Creak.
The door opened.
Leonard cautiously looked inside.
The room was pitch black, silent, and without any light source.
He switched to a flashlight, pressed the button, and a beam of light cut through the darkness.
The room was filled with bottles and medicine boxes.
Medicine!
All medicine!
Leonard's heart leapt with joy.
In real life, medicine saves lives.
In games, every main character is basically a walking pharmacy.
Leonard rushed in to scavenge, picking up a bottle.
It felt very light. It was empty.
He tried several more. All empty.
"Are you kidding me? What's the use of a bunch of empty bottles?"
His mood hit a rollercoaster dip.
He kept searching. After spending quite some time, he finally found some actual medicine scattered throughout the room.
—
Healing Potion
Level: 1
Type: Elixir
Effect: Restores 60 HP
Drug Resistance: 5 minutes (Repeated use reduces effectiveness. Resistance resets after 5 minutes.)
Description: You won't like how it tastes, so try not to get hurt.
—
Antidote
Level: 1
Type: Elixir
Effect: Cures all poison status
Drug Resistance: 5 minutes
Description: Red cap, white stalk. Eat it, and you'll lie down together.
—
Tranquilizer
Level: 1
Type: Elixir
Effect: Restores 50 Sanity
Drug Resistance: 8 minutes
Description: Calm down, bro.
—
Fortitude Elixir
Level: 1
Type: Elixir
Effect: Restores 30 HP. Temporarily increases Constitution by 20, grants 30% physical damage reduction for 2 minutes.
Drug Resistance: 30 minutes
Description: Why are you looking at me? Get in there and fight!
—
Hemostatic Bandage
Level: 1
Type: Medical Item
Effect: Restores 10 HP, stops bleeding.
Description: Don't wrap yourself up like a mummy.
—
Leonard found four types of medicine in total:
5 Healing Potions, 3 Antidotes, 2 Tranquilizers, 1 Fortitude Elixir.
That's 11 items altogether.
All of them went straight into Leonard's backpack.
He knew how valuable these were.
In a life-or-death dorm survival situation,
One more healing potion means one more chance to live.
The other three were also extremely useful.
The Fortitude Elixir, for instance, could temporarily boost Constitution and reduce damage taken.
Clearly made for desperate moments.
"I've spent too much time here. Time to move on."
Leonard stopped searching.
He had checked about 90% of the bottles in the room. Missing a few was inevitable.
As he turned to leave, he noticed a half-open drawer revealing a file folder.
It caught his eye.
He reached in and pulled it out.
When he opened it, most of the writing was too blurred to read.
Only a few parts were still legible.
-------
Specimen No. 005
March 12
Note: By inducing near-death through starvation, dehydration, and bloodletting, we maintained vital signs with an IV drip of glucose.
March 16
Note: The experiment made a breakthrough. Under the ritual's influence, livor mortis began appearing on the subject while still alive.
The forced-open mouth began to curl its tongue, with a bud-like growth forming at the tip.
March 19
Note: The subject died before flower could bloom, interrupting the ritual.
For the next test subject, an ECG alarm system must be installed. Use albumin, lipid emulsion, and amino acids when necessary to prolong life.
-------
Leonard flipped through the rest. All of it was vague and cryptic documentation.
"These must be fragmented bits of the game's storyline."
"Not sure how much this story affects completing the game."
"Judging from the notes, some insane experiments happened here. They mentioned a ritual, flower... seems like they were cultivating a plant using live humans."
"Could this have something to do with the zombies?"
Leonard mentally pieced things together.
These text files are automatically saved in the system after being read and can be reviewed anytime.
So he didn't take the file and returned it to its original place.
He walked out of the infirmary. It was time to head back.
The return path was shorter but more dangerous.
Those people across the gap were still standing there, staring.
One of them, a wounded man, shouted, "Did you find any medicine? Can you help me? I feel like I'm dying!"
Leonard ignored him, adjusted his stance, and sprinted forward.
Muscles tensed, power exploded, and his speed kept accelerating.
At the edge of the gap, he launched himself off the ground, flying through the air like an athlete, and landed safely on the other side.
The injured man rushed over.
"Did you get medicine or not? Do you have anything for wounds? Please, share some!" he pleaded.
"Back off." Leonard's expression turned cold as he stared at the man.
"You can't just leave me to die! You were across the gap. Of course you found something! Give me the medicine! I've got a family. I can't die here!"
"I said, back off."
Leonard revealed a ruthless side, pulling out his Madman's Saw and holding it between them.
The injured man recoiled in fear.
Just because Leonard found some medicine didn't mean he had to help a total stranger.
Especially not in a survival game like this.
He was fighting for his own life too.
With the crowd intimidated, Leonard walked off, gripping his weapon.
Before leaving, he quietly sent a friend request to the athletic guy who'd taught him the jump earlier.
It was a favor worth remembering, adding him could lead to future cooperation.
He didn't give the guy any medicine on purpose.
If Leonard had done that in front of everyone, the guy would've become a target.
Sure enough, the request was accepted. The player's name was "Fire."
Leonard made his way down to the first floor.
Next stop, the morgue on the basement level.
When he entered the first-floor lobby, it was surprisingly crowded.
Over thirty players were gathered there, trying to break the doors or smash the walls.
"Damn it, no good! If you hit the door, you get electrocuted! It really hurts!"
"The walls on both sides can't be damaged either, all attacks deal zero damage."
"How the hell are we supposed to escape this cursed place?"
"If nothing else works, we'll just have to survive until Day Four. The game said we clear it then."
"Bullshit! You believe that crap? They're the ones who brought us here!"
They'd clearly tried a lot already.
Leonard didn't get involved.
Instead, he located the staircase leading to the basement level.
It had been locked before. Now it was open.
Below, darkness loomed like the gaping mouth of an abyss, ready to devour.
Leonard turned on his flashlight and headed down.