Chapter 44: Finding Medical Records
Under the supervision of the strange nurses, the three returned to the ward in tacit agreement.
But Yuji did not expect that after Yang Jin stopped their confrontation, she did not leave. Instead, she stood in the ward, her gaze sweeping over them.
"Mental patients must cooperate with medical staff."
"The latest case reports have already been updated in the laboratory."
"Now you must retrieve them yourselves."
A cold system prompt followed.
Side Quest Activated: Voting Task — Retrieve Case Files
All participants must conduct an internal vote. The one with the most votes will execute the task. The case files must be retrieved and submitted to the head nurse before nightfall.
Rumors said the laboratory once burned down completely after a careless accident during an unattended experiment, and has since been sealed.
Reward: Rationality Potion ×1 (real reward task)
Yuji’s expression darkened.
"A voting task... huh?"
He glanced between Shen Yu and Yang Jin.
"To protect him, you’re really creating a whole new system."
He sneered.
"I vote Shen Yu."
Shen Yu looked calm.
"Then I vote you."
Vote result: 1–1
All eyes turned toward Puer.
The deciding vote.
Yuji’s voice turned sharp.
"Think carefully."
"Remember how he treated you before."
But Puer only lowered his head briefly.
"...I vote Shen Yu."
Shen Yu paused.
His gaze shifted to Yuji.
Yuji clicked his tongue.
"Ha. So that’s how it is."
"You finally figured it out, didn’t you?"
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"You’re controlling him."
Yuji smiled coldly.
"Smart."
"But what can you do now?"
Shen Yu exhaled lightly.
"One or two times could be coincidence."
"But three or four times? That’s deliberate manipulation."
His gaze sharpened.
"During the recent break, you brought him to the warehouse, right??"
"You never found the real reward."
Yuji’s face darkened.
"Tsk."
"You’re smart."
"But too bad you’re stuck with an E-rank talent."
He leaned back.
"Why did you end up with such a talent? Don’t worry. If you die outside this time, I can get my hands on the real reward from that warehouse."
Just then—
Yang Jin stepped forward.
"The voting is not over."
Yuji frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"I haven’t voted yet."
Silence.
"You’re a NPC."
"I didn’t say NPCs can’t vote."
Her voice was calm.
"This vote I give to you, patient."
A pause.
Then the system confirmed:
Vote tied: 2–2
"...A tie?"
Yuji smirked slightly.
But Yang Jin’s voice cut in again.
"I am the head nurse."
"One vote counts as 1.5."
Final tally:
2.5 vs 2
"Task assigned."
"Yuji will execute."
Yuji’s expression twisted.
"Very good."
"This is the first time I’ve seen a dungeon so openly biased."
He turned his gaze toward Shen Yu.
"Your ’wife’ really protects you well."
"I see you might as well not go back at all."
"With her protecting you like this, you can just stay here and get married and have kids."
Yuji’s mocking voice echoed through the ward.
But Shen Yu merely shrugged and returned to the bedside.
"So much nonsense."
"Now the roles have flipped."
"Your turn."
"Our star player."
Yuji took a slow breath.
Under the gaze of multiple strange nurses, he did not act immediately.
Instead, he slowly sat by the bedside, lowering his head.
Across from him—
Puer suddenly raised his head.
Thud.
On the adjacent bed, Puer suddenly lifted his head.
Then he jumped down and walked toward the ward exit.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
His movements were stiff, like a puppet being pulled away.
Shen Yu watched quietly, then looked at Yang Jin.
"The mission chose Yuji... but now Puer is executing it. Isn’t that contradictory?"
Yang Jin replied calmly:
"No."
"He is very smart."
"The one on that body right now... is Yuji."
"So strictly speaking, Yuji is still the one carrying out the mission."
Shen Yu watched quietly.
"...So it’s possession."
Yang Jin replied softly.
"S-rank ability."
"Spirit overwrite."
Third floor of Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital.
Puer walked alone through the dark corridor.
The walls were charred black, as if burned by endless fire.
A voice echoed inside him.
"Shen Yu..."
"You forced me to waste my trump card on a nobody..."
The walls bulged with faint human faces, vanishing instantly when looked at.
Puer stopped.
Looked back.
Nothing.
He continued forward.
Crack.
Crack.
The floor began to split.
Heat rose rapidly from his body.
"Something’s wrong..."
Before he could react—
WHOOSH.
His patient uniform ignited instantly.
Flames swallowed him whole.
In the dark corridor, a burning figure stood motionless.
A living torch.
Poor pressed himself against the wall, chest heaving as the flames flickered unpredictably across his body. The corridor above him was no longer just "above"—it was watching.
That thing on the ceiling didn’t move in the physical sense. It simply shifted its attention.
Every time Poor’s gaze locked onto it, the fire weakened, shrinking like it was being "contained" by observation itself. But the moment his focus slipped even slightly—
Whoosh!
The flames surged again, crawling back up his arms like they had learned his hesitation.
"Watching... I have to keep watching it..."
Poor forced his neck to stay stiff, eyes locked upward. His vision trembled from heat distortion, but he didn’t dare blink.
Above him, the wall-figure’s face slowly elongated, pressed flat into the ceiling like melted wax. Its mouth didn’t open, but the voice still seeped into his mind:
"You’re not supposed to look at me."
"I am not the thing being observed."
The fire intensified instantly.
"Ah—!"
Poor staggered, nearly collapsing, but he forced his eyes wider, refusing to look away now. His logic snapped together under pressure—ugly, but functional.
"If not watching triggers fire... then something else is the observer condition. Not me watching it... but it watching back..."
His gaze shifted slightly—just a fraction—to the corridor behind him, without fully turning.
For a split second, the flames dipped again.
Correct.
Something behind him was "selecting" him as the target.
And the moment he realized that—
Tap.
Footsteps echoed softly from deeper inside the corridor.
A familiar presence approached without hurry.
Shen Yu.
He stepped into the edge of the dim light, expression calm, eyes half-lowered as if he was only taking a routine walk. But the moment his gaze passed over Poor—
The burning on Poor’s body hesitated.
Not extinguished. Not gone.
Just... paused.
As if the fire itself was unsure whether it was allowed to continue.
Shen Yu looked at the ceiling figure briefly, then at Poor.
"You triggered a rule interaction," he said flatly.
Then, almost casually:
"Stop panicking. You’re feeding it attention from both sides."
Behind them, the ceiling figure slowly began to retract—like something disappointed it couldn’t finish the experiment cleanly.
But the corridor wasn’t calming down.
It was resetting.
And something further inside the hospital had already noticed the disturbance.
