Chapter 62: Hidden Map Area, Vase Patients

Chapter 62: Hidden Map Area, Vase Patients

"Goat Doctor, are you going out?"

"Don’t be reckless! An intern wandering the hospital at night is highly likely to violate the rules. Moreover, the internship period is sensitive. If your Medical Instructor catches you, you’re finished!"

As Ji Yan climbed out of bed, the Female Supernatural Entities hiding in various corners of the room emerged once more. They pleaded with him earnestly, resembling a mother fretting over a rebellious child...

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure leaped forward, issuing threats. Despite being only the size of a palm, it was terrifying enough to silence the Female Supernatural Entities. They shrank back, not daring to make another sound...

"Too stuffy to sleep. Just going out for some air. I’ll be back soon."

With those words, Ji Yan put on his white coat, pinned the Goat-Head Badge to his chest, and left the room.

The Undead Hospital at night was even more eerily silent. The empty, desolate corridors occasionally echoed with crisp footsteps and the sound of marbles rolling, yet no figures could be seen.

"Where are we going?" Ji Yan asked.

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure didn’t respond, simply darting ahead to lead the way.

After traversing a long hallway, they finally arrived before a tightly shut iron door. Though it wasn’t locked, a Warning Panel popped up before Ji Yan’s eyes.

"Player Alert! You have unlocked the Instance’s Hidden Map Area—[Morgue]. This Instance area contains numerous dangerous NPCs. Proceed with caution."

"The Morgue?"

The Female Supernatural Entities had just mentioned this place. Ji Yan hadn’t expected to find it so soon.

According to them, medical staff who had lost their value and patients who had given up on treatment were sent to the Morgue. It was akin to a garbage disposal site in a game Instance.

In the real world, such a place would already be spine-chilling—let alone in a Supernatural Game.

Why was the Blood-Stained Paper Figure in such a hurry to come here?

For safety’s sake, whenever entering a dangerous area, Ji Yan would take out [Edward’s Human Skin Mask], obtained from the previous Instance, to mask his Player scent.

The mask’s bone spikes pierced into his flesh, stitching itself onto his face.

Ji Yan pushed open the door. The Blood-Stained Paper Figure immediately retreated into his hair. Behind the door wasn’t a passage but an elevator, guarded by a monster dressed in medical attire...

The reason it was called a monster was that every part of its body was stitched together, each limb grotesquely mismatched. It was as if several bodies—men, women, young, and old—had been chopped up and haphazardly reassembled!

Upon seeing Ji Yan, the creature showed no wariness. Instead, it fixed its gaze on the Goat-Head Badge on his chest and spoke as if greeting an old acquaintance: "Goat Doctor, you’re back?"

"Didn’t you finish your surgeries for the night?"

Ji Yan paused. "Forgot something."

The Elevator Attendant Supernatural Entity showed no suspicion. It nodded, opened the elevator door, pressed the button for the second basement level, and handed Ji Yan a set of keys. "Goat Doctor, you’ve worked hard."

Keeping his expression neutral, Ji Yan stepped into the elevator without a word.

As the elevator descended slowly, Ji Yan let out a quiet sigh of relief and examined the keys in his hand. Only one number was marked on them: "8."

"Eight... According to the zodiac order, the goat ranks eighth. It seems the twelve zodiac signs each have their own territory in the Morgue."

"That Elevator Attendant Supernatural Entity clearly mistook me for another Goat Doctor."

"I'm wearing an intern's doctor uniform, so I shouldn't be mistaken for the Supernatural Doctor with a goat head. Could there be a second intern?"

"But didn't the Instance rules state that each Medical Instructor is assigned only one intern, and there are only 12 Players at any given time in the Instance?"

Ji Yan couldn't help but feel a creeping dread at the thought.

Ding dong!

The elevator descended to the second underground floor, its chime interrupting Ji Yan's musings.

The doors slid open, revealing a corridor stretching into the darkness, with rooms on either side marked by a single sequence of numbers.

1 to 12—corresponding to the twelve digits!

Ji Yan soon stood before the door labeled "8," inserting the Key and hearing the satisfying click of the lock disengaging.

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure darted out from atop his head, visibly excited, like a mischievous child about to enter an amusement park...

Ji Yan's curiosity was piqued as well.

Every Instance held numerous Hidden Easter Eggs and rewards, and he had a hunch that tonight's excursion would yield unexpected gains!

The door swung open, releasing a wave of bone-chilling cold.

Inside, it resembled a Morgue from the real world—rows of corpses draped in white sheets lay on icy stretchers.

But such an environment had long lost its novelty for Ji Yan, feeling as bland as plain broth. The moment he stepped in, the Blood-Stained Paper Figure broke free.

It scurried frantically onto one of the corpses, behaving with an unsettling mix of excitement and affection.

As if that corpse were its true father, while Ji Yan was merely a pitiful foster parent...

"Why is this corpse making the Blood-Stained Paper Figure so agitated?"

Ji Yan was baffled.

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure was a reward from his previous Apartment Instance, and according to the Supernatural Game's rules, each Instance existed independently, with no connections between them.

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure from the Apartment Instance shouldn’t have any narrative ties to this Hospital Instance!

He pulled back the white sheet covering the corpse. The sight was horrifying—not because of its appearance, but because the body was utterly emaciated, as if all its internal organs had been hollowed out.

Yet, there were no visible incision marks anywhere...

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure continued its obsessive "snuggling," completely ignoring Ji Yan, its actual master.

Ji Yan could only sigh in exasperation.

He had assumed the Blood-Stained Paper Figure would guide him to some hidden reward, but instead... he was stuck watching it flirt with a cold, lifeless corpse?

"Doctor... Goat Doctor..."

A voice suddenly called out. Ji Yan turned, his eye twitching involuntarily.

On a horizontal platform stood several vases.

The horrifying part? The "fruit" atop each vase was a human head—lifelike and vivid. Through the transparent glass, he could see that beneath each head was not a body, but a tangle of densely branching Roots. Those Roots coiled around internal organs, each pulsing with vitality, wriggling to deliver nutrients to the heads above.

Vases nurturing people...

Human Pigs?!

The term flashed through Ji Yan's mind first.

"Goat Doctor, has my surgery been scheduled yet?"

"What about mine? Is it my turn soon, Goat Doctor?"

"We’ve all been waiting to go home... It’s been so long..."

The Vase Patients clamored, their voices filled with desperation and longing.

It seemed the organs from those corpses had been transplanted into these vases—but what was the purpose of such surgeries?

Is it just like that oil painting I saw outside the operating room, purely used as a decorative piece to add flavor to the hospital instance?

Just then, movement came from outside the door.

Ji Yan turned to the Blood-Stained Paper Figure: "We should go."

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure leaped onto the corpse and suddenly split into two halves—one half burrowed into the corpse, while the other half darted back onto Ji Yan's arm.

Ji Yan was stunned: "What the hell?"

The remaining half of the Blood-Stained Paper Figure still gestured vividly: "Done, let's go!"

Ji Yan couldn't help but ask: "So, why did you shove your other half into the corpse?"

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure gestured: "...Cause and Effect."

"Tonight, we planted the cause here. Later, you'll find out just how sweet the effect will be!"

Ji Yan didn’t understand the Blood-Stained Paper Figure's meaning—what kind of cause and effect could that corpse have?

The Blood-Stained Paper Figure didn’t explain and burrowed into his hair, going offline.

"..."

Ji Yan glanced at the shriveled corpse but had no choice but to leave the morgue first.

As he closed the door, the clamor of the Vase Patients abruptly ceased. Then, the moment Ji Yan turned around, he found himself face-to-face with a terrifying figure.

It had a black-furred goat head—and was wearing the same intern uniform as Ji Yan...