Chapter 106: Exploiting a Loophole, This Is Called Pacification

Chapter 106: Exploiting a Loophole, This Is Called Pacification

The corridor's end was icy and piercing.

A decayed door creaked open.

Ji Yan, clad in a white coat, stepped into the ward.

His gaze fell upon the Supernatural Patient curled into a ball in the corner. "You're Xu Jiaojiao, the patient of this ward?" he asked.

Xu Jiaojiao's damp, disheveled hair obscured her deathly pale face. Her pitch-black pupils, filling her entire eye sockets, fixed on him with a chilling stare.

Her voice was ghostly. "Goat? Doctor, you're not my Attending Doctor, are you?"

Ji Yan smiled faintly. "Even if I'm not your Attending Doctor, other doctors can still participate in treatment, right?"

"This is my free time. Helping others is my motto. The more patients I treat, the more can escape their illnesses."

Xu Jiaojiao stared at him coldly, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

Her lips curled into a sneer. "Help?"

"Do you think I don't know this hospital's secrets?"

"If my condition truly improves, what awaits me isn't discharge—it's being turned into a Silent Teacher!"

Ji Yan raised an eyebrow, about to speak, when Xu Jiaojiao's smile suddenly twisted. "Of course, if a doctor goes out of their way to treat me, a patient has no right to refuse."

"But Doctor, my illness might be a bit... tricky to cure. It's [Sadistic Personality Disorder], classified as severe."

"I enjoy games others don't particularly like."

"Games?" Ji Yan frowned in confusion—then watched as Xu Jiaojiao stretched her neck.

Literally stretched it.

Her neck elongated like rubber, accompanied by crisp cracking sounds, as if her Spine were snapping. As it lengthened, her face turned purplish-black from congestion, blood trickling from her nose and mouth.

The sight was eerily reminiscent of a "Human-Headed Snake."

The patient on the bed now had a neck stretching a meter long, her head dangling from the ceiling, a grotesquely elongated crimson tongue lolling out.

This was a Hanged Ghost.

"What the hell? I thought this was a personality disorder, not a circus act," Ji Yan muttered, taking a step back.

The next moment, something coiled around his neck.

A terrifying force tightened, crushing his throat. Ji Yan gasped as his windpipe screamed in pain, his feet lifting off the ground.

"Sorry, Doctor," Xu Jiaojiao crooned. "I suddenly had an episode."

"Sadistic Personality Disorder means I love sharing my pain with others. Experiencing it together... it makes me happy. Eases the symptoms."

"So you see, Doctor, your timing is perfect."

Her eyes gleamed with twisted excitement as her serpentine neck coiled toward Ji Yan's body— Staring into her deranged gaze, Ji Yan suddenly spoke. "Actually, I brought an old friend to see you."

"She said she’d like to catch up."

An old friend?

Before Xu Jiaojiao could react, Ji Yan's shadow detached from his feet and lunged at her.

Then—something seized Xu Jiaojiao.

Gu Meng's elegant figure materialized in the air, one hand gripping Xu Jiaojiao's throat while the other plunged straight through her elongated neck, fingers digging into her windpipe.

"Long time no see," Gu Meng said sweetly.

Xu Jiaojiao glared furiously. "Do I know you, hag?!"

"If you don’t recognize me, that’s perfect," Gu Meng replied. "I don’t know you either."

"I just had an itch to vent on a patient, and besides, your mouth stinks too much."

"Elder Sister prefers you with your mouth shut!"

As the words fell, the hand piercing through Xu Jiaojiao withdrew—along with a bloody tongue root!

Xu Jiaojiao let out a hoarse, agonized scream.

The moment Gu Meng released her, it was as if her marrow had been drained. She rapidly withered, curling up in the corner of the hospital bed, her hair turning white and her skin covered in wrinkles.

Flicking the blood off her hands, Gu Meng wore a satisfied smile.

The Specter Power restraining Ji Yan dissipated, and he dropped to the ground. Coughing twice, he asked, "You don’t even know her?"

"Didn’t you say it was personal?"

"If I hadn’t said that, how could I have gotten you to bring me here?" Gu Meng giggled.

Ji Yan didn’t believe for a second that this woman had just randomly picked an unlucky patient to vent on.

The next moment, the game’s notification tone gave him the answer.

"Warning!! Patient [C19] has harmed another patient without cause, committing a severe violation. Due to the patient’s severe mental illness, the act is deemed non-malicious. Verdict: Condition aggravated. Transferring to a higher-level treatment ward!"

"Warning! Zodiac [Goat] Chief Doctor has violated regulations by leading another patient into committing violent acts. Today’s dining privileges revoked."

The two red warning panels left Ji Yan silent.

Well, he’d been used as a pawn!

So this woman had dragged him along just to exploit his [Chief Doctor] privileges, worsening her own condition to get transferred to a safer ward by bending the [Hospital Rules]…

This cunning, this scheming…

She really was cut from the same cloth as Miss Xu.

Both were patients from the Strategy Guide, so why was Gu Meng so different from Liu Yan?

Ji Yan couldn’t help but think that, at least, the punishment wasn’t too severe.

Dinner was optional for him anyway.

Having achieved her goal, Gu Meng beamed, her bloodstained face turning toward Ji Yan.

"Thanks, Goat Doctor."

"As a token of gratitude, here’s another gift for you. Try not to break this one too."

With that, she vanished.

Ji Yan’s shadow returned to his heels.

"Ding! Congratulations, Player, for completing the Strategy Guide for [C19]. Current progress: 85%. Reward obtained—[Nightmare Specter's Drawing Paper] (Collector's Grade)."

Ji Yan opened the [Toolbar].

A second sheet of [Drawing Paper] appeared in his hand.

The content had changed.

A goat was now entangled by two snakes, while a rat, rooster, and ox fought against a horse and tiger in the background. Gu Meng remained in her eerie, Medusa-like form, resting her cheek on her hand as she watched the animal battle from a godlike vantage point.

"The drawing’s gotten more detailed."

Ji Yan raised an eyebrow, sensing the wealth of information in the image.

Upon closer inspection, one of the creatures coiled around him wasn’t a snake—it was a dragon with black scales and long whiskers.

As the goat, being targeted by both a snake and a dragon coincidentally mirrored his current predicament.

While pondering the drawing, Ji Yan suddenly heard an eerie noise.

Looking up, he saw Xu Jiaojiao, who had been curled up in the corner after having her tongue ripped out by Gu Meng, now looking decades older and utterly drained.

But soon, a severe [Blackening] began to spread across her body.

Her entire body's skin and flesh, as if pumped with hormones, rapidly mutated and swelled, transforming into a Tumor Monster in an instant. She exuded intense Resentment and Killing Intent, locking onto Ji Yan.

"Warning! Patient in [C207] has been agitated, condition out of control. Player is advised to exit the ward immediately."

Ji Yan blinked, cursing inwardly, and quickly retreated to the door.

He twisted the handle, but as the door opened, he found another doctor standing outside—none other than the Horse-Faced Doctor.

The Horse-Faced Doctor looked at Ji Yan, then at Xu Jiaojiao, who had Blackened into a monster, and shook his head. "Goat Doctor, we’re colleagues after all."

"You’ve left me with this mess. Running away like this isn’t very polite, is it?"

Ji Yan: "She’s your patient?"

The Horse-Faced Doctor didn’t answer. Instead, he pushed past Ji Yan, opened his medical kit, and pulled out a Half-Arm-Length Scalpel.

"Goat Doctor, wait outside for a minute," he said.

"Let me first... calm my patient’s emotions."

With that, he shoved Ji Yan out of the ward and shut the door.

Soon, horrifying sounds echoed from inside.

Ji Yan listened, muttering under his breath, "Wait for you? So you can settle the score with me later?"

He turned to leave—but then heard the crisp sound of the door opening behind him.

Spinning around, he saw the door slowly swing open. The Horse-Faced Doctor, wearing a mask and holding an unnaturally long, blood-dripping scalpel, stepped out, his entire body drenched in gore.

Ji Yan was stunned.

He tilted his head to glance inside the ward.

It was a bloody mess.

Xu Jiaojiao was nowhere to be seen.

Only scattered, writhing chunks of flesh remained...

Ji Yan’s lips parted. "What the hell did you do to your patient?"

The Horse-Faced Doctor slid the scalpel into his waistband, removed his glasses, and wiped the lenses. His blood-smeared face broke into a gentle smile.

"Like I said—calming my patient’s emotions."

Ji Yan’s eye twitched.

"You call that calming?"

The Horse-Faced Doctor shrugged.

"Well, did it work or not?"