Translator: I accidentally copied the wrong content for chapters 40 and 41. If you read these two chapters before December 30th, please read them again. I apologize for the mistake!

[Stop]

After witnessing the arrest of Soren, Amos couldn’t help but burst out laughing. No, he doesn’t want to laugh, but it is just too funny! Soren, the cult leader, had been taken away by the police. It was the biggest joke of the year!

“Very funny, Amos,” Soren’s voice suddenly echoed in Amos’s mind. Amos quickly suppressed his laughter. “Director?”

“Yes. I might not be able to return to the hospital for now.”

“I understand. I’ll stay here with Albert.”

“No, I want you and Albert to lead the team and set up the two most important nodes on the city’s edge,” Soren said. “If you encounter Ranen’s followers, don’t hold back, kill them. Even if it’s exposed to ordinary people, it doesn’t matter.”

Amos: “What about the hospital? There might still be evidence in some part of the hospital at night that could overthrow your position as ‘Director’.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t return to the night hospital for now.” Soren said calmly.

The night hospital was a very special place. Although it was the aliens who had constructed this special space, strictly speaking, they were just the victorious party who had intervened on the original ‘foundation’.

Now that he had been taken away by the police in broad daylight, and all the doctors and nurses had witnessed it, as long as the evidence was not announced and his position as director was not taken away, he would still be the director of Arkham Hospital.

On the contrary, if he ignored the police, forcibly stayed in the hospital, and even appeared in the ‘night’ of the hospital, it would be a shake to his position and authority as ‘director’.

It’s just that he didn’t expect Ranen to figure out one of the hospital’s rules so quickly: changes in the hospital during the day would easily affect the situation at night.

He had to admit that Ranen was indeed a ‘god’.

“Besides, if they think they can easily shake my position with those documents, then they are too naive,” Soren said. “You don’t have to worry about the hospital for now. The setup of the nodes is more important.”

“I understand,” Amos replied.

After the voice in his mind disappeared, Amos looked at the man standing at the window of the director’s office overlooking the hospital layout. Through the reflection of the glass window, Amos could see that Albert’s expression was not good.

He seems a bit…anxious?

Amos curled his lips and walked over to him, “Unfortunately, we have a mission.”

Albert’s gaze pulled back from the commotion at the door, and he looked at Amos with questioning eyes. 

“Director ordered you to go to the police station to bail him out,” Amos said with sincerity. 

Albert: ??? 

“Didn’t you see? Our dear Director was taken away by the police. What else can we do if we don’t go and bail him out?”

Albert’s heart was filled with a complex mix of emotions at this moment. After so many years of hard work, Ranen’s followers had managed to send the alien cult leader to the police station in just ten minutes…

But he quickly sorted out a series of complex thoughts, and countless plans flashed through his mind, including but not limited to tampering with the police station’s detention center, bribing prison guards, how to lead the investigation bureau to surround Soren, and seizing the opportunity…

“Just kidding. Director actually ordered us to leave the hospital. Those ants wandering around Arkham City are too annoying. To ensure the success of the plan, we need to set up the important nodes of the ritual.” Amos laughed heartily. “You looked so tense just now, were you thinking about something bad?”

At this moment, countless swear words flashed through Albert’s mind, and his gaze dangerously lingered on Amos’s neck.

Amos turned and left the director’s office in a good mood, waving without looking back, “I’ll go first then, you should also finish your work well, this is an important node in our plan.”

Albert’s eyes moved, but his expression remained unchanged. … 

—-

In the player forum, countless posts were constantly being refreshed, and players were celebrating their stage victory.

Especially the photo of Soren being taken away by the police with a blank expression had already topped the hot list of the player forum, and the comments below were constantly refreshing.

1st Commenter: [This reminds me of that meme, police car, rope, and onlookers.jpg] 

2nd Commenter: [Hahahahahahahahahaha I’m dying laughing, who came up with this creative idea!]

Baba: [It’s me, no big deal (dog head emoji)] 

Ye Ye: [Thanks again to all the players who participated. The troublemakers have once again made an outstanding contribution to world peace (confetti emoji)]

Shushu Hao: [Hahahaha, this is the first time I’ve saved the world in this way. It’s actually quite fun to think about!] 

5th Commenter: [It’s super fun, okay? Although fighting bosses is also interesting, this kind of ingenious method of dealing with bosses is only possible in a tabletop RPG! And you don’t have to worry about being sanctioned by the keeper!] 

6th Commenter: [It’s so funny, seeing the boss’s face turn sour makes me so happy hahahahahaha!] 

7th Commenter: [Hmph, he’s not the only one who can exploit the rules of society. If you want to talk about being ruthless, you wouldn’t believe how terrible players can be!] 

8th Commenter: [It’s time for the boss to experience the harshness of the real world (dog head emoji)] 

9th Commenter: [He’s so angry that I feel like he’s about to start a fight right here. He actually held back, tsk tsk.] 

10th Commenter: [As expected of a dungeon boss, he has a lot of patience!] 

11th Commenter: [@Druid, we’ve tied up the boss for you, he can’t go back to the hospital for now, go ahead and do it!] 

Druid: [(laughing and crying) Thanks, troublemaker brothers!]

After learning about the other players’ actions, Druid laughed out loud before becoming more motivated to conquer this dungeon.

Druid successfully obtained the information he wanted from the ‘Director,’ namely the patrol schedule of the hospital’s nurses and attendants.

Strangely, the entire night’s patrol area seemed to be like a rotating wheel. The attendants and nurses took turns guarding areas numbered 1 to 5, patrolling back and forth. When the time came, they would automatically go to the next numbered area without needing to meet the person they were replacing.

So this created a blank period. For example, if Nurse 1 went to patrol Area 2, and the nurse who replaced them started from their original area to the spot where Nurse 1 was previously stationed, there was a five-minute time difference due to the varying distances and times required for travel.

During these five minutes, Druid had a chance to leave the area he was responsible for and steal the keys from the doctor’s lounge.

“After the ‘Director’ finished speaking, Druid had his own request: “I’ll go steal the key, but I need your cooperation.”

“Me? What can I do?” the ‘Director’ said reluctantly, “I’m just an old geezer, there’s nothing I can help you with.”

Druid replied, “I need you to make a big scene, preferably one that will alarm the nurses and doctors.”

“No way,” the ‘Director’ said.

“Oh, forget it then,” Druid sighed suddenly, “Come to think of it, why should I help you? Not to mention offending the current Director, and there’s no benefit for me either, sigh, I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

With that, Druid turned around gracefully, and the ‘Director’ was dumbfounded. He lowered his voice and raised his speed: “Wait, wait! Come back, I know, I’ll help you!”

Druid gestured smugly to the barrage, mouthing, ‘See, no rhetoric is as effective as real-world tactics.’ [Learned it, learned it lol]

After discussing the plan of action with the ‘Director’, Druid left the ward quietly and satisfied.

He didn’t see that old Luke behind him opened his eyes, glanced at him, and then closed his eyes and turned over to continue sleeping.

At this time, it was gradually approaching midnight.

After the first round of patrols, Druid tried several times in a deserted place and finally successfully rolled a stealth check. Although according to the ‘Director’, as long as he seized the gap in time, this time period was absolutely safe, but after witnessing the ‘Director’ being given several kinds of hallucinogenic drugs by the nurse, Druid felt that he should be more cautious in this regard.

Taking advantage of the five-minute gap in the night patrol, he left the ward and headed straight for the head doctor’s on-duty room.

In this building of the psychiatric ward, the head doctor’s on-duty room and rest room were connected. Druid, taking advantage of the lack of people, rolled several stealth checks and successfully sneaked behind the door of the on-duty room, behind the visual blind spot formed by the potted plants and the building.

He focused intently on the door of the doctor’s on-duty room. 

[Listen: Success] 

[You hear a faint snoring sound coming from inside.]

Druid crept over and quietly attached a slightly sticky, raised thick sticker to the door. Then he hid back in the original visual blind spot formed by the potted plants and the corner, waiting patiently.

He had already discussed with the ‘Director’ in advance that ten minutes after he left, he would let the ‘Director’ find a way to call the head doctor to the ward, and then every fifteen minutes, he would find a way to summon the doctor to the ward, a total of three times.

Sure enough, not long after Druid arrived here, the hurried footsteps of a nurse approached. She didn’t notice the extra trash on the floor, or if she did, she didn’t care. The doctor in the on-duty room was called out by the nurse, the door opened, and the doctor casually pushed it back, and Druid’s heart pounded.

He’d tried this trick at home many times out of boredom. Sticking these adhesive strips on the floor, if you weren’t careful when closing the door, it wouldn’t shut tightly.

Sure enough, the doctor left in a hurry, not paying any attention to whether the rest room door was closed. After they both left, Druid quickly came to the door, peeked through the crack, and seeing no one inside, slipped in immediately.

[Investigation: Success] [Investigation: Failure] 

[Investigation: Success] 

As soon as Druid went in, he frantically threw investigation skills, looking around at the scene.

There were two ordinary single beds, a desk, a chair, a clothes rack, and a simple prefabricated shower room and toilet.

Where is the key? Where is the key? Druid searched carefully, but couldn’t find the key. Instead, he found a lot of newspapers. Out of a detective’s instinct, he subconsciously glanced at a few.

‘Faction Struggle, Current Director Resigns in Disgrace’ 

‘New Director Takes Office, Multiple Accidents Occur in Reformed Medical System’ 

‘A Doctor at Arkham Hospital Died Mysteriously at Home, Is It Related to the Black Market Dealings Within the Hospital?’

All three newspapers were old and worn. When Druid picked up the newspaper, he felt a damp touch and subconsciously turned the paper over.

Blood-red writing caught his eye: ‘Sorry’

—-

[Damn, there’s a clue.] 

[This ‘sorry’ was written on the back of the newspaper about the doctor’s death, is there another reason behind the doctor’s death?] 

[This hospital is a bit weird, could it be something like human experimentation?] 

[Isn’t this hospital like this because of the aliens’ conspiracy?] 

[Why not choose another hospital? There must be a reason for choosing this particular hospital.]

—-

The barrage was still analyzing, and Druid recalled that when he explored this hospital before, whether it was the doctors or the nurses, their expressions were all tired and full of impatience. He thought for a moment

.

No, why think about this now?! The most important thing is the key!

Before Druid could continue searching, a heavy footstep sounded outside the door.

Back already? So soon!?

Druid rolled over immediately and hid under the single bed.

The door to the duty room opened, and the scientist-like doctor he had seen earlier came in muttering strange words.

Druid couldn’t help but hold his breath. He had been in too much of a hurry just now, and there were some things he hadn’t had time to put back in place. Hopefully, the doctor hadn’t noticed.

Fortunately, he really seemed to have not noticed.

The doctor, who looked like a Frankenstein’s monster, as soon as he entered the duty room, suddenly fell face down on the bed. Druid was overjoyed, thinking that he was about to fall asleep, but after five minutes, the doctor began to roll around on the bed, squirming, and making unintelligible noises.

Druid:?

According to his experience in running a horror role-playing game, could this be a mutation?

Ten minutes later, the doctor got up from the bed, sighed as he got up, sat down in the chair next to the desk, and grabbed the few newspapers, muttering:

“I hate my job, I hate the hospital, I hate work, I hate the director…”

Druid was instantly dumbfounded.

—-

[Damn, I thought it was some kind of horror script before, but it really is a horror script, the horror of being a worker bee!] 

[Woo woo woo woo I can totally relate, ahhhhhhhhh I don’t want to work either!] 

[Early mornings, late nights, 996, stupid boss ahhhhhhhhh (squirming) (crawling) (hating everything)]

—-

Five minutes later, the doctor fell asleep again on the desk. Druid carefully climbed out from under the bed. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a chain of keys glinting on the doctor’s pants. He looked up at the doctor sleeping on the desk and applied psychology. 

[You believe he is immersed in a dream, his face filled with the resentment of a worker bee towards overtime work.]

So… so real. 

Druid carefully observed the doctor’s facial expression, afraid that he would suddenly wake up, and gritted his teeth to apply Luck again. 

[Luck (24-hour cooldown, confirm?)] 

Confirm! 

Use Sleight of Hand! 

At this moment, just like that moment. Back then, Druid had also used Luck to steal the key, but that was during the closed beta, and if he hadn’t done so, his hard work infiltrating the high-risk dungeon would have been worthless. Now it was the same, and he was not only carrying himself, but also the other players in the forum who were working hard to win time for him! [Sleight of Hand: Success] 

The doctor’s keys silently appeared in Druid’s palm. He carefully wrapped the keys and hid back under the bed. After two or three minutes, the nurse’s footsteps sounded again in the corridor outside. “Doctor, it’s not good, the patient in the ward is rioting again.” The mad scientist doctor opened his eyes, cursed, got up, and left the duty room with the nurse. After they left, Druid also slipped out of the door and couldn’t help but smile. 

Success! 

[Look at you smiling, you’d think you’d cleared a dungeon hhhh] 

[Hurry up, hurry up, go to the third floor first, quickly let my wife out, I haven’t seen my wife in a long time, I miss her.] 

“Don’t worry, everyone’s wife will be out soon.” 

Druid quickened his pace. 

*Beep beep beep beep beep beep.*

At this moment, an alarm suddenly sounded throughout the hospital, and the red lights turned the originally pale corridor into an ominous blood red.

The hurried voice almost made Druid drop the key. His face turned pale. “What happened?!”

—-

The barrage of comments quickly scrolled across the screen:  

[It’s on Black Cat’s side! They accidentally bumped into a nurse who was going to the bathroom. Now the entire hospital is on high alert, searching for intruders!]  

[Good thing Dr. Archie is with Black Cat, or they might not have made it.]  

[Be careful, Druid! Things are dangerous for you too!]  

—-

Not long after the barrage of reminders, Druid heard footsteps behind him.  

It clearly wasn’t time for a patrol shift yet, but because of the alarm blaring throughout the hospital, everything had fallen into chaos!  

Druid was now on the first floor of the mental ward building. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the footsteps behind him and bolted up the stairs!  

The footsteps behind him multiplied, accompanied by shouts. Druid felt like his heartbeat was about to leap out of his throat!  

When he reached the second floor, the alarm had already awakened all the patients in the wards. The patients collectively rioted, forcing the orderlies to focus on maintaining control. This gave Druid an opportunity to slip by unnoticed. While everyone’s attention was on the patients, Druid quickly dashed up to the third floor.  

This was his second time reaching the third floor, but it felt vastly different from the first time, when he had followed behind the red-haired nurse.  

As soon as he stepped onto the third floor, a chilling sensation shot straight to the back of his head. The live chat immediately exploded.  

[WTF, what is going on here?!]  

[Druid! Just keep running forward! Don’t look around!]  

[For the love of god, don’t look! Why did I look?! What kind of hellish place is this?!]  

Druid’s heart pounded wildly. As an experienced investigator, he strictly followed the livestream’s advice, refusing to look at the wards on either side. Keeping his goal in mind, he ran straight toward the innermost ward.

The footsteps behind him still relentlessly pursued him. Druid ran to the farthest corner of the third floor, stopping at Ranen’s door. Realizing there was nowhere left to run, he gritted his teeth and turned around, ready to fight the orderlies chasing him.  

He spun around, staring intently at the corner of the hallway, prepared for orderlies or nurses to appear. But what emerged wasn’t them.  

“Black Cat!?”  

Druid’s wary expression vanished, replaced by shock as he saw the two figures appear on the third floor. Black Cat looked to be in bad shape—one leg was crippled, and most of his weight leaned on Archie for support. His face was pale from blood loss, but when he saw Druid, he managed a weak smile.  

“Heh, I made it here too.”  

“What happened to you two…?”  

“Ran into a monster on the way. If it weren’t for Dr. Archie, I’d probably be dead back there,” Black Cat explained briefly. As Archie helped him onto the third floor, he also noticed something felt off about the place. Instinctively, he turned his head. “By the way, what is this—”  

“Don’t! Don’t look!”  

Druid’s warning came a moment too late.  

Black Cat’s eyes widened as he caught sight of something in the right-side ward’s window—a tentacle covered in eyes flashing past.  

[Sanity Check: Failed]  

[SAN -3]  

Black Cat had barely been staying upright with Archie’s help, but now he completely lost his balance, collapsing in front of the door across from the tentacle room. As he caught himself with one hand on the ground, a wet, sticky sensation crept into his palm.  

Instinctively, he looked down. At some point, thick blood had begun oozing out from the crack beneath the door. The viscous, crimson liquid gave off a strange, eerie smell, and as soon as it touched his skin, it slithered upward as if alive. Faintly, the shrill laughter of a child echoed around him.  

“Stop.”  

Ranen opened his eyes and, without thinking, uttered the word.  

The blood froze midair. A moment later, it slowly released Black Cat, retreating back to the ground. Archie snapped back to his senses and immediately pulled Black Cat into a safe zone. “Quick! Open the door! The people chasing us are almost here!”  

Druid didn’t waste time. He threw himself at Ranen’s door lock, trying keys one by one. However, after several attempts, the door still wouldn’t open.  

Gritting his teeth, Druid tried his luck.  

[Luck Check: Failed]  

The sound of footsteps drew closer and closer.  

In his panic, his trembling hands almost dropped the keys. At this moment, Archie snatched the keys from him, handing Black Cat over to Druid. Without a word, Archie examined the keys and the lock. Finally, with precision, he picked out a key, inserted it, and turned.  

*Click.* The lock opened.

The group hurriedly squeezed into Ranen’s ward. Just as the door closed, the orderlies’ imposing figures appeared at the end of the third-floor hallway.  

Ranen opened his eyes the moment they stepped onto the third floor, his gaze cold and unwelcoming.  

As if responding to his displeasure, the entire third floor’s wards erupted into chaos. The nearest doors rattled violently, as if something inside was trying to break out. Blood seeped from under some doors, while others had windows crowded with eyeballs, all staring fixedly at the intruders.  

The orderlies froze in their tracks, glancing uneasily at each other. Finally, the two-meter-tall cockroach orderly was shoved forward, forced to speak despite his fear. “Sorry to disturb your rest. A few little mice have snuck into the hospital and ran in this direction. May I ask if you’ve seen them?”  

What the hell—a two-meter-tall cockroach???  

Ranen was on the verge of losing it. His gaze at the orderly shifted into something… peculiar.  

To put it bluntly, it was the kind of look one would give when itching to smack a cockroach to death with a three-meter-long slipper.  

To everyone else, however, Ranen’s gaze carried a suffocating, mountain-like pressure. If the other rooms felt like horror movie sets, standing before Ranen was like being an ant staring at the vast cosmos.  

Worse still, as if sensing Ranen’s killing intent, the other rooms on the third floor began to stir restlessly, each radiating its own ominous aura.  

The cockroach orderly opened his mouth, hesitated, then finally muttered, “Apologies for the disturbance.”  

He immediately turned around and led the other orderlies away, retreating in disgrace.