16. The Cursed Hospital

Jiang Pan dodged in front of her and said, "Shall we form a team?"

Chi You looked at his handsome face and felt that teaming up with him would only hasten her demise.

"We'll see."

To survive in the instances, Chi You had been working hard to train her body over the past month. She ran every morning and went boxing in the evenings. She was determined to make the beauty on her face permanent—it was a peerless beauty, something she had dreamed of, and she was not about to let it go.

As days passed, Chi You watched the time on her app dwindle. Seeing the next task instance, she planned to enter it on a pleasant, sunny afternoon.

After finishing her evening studies, Chi You was intercepted by Jiang Pan on her way back to the dormitory.

"It's been a while, you should head into an instance by now," Jiang Pan said with a smile. "Let's team up."

"Can't you clear an instance on your own?" Chi You asked, staring at him. He was a top student; these instances should be trivial for him. He couldn't possibly be unable to clear them.

"It's too boring to go alone. I think teaming up with you will create a lot of chemistry." Recalling how reckless Chi You had been in the last instance, Jiang Pan couldn't help but reach for his phone, wanting to view those photos he had taken of her again. "Don't worry, as your senior, I'll protect you." He didn't forget to bait her with grand promises. "My marksmanship is very accurate."

Chi You chuckled, her face full of disbelief. She would sooner believe she was the First Emperor of Qin than trust Jiang Pan to save her. However, since he had been asking for several days, it would be impolite to refuse again.

"Fine."

Upon receiving her consent, Jiang Pan was overjoyed. He immediately took out his phone, opened the app, and sent a team invitation. "Accept it quickly." The thought of entering an instance again made him incredibly excited; his eyes widened slightly, and his voice carried a hint of fervor.

"What's the rush? Find a place to sit," Chi You said, heading toward a distant pavilion.

They sat down in the pavilion, and only under Jiang Pan's watchful gaze did Chi You tap "Accept."

Immediately after, both of them vanished into thin air, leaving only two phones behind. When Chi You opened her eyes again, she found herself sitting in a car, with the sound of DJ music blasting at an ear-splitting volume.

The car was packed with people, all of them swaying along to the music. Chi You looked out the window. Outside was dead silent. The area was overgrown with weeds and dense trees, and the long dirt road was choked with grass. Were they heading into the middle of nowhere?

Chi You opened her app to check the details of this instance:

[Instance: The Cursed Hospital]
[Description: This is a long-abandoned hospital that comes to life every night. Many have tried to peek inside to see if it is truly haunted, but those who enter either die or go mad. Rumor has it that this is a curse set by the dean...]
[Mission: 1. Find the curse set by the dean. 2. Leave the hospital alive.]
[Difficulty: A+]
[Participants: 4]

Chi You finished reading and looked out the window again. So, the car was heading to that hospital? No wonder the surroundings were so desolate; it had been a long time since anyone had visited.

Soon, the car arrived at their destination. The DJ music stopped, and everyone got out. They carried backpacks and flashlights, looking fully equipped, as if they had been planning this visit for a long time. The man in the lead shone his flashlight at the hospital's open gate and offered a reminder:

"Stay safe once we go inside. Remember, there are no ghosts in this world; don't be afraid no matter what happens. We must find the secret of this hospital so Liu Qiang and his crew won't dare to mock us again."

After he spoke, two others immediately chimed in: "Right, the boss is right. To hell with those ghosts and demons, we'll take them all down today. We have to make Liu Qiang look at us with new respect!"

Chi You exchanged a glance with the girl opposite her; they both found their answers in each other's eyes.

Just then, another car pulled up. A group of five people tumbled out. Jiang Pan was among them, standing there with a backpack and a flashlight, fiddling with his phone in his other hand.

"Liu Qiang, why are you here?" someone exclaimed.

Liu Qiang stood to the side, taking a drag of his cigarette and saying calmly, "If you can come, why can't we? And the ones who will uncover the secret of this hospital will be us!" After delivering his threat, he took a final, deep puff of the cigarette and ground it out on the ground.

"Bullshit, it will be us!" Sun Qian, with his square face, said viciously. His two lackeys immediately chimed in, "Exactly, you're only fit to be losers under our boss!"

While both sides were still trading threats, the iron gate of the hospital let out a sharp, screeching sound. It was ear-piercing, especially loud in the silent night.

The sound silenced everyone instantly. With chills running down their spines, they slowly turned to look. As the flashlight beam swept across, a white figure was seen standing there. Goosebumps rose on everyone present at the sight.

It was real... there was a ghost!

Chi You stood with her arms crossed, watching. The white figure appeared for a brief moment before vanishing. The group blinked, staring at the gate, momentarily doubting if they had just hallucinated.

"Are we going in or not?" Jiang Pan asked, unwilling to listen to these people bicker. "If you're not going, we are." With that, Jiang Pan led the way in with his flashlight. Chi You followed closely behind, and the other two participants had no choice but to follow.

Inside the hospital, the vast courtyard was filled with all sorts of weeds. Because of the long neglect, the grass was taller than a person. Chi You looked up at the large characters on the building. The paint had long since peeled away from the rain, and some were missing parts. Still, from the remains, she could faintly make out the name:

Nanshan City Psychiatric Hospital.

Chi You: ...

She had expected a standard hospital; it turned out to be a mental asylum. As they walked deeper, she spotted exercise equipment half-buried under the weeds. It seemed this had once been a place for the patients to get active.

"What a huge banyan tree," someone in the crowd exclaimed. Everyone followed their gaze and saw the large banyan tree in the distance, its canopy lush and its trunk exceptionally thick.

When they reached the hospital building, everyone stopped. The main door was chained shut, and to make matters worse, several yellow talismans were plastered over it.