Chapter 120: Tampered Information, The Grandest Deception

Chapter 120: Tampered Information, The Grandest Deception

Gurgle, gurgle.

The grotesque mass of flesh writhed, pulling the young girl's body into the trunk of the tree, which had grown from piled corpses...

After devouring Chu Mo, the Tree of Creation seemed to flourish even more. The densely packed limbs and appendages growing from its trunk flailed wildly, their cacophony of slaps and cracks echoing endlessly through the spacious room.

The Supernatural Hospital Director stepped back, then turned to Ji Yan and the Horse Player. "Good," he said.

"Now, we must connect the final root. Once that's done, the tree will fully revive and thrive."

"Doctors, I leave this surgical task to you."

"By this time, the Dragon Doctor should be arriving soon."

At the mention of the Dragon Doctor, both Ji Yan and the Horse-Faced Doctor's expressions shifted slightly.

"Originally, the Tiger Doctor was also involved in the Tree of Creation project," the Supernatural Hospital Director continued as he walked toward a hidden passage. "But later, his health deteriorated, and he could no longer handle such high-intensity work. So, he was reassigned to Mao Die Paradise to take care of a few old-timers."

Clearly, before the Main Plot was stalled, the Tiger Player had already completed most of the side quests and was preparing to tackle the main storyline.

It was highly likely that the Dragon Player, for the sake of his own plans, had suddenly schemed to hunt down the Tiger Player.

As a result, the Tiger Player was severely weakened and forced to hide in Mao Die Paradise, relying on the protection of the Eccentric Old Men he had previously won over to survive!

According to the Tiger Player, once the Dragon Player's "mysterious conspiracy" succeeded and he took control of the entire Undead Hospital, even those Eccentric Old Women would no longer be able to shield him.

The Dragon Player would immediately crush his heart.

And the first to die would be him!

That was why the Tiger Player was so desperate to seek out Ji Yan for cooperation, to fight the Dragon Player to the death.

But Ji Yan knew— The Tiger Player was using him as bait, a fish hook to lure out the Dragon Player, while he himself waited for the right moment to strike.

From the way the Tiger Player had deliberately probed Ji Yan about his Talent earlier, it was clear this guy wasn’t trustworthy either. Once the Dragon Player was dealt with, Ji Yan would likely be next.

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."

These eight words were also reflected in Gu Meng’s Prophetic Drawing Paper.

Though the Tiger stood in opposition to the Dragon, he was also lurking behind the Goat and the Horse, baring his fangs...

Clearly, in this Instance, everyone was an enemy!

Soon, they passed through a hidden passage.

A Ghostly Nurse stood there, pushing a stretcher bed.

The nurse wore a mask, her hair disheveled, her limbs wrapped in bandages. Her eyes were hollow as she addressed the Supernatural Hospital Director in a monotone: "Director, Patient 1134 has been delivered."

Hearing the number, the Horse Player’s eyebrows twitched.

He whispered to Ji Yan, "I handled this patient before."

"But later, it seriously violated the Hospital Rules and was taken away by the Overseers..."

Ji Yan understood.

This was the ultimate Punishment for rule-breaking patients and Medical Staff— Becoming fodder for the Tree of Creation!

Only patients who were "cured" and discharged had the privilege of enjoying the Dream World paradise created by the Tree of Creation.

At the moment, Patient 1134 lay unconscious.

The Supernatural Hospital Director turned to Ji Yan and the Horse Player. "Doctors, the Cleansing task is yours."

"Cleansing?"

"Only a meticulously crafted scalpel can perfectly skin the patient."

The Horse Player's expression faltered slightly. "You mean... we're responsible for peeling off Patient 1134's epidermis completely?!"

What kind of hellish torture is this?

The Supernatural Hospital Director: "The [Tree of Creation] doesn’t like its feed with skin on."

"..."

The Horse Player nudged Ji Yan with his elbow, but Ji Yan’s mind was elsewhere. He muttered under his breath, "This chance to shine is all yours."

The Horse Player’s face darkened. "A chance to shine, or dirty work?"

Though extremely reluctant, the Horse Player could tell Ji Yan had noticed something. Gritting his teeth, he stepped forward and drew his scalpel.

Meanwhile, Ji Yan’s gaze was fixed on the back of the [Tree of Creation], where numerous Supernatural Overseers were busy transporting "feed," "nourishing" the [Tree of Creation], and handling waste.

Staring at these Overseers, Ji Yan triggered his [Talent] through [Gaze Trigger].

The fragments of [Hidden Information] he obtained were disjointed and scattered—but their content made his breath hitch.

"At some point, the Hospital Director started treating this 'Garbage Station' as a treasure..."

"After the Dragon Doctor appeared, the Director seemed to trust him implicitly. They researched [Medical Achievement] together... but what kind of achievement could the [Tree of Creation] possibly yield?"

"The Director has gone mad... It has truly lost its mind..."

"Ever since it began forcibly sending cured patients here... we’ve all known the [Undead Hospital] is marching step by step toward destruction!"

"But we’re Overseers. We’re mindless machines. We can’t question or oppose the Director’s orders—we can only obey unconditionally... Otherwise, 'Order' will erase us."

"We can only watch helplessly as the Director destroys everything with its own hands..."

As line after line of blood-red [Hidden Information] flooded his vision, Ji Yan held his breath, a creeping dread settling over him.

From these thoughts extracted from the Supernatural Overseers, one thing was clear:

The Dragon Player was manipulating the Supernatural Hospital Director to achieve some goal.

And this manipulation would lead to the collapse of the [Undead Hospital] Instance!

But wasn’t that bastard Dragon’s ultimate goal to take control of the entire Instance?

If the Instance map collapsed, forget about domination—he wouldn’t even survive...

Ji Yan’s eyes shifted to the Supernatural Hospital Director. He knew all the answers lay with it.

"Goat Doctor, you seem unwell?" Noticing Ji Yan’s stillness, the Director inquired.

After all, Ji Yan had treated Chu Mo. The 10% progress in the [Strategy Guide] allowed him some leeway in [Favorability].

But Ji Yan suddenly dropped to one knee, clutching his chest.

The Director’s brow furrowed as it reached out to steady him—though its distaste for touching Ji Yan, even through [Disinfected Gloves], was evident.

"I’m fine... Just feeling a bit weak."

Seizing the chance, Ji Yan grabbed the Director’s wrist. The contact finally triggered [Omniscient Understanding].

This time, the [Hidden Information] came from the Director’s perspective— "I’ve never believed the outside world is paradise. They always compare the [Undead Hospital] to a cage for patients."

"As the Hospital Director, I've witnessed too many cases of patients leaving the hospital only to be devoured completely by the unknown entities outside."

"Patients sent here are essentially those who cannot survive in the outside world—rejects. Sending them out would be no different from throwing them back into hell, wouldn’t it?"

"Yet even as the director, I cannot alter the rules set by 'them.'"

"Until one day, they issued me the latest hospital rule: the 'Dream World Home' plan of the [Tree of Creation]!"

...

The hidden information from the Supernatural Hospital Director's monologue ends here.

However, the talent [Omniscient Understanding] appended the task panel the Supernatural Hospital Director received:

"Instance NPC—[Supernatural Hospital Director], assigned role: Instance Main Plot Boss."

"Assigned latest directive: Responsible for nurturing the [Tree of Creation] to ensure its thriving growth, providing all patients with a final destination—the best home possible."

The bloody hidden text faded, and Ji Yan snapped back to reality.

He took a deep breath!

Having been burned before, his sharp instincts for game panels immediately recognized that this panel issued to the Supernatural Hospital Director had been tampered with!

There were obvious text traps designed by the Dragon Player.

Ji Yan hadn’t expected the Dragon Player to not only spy on the directives for supernatural NPCs but also modify them using the talent [Cherry-Picking].

And this was the task panel for the Instance Boss!

On second thought, given it was an S-level talent, such privileges weren’t entirely surprising.

He carefully pinpointed the text traps in the panel and deduced the original meaning before the modifications.

Soon, he had the answer.

The original directive the Supernatural Hospital Director received was likely just to save the withering [Tree of Creation].

There was never any mention of creating a 'Dream World Home' for cured patients.

From the hidden information of the Supernatural Overseers, it wasn’t hard to guess that the [Tree of Creation] was merely a garbage station for disposing of rule-breaking patients, medical staff, and even eliminated players' corpses.

In other words, the concept of "Infinite Tsukuyomi" never existed.

It was purely fabricated by the Dragon Player to deceive the Supernatural Hospital Director!

Those patients who should have been discharged as cured were forcibly sent here, treated as rule-breaking waste, and forcibly logged out.

Only the Supernatural Hospital Director believed that these cured patients devoured by the [Tree of Creation] would attain eternal happiness in the dream world.

So much so that he even personally delivered his own daughter into the belly of the [Tree of Creation].

If the Supernatural Hospital Director were to learn that this self-righteous act of atonement was, in reality, him personally delivering his own daughter to death...

Ji Yan didn’t dare dwell on it.

Because he had never witnessed the scene of an Instance Boss completely blackening!!

When he first heard the "Infinite Tsukuyomi" game mechanic, Ji Yan had abstractly wondered if the designer of this plot was a "villager."

Turns out, the Dragon Player was the real villager here...