Chapter 4: Good Luck, Jin Dun

With the fate of the mage as a warning, Wu Chang had no desire to even open the door, and lay quietly on the bed, falling into sleep.

Surrounded by danger in this unfamiliar place, he slept unusually soundly, only waking when daylight flooded the room, stirred by a knock at the door.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a nurse standing inside the room, knocking on the open door with her hand.

"Mr. Xiao En, it's time for your examination."

Wu Chang sat up from the bed, using the moment of rubbing his eyes to study the nurse.

His gaze swept over the nurse, finally settling on the name tag hanging from her prominent chest.

"Zhu Li Shi Misi."

Perhaps because of some connection to the name, Nurse Zhu Li's stern, aggressive features, combined with her sensual yet cold demeanor, bore an eight-tenths resemblance to a certain female celebrity he knew in reality.

Zhu Li tossed a blue-and-white striped patient gown onto the bed, her face expressionless. "Put it on."

Wu Chang picked up the gown, glancing hesitantly at Zhu Li; seeing she showed no intention of leaving, he asked:

"Aren't you going to turn away?"

"Observing the patient is part of the examination."

Zhu Li had no objection; Wu Chang, of course, wouldn't pretend modesty, and immediately began changing.

Watching Wu Chang strip off his shirt to reveal a sharply defined, muscular physique, Zhu Li raised an eyebrow, staring without blinking.

If gazing counted as examination, the intensity of Zhu Li's stare was surely giving Wu Chang an X-ray.

Wu Chang struck a bodybuilding pose—one hand on his hip—and displayed his muscles frontally, teasing: "Want to give me a score?"

"Perfect." Zhu Li replied bluntly.

"Really?"

"Of course. The potato-eating fools in town don't have bodies like yours."

Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhu Li's tone remained flat throughout, yet Wu Chang sensed an extra meaning beneath it.

Zhu Li seemed to be reminding him that his physique would expose him as an outsider.

He quickly dressed, and regardless of whether it was an illusion, better safe than sorry.

What was that saying again? The treacherous outsider.

In many game settings, locals are always incredibly "warm and hospitable."

Seeing Wu Chang dressed, Zhu Li withdrew her gaze and led him out of the room.

The sanatorium's interior followed a uniform style; outside the rooms, it was pure minimalist prison design, everything focused on utility, with no unnecessary decorations.

Along the gray-white corridor, heavy iron doors were embedded on both sides; nurses in white uniforms patrolled back and forth, watching each iron door with vigilance.

Not every patient in the Moonlight Sanatorium was as healthy as Wu Chang.

From the moment he left his room, wails, sobs, and screams had never ceased beside his ears—even through the thick iron doors, they were clearly audible.

"What disease are they suffering from?" Wu Chang asked quietly.

Zhu Li said: "Same as you—delusional disorder."

Wu Chang: "..."

If Zhu Li hadn't said it, he'd have thought they were harvesting kidneys behind those doors.

The delusional disorder in this instance was slightly different from what he understood in reality.

The sanatorium was a four-story building; the examination area for patients was on the third floor.

After a brief wait, Wu Chang followed Zhu Li into the mild-case examination room.

Inside sat a middle-aged man, ordinary in appearance, with prominent dark circles, looking worn-out; his name tag read "Charles."

Wu Chang glanced at him once and immediately judged him untrustworthy.

At his age, the doctor still had thick, lush hair—his medical skill couldn't possibly be that impressive.

Charles lowered his head and asked: "Name?"

"Wu... Xiao En."

Charles pulled a medical file from beside him, glanced at it, then tossed out a packet of medicine.

"Take three times daily. Effects begin thirty minutes after ingestion. The final dose must be taken before sleep."

Wu Chang opened the waterproof paper packet; inside were three capsules.

"Item Name: Special Medicine."

"Type: Consumable."

"Item Description: During effect, blocks external influence on the mind, grants immunity to low-level mental attacks. Side effect: During effect, random hallucinations appear in vision. After effect ends, willpower cap decreases by 0.1, lasts until end of instance."

"Note: As long as I go mad first, nothing can make me crazier."

Wu Chang silently tucked away the Special Medicine, his expression turning strange.

Could taking this Special Medicine actually cure patients? After handing out the medicine, Charles tapped the desk bell and dismissed him: "Next."

Throughout the entire examination, Charles never even looked at Wu Chang's face.

Tsk. Definitely a quack.

Leaving the examination room, Wu Chang asked quietly: "Is this really a proper consultation?"

Zhu Li turned her head away and answered in a flat, emotionless tone: "Dr. Charles is experienced. No need to worry."

Wu Chang: "Miss Zhu Li, turn and look at me, then say that again."

Zhu Li quickened her pace, walking straight toward the first floor without looking back, her voice stiff: "Hurry up, or you'll miss breakfast."

Down in the sanatorium's first-floor lobby, the first thing to catch his eye was an open wooden door.

Beyond the wooden door lay the sanatorium's front courtyard, surrounded by a fence of iron bars; a symbolic iron chain lock hung on the gate.

"During control period, passage requires the Director's personal permit. Unauthorized entry or exit is prohibited."

Neither the wooden door of the sanatorium nor the iron gate's lock were secured—any paperclip, hammer, or even a brick could smash them open.

The instance's main quest was to leave the Moonlight Sanatorium. Anyone else, even knowing full well a Class-B instance couldn't possibly be this simple, would still try it without giving up hope.

But Wu Chang wouldn't.

The artistic, spray-shaped bloodstains splattered across the main gate were all telling him: don't go courting death.

Every single bloodstain was a wisp of resentment.

Several wisps of resentment sprayed into the air, giving form to a wall of air that overlapped with the iron fence, shrouding the entire sanatorium.

He casually picked a few wisps of resentment to examine. Their owners included not only players but also natives of the instance plane.

No matter their identity, the instant they touched the gate they dropped dead on the spot, their bodies twisting and dissipating as if swallowed by something unknown—no struggling, no resistance.

In the cafeteria on the left side of the hall, Wu Chang received his breakfast.

Two unpeeled potatoes, and a small bowl of stewed beans.

The beans were stewed to complete mush, and combined with some unidentified sauce, both the taste and the texture were like vomit that had been digested several times over.

Zhu Li wasn't wrong—eating this stuff really wouldn't put any meat on your bones.

He carried his breakfast and followed Zhu Li to the activity room on the first floor.

Recreation in the activity room, like yard time in prison, was one of the few periods of free activity the patients had.

By the time the two arrived, nearly thirty patients were already scattered throughout the activity room. In clusters of three or five, some were huddled back-to-back like spies loudly plotting an escape, while others were gathered around a vase earnestly asking for tips on footwork changes when kicking a ball.

Watching all these head-scratching antics, Wu Chang finally confirmed that this was a bona fide mental asylum.

Before entering the activity room, Zhu Li said quietly: "Two pieces of advice for you. One, don't cause trouble here—especially not under the medical staff's noses. Two, if you want to leave in one piece, it's best not to provoke Jin Dun."

"Why?"

"That guy is way too good at playing mind games. Most of the people who've gambled with him had their condition worsen faster and turned into idiots ahead of schedule."

"I'll be careful."

Watching Zhu Li's departing back, Wu Chang could confirm that his earlier feeling wasn't an illusion—Zhu Li was helping him.

Whatever her motives, she was at least half an ally.

Walking into the activity room, before he could even make out the interior layout, his gaze was drawn like iron to a magnet by a fat man sitting alone at a table, shuffling cards.

Wu Chang could be certain—this was the fat man who had appeared in the mage's resentment.

Eating nothing but the rationed potatoes and stewed beans and still packing over three hundred jin—guts like that aren't something just anyone has.

Either this guy had been getting special meals, or he really did put on weight just from drinking cold water.

The fat man's conspicuousness came not only from his size, but even more from the dense thicket of resentment behind him.

At a rough glance, there were no fewer than twenty wisps of resentment, two of which stood out especially—one bright red, one deep red.

Compared to him, the Blood Thorn who'd committed the murder on the bus could almost be called well-behaved.

Wu Chang found a corner to sit in, stuffing stewed beans into his mouth while examining the resentment on the fat man.

This behavior reminded him of his fourth roommate, who used to watch daily traffic accident compilations as a side dish with his meals.

Believe it or not, the method really did help the food go down. After scrolling through all the resentment, that bowl of vomit-like stewed beans had actually been finished by him.

Questioning Fourth Bro, understanding Fourth Bro, becoming Fourth Bro, surpassing Fourth Bro!

Most of the scenes in the resentment behind the fat man were gambling-related.

"All in, must go all in!"

……

"I've got four Kings! I don't believe you can pull off a royal flush!"

……

"The goddess of luck is smiling—today's my lucky day!"

……

Among the many pale-red wisps of resentment, the final recorded scene was almost always the same: drawing a great hand, eyes bloodshot, screaming to reveal the cards—even through the deathbed ravings, one could feel the madness of the resentment's owner in life.

Cherish life, stay away from gambling.

Wu Chang shook his head, set the bowl on the table beside him, tucked the two potatoes away, and strode over to the card-shuffling fat man.

"Playing cards alone must be boring. Care to play a few hands with me?"

The fat man looked up at Wu Chang, and like a child who'd found a new toy, broke into an especially festive grin.

"Sure! If you're willing to play with me, then we're friends. I haven't seen you before—are you new here?"

Wu Chang plopped down across from the fat man and said: "Yeah, my name's Xiao En. And you?"

The fat man said with a smile: "I'm Jin Dun. Everyone calls me 'Lucky Jin Dun.'"

(End of chapter)