After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

Standing at the very front is Jiang Hui.

Jiang Hui gripped the doorknob and pressed it down, then shook her head.

"The door won't open," she whispered.

Tang Li's first reaction was that the nurses on rounds had locked the door.

"That's not right." Qiu Wanting didn't even turn her head, but immediately guessed what Tang Li was thinking.

"What... Oh!" Tang Li suddenly realized something was wrong.

The doors to the private hospital wards, which seem to be designed to be unsafe, are not locked.

"There's something heavy behind the door," Tang Li and Qiu Wanting said in unison.

"Let's get out of here first." Jiang Hui released the doorknob, frowned, and said in a low voice, "The nurse could come at any time at this hour, forcing the door open would be too noisy."

Besides that, she always felt a sense of being watched. But when she used the props to investigate, there were no other strange people or things on the eighth floor.

Filled with suspicion, the three returned to their respective hospital rooms.

Before returning to her room, Tang Li told Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting that the previous owner of room 820 on the ward round register was not Lao Ding, but Meng Wanwan.

They were slightly taken aback, but their expressions weren't particularly surprised.

Jiang Hui said, "That's not surprising. Old Ding does have a wife named Meng Wanwan. They are both sick and hospitalized together, in the same room on the eighth floor."

She hesitated for a moment, then stopped talking about the nonsense about being "discharged from the hospital" and said directly, "The day before 'Old Ding' was about to tell his story, Meng Wanwan passed away, and 'Old Ding' suffered a huge shock. In fact, he completely went insane."

"That night, the very night you said you witnessed Nannan's murder, you were indeed not in the ward. So, by some twist of fate, you didn't hear Old Ding knocking on every ward door in the darkness."

Jiang Hui half-closed her eyes, recalling the event in a low, almost whispered voice, "At that time, Lao Ding did indeed come out of ward 820."

"Now that I think about it, room 820 was originally Meng Wanwan's room. We were wrong because of our preconceived notions."

"I peeked through the crack in the door and saw that Old Ding's hands were stained red." Qiu Wanting also recalled something and interjected, "I thought he was self-harming, but it seems that's not the case. He had just finished painting with paint."

Tang Li felt a chill run down her spine.

That evening, after eating two bowls of stir-fried pancakes, she felt a little dizzy. The skinny man kindly gave her a key, and she complimented him a couple of times before falling asleep while playing with the key.

Just a few walls away in room 820, Lao Ding pushed open the door and entered the ward of his newly deceased wife.

He carried a bucket of red paint and silently painted eerie pictures on the white wall behind the door.

Jiang Hui's story continued, "Finally, Lao Ding attempted to set fire to the corridor, but we stopped him, and the nurses arrived in time."

Jiang Hui glanced at Tang Li.

"Old Ding..." jumped off the building.

"Old Ding has been taken away from the hospital." Qiu Wanting interrupted Jiang Hui before she could finish speaking.

They exchanged a knowing glance, and Qiu Wanting conveyed to Jiang Hui with her eyes: That's enough, stop talking.

Even in a bizarre world where life is uncertain, there is still a day or two to look forward to.

Let alone your deep concern. Why are you already taking her life on your shoulders before she can even see the world clearly?

Jiang Hui pursed her lips and didn't say anything more.

Tang Li had already entered room 802 and didn't notice the sudden silence between the two people behind her. It was lunch break time, and she was lying on her bed, but she wasn't sleepy at all.

Thoughts were still racing in my head: I still couldn't go to ward 820, I couldn't figure out where the fourth painting on the wall came from, Sun Ping had disappeared and I didn't know where he was causing trouble, I didn't know if Dr. Jiang was being monitored, but in any case, he clearly had no intention of having any further contact with them.

Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting... Tang Li felt that there were still secrets between them that they hadn't told her, but public officials are bound by confidentiality regulations, and Tang Li knew that asking would be pointless.

Gu Xiaoying… He had previously vowed to tell Tang Li everything, but after Tang Li obtained his file, the brat disappeared again. However, as long as he's alive, Tang Li is happy to see him hiding; ideally, the doctors and nurses wouldn't be able to find him.

And Nannan... Jiang Hui told Tang Li at noon that they had already investigated and found that the hospital had no female employees whose names contained the pronunciation "nan".

Tang Li stared blankly at the ceiling with her eyes wide open.

The investigation seems to have completely stalled... It's so frustrating, like being stuck in a game...

Tang Li suddenly sat up in bed.

And games!

In the game on the old phone, Pixel Hospital almost perfectly recreated the layout of the real-life Ghost Story Private Hospital. It was like a book of prophecy, guiding Tang Li step by step.

Therefore, since ward 820 exists in reality, ward 820 should also exist in the game!

What clues will Nannan find in room 820?

Tang Li's heart raced as she eagerly awaited the game's revelation. She impatiently opened her phone, entered the game, and controlled Nannan to head straight for the eighth floor.

The eighth floor of the game was quiet, with densely packed wards on both sides, which looked narrower and more crowded than in reality, like square cans or coffins.

Nannan arrived at 820 soon.

Tang Li froze in front of her phone screen, her expression tense.

Ward 820 was empty, brand new, clean, and showed no abnormalities.

Tang Li circled around 820 in disbelief, but didn't trigger a single dialogue box, and could only leave the room empty-handed.

Unconvinced, she went to her own room, 802, and even to room 807 where Gu Xiaoying had stayed, only to find that they were exactly the same as 820. It was as if the game designers were too lazy to put in the effort and simply copied and pasted these rooms to make up the numbers.

Tang Li calmed herself down and thought.

If, as they speculate, Nannan entered the hospital to find Gu Xiaoying, then room 807, where Gu Xiaoying is located, must be a key target marked in the game.

But that's not actually the case.

Based on this, we can probably deduce two things: First, the place where Gu Xiaoying lived before was most likely not in 807.

Secondly, the game's timeline is far ahead of the real-world timeline in which she, Lao Ding, and Meng Wanwan exist.

Tang Li tapped her phone, thinking that the game wasn't updating fast enough.

Therefore, the only valuable clues she can obtain from the game are information that has been preserved from the game's timeline (i.e., the past) to the present.

For example, a hospital's route map that it doesn't easily change, or a lock whose password hasn't been changed for a long time.

What else...?

And Dr. Jerry.

Tang Li couldn't help but stand up. Dr. Jerry's habit of taking naps, and the files in his office, have all been preserved to this day!

So, if Dr. Jerry hasn't changed, what about the other doctors? Have they also remained the same?

In the story Old Ding told that morning, what did he say...?

"Yesterday, Lao Ding and I went to the fifth floor for a checkup. Lao Ding was first in line, and I was second. The doctor's name was James."

Tang Li recalled everything completely.

Their doctor, James, is on the fifth floor.