SWBG - Chapter 26

Although there were many windows in this ward, all of them had unfortunately been completely welded shut with iron bars as thick as an arm. These iron fittings remained exceptionally sturdy even to this day.

Gu Jingsheng tried hard to peer outside through the gaps between the bars—her eyesight was considered quite good in this screen-saturated information age, and it had improved somewhat after she ate Madame Egret’s candy, yet she still failed to obtain even the slightest bit of useful information.

The mold spots covering the glass were only a secondary factor; the main reasons were the unusual site selection of the “Rosemary” Sanatorium and the severe lack of outdoor lighting. ╮(￣￣)╭

Wei Jiashi asked uneasily, “Why isn’t there a single light outside the sanatorium building?”

Xiao Luo snorted. “Darkness creates a terrifying atmosphere and, incidentally, makes us give up hope of seeking help from the outside—[Happy Board Games] uses this trick all the time.”

Gu Jingsheng hadn’t held out much hope to begin with, so hearing this didn’t make her feel particularly regretful. After all, just the room they were currently in—both in terms of space and what it contained—was enough for her to fully apply her visual strengths and conduct a thorough inspection.

Sixteen hospital beds were lined up in sequence. Unlike the ones next door, their legs were fixed firmly into the floor, leaving no room at all for slipping small notes underneath.

Looking closely, one could see blurred serial numbers painted in red, starting from “01” and ending at “16”.

Bed “01” faced bed “16” directly, with only a not-very-wide aisle between them. If participants lay on them separately, they could meet each other’s gaze simply by lifting their heads, without needing to sit up.

The beds here weren’t as completely wrecked as those next door. Broken restraint straps still remained on them, along with sheets riddled with holes—so full of them that if tossed into a river, they wouldn’t even catch weeds, let alone fish.

Bloodstains lingered on both the walls and the sheets. Some appeared as irregular splatters, while others clearly outlined the silhouette of someone struggling desperately.

Wei Jiashi coughed softly twice—if the room’s environment had caused him severe psychological damage, then the indoor air, which hadn’t been refreshed for who knew how long, left his respiratory system with an indelible trauma comparable to a biochemical weapon.

Keeping the windows shut could be explained as a way to prevent patients from escaping, but not even having ventilation ducts—did a mental sanatorium really not need to consider patients’ physical health?

Although the companions all had different thoughts, their evaluation of the instance environment was unanimously negative. Without any need for discussion, the four of them split up and quickly began a carpet-style search of the ward.

Xiao Luo was a seasoned formal participant, long accustomed to scheming against fellow players. Now that he had encountered someone as neighborly and cooperative as Gu Jingsheng, he instead felt uneasy. “Aren’t you worried that while we’re searching the room, we might pocket whatever we find?”

Gu Jingsheng answered frankly, “Before seeing the puzzle in the first room, I was actually a little worried.”

…Fair enough. If clues were secretly hidden away, Xiao Luo really had no confidence in his own brain to come up with the correct answer. ╮(￣￣)╭

All four were highly efficient. Even Wei Jiashi, who was entering an instance for the first time, handled things decisively. Soon, they each found a knee-high iron chest in three of the room’s corners.

The edges of the iron chests were wrapped in cloth and painted with flying bird motifs that showed no more artistic skill than that of an elementary school student—Gu Jingsheng felt her own photography had more artistic merit. Apart from the chest Wei Jiashi found, which had a flat top, the other two had pull rings resembling bus handholds.

Yet no matter whether the formal members tried individually or together, they couldn’t lift the chests even a fraction, as though they were welded to the floor just like the legs of the iron-framed beds.

The only corner with no findings lay within Xiao Luo’s search area. Before opening the other three iron chests, Gu Jingsheng decided to help him double-check it.

Xiao Luo regretted having said unnecessary things earlier and quickly clarified, “I’m not hiding anything from you—I really didn’t find anything there.”

Gu Jingsheng reassured him, “I don’t doubt Mr. Luo’s honesty.”

Xiao Luo: “…You might as well doubt my honesty after all.”

They had entered the large ward through a side door. This corner was on the side closest to the corridor. At present, it truly appeared empty—neither visual inspection nor physical tapping yielded any effective clues.

Gu Jingsheng noticed that this floor tile bore the same flying bird pattern as the iron chests.

Wei Jiashi frowned. “What are all these bird patterns for—decoration?”

Having developed a puzzle-solving mindset that instinctively linked clues to mathematics and logic, Gu Jingsheng said cautiously, “Perhaps these patterns, like the magic square earlier, conceal some kind of rule.”

Fang Ge, whose real name was Fang Qiju, glanced at her and said flatly, “Not necessarily. Instances contain plenty of red herrings. If you let them keep leading you by the nose…”

Wei Jiashi said, “Then it’s like boarding a pirate ship?”

Fang Qiju corrected him. “No—it’s boarding a hearse.”

At that moment, Xiao Luo lowered his voice and urgently called out to the others, “Come take a look—I found another iron chest!”

This “iron chest” was located between beds “02” and “03”. It had the same pattern and pull ring as the previous three. From the outside, it blended almost seamlessly with the monotonous bed-end decorations, and with the torn sheets covering it, it was no wonder the participants hadn’t noticed it right away.

Unfortunately, after careful inspection, Gu Jingsheng and the others confirmed that it was merely a rectangular iron block disguised as a chest. ╮(╯╰)╭

Fang Qiju felt a twinge of regret and suggested, “Time is limited—shall we check the clues in the other chests first?”

Normally, Fang Qiju never needed to consult other players before acting in an instance. But when only one companion among them actually used her brain, special circumstances required special treatment.

Gu Jingsheng didn’t shirk the task. With [The Detective’s Friend] activated, she was naturally more likely than the others to encounter both clues and danger.

“Loose restraint straps, unstable bed frames, fluorescent lights that won’t turn on, cracked windowpanes, damp walls, creaking floorboards… The director can no longer refuse—this ward must be renovated. Thanks to Mr. John for providing excellent suggestions for redesigning this room.”

“Mr. John opposed the director’s decision to change the sanatorium’s pharmaceutical supplier from the very beginning. Many nurses were also deeply worried. When injecting the cheap sedatives into patients’ veins, I felt my hands trembling.”

“These aren’t sedatives at all! They rapidly increase patients’ strength, then after a bout of frenzied outburst, leave them in a state of exhausted numbness.”

“There’s something wrong with the antidepressants as well. Patients who were given the reagent all died collectively after just four hours—this is simply terrifying.”

“Mr. John had a dispute with the director and was subsequently expelled from the office.”

“After the newly purchased drugs were put into use, the patients became noticeably more obedient—or rather, more numb.”

“Not all patients remain in a constant state of madness and confusion. Especially Andre—when he’s lucid, he can even be considered a gentleman with an excellent sense of humor.”

“Andre seems to be reading the instructions on the medication. I heard from Ms. Sophia that poor Mr. Adams worked in a chemical laboratory before being sent here.”

“Andre sometimes helps us calm the other patients in the room. I sometimes feel fortunate that he chose the ‘Rosemary’ Sanatorium, but this must be terribly unfortunate for Mr. Adams. Not all nurses can get along well with patients—I can frankly say that most staff harbor considerable malice and prejudice toward these people kissed by misfortune.”

“I can’t believe they dragged Andre back into the dark isolation room again without any reason! Poor Mr. Adams—ever since his relatives stopped visiting the sanatorium, his situation has worsened day by day.”

Gu Jingsheng found several old sheets of paper in the iron chest. Judging from their contents, they appeared to be the private records of a nurse who sympathized with the patients.

Aside from these fragmented notes, they also found a piece of flint with an unclear function.

[Damp Flint]

A piece of flint found in an iron chest. It is severely damp.

Detective ▇▇ once considered pocketing this flint—if it hadn’t been stained with so much blood.

“Smoking is prohibited within the sanatorium.”

Item Level: ★

Remarks: Although it is not a single-use item, its usefulness is still quite limited.

After spending so long in [Happy Board Games], participants’ survival skills inevitably improved, whether they wanted them to or not. Yet no matter how Xiao Luo tried, he couldn’t get the flint to ignite. By the end, he almost felt as if they hadn’t retrieved it from an iron chest, but fished it out of an aquarium instead. ==

Although the flint failed to provide illumination, the participants weren’t discouraged. All three iron chests in the large ward had combination locks. The first two remained open, leaving only the last one quietly sitting in the corner, waiting for the explorers to open it.

Even the cleverest strategist cannot crack a password without clues. Although Xiao Luo and Fang Qiju remained outwardly silent, they were inwardly anxious. They had read through the clippings Gu Jingsheng examined as well, but aside from deepening their understanding of the instance’s background, they found no sentences that seemed to hide any deeper meaning.

Gu Jingsheng lowered herself, squatted down, propped her chin on her hand, and stared unblinkingly at the digital combination lock before her.

Wei Jiashi leaned over to look with her. Even if he couldn’t solve it, at least he could offer moral support—the third iron chest already had part of the password entered. Its current state was: 1512□□□□0835.

The □ symbols represented slots with no input—the original state.

Holding one of the on-the-spot private records as scratch paper, Gu Jingsheng looked up and asked, “Did any of you bring a pen?”

Wei Jiashi, Fang Qiju, Xiao Luo: “…”

Unable to offer either intellectual assistance or material support, the three fell silent.

Gu Jingsheng sighed and pulled a pen from her backpack.

—An eyebrow pencil.

Wei Jiashi watched as Gu Jingsheng swiftly wrote three lines of numbers on the paper:

 “030821121409”

 “172434240204”

 “1512□□□□0835”

He pondered whether he should start studying cosmetics as well. Even if it wasn’t useful for calculations, it could serve as an optional conversation branch when chatting with girls in the future. Still, he couldn’t study too deeply—otherwise he might completely block off the possibility of romance and head irrevocably down the path of becoming a best friend.

Happy New Year!!! Sorry for being away for so long :( ... Life got really busy with the addition of work, really had no time to edit and proofread new chapters. However, everything is a bit less busy now, so I will try to consistently post every week now!