Inside the village instance, candlelight flickered in the clinic, and the mournful sound of a suona drifted on the night breeze, echoing through the quiet village like a lament.
The clinic had just been attacked by patients; the floor was stained with blood, and the patients' limbs were mangled, but
this was a common sight in the clinic, which would become bustling at night. A tiny paper doll, its feet soaked in blood, scrubbed the floor back and forth with a mop, trying to erase all traces so that players who entered during the day wouldn't notice anything amiss.
Maintaining the clinic's eeriness and mystery, subtly hinting at side quest rules and background, ignoring players who triggered the rules, listening to their screams, and cleaning up the mess—that was their job.
The diligent paper doll worked tirelessly, while behind it, Zhong Mu carried a basin of water, tiptoeing through the corridor, observing the paper doll's movements, before quietly taking the water into Mu He's room and gently closing the door.
The cat sat motionless in the basin of water, soaking wet, its fur drooping down, looking rather pitiful.
At night, the doctor would transform into a cat, its soft white fur turning a terrifying crimson after attacking a patient.
A cat, dripping with blood, lay on the desk, wagging its tail, trying to clean itself of the bloodstains.
"Doctor! Don't lick your fur! I'll wash you." Zhong Mu quickly put down the basin, grabbed the cat by its armpits, and lifted it up.
"Meow?" The cat was confused, but didn't resist Zhong Mu's actions, showing none of the ferocious terror it had displayed outside. A warm,
damp towel was used to wipe the cat's body, gently removing the bloodstains until its original white fur was revealed.
Zhong Mu was busy, but glancing at the cat out of the corner of his eye, he felt a little pleased. "The doctor
's appearance reminds me of when I helped the doctor clean his body in the City of Fallen Souls, except back then I was in human form, and now I'm a cute cat." Hearing the voice, the cat raised its head. Zhong Mu's voice was tinged with laughter, indicating that the cat was quite happy, though it was a pity it couldn't see Zhong Mu's joy.
"You're the first person to find me cute like this. Other players are terrified."
Zhong Mu wrung out the towel, laid it on the ground, and took the cat out of the basin, rubbing it with the dry towel. "I find the doctor cute no matter what he looks like. The doctor is the kindest and gentlest monster I've ever met!"
"I'm not as good as you say." The dried-out kitten jumped out and climbed into its own clothes, slowly growing larger inside and transforming back into human form.
The person sitting under the candlelight was disheveled, a light blue Chinese-style robe casually draped over their body, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally revealing a bit of fair skin, hidden beneath long, damp white hair.
Zhong Mu nervously clutched the towel in his hand, stealing a glance at the doctor's back. Then, remembering that the doctor couldn't see his actions, he stood up straight and looked at him with his head held high.
"I saw other clothes in the doctor's wardrobe during the day, why does he always wear this one?" Zhong Mu remembered that Mu He's clothes had very obvious bloodstains on the chest, the marks left when her heart was ripped out, and he was always unhappy when he saw them.
Mu He fumbled with his collar, buttoning it up one by one, and replied softly, "I usually wear this to greet players after the dungeon opens. A few bloodstains on it actually look good; it makes me look a bit scary." "
The healer doesn't look scary at all," Zhong Mu muttered, wiping away the remaining water stains on the floor. "But I don't like this outfit."
Mu He paused slightly as he adjusted his collar, the dim candlelight casting a hazy glow on his profile. "Is it because of Xiao Si?"
"Yes," Zhong Mu replied. "I met him in the dungeon. To be honest, he left a very bad impression on me. The healer's heart became the basis for his villainous behavior, but that heart shouldn't have been used that way."
Mu He smiled silently. He heard the unhappiness in Zhong Mu's voice, because someone had used his heart to become a heinous person, and Zhong Mu disliked that.
Zhong Mu stared at Mu He's smile, his displeasure deepening. "Doesn't the doctor hate him? He was so good to him, but he ripped out your heart and ran away, using it to kill many people."
"Hate?" Mu He chuckled and shook his head. "I can't bring myself to hate him."
He slowly sat back down at his desk, meticulously combing his hair. "When you met him, he had become a hateful person, but when I first met him, he wasn't like that."
Under the candlelight, Mu He's movements as he combed his long hair were gentle, making his voice sound softer.
"Since you've read Ye Tianxuan's guide, you know why players normally enter the clinic, right?"
Zhong Mu paused, then nodded. "I know... they get sick in the village and are sent to the clinic."
But normal players, seeing the patients in the village, wouldn't even approach them. Most players wouldn't contract the disease and therefore wouldn't come to the clinic to trigger the side quest.
"The players who appear here are either intentionally doing the side quest or they've accidentally come here." "In Zhong Mu's memory, that's roughly how it is. Triggering side quests is either for veterans or newbies.
" Mu He slowly stopped combing her hair, her pale figure radiating melancholy in the candlelight. "Actually, there's a third possibility, but that possibility is something you've never encountered before, since you met Yin Xiu in the first dungeon and went to Town 35."
Zhong Mu quickly pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, holding the pen carefully. "What other possibility is there?"
Mu He turned her face towards Zhong Mu, her dim eyes devoid of any light. "Being brought in by players from the same town as a sacrifice, pushed around to test the rules." Zhong
Mu's hand, holding the pen, froze in mid-air, not falling for a long time.
A moment of silence filled the room.
This was indeed a possibility that Zhong Mu, born in a good place, had never encountered before, and it was also the cruel side of towns in other dimensions of the dungeon.
Zhong Mu thought of the town where that child lived, the most detestable and dog-eat-dog town of all, Town 114.
Mu He ignored Zhong Mu's silence and continued to slowly comb her hair, slowly revealing everything she had seen.
"When he came, he was very thin, probably malnourished. He looked younger than his actual age, and his body was covered in scars. He was extremely pitiful."
"In the dungeon, in the player town, the younger the player, the harder it is to survive. I don't know what he was yearning for when he came to the dungeon, or what he experienced in his town, but it certainly wasn't a good story."
Mu He sighed softly. "I'm a healer. After receiving him, I discovered that many of his injuries were inflicted before he came here. Although he didn't say anything, I could guess that this was why he entered this place at such a young age because of his inner desires."
Everyone who enters this place comes here following a sound, searching for something, but what he's searching for is still just a guess.
"His environment shaped his personality, his choices."
"He said he didn't want to be bullied anymore. He wanted to live, no matter what, by any means necessary. So I secretly hinted to him that my heart was a prop."
Zhong Mu's gaze was fixed on Mu He. "Did the healer intentionally give him his heart?"
"Yes." Mu He nodded calmly. "I hope this heart can protect him from any further harm, grant his wish, prevent him from being bullied, and allow him to survive."
"And his future choices will determine his own fate."
Zhong Mu slowly closed the small notebook and put it back in his pocket. "If he could have lived in a better environment, perhaps he wouldn't have turned out like that. 114 Town is full of bad people. To survive among bad people, you have to be even worse than them… Thinking about it this way, I was just luckier than him, meeting Brother Xiu and having a better upbringing."
Mu He chuckled, put down the comb, and waved in the direction of Zhong Mu's voice.
Zhong Mu quickly moved closer.
Mu He reached out and pulled Zhong Mu's head into his arms, hugging him tightly. "You're such a good child. You can put yourself in other people's shoes and think from their perspective. People like you have empathy and are kinder."
"However, I need to correct you on one thing."
He gently stroked Zhong Mu's hair and said softly, "I said that his future choices will determine his fate. My heart will protect him from harm. He has many opportunities to leave Town 114 and go to other towns. Even if there aren't as united players as in Town 35, at least things will be more normal." "
The evil of the players in Town 114 over the years has already taken root in his heart. What he learned and thought about was to become the most evil among the evil people so that he wouldn't be bullied.
"Perhaps this is related to his experiences when he was younger. He didn't have the resilience to endure those things. Being tormented by the players, death was only a matter of time." "
Mu He sensed his death the moment he died, and only knew the ending beforehand, feeling a deep sorrow.
"After he took my heart, he never set foot in this instance again. Even when players from Town 114 came to this instance, no one entered the clinic. Maybe he was afraid I hated him and dared not come to see me."
Zhong Mu thought of the note in the item description. So Mu He left that comforting note for him?
"Speaking of which, I still have a few items that he salvaged after his death." Zhong Mu straightened up, shook out his item storage bag, and found several items belonging to the young boy.
The wooden doll bound with red thread, before being bound to a new player, displayed the appearance of its original owner, the young boy, with only a few broken red threads binding it.
The crystal ball was his hiding place, and the several swords were his tools for self-defense. At the very bottom was a small piece of paper that Zhong Mu didn't recognize.
"Paper?" Zhong Mu looked at the folded paper, feeling it looked familiar, but couldn't place it.
He unfolded the paper, revealing rows of crooked words and some neat answers.
[How to quickly leave the dungeon and town? Leave this wretched place?]
[Death.]
Zhong Mu was stunned. What kind of paper was this? It revealed the secret!
However, the owner of the question clearly didn't believe the answer and continued to ask below.
[How to avoid being harmed by monsters?]
[Death.]
[Are there any other ways to leave the dungeon?]
[No.]
[Can a dead monster be revived?]
[The monster possesses a resurrection spring; it will revive after death.]
[Can players coexist with the monster?]
[No.]
[Can players become monsters?]
[Yes.]
[How do players become monsters?]
[By obtaining a monster item, one can become a monster.]
[How do I obtain this item?]
[Instance: Hunting Grounds.]
The dialogue ended here, these questions almost filling the entire page. This was perhaps why the young boy appeared in the Hunting Grounds instance.
He knew even less information, and didn't even know the name of the item he was looking for.
Zhong Mu stared at the paper thoughtfully; the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.
If he remembered correctly, when Brother Xiu learned about the item in the Hunting Grounds, it seemed a player had obtained it from Bliss City.
If the information came from Bliss City...
Zhong Mu slowly raised the paper in his hand, frowning. No wonder it looked so familiar.
"This is the Prison Codex paper? So it has this use?"
Mu He, who had only heard Zhong Mu rummaging through the paper, looked up in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Zhong Mu glanced at Mu He, then looked back at the paper.
The dialogue on it clearly outlined the questioner's psychological journey. After finding it difficult to leave the instance, he changed his mind and no longer intended to leave. He wanted to coexist with the monsters. Knowing that players couldn't coexist with monsters, he planned to abandon humanity and become a monster himself.
This was also why he ended up in the hunting grounds.
If the players treated the young boy badly, how good could the monsters be?
In his past, there was probably only one monster who would want him to coexist with him.
Zhong Mu glanced at Mu He again, gently folded the paper back up, and put it away with the other items. "Regardless, he stole the doctor's heart because of selfishness. The pain and betrayal were real, and the final result was his own choice. The doctor doesn't need to pity him." "
Perhaps he regretted it later, wishfully wanting to become a monster, but that doesn't change the fact that he exploited the doctor's kindness, stained himself with the blood of countless people, and became a villain. "
Zhong Mu carefully packed away the props, determined to keep the contents of the paper a secret.
Perhaps this was also his selfish desire.
Mu He silently hooked Zhong Mu's finger and murmured, "There are many pitiful people who come to the clinic. I only ask that you don't disappear as quickly as they did."
Zhong Mu's originally gloomy mood slowly relaxed, and he tightly grasped Mu He's hand, earnestly promising, "I will come to see the doctor often! After I finish clearing all the dungeons, I want to come to the doctor's dungeon for a vacation!"
"Who comes to a dungeon for a vacation?"
"Yes, Brother Xiu goes to the dungeon for a vacation every day! Boss Ye goes too, and occasionally the old players in our town will discuss which dungeon to visit and scavenge some useful props for the newbies." "
...Indeed, the environment has a big impact on people. The players raised in Town 35 are different from those in other towns." "
But I'm not just here for a vacation! I mainly want to see the doctor!"
Zhong Mu grabbed the hand of the person in front of him and pulled him into his arms. His voice was bright and firm. "To make sure the doctor is doing well every day, I need to come see you often, I need to see you every day."
This heart has fallen with him, and there's no possibility of it going to anyone else.
Mu He, held in his arms, smiled silently. "You sound like you want to be with me day and night."
Zhong Mu's ears slowly warmed, and his voice gradually softened. "I do want to…"
This token of love is already in his arms, how could he not want to be with him day and night?
"Then…" Mu He peeked out from Zhong Mu's embrace, her fair face still shimmering in the lamplight, even her dark eyes. "Want to do something more intimate? Something that would help us solidify our relationship further?"
Zhong Mu's breath filled the room, his pupils widening.
Was he overthinking this, or was the doctor really seducing him?
The room was silent, both of them lost in thought, their figures slowly drawing closer, feeling each other's breaths.
The lamplight cast an incredibly suggestive shadow on the wall, as if they were about to intertwine.
The next second, Mu He's door was flung open, and the little paper figure, covered in blood and carrying a mop, stood panting in the doorway. "Doctor, I've cleaned the hallway! Do you want this room…?"
"Aaaaah! You stinky thing!!" the little paper figure shrieked, "When did you get into the doctor's room! Get out!!" The little paper
figure rushed in with the mop, jumping and leaping.
Zhong Mu, kicked out of the room, stood in the hallway, his gaze resentful.
Little paper doll, you've ruined everything!