[Ranen’s Scheme (?)]

[Ahhhhh, Ranen is so handsome, my wife, sob sob sob sob]

[Oh no, one look and the caregiver immediately backed down, this tells me he doesn’t have any power right now, but I don’t believe that.]

[Although being sealed doesn’t necessarily mean weakness, his status alone is enough, and the surrounding abnormalities and the caregiver seem to be afraid of him.]

[Two-meter cockroach (faints)]

[Quick, kill the cockroach, kill the cockroach!]

[What the heck, what’s going on with the rooms on the third floor?]

[So scary, feels like we’ve poked the hornet’s nest.]

[These ‘patients’ on the third floor seem really strong, probably the strongest monsters in this hospital, right?]

[Not necessarily, look, they’re locked up here, but the doctors and nurses can still move around outside, which means these monsters might not be stronger than the doctors and nurses, or they might not be able to overpower them.]

[Ranen is locked in the innermost room, and when Ranen got angry just now, it seemed like the monsters in the room responded to him. Could these monsters be Ranen’s followers?]

[Maybe, but it seems unlikely.]

—-

The bullet comments continued discussing the earlier scene.

Seeing the caregiver leave, Druid let out a sigh of relief. Then he looked at Black Cat, and the two companions exchanged a knowing glance. Afterward, they decisively chose to start the plot.

Ranen still appeared in the same bound state as before, but after what happened just now, Druid and Black Cat no longer believed he was truly weak and helpless.

Pretending to panic, Druid asked, “Dr. Ranen, we finally found you. Do you know where we are?! Why have all the medical staff turned into monsters? Why am I here?!”

—-

[Classic three questions.]

[Is this the start of the plot? Hahaha.]

Ranen cooperated fully, lowering his eyelids as he spoke, “Since you’ve come here, it’s time to tell you the truth from back then.”

“Yes, your brother did indeed die here. To be exact, he was killed by the monsters in this place,” Ranen paused.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the abnormalities in this hospital. The hospital in the daytime is completely different from the hospital at night. He got caught up in the night hospital and was killed by a monster turned from a patient. In a way, he did die to save me.”

In fact, Druid knew this information even better than Ranen, but he still listened attentively, occasionally making a sorrowful expression. His immersive performance had improved a lot compared to before.

Then, Druid revealed his true intentions: “What exactly is going on with this hospital? Did someone deliberately turn it into this?”

“Yes,” Ranen nodded. “The reason this hospital became like this is due to the activities of a religious faction. They attempted to use this place as a test site for a massive conspiracy.”

“A massive conspiracy?”

“They want to open the door to the Dream World, and to do that, they have sunk Arkham into the dream,” Ranen casually dropped a major bombshell.

[Ding~]

A system notification appeared: [You have obtained a major main storyline clue, would you like to upload it?]

Druid and Black Cat hurriedly clicked confirm, instantly gaining 200 contribution points.

[Main Quest, Act 1: The Secret of Arkham Hospital, Completed]

[Act 2: The Outsider]

[Quest Description: A mysterious religious organization has been operating in Arkham for many years, and now they have finally revealed their true identity. Their conspiracy will drag Arkham into the abyss, please stop them.]

[Quest Acceptable by: Unlimited]

The bullet comments immediately started flooding the screen. Druid didn’t have time to check how much the live chat was overflowing with excitement, and continued with his performance. He slowly widened his eyes, his gaze filled with confusion: “Sinking Arkham into the dream? Is that what I think it means?”

“Of course, it’s not the literal dream,” Ranen explained. “What I mean by ‘dream’ is the realm of the gods, an extremely dangerous inner world. It’s often referred to as the Dream World, a world made up of the collective subconscious of all beings.”

[Dream World? Dream realm?]

[They might be different, but the game developers probably used this idea as a reference, hahaha]

[Woah, sinking Arkham into the Dream World? Can such a thing even be done?]

[So it’s not just a test, this hospital must be the product of their experiment.]

[By the way, Ranen must have come from the Dream World.]

[Very likely, his tone seems familiar with the Dream World. Hmm… do you think Ranen was summoned by the Outsider faction? Since they are researching how to sink reality into the Dream World, they must have studied how to communicate between the two worlds. Maybe Ranen arrived in the outer world during this process.]

[That’s very possible.]

Druid strained his mind: “But why would they do this? I mean, sinking a whole city into the dream? That’s too crazy.”

“What do you think their reason is?” Ranen said with a half-smile, his lips curling into a playful expression.

The name “Outsider” suddenly surged into Druid’s mind, clamoring for recognition. Without thinking, he blurted out, “Is it to return to what they believe is their homeland? But is the Dream World really their homeland?”

“At least, that’s what they believe,” Ranen replied.

“And for this, they’re dragging everyone in the city down with them…”

Well, honestly, this wasn’t all that uncommon in tabletop RPGs. Fanatics—they sometimes weren’t driven solely by their faith in some evil god but by some twisted obsession in their hearts.

Still, Druid couldn’t help but feel conflicted. If they wanted to return home, why couldn’t they go back alone? Why drag the entire city into it?

Ranen explained, “Arkham is a necessary sacrifice for their plan to succeed. And, of course, I might be as well.”

[Whoa, using an evil god as a sacrifice?]

[Such a bold move… aren’t they afraid it’ll all backfire?]

[Lol, just waiting for it to go wrong now.]

Druid tilted his head back, his tone resolute: “This city is my hometown. No matter what, I will stop their scheme!”

Black Cat chimed in, “Same here! We will definitely stop their scheme!”

Their expressions and tone were so righteous and melodramatic that it bordered on cheesy, prompting Archie to keep turning his head in confusion, his mind full of question marks. 

‘Are you guys worshippers of an evil god or champions of justice?’

‘Is the style of this religious organization always this bizarre?’

Druid pressed on, “Please, tell us what we must do.”

Ranen’s gaze flickered. “Good. I knew I wasn’t wrong about you.”

[Ranen Favorability +5]

Druid and Black Cat were ecstatic, while the bullet comments turned sour with jealousy.

The chat, which had been spamming comments like [The anthem of humanity is the anthem of courage!] and [Brave investigators, go forth and create miracles!], instantly shifted to [I could do it too], [Saving the world? What investigator hasn’t done that?], and [Look at me, darling! I can save Arkham too!]

“How to save Arkham is actually quite simple,” Ranen said, his lips curling into a smile. He seemed thrilled to finally have the chance to share this information, leading the players toward the shortcut to complete the storyline.

But what he didn’t realize was that, in this dim environment, the smile on his lips inexplicably took on an eerie, otherworldly quality, like a demon from hell tempting human souls.

“A simple solution: kill the leader of the Outsider, and all their schemes will come to an end.”

[…Great. Just when I thought Ranen might be on the side of good, he pulls this, and now I’m unsure again.]  

[Lol, how could anyone think an evil god would be lawful good? He’s only targeting the Outsider because they started messing with him first.]  

[There’s an irreconcilable conflict here. The Outsider want to use Ranen as a sacrifice, and he definitely has his own motives. Maybe breaking his seal or stealing their gains or something.]  

[I don’t care! I’d rather let my darling win than see the Outsider succeed!]  

Druid glanced at the bullet comments and found their reasoning quite convincing.  

After all, he didn’t really believe Ranen was trying to save the world. An evil god saving the world? That’d be so out of character. The entire game studio would get dragged through the mud for it.  

This explanation—that it was all personal grudges and he just wanted to wreck the Outsider’s plans—sounded far more reasonable.

Druid believed him, but at the same time, he felt a sudden sense of relief. After all, he was an immersion-focused player who always prided himself on playing the role of an investigator. The idea of suddenly joining an evil god’s camp and working for one had been a bit hard to swallow.  

Though, to be fair, most players’ moral standards were questionable at best. Running a red light or ramming into a cop in-game were routine actions. Plenty of Lovecraft-inspired indie games even leaned into the Cthulhu craze by letting players raise an evil god or become a cult leader, eventually plotting to destroy the world.  

But such games rarely made it to full-dive platforms. Thanks to the Internet Psychological Management Act, most fully immersive games leaned towards normalcy, avoiding overly inhumane scenarios. NPCs in those games often felt robotic, making it hard for players to feel deeply immersed.  

This game, however, was different.  

From the very beginning, it was entirely different.  

The NPCs here seemed to have souls of their own. It was hard to imagine they were AI-controlled. They were like ordinary people living in another world. During their time playing the game, Druid and Black Cat had encountered many fascinating locals.  

Perhaps, deep down, they already saw this place as a second world.  

At the same time, Druid really liked Ranen as a character—at least as long as Ranen hadn’t committed any outright heinous acts in the storyline.  

That’s why he had been conflicted at first.  

But now? Things felt a lot simpler. For the moment, at least, being an investigator saving the world didn’t seem to conflict too much with working for an evil god (shifty glance).  

“Is killing the leader of the Outsider the only way? We’d love to do that, but isn’t the leader currently locked up at the police station?” Druid paused to recount what the players had done earlier in Arkham Hospital.  

Ranen, who had already seen this discussed on the forums, still nearly broke character and burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it—this was just too funny. It had to be the most pitiful boss he’d ever seen, the first one to be sent to the police station by players.  

“It doesn’t matter,” Ranen said smoothly. “The most urgent task now is to remove him from his position as hospital director.”  

Ranen turned his gaze to Archie, who froze for a moment before suddenly catching on. He rushed forward and began untying the restraints binding Ranen to the hospital bed.

Ranen was speechless for a moment. These people had been in here for so long, yet no one had thought to release his restraints first.  

Well, he couldn’t really blame the two players. They hadn’t expected Ranen to actually be able to get up. In most games, NPCs at a boss level like his were usually locked away until the very end, only appearing dramatically during the final showdown. Seeing Archie spring into action, the two quickly joined in to help untie the straps binding Ranen to the bed.  

As Archie worked halfway through the restraints, he stared at the golden chains wrapped around Ranen, pondering how to unlock them. But before he could act, the moment the straitjacket was undone, the golden chains suddenly tightened on their own, then melted away, forming unique, intricate tattoos across Ranen’s exposed skin.  

Ranen closed his eyes, sensing the changes. After a moment, he opened them with a cold smile. “It seems he had already prepared for this.”  

[Backup measures from the dungeon boss?]  

[Probably. He must have anticipated someone would try to rescue Ranen.]  

[So, Ranen’s abilities are still sealed?]  

[Makes sense. If players could exploit a bug and have an evil god carry them to victory, what’s left to play in this game?]  

[I knew it wouldn’t be that easy to unlock his powers and ride the OP train… Argh, so frustrating, qwq.]  

[LMAO, even the ceiling-tier characters have to be nerfed, huh?]  

[Honestly, this is good enough. The fact that Ranen can move now probably means he’ll act alongside the players, right? OMG, I want to run campaigns with him so badly!]  

[+1]  

As the chat filled with “+1,” Druid pressed on with his questioning. “I received your note, but why is it so important to remove the Outsider’s leader from his position as hospital director?”  

Black Cat chimed in, “Is it because being the ‘director’ has some special significance in the hospital at night?”  

Although the players had already pieced together some theories, confirming them was still essential.  

“Exactly,” Ranen said, recalling the game’s previous storyline. “Even in an absurd dreamscape, certain rules still apply. The hospital at night is constructed based on the rules of the daytime hospital.”  

“As long as the doctors and nurses during the day remain alive, the dream can continuously regenerate. These doctors and nurses are the pillars of Arkham Hospital, which is why they are immortal. The director shares this immortality but also possesses additional privileges, such as the ability to command the doctors and nurses here. In essence, whoever holds the position of director becomes the ruler of the nighttime hospital.”  

“Even without delving into all of the director’s privileges, the ability to command the doctors and nurses alone is troublesome enough,” Ranen said, glancing at Black Cat’s injured leg. “I imagine you’ve already experienced it firsthand.”  

Black Cat instinctively swallowed hard, the memory of that frenzied nurse chasing them flashing through his mind. If Archie hadn’t been there, they’d probably have been doomed.  

“So, what do we do next?” Druid asked tentatively.  

Ranen’s lips curled into a faint smile. “Haven’t you already made up your mind to head to the archives for information? Of course, I’ll be accompanying you.”  

He had already seen it all on the forums.  

Though their methods made him both laugh and shake his head, it was undeniable that they were doing their part to save the city.  

[! As expected, Ranen knows everything.]  

[Wait a minute—wasn’t Ranen supposed to be trapped here? How does he seem so all-knowing?]  

[Yeah, what exactly is he planning?]  

[I have a theory…]  

[Think about it: what has Ranen been emphasizing from the very beginning?]  

[The hospital dungeon’s unique nature makes it a nexus between the real world and the Dream World. The Outsider wants it, but doesn’t Ranen want it too?]  

[I have a bold guess: if Ranen were to seize the position of hospital director, he might be able to fully break his seal—or at least escape a significant portion of it!]  

Black Cat stared at the barrage of comments scrolling past, suddenly struck by realization. “Right! How did I not think of this before…”  

“What are you mumbling about?” Archie asked, giving him a puzzled look.  

“N-nothing,” Black Cat stammered, obviously too scared to admit he had pieced together Ranen’s scheme. However, his gaze toward Ranen was now filled with both awe and trepidation.  

A fully unsealed Ranen… A completely unrestrained dark god—what kind of terrifying existence will that be?  

Just thinking about it made Black Cat’s breathing quicken, his eyes gleaming with an inexplicable excitement.  

[Look at Black Cat’s expression! No way he’s not a cultist for the dark god.]  

[Bruh, Black Cat, did you betray the human side?]  

[I mean, I kind of get why he’s excited, though. Hahahaha, sorry, I guess I’m just the type who enjoys watching chaos unfold.]  

The group waited until well into the night. Only when the sounds of footsteps outside completely faded and silence enveloped the surroundings did they dare to step out.  

“Let’s move. The archives are in the administration building. We’ll have to leave this building and cross more than half the hospital,” Black Cat whispered. As an experienced investigator, he had prepared for every possibility when Druid first entered this dungeon. He had memorized the hospital’s layout in advance.  

The four of them exited the ward. Druid led the way, scouting ahead, followed by Archie and Ranen. Black Cat, because of his injured leg, brought up the rear.  

Druid carefully rolled for Listen and Spot as they walked, nervous that some strange creature might suddenly leap out from the shadows.  

Thankfully, they encountered no orderlies or nurses along the way; it seemed like those entities had gone elsewhere to search.  

Druid had just begun to feel relieved when, as they descended to the first floor, the scene before them caused his expression to shift dramatically.  

Near the entrance on the first floor, two orderlies were standing guard, firmly blocking the exit.

Damn it. No wonder the patrols along the way are so sparse—they have concentrated all their forces at the entrances and exits.  

Druid led them to try the back door, but whether it was the rear entrance, the main entrance, or even the windows, every possible escape route had orderlies or nurses patrolling nearby.  

“What do we do now?”  

The group huddled in an empty corner, Druid’s face clouded with worry. “They’ve obviously gotten smarter this time. The patrol distances are short, so if someone calls out, the nearby orderlies can rush over immediately. We’d definitely be caught.”  

He looked toward Black Cat and Archie with a sliver of hope. “Unless we can take down one of the orderlies instantly.”  

Black Cat shook his pale face. “Forget it. These monsters wearing human skins are much stronger than you think. The one we faced earlier? I’m only alive because Archie blocked it for me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be seeing me right now.”  

Druid then turned to Archie. Archie shook his head and showed the revolver and baton strapped to his waist. “I’ve only got these two weapons. There are three bullets left in the revolver.”  

He paused, then glanced at Ranen and explained, “My abilities aren’t really suited for combat. At best, I’m just a little better than an average cop.”  

Ranen understood he was referring to the abilities gained through the Dream Rift. For some, their origin abilities had nothing to do with combat, and at least in the first level of the Dream Rift, their combat effectiveness wouldn’t see a drastic improvement.  

“There’s only one way,” Druid finally said. He hadn’t even considered asking Ranen for help—getting this top-tier NPC to fight was wishful thinking. Instead, he recalled their earlier cooperation with the “director” when they stole the key. Sharing this idea with the others, he said, “If we can get a patient to cooperate with us, we could lure the nurses away.”  

Black Cat nodded. “Makes sense. It’s worth a shot.”  

The group agreed it was a promising idea, so Druid took the lead, guiding them back to the large ward on the second floor.  

As soon as Druid quietly led Ranen and the others inside, the “director” spotted them and immediately asked anxiously, “The evidence—did you find it?!”

Druid shook his head. “I just got the key and haven’t made it to the administration building yet. The orderlies and nurses are patrolling downstairs—we need help.”  

The “director” scowled and waved his hand dismissively. “Look at me right now—do you think I’m in any condition to help you?”  

He was in a terrible state. After his earlier fight with Old Luke, he had been tied to the bed. Now, he was restrained again, this time in an even more elaborate manner. His limbs were firmly bound to the bed frame. Forget making a noise to attract a nurse—he couldn’t even budge.  

“Well, that’s a problem,” Druid said, pulling a long face. “How about we untie you, and in return, you do us this favor?”  

“Don’t even think about it!” The “director” shook his head violently. “If this happens again, I’ll be sent to the third floor! Everyone would think I’m a certifiable lunatic. No way! Absolutely not!”  

“The third floor is where the severely mentally ill patients are kept, right?” Black Cat asked, recalling the eerie atmosphere of the third-floor ward.  

The “director’s” eyes flickered, but he didn’t answer. He just repeated that he absolutely wouldn’t help.  

Ranen noticed his strange expression and narrowed his eyes.  

Druid, recalling the doctors’ and nurses’ usual attitudes, couldn’t help but complain, “Aren’t they already treating you like that?”  

“Of course not!” the “director” snapped angrily, twisting his head with great effort to shout toward the adjacent room. “Hey, Old Luke! Can’t you help? If it works out, I’ll get you discharged!”  

Old Luke, lying on the bed in the next room, didn’t respond. Since Druid’s group had snuck into the ward, his eyes had been fixed solely on Archie, who was at the rear of the group.  

As the conversation shifted to Old Luke, everyone naturally noticed his gaze.  

“What do you want?” Archie asked coldly, returning Old Luke’s stare.  

In response, Old Luke said nothing. He pulled the blanket over his head and curled up as if going to sleep.  

Everyone felt a bit baffled, except for Ranen, whose heart stirred as a sudden thought crossed his mind.  

Meanwhile, Black Cat and Druid continued trying to persuade the “director,” but he was clearly unwilling to risk everything on them. Even a casual observer could tell he wasn’t willing to stake it all.  

Or perhaps… their persuasion skills as players simply weren’t enough.  

In his frustration, Druid even revealed the current director’s conspiracy within Arkham. The result was predictable—the “director” now looked at them as if they were the crazy ones. His expression all but said it: ‘It’s not me who should be tied up here, it’s you lot.’

Continuing to argue would lead nowhere. After some thought, Ranen leaned toward Archie and whispered in his ear. Archie’s eyes flickered with surprise, but he quickly nodded. Reassured, Ranen stepped forward. “Dear Director, are you sure you won’t reconsider?”  

Until now, Ranen had stayed toward the back, his figure mostly obscured by Black Cat and the others. Now that he stepped forward, the “director” finally noticed him. A fleeting trace of confusion appeared in the director’s eyes, but he quickly gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. I really can’t do it.”  

“Oh? Is that so?” Archie said with a faint, icy smile. “Then I suppose we’ll have no choice but to report the incident on the third floor.”  

The “director’s” face instantly changed. He glared at Archie with a deathly intensity. “You…”  

“What? Did you think your actions wouldn’t leave any evidence?” Archie continued. “The police have had their eye on you for some time. They simply haven’t launched a formal investigation yet. But who’s to say they won’t, soon enough?”