Chapter 126: Take Your Doll Away, Now! (Third Update)
"Before attempting the Third Ward trial mission, I'll first try taking a stray cat into the Muyang High School scenario to test it out. If it really works, then I've found a way to deal with those nasty things." Just this one point alone made Chen Ge feel like he'd gained a lot today.
He glanced at the young man and handed him the rusty key in his hand. "Have you seen this key before?"
"I have." The young man nodded. "When it's light out, I dispose of the animal carcasses in Room 303. Once, I found this key inside a piece of clothing."
"Did the man in the dream mention anything related to the key? Like a special door or room?"
The young man thought for a long time before speaking. "They mentioned a place once when talking to themselves. I think it's connected to the key."
"What place?"
"One of the faces said he dropped something important in the third room, and also mentioned that the passage behind the cabinet wasn't locked. They shouldn't have gone through the front door back then, or they wouldn't have been discovered." The young man's expression wasn't very clear, since these were things he'd vaguely heard in his dreams.
"The third room?" Chen Ge recalled the bloodstained note his parents had left behind, which had an address written on it—the third room of the Third Ward.
"Could it be the same room? If so, this information is incredibly important to me! The passage behind the cabinet isn't locked—that's like giving me an extra escape route!" Chen Ge couldn't be sure if the young man was lying, but he kept his face neutral and committed all the information to memory.
After asking a few more questions and confirming there was nothing else, Chen Ge left Room 302 and returned to Room 304.
"Is Men Nan doing better?"
"He's asleep, but he has a bit of a fever. I'll take him to the hospital tomorrow and have a good talk with his family." Dr. Gao stayed by the bedside. "You should get some rest. I'll keep an eye on things here. I put the doll on the sofa for you, and there are band-aids under the coffee table. Make sure to treat any small wounds."
"Okay." Chen Ge suddenly realized that Dr. Gao was quite a warm person, good at taking care of others.
He walked over to the sofa, where Little was lying belly-up, looking like he'd eaten too much and didn't want to move.
"This guy." Chen Ge set an alarm for seven o'clock, hugged Little, and lay down on the sofa, quickly falling asleep.
For some reason, he didn't sleep well that night. He had several dreams in a row, all of him trapped in a maze-like building, being chased by something. In a crisis, he kept trying doors with a key, but none of them opened.
...
"Wake up."
His body was shaken, and Chen Ge opened his eyes to find Dr. Gao supporting the weak Men Nan beside the sofa.
Chen Ge glanced out the window. It was just getting light, probably only six o'clock at most.
"Men Nan has a high fever that won't go down. He needs to go to the hospital. This room feels off, so I think we should all leave together." Dr. Gao hadn't slept all night and looked exhausted. Men Nan was even worse, seeming like he might pass out at any moment.
"Alright, let's go now." Chen Ge quickly stuffed his things into his backpack, then supported Men Nan's other arm. "Careful."
"Yeah, thanks for last night..." As they left Room 304, Men Nan suddenly turned to look at Chen Ge and repeated, "Thank you."
"No problem, it was nothing." Chen Ge replied casually, but then he noticed something strange—Men Nan's gaze and tone of voice seemed a bit feminine.
When he looked back again, Men Nan had already lowered his head.
Accompanying them to the hospital and confirming that Men Nan wasn't in serious danger, Chen Ge left.
Sitting in the taxi, Chen Ge took out his black phone. He had already received the task completion notification.
"Player arrived at the task location within the specified time, identified the patient's cause of illness, and survived until dawn. One-star trial mission complete! New horror scene 'Three People's Room' unlocked. Player can freely control all mechanisms in this scene via the scene interface!"
"Trial mission completion rate exceeds ninety percent. Obtained hidden item for this mission—Insight Key."
"Insight Key (Resentment Value: Thirteen): Most mental patients have varying degrees of insight deficits. They cannot perceive changes in their mental state, lose judgment about it, deny their illness, and refuse treatment. When you experience similar symptoms, this key can help you once."
"This hidden item from the mission—could it be referring to the key I picked up?" Chen Ge placed the rusty key in his palm. "What does 'when you experience similar symptoms' mean? Is it subtly suggesting I have mental issues too?"
Around seven o'clock, Chen Ge returned to New Century Paradise. "A one-star scream-inducing mission has limited difficulty. I'm not too tired tonight."
It was still early, so he decided to head to the doll-making workshop first to see if his custom human heads were all finished.
He sent a message to the workshop owner, and to his surprise, the reply came back very quickly. The owner told him to come over right away.
"Did something go wrong? But I didn't strictly follow the living doll requirements, and I skipped a lot of steps." Chen Ge was using the living doll for the first time, and he was afraid of accidents, so he rushed over.
As soon as he entered the basement, Chen Ge saw the fat owner standing alone outside the glass door, holding the key but too scared to open it.
"You've been here a while? Why not go in?" Chen Ge walked up to him. If an outsider saw this, they'd probably think he was the real owner of the workshop.
The fat owner's face jiggled as he pointed inside the workshop. "Can I refuse to take your jobs from now on?"
"No way, I've already paid the deposit." Through the glass door, Chen Ge looked into the workshop. When his gaze swept over the worktable where the finished products had been placed yesterday, he caught his breath.
Twenty-four lifelike human heads with different expressions were lined up on the table, all staring neatly at the door. It startled him so much he almost pulled out his hammer.
The visual impact was intense, no wonder the fat owner didn't dare go in alone.
"Pretty realistic." Chen Ge patted the fat owner's shoulder. "Open the door. Once I finish the bodies today, I'll leave right away."
"You're being modest. Twenty-four human heads, each with a different expression, all staring at the door in unison—and you call that 'pretty realistic'? I came early this morning and nearly got scared to death!" The fat owner looked like he was about to cry. "I just wanted to check if the foam filling was even, so I came early. Forget it, I won't say more. Every time I open this door from now on, I'll think of this scene. I have no choice but to transfer the shop."
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