He was held for a long time.
You Li leaned back uncomfortably, looking down at the clown kneeling in front of the hospital bed, his mask pressed against You Li’s waist and abdomen, his arms tightly encircling him.
You Li had no idea what had happened.
He had no idea what the other person was saying.
In the sudden silence, You Li inexplicably reached out. After hesitating for a moment, he gently patted the clown’s head, more like a gesture of comfort.
He didn’t know why he suddenly felt touched, and could only comfort himself by carefully searching for a way to get along with this dungeon boss.
You Li’s hand had barely touched the bed when the clown suddenly grabbed his wrist and forced him down, sinking him into the soft blankets behind him.
You Li’s breath hitched, and he turned his head away.
“Could you please stop kissing me?”
He asked softly, as though making a simple request.
You Li continued, “Those things you said about brides and weddings… you were just making them up, weren’t you?”
The clown paused for a moment before readily admitting, “Yes. I was just joking.”
You Li tried to reason with him.
“Then can you please stop doing this to me?”
The clown asked directly, “When can I do it?”
You Li politely declined.
“Those are things only people with a close relationship can do.”
The clown said, “We always have been.”
Unable to argue with him, You Li tried a different approach.
“Then… how about you wait until I’m willing?”
There were still traces of tears on his face.
“I’m not happy at all right now, and I won’t like it.”
After a moment, the clown asked, “How much longer do I have to wait?”
You Li couldn’t answer.
He didn’t understand why the clown sounded as though he had been waiting for him for a very long time. Nor could he admit that he was lying, or that he was still thinking about how to clear the instance.
After hesitating for a while, You Li finally managed to say, “When I’m not scared?”
He tentatively lowered his voice.
“Can you please stop making me cry? Let’s start from here, okay?”
Seeing that the clown didn’t respond, You Li tried to push him away, though he used very little force.
As he pushed against him, he stared intently at the clown with tear-filled eyes, his posture contradictory and vulnerable despite the difficult situation he was in.
Even his movements were slow and careful.
The moment the clown was pushed, You Li held his breath, nervously watching as the man rose with the force of his push.
Once he had managed to push the clown away, You Li seemed to grow a little bolder. Feeling relieved and safe, he didn’t shrink back. Instead, he propped himself up and sat upright.
He kept a careful distance from the clown, not too far, but not too close either.
The crisis was over.
You Li breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, he needed to find clues that would help him clear the instance before his memories were completely erased.
He wondered if Chen Shuang had seen the message he had left behind.
Could they have left some kind of message for him?
He needed to find a way to return to the recreation room.
You Li was thinking about many things at once. As his tense mind gradually relaxed, a wave of physical fatigue surged over him.
Combined with the lingering effects of the medication, his breathing involuntarily became lighter.
He looked at the clown.
Only half of the other man’s face was visible, and that exposed half looked remarkably similar to his own.
He knew perfectly well that the other person was a dungeon boss, yet inexplicably, he found himself following along without being able to see through him.
Compared to that night, when he couldn’t see who the other person was and had spent the entire night curled beneath the bed, unable to sleep, You Li now seemed capable of falling asleep.
He watched the clown move with the mask still covering his face. Following his growing drowsiness and his body’s instinct to rest, he leaned against the headboard and gradually fell asleep, his breathing becoming shallow.
…..
After a while, once You Li had fallen asleep, the clown bent down and tucked him into the blankets before lying down beside him.
During the past few days of his mental breakdown, You Li had slept in the clown’s arms.
His body seemed more familiar with that embrace than his mind was. Even when the clown held him tightly, he didn’t wake.
They were much more obedient when they were asleep than when they were awake.
The clown pulled him closer.
…..
After sleeping for a short while, his body replenished and the effects of the medication finally worn off, You Li woke up.
The moment he opened his eyes, he found himself struggling to breathe, his body tightly pressed down by something.
It took him a while to realize that someone else was lying on his bed.
It was the clown.
There were other people standing in his ward as well, doctors who had brought over new medication at the appropriate time and were distributing it.
The system, still inside his mind, asked in its cold voice, “Awake?”
There was an inexplicable tone to it, almost as though it were asking how he could possibly still be sleeping.
The doctor’s voice overlapped with the system’s.
“Does your head still hurt?”
You Li was slightly taken aback.
He moved, trying to escape from the clown’s arms, but he hadn’t expected the other person to be awake. The clown immediately pressed him back down.
“If your head hurts, sleep a little longer.”
You Li could only answer dryly, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
The doctor’s injured hand had already been bandaged.
“Take your medicine.”
You Li was somewhat resistant, but after a moment, he strangely nodded.
“After I finish my medicine and treatment, can I read fairy tales again, Doctor?”
The doctor looked at him.
“Yes.”
From the moment he was held in the clown’s arms while taking his medicine to the moment he was taken to the treatment room by the doctor for transcranial magnetic stimulation, You Li was completely compliant.
Even when the machine was placed over his head, fixing it firmly in place and scanning him from all directions, he endured the pain and obediently cooperated.
The physical therapy methods used in the instance were very similar to those used in reality.
Or rather, they were based on reality, creating an illusion for the players that they were truly inside a mental hospital.
You Li kept his eyes tightly closed and his lips pursed as he endured the fifteen-minute treatment.
In reality, he had undergone a great deal of physical therapy while being treated for his mental illness.
You could even say he had plenty of experience with it.
But this instance was different from reality.
Although You Li had not recovered the memories of his previous ten reincarnations in this instance, his body’s instincts still made him afraid of the device.
How many times had this happened before?
Was this… the third time?
Fifteen minutes later, he was lifted back into the wheelchair.
His body was numb, and he was unsteady on his feet after the treatment, so the doctor pushed him in the wheelchair.
You Li caught sight of the clown holding a scalpel, preparing to leave.
His heart leaped into his throat, and he instinctively tugged at the corner of the man’s sleeve.
“Wait.”
We can’t let the clown leave.
If he did, he would go kill Chen Shuang.
With the doctor still by his side, the clown reassured him, “My darling, go see the little prince and princess by yourself. I’ll be right back.”
You Li gripped his clothes even tighter.
“No. Don’t go.”
His mind went blank. He didn’t know what excuse he could give.
Finally, he looked up helplessly and whispered, “Will you come with me to see them?”
The clown’s movements stopped.
He paused for a moment before finally putting away the scalpel without hesitation.
“Of course I’ll stay with you, baby. You can watch as long as you want.”
The doctor naturally released his hold on the wheelchair and instructed, “You must come back for a second treatment within four hours at the latest.”
The clown made a gesture.
Unlike the doctor, he simply bent down, picked You Li up, kicked the wheelchair aside, and turned to leave.
When You Li looked back, he could still see the doctor remaining in the treatment room, adjusting the equipment.
The doctor and the clown had a clear division of labor.
One acted as the visible dungeon boss, maintaining order within the hospital and dealing with players only through the hospital’s designated treatment methods.
As a boss who appeared only during the first phase, the clown was not restricted by the dungeon. He could hunt his targets anytime and anywhere.
As long as he prevented the clown from leaving, the doctor, who shouldn’t have appeared during the first phase, posed virtually no threat to Chen Shuang.
When they arrived at the recreation room, You Li asked the clown to put him down.
When the clown asked what book he wanted to read, You Li simply shook his head.
“I can take it myself.”
He was very familiar with the recreation room.
You Li nervously searched for clues left by the other player right under the boss’s nose.
Chen Shuang must have seen the note he had slipped into the high shelf earlier.
Because the books had been placed in noticeably different positions.
He remembered that the book hadn’t been there before.
It was almost an obvious clue.
You Li immediately began checking whether any of the other books in the recreation room had been moved as well.
He took more than a dozen books of various sizes and placed them one by one on the table, pretending that he wanted to read them.
Most of them were books he didn’t remember being arranged in those positions.
And he hadn’t even finished checking them all.
He was using a clumsy method, practically searching for a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately, the clown had no interest in the books.
He simply leaned against the door with his arms crossed, watching You Li busily move back and forth like a bee.
Steeling himself, You Li turned his back to the clown and pretended to be engrossed in the pages.
This one wasn’t it.
Neither was this one.
And not the next one either..
“Why have you suddenly started enjoying reading other books?”
The clown’s voice suddenly came from behind him.
You Li’s fingers tightened around the book.
He immediately closed it, put it back, and picked up a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
“I’ll read this one now.”
As he read the story of Snow White, the sentence he had seen earlier resurfaced in his mind.
Find the medical records and get the doctor out of the way.
The first half of the nine-character message was fairly obvious.
The medical records contained information about his ten reincarnations and sixty-seven hospitalizations.
Of course, they might also contain the hospitalization records of players who had entered this instance before.
Since relying on the hospital discharge certificates to clear the game wouldn’t work, the only option was to look for clues left behind by previous players who had successfully cleared the instance.
The second half of the message was related to the medical records being stored on the computer in the doctor’s office.
When You Li had first regained consciousness after losing his memories, he had seen his own medical records.
But the doctor’s office was a forbidden area for the dungeon boss.
Wandering around there without permission would obviously not end well if he were caught.
Moreover, the consultation room was only open when the doctor was present.
He needed to find a way to keep the doctor away from the consultation room for longer periods, giving Chen Shuang more time to search for clues.
You Li couldn’t concentrate on a single word of the Snow White story.
He began glancing repeatedly at the clown.
The clown had also found the same copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and was standing beside the bookshelf, casually flipping through it.
He was caught the third time.
You Li’s excuse was still painfully lame.
“I’m hungry.”
He endured the clown’s gaze.
“I won’t run away.”
“I’ve already had four treatments, and I’ve only been taking medicine. Could you find me something to eat?”
“If you’re worried, you can take me to see the doctor.”
The clown leaned over.
“What would you like to eat?”
You Li was picked up again.
He made no particular request.
“Anything is fine.”
The doctor was indeed in the examination room.
After the clown brought You Li over, he saw with his own eyes that once the doctor left, a nurse came over and closed the examination room door.
He had finally managed to get into the doctor’s arms and return to his ward.
The clown moved quickly because You Li had been fasting for too long. He only brought bread and milk to fill his stomach before giving him anything else.
The aroma of warm milk filled the entire ward.
The clown bent down and pressed the warm glass against You Li’s face. In a teasing manner, he casually slid the rim of the glass down along You Li’s lips.
“Is it hot?”
You Li had no time to pay attention to him.
He watched as the doctor was about to leave again and subconsciously reached out.
Caught off guard, he even started to lunge forward.
The hot milk in the clown’s hand swayed.
The liquid splashed across You Li’s face.
He instinctively closed his eyes but didn’t dodge. Instead, he tightly grabbed the doctor’s white coat.
The clown’s mask was right in front of him.
Yet You Li’s voice trembled as he repeated the words he had just said to the clown, this time pleading with the doctor.
“…Don’t go.”
“Can you please not leave?!”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The Realm accepts your wallet. The translator accepts coffee. ✦
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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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)