Death Draw System: Infinite Revives in the Horror Dungeon

Chapter 63: Yang Jin’s Disappearance

Holding the magnetic keycard, Shen Yu gently ran his fingers across its smooth surface. Just as he was about to examine it more closely, a familiar shout rang out from outside.

"Put that down!"

Shen Yu turned.

Standing at the entrance of the security booth was a blood-soaked man in a white coat. His thinning hair exposed a receding hairline beneath a pair of crooked glasses. Blood trickled steadily down his neck. In his left hand, he gripped a crackling stun baton, while his right held a remote-like device. His cold eyes locked onto Shen Yu with unmistakable hostility.

Shen Yu’s right eyelid twitched.

"Professor Yang..."

"Heh... heh... heh..."

Professor Yang let out a strange laugh.

"I truly didn’t expect someone like you to find this place."

"You’re nothing more than a third-rate character, yet you’ve survived this long by relying on my daughter’s affection."

"Waste."

"Scum."

"Without my daughter, you’re nothing."

The instant those words left his mouth, Shen Yu’s body began to change.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Pus-filled blisters swelled across his skin before bursting one after another. Thick, writhing words emerged from the wounds:

SCUM.

WASTE.

BASTARD.

His already damaged skin rotted rapidly, his face becoming grotesque like that of a diseased toad.

Pollution Value: 89... 92... 95...

He was only moments away from reaching the limit.

Yet Shen Yu remained surprisingly calm.

"So you really believe your way of raising people is right?"

Professor Yang’s expression darkened.

"I am her father."

"Everything I’ve ever done has been for her own good."

"What do you know?"

Shen Yu met his gaze.

"I don’t know everything."

"But I know one thing."

"She isn’t living happily... is she?"

Professor Yang’s face twisted with rage.

"Scum!"

"What right do you have to lecture me?"

Click.

His thumb pressed against the switch on the remote.

Shen Yu looked at him coldly.

"The one trapped in self-deception... is you."

"You have no right to decide anyone else’s future."

Zzzzzz—

Violent electrical buzzing filled the air.

Without hesitation, Shen Yu pulled the bottle of Rationality Potion from his pocket and drank it in one gulp.

Gulp.

Gulp.

Professor Yang’s furious voice echoed around him.

"Waste!"

"Trash!"

"Beast!"

The surrounding world immediately began to distort.

The Distorted Hospital. The Director’s Office.

Buzz...

Buzz...

Buzz...

As the Rationality Potion took effect, the number displayed on Shen Yu’s headband rapidly dropped.

99... 54... 15... 0.

The warped scenery gradually stabilized.

Shen Yu slowly unwrapped the Medal of Freedom, allowing its power to suppress the pollution completely.

His Pollution Value returned to 0.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing here?"

As the world returned to normal, Shen Yu found himself still standing inside the security booth.

The old bearded security guard stared at him in surprise.

Shen Yu shrugged casually.

"It’s recreation time."

"I just came out for a walk."

"A walk?"

The old man frowned.

"You came all the way into my security booth for a walk?"

Shen Yu smiled.

"Why are you so nervous?"

"I’m leaving now."

Without waiting for another response, he casually climbed back over the iron gate and headed toward the mist-covered mountain path.

A short while later, he returned to the hospital’s first-floor lobby.

Everything looked normal once again.

Patients wandered through the halls, while doctors and nurses went about their daily routines as if nothing had happened.

Returning to his ward, Shen Yu rubbed the two important items hidden in his pocket—

Yang Jin’s case file.

The Director’s Office keycard.

Both felt unusually heavy.

He pressed the nurse call button several times.

No response.

Not once.

Stepping into the hallway, he stopped a passing nurse.

"Where’s Yang Jin?"

The nurse blinked.

"Oh, Head Nurse Yang Jin?"

"She had something to do."

"She went home."

"...Home?"

Shen Yu frowned.

He didn’t believe it for a second.

After returning from the Third World, something had clearly happened.

Either Yang Jin had disappeared...

...or she was hiding.

His thoughts shifted elsewhere.

"The next objective should be the headband."

In the fragmented memories he had seen, he hadn’t been wearing the headband during electrotherapy.

Only after the treatment had ended did Professor Yang place it on his head.

So the headband most likely came from the Director’s Office.

But where exactly was that office?

Was it located inside the Third World?

If so...

With Professor Yang guarding it, breaking in would be nearly impossible.

Shen Yu subconsciously touched the headband on his forehead.

He recalled the description of the Freedom Medal.

Usable only by a truly free person.

Perhaps being "free" didn’t simply mean resisting oppression.

Perhaps it meant existing without restraints.

The Medal of Freedom...

...and the Director’s Office keycard...

...were almost certainly connected.

Shen Yu rubbed the complete Wings of Freedom in his hand, his gaze growing distant as he thought about Yang Jin’s case file.

Night fell.

This was Shen Yu’s fourth day inside Qing Shan Psychiatric Hospital. The fifth day was only a few hours away.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

A series of strange noises jolted him awake.

The moment he opened his eyes, his pupils contracted.

The ceiling above him was splitting apart. Spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly in every direction, and beyond those fractures, another world flickered into view.

It was the Third World.

Professor Yang stood beyond one of the cracks, leaning against the fractured space. His pale, lifeless eyes stared directly at Shen Yu.

"So the worlds are beginning to merge..."

Shen Yu’s heart pounded.

He knew exactly what that meant.

Once the Third World completely overlapped with reality, even possessing the Wings of Freedom wouldn’t save him. He would either be electrocuted instantly by Professor Yang or hunted down by the hospital staff from the Third World.

"Damn..."

"So that’s how this instance works."

"It isn’t just the pollution level increasing."

"The deeper you go... the less room there is to escape."

Professor Yang’s twisted smile widened.

"Hehehe..."

"You worthless scum."

"You outsiders are all failures."

"I told you."

"You’ll never leave this place."

"Without my daughter... you’re nothing."

"Absolutely nothing."

Crack... crack... crack...

The walls split open even further.

From the widening rifts crawled grotesque creatures.

Each had the head of a giant snake, the body of an enormous scorpion the size of a man, and countless insect-like legs scraping violently against the floor.

Their massive scorpion tails lashed through the air.

Thrust!

Thrust!

Thrust!

Venomous stingers pierced into the backs of nearby patients.

The victims whimpered weakly before their bodies were flung into the glowing cracks.

Buzz!

The instant they entered the light, their expressions became vacant.

Their eyes lost focus.

Drool spilled from their mouths.

"Hehehe..."

They collapsed onto the floor, laughing like empty shells.