Rules of the Strange: I Can See Through All the Weird

Qi Tong stood in the corridor, quickly going through the information she had just received in her mind.

She was the last to arrive; she was brought back from the operating room and given anesthesia.

The others were in the ward from the beginning.

This means that her starting position is different from all other players.

In the realm of strange and unusual rules, being "different" is often not a good thing.

After the system announcement ended, the players in the corridor began to disperse in twos and threes.

Some people were whispering about what the "source of pollution" was, while others were already heading towards the end of the corridor, probably trying to figure out the terrain before triggering any death conditions.

Qi Tong didn't move. She leaned against the wall by the ward door and rolled up the sleeves of her hospital gown.

The needle mark on my arm is still there, surrounded by a small, abnormal light pink ring, like drug residue.

"Look at this." She stretched her arm out to Xu Ning.

Xu Ning glanced down, reached out and grasped her wrist, turning her arm up to the light source for a closer look.

"The color is wrong. Regular anesthetics shouldn't leave any color residue."

"Liu Zi said it's just an anesthetic and won't harm the human body."

Xu Ning paused for a second. Her fingers were still on Qi Tong's wrist, not letting go.

Is your system reliable for medical matters?

"...Not very credible."

After all, that thing is about romance.

"Then we can't rule out side effects." Xu Ning let go and rolled up the sleeves of her hospital gown.

There were no needle marks on her arm. "I was in the ward from the beginning. There were two other NPCs in the same ward, what about you?"

"I have two too."

Qi Tong glanced back at the door of her hospital room. Through the small window in the door, she could see the girl holding the doll sitting on the edge of the bed, talking gently into the doll's ear, her expression tender, as if she were coaxing a baby to sleep.

The other one was still asleep, with half of his face covered by the blanket.

"But I wasn't in the ward from the beginning," Qi Tong turned her gaze away. "When I woke up, I was in the operating room, handcuffed to the bed. A doctor gave me an injection, and then I was sent back to the ward. I was the last one to arrive."

Xu Ning's expression didn't change, but Qi Tong noticed that her fingers tightened, not out of nervousness, but out of thought.

"You were taken away alone. The initial allocation for this instance was not random."

"I know. So, have you noticed anything amiss?"

"Not yet. But I looked through the patient guidelines, and they're too simple. It's just about taking medication, eating, doing morning exercises, and taking walks."

Xu Ning glanced down the corridor and saw a closed double door with a sign that read "Treatment Area".

"A mental hospital that needs to be escaped from, the rules don't mention the treatment area, doctors, or visiting hours. If this instance is at the same difficulty level as the library, then the patient rules aren't real rules."

"The real rules haven't appeared yet. Where do you think they might appear?" Qi Tong followed her gaze.

"Perhaps hidden in the operating room?" Xu Ning withdrew her gaze. "You're the only one who's been inside the operating room. If the clone wanted you dead, they could have done it right there on the operating table."

"But it didn't. It just gave you a shot and then sent you back. That means the shot wasn't meant to kill you; it was meant to mark you."

"Or maybe they planted something on me, since they just mentioned a source of pollution." Qi Tong lowered her sleeve to cover the pinhole.

Xu Ning did not continue the topic.

She turned her head, looked into Qi Tong's eyes, and said in a calm tone, as if reciting today's menu: "If you experience any changes in your body afterward, no matter how small, be sure to tell me."

"Are you worried I'll become weird?"

"I'm worried you'll get contaminated," Xu Ning said.

"The condition for clearing this instance is to escape, not to survive. This means there is no time limit. The source of contamination is usually an area or a carrier; it won't actively chase you, but once you're contaminated, it's irreversible."

A scream suddenly came from the end of the corridor.

The two of them looked in that direction at the same time.

A male player slumped to the ground, pointing to the corner where the corridor ceiling met the wall. His lips trembled as he managed to squeeze out a complete sentence: "That place...something was watching me just now...not a person...not a person!"

A few daring players went over to take a look, but they didn't see anything.

Someone pulled the male player up and patted him on the shoulder to calm him down.

Qi Tong did not go there.

She stared in the direction the male player was pointing; the area was empty except for a fluorescent light that was flickering and humming.

"Let's go." Qi Tong withdrew her gaze. "Let's search our own ward first. Rules, no matter how few, are still rules."

Xu Ning responded and turned to go back to her ward.

Qi Tong also pushed open the door to her own hospital room and went inside.

At the other end of the corridor, a male gamer leaned against the door frame of a hospital room, his thick bangs covering most of his face.

He did not discuss the source of pollution with others, nor did he explore the terrain.

He was just watching.

His gaze cut through the crowd and landed on Xu Ning and Qi Tong, like a very thin needle.

Then he turned around, pushed open the door to his hospital room, and disappeared behind it.

......

Qi Tong had just entered the ward and closed the door.

The girl holding the doll looked up at her and gave her a very sweet smile. The doll was exactly the same as the one in her arms, with the upturned corners of her mouth and the curve of her eyes, as if it had been made from the same mold.

"You're back," the girl said softly, as if afraid of waking her sleeping roommate. "The nurse came by earlier and left you some medicine under your pillow."

Qi Tong walked to her bedside and lifted her pillow.

There was a small paper cup with three white pills inside.

There was a note under the paper cup with only one line of handwritten words on it. The handwriting was messy, but the content was still legible.

She folded the note and stuffed it into the pocket of her hospital gown.

The note read: "Don't take the medicine."

I don't know if this is a rule or a hint, but it does conflict with the wall rules.

Before Qi Tong could decide whether to eat or not, the nurse pushed the door open and came in.

The nurse was wearing a light blue suit and a nurse's cap, a classic nurse image.

She had a nameplate on her chest that read "Nurse 2350," but no name, only her employee number.

"1067, aren't you taking your medicine yet?"

1067? What is that?

Qi Tong looked down at herself and then realized that she had a name tag on her chest that looked just like a nurse's.

The only difference was that the nurse's nameplate was silver, while hers was white.

It was clearly written above:

Name: Qi Tong

Patient number: 1067

"What's wrong? Why are you standing still? Are you having a relapse?" the nurse asked kindly.

Qi Tong forced a weak smile.

Don't you nurses have their accents tested?

"1067, take your medicine." The nurse repeated, her tone even softer than before, as if she were coaxing a disobedient child.

"Did I take my medicine yesterday?" Qi Tong asked.

The nurse's smile remained unchanged. "You need to take your medication every day, 1067. You took it yesterday, and you need to take it again today."

"What disease do I have?"

"You need to rest." The nurse handed the tray forward. "You can only rest properly after taking your medicine."