Chapter 1 After Receiving Three Side Quests

After accepting the three side quests, Feng Bujue lingered in Room 216 for about five more minutes.

During those five minutes, he checked the remaining beds, confirming that the other two were also empty. He also tried to get some information out of the Earl and Victor, but they completely ignored him, continuing their argument… It seemed he wouldn't get any hints from these two NPCs.

Then, Jue-Ge also searched the four bedside cabinets in the room (the Earl's and Victor's were naturally off-limits) and successfully found a strange coin in Mr. Harper's cabinet.

Having done all this, he opened the door and stepped back into the corridor.

"The setting of this script is quite sharp…" Feng Bujue walked forward unhurriedly, playing with the coin in one hand as he muttered, "Judging from the description of this coin… this shouldn't be the human world…"

[Name: Coin]

[Type: Story-Related]

[Quality: Normal]

[Function: Can be used to purchase items from the vending machines in the restaurant lobby]

[Can it be brought out of the script: No]

[Note: The most common basic currency in the Monster Kingdom. Because exchange rates often change and the habit of bartering cannot be eradicated, the coins do not have a specific denomination printed on them. Also, because the king is often killed by heroes, adventurers, or his own relatives, and sometimes accidentally self-destructs, the coins do not have the king's portrait printed on them.]

"Since it's the Monster Kingdom…" Feng Bujue couldn't help but think, "Then am I also a monster?" He scratched his head, "But looking at the reflection, Lester seems to be human… Could there be something special under the clothes?"

This was a tricky issue. Although the other characters in the script saw Lester's appearance when they looked at Feng Bujue, Jue-Ge himself still saw his purple long suit. Moreover, even if he found a mirror, he couldn't strip down to his bare torso. Therefore, only heaven knew what kind of monster Lester was.

"Wait…" A thought flashed through Feng Bujue's mind, "Then what about the bandaged man and the Chad siblings?" He thought to himself, "That bandaged guy asked me, 'Aren't you afraid of me?', and he also said, 'I'm a ghost, do you know what that means?'" He stroked his chin and pondered, "According to normal logic, he means… that I, a 'living person,' should be afraid of 'ghosts'." He frowned slightly, "Also, about Chad's sister, the system defines her as a 'vengeful spirit,' which is also a ghost…"

He walked and thought, unknowingly arriving at another corner.

"Eh? Could it be…" Feng Bujue slightly changed his thinking, and instantly understood, "Oh… so… the general idea is… that the 'monsters' in the Monster Kingdom are actually the same as the 'people' in the human world. In this world, 'ghosts' are also a very scary thing…" He said as if he were reciting a tongue twister, "In short… this script is a haunted hospital in a Monster Kingdom."

Thinking this, he turned the corner ahead.

As soon as he turned, he saw a figure walking towards him.

"Hi~ Lester~" A nurse appeared in front of Feng Bujue, greeting him flirtatiously.

She was wearing a white nurse uniform with a low neckline, a short skirt, and long white stockings. Her figure was very voluptuous, with a deep and bottomless cleavage, a slender and delicate waist, and a pair of long legs that stirred the imagination.

However… this nurse had the head of an insect.

Her head above her neck was a giant mosquito head, with a pair of large, protruding compound eyes, and a downward-pointing proboscis where her mouth and nose should be, buzzing as she spoke…

The most bizarre thing was… instead of antennae, she had a coil of mosquito repellent incense on her head.

Yes, mosquito repellent incense. And the most traditional spiral mosquito repellent incense, the kind that was burning, with smoke slowly drifting out…

"Jenny… is it…" Feng Bujue looked at the name on her name tag, "Hmm…" He sidestepped her and strode away, "Good night."

"Eh? What's wrong with you?" Jenny turned her head and buzzed, "Why are you running away when you see me?"

"How should I answer this question… I feel like there are too many things wrong with that head to even begin…" Feng Bujue thought to himself, but on the surface, he politely replied, "Uh… it's nothing, I just have something to take care of…"

"Oh~" Jenny put a hand on Jue-Ge's shoulder, moving closer, "What is it…" She continued in a soft voice, "Is it about what we did in the storage room on the third floor when you were on shift the other night?"

"Lester is so strong… in all sorts of ways!" Feng Bujue roared in his heart, but out loud, he replied in a serious tone, "Hehe… I really have something to do…"

"Tch…" Jenny snorted, rolling her eyes (every eye on her compound eyes rolled at the same time), "Hypocrite…" With that, she flicked her hand and turned around, swaying her round, shapely buttocks as she walked away.

Feng Bujue repeatedly shouted in his heart: "What is this… are you really a nurse? Are you sure you're not the kind who does cosplay in a nightclub? The Monster Kingdom seems very open! After playing Thriller Paradise for so long, I finally meet a super casual NPC in a script… but it turns out to be a mosquito!"

…………

After saying goodbye to Jenny, Feng Bujue continued forward, relying on the map in his memory. Although the map wasn't very reliable, it was better than wandering around aimlessly. Jue-Ge believed… that as long as he found the places with "breaks" on the map, he should be able to find the floor change points. If that didn't work… he had also considered it, he could just return the way he came, stay in Room 216 for a minute, and then run back to the elevator where the script started, and change floors by taking the elevator.

And so, after about five or six more minutes, Feng Bujue finally saw a welcome sight. In the distance ahead, on the left-hand wall, there was a door. It was an electric sliding door that opened to both sides, much like the ones used in convenience stores. However, at this moment, the door was oriented horizontally, i.e., opening up and down.

Feng Bujue walked closer, and the door opened automatically. Behind the door was a short corridor, and a T-junction was three meters away.

"If the gravity changes…" Feng Bujue muttered to himself as he lay down…

He sat down on the ground, moving forward, and when he was close to the edge of the door, he simply lay flat, pointing his feet at the door on the wall, and then slowly extended his legs into the door. When both of his legs were inside, the gravity did indeed shift, and Feng Bujue "fell" into the door in the direction of his feet.

Because he had adjusted his posture beforehand, he landed successfully on his feet. Although he didn't have the assistance of equipment and skills, and his physical fitness was not high, a drop of two or three meters wouldn't be enough to kill him (unless he fell headfirst).

The impact of landing was much smaller than Jue-Ge had expected, and he immediately understood: Lester was, after all, a monster, and his physical abilities were probably stronger than those of ordinary humans. The drop when changing floors was just within his tolerance range.

"This is…" After landing, Feng Bujue immediately looked around. Judging from the room numbers not far away, this should be the first floor.

He wasn't completely sure where the restaurant and the blood bank were, but the pediatric emergency room was definitely on the 1st floor, as stated in the taskbar. In other words, coming to this floor would at least allow him to complete one side quest.

Moreover, the Earl and Victor had each used the phrases "on the way" and "by the way," respectively, so extrapolating from this, there was a high probability that the restaurant and the blood bank were also on the first floor.

"The corridor is no different from the second floor…" After stabilizing himself, Feng Bujue immediately chose a direction and walked in that direction, "Speaking of which… I've been walking for quite a while since leaving 216, but Chad still hasn't appeared…" He also recalled the previous system prompt and pondered, "So… as long as I keep moving, I won't attract the pursuit?" He quickly overturned his guess, "No… if that were the case, I could just walk back and forth in the corridor to clear the game." As he was thinking, another corner appeared ahead.

"Then… let's assume that the judgment criterion is 'passive play'." Feng Bujue continued, "The main quest of this script gives players a high degree of freedom, so it uses the tangible monster 'Orderly Chad' to replace the penalty for passive play." He licked his lips, "Hmm… the terrain here is complex, and I'm not familiar with the environment yet. If I trigger Chad's pursuit and escape into a dead end, and there are no doors nearby that I can open, then I'm dead." Thinking this, he quickened his pace slightly, "Danger is everywhere… understanding the rules may come at a price. After all, it's Nightmare Mode, it's always good to be prepared."

As he walked, suddenly, a series of continuous sounds came to his ears.

Bang, bang, bang – bang, bang, bang –

The sound came from the right side ahead, from a room with the number 109 on the door. It sounded… like someone was hitting something made of iron.

"Another scary trick?" Feng Bujue thought to himself, "Or… some kind of event waiting to be triggered…"

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…

As Feng Bujue approached, the sound became more and more rapid. When he arrived in front of the door, it was almost frantically loud.

"Hmm… it has a bit of an 'opening kill' vibe…" Jue-Ge said calmly, standing in front of Room 109.

It was an unlocked door that could be opened with a push, which was indeed very suspicious.

Usually, in horror puzzle games, when encountering this kind of obviously creepy, ominous room, it's best not to rush straight in. First, look for related clues or items nearby or elsewhere, and then enter, which may resolve the instant-death scenario.

However, Thriller Paradise is a game full of malice… The system is very reasonable in some aspects, but very unreasonable in others.

This door in front of him might be a typical Thriller Paradise trap.

If Jue-Ge pushed the door open and went in, he might face an opening kill, but if he turned around and left, he might also die…

"No prompts, no clues…" Feng Bujue said, "Pure gambling?" He pondered for a second, "No, this is testing the player's courage."

Thinking of this, he took a step forward and pushed the door open.

"Ah!"

A sharp scream.

An extremely terrifying, pale ghost face flew towards him.

This was the simplest and most direct scare tactic, and the foreshadowing was also obvious, but it always worked.

Unfortunately, it had no effect on Feng Bujue…

"As expected…" Feng Bujue looked calm, even somewhat disappointed.

After the scream and image flashed by, the banging sound also stopped, and the surroundings returned to silence.

Jue-Ge stepped into the room and began to scan the environment.

Room 109 was very small, probably less than ten square meters. The room was filled with a lot of clutter, mostly immovable or useless scene decorations. However… on a shelf in the corner of the room, there was a very obvious, very conspicuous thing – a treasure chest.

Jue-Ge walked quickly to the treasure chest, and the "unlock interface" floated up accordingly.

[Please enter a six-digit password]