Chapter 296: The Mind Affects Reality

Words : 1386 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: The Mind Affects RealityThe other party was wearing patient clothes and held something behind his back. "I want to go in, can you open the door?" Xu Huo asked him. The corners of the man’s mouth stretched back to his molars, and as he skillfully pressed the code, he said, "Once you’re in, you can’t get out; you have to stay here." No sooner had Xu Huo stepped inside than the man immediately closed the door, leaned his back against the iron door, and excitedly gasped for air. His eyes fixed intently on Xu Huo, then he suddenly let out a strange howl and swung the object in his hand forward in a chopping motion. The makeshift knife made of toilet paper stuck to Xu Huo’s neck, and the man burst into laughter, "I killed a Cannibal Player! I killed a Cannibal Player! I get a reward now!" He didn’t bother to check if the "dead" person was truly dead and hopped into the depths of the corridor, his voice then disappearing into the darkness. The fourth floor fell silent again. The layout of the fourth floor was noticeably different from the third, its length and width at least double that of the floor below, and its deep structure made one feel all the more oppressed inside. Xu Huo turned and entered the hallway. As he passed the first room, a shadow suddenly pounced onto the door from the darkness, creating a loud thud as a face was pressed hard against the glass window, the nose and mouth smudging together, leaving only the sliding eyeballs to stand out clearly. Xu Huo did not linger, he glanced and then withdrew his gaze, continuing to the second room when the door creaked open, and a dry, emaciated hand reached out from the darkness, beckoning him inside. Then the third door, the fourth, the fifth—when he came to the sixth door, he turned the handle and entered. Sima Xiao’er was tied up on the bed, already awake, struggling to bite at the straps on his body. Xu Huo turned on the light in the room. Sima Xiao’er was initially startled but, seeing Xu Huo, tears of excitement flowed, "Brother Xu, it’s really you!" Xu Huo sat down beside the bed, his expression calmly fixed on him. The joy on Sima Xiao’er’s face slowly turned to unease, "Brother Xu, say something." "Do you know who my cousin is?" Xu Huo began. "Yu Qingqing," Sima Xiao’er hurriedly replied. "She’s your cousin, not a close one, became a star without finishing college!" "Did you see the person standing next to me upstairs today?" Xu Huo asked further. "She was a nurse." Sima Xiao’er thought for a moment, "I really didn’t notice at that time." "Doesn’t she look like Yu Qingqing?" Xu Huo continued. Sima Xiao’er’s expression blanked for a second, then slowly his eyes regained their spark, "It does seem like Yu Qingqing. Did she enter the instance too?" Xu Huo fell silent, beginning to scrutinize the person on the hospital bed. Sima Xiao’er, a bit perplexed, struggled and said, "Quick, untie me so we can escape under the cover of darkness. I don’t want to stay in this damn place another minute." "How do we escape?" Xu Huo asked, "Several doors downstairs are locked." "Only an idiot would use the stairs. Can’t you see those huge windows? Just make a rope from the bedsheets and curtains, and we can climb down," Sima Xiao’er said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Where are the windows?" Xu Huo pointed ahead. "What kind of joke are you..." Sima Xiao’er struggled to turn his head, but his rebuttal came to an abrupt halt. His pupils contracted in shock as he jolted, "How is that possible? The window is gone!" The place where Sima Xiao’er had slipped out through the window during the day had turned into a concrete wall. Not only that, but everything in the room was slowly changing, too. Although the environment on the fourth floor couldn’t compare to the third, the paint and furnishings still featured mood-lifting colors. But now, the walls, objects, and floor tiles were rapidly losing their color, transforming from a warm and bright style into a gloomy grey-black tone. The walls turned to sheer concrete, and the shelf in the corner for storing items had become a table littered with various dirty medical tools. Xu Huo looked around, released the restraints on Sima Xiao’er, and then patted him on the forehead, "Don’t stand there in a daze. Weren’t you planning to escape out the window?" "Where is the window..." Sima Xiao’er reflexively glanced to the left following his words and nearly bit his own tongue off. The place that was a concrete wall just moments ago had returned to how it looked during the day, with the window wide open and the curtains gently swaying in the night breeze. "I said it, how could a window just disappear like that. It must have been me who saw it wrong, it’s definitely those fake nurses and the shots they gave me!" Sima Xiao’er muttered to himself, sounding significantly more cheerful. The room’s layout had reverted back to its original state. "Then let’s get going!" He flipped over and started to tear the sheets, but at that moment, he heard the sound of whistles coming from downstairs. He hurried to the window, furrowing his brows, "Someone trying to escape has been found, there are so many security guards downstairs. It doesn’t look like we can make it out tonight. Which bastards were so careless? They’ve messed things up, and now security will surely be tightened, making it even harder to escape." "Do you really think they can get away from this place if they manage to escape?" Xu Huo suddenly said. Sima Xiao’er turned his head in surprise, but Xu Huo didn’t seem inclined to say more. Instead, he patted the bed, "Come on up, I’ll tie you back up. Behave yourself these next few days, and maybe you could be moved to the third floor." Sima Xiao’er’s expression was very reluctant, but he still cooperatively lay back down. Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Oh right, over ten more people from the Special Defense Department have come in, have you seen them? What about Captain Nie?" "I haven’t seen Nie Xuan, and I don’t know the rest. You can come down and recognize them yourself tomorrow." After securing Sima Xiao’er, Xu Huo left the fourth floor. On his way back to the third floor, he didn’t encounter anyone, and the nurse in the duty room on the third floor was still asleep, while the noise from downstairs gradually diminished. The next morning, several cars entered The Seventeenth Hospital one after another, returning the few people who had escaped the night before. Among them, a skinny player with severe conditions was sent to the fourth floor, and the other three were locked back in their own rooms. As Xu Huo walked past the door during his stroll, he overheard a bit: Xiao Gao had clearly been severely traumatized, muttering the same sentence repeatedly, "Weren’t they dead? Weren’t they dead? Weren’t they dead..." The doctor administered a sedative to him. Xu Huo went downstairs and sat on the lawn in the sun. After a while, Sima Xiao’er came down. He ambled over to Xu Huo and spoke in a lowered voice, "The ones who got caught trying to escape, they’re from the Special Defense Department. What’s going on? Why do they say there’s no place called Ting City?" "Xiao Gao was actually brought back by a phone call from his parents!" Sima Xiao’er’s face carried a look of disbelief and astonishment, "Weren’t his parents killed by an Evolver? Could it be that this instance isn’t limited to just one hospital?" He didn’t care about Xu Huo’s response and continued, "It must be so. At that time, the fog covered the East City District, and the instance’s territory might be bigger than we thought. There’s no escaping it; even if you do escape, you’ll be caught and brought back." Xu Huo interrupted him, "What are you planning to do next?"

Chapter 296: The Mind Affects Reality

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