Chapter 183: Seven
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[?!?]
[What’s this??]
[Oh, I remember now! After being touched by that neuron, the ‘illness’ on the identity card will act up. What was the illness of the anchor again?]
[I remember it was initially an intellectual disability, right? Oh, and also a successful diagnosis of sexual perversion.]
[Oh my…! Doesn’t that mean?]
Wen Jianyan stumbled forward, directly bumping into the stone coffin.
With a “clang” sound, the loosely placed coffin lid was knocked open, falling down along the edge and emitting a deafening noise.
It seemed like someone was reaching out to him and saying something.
His vision was blurry.
He could clearly hear the voices of the others and the emotions contained within those voices: surprise, fear, panic… But as for the content of their words, it was hard to distinguish.
Wen Jianyan’s hand pressed on the stone slab, and his fingertips seemed to find something.
There seemed to be a strange indentation on the cold stone surface, rough and uneven, pricking slightly against his fingertips, causing a slight ache.
What was it?
It was unclear.
The young man’s arm tightened, blue veins visible beneath the pale skin, protruding due to exertion. His disheveled hair was hanging down, blocking his moist skin and dilated pupils.
His brow furrowed, his breathing was uneven, and his expression was restrained.
Wen Jianyan had never experienced such a strange feeling before.
He knew who he was. Neither his memory nor his self-awareness had disappeared.
He was like a child again; his memories were like a cabinet too large for him, with all the contents there, but he lacked the ability to retrieve them.
Like something long and slender poking into his brain, slowly, bit by bit, stirring his mind into a viscous sludge, his thoughts gradually became sluggish. The influx of information was merely washing past, as if he were holding a sieve with too large holes, futilely trying to catch something, yet finding his palms empty no matter how hard he tried.
After a brief moment of daze, Su Cheng quickly reacted.
He hurried forward, supporting Wen Jianyan, leaning close to his lips: “What did you say? Say it again?”
Wen Jianyan’s lips moved, half puzzled, half stubbornly repeating the words that flashed through his hazy mind before sinking into unconsciousness.
He himself could hardly remember the reason, only mechanically repeating it under the drive of his subconscious.
Though only fragmented phrases, Su Cheng still pieced together his instructions, swiftly rummaging through Wen Jianyan’s pockets, soon pulling out a vial of antidote.
As the only one who hadn’t been infected and was nearly unconscious throughout, Su Cheng stared blankly for two seconds, showing a bewildered expression.
At the sight of the antidote, Blond’s eyes widened slightly, and he exclaimed:
“This, this is… from the lab back then?”
“This is the antidote! To remove contamination!” Upon hearing this, Shao Yao quickly reacted, shouting at Su Cheng: “Inject it into his neck!”
“Understood.”
Su Cheng nodded quickly, holding the syringe in one hand and pressing down on Wen Jianyan’s head with the other.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan turned his head. The sharp needle reflected in his amber eyes, which were filled with blatant, unfiltered fear. “No!”
He screamed, suddenly struggling violently.
Chaos erupted below.
“Hold him down for me!”
Su Cheng couldn’t hold down Wen Jianyan, who was struggling fiercely, so he quickly called for help from his other two teammates.
Blond and Shao Yao rushed over, each holding down one of Wen Jianyan’s shoulders and arms, forcibly immobilizing him.
Su Cheng injected the needle as quickly as possible.
The glaring, cold, sharp needle pierced the skin, and the body of the young man, forcibly held down, shook violently, emitting a choking sound from his throat.
Under the disheveled hair, the clear, childlike amber eyes slowly became misted over.
He whimpered pitifully, “It hurts…”
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Damn, does lowering your IQ make you cry from getting a shot? Omg, that’s really cute!]
Soon, the syringe was empty.
The three of them breathed heavily as they released their grip, standing up. The young man leaned against the stone coffin, curling up, one hand covering his neck, occasionally sobbing, looking extremely aggrieved.
“So, what do we need to do next?” Su Cheng asked.
Blond shook his somewhat sore wrist—although Wen Jianyan’s IQ had decreased, his physical strength hadn’t. It wasn’t easy to hold him down.
He thought for a moment. “I don’t think we need to do anything else. We just need to wait.”
Su Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good…”
Unfortunately, this moment of relief only lasted for a few seconds before being effortlessly shattered.
As everyone’s attention was focused on Wen Jianyan, suddenly, from the dark passage leading to the underground tomb, eerie sounds echoed.
Scratching noises and dragging footsteps, chaotic and overlapping, seemed to be approaching in that direction.
“!”
Several people were startled, subconsciously looking in the direction of the sound.
Oh no.
Every time the bell rang, irreversible changes would occur in the instance at an unnerving speed.
Perhaps it was simply the negative effects of the bell ringing, or perhaps it was because they had just made too much noise, causing the corpses slumbering in the corridor to begin waking up and moving in their direction.
“What do we do now?”
Blond’s face turned pale as he looked helplessly at the other two.
In just a few seconds, the pale corpses appeared at the end of the dark corridor.
Their lifeless faces were upturned, necks seemingly snapped at improbable angles, blood clots matted in their hair, and skulls gaping open with dark voids exposed.
“We can’t rush out.” Shao Yao, the only one with experience dealing with these zombies, made a decisive decision. “Block them!”
She and her teammates had fought their way in, well aware of how terrifying these zombies could be once awakened. They had barely managed to survive while charging into the underground tomb without weakening. And now, their combat power was at most two and a half.
Blond counted as half.
And with Wen Jianyan unconscious and the person who dragged him out of the coffin missing, Shao Yao hadn’t even had the chance to confirm who they were.
In this situation, trying to rush out was simply impossible.
In contrast, blocking the zombies would be much easier.
The narrow and cramped passage leading to the underground tomb greatly limited the number of zombies that could pass through at once, meaning that as long as they blocked this passage, their chances of survival would be greatly increased.
However, by doing so, they would essentially be trapping themselves in a dead end, making it difficult to leave the underground tomb easily. If they were wrong and there were no more tasks inside the tomb, or if they couldn’t open or complete the ultimate mainline task, then their actions would be akin to burying themselves alive.
The group exchanged glances and rushed forward in unison.
They had no other choice.
After all, compared to direct suicide, slow suicide seemed to offer more hope.
***
In the distance, vague and chaotic sounds could be heard.
Footsteps, shouts, and sounds of props being activated.
“…”
Wen Jianyan frowned slightly, slowly opening his eyes.
The feeling of being covered by fog and the gradual dulling of his mind had disappeared. He felt his thinking ability returning, rapidly becoming clear again.
There was a slight pain in his neck.
Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that his teammates had understood his hint well and timely injected him with the antidote.
However…
He raised his hand to touch his chilly cheek, showing a puzzled expression.
Why was it damp?
But now wasn’t the time to focus on that.
Wen Jianyan stood up, leaning against one side of the stone coffin, and turned to look in the direction of the sound. Su Cheng and Shao Yao were attempting to block the narrow passage, with Blond standing by, occasionally assisting, but mostly observing the movements of the zombies in the passage to warn the other two.
It seemed like they didn’t need much help, and he had other things to attend to.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the stone coffin behind him.
When he rushed out of the confession room just now, although he had already been infected, the negative effects hadn’t fully taken effect yet. At the chaotic edge, he still had a bit of consciousness.
Wen Jianyan remembered that he seemed to have touched something on the lid of the coffin…
Uneven, as if it had been carved into it, but at that time his mind wasn’t very clear, so he didn’t know what was written on it.
Wen Jianyan bent down, carefully searching inside the coffin.
Finally, on the inside of the coffin lid, he found a crooked inscription.
“Adam”
A… name?
Wen Jianyan was puzzled for a moment.
At this moment, a familiar system notification sounded in his ear: 【Ding! Congratulations! The anchor has completed the task: Discovering the true name of ???】
【Reward points: 1000】
Wen Jianyan was surprised.
Wait, when was this task? And… 1000 reward points? So many?!
Could this be 05’s name?
No.
Wen Jianyan quickly dismissed this idea.
After meeting with 05, who had the face of “Wu Zhu,” the task list remained silent, with no further responses, unlike when he met with the others, where tasks were issued to him. So, the task he just completed should be one he received earlier—
Speaking of which… the first letter of Adam is “A.”
And Dr. Reese’s abbreviation on the data was Dr. A. Reese.
Only his true name task difficulty level was advanced, while the others were intermediate.
So, Adam is actually Dr. Reese’s name?
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, using his fingertips to trace the crooked inscription, showing a pensive expression.
Some broken clues were connecting in his mind.
Firstly, according to the Bible, Adam was the first person created by God.
Next, Dr. Reese had always been categorized more as a high-risk patient than medical personnel by the system’s assessment—he had the task of obtaining his true name, and he could also enter the Inner World.
Finally, in that special scenario just now, Dr. Reese mentioned, regarding exorcism, “it’s not the first or second time I’ve experienced it personally”—remember, during his exorcism procedure, all medical personnel would leave the room, leaving only the priest and the patient.
If any one of these points were considered alone, Wen Jianyan couldn’t definitively draw a conclusion. However, when all three clues were laid out before him, the final result couldn’t be any clearer.
Dr. Reese was the first patient before 01, the original 00, but somehow managed to shed the identity of a patient and became a key figure in assisting with “the plan.”
The second question arises.
What exactly is “the plan”?
According to Wen Jianyan’s deduction from the picture book found in 03’s room, namely Niel/Lore, it was clear that they didn’t have any mental illness but rather two souls trapped in one body.
In other words, their “dual personality” was artificially created.
And the “contamination” by the neurons would also create a very similar effect—turning normal people into lunatics.
Causing mentally healthy humans to suffer from mental illness.
And the final 05, was almost no longer human.
He was a brain soaked in a specific liquid.
If this were to be extrapolated, then is it possible that all high-risk patients’ mental illnesses are manufactured?
Not just mental illnesses, perhaps…
They were manufactured themselves?
This thought sent shivers down Wen Jianyan’s spine.
If his speculation were true, then these high-risk patients should all be lab-grown guinea pigs, all created for the sake of completing the so-called “Plan.”
If so, their names should also have been assigned.
As some kind of code.
Wen Jianyan had been curious from the beginning why one of the tasks in this instance was to find the true names of high-risk patients, so their names should hold significance.
In the data room files, they were all referred to by the initials of their names.
Edward, the first letter “E.”
Mars, the first letter “M.”
Niel/Lore, the first letters “N” and “L.”
Uris, the first letter “U.”
Dr. Adam Reese, the first letter “A.”
Wen Jianyan raised his hand, pinching his nose bridge, showing a troubled expression.
“E,” “M,” N,” “U,” “L,” “A”…
Based on the appearance presented by this instance so far, everything seems to be deeply connected to Catholicism.
Suddenly, it was as if a spiritual light passed through Wen Jianyan’s mind, illuminating the dark sky like lightning.
“!”
Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly realize something. He muttered to himself:
“Emmanuel…?”
Emmanuel.
Derived from Hebrew, it’s a variation of “Immanuel,” meaning “God is with us.”
【Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for completing the hidden task, obtaining the true name of high-risk patient number 05!】
【Reward points: 5000】
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for triggering the ultimate mainline mission of Ping An Asylum: ???】
【Completion time limit: one hour】
【Note: Failure to complete the mission will result in the deduction of all remaining survival time and points, and the anchor’s live stream room will be closed immediately.】
Wen Jianyan’s heart tightened for a moment.
An ultimate mainline mission?!
Before the system notification sound had completely finished, the bell suddenly rang again.
“Dang—dang—dang—”
Whether it was an illusion or not, this bell seemed exceptionally loud, echoing in the vast underground tomb and stirring up waves of sound.
With the bell ringing, the waves of attacking zombies seemed to calm down again as they approached the underground tomb.
The dense footsteps and friction gradually subsided until they were swallowed by darkness once again, returning to silence.
“…”
The three stood at the end of the passage, panting heavily, sweat dripping from their foreheads, clearly exhausted.
Regardless, the most pressing crisis had finally been resolved.
They turned their heads and looked behind them.
They saw the silver-haired youth with his head hanging down, staring fixedly at the open sarcophagus, seemingly completely immersed in his own thoughts.
The chaotic state of mind he had just experienced seemed to have disappeared from him, and he seemed to have completely returned to a normal state, appearing calm and rational.
“Are you awake?”
Su Cheng was both surprised and delighted, rushing up: “How do you feel?”
Wen Jianyan was taken aback, as if he had just been awakened from contemplation, turning his head to look over: “I’m fine.”
He smiled and said, “Thank you; you guys reacted quickly.”
Not only were they able to quickly realize that he was contaminated, but they also found the antidote in his clothes and injected it for him. The whole process was very tacit, saving a lot of time.
“Unfortunately, not fast enough.” The zombies were repelled, and Wen Jianyan returned to normal. Although the crisis had not been completely resolved, Su Cheng finally had the leisure to joke.
He glanced provocatively at Wen Jianyan: “At least not fast enough to record your crying face when you got the injection.”
Wen Jianyan: “?”
He blinked, suddenly realizing something, his body slightly stiffening.
Wait a minute… the wet sensation he felt on his face when he woke up, could it be…
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Dammit.
As a responsible adult male, albeit a non-famous international fraudster, it’s somewhat embarrassing to cry like a baby when getting an injection.
At this moment, Shao Yao was examining the teammate whom Wen Jianyan had pulled out.
She carefully lifted his head and recognized the face of Luci.
He seemed to still be alive, but his breath was weak, his body cold as ice, as if he could die in the next second, and he remained unconscious. But regardless, Wen Jianyan had indeed fulfilled his promise.
—Within his ability range, he rescued her teammate.
Shaoy Yo breathed a long sigh of relief, then turned to Wen Jianyan, not far away.
“By the way, now that the legendary item mission is complete, did you get the item?”
Her voice rescued Wen Jianyan from the abyss of embarrassment.
“I should have gotten it.”
With that, Wen Jianyan opened his backpack and took out the legendary hidden item that had been automatically placed there by the system.
A small iron box emerged in the palm of his hand.
Unremarkable and inconspicuous, it bore a shallow engraving of a serpent on its surface.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Oh oh oh! A legendary item!]
[So excited, so excited! What could it be?!]
Everyone approached with curiosity.
Wen Jianyan frowned, examining the iron box back and forth. Soon, he found a thin seam in the center that seemed to be openable, but there was no keyhole for any key.
“…Are you kidding me?” Su Cheng’s mouth twitched. “After completing so many missions, the final reward turns out to be not a legendary item, but a box containing a legendary item?! And we’re stuck in an underground tomb now; how are we supposed to find the key?”
Wen Jianyan stared expressionlessly at the iron box in his palm. “…”
Damn it, what a scam of a system!
The “Integrity First” live broadcast room fell silent:
[…]
[…Damn, this is really unfair; the item given is incomplete!]
[Haha, we might need a lock-picking prop to pry this thing open!]
[But this also indirectly indicates that this item is indeed extraordinary. It’s probably quite unique; otherwise, the system wouldn’t impose so many restrictions on it.]
If only that lock-picking tool from earlier hadn’t been used up…
Wen Jianyan showed a regretful expression.
But it didn’t matter. He could always buy a similar tool from the free market once he left the instance. In any case, this lock probably wouldn’t hold him back for long.
“Oh, by the way.”
Wen Jianyan tucked the small box back into his pocket and looked at the others. Suddenly, he remembered something and said,
“I activated the ultimate mainline task.”
The fact that the real name of 05 would trigger it was something he hadn’t expected.
Everyone was taken aback, and their expressions became slightly solemn.
The ultimate mainline task…
If completed, it would naturally yield richer rewards and the platinum trophy. However, it also meant that if not completed within the stipulated time limit, even if the clearance requirements were met, the live room would be closed.
It was truly a gamble with one’s life.
Suddenly, Shao Yao seemed to remember something.
“Oh, right, what’s the completion rate of your items now?”
Wen Jianyan blinked and replied:
“I only need one more.”
Shao Yao took a deep breath and took something out of her pocket, handing it to Wen Jianyan.
“Try this.”
As soon as he touched it, the familiar sound of the system’s notification rang in his ears:
【Congratulations to the host for obtaining the hidden item (Ordinary) in the instance!】
【Collection rate: 10/10】
Wen Jianyan was taken aback and instinctively looked down at his palm.
It was a glass jar about the size of a palm, grey and unremarkable.
This… was actually the last hidden item?!
He looked at Shao Yao standing in front of him, astonishment flickering in his eyes.
“It’s only an ordinary-level item, not very useful for me,” Shao Yao shrugged, “but it’s different for you. After collecting all the items, it will provide you with hints for the ultimate mainline task. And since we’re all trapped in this underground tomb now, it’s difficult to complete the point mission in a short time. It’s better to leave yourself a way out.”
“In case I don’t have time to gather enough points, maybe you’ll have to complete the ultimate mainline task to get us all out.”
Shao Yao paused, lifted her gaze, and looked earnestly at the young man before her, taking a deep breath before speaking:
“And I don’t think I’ve had the chance to thank you properly for pulling me up in the lab earlier.”
At that time, although she was completely engulfed in the crimson flesh membrane, she still retained some vague and fragmented memories. And with time passing, these memories gradually became clearer—she remembered the person who, despite having his palm sliced and torn by fishing line, with crazed teammates attacking him from behind, never let go…
It was precisely because of this reason that Shao Yao believed that the person could rescue her teammates in this nightmare-filled place, even willing to sign an unequal treaty, transferring the legendary-level item task to him.
【Ding! It was detected that the anchor had collected all the hidden items. Now releasing the core clue of the hidden route:
Seven chimes, connected from the beginning to the end.
The brain in the vat, forming its own world.】
“…”
Wen Jianyan paused for two seconds.
…7?
7!!!
After counting carefully, there were a total of seven high-risk patients with names.
Patient 00: Adam Reese
Patient 01: Edward
Patient 02: Uris
Patient 03: Two individuals, Niel and Lore
Patient 04: Mars
Patient 05: Emmanuel
The entire Ping An Asylum consisted of six floors.
Two underground floors and four above ground. And above the fourth floor, there was a hidden seventh floor.
Seven chimes, and they had just experienced six, leaving only the last one…
Speaking of which, in Catholicism, the number “7” was quite special.
God’s creation lasted seven days, and the seventh day was set aside as the holy day or the Sabbath. Even the legendary Great Flood, which destroyed the world, was inseparable from the number “7”.
You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male, and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”
So, in Catholicism, 7 represented the cycle of creation and destruction, whether it be creation or the end of the world, both were closely related.
“…”
Then, could it be that the so-called “plan” within this Ping An Asylum was…
Wen Jianyan’s breath caught in his throat.
Suddenly, the contents of the signboard he saw outside the laboratory leaped into his mind.
In those blurry and intermittent words, he could vaguely discern the words “spiritual” and “uroboros”…
“Uroboros” was unmistakably the ouroboros, the symbol of a serpent eating its own tail.
But the other word was different.
If the research in their laboratory was on mental illnesses, then the appropriate term should be “mental.”
“Spiritual” was more commonly associated with “religion” and “supernatural souls” and was rarely used in the context of mental illnesses.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth.
Although he knew English, he didn’t grow up in that linguistic and cultural background, so he had somehow overlooked such an obvious clue!
Seven artificially created specimens.
The last one being a massive brain floating in liquid.
Seven chimes.
And adding to that, the name symbolizing “God is with us”…
Wen Jianyan stood motionless, a conjecture slowly emerging in his mind, sending chills down his spine and making him shiver.
This so-called “plan”…
Now it seemed to resemble something akin to creating a deity and a genesis, didn’t it?
Chapter 183: Seven
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[?!?]
[What’s this??]
[Oh, I remember now! After being touched by that neuron, the ‘illness’ on the identity card will act up. What was the illness of the anchor again?]
[I remember it was initially an intellectual disability, right? Oh, and also a successful diagnosis of sexual perversion.]
[Oh my…! Doesn’t that mean?]
Wen Jianyan stumbled forward, directly bumping into the stone coffin.
With a “clang” sound, the loosely placed coffin lid was knocked open, falling down along the edge and emitting a deafening noise.
It seemed like someone was reaching out to him and saying something.
His vision was blurry.
He could clearly hear the voices of the others and the emotions contained within those voices: surprise, fear, panic… But as for the content of their words, it was hard to distinguish.
Wen Jianyan’s hand pressed on the stone slab, and his fingertips seemed to find something.
There seemed to be a strange indentation on the cold stone surface, rough and uneven, pricking slightly against his fingertips, causing a slight ache.
What was it?
It was unclear.
The young man’s arm tightened, blue veins visible beneath the pale skin, protruding due to exertion. His disheveled hair was hanging down, blocking his moist skin and dilated pupils.
His brow furrowed, his breathing was uneven, and his expression was restrained.
Wen Jianyan had never experienced such a strange feeling before.
He knew who he was. Neither his memory nor his self-awareness had disappeared.
He was like a child again; his memories were like a cabinet too large for him, with all the contents there, but he lacked the ability to retrieve them.
Like something long and slender poking into his brain, slowly, bit by bit, stirring his mind into a viscous sludge, his thoughts gradually became sluggish. The influx of information was merely washing past, as if he were holding a sieve with too large holes, futilely trying to catch something, yet finding his palms empty no matter how hard he tried.
After a brief moment of daze, Su Cheng quickly reacted.
He hurried forward, supporting Wen Jianyan, leaning close to his lips: “What did you say? Say it again?”
Wen Jianyan’s lips moved, half puzzled, half stubbornly repeating the words that flashed through his hazy mind before sinking into unconsciousness.
He himself could hardly remember the reason, only mechanically repeating it under the drive of his subconscious.
Though only fragmented phrases, Su Cheng still pieced together his instructions, swiftly rummaging through Wen Jianyan’s pockets, soon pulling out a vial of antidote.
As the only one who hadn’t been infected and was nearly unconscious throughout, Su Cheng stared blankly for two seconds, showing a bewildered expression.
At the sight of the antidote, Blond’s eyes widened slightly, and he exclaimed:
“This, this is… from the lab back then?”
“This is the antidote! To remove contamination!” Upon hearing this, Shao Yao quickly reacted, shouting at Su Cheng: “Inject it into his neck!”
“Understood.”
Su Cheng nodded quickly, holding the syringe in one hand and pressing down on Wen Jianyan’s head with the other.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan turned his head. The sharp needle reflected in his amber eyes, which were filled with blatant, unfiltered fear. “No!”
He screamed, suddenly struggling violently.
Chaos erupted below.
“Hold him down for me!”
Su Cheng couldn’t hold down Wen Jianyan, who was struggling fiercely, so he quickly called for help from his other two teammates.
Blond and Shao Yao rushed over, each holding down one of Wen Jianyan’s shoulders and arms, forcibly immobilizing him.
Su Cheng injected the needle as quickly as possible.
The glaring, cold, sharp needle pierced the skin, and the body of the young man, forcibly held down, shook violently, emitting a choking sound from his throat.
Under the disheveled hair, the clear, childlike amber eyes slowly became misted over.
He whimpered pitifully, “It hurts…”
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Damn, does lowering your IQ make you cry from getting a shot? Omg, that’s really cute!]
Soon, the syringe was empty.
The three of them breathed heavily as they released their grip, standing up. The young man leaned against the stone coffin, curling up, one hand covering his neck, occasionally sobbing, looking extremely aggrieved.
“So, what do we need to do next?” Su Cheng asked.
Blond shook his somewhat sore wrist—although Wen Jianyan’s IQ had decreased, his physical strength hadn’t. It wasn’t easy to hold him down.
He thought for a moment. “I don’t think we need to do anything else. We just need to wait.”
Su Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good…”
Unfortunately, this moment of relief only lasted for a few seconds before being effortlessly shattered.
As everyone’s attention was focused on Wen Jianyan, suddenly, from the dark passage leading to the underground tomb, eerie sounds echoed.
Scratching noises and dragging footsteps, chaotic and overlapping, seemed to be approaching in that direction.
“!”
Several people were startled, subconsciously looking in the direction of the sound.
Oh no.
Every time the bell rang, irreversible changes would occur in the instance at an unnerving speed.
Perhaps it was simply the negative effects of the bell ringing, or perhaps it was because they had just made too much noise, causing the corpses slumbering in the corridor to begin waking up and moving in their direction.
“What do we do now?”
Blond’s face turned pale as he looked helplessly at the other two.
In just a few seconds, the pale corpses appeared at the end of the dark corridor.
Their lifeless faces were upturned, necks seemingly snapped at improbable angles, blood clots matted in their hair, and skulls gaping open with dark voids exposed.
“We can’t rush out.” Shao Yao, the only one with experience dealing with these zombies, made a decisive decision. “Block them!”
She and her teammates had fought their way in, well aware of how terrifying these zombies could be once awakened. They had barely managed to survive while charging into the underground tomb without weakening. And now, their combat power was at most two and a half.
Blond counted as half.
And with Wen Jianyan unconscious and the person who dragged him out of the coffin missing, Shao Yao hadn’t even had the chance to confirm who they were.
In this situation, trying to rush out was simply impossible.
In contrast, blocking the zombies would be much easier.
The narrow and cramped passage leading to the underground tomb greatly limited the number of zombies that could pass through at once, meaning that as long as they blocked this passage, their chances of survival would be greatly increased.
However, by doing so, they would essentially be trapping themselves in a dead end, making it difficult to leave the underground tomb easily. If they were wrong and there were no more tasks inside the tomb, or if they couldn’t open or complete the ultimate mainline task, then their actions would be akin to burying themselves alive.
The group exchanged glances and rushed forward in unison.
They had no other choice.
After all, compared to direct suicide, slow suicide seemed to offer more hope.
***
In the distance, vague and chaotic sounds could be heard.
Footsteps, shouts, and sounds of props being activated.
“…”
Wen Jianyan frowned slightly, slowly opening his eyes.
The feeling of being covered by fog and the gradual dulling of his mind had disappeared. He felt his thinking ability returning, rapidly becoming clear again.
There was a slight pain in his neck.
Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that his teammates had understood his hint well and timely injected him with the antidote.
However…
He raised his hand to touch his chilly cheek, showing a puzzled expression.
Why was it damp?
But now wasn’t the time to focus on that.
Wen Jianyan stood up, leaning against one side of the stone coffin, and turned to look in the direction of the sound. Su Cheng and Shao Yao were attempting to block the narrow passage, with Blond standing by, occasionally assisting, but mostly observing the movements of the zombies in the passage to warn the other two.
It seemed like they didn’t need much help, and he had other things to attend to.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the stone coffin behind him.
When he rushed out of the confession room just now, although he had already been infected, the negative effects hadn’t fully taken effect yet. At the chaotic edge, he still had a bit of consciousness.
Wen Jianyan remembered that he seemed to have touched something on the lid of the coffin…
Uneven, as if it had been carved into it, but at that time his mind wasn’t very clear, so he didn’t know what was written on it.
Wen Jianyan bent down, carefully searching inside the coffin.
Finally, on the inside of the coffin lid, he found a crooked inscription.
“Adam”
A… name?
Wen Jianyan was puzzled for a moment.
At this moment, a familiar system notification sounded in his ear: 【Ding! Congratulations! The anchor has completed the task: Discovering the true name of ???】
【Reward points: 1000】
Wen Jianyan was surprised.
Wait, when was this task? And… 1000 reward points? So many?!
Could this be 05’s name?
No.
Wen Jianyan quickly dismissed this idea.
After meeting with 05, who had the face of “Wu Zhu,” the task list remained silent, with no further responses, unlike when he met with the others, where tasks were issued to him. So, the task he just completed should be one he received earlier—
Speaking of which… the first letter of Adam is “A.”
And Dr. Reese’s abbreviation on the data was Dr. A. Reese.
Only his true name task difficulty level was advanced, while the others were intermediate.
So, Adam is actually Dr. Reese’s name?
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, using his fingertips to trace the crooked inscription, showing a pensive expression.
Some broken clues were connecting in his mind.
Firstly, according to the Bible, Adam was the first person created by God.
Next, Dr. Reese had always been categorized more as a high-risk patient than medical personnel by the system’s assessment—he had the task of obtaining his true name, and he could also enter the Inner World.
Finally, in that special scenario just now, Dr. Reese mentioned, regarding exorcism, “it’s not the first or second time I’ve experienced it personally”—remember, during his exorcism procedure, all medical personnel would leave the room, leaving only the priest and the patient.
If any one of these points were considered alone, Wen Jianyan couldn’t definitively draw a conclusion. However, when all three clues were laid out before him, the final result couldn’t be any clearer.
Dr. Reese was the first patient before 01, the original 00, but somehow managed to shed the identity of a patient and became a key figure in assisting with “the plan.”
The second question arises.
What exactly is “the plan”?
According to Wen Jianyan’s deduction from the picture book found in 03’s room, namely Niel/Lore, it was clear that they didn’t have any mental illness but rather two souls trapped in one body.
In other words, their “dual personality” was artificially created.
And the “contamination” by the neurons would also create a very similar effect—turning normal people into lunatics.
Causing mentally healthy humans to suffer from mental illness.
And the final 05, was almost no longer human.
He was a brain soaked in a specific liquid.
If this were to be extrapolated, then is it possible that all high-risk patients’ mental illnesses are manufactured?
Not just mental illnesses, perhaps…
They were manufactured themselves?
This thought sent shivers down Wen Jianyan’s spine.
If his speculation were true, then these high-risk patients should all be lab-grown guinea pigs, all created for the sake of completing the so-called “Plan.”
If so, their names should also have been assigned.
As some kind of code.
Wen Jianyan had been curious from the beginning why one of the tasks in this instance was to find the true names of high-risk patients, so their names should hold significance.
In the data room files, they were all referred to by the initials of their names.
Edward, the first letter “E.”
Mars, the first letter “M.”
Niel/Lore, the first letters “N” and “L.”
Uris, the first letter “U.”
Dr. Adam Reese, the first letter “A.”
Wen Jianyan raised his hand, pinching his nose bridge, showing a troubled expression.
“E,” “M,” N,” “U,” “L,” “A”…
Based on the appearance presented by this instance so far, everything seems to be deeply connected to Catholicism.
Suddenly, it was as if a spiritual light passed through Wen Jianyan’s mind, illuminating the dark sky like lightning.
“!”
Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly realize something. He muttered to himself:
“Emmanuel…?”
Emmanuel.
Derived from Hebrew, it’s a variation of “Immanuel,” meaning “God is with us.”
【Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for completing the hidden task, obtaining the true name of high-risk patient number 05!】
【Reward points: 5000】
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for triggering the ultimate mainline mission of Ping An Asylum: ???】
【Completion time limit: one hour】
【Note: Failure to complete the mission will result in the deduction of all remaining survival time and points, and the anchor’s live stream room will be closed immediately.】
Wen Jianyan’s heart tightened for a moment.
An ultimate mainline mission?!
Before the system notification sound had completely finished, the bell suddenly rang again.
“Dang—dang—dang—”
Whether it was an illusion or not, this bell seemed exceptionally loud, echoing in the vast underground tomb and stirring up waves of sound.
With the bell ringing, the waves of attacking zombies seemed to calm down again as they approached the underground tomb.
The dense footsteps and friction gradually subsided until they were swallowed by darkness once again, returning to silence.
“…”
The three stood at the end of the passage, panting heavily, sweat dripping from their foreheads, clearly exhausted.
Regardless, the most pressing crisis had finally been resolved.
They turned their heads and looked behind them.
They saw the silver-haired youth with his head hanging down, staring fixedly at the open sarcophagus, seemingly completely immersed in his own thoughts.
The chaotic state of mind he had just experienced seemed to have disappeared from him, and he seemed to have completely returned to a normal state, appearing calm and rational.
“Are you awake?”
Su Cheng was both surprised and delighted, rushing up: “How do you feel?”
Wen Jianyan was taken aback, as if he had just been awakened from contemplation, turning his head to look over: “I’m fine.”
He smiled and said, “Thank you; you guys reacted quickly.”
Not only were they able to quickly realize that he was contaminated, but they also found the antidote in his clothes and injected it for him. The whole process was very tacit, saving a lot of time.
“Unfortunately, not fast enough.” The zombies were repelled, and Wen Jianyan returned to normal. Although the crisis had not been completely resolved, Su Cheng finally had the leisure to joke.
He glanced provocatively at Wen Jianyan: “At least not fast enough to record your crying face when you got the injection.”
Wen Jianyan: “?”
He blinked, suddenly realizing something, his body slightly stiffening.
Wait a minute… the wet sensation he felt on his face when he woke up, could it be…
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Dammit.
As a responsible adult male, albeit a non-famous international fraudster, it’s somewhat embarrassing to cry like a baby when getting an injection.
At this moment, Shao Yao was examining the teammate whom Wen Jianyan had pulled out.
She carefully lifted his head and recognized the face of Luci.
He seemed to still be alive, but his breath was weak, his body cold as ice, as if he could die in the next second, and he remained unconscious. But regardless, Wen Jianyan had indeed fulfilled his promise.
—Within his ability range, he rescued her teammate.
Shaoy Yo breathed a long sigh of relief, then turned to Wen Jianyan, not far away.
“By the way, now that the legendary item mission is complete, did you get the item?”
Her voice rescued Wen Jianyan from the abyss of embarrassment.
“I should have gotten it.”
With that, Wen Jianyan opened his backpack and took out the legendary hidden item that had been automatically placed there by the system.
A small iron box emerged in the palm of his hand.
Unremarkable and inconspicuous, it bore a shallow engraving of a serpent on its surface.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Oh oh oh! A legendary item!]
[So excited, so excited! What could it be?!]
Everyone approached with curiosity.
Wen Jianyan frowned, examining the iron box back and forth. Soon, he found a thin seam in the center that seemed to be openable, but there was no keyhole for any key.
“…Are you kidding me?” Su Cheng’s mouth twitched. “After completing so many missions, the final reward turns out to be not a legendary item, but a box containing a legendary item?! And we’re stuck in an underground tomb now; how are we supposed to find the key?”
Wen Jianyan stared expressionlessly at the iron box in his palm. “…”
Damn it, what a scam of a system!
The “Integrity First” live broadcast room fell silent:
[…]
[…Damn, this is really unfair; the item given is incomplete!]
[Haha, we might need a lock-picking prop to pry this thing open!]
[But this also indirectly indicates that this item is indeed extraordinary. It’s probably quite unique; otherwise, the system wouldn’t impose so many restrictions on it.]
If only that lock-picking tool from earlier hadn’t been used up…
Wen Jianyan showed a regretful expression.
But it didn’t matter. He could always buy a similar tool from the free market once he left the instance. In any case, this lock probably wouldn’t hold him back for long.
“Oh, by the way.”
Wen Jianyan tucked the small box back into his pocket and looked at the others. Suddenly, he remembered something and said,
“I activated the ultimate mainline task.”
The fact that the real name of 05 would trigger it was something he hadn’t expected.
Everyone was taken aback, and their expressions became slightly solemn.
The ultimate mainline task…
If completed, it would naturally yield richer rewards and the platinum trophy. However, it also meant that if not completed within the stipulated time limit, even if the clearance requirements were met, the live room would be closed.
It was truly a gamble with one’s life.
Suddenly, Shao Yao seemed to remember something.
“Oh, right, what’s the completion rate of your items now?”
Wen Jianyan blinked and replied:
“I only need one more.”
Shao Yao took a deep breath and took something out of her pocket, handing it to Wen Jianyan.
“Try this.”
As soon as he touched it, the familiar sound of the system’s notification rang in his ears:
【Congratulations to the host for obtaining the hidden item (Ordinary) in the instance!】
【Collection rate: 10/10】
Wen Jianyan was taken aback and instinctively looked down at his palm.
It was a glass jar about the size of a palm, grey and unremarkable.
This… was actually the last hidden item?!
He looked at Shao Yao standing in front of him, astonishment flickering in his eyes.
“It’s only an ordinary-level item, not very useful for me,” Shao Yao shrugged, “but it’s different for you. After collecting all the items, it will provide you with hints for the ultimate mainline task. And since we’re all trapped in this underground tomb now, it’s difficult to complete the point mission in a short time. It’s better to leave yourself a way out.”
“In case I don’t have time to gather enough points, maybe you’ll have to complete the ultimate mainline task to get us all out.”
Shao Yao paused, lifted her gaze, and looked earnestly at the young man before her, taking a deep breath before speaking:
“And I don’t think I’ve had the chance to thank you properly for pulling me up in the lab earlier.”
At that time, although she was completely engulfed in the crimson flesh membrane, she still retained some vague and fragmented memories. And with time passing, these memories gradually became clearer—she remembered the person who, despite having his palm sliced and torn by fishing line, with crazed teammates attacking him from behind, never let go…
It was precisely because of this reason that Shao Yao believed that the person could rescue her teammates in this nightmare-filled place, even willing to sign an unequal treaty, transferring the legendary-level item task to him.
【Ding! It was detected that the anchor had collected all the hidden items. Now releasing the core clue of the hidden route:
Seven chimes, connected from the beginning to the end.
The brain in the vat, forming its own world.】
“…”
Wen Jianyan paused for two seconds.
…7?
7!!!
After counting carefully, there were a total of seven high-risk patients with names.
Patient 00: Adam Reese
Patient 01: Edward
Patient 02: Uris
Patient 03: Two individuals, Niel and Lore
Patient 04: Mars
Patient 05: Emmanuel
The entire Ping An Asylum consisted of six floors.
Two underground floors and four above ground. And above the fourth floor, there was a hidden seventh floor.
Seven chimes, and they had just experienced six, leaving only the last one…
Speaking of which, in Catholicism, the number “7” was quite special.
God’s creation lasted seven days, and the seventh day was set aside as the holy day or the Sabbath. Even the legendary Great Flood, which destroyed the world, was inseparable from the number “7”.
You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male, and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.”
So, in Catholicism, 7 represented the cycle of creation and destruction, whether it be creation or the end of the world, both were closely related.
“…”
Then, could it be that the so-called “plan” within this Ping An Asylum was…
Wen Jianyan’s breath caught in his throat.
Suddenly, the contents of the signboard he saw outside the laboratory leaped into his mind.
In those blurry and intermittent words, he could vaguely discern the words “spiritual” and “uroboros”…
“Uroboros” was unmistakably the ouroboros, the symbol of a serpent eating its own tail.
But the other word was different.
If the research in their laboratory was on mental illnesses, then the appropriate term should be “mental.”
“Spiritual” was more commonly associated with “religion” and “supernatural souls” and was rarely used in the context of mental illnesses.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth.
Although he knew English, he didn’t grow up in that linguistic and cultural background, so he had somehow overlooked such an obvious clue!
Seven artificially created specimens.
The last one being a massive brain floating in liquid.
Seven chimes.
And adding to that, the name symbolizing “God is with us”…
Wen Jianyan stood motionless, a conjecture slowly emerging in his mind, sending chills down his spine and making him shiver.
This so-called “plan”…
Now it seemed to resemble something akin to creating a deity and a genesis, didn’t it?
