SWBG - Chapter 28

Gu Jingsheng shook the spray bottle and found that there was still roughly one-third of the liquid left inside.

Of course, Xiao Luo wanted to keep the item in his own hands. He hesitated for a while, but in the end still couldn’t bring himself to ask—setting aside the fact that the other party was clearly sharp-minded, there was currently no evidence proving that, aside from being good at solving puzzles, she was also physically incapable of beating someone up.

He soon realized that his decision not to act rashly earlier had been the right one.

Having just opened a new chest, Gu Jingsheng quickly opened a second one and added an explanation: “Whether it’s an iron chest or not, as long as it has a pull ring, it means this thing is operable.”

So the “iron chest” Xiao Luo had discovered earlier, although not actually an iron chest, was likewise a mechanism that could be pressed downward.

As yet another flying bird pattern sank into the ground, under everyone’s watchful eyes, a new chest slowly rose up between bed “14” and bed “15” at the far right of the second row.

Wei Jiashi originally wanted to cheer his companion on, but when he saw Gu Jingsheng’s calm expression, he forcibly swallowed the words back down his throat.

—For a big shot, these were just routine operations. Totally routine.

This time, Gu Jingsheng found records related to the reception hall and a newspaper clipping. The handwriting on the paper was completely different from the private notes left earlier by a certain nurse—although she didn’t understand handwriting styles, she could tell neatness from messiness at a glance.

Wei Jiashi leaned over. “The reception hall? Isn’t that where the guy named Li Tiao was staying before?”

“Thanks to the shoddy, hole-riddled renovation of ‘Rosemary,’ and because poisonous gas from swamp water leaks out at 1 a.m., the sanatorium has already canceled the reception hall’s duty schedule. We must completely escape this hellhole before they fix the relevant equipment!”

“At night, the sanatorium is completely sealed off. They’ve left enough medical staff on night duty, but unfortunately, there are more of us.”

Judging from the content, the person who wrote these words was undoubtedly a patient at the “Rosemary” Sanatorium.

Aside from background information about the instance, this sheet of paper also revealed a crucial piece of information: at 1 a.m., poisonous gas from swamp water would leak into the reception hall where Li Tiao was located.

Gu Jingsheng’s understanding of swamp water was limited, but her basic knowledge of poison gas was passable. She lit up her phone screen and took a glance—after entering the instance, the phones provided by [Happy Board Games] were capable of telling time. There were still 16 minutes left before midnight.

Wei Jiashi said thoughtfully, “No wonder this is called a punishment instance.” Then he said to Gu Jingsheng, “Should we remind that guy Li Tiao?”

Judging from the previous text messages, Li Tiao was still a newcomer, and his psychological resilience was extremely weak. Letting him know that something would happen in the reception hall in the near future might actually have a negative effect. However, putting herself in his shoes, Gu Jingsheng would rather be frightened but know her exact situation, so she nodded. “After I finish exploring the last piece of this room, I’ll send the message.”

Wei Jiashi thought about it but still couldn’t understand what Gu Jingsheng was planning to do. “There’s nothing operable in the third row.”

Gu Jingsheng smiled. “But there is in the fifth row.”

Both corners of the fifth row had iron chests. One had a pull ring, and the other didn’t. According to the operational rules of the flying bird patterns, they belonged to a shared fate community and had to remain perfectly synchronized in rising and sinking.

As the two iron chests sank into the ground together, the corner near the corridor revealed a hidden electrical switch that had long been blocked by the chest.

Wei Jiashi softly read the words written on it: “‘Reception hall … switch.’”

It wasn’t that he was deliberately being vague—the key word in the middle had long since been blurred by water stains and was now completely illegible.

Gu Jingsheng nodded to him. “You can send a message to Li Tiao now.”

The reception hall of the “Rosemary” Sanatorium was quite large. Not only could it accommodate Li Tiao alone—even if all the participants in the instance along with the natives were gathered here, they could still remain clearly separated without disturbing one another.

Li Tiao was hiding beneath the reception counter, his face pale, curled up and hugging his legs, not daring to move at all.

The space here was sufficient, but the lighting was extremely poor. Apart from a small pendant lamp hanging overhead, everywhere else was pitch black.

He had already tried it—he could only move around near the counter. Moving even one step farther to the side was impossible.

The counter was splattered with many old, dried bloodstains. Just one glance was enough to make one’s scalp tingle. Li Tiao could only force himself to control his gaze and avoid paying attention to the details of his surroundings.

Loneliness and darkness caused the fear in his heart to grow unceasingly, but Li Tiao was also somewhat relieved. Although he couldn’t see any other participants here, at least no natives had come knocking on the door, so it could be considered temporarily safe.

“Buzz—”

His phone vibrated. Li Tiao shuddered reflexively, then quickly calmed himself down. This message was from W to X. Although it had little to do with him, Li Tiao still skimmed through it casually, thinking that knowing what others were doing wouldn’t hurt.

“……”

Whether it was the nurse’s private records, the patients’ escape plans, or the puzzle-solving methods, none of it was directly related to Li Tiao. But the last paragraph of the message caused his already-calming emotions to tremble violently once more.

[To Li Tiao in the Reception Hall: The clues say that at 1 a.m., poisonous gas from swamp water will leak in the reception hall. We also found an electrical switch related to the hall in the room. It’s still unclear what it does. We’re about to flip the switch—pay attention on your end.]

“No, no, no, no!!!”

Li Tiao screamed. Although he was afraid of this empty reception hall, he was even more afraid of having this false, cold sense of stability shattered by outside forces. He would rather passively shrink in place, waiting for He Qinghua—who knew when she would be able to leave the corridor—to come rescue him, than venture deeper into exploring the instance himself.

“Zzzzt—zzt—”

Gu Jingsheng and the others couldn’t hear Li Tiao’s screams. They pressed the electrical switch according to plan. Accompanied by faint electrical crackling sounds, four pendant lamps around the hall lit up simultaneously. Although the entire reception hall was still far from brightly illuminated, it barely reached the minimum threshold for visibility.

Li Tiao leaned against the corner of the counter, his face deathly pale, nearly suffocating from the shock in his heart. But even a salted-fish-type player like him, whose skills hovered below zero in every category except clinging to stronger players, could tell that his range of movement had expanded from his previous tiny patch of space to the entire reception hall.

Against the wall were sofas for visitors, now completely ruined. About seven steps away from the counter stood two old-fashioned wooden cabinets in intact condition. The upper halves had glass doors, the lower halves wooden doors. At first glance, they didn’t look very secure, but both were locked.

The cabinet on the right displayed various commendations and medals received by the “Rosemary” Sanatorium, as well as photos of the director posing with famous figures. This kind of blunt, straightforward self-praise was simple and crude enough to remind one of any residential community’s public bulletin board.

Among the official participants, Li Tiao belonged to the type lacking both intelligence and courage. Even when other players in the instance had already provided puzzle-solving methods and ideas, he still couldn’t imitate them. Fortunately, on one of the two wooden cabinets, a keyring was hanging directly from the lock.

He almost couldn’t wait to grab the keys and tried to cardify the item.

[A Bunch of Rusty Keys: The careless Ms. ▇▇▇ always put off her tasks until very late. She hurriedly left the sanatorium to go on a date, and only after returning home did she realize that she had forgotten to remove the keys from the cabinet door before leaving work—but this wasn’t a serious problem.]

All staff at the “Rosemary” Sanatorium knew that the reception hall was not a safe place at night. If a thief were to break in… let us pray for this unfortunate gentleman or lady.

“This wire ring contains all the keys needed to open the two locked wooden cabinets and the main entrance of the hall. Unfortunately, they are severely rusted.”

Item Level: ★

Remarks: There might be anti-rust oil in the front desk drawer. Want to look for it?]

Li Tiao’s gaze lingered on the last line of the card’s remarks until the time limit expired, and the keys reverted from a card back into a physical object.

—The description made it very clear: when in good condition, this keyring could open the main entrance of the reception hall. That meant he was only one step away from clearing the game—anti-rust oil.

Although he had stayed in the reception hall for an hour, Li Tiao still knew very little about what was actually there. Summoning his courage, he pulled open the drawer beneath the front desk, roughly swept the files inside onto the floor, and finally discovered a bottle of pungent anti-rust oil hidden in the wooden compartment at the very bottom.

[Nearly Dried-Up Anti-Rust Oil: Only a thin layer of oil remains in this bottle, and its surface is extremely sticky.

After the incident at the Rosemary Sanatorium, this bottle of anti-rust oil was forgotten in the drawer. Even the most habitual thief had no intention of stealing it.

“Our anti-rust oil uses the Forest Kingdom’s most advanced sealed packaging technology! If you encounter any problems, it must be due to improper storage on your part.”

Item Level: ★

Remarks: It can be applied to at most one key. Please choose carefully.]

Li Tiao felt the anger inside him flare up. For the first time, he was only a thin layer of paper away from clearing the game on his own, yet he couldn’t immediately break through it.

—There were five keys on the ring, but only one correct answer.

Anger boosted Li Tiao’s courage. Staring at the five keys on the ring, he suddenly realized that four of them looked like identical siblings cast from the same mold. The only one that was slightly more yellowish stood out clearly from the rest in both size and pattern.

This wasn’t a single-choice question—it was practically a giveaway. Using nothing but the process of elimination, it was obvious that the four smaller keys corresponded to the four lockholes on the two wooden cabinets, while the remaining large key must open the main entrance of the hall.

In the span of a single second, the anger in Li Tiao’s heart was completely extinguished by this heaven-sent cheat sheet of an answer.

The main entrance was some distance from the pendant lights. If the space had been even a little larger, Li Tiao wouldn’t have been able to reach the door lock using the current light source. He applied the anti-rust oil to the large key, then smoothly inserted it into the keyhole without the slightest hitch, opening the door that had been sealed shut for who knew how long.

A cool breeze carrying the fresh scent of mountain vegetation flowed in through the crack in the door.

Li Tiao was thrilled. Although his abilities were low, having spent a long time in [Happy Board Games], he understood some basic rules here—for game instances of normal difficulty and above, the first player to clear the instance would receive an additional reward.

Now, he was only one step away from that clearance reward.

Before leaving, Li Tiao hesitated for a moment, then still took out his phone and sent a message to He Qinghua.

—This was also the final one-way communication he would ever make to another person in his not-very-long life.

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