The Only Player in 'Child of Stardust'-Chapter 82 - 69 Carrying Family Members Around
Chapter 82: Chapter 69: Carrying Family Members Around
Chapter 82 -69: Carrying Family Members Around
“…Those are the rules, remember not to break them.”
The rules the medical staff told the two were the same four rules Zhou Yuan saw with his Eyes of Identification.
“Where did you learn these rules?” Zhou Yuan asked.
“They’re written on the wall over there.” The medical staff pointed to a wall in the distance.
The wall was in a blind spot of Zhou Yuan and Chen Guangxi’s line of sight. They took a few steps forward and craned their necks to see it.
On the white wall, lines of rules were written in blood. The writing had been there for an unknown amount of time and had turned black.
[These were left by Qin Youwen to warn those who came after.]
Qin Youwen… Zhou Yuan felt a slight stir in his heart.
“So someone figured out the rules here…” Chen Guangxi squinted her eyes, then asked, “Have you heard of someone named Dong Jie?”
“Oh, Mr. Dong, of course. I’ve played many games of chess with him,” the medical staff answered.
“Did he tell you any rules about this mental hospital?”
The medical staff nodded, “Yes, he’s like that, his mental state fluctuates. Whenever he has an episode, he mumbles about some rules.”
“How did you come here?”
“I just walked and ended up here.” The medical staff replied as if it was the most natural thing.
“Before you heard Dong Jie’s talk about the rules, did you ever notice this place?”
“Um… I don’t think so. Can’t really remember, you ask a lot of questions. What’s your condition? Did you skip your medication?” The medical staff frowned, a bit annoyed.
“She’s just a bit paranoid, don’t mind her.” Zhou Yuan tugged on Chen Guangxi, signaling that he would ask the next questions.
His deliberate move to stand in front of Chen Guangxi was seen by the medical staff as “protecting his wife,” making her smile with a maternal delight, secretly cheering inside.
“Um… Have you ever heard of someone named Qin Youwen?” Zhou Yuan hurriedly asked while the staff was still in a good mood.
“Qin Youwen… He stayed here for a while and then left. I was reading at the time, don’t remember much. You can ask them,” the medical staff pointed to others in the reading room, “they all interacted with Qin Youwen.”
“Alright, thank you very much.”
“No problem,” the medical staff smiled, “wish you both a speedy recovery and many children to come.”
With that, she turned and went back to her seat.
Chen Guangxi: “?”
“Why did she wish us many children?” Chen Guangxi asked, puzzled.
Zhou Yuan patiently explained, “Look at what book she’s reading.”
When she held the book upright again, Chen Guangxi read the title aloud: “Love Is So Stupid Even a Dog Won’t Have It?”
“Clearly, she’s a CP (couple pairing) shipper, and she thinks we’re a couple.”
“…” Chen Guangxi was speechless.
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Zhou Yuan continued, “We understand the rules now. Shall we go in?”
“No rush. The rules say once we enter the reading room, we have to completely read one book before we can move freely. And if we stay for more than three hours, we’ll be lost forever…
Reading a short book in three hours is not a problem, but these medical staff have all lost themselves inside.”
Chen Guangxi said in a low voice, “I suspect those books might have abnormal effects that make people addicted and lose track of time.”
“Here’s the plan, you go in, and I’ll stay outside to watch. If you get too absorbed, I’ll pull you out.”
Chen Guangxi took a long, golden rope from her Storage Ring as she spoke.
[Fortune Rope. Perfect quality. An exceptional item made from dragon tendons, it has immense toughness, can be thick or thin, long or short, and can extend up to 20 kilometers. It automatically repairs when broken.
Note: Dache has no masochistic tendencies. This tendon is from her sister.]
You’re carrying a family member with you… Zhou Yuan nodded, “Alright.”
A moment later, Zhou Yuan, with the Fortune Rope tied around his waist, walked into the reading area.
He looked around, finding no sign of a manager. Perhaps the manager only appeared when the rules were broken.
[Every book here has abnormal properties. So I picked a book for you with minimal impact. On the second bookshelf on the left, the third row, the eleventh book from the left, read that one.]
Following the instructions, Zhou Yuan went to the bookshelf and picked out the book. To be exact, it was a very, very thin magazine called “Fun Forest.”
He took the magazine, sat down in a spot where Chen Guangxi could see him, took a deep breath, and opened it to the first page.
—”The Blackout at the American Supermarket”
[An American supermarket suddenly experienced a blackout, plunging the place into complete darkness. Shortly after, a broadcast said, “For customer safety and to avoid a stampede, customers may take their items for free as compensation for the blackout. Please exit in an orderly manner.”
Upon hearing the broadcast, everyone orderly left from the checkout. When the power came back, the supermarket manager was surprised to find the checkout counter filled with cash notes ranging from a few to several hundred dollars.
It turned out that after the announcement, the high-quality Americans conscientiously calculated their items’ prices and silently left the money before exiting. What an honest and polite society!]
After reading the story, Zhou Yuan couldn’t help but admire how civilized the Americans were, truly the beacon of world civilization.
He then turned to the next page.
—”Blackout for Life”
[Once, a sparrow in America was entangled in a fifty-kilovolt high-voltage line at the roadside, its shrieks attracting attention from passersby.
They immediately called 911. The police informed the White House, and the president decided within half an hour to send a special plane to break the country’s main power line in Washington, temporarily shutting down electricity nationwide. Rescuers took half an hour to save the sparrow.
What a great nation that can stop for any humble life.]
Zhou Yuan was teary-eyed, moved by this act of compassion!
After the two stories, he felt this magazine was quite the masterpiece, so he slowed down to savor it.
“The Conscientious Sewer of Germany,” “Drinkable Toilet Water in Yingzhou,” “Must Wash Seven Times”… Each story in the magazine left him deeply impressed and taught him many valuable virtues. He became increasingly enamored with the free and civilized world depicted in the articles.
As he finished the last page and closed the magazine, Zhou Yuan shivered as if struck by lightning.
WTF?!
Zhou Yuan was in disbelief. How did he get brainwashed by these absurd stories concocted by pseudo-intellectuals?
“Damn it, crashing the national power line to save a sparrow, and America’s emergency number isn’t even 911. Could these pseudo-intellectuals put more effort into their fabrications?
Washing a dish seven times in Yingzhou is also ridiculous. Did they use a Geiger counter to measure how many times the dish was washed? The radiation levels for washing seven times are higher than five times.”
Zhou Yuan checked his watch and was shocked to see nearly an hour had passed!
“You were wiping tears one moment and looking solemn the next, it was like you were possessed. These books are definitely not normal.”
Chen Guangxi’s voice echoed in his mind, “There’s half an hour until the second room check. Hurry and gather the information.”
“Got it.”
After completing the reading, the unseen shackles of the rules lifted.
Zhou Yuan returned the magazine to the shelf, took out pen and paper from his Storage Ring, and quickly wrote down a series of questions. He then approached a bald medical staff member and waved his hand in front of him.
The bald man looked up, asking with his eyes, “What do you want?”
Zhou Yuan smiled, handed over the pen and paper, and pleaded for help with hands clasped.
The bald man glanced at the questions, then took the pen and began writing answers.
Zhou Yuan repeated this method, asking everyone in the reading room, and finally compiled the summary.
[Qin Youwen visited here many times and asked many questions, but people could not remember what they were because of the elapsed time.
During his last visit, Qin Youwen clashed with the reading room manager, killed the manager, and sustained serious injuries. After writing the rules on the wall with his blood, he left the reading room and never came back.
Qin Youwen left a page of coded text. Deciphering it would reveal another clue he had left behind.]
Zhou Yuan started searching the bookshelves and soon found the page of coded text in a book. It was composed of Chinese, English, German, French, numbers, and Latin.
Zhou Yuan couldn’t decipher it, but luckily, the Eyes of Identification translated it swiftly.
[Find a book called “From letme to Yan Junze” on the bookshelf. Hidden inside is Qin Youwen’s clue.]
Zhou Yuan searched the bottom shelf at the farthest end and eventually found the book.
Opening it, he found a folded white paper inside, full of scribbled notes.
[Reading Room: Third floor of the complex, safe zone, can restore sanity.]
[Director’s Office: Sixth floor of the complex, accessible only with medical staff status. I suspect it has the method to leave the mental hospital.]
[Medicine Storage: Eighth floor of the complex, contains medicine that can treat mental pollution. Be careful not to be seen by the doctors.]
[Operating Room: The seventh floor of the First Ward. There’s a chance to get a medical staff identity here.]
[Morgue: The twelfth floor of the Second Ward. Do not go here; it is the nest of that thing.]
[Special Ward: The east corner of the First Floor in the Second Ward, extremely dangerous.]
[The mental hospital possesses terrifying anomalies, not just one type. Avoid getting too involved with abnormalities, and escape quickly, or you’ll be trapped forever.]
Qin Youwen explored so many places… Zhou Yuan raised an eyebrow, put away the paper, returned the book, and walked out of the reading room.
“These are the clues left by Qin Youwen.” He passed the paper to Chen Guangxi.
“More than one anomaly…” Chen Guangxi mumbled, mulling over the phrase, as if grasping some inspiration.
At that moment, their watches vibrated, reminding them that only ten minutes remained until the room check.
“Let’s head back first. After the check, we’ll come out again. This time, I’ll see if I can leave the mental hospital entirely,” Chen Guangxi said.
…
Back in the ward.
Zhou Yuan lay on the bed, pretending to sleep, but somehow a powerful drowsiness overwhelmed him, and he fell asleep without realizing it.
Simultaneously.
In Chen Guangxi’s room, a strong sleepiness engulfed her as her thoughts blurred, slowly pulling her into a dream.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in an unfamiliar place.
Broken beams, shattered statues, flickering firelight…
It seemed to be an abandoned temple.
Chen Guangxi was dazed when suddenly, a face popped out beside her.
It was an old woman with a wrinkled face, empty eye sockets without eyeballs, wearing a tattered robe emitting a rancid smell.
The old woman’s filthy, ugly face bore a delighted smile. When she smiled, she revealed teeth covered in yellow grime and spewed out a foul stench from her mouth:
“Child, you finally woke up!”
