You Li had been locked up.
He had no idea how long he had been confined.
The only thing he could hear was the sound of the clock in the hospital room, ticking away second by second.
Tick.
Tock.
Because his head had been restrained, the clown had been firmly fixed onto the hospital bed. He could only stare dazedly at the fluorescent light and ceiling above him.
Occasionally, tears caused by his body’s instinctive reactions would gather at the corners of his eyes and slowly slide down, disappearing into the hair beside his temples.
The wide, clean restraint strap around his mouth was tightly fastened, forced between his opened lips and teeth.
Other than the muffled “mmph, mmph” sounds he made, he couldn’t produce any other voice.
Because his mouth couldn’t close, he couldn’t swallow either. Saliva could only leak out from the corners of his lips and even the restraint strap pressed down by his tongue had become soaked, almost as if water could seep out of it.
The hospital beds used for patients in this hospital were specially designed.
His hands and feet were restrained as well.
Each limb was tightly fastened to the hospital bed with four separate restraint straps. There were also three more straps crossing over his body, wrapped underneath the bed frame and pulled tight, making sure he was completely attached to the bed, as if he had merged with it.
The one inside his mouth was the final strap.
There were eight straps in total.
The clown had used eight restraint straps on him.
You Li didn’t know how much time had passed.
Originally, he had not been treated with such cruel control by the clown.
The first time, the clown had only told him to stay in the hospital room by himself. You Li had tricked him into leaving by using the excuse that he wanted to eat cake.
He hadn’t even pushed his wheelchair very far before he was caught and dragged back.
At first, the clown had only restrained one of his hands and one of his legs.
But after eating the cake, You Li found another excuse and said he was thirsty.
There was no hot water in the room.
He wanted to drink some hot water.
Preferably not water that was too hot.
The moment the clown left, You Li immediately struggled desperately.
Using only one hand, he spent a great deal of effort undoing the restraint strap, then moved on to the one around his leg.
He fell from the hospital bed and crawled toward the wheelchair that had been deliberately pushed far away from him.
But he had wasted too much time.
When the clown returned, the first thing he saw was You Li crawling on the floor.
He let out a cold laugh.
Then he crouched down and poured the warm water he had brought back into the mouth of the person on the floor.
This time, the clown restrained both of You Li’s hands and feet.
However, because You Li kept struggling, before his wrists could even be rubbed raw and marked with red bruises, the clown added three more restraint straps around his body.
He was completely tied down.
All he could do was continuously whimper and try to call for help.
And in the end, even his mouth was blocked.
You Li had no concept of how much time had passed.
Inside his mind, he counted every second, one by one.
It felt like a very long time had passed.
Yet it also felt like only a short while.
At some point, he seemed to have fallen into a half conscious sleep.
The clown did not stay by his side every moment.
He seemed extremely busy and had no time to keep watching him.
But he would always return at regular intervals to check on him and each time he would stay with him for a while.
During those moments, You Li’s restrained mouth would finally be freed.
The clown would wipe away the tears and saliva that had naturally flowed down his face, then feed him some water and a little food.
You Li had completely lost track of time.
He only felt that every time the clown stayed with him, it lasted quite a while.
The clown also returned very frequently.
It seemed like after leaving for half an hour, he would come back and stay for another half hour.
The smell of blood in his hospital room, coming from the other person, grew stronger and stronger.
It made You Li increasingly uneasy.
He didn’t know what was happening outside.
Why had no one come to check on him?
It was as if all the players, all the doctors and all the nurses had disappeared.
No one passed by his hospital room and noticed his situation.
Even the other patients who occasionally walked through the hallway before were gone.
It was so quiet.
Quiet enough that it felt like the entire hospital had become empty.
Leaving only this small hospital room.
Leaving only him and the clown inside.
You Li also seemed to vaguely hear some kind of howling sound while half asleep.
Even when he was sleeping, the clown would quietly stay with him.
When he woke up again, the other person seemed to be sitting on the chair beside his hospital bed.
You Li’s line of sight was fixed in place, so he could only sense that something heavy was pressing against his waist and abdomen.
Because there was a restraint strap between them, he couldn’t clearly feel what it was.
After a very, very long time, he finally realized vaguely that it seemed to be the clown leaning halfway over his hospital bed.
Through the layer of the mask, he was resting his head on the soft flesh of You Li’s stomach with a kind of longing attachment.
As if he was only taking a brief rest.
But he was not truly asleep.
Because You Li could hear his rather heavy breathing.
There was also a strange sense of immersion in it, as if this moment of peace was some long desired and precious pleasure.
The smell of blood in the air became stronger and stronger.
You Li couldn’t tell whether it came from the hospital itself or from the clown.
At some point, the restraint strap around his mouth had been removed.
Yet the sour, aching sensation between his lips and teeth still remained.
Even speaking felt difficult.
The clown lifted himself up.
“Awake?”
At the same time, he reached out to pick up something.
On the bedside cabinet were many sweets that the hospital usually didn’t allow You Li to eat.
They were all his favorites.
There was also a cup of hot milk that had just been placed there.
You Li turned his head away from the spoon of hot milk being offered to him.
Because his movement had been so sudden, the milk in the spoon spilled almost entirely onto his face.
On both sides of his cheeks, faint square shaped red marks could still be seen.
They were the marks left behind by the restraint straps after being tied for too long.
The spilled milk flowed down from You Li’s tightly pressed lips, dripping drop by drop onto his chin before sliding into his collar.
“I don’t want to drink anymore.”
You Li struggled desperately, his voice carrying a hint of tears.
He turned his head to look at the clown sitting beside him.
But in the next second, he was startled by the sight of the other person’s white coat, which was almost completely soaked through with blood.
There seemed to be fragments of flesh still stuck to him.
The only clean thing was the mask on his face.
You Li struggled harder, no longer caring about anything else.
“Untie me, okay? Please, I’m begging you, please…”
“I don’t want to, I don’t want to stay on the bed…”
“I need to go to the bathroom… I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Please, don’t make me do it on the bed…”
The clown went silent for a moment.
Then he explained:
“…I forgot. I wasn’t stopping you from going. Don’t panic.”
You Li was already holding back tears from the urgency.
While he had been asleep, the clown had changed into clean gloves.
There was no blood on his hands.
He helped undo the restraint straps, removed his blood stained white coat and was left wearing only the suit underneath that had not been stained.
Then he carried You Li to the toilet and placed him onto the seat.
You Li didn’t want him watching.
But he also knew he couldn’t convince him to leave.
So he could only press the flush button, using the sound of rushing water as cover.
Taking small breaths, he forced himself to control everything.
After struggling for a while, he finally finished.
Covered by the oversized hospital clothes, he cleaned himself.
Then the clown carried him to the sink to wash his hands and face.
When they came out, You Li secretly glanced at the clock.
Only then did he realize that an entire day and night had already passed.
When You Li saw that the clown was about to put the restraints back on him, he did everything he could to shrink backward.
“I won’t run anymore. I really won’t run anymore.”
“I want to eat something.”
The clown actually laughed.
“Don’t treat me like a fool you can trick. It won’t work.”
Unable to resist, You Li returned to his previous position.
The system was still commenting in his mind.
“The dog is smarter than you.”
You Li opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.
He couldn’t argue with either of them.
It was driving him crazy.
It was already the seventh day of the instance.
Wouldn’t that mean the instance would close soon?
Then what would happen if he was still trapped inside?
Would he be tied here by the clown with restraint straps for the rest of his life?
The clown had already put his blood covered white coat back on.
He picked up the surgical knife.
“I’ll come back later. Stay here obediently. Don’t run around.”
His tone was gloomy and his voice was cold as he warned him.
“You know what happens when I get angry.”
You Li really wanted to ask him how he was supposed to run away when he had been tied up like this.
But he could only stare helplessly at the ceiling above him.
He struggled and made muffled “mmph, mmph” sounds but all he could hear was the indifferent sound of the door opening and closing, followed by the clown’s footsteps slowly fading away.
He vaguely heard a single miserable scream from somewhere far away.
Then everything around him became silent again.
But soon, the door was opened once more.
You Li thought the clown had used the same trick again and come back to check on him.
Despairingly, he closed his eyes.
However, in the next moment, an unfamiliar yet familiar female voice sounded beside his ear.
“You’re actually really here. Who tied you up?”
It was the voice of the girl with the bun hairstyle.
You Li suddenly opened his eyes.
It was as if he had seen a ray of light in the darkness.
He desperately tried to make a “mmph, mmph” sound.
The girl with the bun looked troubled.
“Don’t panic. Let me first see how to untie this.”
“I’ve never dealt with hospital restraints before. I didn’t even know what they looked like until now.”
“Wait a moment.”
You Li held back his tears and nodded.
The girl first removed the restraint from his mouth.
She looked at the large red marks on You Li’s face for a while in confusion, then awkwardly turned her gaze away.
It wasn’t her fault.
This face was really too unfair.
No wonder her temporary motherly instincts had suddenly appeared, making her unwilling to give up and come back to look for this pretty little thing.
You Li’s voice was weak.
“Thank you. He just left. He probably won’t come back so soon.”
The girl with the bun continued undoing the restraints.
“Who?”
You Li had held it in for so long that he wasn’t even completely certain.
“Probably… the instance boss?”
Although he didn’t know why this boss acted like he had known him for a very long time.
The girl with the bun kept exchanging information with him.
“We found a nurse’s corpse near your hospital room just now. We got her work ID from her nurse uniform.”
“We originally planned to go to the first floor lobby and follow the plan we discussed before, to see if we could leave the hospital directly.”
After thinking about it, she had still decided to give herself five minutes.
She wanted to come back and try to see if she could find You Li.
You Li quickly thanked her.
“Thank you.”
The girl with the bun looked at the leftover small cake and sweets on the bedside cabinet.
There was even a cup of steaming hot milk.
She also looked around the quiet, clean and tidy hospital room.
Then she sincerely asked:
“You didn’t bribe the instance boss with your face, did you?”
You Li looked completely confused.
“I don’t know him.”
The girl with the bun knew he had lost his memory, so she didn’t ask further.
“You’ve stayed in this instance the longest.”
“If you know any clues, or if you remember anything later, please tell me if we get the chance.”
“Consider it payment for me helping you.”
The girl with the bun finally removed all the restraint straps.
“But whether you want to leave with us is your choice.”
“Just so you know beforehand, we can’t guarantee whether this plan will succeed or whether leaving the hospital will count as clearing the instance.”
Her tone became complicated.
“Besides, staying in this room might actually be safer for you.”
You Li didn’t understand why she would say that.
The girl dragged over the wheelchair beside them and looked at it strangely.
“Wasn’t this the one I threw near the emergency staircase before? Why is it here?”
She helped You Li into the wheelchair.
Seeing that he seemed to know nothing and looked like he had been trapped here for a very long time, she searched around the hospital room for clues while saying:
“You’ll understand once you go outside and see.”
“It’s very dangerous out there.”
She herself had quite a few scratches on her body and looked extremely exhausted.
You Li asked nervously:
“Is there anything I can do?”
The girl with the bun replied:
“Look around your room and take anything useful with you.”
You Li searched through his things.
He brought the remaining medicine and all the restraint straps that could be used to tie someone up.
Other than those things, his room only had food, drinks and clothes.
There was nothing else.
The girl searched around but found nothing.
Disappointed, she pushed him outside.
The hallway outside was quiet.
It looked almost no different from usual.
You Li nervously looked around, afraid that the clown would return at that moment and that he would end up dragging someone else into danger.
But when the wheelchair was pushed around the corner, he froze.
Blood.
There was blood everywhere.
After leaving the hallway near his hospital room, every other area was covered in blood.
There were many corpses scattered across the ground.
The girl with the bun explained from behind him:
“The clown has completely gained a physical form now. He won’t suddenly disappear anymore.”
“But the entire hospital has also become corrupted.”
“What you’re seeing are all monster corpses.”
“There are medical staff on duty during every time period. We’re patients trying to escape, so we can’t let them see us.”
“Otherwise, they’ll immediately turn hostile.”
“The other patient NPCs are also part of them.”
“The entire hospital has become extremely dangerous.”
“One of us died. He was killed by an NPC while we were escaping.”
“If the clown hadn’t suddenly disappeared for a while while chasing after us, I’m afraid even more people would have died.”
You Li took a deep breath.
His heart was beating rapidly at the sight of the blood and corpses scattered everywhere.
“So that’s why I said you might be safer staying there.”
“The monsters around your hospital room were all mysteriously killed.”
The girl with the bun continued:
“You can choose whether to go back or leave.”
“But I’ll tell you beforehand, your legs can’t run.”
“If we encounter danger, I will only be able to take care of myself.”
You Li thanked her softly, his voice calm.
“…Thank you.”
“Thank you for coming back to find me.”
“Thank you for helping me remove the restraints.”
“You saved me.”
“Thank you.”
The light from the fluorescent lamp above reflected in the boy’s eyes, making his delicate features look even more hazy and beautiful.
The red marks from the restraints were still left on his face.
His expression looked weak and exhausted.
“I’ll only drag you down if I leave with you.”
Once the clown realized he was gone, he would definitely come after him immediately.
And if he found out that it was the girl with the bun who helped him escape, he would definitely be furious with her.
You Li’s voice was soft but his determination was unmistakable.
“Let’s split up.”
“That way, if the clown comes after me, he’ll only chase me and won’t have the chance to deal with you.”
He didn’t hesitate at all.
“You can just leave me here.”
“I’ll hide by myself.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · I have amnesia (1)Chapter 2 · I have amnesia (2)Chapter 3 · I have amnesia (3)Chapter 4 · I have amnesia (4)Chapter 5 · I have amnesia (5)Chapter 6 · I have amnesia (6)Chapter 7 · I have amnesia (7)Chapter 8 · I have amnesia (8)Chapter 9 · I have amnesia (9)Chapter 10 · I have amnesia (10)Chapter 11 · I have amnesia (11)Chapter 12 · I have amnesia (12)Chapter 13 · I have amnesia (14)Chapter 14 · I have amnesia (14)Chapter 15 · I have amnesia (15)Chapter 16 · I have amnesia (16)Chapter 17 · I have amnesia (17)Chapter 18 · I have amnesia (18)Chapter 19 · I have amnesia (19)Chapter 20 · I have amnesia (20)Chapter 21 · I have amnesia (21)Chapter 22 · I have amnesia (22)Chapter 23 · I have amnesia (23)Chapter 24 · I have amnesia (24)Chapter 25 · I have amnesia (25)Chapter 26 · I have amnesia (26)Chapter 27 · I have amnesia (27)Chapter 28 · I have amnesia (28)Chapter 29 · Desert Highway (1)Chapter 30 · Desert Highway (2)Chapter 31 · Desert Highway (3)Chapter 32 · Desert Highway (4)Chapter 33 · Desert Highway (5)Chapter 34 · Desert Highway (6)Chapter 35 · Desert Highway (7)Chapter 36 · Desert Highway (8)Chapter 37 · Desert Highway (9)Chapter 38 · Desert Highway (10)Chapter 39 · Desert Highway (11)Chapter 40 · Desert Highway (12)Chapter 41 · Desert Highway (13)Chapter 42 · Desert Highway (14)Chapter 43 · Desert Highway (15)