they were in when the gates of hell were opened. They were all lying on the ground, some still suspended in mid-air, their expressions varied, each more ferocious than the last.

Gu Rong said in a soft, babyish voice: [Then what about Big Brother and Little Brother? Will they die?]

The devil: [Of course.]

Gu Rong’s little voice was anxious: [Big Brother and Little Brother are good to Rongrong. Big Brother and Little Brother can’t die!]

The devil: “…”

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. Gu Rong started counting on his little fingers: [Nun Auntie is also good to Zaizai, and she came to save Zaizai. Hairy Uncle is also good to Zaizai, he gave Zaizai a brush and a key. Blind Grandpa is also good to Zaizai…]

The devil listened and listened, and his face darkened. He was still sharing a body with Gu Rong, and Gu Rong’s snow-white little face was now as black as the bottom of a pot.

Gu Rong had made too many friends. After counting, more than half the people in the mental hospital, both players and NPCs, had been good to him.

The devil listened silently, only occasionally letting out a cold “heh heh.”

Gu Rong said, “Why are you laughing like that, ‘heh heh’?”

The devil: “Heh heh.”

Gu Rong: “…”

The devil said sarcastically, “All of this Lord’s prey has been good to you, and you want to let them all go. What do you think?”

The devil’s voice was childish, but it carried an intimidation, although it was “playing the piano to a cow^[1]T/N: Chinese idiom, meaning to waste effort on someone who doesn’t understand..”

Hearing this, Gu Rong clenched his little fist, his little face serious: “They were discovered by Rongrong first. They are Rongrong’s prey!”

The devil: “…?”

Not only are you going to let My prey go, but you’re also going to steal My prey?

Gu Rong held up the straw: “Rongrong hasn’t sucked blood yet, and the prey ran away. Sigh.”

The devil mocked mercilessly, “You? Suck blood?”

Gu Rong puffed out his cheeks: “Next time, Zaizai will definitely be able to suck blood!”

“Oh, so you haven’t sucked blood before.”

The devil skipped over this topic, “Little lackey, didn’t you want to know why this Lord was sealed?”

Gu Rong said, “Why?”

The devil paused for a long time, without a follow-up, and finally uttered one word, full of unclear meaning, “Bored?”

Gu Rong tilted his little head, his little face bewildered. The cub was very good at caring for people. He pinched his chubby little arm: “Does it hurt to carve your own bones?”

The devil was slightly stunned and fell silent, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a moment, the devil’s mocking voice sounded again: “How about, little lackey, you try it yourself? Your little body can barely make a few keys. Seal yourself here, and maybe in a few hundred years, this Lord will be kind enough to help you break the seal.”

006 said: [Congratulations, little host, for completing the random task, unlocking the truth of the devil’s sealing, and obtaining 100,000 points.]

It really was a free-points task.

With another 100,000 points, Gu Rong happily shook his little head, and from time to time, he leisurely swung his little feet, completely unafraid of the devil’s threat.

Gu Rong harrumphed: “Zaizai is not as bored as you!”

The devil: “…”

After an unknown amount of time, the devil seemed to laugh, not like before, always with a hint of sarcasm, but a bit more sincere, though still quite fake.

“See you next time.”

The devil’s voice, one word at a time, dissipated in the wind.

“Little lackey.”

–

The devil had completely disappeared, not knowing where he had gone.

Gu Rong shook his little head like a rattledrum, and he even raised his little hand and patted it. Sure enough, the devil was gone.

Perhaps it was because this little cub was too meddlesome, or perhaps the devil was suddenly too lazy to kill people. After all, the devil’s thoughts were unpredictable; who could guess what He was thinking?

In short, including the NPCs, everyone had escaped disaster because of this little cub.

As soon as the devil disappeared, the black mist dissipated, revealing the true appearance of the Black Forest.

Time resumed, and the frozen scene restarted.

The people who had been frozen in mid-air fell to the ground, crying out in pain.

They didn’t know that the devil had already left. The instance was thirty minutes away from ending, but they had already cleared it.

But apart from Gu Rong and Lin Xuezhu, no one else knew that the devil was the ultimate BOSS. They would have died even if they had reached this point, but they were completely unaware of this.

They also didn’t know that the game forum was going crazy, almost entirely discussing the “Mental Hospital” instance, and the focus of the discussion was all around this NPC cub.

They would only know this after leaving the instance, watching the replay of the live stream, and logging onto the game forum.

Everyone was incredibly sighing with emotion.

Zaizai was truly something else. This little milk doll, barely two zha tall, who could barely walk steadily, had unexpectedly taken the top spot, becoming the undisputed number one in this instance!

Zhuang Yu was the first player to come into contact with Gu Rong. From the moment he entered the game, this little cub had unceremoniously used his leg as a pillow.

He had originally thought that if he had the capacity, he would look out for this cub. In the end, it was the other way around; he had cleared the instance thanks to Rongrong.

Zhuang Yu picked up Gu Rong and tossed him in the air.

Shen Hanxiao took him next, and then everyone took turns, finally tossing the little dumpling high into the air.

Gu Rong giggled happily.

–

After Gu Rong was put down, he dadada-ed over to Lin Xuezhu, tilting his little head back, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at him.

Lin Xuezhu smiled faintly, looked down at the little cub.

Gu Rong said, “Doctor Uncle, Zaizai asked Lord Devil to let Doctor Uncle go, and then the devil left by himself, and let everyone go!”

Lin Xuezhu raised an eyebrow.

It didn’t seem like, others didn’t cooperate with the cub, but they were spared with the same treatment.

Some people were just along for the ride.

The stillborn fetus in the nun’s arms was gone. Her hair was completely covered by the black headscarf again, making it impossible to tell if the stillborn fetus had returned to her head.

The priest was still lying in the pit, face down, seeming very comfortable, not intending to get up at all, making it impossible to see if the cracks were still on his face.

Meanwhile, the Hypnotist had changed his appearance again, becoming the Long-Tongued Ghost, but without the long tongue. Fortunately, overall, he looked like a normal person.

Not far away, Prometheus was walking over, leaning on a cane.

The Hypnotist crossed his arms and exclaimed, “Wow, Prometheus is still alive!”

Prometheus: “…”

Prometheus stumbled, almost losing his balance, but fortunately, he steadied himself with his cane.

The old man snorted coldly, his face covered in wrinkles like the bark of a dead tree.

What a rude young man!

Gu Rong saw Blind Grandpa leaning on a cane and said in his little voice, sadly, “Zaizai misses Grandpa Ming, too.”

006 said: [Little host, we’ve already obtained over a million points. We’re one step closer to seeing Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Ming!]

Gu Rong cheered up: [Yes!]

In a corner no one was paying attention to, Jessie, now bald, was still holding the brush handle, heartbroken.

Gu Rong remembered that Hairy Uncle’s bristle brush was still with him. He took out the bristle brush, dadada-ed over, and handed the bristle brush forward: “Hairy Uncle, here!”

Hairy Uncle had become Bald Uncle, and this was the last bristle brush.

“…”

Jessie looked at the bristle brush held out to him, stunned. He looked up, and met Gu Rong’s face, then his eyes lit up, and he threw away the brush handle in his hand.

Jessie’s gloomy face brightened again. He took the bristle brush and handed it back: “Little doll, this brush is Hairy Uncle’s gift to you! Come, let Hairy Uncle give you a good little slicked-back hairdo!”

Gu Rong blinked his big eyes, took the brush, and combed his little slicked-back hair himself: “Zaizai comb self!”

Jessie burst out laughing.

The others, seeing this scene, couldn’t help but smile.

It has to be said, without the bristles on Jessie’s body, he looked much thinner, and his beady eyes looked much bigger. Sure enough, losing weight makes the eyes look bigger.

006: [Little host, before entering the next instance, we can rest, or we can return to the real world.]

Thinking that Gu Rong’s real world was an apocalypse surrounded by zombies, 006 paused.

Gu Rong remembered that he had suddenly been pulled into the game while sleeping under the bridge.

He only had the straw Grandpa Ming had passed down to him on him, and he hadn’t brought his other belongings.

Although he didn’t have many belongings, the cub treasured his things the most.

What if they were bitten by zombies or stolen by bad guys?

He now had a system backpack, and he could put all his belongings into the system backpack.

Gu Rong said in a babyish voice: [Zaizai go back and get things.]

006: [Okay, little host, let’s go back.]

Gu Rong held out his silver straw again.

Instantly, several heads were presented below the straw, proactively offering themselves to be poked by this little cub.

Although they didn’t know why this little cub liked to poke people’s heads, they had cleared the instance all thanks to this toddler. What was being poked in the head a couple of times! Poke away!

006: […]

Livestream Chat: […]

Where’s your integrity?

“Snap—”

The straw pierced a milk carton.

Gu Rong bought a bottle of milk from the system store. He couldn’t suck blood, so he’d use the straw to drink milk first.

Actually, the cub also knew that this straw couldn’t pierce human skin at all, but he couldn’t let Grandpa Ming find out.

Grandpa Ming saw that he couldn’t drink blood and was often so hungry he’d cry, even when by some luck he could catch a half-dead prey, his baby teeth couldn’t bite through it.

That was why Grandpa Ming had passed down his only straw to him.

But…

Gu Rong clenched his little fist, his little heart filled with great hope.

He could drink milk now, so drinking blood wouldn’t be far off!

He had already obtained a million points, so seeing Daddy, Mommy, and Grandpa Ming wouldn’t be far off!

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”