Something's not right!
There's definitely something wrong with this game!
With a heavy head, Xu Shuo thought that ever since he entered the game, his mental state had seemed a bit off.
If this was the influence of the character itself, then what kind of game would this be?
Analyzing from the perspective of a Scripted Murder Game, unless it was a psychopathic killer, there would always be a reason for the murderer to kill.
Just as Zhang Shou sought revenge on Mr. Guo to avenge his sister, to fully restore the true story during the game, the murderer needed a reason to kill.
What was Chen Chu's reason for killing Luo Kun?
Because he hadn't triggered the Character Card task, Xu Shuo only got some basic information—Chen Chu's gender, age, and the fact that he was the chief physician at The Fifth Hospital, currently only in charge of Luo Kun, his murder target, and the medication was already prepared.
Even less than the initial information about Zhang Shou.
Just a little less, perhaps.
Xu Shuo recalled the time he went to administer the medication; it shouldn't have been ten minutes yet. Even if Luo Kun had died prematurely due to poor constitution, there was still a more pressing issue that he couldn't shake off—
He wasn't supposed to die in the stairwell!
And what the hell was with all the blood spilled there?
Who secretly did what he had been planning to do, dragging the target out and stabbing him to death?
The more he pondered these things, the more his head throbbed with pain. Xu Shuo held his forehead, breathing somewhat rapidly.
"Doctor Chen! Doctor Chen!"
The nurse's call rang out like thunder by his ear; he slightly came to his senses, turned his head, and saw that the nurse had the medication in her hand and leaned in with concern, "Doctor Chen, you don't seem to be doing very well right now, take this medication first."
So why did he also have to take medication?
Xu Shuo spread his thoughts, could it be that the plot of this Scripted Murder Game was a cliché story where the patients and doctors swapped identities, and he was actually the real patient?
And then, to avoid taking medication, he killed "Doctor" Luo Kun?
No, the identity on the Player's Handbook should be correct—if it wasn't intentionally setting up a text trap.
"Tsk..." Xu Shuo muttered irritably, bowing his head.
"Doctor Chen, you..." At this point, the nurse's concerned voice also began to hesitate, revealing a strange sense of eeriness as she again softly said, "Doctor Chen, please take your medication quickly."
Xu Shuo looked up at her, took the white pills and water from her hands, and said, "Wait a moment, what just happened outside?"
It wasn't because there were no people moving about. Instead, the nurses kept their movements very quiet. There were no sounds of children crying, nor the hurried footsteps of patients rushing to seek medical attention.
"Doctor Chen!"
Suddenly, a nurse appeared from around the left corner, her face marked with anxiousness as she jogged over to him.
Xu Shuo looked at her, recognizing her as the nurse who had come over at the start of the game to inform him that a patient's condition was unstable.
"What's wrong?" Xu Shuo asked calmly.
"It's time for medication, but the patient from Room 13 has gone missing. We can't find him. Look at this..." the nurse said, her voice laden with worry.
Xu Shuo: "..."
If he remembered correctly, he had already delivered the medicine to the patient in Room 13 earlier, and the man had inexplicably died in the stairwell.
So what was the situation now?
Time... started over?
Was that why his mission had changed to an unfinished status?
"Doctor Chen?" The nurse's tentative call once again rang in his ear, as she cautiously looked at the young doctor in front of her.
Xu Shuo snapped back from his thoughts, speaking indifferently, "I understand. I'll go take a look right now."
With that said, he closed the office door and turned to walk toward the far end of the corridor.
This time, Xu Shuo found Room 13 with practiced ease. Pushing open the door, he was confronted with an extremely dim room, lit only by the light from the corridor shining through the crack of the door.
The room was silent; there wasn't a soul in sight.
Where did he vanish to?
A peculiar irritation welled up within Xu Shuo, and the next moment he felt a dull ache in his brain. He rubbed his temples and turned to look towards the fire exit at the end of the hallway.
Recalling the conversation from the last round, Xu Shuo walked over and pulled open the heavy fire door, then saw a young man curled up in the corner of the stairwell.
The creaking noise from the door caused the young man to abruptly lift his head and look over.
Upon seeing the doctor at the door, Luo Kun's mouth broke into a broad smile, his pale face lit up brilliantly. "Doctor Chu, you're here..."
Xu Shuo did not respond, instead standing quietly, his gaze loftily fixed on the boy crouching on the ground, his expression dim and unreadable.
The other side, after greeting him, fell silent too, tilting his head in what seemed to be puzzlement.
They locked eyes for a long while until Xu Shuo reached into his pocket.
The medication was gone.