Sheng Yu’s eyes widened in shock.
“You didn’t swallow it?”
Resting quietly in Zong Jiu’s palm was the small white pill, completely dry and perfectly intact.
Zong Jiu glanced at him lazily.
“Just a little trick.”
To a magician, sleight of hand was nothing more than basic training.
Although the injuries to his hands still limited his movements somewhat, Zong Jiu remained thoroughly familiar with concealment techniques. Hiding a tiny pill from plain sight was child’s play to him.
Not only Sheng Yu, but even the livestream audience was stunned.
[I SWEAR I saw him throw it into his mouth.]
[Same here! He even drank water!]
[Was that a prop? But he’s a newcomer—where would he get one?]
[If he really did that with pure hand skill, then this newcomer is insane.]
Sheng Yu’s shout drew everyone’s attention.
The trainees throughout the dining hall turned to look at the pill in Zong Jiu’s hand, each expression different from the next.
Strictly speaking, the physical difference between veterans and newcomers wasn’t actually that large.
The Infinite Loop’s rules were cruel.
Humans remained human, no matter how powerful they became. Even if someone encountered opportunities to change races in high-level instances, contenders still could not truly abandon their humanity.
At most, they enhanced themselves through props and survival points.
Props granted supernatural abilities.
Survival points could strengthen the body or upgrade equipment.
But there were limits.
No matter how many points someone invested into physical enhancement, they would never become a monster capable of lifting skyscrapers with bare hands.
Compared to strengthening props, improving the body itself also required an absurd amount of survival points. Unless someone had no better option, most contenders prioritized upgrading equipment instead.
That was why almost everyone in the dining hall had obediently swallowed the medicine earlier.
Even the veterans who immediately tried to force themselves to vomit afterward had still absorbed part of the drug.
From the looks of it, aside from Zong Jiu, only three others had avoided swallowing the pill entirely.
Zhuge An.
Messiah.
And Qin Ye.
The first two hardly counted—S-ranks operated on a level normal people couldn’t understand.
As for Qin Ye, he had simply crushed the pill into powder using brute force before the nurses noticed.
“I told you this newcomer wasn’t simple…”
He Jianlan finally coughed out the pill stuck in his throat, his expression ugly.
As the only unmedicated person besides the upper-ranked veterans, Zong Jiu instantly became the center of attention.
Even Zhuge An spared him a brief glance.
Meanwhile, Sheng Yu’s eyes practically sparkled with admiration.
The teenager instantly switched to calling him “Jiu-ge,” his tone full of shameless flattery.
Earlier, the head nurse had mentioned a daily schedule posted on the wall.
A large number of trainees immediately gathered around it.
Beside the schedule hung a map of the asylum’s first floor.
The ground floor contained the dining hall, a library, and a reading room.
Sheng Yu read the schedule aloud nervously.
“Free time after dinner… lights out at ten-thirty… room inspection at eleven…”
He swallowed hard.
“We also have to wake up at seven tomorrow morning. And… we have to take medicine every night…”
The newcomers instantly turned pale.
By now, the medicine’s effects had already begun kicking in.
Many people struggled just to keep their eyes open.
Sheng Yu became even more anxious.
“What do I do, Jiu-ge? I can’t throw it up anymore…”
Before Zong Jiu could answer, Messiah stepped forward from the crowd.
“Everyone, may I have your attention for a moment?”
The noisy dining hall instantly quieted.
Messiah’s smile remained warm and gentle.
His azure eyes resembled sunlight glimmering over the Aegean Sea, calming and soothing without carrying even a trace of arrogance.
Yet nobody dared underestimate him.
Because hanging on his chest was the symbol of an S-rank—
And the number 7.
No. 7 absolutely possessed the qualifications to command respect.
“Although the system designated this as an individual competition, that doesn’t necessarily mean the instance itself has become easier.”
Messiah patiently explained things for the newcomers.
“In ordinary low-difficulty instances, the objective is usually something straightforward—escaping the location, solving a mystery, uncovering a curse.”
“But this time, the main mission is simply survival.”
“Which means the system doesn’t care whether we uncover the truth behind the asylum.”
“It only cares whether we stay alive.”
His gaze slowly swept across the room.
“At this difficulty level, I believe the wisest option is cooperation.”
Some newcomers still hesitated.
Messiah continued calmly:
“The system forbids contenders from killing one another directly. Even the nurse already confirmed that.”
“Our enemies have never been fellow contenders.”
He paused meaningfully.
“Our true enemies are those things.”
“The rank evaluation matters. But right now, survival comes first. Isn’t that correct?”
Those words instantly woke the newcomers from their panic.
That was right.
If they died here, evaluations wouldn’t matter at all.
One after another, people began moving toward Messiah’s side.
After the nurses left, the dining hall felt strangely empty.
The cafeteria staff had vanished.
The burly nurses were nowhere to be seen.
Aside from the trainees themselves, there were no other patients around at all.
The atmosphere grew increasingly eerie.
“Let’s cooperate.”
He Jianlan sighed and dragged Qin Ye over.
“In this kind of instance, going alone is too dangerous.”
In the past, contenders always worked in teams inside the Infinite Loop. They could trust each other with their backs.
But this time, the system had openly warned them that there might be a mole among the trainees.
Even so, teaming up still remained the safest option.
Zong Jiu watched the entire scene quietly from the side.
Without saying much, he casually stepped a little closer toward Messiah’s group.
The livestream comments exploded again.
[The Holy Son’s leadership is insane.]
[This instance got incredibly lucky having someone like him around.]
[Other livestream rooms are already on the verge of internal fighting.]
[No one besides Messiah could unite everyone this quickly.]
Eventually, almost everyone chose a side.
Except for one person.
Zhuge An stood alone by the wall, arms folded across his chest.
His dark eyes resembled frozen water—cold, deep, impossible to read.
Throughout Messiah’s speech, he hadn’t reacted at all.
The moment the discussion ended, he simply turned and walked away without another glance.
Cold.
Arrogant.
Untouchable.
Zong Jiu watched him disappear toward the stairwell.
Only after Zhuge An vanished did someone whisper nervously:
“That guy’s aura is terrifying…”
“Everyone else joined the alliance, so why didn’t he?”
Another trainee lowered his voice even further.
“The system said someone received a different identity card… do you think maybe…”
Messiah frowned immediately.
“That’s No. 3, Zhuge An.”
“His intelligence is exceptional, and his abilities are beyond question. It’s perfectly normal for someone like him to prefer acting alone.”
“Don’t spread suspicion carelessly before we know anything.”
“The contenders should remain united.”
The newcomer immediately nodded frantically, terrified of offending the person most likely to keep him alive.
Seeing this, Messiah finally moved on.
“Good. Since everyone has agreed, let’s discuss our next steps.”
He quickly divided everyone into groups.
“Those feeling heavily drowsy after taking the medicine, stand on the right.”
“Those who avoided taking it or successfully got rid of it, stand on the left.”
The groups separated accordingly.
Messiah analyzed calmly:
“The medicine is most likely a high-dose sedative commonly used in psychiatric treatment.”
“If you force yourselves to continue exploring while under its effects, you may collapse halfway through.”
“So my recommendation is simple.”
“Go rest.”
The medicated trainees instantly panicked.
Sleep?
In a horror instance?
That sounded suicidal.
Especially since everyone had been assigned private rooms in the basement.
The thought alone made their scalps numb.
But Messiah remained calm.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“We can sleep together in groups.”
Someone immediately asked anxiously:
“Wouldn’t that violate the rules?”
Messiah smiled.
“The rules never said patients couldn’t share rooms.”
“Besides, room inspection happens at eleven.”
“If you go to sleep now, the medication will put you into deep sleep long before then.”
“Even if the nurses notice, they can’t possibly drag every unconscious person back to their original rooms one by one.”
The entire room fell silent.
Even the livestream viewers were stunned.
[Holy shit. That’s genius.]
[That solution is actually perfect.]
[Now I understand why he’s an S-rank.]
[The difference between high-rankers and ordinary people is terrifying.]
The logic was simple.
In horror instances, being alone carried an absurdly high mortality rate.
Sleeping together dramatically reduced the danger.
After discussing things briefly, the medicated trainees split into two groups and headed downstairs.
Sheng Yu failed yet another attempt at vomiting and looked utterly defeated.
“See you later, Jiu-ge…”
He waved weakly before following the others downstairs.
Soon, fewer than ten people remained upstairs.
Aside from Messiah, all of them were high-ranked veterans who had avoided the medicine successfully.
And among them—
Zong Jiu’s E-rank badge stood out like a sore thumb.
Messiah’s expression gradually turned serious.
“Everyone here is experienced, so I’ll keep this brief.”
“We’ll split up and search for clues.”
“There’s a library and reading room on this floor.”
“Even in survival-type instances, the system always leaves hints somewhere.”
“No matter how small the clue is, don’t overlook it.”
Everyone nodded.
Then Messiah turned toward Zong Jiu.
“This little brother can come with me. We’ll look after each other.”
Zong Jiu nodded indifferently.
Internally, however, his thoughts remained calm.
After all—
Unlike everyone else here, he had already read the novel.
Messiah’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
The Infinite Loop did prohibit direct murder between contenders.
But accidental deaths?
Those were another matter entirely.
Supernatural creatures were terrifying.
But human beings were far more terrifying.
Eventually, only one hundred contenders would survive to the end of Thriller Trainee.
Everyone else was competition.
Sooner or later, all of them would have to kill each other.
The current alliance only existed because the competition had just begun.
Most people still hadn’t fully adjusted to the reality of the game.
As Zong Jiu thought this over, he followed the others into the reading room.
Compared to the basement, the lighting here was much brighter.
The walls looked newer as well.
Even the moss in the corners appeared less noticeable.
At the same time—
The canonical “death event” from the novel was drawing closer.
Zong Jiu couldn’t remember the exact timing.
But he remembered the sequence clearly.
Originally, after Messiah divided everyone into groups, the novel’s version of Zong Jiu had followed the sleeping team downstairs.
Then, while moving bedding around, he suddenly went to the bathroom—
And died there.
Simple.
Avoid the basement bathroom during this period, and the scripted death flag disappeared completely.
Once he finished reviewing the plot in his mind, Zong Jiu focused on searching for clues.
The reading room contained stacks of old newspapers.
Searching through them was tedious work.
Fortunately, results appeared quickly.
One newspaper revealed that the asylum had originally been a military facility during wartime decades ago.
During the war, a horrific incident occurred there.
Afterward, the location became abandoned and supposedly haunted.
Many years later, an anonymous businessman purchased the property, renovated it superficially, and transformed it into the current psychiatric asylum.
The veterans immediately relaxed somewhat.
At least now they had a direction.
According to standard horror logic, the tragedy from decades ago was almost certainly the core of the instance.
Even if uncovering the truth wasn’t required for clearing the mission, understanding the source of the horror often provided methods of survival.
Still—
Was it really that simple?
Zong Jiu narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
At that moment, Messiah suddenly spoke beside him.
“Forgive me for asking… but your hands…”
Among all of Zong Jiu’s near-perfect features, the stiffness in his fingers stood out especially clearly.
Earlier, when Zong Jiu handled the newspapers, Messiah finally noticed it.
Or rather—
Zong Jiu had intentionally allowed him to notice.
“Yeah.”
Zong Jiu flexed his fingers slightly.
“Comminuted fractures.”
The livestream immediately exploded.
[WAIT WHAT?]
[No wonder his hand movements looked slightly stiff earlier.]
[Comminuted fractures are terrifying…]
Messiah looked genuinely startled.
“…May I examine them?”
Zong Jiu extended his hand casually.
A faint golden glow flickered at Messiah’s fingertips.
Warmth spread briefly across Zong Jiu’s skin before disappearing.
This was Messiah’s special ability.
The very reason he stood at Rank 7 and earned the title Holy Son.
A moment later, Messiah sighed softly.
“I’m sorry.”
“This injury is too severe. I can’t heal it.”
Then he added gently:
“But the Infinite Loop is capable of miracles.”
Zong Jiu looked up slightly.
“You mean my hands can recover?”
“Yes.”
“As long as you possess enough survival points, the system can heal almost anything.”
“I once had my heart pierced during an instance.”
“The system restored me completely within three seconds.”
Zong Jiu’s eyes flickered.
The novel had explained that dangerous actions increased evaluation scores—
But it had never clearly explained survival points.
“How do you obtain them?”
Messiah answered patiently.
“Higher evaluations grant more survival points after an instance ends.”
“Completing additional objectives also increases the reward.”
Danger brought higher evaluations.
Higher evaluations brought survival points.
And survival points could heal his hands.
The logic was simple.
If he wanted to regain full dexterity, he would have to take risks.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Zong Jiu casually picked up a pen nearby.
Messiah looked up in confusion when he suddenly stood.
“Where are you going?”
“The bathroom.”
Zong Jiu waved lazily without turning around.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Messiah frowned immediately.
“I’ll come with you. It isn’t safe to be alone.”
A clear laugh drifted back from the corridor.
“No need, Holy Son.”
Zong Jiu’s voice carried faint amusement.
“I don’t have a habit of peeing with other men.”