Chapter 6 - 6

position

A suffocating heaviness and pitch darkness enveloped Lin Yu.

"Huff... huff..."

"What's going on?"

Lin Yu gradually regained consciousness, assessing his current situation.

"Right, this is the Death Game... I just joined this new dungeon."

"My head is probably covered, and my body seems to be tied up too, movement is somewhat restricted..."

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then quickly reached a conclusion.

"Although I'm starting this dungeon in a restrained state, it's not exactly a hopeless situation for me."

"Hannah!"

Lin Yu called out for the little octopus Hannah.

But unexpectedly...

Hannah actually didn't respond?!

This surprised Lin Yu slightly.

He could still sense Hannah's existence—the little octopus was still alive and well as his summon-type item.

But the telepathic connection between him and her seemed to have been severed.

This situation was most likely because little octopus Hannah was too far away from him.

Not just Hannah, even Stiller had lost contact with Lin Yu.

"This dungeon actually separates summons from players?"

Thinking this, Lin Yu let out a breath.

It seemed he could only rely on himself to escape now.

He began feeling his situation more carefully, continuously twisting his body.

"Hmm... two restraint straps on each wrist and ankle, also on the chest, thighs, neck... and a leather hood covering everything above the neck."

"Getting out of this without Hannah isn't too difficult, though I might have to injure myself slightly."

Lin Yu exhaled, already forming a plan in his mind.

Although his hand movement was very limited, through small movements of his hands he could feel with his skin that these restraint straps probably had metal buckles.

He just needed to grip the Bone Crusher backwards and gradually pry open the metal buckles.

The only downside was that he might injure himself... since the restraints were quite tight.

But there was no other way—this was a necessary sacrifice. Lin Yu didn't want to just sit there with his head covered, quietly waiting for time to pass.

Never mind the risk of suffocation, what if some monster entered the room? Wouldn't he become like a fish on the cutting board, meat on the chopping block?

However, just as Lin Yu willed the Bone Crusher into existence, he suddenly realized something.

"Wait... what if there's already a monster in this room?"

His head was completely covered now, he couldn't see at all, and his hearing and smell were greatly restricted.

Plus, Lin Yu had a vague intuition telling him...

There really was another monster in this room.

So, after thinking for a moment, Lin Yu chose to take out another item.

Reusable Flavor Papers: Flavor Paper items that can be used in every dungeon. Just hold them in hand and make a wish to use them. After use, randomly obtain food falling from the sky, with random value equivalent to 1-57 Flavor Papers. The higher the food's value, the lower the probability of appearance.

Without any hesitation, he immediately activated the Reusable Flavor Papers.

Although based on the dungeon name "Escape from the Asylum," Lin Yu figured he was probably indoors somewhere.

But the Reusable Flavor Papers were, after all, items connected to gods.

Even if he were locked in a coffin, this thing could still slap food right in his face.

So...

Lin Yu held the Reusable Flavor Papers between his fingers, then activated the exchange.

"Whoosh!"

He felt the Flavor Papers dissipate from his fingertips, then something landed on the floor of the room.

"Tap."

The faint sound was barely audible to Lin Yu, but he was certain the Flavor Papers had taken effect.

And...

His guess that there was another "thing" in the room was also correct.

The moment the food landed, Lin Yu could hear chaotic noises even through the leather hood.

"Thump!"

"Clatter!"

It sounded like something very large had dropped a bunch of metal objects and went to check out the food on the ground.

"Now's my only chance!"

No matter how much attention the food could draw from the other party, Lin Yu knew this might be his best opportunity!

He immediately took out the Bone Crusher, then quickly flipped the hammerhead with his fingers, positioning the edge against the metal buckle and starting to pry it open using leverage.

His bones were being compressed, his skin rubbed raw—Lin Yu felt intense pain.

But pain couldn't make him stop.

Calmly, he exerted maximum force, as if torturing a stranger.

"Snap!"

The metal buckle burst open.

With his hands free, Lin Yu immediately tilted his head and forcefully ripped off the hood, then he saw clearly what the room looked like!

Padded floors and walls, dim lighting, restraint straps and a confinement chair...

"An isolation room, standard asylum equipment indeed."

But more than the environment, Lin Yu was concerned about the other "creature" in the room whose presence he already knew about.

A giant monster wearing a white lab coat, standing over three meters tall, its head almost touching the ceiling when standing straight.

Judging by its attire, this thing seemed to be a "doctor," especially since there was a medical instrument tray on a cart beside it.

But its thick, terrifying physique and bluish-gray skin made Lin Yu seriously doubt how this thing could possibly treat anyone.

It had originally been drawn to a massive fried egg in the corner, but upon hearing the commotion from Lin Yu's side and seeing him freed from restraints, an astonished expression appeared on its face.

Within that astonishment, there even seemed to be some fear.

"...Roar!"

The doctor let out a tremendous roar, then grabbed an extremely thick syringe and charged at Lin Yu.

Lin Yu didn't have time to completely free himself; he could only remain tied to the chair and raise the Guaranteed-Hit Revolver to face the enemy.

But...

Just as Lin Yu aimed at the creature's head and pulled the trigger almost without hesitation, he felt the Guaranteed-Hit Revolver didn't fire a bullet!

"What's going on?!"

Lin Yu was utterly shocked inside. Orıginal content can be found at novel~fire~net

Not only did he lack Hannah and Stiller's assistance, now even his pistol wouldn't fire?

What exactly was happening!

But in the brief moment Lin Yu was stunned, the hulking figure had already reached him, raising the syringe high to stab down.

At this critical moment, Lin Yu decisively threw away the pistol and switched to the Fear Torch and BBE-300!

The torch suddenly ignited, making the giant instinctively step back, allowing Lin Yu to deflect the syringe with the side of the torch.

Then, the small robot was thrown by Lin Yu, sliding on the ground for less than half a second before detonating!

At such close range, Lin Yu would normally be injured too, but the giant before him was simply too massive!

The BBE-300 slid behind him before exploding, effectively becoming Lin Yu's natural blast shield!

"Boom!"

Flames erupted, the giant screamed in agony, and collapsed unsteadily to the ground!

After the giant doctor fell to the ground, Lin Yu let out a long sigh.

It worked!

Although this giant looked very strong, and he was forced to fight him while being restrained at the start...

In actual combat, this was ultimately still within the realm of "mortal flesh and blood."

He could be injured by explosions, and he could be frightened away by fear flames.

Of course...

After all, he was big enough that even with just physical strength alone, he was terrifying enough.

For example right now, the giant had already been knocked down by the explosion, but he was still struggling in pain, rolling around trying to get up.

Lin Yu had a kind heart and couldn't bear to watch this scene.

So he quickly sped up untying the restraints, then stood up, pulled out the Bone Crusher, and gave the giant's head three solid whacks.

The giant doctor peacefully fell asleep.

"Phew, this dungeon's difficulty is manageable... mainly the restricted items are too annoying," Lin Yu complained, "The monsters are just average level... If Stiller and Hannah were both here, I could probably easily clear it."

"Even without them, I could have instantly killed him earlier with the [Guaranteed-Hit Revolver]." Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel·fire.net

As Lin Yu spoke, he stepped forward to examine the giant doctor's body.

He didn't gain anything—the only thing that made Lin Yu feel somewhat strange was that this guy had a sharp weapon cut wound on his neck.

This wound was very fresh, and just looking at the cut surface, length, and tissue growth, it seemed to be close to a fatal injury, but it had already healed now.

"Someone cut him before coming here? Is this hinting to me that his head isn't a weak point?"

Lin Yu thought about it but couldn't understand the meaning of this wound.

But to be safe, he lifted the hammer and broke the limbs of the motionless doctor on the ground.

After doing this, Lin Yu walked to the isolation room door.

Surprisingly...

Despite looking like an isolation room, this door wasn't locked.

Lin Yu turned the handle from inside, and the iron door opened by itself.

"Really strange."

Did this "doctor" not lock the door after entering? Thinking he was in a "restrained" state so it was relatively safe?

Such an irregular operation!

Lin Yu sighed, but still swaggered out into the corridor.

The gray corridor had aged concrete floors and stark white walls, with the scenery outside the windows being a somewhat oppressive leaden gray.

Just as Lin Yu was observing the surroundings...

From the other end of the corridor, a woman in a black shirt and glasses came hurrying over in a small run.

Seeing Lin Yu, she screeched to a halt, revealing a somewhat surprised expression.

Then, the other party tentatively spoke.

"Player?"

Lin Yu nodded, looking her up and down, feeling for some reason that she seemed very trustworthy, so he simply introduced himself.

"『Order』Jiangcheng First Team member, 『May May』."

Before Lin Yu could report his 『profession』and tier, a flash of excitement appeared on the other's face.

"『Order』brother?!"

"Hey, I've heard of you, you're that fierce first-tier 『Doctor』! The one who single-handedly took down the 『Marauders』and retreated unscathed from the 『Free Alliance』alone!"

The woman pushed up her glasses and also introduced herself: "I'm 『Max』from the 『Night Watchmen』, profession is 『Thief』, also 『first-tier』."

Hearing her words, Lin Yu nodded: "So it's a friend from the 『Night Watchmen』."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

There were only three players in this dungeon total, and now he'd met one, and from the 『Night Watchmen』...

At least he had a teammate he could trust.

Just as he thought this, Lin Yu suddenly felt something was wrong.

Wait a minute...

Why was his first reaction judgment like this?

This woman in front said she was from the 『Night Watchmen』, why did he immediately believe her?

He hadn't even seen her 『Night Watchmen』identification token yet?

This person's 『Night Watchmen』code name format wasn't even correct—『Night Watchmen』members' titles should all be birds and beasts, it's impossible to have a name like 『Max』.

But just as Lin Yu raised this question, an answer-like thought inexplicably bubbled up from within his heart.

"Maybe her code name isn't a very pleasant animal, and the young girl is a bit embarrassed about it?"

The moment this thought surged into his mind, Lin Yu confirmed it.

Something was definitely wrong!

Ever since he was in the room earlier, something had been interfering with his cognition and judgment!

Someone had implanted something into his subconscious...

Just like earlier, he suddenly intuitively felt there was someone else in the room—and he was very certain that the unknown presence in that room was hostile to him!

Watching Lin Yu standing frozen in place, Max's voice sounded again.

"Hey, Brother May, what's wrong?"

Lin Yu looked at Max in front of him, feeling somewhat wary inside, but showing nothing on the surface.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about some things regarding this dungeon, please give me some time."

He said very politely, already secretly gripping the [Bone Crusher] hidden behind his back.

Max didn't suspect anything, speaking optimistically: "Wow, brother, you've already figured something out? No wonder the forum says you're more like a 『Detective』than an actual detective!"

Lin Yu let out a breath, hearing Max's words made that strange feeling surface in his heart again.

"Indeed, my brain seems to have been invaded. When did it happen?"

"During the time before I woke up in the room earlier?"

Lin Yu pondered, deciding to activate the [Closed Mind] buff from the [Bliss Immortal Pot].

But just as he was about to do so...

Lin Yu froze.

He hadn't activated [Closed Mind] before entering the game, since this thing seemed very useful and only had precious 12 hours.

But now...

The remaining time displayed for [Closed Mind] was only [11 hours 37 minutes]!

In other words...

"I used 23 minutes of the [Closed Mind] BUFF?"

Looking at this time, Lin Yu suddenly realized something.

Hannah and Stiller mysteriously disappearing, the [Guaranteed-Hit Revolver] chamber being empty of bullets...

Combining these two anomalies with his frequently interfering "subconscious," Lin Yu considered one possibility.

"What if this isn't the first time I entered this dungeon?"

What if that mental attack had already taken effect, causing gaps in his memory?

Lin Yu really wanted to activate [Closed Mind] right now and use his deception ability through the 『Max』in front of him to clear the negative effects on himself.

But Lin Yu held back.

Because since he had already used 23 minutes of [Closed Mind], it meant he had activated this function in this dungeon before.

But now the [Closed Mind] buff had turned back into Immortal Brew and been placed back in the [Bliss Immortal Pot]...

This made Lin Yu have to consider a possibility.

"Could it be that 'I' at some point in the past voluntarily gave up using [Closed Mind] to prevent memory loss?"

When Lin Yu realized that "memories are no longer reliable," combined with the fact that [Closed Mind] had already been used for 23 minutes, he quickly reached a conclusion.

Although his current perception was that he had "just joined the dungeon" not long ago,

In reality, that probably wasn't the case.

He should have experienced at least about half an hour of dungeon time.

After realizing this, Lin Yu quickly pondered.

"Since I actively turned off the [Closed Mind] buff, it's very likely that my past self anticipated that my current self would lose memories."

"When my current self 'doesn't know what to do'... if it were me, I should leave hints—no, wait, that is me."

"Think about it, what would I do..."

Lin Yu thought about it and soon came up with an idea.

He looked at Max in front of him, cleared his throat lightly and said: "Ahem, since you're a friend from the 『Night Watchmen』, could we form a temporary team?"

Max responded optimistically: "Of course, that's exactly what I was planning!" Fresh chapters posted on NoveIＦire.net

Seeing that Lin Yu didn't react, she moved a bit closer: "Bro, I know you're an expert, with top-notch combat and reasoning skills, but teaming up with me won't put you at a disadvantage."

"Don't think I'm just a first-tier 『Thief』, but within the 『Night Watchmen』, my pathfinding and information gathering abilities are among the best—with our combined strengths, we're definitely going to dominate this dungeon!"

Max said confidently, and Lin Yu's eyes lit up.

"Oh? You're good at gathering information?"

"Then could I ask you to scout out the situation on this floor and report back to me."

"After collecting some information, it might be more advantageous for our next actions!"

"Since you're an expert from the 『Night Watchmen』, you should definitely have no problems."

When Max heard Lin Yu's words, she was initially somewhat hesitant.

But because Lin Yu flattered her at the end, Max herself felt a bit embarrassed.

"It's really not a big deal, and it's my area of expertise... then leave it to me!"

She said, waving her hand proudly, then silently pressed herself against the wall: "Give me a moment to make a round and I'll come back to report to you."

Strangely enough, after Max pressed against the wall, even though Lin Yu knew she was there, he subconsciously felt like ignoring her.

It was probably because Max used some kind of item.

This might also be the source of her confidence as a core skill of being a 『Thief』 and her self-proclaimed top-tier information gathering ability within the 『Night Watchmen』.

However...

Whether she could bring back any valuable information wasn't really Lin Yu's main concern.

It would be best if she could bring back some useful information.

But if she couldn't, it didn't matter either.

Because Lin Yu did all this to get Max out of the way.

After confirming that Max had left, Lin Yu retreated back into his room and gently closed the door.

Then...

He pulled out the [Ancient Notebook] from his chest pocket!

That's right, according to Lin Yu's assumption, if he intended to leave any message for his future self, he would definitely choose this notebook that was explicitly stated in the [Tool] description as indestructible!

Although many new functions had been developed recently, Lin Yu always remembered that when he first obtained this notebook, he intended to use it as a tool for information transmission.

Using it in this [dungeon] was simply perfect.

In fact, Lin Yu felt that even if he didn't find any messages left by his past self in the notebook, rather than suspecting they were left elsewhere or that there was no memory wipe, he would be more inclined to suspect that his pre-memory-wipe self was in a very urgent situation and didn't have time to take out the [Ancient Notebook] to leave written information.

But this situation didn't occur.

Because...

This [Ancient Notebook] indeed contained messages left by himself.

Written during this dungeon, the time might have been several hours or tens of minutes ago—Lin Yu didn't know the specifics.

In any case, on a certain page in the middle of this notebook, Lin Yu saw his own handwriting neatly written in the center: [Escape from the Madhouse].

No mistake about it.

Lin Yu let out a breath and turned to the page after these five words.

The words on this page completely confirmed Lin Yu's conjecture.

"If you've chosen to open the Ancient Notebook now, it's very likely you've indeed guessed the current situation."

"Yes, memories about this dungeon are incomplete; this dungeon periodically uses some method to clear and alter participating players' memories."

"The specific method cannot be written down at this moment."

"Moreover, rather than 'memory clearance,' based on currently known information, I believe it's more like 'reincarnation'."

"In any case, the currently shareable, known information about this dungeon at the moment of writing is as follows."

"Aside from me, the two other players in this dungeon are both 『Night Watchmen』 players. One is called 『Max』, a first-tier 『Thief』, somewhat careless but trustworthy, you can try to use her, but her abilities are indeed limited and her personality is rather imprecise, so don't rely on her too much."

"The other is 『Robin』 whom we've met before, a third-tier 『Painter』, generally trustworthy and reliable, but based on interactions seems to be hiding something, need to be somewhat wary."

"Additionally, items already used in this dungeon and temporarily in cooldown are [Chate's Supplies], [Rage Spray], [Guaranteed-Hit Revolver]. The [One-Statement Lie Detector] has also been used, but usage count has been restored through 'deception methods'."

"[Closed Mind] was actively turned off; preserving memories and ensuring immunity to mental attacks isn't completely advantageous for the overall situation."

"This dungeon is located in the world of 'Misty Islands', specifically the thirty-seventh island of Misty Islands. You can use this information to gain greater trust from other players."

"Also: The asylum building structure in this dungeon has five floors. The second, third, and fourth floors are patient wards, with patient danger levels increasing progressively."

"The first floor contains various doctors' and management offices, as well as treatment rooms, examination rooms, and medicine storage rooms."

"The fifth floor has treatment rooms with more equipment. First-floor treatments are just simple consultations and medication, while the fifth floor can perform surgeries and more radical therapies—be very careful."

"Additionally, most medical staff monster strengths in this dungeon are similar to the doctor in the isolation room, but still be careful and try to avoid fighting medical staff whenever possible."

"At the same time, do not attempt to provoke patients wearing hospital gowns—you can try simple communication with patients, but absolutely do not attack patients!"

Wait, so 'Robin' is also one of the three players in this dungeon..."

After closing the notebook, Lin Yu slowly digested its contents.

The information recorded in the notebook happened to resolve most of his current confusion—there were no vague or unclear parts, and even the withheld information came with explanations about why it was concealed.

This made Lin Yu sigh in admiration...

"Really thorough work, as expected from me."

Although he had manipulated many people so far and formed temporary cooperative relationships with numerous individuals, cooperating with himself still felt the most comfortable.

Anyway...

Based on the information provided in the notebook, Lin Yu could draw a conclusion.

"It's best to find 'Robin' as soon as possible. After all, she should be the strongest player in this dungeon, far surpassing both me and Max."

"Judging from Max's reaction, she seems to have lost her memory too—I need to confirm Robin's condition quickly."

"As a 'Third Tier' player, she likely has methods to preserve her own memories."

"And according to the information I left myself in the notebook, the 'patients' in this hospital seem to be more terrifying than the 'medical staff,' otherwise I wouldn't have specifically warned myself."

"Avoid combat... but not avoid contact, which means I should still engage deeply with these patients."

As Lin Yu pondered, a plan gradually took shape in this unknown situation.

After waiting in place for a while, he saw Max returning from the other end of the corridor.

She cautiously approached Lin Yu, panting heavily, and waved her hand.

"Whew, bro, that really exhausted me!"

"I've scouted out this floor's situation. There are seven corridors total... the one we're in contains specialized isolation rooms and single-patient wards. Additionally, there's one without rooms serving as an activity area, and the remaining five are all regular patient wards."

"Some patients move around in the activity area and regular ward corridors... plus there's a doctor wandering around, so be careful." Get full chapters from novel-fire.ɴet

"Those patients don't seem particularly aggressive, but that doctor might be a bit manic."

Hearing this, Lin Yu fell into thought: "There's actually a doctor wandering the corridors... There was also a doctor in my room initially. I wonder how their strength compares."

Max's gaze shifted nervously: "Oh, really? You had one in your room too? I think they're probably about equal in strength."

Seeing Max's guilty expression, Lin Yu reached a conclusion after brief consideration.

"Hey, don't tell me you didn't actually defeat that guy and just let him escape?"

Max laughed heartily: "Haha, that would be way too exaggerated, you're really joking around."

Seeing that Lin Yu showed no sign of laughing, and under his sharp gaze, Max stood up straight obediently.

"Sorry... that was indeed the monster from my room. I didn't think I could beat him."

Lin Yu sighed.

"I knew it... but it's fine. Since I could handle the one in my room, that means I can probably handle another one."

"Of course, maybe we won't even need to deal with it."

"There are three players in this game, right? We should probably meet up with the final player first—maybe they're the type who's really good at direct combat."

Max stroked her chin and said: "True, I'm good at intelligence gathering, and according to forum information, May you're good at reasoning and puzzles... We could use a more straightforward enforcer."

"And since the two of us are close together while the final player isn't near us, they might actually be quite capable!"

"Let's go find that person."

As she spoke, Max pulled out a golden compass from her chest pocket.

"Leave the tracking to me. With this compass, locating her position will be a piece of cake."

Then, Lin Yu watched as Max rotated the compass while muttering incantations.

"Warriors arrayed all before me Om mani padme hum Into the light I command thee!"

Hearing Max's mix of ancient and modern, Eastern and Western phrases, Lin Yu immediately understood why the evaluation he wrote in the [Ancient Notebook] characterized this person as "trustworthy but unreliable"...

She probably doesn't have bad intentions, but she's not particularly useful either.

He wasn't even sure if her tracking method would work.

But just as Lin Yu was considering whether to find Robin's location himself, Max's compass unexpectedly stopped moving.

"Found her!"

Max exclaimed excitedly, then pointed in that direction.

"Currently pointing toward... let me see, seems to be a stairwell I passed earlier."

"In other words, the remaining player is probably not on the same floor as us!"

Max stated confidently, and Lin Yu reached his own conclusion.

"That means she's upstairs."

After all, they were on the second floor.

Floors two, three, and four are patient wards, while the first and fifth floors are special.

It's unlikely Robin started on the first or fifth floor, so she should be on either the third or fourth floor upstairs.

And among the middle floors, the strength of the patients increases with each level.

Both he and Max are 'First-Tier' players, so appearing together on the second floor makes sense.

Robin is a 'Third Tier' player... so, following this logic, she's most likely on the fourth floor.

There's no player on the third floor because there are no 'Second Tier' players in this dungeon.

However, Lin Yu didn't share this entire reasoning—if he told Max this deduction, he wouldn't be able to explain how he knew the final player was 'Robin.'

So, Lin Yu said nothing and followed behind Max who was holding the compass, crossing the corridor to reach the stairwell entrance.

Looking at the "Unsafe Passage" sign flashing red and the slightly warped door frame, Lin Yu suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

"I have a feeling there's some monster hiding behind this door."

Lin Yu muttered. Max thought seriously for a moment and nodded: "I think you're right, so let me scout ahead!"

"I have an item called [Cheese Kitty] that's really useful for checking if unfamiliar environments are dangerous."

Looking at the cat plush toy Max pulled out, Lin Yu rationally thought it seemed fine.

But with his growing ominous feeling, combined with the hints he'd seen earlier in the [Ancient Notebook], Lin Yu decided to be more cautious.

"Let me handle it."

Lin Yu said, then chose to conduct the reconnaissance his own way.

He pulled out the [Fear Torch] from his chest and pushed open the passage door.

"Swish!"

The next instant, tentacles suddenly appeared from behind the door, reaching straight for Lin Yu's face!

Whew, that was close!"

Lin Yu looked at the charred monster on the ground wearing a security uniform with tentacles for limbs and sighed with relief.

Since he had felt uneasy intuition and was already prepared, Lin Yu naturally wouldn't fall for the ambush.

After a fierce struggle that ended with him defeating this monster, Lin Yu also received admiring looks from Max.

"Holy crap, bro, you're so cool!"

"No wonder you managed to take down that doctor. Turns out you're not just good at deduction and behind-the-scenes planning—your actual combat skills are impressive too."

Max rubbed her hands together as she spoke: "Looks like I'll be clinging tightly to your coattails in this dungeon, bro!"

Hearing Max's words, Lin Yu modestly waved his hand.

"It's only because the monsters in this dungeon aren't that strong."

After all, based on the currently known information, this dungeon's mechanics were already quite special: whether it was the cycles or memory erasure, both were complex and difficult challenges to overcome.

If, under these circumstances, the monsters inside were also so strong that players like them couldn't handle them at all...

Then this dungeon shouldn't have only 'Robin' as the sole 'Third-Tier' player.

Hearing Lin Yu's modesty, Max also laughed: "Ah, whatever you say, but if it were me, I definitely couldn't win... especially since this thing ambushed us. I might not have reacted in time and lost my fighting ability immediately!"

Listening to Max's words, Lin Yu shook his head.

"Even so, you wouldn't be that pathetic."

"You're probably right," encouraged by Lin Yu's reassurance, Max became optimistic again and spoke with confidence, "If we really fought... maybe I could hold out for a few moves!"

Hearing Max's tone, Lin Yu felt even more helpless.

"With such a confident tone, at least say you could win!"

"How could I? My self-awareness is pretty clear," Max waved her hand, "Right now, I don't have many items that can be used for direct combat."

Hearing this, Lin Yu thought it was just modesty.

After all, the security uniform monster wasn't that strong.

He could handle it just with the [Fear Torch].

If Stiller were still here, he could probably one-shot it.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu felt somewhat melancholy.

"I really don't know where Stiller and Hannah went... did we get separated before the last 'Rewind'?"

"Although I can confirm they're probably still alive, I hope they weren't captured by some dungeon boss waiting for me to rescue them... but if the notebook didn't mention it, it should be fine, right?"

Lin Yu had no clues, so he could only remain optimistic.

"Maybe it's because summoned creatures aren't affected by 'Rewind'... that's why they didn't appear—after all, other consumed [items] didn't recover either, and the notebook specifically mentioned this."

Lin Yu exhaled.

Just as he sorted out his thoughts, footsteps suddenly came from upstairs.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Max instantly tensed up.

"What's coming down?!"

She quickly threw different dolls up the stairs, then assumed a fighting stance—it looked like a Wing Chun opening stance, but not very standard.

But even if it were standard, it probably wouldn't be much use...

"The monsters in this dungeon are either giant doctors two stories tall or things covered in tentacles. Are you planning to have a bare-handed close combat fight with them?"

Lin Yu couldn't help but ask.

Max chuckled: "No, I'm just posing. Maybe it'll intimidate someone!"

"Besides, I've got you here."

As they joked, a head peeked out from around the staircase corner.

A somewhat fluffy, even messy-haired ordinary girl with dark circles under her eyes looking slightly haggard poked her head out. Seeing Lin Yu and Max, her face showed a relieved expression.

Then, Robin spoke: "Whew... you're players, right? From your looks, you should be players, right?"

She asked timidly, not expecting Max below to immediately stand at attention.

"Whoa," Max said excitedly, "Brother May, we can just coast now!"

"This is one of the top experts in our 'Night Watchmen,' Teacher Robin," as she spoke, Max waved her hand, "Hello, Teacher Robin! I'm Max from the 'Night Watchmen,' and this is 'May May' from 'Order'!"

"We're both First-Tier players—I'm a 'Thief' and he's a 'Doctor'!"

Accompanied by Max's excited introduction, Robin quickly came downstairs, somewhat shyly tugging at her clothes as she spoke: "Hello, hello... I didn't expect to meet other 'Night Watchmen' in this dungeon..."

"Yeah," Max said optimistically, "Two 'Night Watchmen' and one 'Order'—at least we players don't need to scheme against each other!"

"Let's work together to conquer this dungeon!"

As Max spoke, Lin Yu chimed in: "Indeed, based on the current dungeon difficulty and our team composition... this dungeon shouldn't be too hard for us to clear."

Noticing the bloodstains on Robin's clothes, he asked: "Teacher Robin, you must have dealt with quite a few monsters to get down here, right?"

After all, since entering the stairwell, although they'd dealt with one monster, Lin Yu could still hear many monster movements from above—until just before Robin appeared, when all those monsters suddenly went quiet.

Connecting the timeline, Lin Yu could easily deduce that Robin must have cleared out the monsters.

Robin seemed somewhat embarrassed: "Because they looked noisy and scary, so I killed them all..."

"Because the environment here itself gives me some unpleasant associations, so I... ah, sorry, I'm oversharing, and this isn't really a place for chatting."

Robin said, then clapped her hands.

"Alright, anyway, before I came down to this floor, I investigated a bit. We're currently on the thirty-seventh island of the Misty Sea Archipelago. The clear condition mentioning leaving the 'island' probably refers to this," Robin looked down at the ground, speaking in a continuous stream of muttering, "Then from things I found on some doctors, I temporarily deduced that the first step to leave this 'asylum' building—meaning leaving the island—requires obtaining an item that's probably something like 'Director's Permission.' The director's office is likely on the first floor..." Thɪs chapter is updated by novel⁂fire.net

Listening to Robin's long speech that sounded like an elementary student reciting a lesson, Lin Yu immediately realized something.

First, there was indeed a mechanism similar to "cycles" existing in this dungeon—it wasn't him using some deceptive method to perform "Rewind" again but without retaining memories.

Second...

Robin must have also transmitted some information from the previous cycle to herself through some means.

Lin Yu could clearly determine that Robin not only transmitted information to herself through some method, but she should be the same as him - having "only transmitted information" rather than retaining memories.

If her memories had been preserved, then Robin's reaction upon seeing him and Max just now shouldn't have been surprise - judging from her performance in the Mad Banquet Beyond Heaven, Lin Yu didn't think Robin's acting skills were that good.

So, she should have only received some "recorded" information as well.

Should he discuss this matter with Robin?

But this thought flashed through his mind, and Lin Yu quickly dismissed it himself.

Probably better not to do that.

The Ancient Notebook also mentioned that Robin seemed to be hiding something from him and might not be completely trustworthy.

One teammate was trustworthy but unreliable, the other reliable but not trustworthy...

Lin Yu sighed inwardly while maintaining a smile on his face.

"Since Teacher Robin has already investigated so thoroughly, our temporary goal is to find the Director's Office and obtain the permission to leave."

As Lin Yu spoke, Robin nodded.

"That's right, that's right, so let's head to the first floor now..."

Robin suggested quietly, and Max was about to agree.

But Lin Yu interrupted both of them.

"I think that plan is good, but I want to say... I think we should split up and act separately."

Lin Yu said seriously.

This suggestion surprised Robin.

"Ahh... why is that?"

She looked at Lin Yu uneasily, her hands clutching the hem of her gray top.

Of course it was because of the "Rewind" ability - Lin Yu wanted to do more "investigation" of this building.

After all, what "Robin" just said was likely a summary of the "known information" she left before losing her memory, possibly representing the correct direction to leave this asylum.

But... Newest update provıded by novｅlfire.net

Lin Yu didn't plan to "rush straight for the main objective" like this.

Before collecting more information about "Rewind," Lin Yu didn't intend to continue "advancing" the progress of this dungeon.

No matter how fast the progress, when memories get cleared and rewound, it would just be wasted effort.

The information he left for himself in the Ancient Notebook telling him about the existence of "Rewind" in this dungeon was also a kind of hint in Lin Yu's view.

Hinting to himself... to prioritize the rewind above all else.

But of course he couldn't tell these reasons to Robin.

So Lin Yu could only put on a serious face and start making things up.

"I think splitting up is the best choice... Since this building should be an 'asylum' and the 'Director's Permission' is almost equivalent to the necessary condition for clearing, this should be the key to this dungeon."

"But precisely because it's the key point, I don't think we should all rush there recklessly... What if obtaining the credentials to leave the hospital from the Director requires some prerequisite conditions?"

"This building has five floors total - it can't be that only one floor is useful. So my suggestion is that while we should go to the first floor to search for the Director's Office and investigate, we shouldn't all go... It's better to have someone search for clues on other floors, which also prevents wasting time."

Lin Yu spoke seriously, and Robin was momentarily stunned before murmuring, "That... that makes sense."

Lin Yu nodded again: "Teacher Robin, your overall strength is high and you can handle the potential dangers in the Director's Office. Max, because of her class, is also very good at finding things and might get lucky using her abilities to directly obtain the credentials... Both of you are also from the Night Watchmen, so you'll coordinate well together."

"So I propose that you two go to the first floor to find the Director's Office and see if you can get the credentials, while I investigate on the other floors."

"At this point, I won't be modest - although my strength isn't as high as Teacher Robin's, given the current monster strength, I have more than enough to protect myself."

"Moreover, I'm relatively good at reasoning and puzzles, and I'm more likely to discover clues that might be easily overlooked during investigation."

After Lin Yu finished speaking, he looked at Max and Robin.

Obviously...

Both Max and Robin were convinced.

Robin nodded convinced: "That makes sense... Then I'll take Max to investigate the first floor..."

Max also gave a thumbs up: "Brother May, choosing to go solo voluntarily in this situation is truly noble and self-sacrificing!"

"Don't worry, I'll work with Teacher Robin to quickly handle things and come back to support you... No matter what situation we encounter in the Director's Office, we won't abandon you."

Max made two grand, heroic declarations.

Then, she and Robin headed downstairs.

Lin Yu retreated back from the emergency exit.

He returned to the second floor, and after walking just a few steps, arrived at the widest corridor that served as the activity area.

Here were many freely moving patients of bizarre shapes.

Compared to those doctors and security personnel, these patients' forms were even further from human appearance.

Plus, the Ancient Notebook had already told him about the danger of these creatures, so Lin Yu naturally approached them cautiously.

Unlike other places, the floor of the activity area wasn't exposed concrete, but was paved with soft-textured light-colored square tiles.

Lin Yu walked in pretending to be relaxed, then approached a "lizard man" who was sitting by a small round table near the window reading a book.

Calling him a "lizard man" wasn't entirely accurate, because although this guy looked like a human with reptilian skin and head... upon closer inspection, the top of his head was made of metal, fastened with many screws of various sizes.

Lin Yu sat opposite him at the small round table - there were many empty tables in the activity area, but Lin Yu specifically chose to sit opposite him.

At the same time, Lin Yu carefully observed the book in the other's hands.

Judging from the cover printing and layout, it seemed to be a comic, an action genre featuring "dinosaurs" as main characters.

This behavior didn't violate any rules - it couldn't even be called immoral - but it was very "mentally disturbed."

So disturbed that even in an asylum, it would make others uncomfortable.

Sure enough, this lizard man with screws all over his head and an alloy skull became very uncomfortable, put down his comic, and looked at Lin Yu.

The lizard man very politely asked Lin Yu.

"Do you need something?"

Facing the lizard man's inquiry, Lin Yu very fittingly squatted on the stool, grinning to reveal a mentally unstable smile.

"Bro, is that thing you're reading good? What's it about?"

"It's good, it's a comic, 'Dinosaur Carrying Wolf,' telling the story of a T-Rex protagonist with werewolf bloodline gradually shouldering the responsibility of reviving the werewolf race," the lizard man said kindly, his scaly fingers with sharp, curved nails tapping the cover, "Haven't you read it?"

"Haven't read it," Lin Yu said honestly, "Can you show it to me?"

The lizard man looked puzzled: "Isn't this a comic book store? Why don't you just take one yourself?"

As he spoke, his hand reached toward the window beside them.

"Paranoid schizophrenia."

Lin Yu made a judgment in his heart.

But the next moment, his judgment was overturned.

Because he saw the lizard man actually pull a comic book out of the "air" in front of the window.

Lin Yu stared at the lizard man who had just pulled a "Dinosaur Carrying Wolf" comic book out of thin air and handed it to him, feeling like his own mind might actually be getting a bit disturbed.

He took the comic book and flipped through it a couple times...

The comic actually had real content and felt heavy in his hands—it wasn't some illusion or projection.

"This can't be right..."

Lin Yu felt an indescribable sense of wrongness enveloping him.

Did this lizard man have the ability to summon objects from thin air or create things?

Or perhaps... there was something strange about that window area, or the medical staff at this "asylum" had made some modifications targeting its condition?

Whatever the case, in the Death Game filled with supernatural phenomena, pulling a comic book out of thin air wasn't particularly shocking or rare ability.

In fact, this was a basic ability for Players—the privileges of the item space were available to players as soon as they entered the Death Game.

But Lin Yu still felt something was off...

Because even though he could come up with those "reasonable" explanations, his intuition told him... the current situation absolutely didn't fit those seemingly logical explanations.

This lizard man who seemed to have delusional disorder moved and carried himself too naturally, as if he really was in a comic book shop filled with comics. Lin Yu even noticed that his elbow had accidentally bumped against what might have been a "cabinet," causing a slight shift—even the world's greatest mime artist couldn't perform to this level.

This wasn't a question of whether acting skills could achieve it, but whether ergonomics and physics could permit it.

Even the most accomplished Oscar winners playing flying deities would need wires and special effects!

So... Lin Yu held the comic book in his hands, feeling that these "patients" were indeed much deeper waters than they appeared.

"Has the psychiatric fantasy here reached the point of constructing an entire world invisible to others out of thin air, or is it simply the projection of some higher-dimensional being?"

Lin Yu held the comic book and looked back at the lizard man.

"Thank you for the recommendation... I'll properly appreciate this comic book."

Lin Yu spoke while slightly bowing in thanks, then left the table.

The lizard man with the metal skull nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

Holding this comic book, Lin Yu began trying to interact with other patients.

His next target was the two-headed bird sitting cross-legged on the floor playing chess not far away.

Before the two-headed bird was a chessboard with black and white pieces on a square board that looked like Go, but the board only had ten vertical and ten horizontal lines, not the standard Go configuration.

The two bird heads were also quite peculiar.

Both appeared to be some kind of raptor, but one had no eyes on its face, while the other had teeth in its beak.

The eyeless bird head played black, while the toothed bird head played white.

"Clack!"

Every time a piece was placed, both bird heads would shake and sway while praising each other and themselves.

"What a brilliant move."

"Truly an excellent play, hahaha!"

Lin Yu moved closer to take a look—the two crows were currently twisting their heads around like goats.

His eye twitched.

Not only were they playing against themselves, but both heads were terrible chess players.

Noticing Lin Yu approaching to watch the game, both bird heads simultaneously turned toward Lin Yu.

"A chess friend has come to watch, would you like to play a game?"

The left eyeless bird head spoke cheerfully.

Before Lin Yu could respond, the right toothed bird head spoke with an unfriendly tone.

"Go away, go away, I only play with masters... you're of unknown origins, I won't play with you."

Hearing the right bird head speak, Lin Yu immediately smiled.

"Alright, sorry to disturb!"

Lin Yu immediately turned and left.

He didn't have time to waste with this two-headed bird man...

Patients were all very dangerous, Lin Yu kept this firmly in mind.

The right bird head seemed to have a bad temper... what if they got angry during the game and started fighting with him?

The risk was too great—better to try someone else!

After leaving the two-headed bird man, Lin Yu found another figure sitting on a table, leaning against a mop, completely covered in dark fur.

From within that fluffy mass of fur, a pair of bright red eyes shone intensely, like the indicator light on Ultraman's chest when he's low on energy.

Lin Yu walked over and stared at it for a while.

The fur ball spoke.

It pointed to the mop beside it, its voice weathered.

"Iron Mouth Direct Judgment, No Deceiving Young or Old!"

Lin Yu looked at the positioning between him and the mop and understood.

So this mop that looked like a mop was actually a banner.

This fur ball before him was actually a fortune teller.

"How much for a fortune reading?"

Lin Yu looked at the fur ball before him and asked.

The fur ball shook for a moment, then extended a withered hand from within.

It pointed to the... comic book in Lin Yu's hands.

"This."

"This? This is borrowed," Lin Yu looked toward the lizard man still reading comics over there, "This isn't my thing, it's his."

Lin Yu pointed toward the lizard man.

The hand extended by the fur ball waved slightly.

"No matter, just give it to me."

Lin Yu hesitated somewhat, worried this might cause trouble.

But after considering for a moment, he felt it probably wouldn't be a big problem, and handed the comic book to the fur ball.

The fur ball took the comic book, retracted its entire hand inside, then fell silent.

A few seconds later, just as Lin Yu was wondering if this thing had stolen his comic book and was playing dumb, it suddenly spoke again.

"Calculating, calculating, endless changes cannot be fully calculated."

"Seeing, seeing, all living beings and appearances cannot be completely seen."

"Today it is destined that you come here, with me, this half-immortal, having unfinished karma."

"Karma is karma, immortal is immortal, heavenly secrets cannot be spoken plainly."

"Listen carefully to the seven parts of meaning hidden in my words, and the seven parts of mystery hidden within that meaning."

"They say it's like ten waters converging at the trapped dragon peak, mountains connecting to rivers and rivers connecting to mountains."

"Those entering the mountains are all mountain guests, not knowing where the mountain lord has gone?"

"Don't mistake pines and cypresses for fellow travelers, recognize that snakes and insects are not human!"

"The child bears the appearance of tiger and leopard, the mountain man inverted becomes immortal."

"Having spoken of the mountain's situation, let us speak of the three mountain guests."

"Coming to this mountain, all have their reasons; I speak slowly, you listen carefully."

"One is a false temple housing the true Laozi, not recognizing that his own body is wood and stone; entering the mountain and joining the game is not his true intent, his true form not revealed brings no disaster."

"One is that the mountain differs but resembles, revisiting old grounds with thoughts not eliminated; entering this game he is not a piece, positioned outside the board not holding chess."

"One is that cloud-covered mountains and misty waters create illusions in the heart, obsessed with old appearances unable to extricate himself; his body is already in thousands of layers of games, what dead end could trap his heart!"

After speaking, the fur ball shook the mop behind it, actually producing clear bell-like sounds.

"Fated one, I have finished speaking... you may go now!"

Having said this, the fur ball spoke no more. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NovєlFіre.net

Leaving Lin Yu stunned for a moment, before he quickly pulled out the Ancient Notebook and recorded everything the fur ball had just said!

Lin Yu closed the notebook and left the patient area.

From the nearly cryptic words spoken by that fortune-telling Fur Ball earlier, Lin Yu had already cross-referenced them with the current situation and understood much of the information corresponding to this dungeon.

"Ten waters converge at Trapped Dragon Peak's head, mountains connect to rivers and rivers connect to mountains"—this probably refers to this dungeon having a mechanism similar to reincarnation cycles.

Although he didn't know why the imagery of "mountains" and "rivers" was used for now, and why the number of rivers was "ten," in any case, this was definitely talking about "reincarnation cycles."

The latter part of the phrase even used palindrome structure!

"Those who enter the mountains are all guests within the mountains, not knowing where the mountain master has gone"—this, combined with what followed, seemed to indicate that the three players including himself were all "guests" and "outsiders."

Moreover, the true "master" of this asylum didn't seem to be present among them.

The above were general introductions, and also information Lin Yu currently knew.

As for the latter two phrases, when Lin Yu looked at them together, he always felt they seemed like some kind of hint... but he wasn't confident for now.

"Do not mistake pine and cypress for fellow travelers, recognize that snakes and insects are not human; the child bears tiger leopard appearance, the mountain man inverted becomes immortal."

This seemed to be describing certain characteristics of the NPCs or players active within the dungeon.

Only Lin Yu didn't know what pine and cypress, snakes and insects, child, and mountain man referred to.

He could only make rough guesses.

"Pine and cypress not fellow travelers... could it be that players and players don't have completely aligned interests?"

"Are snakes and insects, and the child, referring to doctors or patients?"

"Mountain man inverted... what is this word puzzle pointing to?"

Lin Yu had no leads.

But compared to these four phrases introducing the dungeon, Lin Yu cared more about the three segments that clearly referred to "players" as "guests within the mountains."

Especially the first segment, which very much seemed to be describing himself—that Fur Ball claimed to be "half immortal," and Lin Yu initially thought it was some kind of title.

Now it seemed perhaps this guy truly possessed a status very close to the "gods" he had encountered before.

After all, those who could see through his disguise usually had some connection to gods!

So if the first segment corresponded to himself, and he could figure out which segment corresponded to Robin and which to Max, it would likely be greatly useful for his upcoming game progress.

After all...

Judging from the previous doggerel about this dungeon, players might truly come into competition.

From intuition, Lin Yu felt the second segment seemed to describe Robin.

After all, the phrase "entering this game yet not a piece, standing outside the board yet not moving chess" clearly indicated the described person should have some capability, and for some reason was in a state of slacking off.

Therefore, Lin Yu thought it more likely to be Robin.

But if this segment was about Robin...

Then the third segment talking about Max would make this girl quite interesting.

"Clouds mountains mist water heart is illusion, obsessed with old appearances unable to free oneself; body already trapped in countless layers of games, where could a death trap imprison the heart."

What was she hiding? What was she obsessed with?

What capability did this young girl have to be evaluated as "body already trapped in countless layers of games"?

Lin Yu rubbed his temples.

"Such a headache-inducing dungeon... really, is there any dungeon where I can have a bit of peace?"

This dungeon hasn't even gone through Promotion yet and it's already this troublesome!

Lin Yu returned to the stairwell and proceeded upward along the path Robin had taken.

After reaching the third floor, Lin Yu pushed open the door and walked out.

The third floor's structure was similar to the second floor, also featuring winding corridors and rooms.

But unlike the second floor...

The third floor's corridors and wards had no patients or doctors, only various kinds of "corpses."

Crushed dismembered limbs, flesh and blood mixtures splattered across the walls.

The entire third floor was silent and empty, exuding an eerie feeling.

Most of these corpses seemed to have died from being crushed, and from this somewhat familiar method of death, Lin Yu could easily draw a conclusion.

"This couldn't be Robin's doing, could it..."

Lin Yu murmured, simultaneously feeling more awe toward that timid Painter girl.

After all, she was the one Night Watchmen used to single-handedly counter Fluoxetine, far more terrifying than ordinary Third Tier players.

Indeed, his judgment in that Mad Banquet Beyond Heaven dungeon had been correct.

In that dungeon, the strongest one present might very well have been this Miss Robin.

He walked around the entire third floor and let out a breath.

There weren't any survivors on the entire third floor.

Lin Yu even somewhat suspected whether Robin had done this intentionally.

"Could it be that she's truly not on the same side as me and Max?"

As soon as this thought emerged, Lin Yu felt a chill down his spine.

What joke was this, him taking Max to fight Robin? Latest content publıshed on NoveIꜰire.net

Might as well just die then!

"There probably wouldn't be such an absurd competition, that would be way too unbalanced."

Lin Yu quickly dismissed this dangerous thought.

Then he left the third floor and came to the fourth floor again.

And the "tragic scene" on the fourth floor... was also quite similar.

Almost all the patients and medical staff on the entire fourth floor had been turned into fragments.

Lin Yu even found what was probably the ward where Robin had been confined—the entire iron door had been "blasted open" and deformed, and the interior was as tragic as a microwave that had heated a raw egg.

About five people's worth of blood and organ fragments were smeared across the walls, looking like some kind of postmodern, strongly deconstructed, visually impactful artwork.

Lin Yu couldn't help but engage in some dark humor.

"Even killing people is done with such visual artistry, no wonder her class is Painter."

Without doubt, the fourth floor after Robin's baptism wouldn't have any clues left behind.

Therefore, what remained for Lin Yu to explore...

Was only the fifth floor.

And according to what was described in his notebook, the fifth floor seemed to be quite a dangerous place.

So...

Lin Yu pushed open the stairwell door and directly stepped onto the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

No matter how dangerous, he had to go check—this dungeon was already bizarre enough.

Although that Fur Ball seemed to be a friendly unit that gave relatively fair hints, Lin Yu still couldn't completely trust it.

Regarding the truth about this eerie dungeon's strange mechanisms, Lin Yu still decided to personally collect information.

Rather...

It was precisely because this dungeon had a "reincarnation cycle" mechanism that based on this, Lin Yu couldn't help but make bold conjectures.

Because of the existence of "reincarnation cycles," traps that would cause "instant death" in the dungeon might actually not be too numerous!

Even judging from previous monster strength, even if there was danger, it probably wouldn't be beyond his ability to handle.

More importantly still...

His past self hadn't prevented this step of his.

Not just because the Ancient Notebook didn't write about it.

Better evidence was that when he stood at the fifth floor stairwell entrance, there was an old password input device at this floor's entrance.

That wasn't the main point.

The main point was that carved on the wall next to the password lock was a line—"The password is 620150."

This was clearly his own handiwork.

"Thank you, past me."

Lin Yu muttered sarcastically, then entered the password.

Then...

"Beep!"

The password lock emitted a sharp alarm sound and lit up with red light.

Standing before the door and looking at the password lock flashing with red light, Lin Yu was somewhat confused.

Why was it wrong?

Did he guess incorrectly? Did his past self not want him to enter the fifth floor?

But that didn't make sense. If that was the case, why not just say so directly?! What's the point of deceiving himself and going through all these twists and turns?

Lin Yu contemplated more reasonable possibilities.

"Could it be... the password was changed? Or maybe this place simply uses dynamic passwords?"

But since he could decipher it once, he could decipher it again.

Lin Yu looked around, trying to find clues about how to crack this password lock.

Soon, Lin Yu made a discovery.

But it was more of a "hint" than a "clue."

Beneath the previous line of carved text, there were three smaller characters—"Valetti."

They were carved very shallowly, and one might easily overlook them without careful observation.

Even if seen, one would probably just take them as a signature.

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then opened the [Ancient Notebook].

He quickly flipped back a few pages and indeed saw another line of text.

"On the fifth floor now, right?"

"The password I carved earlier was random, meant to mislead other players in case we didn't secure the opportunity and they came instead."

"I've placed the real solution to this password lock in the 'phone'—I got it from the NPC on the first floor."

Seeing this in the [Ancient Notebook], even though Lin Yu knew he wrote it himself, he still paused in surprise.

What surprised him wasn't that his past self was actually "misleading" others and had become so wary of Robin.

Rather, it was...

The method of storing the "password."

"Phone?"

Lin Yu understood what he was referring to, so he skeptically pulled out the [Cyber Ghost's Electronic Coffin] from his chest.

The transparent slab appeared in his hand, and with a thought, it transformed into "May May's" phone.

There was, of course, no signal...

But modern smartphones had long since evolved beyond just making calls.

Lin Yu quickly found a video in the phone's gallery.

When he opened it, he saw himself filming—the location was right in front of this locked door on the fifth floor.

And the subsequent actions in the video made Lin Yu understand why he had to use a video to record this.

In the video, he saw himself turning the entire password input panel clockwise three times, then counterclockwise once, finally pressing and holding the "5" key while saying "open," after which the password lock lit up with a green light.

Such an abstract method was indeed something no one could figure out no matter how hard they thought.

"The designer of this asylum... must be just as crazy."

But after learning the entry method, Lin Yu was in no hurry.

He checked the other phones, confirmed there were no recorded videos or other stored information, and only then proceeded to execute the actions he saw in the video.

After turning the password lock as instructed, he pressed and held the 5 key and said "open."

This time, there were no surprises.

Lin Yu smoothly pushed the door open and entered the fifth floor of the asylum.

The fact that the fifth-floor entrance had a password lock indicated that this floor was different from the previous ones.

And sure enough, as soon as he entered, Lin Yu encountered two doctors in white coats in the hallway.

They were similarly tall, but much more lean and athletic compared to the giant doctors he encountered before.

Over two meters tall with tight, muscular bodies—they looked like professional basketball players with bluish-purple skin.

At the same time, they had sparse, receding hairlines, seemingly indicating some level of seniority and status.

Seeing Lin Yu's figure, the two doctors who had been staring blankly at each other jumped in fright and simultaneously roared at Lin Yu.

"...Howl!"

They immediately reacted, charging toward Lin Yu's direction.

"An ambush right at the door too."

Lin Yu sighed helplessly and had to hastily prepare for battle.

Although these two appeared much smaller than the previous ones, Lin Yu was quite certain...

As monsters on the fifth floor, they would only be more troublesome.

Just as Lin Yu expected.

The moment he drew the [Fear Torch] and [Bone Crusher], the two tall doctors opposite him also pulled out their weapons.

The one on the left produced a thick syringe, while the one on the right took out an entire medical kit!

The doctor brandishing the syringe charged forward first.

"Clang!"

The straight, rigid needle, like a rapier, collided with Lin Yu's [Fear Torch], producing a clear, ringing sound.

Lin Yu took the opportunity to strike the needle with his hammer, attempting to break it, but without significant effect.

"Pretty tough!"

The [Bone Crusher] wasn't the [Tools] hammer of the 'Craftsman'.

This was specifically designed for biological targets, not for attacking [Items].

When the strike proved ineffective, Lin Yu immediately dodged backward!

Because the other tall doctor swinging the medical kit had already charged forward, swinging the kit in a full arc aimed directly at Lin Yu's head!

"Bang!"

The medical kit smashed into the floor, and Lin Yu felt the entire floor shake violently.

"Really at a disadvantage because of their size."

"And these guys have no intelligence... can't use 'Deception' with the [Counterfeit] to get any good [Items] to boost combat power."

"Guess it has to be a direct confrontation?"

As Lin Yu thought this, he applied the [Ice Blessing] from the immortal brew stored in the [Bliss Immortal Pot] to himself.

He felt a refreshing coolness throughout his body, and his speed increased significantly.

"Whoosh—!"

The sudden speed boost caught both monsters off guard. The doctor on the left let out a miserable cry as the pale flames spewing from the Fear Torch—which Lin Yu had deliberately kept unlit until now—struck directly at his face!

Lin Yu had, of course, done this intentionally.

These mindless monsters fought almost entirely on instinct, so it was natural to deceive them.

Activating the [Fear Torch] at the critical moment was enough to achieve a "sneak attack" effect even in direct combat!

And the effect was remarkably effective! Googlᴇ search NoveIＦire.net

The monster on the left instantly retreated two steps, most of the features on its face severely burned. It collapsed to the ground in agony, with less than ten percent of its combat power remaining!

Just as Lin Yu was preparing to press his advantage and finish it off, then launch a fierce assault on the monster on the right...

The monster on the right suddenly opened the medical kit, then took out a bottle of medicine and poured it directly over the other monster's head.

And then...

The burns on that monster immediately subsided significantly!

Lin Yu couldn't hold back his frustration.

"Seriously, dude, even monsters can heal?!"

But whether they could heal or not was secondary...

When Lin Yu saw this monster's actions, he—still playing the role of "May"—naturally realized something.

Left with syringe, right with medical kit...

Why did these two monsters' equipment so closely resemble the two [Class Items] of the 'Doctor' class—the [Syringe] and the [Medical Kit]?!

Something's wrong, very wrong—ten percent wrong, or even nine percent wrong.

The weapons held by the two "doctor"-like monsters just happened to match the appearance of [Syringe] and [Medical Kit]...

Calling it a coincidence would be far too optimistic.

Especially considering how this doctor monster used its "medical kit" and the effects it produced were extremely similar to the effects of [Class Item · Medical Kit].

The effect of [Medical Kit] is to grant the 'Doctor' additional healing abilities, allowing the 'Doctor' to store these healing capabilities and retrieve them in the form of "medicine" when needed.

Plus, the monster holding the "syringe" had been the main attacker all along...

Lin Yu looked at the two monsters, slightly furrowing his brows.

"What exactly is going on here?"

The moment the question arose, Lin Yu also made a simple assessment of his own strength compared to the two monsters.

Honestly speaking, with all the various "buffs" enhancing him, Lin Yu felt he could take them down.

"My healing abilities as a 'Doctor' haven't been used yet either..."

After thinking it over, Lin Yu made up his mind.

When the monster doctor swung its syringe to stab at him again, Lin Yu still dodged.

But this time...

He didn't completely evade and create distance.

Instead, Lin Yu chose to sidestep slightly to avoid the thrust, then moved even closer, closing the distance!

At the same time, Lin Yu withdrew the [Bone Crusher] back into his [item space], and his now-free hand grabbed the syringe's needle.

The [Fear Torch] swung through the air, its pale flames tracing a cold white arc like a new moon, once again aiming for the monster doctor's face.

That monster doctor had already witnessed the terror of the [Fear Torch]—due to the "soul dissolution into body" condition, this fear-condensed flame clearly had special effects on it too.

It hastily retreated while forcefully pulling out the syringe that Lin Yu was holding!

"Whoosh!"

In terms of pure physical strength, this two-meter-plus monster still held an absolute advantage.

With this powerful pull, the syringe's tip directly sliced open Lin Yu's palm.

Instantly, Lin Yu's left palm was dripping with blood, showing a gaping wound with flesh turned outward.

"So painful!"

Lin Yu gritted his teeth slightly.

Although he had encountered numerous dangerous situations and battles since joining the 'Death Game', given that he valued himself highly and almost never fought unprepared battles, getting injured was still a rare occurrence for Lin Yu.

Especially an injury to the palm... the sharp, throbbing pain and gushing blood made Lin Yu feel extremely uncomfortable.

But...

This was exactly what he was aiming for.

Threatening the monster, closing in for an aggressive attack—everything was for creating this scenario where the monster felt threatened and he sustained just the right amount of injury.

So at this moment, if the syringe in the monster's hand truly had abilities similar to the 'Doctor's' [Class Item · Syringe]...

It would definitely use it.

And the result was exactly as Lin Yu expected.

The not-too-intense pain only lasted a few seconds before, accompanied by a blood-red glow appearing on the "syringe", the bleeding suddenly intensified.

Intense pain struck, nearly making Lin Yu's vision go black and causing him to stagger.

The wound on his palm instantly became deep enough to reveal white bone, and blood gushed out in spurts.

"Hah..."

Lin Yu suppressed the intense pain and exhaled.

"So it really is [Syringe]."

This dungeon was getting more and more interesting.

Starting as an ordinary "escape" dungeon, seemingly a 'Slaughter' type with some 'Survival' elements, it suddenly turned into a reincarnation dungeon with a "Rewind" mechanism.

The two seemingly trustworthy 'Night Watchmen' players, who appeared completely good and lawful, also revealed their respective hidden issues as the dungeon progressed.

Although most of the "monsters" of the medical staff type were quite ordinary, those "patients" on the second floor were increasingly outrageous, even producing a "deity" who could tell fortunes.

And now... even the doctor monsters that Lin Yu originally thought were nothing special were showing some bizarre aspects.

These NPCs actually possessed [Class Items] with functions similar to players'!

"Who exactly built this asylum? Could it be that some god personally created this dungeon scenario... but just isn't presiding over it personally this time?"

Lin Yu couldn't help but wonder inwardly.

But regardless of his wondering, the immediate priority was still to deal with the two enemies in front of him.

The healing ability belonging to the 'Doctor' instantly appeared and healed the wound on his hand, with the gruesome, terrifying injury even healing mostly.

Although probably affected by the ability of the syringe in that 'Doctor's' hand, Lin Yu's wound didn't completely heal.

But Lin Yu didn't mind.

That bit of pain and injury was like chopped scallions floating on noodle soup—present, but having no impact whatsoever!

"Anyway... die."

Lin Yu exhaled, raising the torch high with one hand. The source of thɪs content is NoveI~Fire.net

And his other hand...

Pulled out the [Corner of the Gloomy] that he had used earlier.

A pitch-black, ink-like shadow flashed in Lin Yu's hand, then made his figure disappear from the spot.

Both doctors showed horrified expressions, but before they could even start looking for Lin Yu's figure...

From a corner of the ceiling, Lin Yu immediately burst out of the shadows, thrusting the torch directly into the mouth of the doctor holding the medical kit.

"So you're the one who can heal, huh."

Lin Yu said, then ignited the Fear Torch.

"Boom!"

Flames erupted violently inside its mouth. This fire that used "Fear" as fuel never needed ample combustion conditions.

And even monsters who had lost their souls, with most of their spirits dissolved into their bodies, still possessed final, residual emotions indistinguishable from instinct.

"Fear!"

The scorching flames brought fear, and the bred fear became fuel in turn.

The monster was instantly engulfed in roaring flames.

Lin Yu leaped down from it, heading straight for the other syringe-holding monster.

"Clang! Clang! Bang!"

The sound of metal impacts rang out consecutively, and this time, having lost its teammate's support and wasted the "syringe's" special ability for nothing, this monster was no match for Lin Yu either.

This monster also gradually accumulated disadvantages bit by bit through repeated unfavorable exchanges, until finally...

Lin Yu similarly seized an opening, disrupted its stance, and ignited it with pale flames.

Lin Yu looked at the two fiercely burning "monsters," then shook his hand.

"Hah... won the fight."

Even though he objectively knew he could win, defeating two monsters head-on through direct combat still gave Lin Yu a strong sense of accomplishment.

More importantly...

After the flames on these two monsters gradually dissipated and their corpses turned to ashes, within those embers, there were actually two sparkling objects.

"Whoa, these two doctors were actually well-versed in Buddhist teachings—they even produced relics after being burned."

From the remaining ashes, what Lin Yu found was certainly not relics.

What those two doctors burned into were two shiny metal keys.

Lin Yu brushed aside the debris and picked them up, discovering their texture was probably some kind of extremely smooth metal with a special material—which was why these two small keys sparkled so brightly in the ashes and firelight, immediately catching Lin Yu's attention.

The style was quite plain, being ordinary single-groove double-row keys, and the two keys looked extremely similar, probably for opening the same type of lock.

Lin Yu picked them up, triggering the item prompt.

[Key A: An ordinary key used to open some kind of lock.]

[Key B: An ordinary key used to open some kind of lock.]

Very simplistic item descriptions and naming conventions.

Like something you'd see in some old-school pixel puzzle games—of course keys are meant to open locks.

However...

Having the blood-text [Item] prompt at least meant the game officially certified these two things were actually useful, which wasn't completely useless for Lin Yu.

He stored these two keys properly, then stepped forward into the interior of this floor.

Having been intercepted by two doctors immediately upon entering the fifth floor and getting into an encounter battle, Lin Yu hadn't had time to thoroughly investigate yet!

Upon closer observation, just the corridor decoration of this fifth floor was different from the previous floors.

While not inconsistent in style, you could still see the corridor was quite impressive.

It maintained that somewhat dated style from the previous century, but compared to the minimalist style of cement floors and white plaster walls on the earlier floors, this level at least had tiles installed.

The overhead lighting also used soft light strips, without any flickering or power outage issues.

And the doors embedded one after another in the corridor walls also had relative craftsmanship—not only were simple grooves carved, but the door frames also had edge treatments.

Lin Yu could even see directional signs posted on the walls!

"Your current location, leading to XXX"

But these signs, due to long-term neglect, had most of their text faded beyond recognition.

Lin Yu could only discern from the remaining text that although the entire fifth floor had seven corridors like other floors, it was divided into three areas.

"Special Examination Zone," "Senior Physicians On-Duty Zone," and "Intensive Care Zone."

His current location was naturally the "Senior Physicians On-Duty Zone."

Turning left down one corridor would lead into the "Special Examination Zone."

Since the [Ancient Notebook] contained no further records, Lin Yu reasonably speculated.

His previous exploration of the fifth floor might have been somewhat rushed and incomplete.

He might have even just cracked the entrance password... Thɪs chapter is updated by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

But despite this, Lin Yu didn't think he should proceed cautiously or even stop moving forward.

The doors in this section of the corridor were all made of transparent glass sliding door material, with some walls even having glass windows.

Through these glasses, Lin Yu looked inside—and surprisingly, it was remarkably consistent with ordinary hospitals.

Various bulky, high-end, and precise instruments were displayed under cool white lighting, with the entire room maintaining that plain white clean tone, giving off a reliable yet icy feeling, as if you could smell the disinfectant slowly evaporating from plastic surfaces.

Moreover, this examination zone seemed to have no one on duty, at least Lin Yu didn't see any traces of living creatures.

As he strolled through this corridor, Lin Yu didn't deliberately conceal his presence either, just walking normally, yet still didn't trigger any unusual movements.

In this [Escape from the Madhouse] dungeon, the medical staff NPCs all held some aggressiveness toward players.

No NPCs attacking meant at least there were none of that type hiding in the shadows...

If there were patient NPCs hiding or similar.

Lin Yu would temporarily ignore them.

After all, he had no good method to quickly find these strange, relatively withdrawn NPCs who chose to hide.

Moreover, just from common sense consideration, how could a hospital's "examination room" possibly have no doctors on duty but patients staying inside?

This was indeed a 『Death Game』 dungeon, but as a [dungeon] built on a worldview foundation where facts and the world could reasonably exist, most things themselves needed to conform to "common sense."

Of course, a completely peaceful corridor was also good news, at least indicating nothing bad would happen in this corridor for a while.

Unless monster NPCs suddenly transferred here or simply creations without their own intelligence.

Lin Yu slowly observed the silent scenes on both sides of these corridors.

In this unmanned area, the only thing that could be considered somewhat changing was probably some instruments automatically debugging and self-checking.

Indicator lights flickered on and off, mechanical components operated then stopped.

But they weren't truly running or causing any consequences.

Although there was some activity, these movements weren't enough to attract Lin Yu's serious attention.

Machine self-tests were far too common, and these machines didn't show any style-inappropriate deviations.

After brief observation, Lin Yu decided to temporarily postpone detailed investigation of this area, lowering its priority—completely abandoning it was naturally impossible, since the fifth floor was so special with only three areas, and if this area as one of them contained absolutely nothing hidden, that would be impossible too.

There should at least be some extra rewards.

Of course...

The prerequisite was that Lin Yu would actually still have time later.

After all, Lin Yu currently wasn't in a leisurely single-player exploration dungeon.

Robin and Max had already gone to the first floor to "find clues," and although Lin Yu couldn't completely trust these two, he also didn't think they were in a completely opposing state.

Before direct evidence showed they were in a zero-sum game within this dungeon, Lin Yu would maintain friendly relations with them.

The main reason was because Robin was truly difficult to deal with.

So...

If Max and Robin really found some more crucial clues and actively invited Lin Yu, then Lin Yu might even choose to put aside his exploration of the fifth floor and act together with them!

Moreover, Lin Yu developed some speculations...

His previous exploration of the fifth floor not being too thorough might also have reasons related to those two members from the 『Night Watchmen』.

As for the option of inviting them to explore the fifth floor together...

Lin Yu had an intuition telling him it was better not to do this.

And now Lin Yu clearly understood that so-called "intuition" in this dungeon was actually likely residual memories from before that had been erased but still existed, hinting to himself.

Therefore, Lin Yu decided to follow his intuition.

"Before they find me, I'd better quickly investigate the fifth floor's 'Intensive Care Zone' first."

After passing through two corridors belonging to the "Examination Zone," Lin Yu arrived at the "Intensive Care Zone."

The entire Intensive Care Zone occupied three corridors, but surprisingly...

Each corridor only had one door located exactly in the middle.

The space utilization was extremely low.

Moreover...

The three large doors appeared to Lin Yu almost like bank vault doors.

Heavy and massive metal doors with primitive mechanical locking mechanisms.

They even featured dual keyhole designs.

Rather than confining critically ill patients, Lin Yu felt they more resembled cells for holding extremely dangerous criminals or even wild beasts.

But thinking about it, it made sense - even the ultimate killing king Fire Cloud Evil God was imprisoned in an asylum-like place...

The only difference being one was in a basement while this was on the top floor.

Furthermore, judging from the keyhole shapes, Lin Yu could easily deduce...

That the [Key A] and [Key B] in his possession were meant to open one of these ward doors.

This was also why Lin Yu hadn't lingered when passing through the Examination Zone earlier.

Because he noticed that area's doors all had combination locks, leaving no use for keys.

So although he found the "Examination Zone" first, the optimal exploration sequence should be visiting the Intensive Care Zone first to look for those patients.

After all, compared to medical staff, "patients" were relatively friendlier.

"But which doors do these two keys correspond to?"

Lin Yu murmured to himself.

Although there were only three doors, trying them one by one wouldn't take much time.

However...

Lin Yu wouldn't do that.

After all, these doors were built so impregnably - who knew if inserting the wrong key might trigger some special alarm system?

What if a dozen violent purple-skinned brutes came charging out to gang up on him? Who could he complain to then?

Therefore, Lin Yu decided to carefully study which doors these two keys belonged to.

After all, above each large door's keyholes were attached some label markings.

Lin Yu felt these might provide hints about which keys to use.

Approaching one large door and looking closely, the tiny text on the labels came into view.

The left keyhole was labeled "Lock E," the right keyhole labeled "Lock F."

Looking at these lock identifiers and combining them with the item descriptions of the two keys, Lin Yu fell into deep thought.

"Wait, could it really be that simple?"

He quickly crossed two and a half corridors, reached the third intensive care ward door, and found the corresponding identifiers above the two keyholes - "Lock A" and "Lock B."

"It really is that simple!"

After a moment's thought, Lin Yu hesitantly inserted [Key A] and [Key B] into their corresponding keyholes.

Applying slight pressure, the keys smoothly turned counterclockwise.

Then the lock cores made mechanical spring-release sounds - followed by internal mechanical transmission noises from within the door.

After the sounds finished, the door slowly opened a crack.

From inside came faint rustling noises.

Lin Yu slowly pulled the door open with effort, and inside...

What Lin Yu saw wasn't a "ward" but a spacious classroom.

Although blackboards hung at both ends with lecterns and multimedia projectors set up, there were no desks or chairs.

Instead, there were over a dozen red plastic stools and many easels.

The easels displayed geometric shape artworks with identical main subjects but significantly different details.

Lin Yu could even see the blurred concrete courtyard outside through the classroom's slightly fogged glass windows.

In this empty classroom, only one person sat on a small red plastic stool in the corner.

It was a short-haired girl wearing a bulky gray down jacket and heavy black-framed glasses.

The young girl was slowly modifying the painting on her canvas.

Hearing the ward door open, she turned to look at Lin Yu.

Their eyes met, and Lin Yu was somewhat stunned.

That face belonging to a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl...

Was Robin's.

Instantly, Lin Yu felt his scalp tingling.

Why would a younger version of Robin appear in the top-floor ward?

Wait, there were three intensive care wards - did that mean... The most update n0vels are published on novel⟡fire.net

As Lin Yu's thoughts raced, preparing to speak with this "Robin" to confirm her condition -

Was she some kind of memory projection or something else?

But before Lin Yu could speak, the younger Robin version seemed to comprehend something upon seeing him.

She put down her paintbrush, anxious expression appearing on her face.

"Get out of here!"

After saying this, seeing Lin Yu hadn't moved, she anxiously jumped up from her chair, waving her hands.

"It's almost too late!"

As Robin spoke, Lin Yu was stunned.

"What?"

The next moment, Lin Yu suddenly felt intense light coming from behind him.

Blindingly bright white light surged in, making Lin Yu instinctively want to turn and see what was happening.

But he resisted - and quickly did one thing.

"[Bliss Immortal Pot]!"

Lin Yu activated the [Bliss Immortal Pot]'s ability, then took out the [Closed Mind] from it and applied it to himself.

Then he felt himself being engulfed by the white light, intense pain spreading through his body.

The entire asylum was submerged in an ocean of light, everything swallowed by the endless white radiance.

He couldn't see anything before his eyes.

Lin Yu felt his head extremely dizzy... If Lin Yu wasn't mistaken, this white light should be the culprit behind his previous memory loss.

After several dozen seconds, Lin Yu saw the asylum's outline faintly appearing within the white light - rather than appearing, it was more like the white light had receded somewhat.

Using these gradually emerging buildings and diminishing brightness within the white light, Lin Yu gained some spatial and directional awareness.

As the light continued washing over everything, Lin Yu suddenly discovered he seemed to have gained another perspective.

It was a viewpoint outside the asylum, with ten beams of brilliant light converging high above, like waterfalls pouring down from the celestial canopy.

The light converged, washing over everything within the asylum.

The dual perspectives, both nearly blinding from the glaring radiance, made Lin Yu almost vomit.

He had [Closed Mind], so his soul and spirit were temporarily immune to attacks... Therefore Lin Yu knew this wasn't an "attack" but "truth" itself - even his dizziness was genuine physical discomfort.

So Lin Yu suddenly understood why he would voluntarily deactivate [Closed Mind].

"As long as I maintain [Closed Mind], this state probably won't stop!"

"This state makes it impossible to do anything - it's ten times worse than memory loss..."

"Damn it... Playing like this, huh!"

Lin Yu forced himself to spit in disgust, taking out the [Ancient Notebook] and [Cyber Ghost's Electronic Coffin].