Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 300: Mental Pollution

Before long, Sima Xiao Er also came knocking. Xu Huo told him to open the door himself, which he did smoothly while carrying a bag of fruit. Spotting the person in the corner, he exclaimed in surprise, "Wasn't he locked up on the fourth floor? Why is he here with you?"
"He went crazy and ran down here himself," Xu Huo replied, then asked him, "Have you found the dungeon trigger point yet?"
"Not at all," Sima Xiao Er said dejectedly. "I've searched the first, second, and third floors. It seems the key is upstairs... Want to go look together?"
Seeing his hopeful expression, Xu Huo smiled slightly. "Are you scared?"
"Not at all," Sima Xiao Er said with frustration. "I've searched the first, second, and third floors. It seems the key is upstairs... Want to go look together?"
"Didn't expect you to have such high ideological awareness," Xu Huo said after brief consideration before agreeing to go with him.
"Here, have some fruit," Sima Xiao Er shoved oranges into his hand. "I snagged these from the duty room. That nurse was sleeping like she hadn't slept in eight lifetimes, didn't even wake up. If only the duty room upstairs is the same."
Xu Huo gave him a deep look, thinking that having a simple mind wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The two went up to the fourth floor. The two doors didn't stop them—Sima Xiao Er easily picked the locks, remarking, "I peeked at the nurse entering the password today. The corridor door codes are all the same."
The corridor doors had changed to password locks, no longer requiring keys. Unconsciously, the hospital building had altered its structure again.
The fourth floor's layout hadn't changed much, though the walls and floors looked more aged. Room doors had become iron doors, and the entire floor echoed with patients' roars and chaotic smashing sounds.
Sima Xiao Er showed his fear, stopping in his tracks, too scared to proceed. Xu Huo walked forward, and two doors that had been about to open slammed shut again.
"Let's make this quick," he said.
Sima Xiao Er hurried to catch up. "Since there are people in the rooms, the dungeon trigger point definitely isn't inside them. Could it be in the doctor's office or treatment room?"
The treatment room was at the end of the corridor. As they entered, the walls changed again—the floors and walls became more dilapidated, showing somewhat dried stains. Though unclear what they were, their appearance in this environment was highly impactful.
"Brother Xu, take it easy. We're just ordinary people now," Sima Xiao Er whispered in reminder. Just then, a patient in the adjacent room slammed against the door, startling him so badly he jumped. Recovering, he bravado-ly flipped off the patient whose face was squeezed into segments by the wire mesh on the glass window.
Then the person inside returned the gesture with his own middle finger.
"This guy's awake," Sima Xiao Er poked Xu Huo's elbow.
"Go talk to him," Xu Huo said casually.
Sima Xiao Er indeed walked over, but before he could speak, the person inside punched through the glass, forcibly extending his hand through the wire mesh to grab his shoulder and slam him against the door. Face to face, the other said, "Let me tell you, there are ghosts here."
Sima Xiao Er trembled. "Let go, you lunatic!"
"Look, the ghost is coming!" The person inside suddenly looked terrified toward one side of the corridor, retracting his hand lightning-fast, then patching the broken glass with cardboard.
Meanwhile, Sima Xiao Er turned to look in the direction indicated. He didn't see any ghosts, but the corridor lights suddenly started flickering, and the shadows along the walls and corners deepened, as if something was trying to emerge from within.
"Hey." A hand patted his shoulder.
Sima Xiao Er waved his arms in fright, only relaxing heavily when he saw Xu Huo's expressionless face. "My eyes were playing tricks on me just now... I actually thought there was something in the corridor too."
"With your limited brain capacity, it's better not to overthink. Keeping things simple is good for you," Xu Huo said somewhat coldly.
"What do you mean by that? Calling me stupid?" Sima Xiao Er's defiance lasted only two seconds before he added, "I'm not as smart as you, but I'm not dumb either! Except for the exceptionally smart or exceptionally stupid, most people have similar IQs!"
"I'm not calling you stupid, just reminding you not to let your imagination run wild," Xu Huo turned and continued walking. "Anything anyone imagines in this hospital can become reality in their own and others' eyes. In other words, the mental world interferes with the real world. What you imagine can become real."
"You mean that guy seeing ghosts was all his own imagination?" Sima Xiao Er felt both shocked and that it made sense, since he hadn't seen anything.
"Then how do we tell if what we're seeing is real or fake?" he wondered. "If I find the dungeon trigger point, is it what I think it is, or does it actually exist?"
"Brother Xu, take it easy. We're just ordinary people now," Sima Xiao Er whispered as a reminder. Just then, a patient in the adjacent room slammed against the door, startling him so badly he jumped. Recovering, he bravado-ly flipped off the patient whose face was squeezed into segments by the wire mesh on the glass window.
"I'm not as calm as you! With so many patients in the hospital, who knows what kind of ghostly things they'll imagine!" Sima Xiao Er paused, then suddenly brightened. "Could I imagine the Jade Emperor or superpowers to help me fight?"
This time Xu Huo didn't even turn his head. "Do you think your mental power is strong enough to affect everyone in the hospital? The things you imagine only count if others see them too."
In fact, this entire hospital might not be real. Before the Special Defense Department members entered, they all saw an incomplete building. Whether it appeared and moved with the fog or was imagined by the first entrants remained unknown.
However, over time, those who entered began experiencing mental state changes. The stronger one's mental power, the higher the possibility of influencing the environment and others—this was why the hospital kept changing.
With a normal mind, the visible world tended toward normality. But this hospital had forces affecting them. The longer they stayed, the worse their mental state became, especially for those with weak willpower. Once they started doubting whether they were truly ill, mental breakdown wasn't far off. After a few more days, this hospital would become a spiritually contaminated land filled with demons and monsters.
The madman's strength lay in his unconditional self-belief, something normal people found difficult to achieve.
This wasn't a dungeon, but escaping wouldn't be easy either. The real exit still had to be found within the hospital.
Xu Huo pushed open the treatment room door. As soon as he stepped inside, Sima Xiao Er behind him dropped to his knees, retching.
Frowning as he scanned the room's condition, Xu Huo said, "Wait outside if you can't handle it."
But Sima Xiao Er looked at the room with terrified eyes. "Inside there's..."
Xu Huo closed the door. The room he saw was completely normal, just dirtier than outside. Unsterilized medical instruments were piled on the floor and operating table, some rusted, looking long unused.
Compared to the third-floor treatment room, this was an entirely different world. Spiritual contamination was intensifying and would soon affect the third floor too.