Wen Shi was about to ask what was going on.
The arm around his waist suddenly tightened, pulling him into an embrace while a short blade flew out and embedded itself in the glass.
The blood-red color faded completely, and the written characters vanished.
“Disturbing my dreams so early in the morning.” Xu Jie sat up, his sharp gaze fixed on the glass, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
It seemed the Dungeon Boss had set its sights on Wen Shi.
He would have to keep watch day and night.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t even know when Wen Shi was killed by the Dungeon Boss.
Wen Shi was wearing a white shirt.
The shirt was thin, allowing him to clearly feel the scorching warmth of Xu Jie’s palm—so warm that it stirred a greedy longing within him.
“Let go.” Wen Shi pulled his thoughts back, suppressing the restless stirrings of his heart, and assumed the detached demeanor he maintained with everyone.
Xu Jie reluctantly released him, leaning against the pillow as he watched Wen Shi dress elegantly. He couldn’t resist gesturing toward Wen Shi’s waist—so slender.
“Where are you going? Wait for me.”
Seeing Wen Shi finish dressing and leave, Xu Jie jumped out of bed, tidied up, and followed.
Wen Shi went downstairs and observed the patients lining up for reexamination. One by one, they looked as if they had been poisoned by some tainted meal, displaying non-human states.
“Why have they all mutated?” Wen Shi asked.
A row of characters appeared on the white wall beside him:
“Last night, a male player broke into the ward. I don’t know what these people did, but all the patients have become semi-aberrant. My fault.”
The one answering Wen Shi was a nurse standing nearby, holding a hammer.
Her left hand was wrapped in thick bandages.
Beneath the bandages was a wound inflicted by Xu Jie’s short blade.
That bastard—she wanted to pound Xu Jie into mincemeat!
“It’s fine.” Wen Shi said in lip language: “Among these players, there’s someone who knows what they’re doing. They’re probably after the patients or the detoxification agent.”
The nurse responded angrily: “Screw them! If one comes, I’ll hammer one!”
Blood splattered on the wall, twisting into an angry shape before quickly disappearing.
Over there.
Five players were surrounded by more than twenty monsters.
Their faces were pale, and their bodies were stiff.
The lop-eared rabbit’s fur stood on end, its two large front teeth bared.
Gu Hua was over there, mocking sarcastically: “Hmph, I told you the patients here were all S Rank Anomalies, but you didn’t believe me. Well, look at you now, dumbasses.”
The only female among the players, Shen Shushu, was so frightened she cried, her eyes red, surrounded by the four men in the center.
The timid Feng Zhouzhou collapsed, kneeling in mid-air.
The only reason he wasn’t kneeling on the ground was because the mute was holding him up by the collar.
“What a grand scene.” Xu Jie looked at Feng Zhouzhou, whose face was flushed red and on the verge of suffocation: “Is he dead?”
Wen Shi: “A living person, slightly dead.”
If the mute kept holding him like that, Feng Zhouzhou wouldn’t die of fright—he’d likely suffocate to death.
Xu Jie paused, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth: “Indeed, not entirely dead. Not completely stiff—probably about 40% dead.”
Hearing their conversation, the mute hurriedly released Feng Zhouzhou’s collar, gesturing frantically to explain that it wasn’t intentional, nearly managing to speak in his urgency.
“Last night, a male player violated the rules and left his room after 10 p.m.”
The nurse walked up to the group, her usual gentleness gone, replaced by coldness:
“If you don’t find the culprit within 24 hours, this will be your fate.”
The nurse raised her hammer and brought it down on a lizard monster that couldn’t restrain its appetite and was sticking its tongue out at her.
“Boom—”
The monster, with a lizard’s head and a snake’s body, had its brains splattered, blood spraying everywhere.
Red and white matter scattered across the ground.
All the players were as silent as cicadas in winter, each fearing for their own safety.
They had thought they were coming to an F-grade Instance for some leisure and entertainment, to relax their tense minds from high-level Instances and take a vacation.
Little did they know they had stepped straight into hell mode.
Even the most confident Gu Hua was deflated, unable to utter a word for a long time.
It was one thing for players to hide their strength and play the fool.
But for a game Instance to pull the same trick?
Bullshit.
This was treating the players like they were Japanese!
Xu Jie cleared his throat lightly: “Sis, you’re a bit…” violent.
“Shut up!” The nurse, still remembering Xu Jie stabbing her that morning, snapped sharply.
If it weren’t for the Boss wanting to keep Xu Jie alive,
the imposter would have died long ago and could be running errands by now.
Seeing the nurse’s bandaged hand, a cold glint flashed in Xu Jie’s eyes, though his smile remained unchanged: “Got it.”
Wen Shi noticed Xu Jie’s killing intent toward the nurse and changed the subject: “Doctor Xu, can you restore the patients to normal? We’re… scared.”
The patients looked at Wen Shi—they were even more terrified.
Patients in the mutation phase couldn’t control their violent tempers and appetites.
Whenever Doctor Wen made his rounds or gave them medicine, any patient who resisted would drop dead on the spot, no questions asked.
The players and the Aberrations each feared their own things, trembling in their own ways.
“I think this is just fine,” Xu Jie said. He wasn’t a real doctor, after all—how could he have such great abilities? “Being honest with each other is refreshing and stimulating.”
The player responsible for caring for the patients widened their eyes, wishing they could just drop dead.
Wen Shi: “…”
He suspected that Xu Jie had wreaked havoc in the clinic last night, beating the patients into mutation.
“Line up, take your medicine.” The nurse put away her hammer, pushed the treatment cart, and spoke softly.
The Aberration patients surrounding the players obediently lined up.
The players finally escaped the suffocating fear, each of them drenched in cold sweat, their backs soaked as if they had just been pulled out of water.
The patients’ medicine was naturally prepared by Xu Jie, who was impersonating the Boss.
Wen Shi watched as Xu Jie mixed a lethal dose of cephalosporin with Maotai liquor and fell silent, silent, silent…
The patients hadn’t been poisoned by a poorly prepared meal, but now they were about to die from poorly prepared medicine.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Shen Shushu said softly upon seeing the patient’s name. “Doctor Xu, cephalosporin with alcohol—you take it and you’re gone.”
Xu Jie hummed in agreement: “Looking this ugly, they might as well be dead.”
Shen Shushu: “…”
The lop-eared rabbit had been insisting that Xu Jie wasn’t the Dungeon Boss, and now she believed it.
All Dungeon Bosses fit their character settings.
A doctor who didn’t understand pharmacology was definitely a fake!
Compared to Xu Jie, Wen Shi looked more like a doctor—no wonder the lop-eared rabbit had suspected him yesterday.
A Dungeon Boss hiding among the players was extremely dangerous!
Wen Shi let Xu Jie prescribe medicine recklessly.
He and Feng Zhouzhou assisted the nurse in dispensing and delivering medicine to the patients.
During this time, Wen Shi quietly replaced the poorly prepared medicine with normal medication.
Shen Shushu, adhering to the Strategy of winning over the Boss, hovered around Xu Jie, doing everything she could to please him.
“Shen Shushu is too enthusiastic,” the lop-eared rabbit said, using its ears to adjust the backrest of the monster patient’s bed by winding them around the bed crank.
The monster’s drool sprayed all over it, looking ravenous.
Wen Shi glanced at it, and it froze in fear.
“She wants to survive—it’s normal to try to please the Boss,” Feng Zhouzhou said, pulling her head out of the monster patient’s mouth before bending over and vomiting violently.
The lop-eared rabbit: “I suspect she’s the Dungeon Boss.”
“You’re the one stirring up trouble everywhere, sowing discord. I think you’re the real problem.” Gu Hua snorted coldly, “Mute, don’t you agree?”
Before Mute could speak.
Gu Hua declared decisively, “Mute says I’m right.”
Mute: “…”
“Shut up!” the lop-eared rabbit said sharply, “You don’t take patients seriously. Do you have too many fingers?”
“No, Hua didn’t take care of the Mosquito Monster today, so his fingers should be fine.” Feng Zhouzhou tried to mediate:
“Brother Rabbit, we should figure out who went out after 10 p.m. last night, or we’ll all die.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Monster patient suddenly bit Gu Hua.
Good news: it didn’t bite the fingers on his left hand.
Bad news: his entire left palm was gone.