Mechanical Alchemist

Upon returning to the third floor, Su Lun suddenly noticed that all the noise from below had disappeared.

There was no sound of blood, no gunshot, and no bizarre noises emitted by the monsters.

Relieved, Su Lun pondered, "Blind Detective Bill must have been here for several months now, with his suicidal rate of fanciful thinking, he definitely couldn't have survived this long. So what I just saw was probably not a living person..."

He was also certain that one of the spatial rules he had deduced was correct: when a person dies, the monsters born of terror vanish, and the space returns to its original state.

Otherwise, when he had first been swept into this mess, there had been no monsters on either the third floor or the second floor, nor any signs of battle, which was clearly odd.

As he had guessed, this was a trigger-style scenario!

It only happened when outsiders entered.

The only thing he wasn't sure about was whether the newly appeared monsters would pursue him.

It seemed now that his luck was holding.

....

"Looks like I need to go down again..."

With some doubts still unresolved in his mind and despite the dangers, Su Lun decided to head back down.

After all, if he wanted to get out, he could not avoid passing through the second floor of the hospital.

He listened intently for a moment and heard nothing.

So, Su Lun carefully made his way back down.

Then, he saw the same scene as before.

'Blind Detective' Bill was sitting at the doorway of an examination room, with blood flowing beneath him.

Su Lun's gaze sharpened slightly, "The scenario has reset? Is it really the lingering thoughts of that blind detective before his death..."

The Old Cowboy spotted Su Lun again and asked the same question, "Are you human?"

"Yes,"

Su Lun replied with the same answer.

He had intended to use the All-knowing Eye to identify whatever mystery lay on the second floor and to check the current state of the blind man. But the moment his gaze fell on him, as if sensing something, the blind man suddenly drew his gun!

Su Lun's pupils contracted sharply.

As an "expert in firearms," he recognized from the man's subtle body movements that he was about to draw his gun, and without any hesitation, he bolted up the stairs.

Almost at the same time, the sound of gunfire filled his ears, and a bullet grazed his thigh.

If he hadn't dodged in time, that shot could have cost him half his life.

Back on the third floor corridor, the second floor returned to its tranquility once more.

Su Lun let out a deep breath and sighed, "A master of firearms is so daunting. There's quite a gap..."

It wasn't completely surprising that Bill would shoot.

Su Lun himself would have done the same. In such a creepy hospital, the likelihood of encountering another human was slim, especially with those inexplicably prying eyes.

He had stood so close to the stairs just now precisely to guard against this.

However, although this trip down had caused him a slight injury, it had also confirmed a few things.

In that instant of appraisal, the word above Bill's head was not "Human" but "Spirit Manifestation".

Biologically speaking, he was dead.

But in this space, he was alive in a way similar to that of an NPC.

....

"The events on the second floor must be a reenactment of the blind man's last moments..."

Su Lun took out a potion to treat the scrape on his thigh, and his mind quickly began to analyze the situation.

If it weren't for that brain supplementing blind man, he would probably have made his way to the second floor to find the records without much trouble.

Now with this guy, as soon as he went down, he'd have to face the high-level aberrant monster that had sprouted from the man's imagination.

To stop him from thinking wildly?

The most effective way was to kill him.

But... Su Lun had now confirmed that this Bill was outrageously strong.

Just a glance had earned him a gunshot.

Su Lun felt that if he harbored even the slightest intent to kill, the moment he went downstairs, he'd be greeted with a volley of bullets.

The assassination plan was directly ruled out, PASS!

"However... It was only after such a long conversation for the first time that a monster appeared; it must have been because his attention was on me. As long as I distract him and explain the situation in time, perhaps I could prevent the aberration from appearing..."

Su Lun figured out the key to the puzzle and decided to go down again.

He took a deep breath, reminding himself not to show any hostility or make any misleading actions.

Then he went down the stairs once more, and sure enough, saw the Old Cowboy bleeding on the bench again.

....

Bill noticed him immediately, asking the same question for the third time, "Are you human?"

Su Lun responded, "Yes."

The same conversation unfolded next, with Bill trying to probe the origins of Su Lun.

This time, he didn't hide his method and said directly, "I've discovered the rules of this cursed space--the monsters are actually physical manifestations of what's in our minds. As long as we control ourselves not to think about them, the monsters won't appear."

Since the other party was already dead, he also felt there was no need to keep this piece of information secret.

Besides, a master of firearms without malice might be a great asset rather than an enemy in this strange cursed space.

Upon hearing these words, Bill's eyebrows furrowed instantly, as though he was pondering over something.

A moment later, this blind detective, famed for his acumen, easily grasped the key point and realized with an epiphany, "No wonder, I thought the aberrant monsters that appeared were familiar. That's why."

After a few more exchanges, Su Lun, seeing that no monsters appeared, guessed that the Blind Detective had likely managed to control some of his terrifying thoughts.

Intending to recruit him as a temporary ally, Su Lun said, "Mr. Bill, I've heard of your great reputation. I think if we want to get out of this cursed space, it would be best to look for a way out."

Without any hesitation, Bill nodded, "Hmm. I just so happen to need an assistant."

Su Lun hadn't expected that Bill had already thought of a method to break out of the cursed space.

The Old Cowboy immediately shared his opinion, "There are three conventional methods to break a cursed space. First, kill the source of the curse that creates the space's scenery; second, find the cursed object; third, generate an energy fluctuation the space can't withstand to force it open.

But this space is special—it draws in 'those who are aware of its existence.' And the rule you discovered about 'malicious thoughts manifesting' makes me almost certain that the source of the curse forming this space is very likely a very strong 'resentment'!"

Very strong?

The fact that this master of firearms mentioned this made Su Lun frown.

The situation was far more troublesome than he had anticipated.

His understanding of the cursed space paled in comparison to Bill's; much of it was a blind spot in his knowledge, and he hadn't realized that breaking the curse space involved so many complexities.

Now that he heard it, the option of directly facing off with the BOSS was immediately dismissed.

There was no need to bet on chance; most likely, they wouldn't even have time to assess the situation before a fatal encounter.

The remaining option with the highest chance of survival seemed to be finding the "resentment's master" and reciting its name.

Su Lun had not expected that Bill had come to the same conclusion.

Bill continued, "Based on the current situation, the danger level of this cursed space has reached 'S-Class.' The ability of that 'source of the curse' is probably beyond what we can handle. So, looking for it recklessly would be very dangerous."

After a pause, he added, "And I've learned of a special method to break such 'resentment spaces' through some means. Maybe we should try it."

Although Su Lun already knew the method to unravel the mystery, he asked curiously, "What method?"

Bill said, "The curse of certain special resentment masters can be broken just by reciting their names. We can first try this method. If we find the name of the 'resentment master' in this space and then recite it, perhaps with some luck, we could get out directly..."

Hitting the nail on the head, Su Lun listened and internally praised the meticulous mind of the Blind Detective, whose reputation was indeed well-deserved.

.....

Having discussed their strategy, Su Lun and Bill began searching for clues in the various examination rooms.

Su Lun was on guard the whole time for any sudden appearance of monsters, but discovered that his worries were unfounded. He was also surprised that Blind Detective Bill managed to perfectly control himself from wandering into fearful thoughts.

Without interference from monsters, they quickly found a special room: the Director's office.

There was hardly any delay, and with Bill's detective skills, they soon discovered a safe behind a wall painting.

Su Lun had thought the safe would be troublesome, but unexpectedly, the Old Cowboy, with his stethoscope and master key, easily cracked it open after a bit of fiddling.

A detective, indeed, is a catchall profession that understands and masters everything.

The safe contained no valuables, only a thick stack of notebooks.

Su Lun casually picked one up and immediately realized they had found the right clue!

The notebooks were filled with notes from an experiment called 'Living Corpse Research,' totaling about twenty or thirty volumes. It was easy for him to spot the author's name, which appeared at the end of nearly every notebook: Tillmido M. Chekhov.

Su Lun flipped through a few pages and saw that the notebooks were filled with dense data, rune knowledge, alchemical knowledge... The content was too advanced, and he couldn't understand most of it.

In an instant, Su Lun realized these ancient alchemical diaries were priceless.

Then, without looking closely, he stored them all in his storage ring.

Fueled by the narrative of horror stories, Su Lun's intuition told him that discovering such a key clue was likely to trigger some kind of chain reaction.

Sure enough, just seconds after opening the safe, a strange noise came from outside the director's office door, sounding as if it originated from even deeper within the hospital...