"Of course I'm a human! I've been working here for two and a half years already!"
"Really?"
Seeing everyone's surprised expressions, the girl couldn't help covering her mouth and chuckling lightly. After a moment, she handed out the clothes to everyone and gave each of them a pen as well.
"Of course it's real. Come on, write your names on these work badges. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
Several people took the clothes, wrote their names on them, and hung them on the white work uniforms.
Li Ming: "Are there a lot of ghosts here?"
Girl: "Of course there are tons—some are doctors, some are patients."
"That's obvious, no need to ask that kind of thing."
Zhao Gao: "Big Sis, is it dangerous to work as a caregiver here? Like, will the patients attack the caregivers?"
"Well... I'm just at the front desk, so I've never been a caregiver myself, but from what I've heard, as long as you don't take the initiative to attack the patients—that is, as long as you don't provoke them—and you keep yourself from acting out, they basically won't hurt anyone."
("General situation," "provoke," "basically," "hurt"... hmm...)
"And what about that doctor—wait, the director? Is he human? And I've heard there's a monster called Medusa..."
The girl's eyes darted away, looking to the right as if something else came to mind, and she stuck out her tongue. "Oops, I almost forgot—I still need you to sign these."
The girl took out 6 contract forms and handed them to everyone.
Saiki looked at the contract. The top had big bold characters: Contract.
Below it was written in a row:
I, due to work-related reasons—including but not limited to: accidentally falling to my death from a height during work, accidentally dying due to my own issues, pre-existing conditions, heart disease, etc., being beaten to death and eaten by patients, being beaten to death and eaten by doctors or nurses, being killed by some ghost or monster... etc.—the hospital bears no responsibility in such cases of death.
(This "etc." covers way too much, and a lot of it is really weird stuff.)
"You have to sign it, okay? Otherwise you can't work. And since you've already come this far, if you don't work, there might be just a tiny bit of trouble. You might have to have a little chat with the director and the security guys. But if you try to leave without doing anything, you might have to lose a few body parts."
Everyone looked at the girl saying these hair-raising things with a face full of smiles and a gentle tone, and they couldn't help but wonder if she was even a normal person.
After signing, they handed the contracts back to the girl, but she still didn't answer the earlier question.
"Little Ya-jie is about to arrive—let me check."
With that, the girl stood up and walked toward the door.
[It looks like she's dodging the question. No point asking anymore.]
Soon, the girl came back leading a woman in a nurse's uniform.
The nurse's expression showed no emotion, her eyes narrowed to a slit—so narrow that others wondered if she could even see anything.
Girl: "This is Ya-jie. Ya-jie, I'll head out now. They're all yours."
Ya-jie nodded. After the girl left, Ya-jie suddenly produced 6 clipboards in her hand and handed one to each of the six people, then began explaining in her cool, detached voice.
"Look carefully. The work rooms and details are all written on here. Each person has a fixed assignment—no switching around. Your rooms are also noted on the paper. Also, be gentle when caring for the patients. As long as you're kind enough, they'll be kind too."
(This line feels really off somehow.)
And the system's task updated again to Hospital check-in successful. "Please spend the coming time properly investigating in the hospital and searching for traces of Medusa."
"Reminder: Sometimes a lot of useful information can be found more easily in the middle of the night!
Additionally, here's your protection measure: even if you die, you can respawn in the beginner village. Brave players can come back to the hospital after respawning to keep searching for answers. It might be a little dangerous, but the rewards will match the risks~"
(If everyone gets killed and respawns, who would bother coming back?)
Ya-jie ignored everyone's strange expressions and reminded them: "Right, lights out starts at 12 midnight. If you have no business, it's best not to come out at night. Otherwise, if anything dangerous happens, we're not responsible. For now, go back to your respective rooms, change into your uniforms, and start work."
Ya-jie scanned everyone, her gaze finally stopping on Saiki. "As for you, after you finish changing, I'll personally take you to your work area."
This special treatment made the others a bit envious. The way they looked at Saiki turned weird—you didn't pull strings, did you?
"Ya-jie, can we ask why? Why him specifically—you're personally arranging it?"
Su Sheng asked fearlessly.
Ya-jie turned to look at Su Sheng. Her already narrowed eyes opened just a sliver, but the aura around her slowly grew colder.
Su Sheng felt goosebumps all over, like a mouse facing a cat, and unconsciously apologized: "S... Sorry!"
Ya-jie's eyes returned to nearly closed. "It's because your work area is on the 6th floor—the psychiatric ward plus patients with rage issues and such. So it's a little dangerous. I'll take him to get familiar with it. If you want to swap with him, that's fine too!"
[I have no problem with it.]
Su Sheng backed down immediately: "I... I'll pass!"
Ya-jie looked at the others; they all shook their heads.
"..."
Saiki arrived on the 6th floor, walking down the corridor looking for his room. Halfway there, the middle of his shoelace suddenly snapped.
A faint surprise flashed in Saiki's eyes.
[These shoes are only a week old!]
System: "An ominous sign, Saiki."
[It's fine.]
Saiki touched the shoelace with his hand; it instantly repaired itself. He continued walking.
"Meow~"
A cat's cry. Suddenly a black cat ran out in front of Saiki and crashed into the railing.
System: "Oh, it's just a cat!"
The cat glanced at Saiki, then jumped down the stairs. Wings suddenly sprouted from its back; after circling a few times in the air, it turned into a crow and flew off somewhere else.
[That's definitely not a cat in my book!]
Finally, Saiki stopped in front of a room. Room number 666-13-13... yeah... extremely auspicious.
Saiki went in, tossed the clothes on the bed, and started changing. The system floated out and looked around the room—it was extremely simple: just a bed, a small desk by the headboard, a table, and a stool. The environment was basically just an upgraded version of that beginner village.
"Saiki, that room just now, the black cat, and the shoelace—they don't seem like good omens!"
[Yeah, it's fine. Just ignore it.]
"Saiki..."
[Don't worry, it's okay.]
The system shook its head: "It's not that I'm not worried about you. I just want to remind you: unless it's absolutely necessary, don't attack those ghosts and monsters. I'm afraid you'll accidentally kill them all."
Saiki: ...