CH 42

(The shop owner in the small shop is your best example.)

(He would agree on the rules with you in advance, and once both parties agree on the rules, he would never go back on his word. Within the boundaries of the rules, he can cheat, manipulate, and exploit, but he would never violate the rules.)

(Even if he gets caught cheating, he wouldn't regret or get angry; he would still honor his promise and give you what he had promised, intact.)

(When you were trading with the woman, you clearly agreed if you get the doll first, you would give her the corpse.)

(But in the end, you went back on your word.)

(That's why you were punished by the rules.)

(Once again, you find yourself in a dilemma.)

(Giving the corpse to the woman would drive her to madness and ultimately lead to her killing you.)

(Not giving the woman the corpse means you cannot obtain the crucial item.)

(Deceiving the woman would result in instant death due to violating the rules.)

(You grab your hair and furrow your brow, thinking hard.)

(You shift your thinking.)

(Is there any way to complete the trade and avoid being killed?)

(Give the woman a fake item?)

(Impossible. The woman would never fail to recognize her own corpse, and you have no way of creating a fake corpse on the spot.)

(Poison the corpse?)

(A spark lights up in your mind.)

(Once the woman receives her corpse, her first reaction is to swallow it. If you can poison the corpse, it will undoubtedly be hundred percent effective.)

(If you can poison the woman, then you don't have to worry about her killing you.)

(Your trade with her is merely giving her the corpse, but if she insists on consuming her own corpse and eventually dies from poisoning, that's not your concern.)

(But what kind of poison can kill the woman?)

(She's already a ghost, does a ghost fear poison?)

(You make a bold assumption.)

(After consuming the corpse, the woman will transform into a creature similar to Petz. So, if you can make her ingest medication intended for patients, it might delay this transformation.)

(A realization dawns upon you.)

(You put on the bird beak mask and sneak into the hospital's pharmacy.)

(This is the substance you consume three times a day and then vomit three times.)

(You stuff all the pills into the mouth of the corpse, shaking the corpse's neck to make sure all the pills fall into its abdomen.)

(You wear Toto's mask and return to the secret room in the second basement.)

(When the woman sees you, she immediately raises her head.)

(Woman: Who are you? Why do you have my daughter's mask? What do you want?)

(You: I'm here to negotiate with you.)

(Woman: What?)

(You: I found your corpse, and I want to make a deal with you, exchanging your corpse for the doll you have.)

(You engage in a conversation with the woman, and she ultimately agrees to trade with you.)

(You place the corpse on the ground.)

(The woman hands the doll over to you.)

(Before you could put away the doll, the woman had already swallowed the corpse.)

(The woman let out a painful groan and immediately transformed into a black giant monster.)

(Instinctively, you take out the red pill and elephant mask.)

(The woman's body collapses suddenly, reverting back to a human form, struggling on the ground.)

(Woman: You deceiver! You actually poisoned me?)

(You: How was I supposed to know you were going to eat it? I thought you were going to use it as firewood.)

(The woman's eyes roll back, and foam spills from her mouth.)

(You worry that the woman might play dead again.)

(You take out a hammer from your toolbox and smash the woman's head.)

(You exit the secret room.)

(You wipe off the blood on yourself and retrieve the doll from your kangaroo pants.)

(You unzip the back of the doll and take out a red access card.)

(The front of the access card depicts a half-red, half-black clown symbol, which is the logo of the Weird World Live Broadcast Channel.)

(With a gulp, you turn the card over, revealing red bloody words.)

("With it, you can go anywhere.")

("Including the underground third basement.")

(You feel shocked.)

(You thought the hospital having two underground levels was already extreme, but you never expected there would be a third underground level.)

(The mental pollution in the second basement was already intense, so what would the deeper third basement be like?)

(After contemplating for a moment, you pick up the red access card and head to the elevator.)

(The elevator control panel only goes down to the second basement; there's no button for the third basement.)

(You place the red access card on the sensor area.)

(The entire elevator turns bright red.)

(Only one floor remains on the control panel—Level -3.)

(You press the button.)

(The elevator opens.)

(A pitch-black scene lies outside.)

(You take off your mask.)

(The darkness outside the elevator dissipates, revealing a clean and narrow corridor with a red woolen carpet on the floor.)

(You step onto the carpet.)

(The corridor becomes narrower as you walk further, and eventually, you have to turn sideways to pass through.)

(You finally exit the corridor.)

(Ahead of you is a massive movie theater.)

(There are ten rows of seats in the audience, but not a single person is sitting there.)

(You turn your head towards the projection room, and the projector is flickering non-stop. You vaguely notice a figure standing beside it.)

(You enter the projection room.)

(Sitting beside the projector is a woman with long hair. She has her hair tied up in a high ponytail and stares straight ahead at the blank screen.)

(You: Toto?)

(The woman turns her head.)

(You notice that this woman's face bears a striking resemblance to yours as if you were long-lost siblings.)

(Toto: That's right, it's me. It seems you followed my hints quite well.)

(You: Did you write all the bloody hints?)

(Toto: Indeed, but many of them were written when I was delirious. I don't know if those nonsensical words had any impact on you.)

(Toto's tone sends chills down your spine. Like you, she doesn't fit into this world.)

(You: Who are you exactly?)

(Toto: According to the rules, I can't tell you. You came here to seek the truth, right?)

(You: That's correct.)

(Toto: Do you know what film I'm going to screen?)

(Without hesitation, you take out the film reel for "Monster Siege.")

(Toto inserts the film into the projector and grabs a new pair of 3D glasses from the worktable, handing them to you.)

(Toto: Go outside and enjoy the show.)

(You nod and take a seat in the audience area with the new glasses in hand.)

(The glasses have no instructions or text, so you put them on directly.)

(A pitch-black scene unfolds before your eyes.)