Death Draw System: Infinite Revives in the Horror Dungeon

Chapter 55: The Unlucky Worker

Yang Jin bit her lower lip.

"...Leave?"

Shen Yu smiled softly. His earlobe throbbed with pain and Shen Yu knew that Yang Jin had bitten him. He bit his lip and said earnestly,

"But I won’t leave alone."

"I’ll take you with me."

"You..."

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"You... want to take me away?"

"You heard me correctly."

"I’ll make it happen."

He gently adjusted the nurse’s cap that had slipped from her head and carefully placed it back where it belonged.

Shen Yu understood very well.

If he had accepted her request while making promises he couldn’t keep, he would likely have triggered one of the dungeon’s bad endings.

Some things couldn’t be rushed.

They had to be done one step at a time.

"...Idiot."

Yang Jin’s voice returned to its usual cold tone.

"If you miss this opportunity..."

"Don’t expect me to help you again."

After fastening the buttons on his hospital gown, Shen Yu looked up.

Yang Jin had already disappeared into the darkness.

"...Jing?"

He hurried after her, climbing several more flights of stairs.

But no matter how far he searched, she was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, he pushed open a nearby stairwell door.

To his surprise, he found himself standing in the hallway of the second-floor ward.

"...Where did she go?"

More importantly...

Where exactly had Yang Jin delivered that package?

At the same time, Shen Yu’s first-person livestream had turned black.

Current scene contains private content. Stream temporarily blocked.

The chat exploded.

"No way! Again?!"

"How many times is this stream going to cut out?"

"One second they’re clearing a quest, the next they’re flirting again."

"This guy didn’t come to conquer a horror dungeon. He came to fall in love."

"Peak romance route unlocked."

"I’m so confused..."

Most viewers understood that Shen Yu had returned safely.

But no one could figure out exactly what had happened during the quest.

Outside the dungeon, Ho Yong stared blankly at the black screen before awkwardly coughing.

"Ahem..."

To avoid the embarrassing silence, he switched to Yuji’s livestream.

Yuji stood at the stairwell exit, repeatedly scratching his face beneath the restraint headgear.

Wriggle...

Wriggle...

Dark-purple lips had grown across one side of his face and were slowly spreading toward the back of his head.

Ho Yong turned toward Lucian.

"So... do you understand what just happened?"

Luxian nodded.

"More or less."

"Everything was a trap designed by Yang Jin."

"What do you mean?"

"Yang Jin knew Yuji would inevitably use his Soul Possession ability on Shen Yu."

"So she deliberately assigned them a mission where every rule worked in reverse."

"The closer you tried to reach the security booth, the farther away you became."

"But if your intention was to leave, you’d actually arrive there."

"The conversations followed the same principle."

"When the guard asked whether you came to collect a package, answering ’yes’ was wrong."

"The correct answer was ’no.’"

"The same logic applied to every question afterward."

"If he asked whether the hospital was good, praising it would have been fatal."

"Only by criticizing it could you pass."

Ho Yong listened in stunned silence.

Lucian continued calmly.

"Yuji wanted to sabotage Shen Yu."

"So every decision he made was the opposite of what the dungeon expected."

"And because the dungeon itself reversed intentions..."

"Everything Yuji did to harm Shen Yu ended up helping him instead."

Ho Yong’s mouth slowly fell open.

"So..."

"Yang Jin predicted all of that?"

Lucian smiled faintly.

"For everyone else, clearing a horror dungeon is a desperate struggle to survive."

"But for Shen Yu..."

"That head nurse is terrified something might happen to him."

"She’s practically guiding him through every obstacle."

* * * * * *

For others, breaking into a dungeon was a matter of risking their lives. But for Shen Yu, this strange woman seemed terrified that anything might happen to him, constantly protecting and guiding him as if feeding a baby bird.

"I never expected a ghostly woman to go this far for a man. Especially when leaving the hospital actually means returning to the hospital... Yang Jin seemed to have calculated everything, simply waiting for Shen Yu to come back. This ghost nurse is far too terrifying."

Lucian rubbed her arms as goosebumps spread across her skin. The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it became. If she were placed in such a bizarre situation, would she have been able to figure it out?

"But she’s been helping Shen Yu the whole time," Ho Yong said.

His words echoed Lucian’s thoughts. She fell silent for a moment before forcing a complicated smile.

"Yes... Shen Yu’s E-rank talent may be far more frightening than we imagined. This isn’t just affection anymore. It’s almost an obsession."

Meanwhile, while Shen Yu was still savoring the lingering warmth of the stairwell, Yuji was having the worst time of his life.

Crawl... crawl... crawl...

Yuji could clearly feel the skin on the back of his head splitting apart. When he tried to speak, he was horrified to discover that dense black mouths had also grown across his neck and throat.

"Hh... hh..."

Every attempt to speak came out as a raspy gasp.

"Damn... Shen Yu... and that ghost nurse... they’re working together..."

Even though Yuji still couldn’t understand what had happened, he now realized he had been completely played. What had seemed like possessing Shen Yu to torment him had instead helped Shen Yu complete the mission.

"What kind of joke is this?"

The sensation of splitting skin spread across his forehead as well. Yuji had no idea how high his pollution level had become, but he knew one thing: if he didn’t leave this place soon, he would become one of those monsters covered in mouths.

"Back... Going back leads to the security office... Going back..."

Without another moment of hesitation, Yuji sprinted toward the hospital building.

Boom... Boom... Boom...

The thunder across the playground grew louder with every step until the familiar security booth appeared before him.

Yuji froze.

The figure standing inside was no longer the white-bearded old security guard.

Instead, it was a humanoid figure coated entirely in shimmering gold. Every patch of exposed skin gleamed like polished metal beneath the lightning. Beneath the security cap sat an enormous gold ingot instead of a head. It had no eyes or mouth—only three square coin-shaped openings that all seemed fixed upon him.

"Are... you here to pick up the package?"

The dull voice echoed through the air.

Yuji instinctively took a step back, swallowing hard. He remembered what had happened while possessing Shen Yu’s body. No matter what Shen Yu said, the guard had reacted positively.

Is he actually helping people? Or is he some kind of undercover officer helping patients escape?

But why did he look like this?

Without Yang Jin’s hint about speaking in reverse, Yuji still hadn’t realized that everything here operated according to reversed logic.

After hesitating briefly, he nodded.

"Yes."

"Oh... you’re here to pick up the package?"

The instant the word left his mouth, thick streams of blood began flowing from the three square openings in the golden ingot’s face.

"W-What... what are you doing?"

"You’re here to pick up the package... Then why are you here with me?"

"If I’m not here... where else should I be?"

"Hahaha... You’re here to pick up the package..."

Dark blood poured faster and faster until it sprayed violently from the square openings.

"Damn!"

Yuji’s legs suddenly gave way beneath him.

He collapsed to his knees before the golden figure.

"But... you’re here... to pick up... the package..."

The creature leaned closer and closer. Thick black blood dripped from the edge of its golden head onto Yuji’s face.

Drip... drip...

The foul-smelling blood carried an indescribable sense of corruption.

Instantly, every black mouth covering Yuji’s body opened wide, desperately trying to drink the blood.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

True panic finally seized him.

He didn’t understand what these mouths represented, but he knew that if they swallowed all this black blood, his pollution level would likely exceed the limit in an instant.

"Why? Why was Shen Yu fine? Why am I the one suffering?"

Frantically, Yuji pulled out the bottle of Rational Medicine he had treasured.

Gulp... Gulp...

Without hesitation, he drained the entire bottle.

Buzz...

In an instant, the thunderstorm, the countless mouths growing across his body, and even the golden figure all twisted and dissolved.

Everything returned to Shen Yu’s normal perspective.

The kindly white-bearded security guard once again stood before him, though his expression had become strangely ominous.

"You’re here to pick up the package."

The old man narrowed his eyes and reached toward Yuji’s neck.

Startled, Yuji stumbled backward and ran toward the hospital gate.

Seeing him flee, the old man’s expression suddenly softened.

"Wait. I’ll ask you three questions."

Yuji froze with one hand gripping the iron gate.

Turning around, he saw the old man staring directly at him.

"Tell me. Is it good to stay in this hospital?"

"Yes... Very good."

Instinctively, Yuji answered with what he thought the guard wanted to hear.

Zzzzt!

Without warning, the old man pulled an electrified baton from behind his back and charged at him.

"What the—?!"

No longer daring to stay, Yuji scrambled up the iron gate, vaulted over it, and sprinted down the mist-covered mountain path outside.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

He ran desperately.

Although he still didn’t understand why leaving the hospital somehow brought him back inside, he had no time to think.

The scenery blurred around him.

The dim surroundings gradually transformed into bright white lights.

Thud... Thud... Thud...

The familiar hospital lobby appeared before him once more.

Mental patients wandered through the hall as if nothing had happened.

Yuji stared blankly.

After a long moment, his panic slowly transformed into burning rage.

Creak...

His fists clenched tightly.

Without another word, Yuji strode back toward the ward.