Chapter 50: The Ghost Bride Behind The Scene
Behind the Scenes
Hidden within the shadows where no one could perceive her, the Bride Ghost, Lily, silently watched Shen Yu from beginning to end.
Ever since he entered this dungeon, she had been puzzled.
Why hadn’t he thrown himself into danger?
In the previous dungeon, Shen Yu had always fought with reckless abandon, treating his own life as disposable. He had smiled even while standing at death’s door, relying on his mysterious ability to revive himself no matter how many times he died.
Yet this time...
He was different.
Watching the scene between Shen Yu and Yang Jin, Lily slowly lowered her gaze.
"So... that’s why..."
A bitter feeling welled up inside her.
He wasn’t avoiding death because he feared it.
He simply didn’t want Yang Jin to witness his self-destructive tendencies the way Lily herself had.
He didn’t want to frighten her.
"...Or..."
Lily’s crimson eyes narrowed.
"Have his resurrection chances finally run out?"
If that were true, everything suddenly made sense.
For the first time, Shen Yu had begun valuing his own life.
But instead of feeling relieved...
She felt irritated.
No...
Not irritated.
Angry.
Watching Yang Jin blush because of Shen Yu...
Watching Shen Yu patiently indulge her...
An emotion Lily had never experienced before quietly spread through her heart.
Why?
Why did seeing another woman so close to him make her so uncomfortable?
"...Ridiculous."
She turned her face away, refusing to admit the answer.
She had no intention of letting Shen Yu discover that she had secretly followed him into this dungeon.
Silently fading deeper into the darkness, Lily cast one final glance toward the psychiatric hospital.
"...Let’s hope this dungeon succeeds where the others failed."
"Maybe this time..."
"...it will finally kill you for good."
The words were cold.
Yet as they left her lips, even Lily herself couldn’t tell whether they were a curse...
...or a desperate attempt to convince herself she didn’t care.
* * * * * *
As the blood scab on the ground cracked apart, the familiar sound echoed through the corridor.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Shen Yu pulled the Rationality Potion from his pocket, his eyes fixed on the stairwell.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A grotesque corpse with its head hanging upside down bounced into view, stopping directly in front of him.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha..."
The corpse’s cracked skull tilted as it stared at Shen Yu. The instant its mouth opened, a searing pain exploded behind his eyes. Thick streams of bloody tears ran down his cheeks.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Yu uncorked the bottle and drank the Rationality Potion.
Buzz!
In an instant, everything around him twisted violently.
The blood-covered floor faded away, replaced by cold ceramic tiles. The morgue’s heavy iron doors slowly transformed into the double doors of the YE Warehouse, while the oppressive darkness dissolved beneath bright fluorescent lights.
The upside-down corpse vanished without a trace.
The once-nightmarish morgue became an ordinary storage warehouse lined with rows upon rows of shelves.
Sizzle... Sizzle...
Old fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting a harsh white glow across the shelves.
Standing in the middle of the warehouse, Shen Yu felt as though he had stepped into an entirely different world.
After a brief pause, he began searching between the shelves.
His eyes stopped on Shelf 018.
On the bottom shelf lay a bulky object wrapped in coarse burlap, giving off the unmistakable stench of decay.
Realizing what it likely contained, Shen Yu’s expression darkened. He crouched down and slowly dragged it out.
Rustle... Rustle...
The moment he peeled back the cloth, thick black blood poured across the floor.
Lying beneath it was the corpse of a teenage boy.
His body was covered in bruises and wounds. His skin had turned a bluish-purple, and his lifeless eyes remained wide open, stretched to their limits, unable to close even in death.
"...Were you the one who jumped from the building during the normal phase of the hospital?"
"So you’re just another victim..."
With a sigh, Shen Yu reached out with his left hand and gently tried to close the boy’s eyes.
Slap!
The corpse’s hand suddenly shot upward, grabbing Shen Yu’s wrist.
"Damn!"
Startled, Shen Yu instinctively shook the arm away.
Clang!
Something metallic flew from the corpse’s grasp.
A bronze wing-shaped ornament rolled across the floor before disappearing beneath a nearby shelf.
Shen Yu steadied himself and looked back.
The corpse had gone completely still again, as though nothing had happened.
"...You wanted to give this to me?"
He crouched down and searched beneath the shelf until he found the bronze ornament.
The instant his fingers touched it, a solemn system notification echoed through his mind.
You have obtained the true reward.
Item: Wings of Freedom (Half)
A unique relic from Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital.
Cannot be taken outside the instance.
Effect: While equipped, your Sanity Value remains fixed at its current number.
Description:
"Eternal flames, spread your wings and carry me beyond this cage."
"Though the body remains imprisoned, the will shall forever long for the light."
A twisted relic left behind by a boy who dared to resist.
"Wings of Freedom... Half?"
Shen Yu carefully examined the bronze ornament.
It was clearly only one half of a pair. The broken edge suggested another matching wing once existed.
"So this is the warehouse’s true reward..."
Holding the relic, Shen Yu immediately noticed a strange clarity filling his mind.
He could feel it.
His Sanity Value remained perfectly stable.
It wasn’t increasing at all.
"...Wait."
"If this item can lock my Sanity Value..."
"...then I might finally be able to challenge some of the hospital’s mandatory routines."
"This relic is far more valuable than it first appears."
He slipped the bronze wing into his pocket.
Standing once more before the dead boy, Shen Yu gave him a respectful bow before quietly leaving the warehouse.
Thanks to the Wings of Freedom, nothing changed as he walked back.
The warehouse remained completely normal.
No distortions.
No blood.
No monsters.
Even during the journey back, not a single sign of contamination appeared.
At the same time, Shen Yu’s first-person livestream resumed.
The comment section immediately exploded.
"The stream’s back!"
"Wait... did the host finish already?"
"I heard something huge happened. Where’s the replay?"
"Did he just obtain an item?"
"He’s the first person to get an item in an S-rank dungeon, isn’t he?"
"Even faster than Yuji."
"At this point, I’m starting to believe the officials were right to bet on Shen Yu."
"This guy... he might really clear the dungeon."
