Chapter 237: Frog Hospital (28) Sinful Ritual

At the Green Frog Hospital, Qi Si followed the procession of female corpses through the long corridor, walked to the flat level at the end of the hall, and knocked open the door to the morgue.

Dozens of iron beds lined both sides, all covered with identical white sheets, but the outlines still showed that the right side was exclusively female corpses, while the bodies on the left included both males and females.

Qi Si glanced at the bracelet on the wrist of the corpse nearest the door. It read 【S999, Lin Haiyan】.

He walked toward a bed he remembered, subtly lowering his head for a quick glance. The familiar spot now bore an unfamiliar number and an unfamiliar name.

In just a few days, the corpses here had been replaced; the previous bodies were undoubtedly taken by the Director.

The Ritual could be completed by sacrificing only a thousand corpses; now, the Ritual was only one step away from completion.

Qi Si suddenly thought of a problem: last night, players from both the Green Frog Hospital and the Blue Frog Hospital used various methods to incite the female Ghosts and the frogs to fight until both sides were severely wounded.

At six in the evening, everything in the entire instance world except for the frogs and items refreshed; at six in the morning, the frogs and the ponds they inhabited refreshed.

So the female Ghosts killed by the frogs should have completely disappeared. Even if there were only dozens, that’s still a considerable loss relative to the total of “one thousand”… Qi Si speculated aimlessly, silently finding an unobtrusive spot to stand.

Xu Qing, the leading Ghost, patrolled between the iron beds, lifting the right hand of each corpse one by one to check the bracelet.

After reviewing them and confirming they were correct, she uttered a few unrecognizable syllables with trembling lips.

The corpses on the iron beds seemed to have been summoned, sitting bolt upright, twisting their limbs and necks as they climbed off the beds, stiffly and awkwardly forming a queue.

They were dressed in white burial shrouds, their pale faces set with vacant eyes, the surface of their eyeballs covered with a milky white haze.

They joined the female Ghosts’ procession like string Puppets. Several brushed past Qi Si, yet their gaze did not shift even slightly.

Xu Qing turned and walked out of the iron door, and the queue, long as a water snake, circled inside the morgue before emerging from the doorway.

The female corpses staggered along, and Qi Si, as usual, brought up the rear of the line.

He thought the procession would return to the secret room behind the Directors Office after patrolling the ward area, just like the previous two nights, but this time Xu Qing headed straight for the fog-shrouded large door at the bottom of the flat level.

Unlike last night, when they were lured by players using bloody, mangled dead infants, this time the Ghosts left entirely on their own accord.

Their movements were synchronized, their expressions calm, unlike the anger and madness of last night. Without exception, their faces bore a solemn piety, as if they were being summoned by some unseen entity to rush to the altar for a long-planned pilgrimage.

Qi Si followed the procession, stepping down the stairs one by one. His joints were still stiff, emitting a “creak” with every step.

This appeared to be a negative effect of the Book of the Dead, causing muscle stiffness and sluggish movement, but it didn’t significantly affect Qi Si, whose combat prowess was already low.

In any case, he either didn’t move, or if he had to act personally, he mostly relied on the Cursed Pendulum for long-range attacks.

The temperature around him continued to drop, perhaps because the surrounding area was packed with Ghosts. The gloomy atmosphere solidified as if tangible, refusing to dissipate. Gray mist clung to the walls, forming a thin layer of white frost that outlined the cracks in the masonry.

Bloodstains, thin as threads, seeped along the edges of the stairs, suggesting something had been dragged across and embedded in the cement.

The wall on one side of the staircase slowly warped, sinking into shallow, humanoid depressions, and more and more corpses appeared out of thin air, joining the procession one after another.

Finally, the entire long queue descended completely to the first floor and exited the hospital’s main door.

Cold white moonlight poured down, coating all the corpses in an icy shell. Qi Si inexplicably found the light dazzling and raised his hand across his forehead to shield his eyes.

Xu Qing seemed oblivious, leading the way calmly and gracefully, guiding the procession toward the pond at a moderate pace, making a serpentine dragging sound as if umbilical cords were being pulled across the mud the entire way.

The frogs sleeping in the pond seemed to sense something, becoming agitated and restless. They floated up from the bottom of the pond in large clusters, croaking loudly.

Mixed among the numerous Blue Frogs were a few Green Frogs. Their yellow and red eyes stared fixedly at the Ghosts on the bank, filled with undisguised venom and malice.

The croaking, which sounded increasingly like the cries of infants, grew louder, as if calling out to the female corpses linked to them by blood, or perhaps protesting their deaths.

Xu Qing suddenly changed direction, walked into the foliage away from the pond, and stood quietly like a statue, coldly gazing at the turbulent pond in the distance.

However, the corpses behind her seemed not to notice her departure and continued moving along the predetermined route.

One female corpse after another stepped onto the marble lining the edge of the pond, tipped forward, and plunged into the water.

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Qi Si finally realized that the corpses were meant to be thrown into the pond and disposed of by the frogs.

Seen this way, the players’ elaborate efforts over the past two days to incite the frogs and female corpses to fight had inadvertently helped the Director reduce his workload.

The pure white Statue of the Virgin in the center of the pond lowered its silver-white eyes, looking through its empty arms at the pool of chaos and death, its vacant face expressionless.

The vibrant frogs were formed from the vengeful spirits of dead infants, and the lifeless female corpses would meet an even more thorough death in the pond.

The moonlight, mixed with the pond water, brewed a feast of life and death, seasoned with sin and gore. Black smoke billowed up from the blood-red water, surging toward Xu Qing on the bank.

A few wisps of black smoke flew toward Qi Si, disappearing after entering his body.

The icon for the Sea-God Scepter in his inventory suddenly trembled violently. The item slot was filled with black smoke for a second before being cleansed, and a new black pattern grew on the Scepter’s pristine white surface.

Qi Si was now certain that the Eerie Game’s control over this instance was indeed weak; it couldn’t even fully collect the sin, allowing him to receive a small portion.

He shook his head to himself: “What is this? Are the players meant to complete part of the Ritual and share some of the sin?”

Combining the information received so far, Qi Si had created a rough psychological profile of the Director.

He was a villain by universal standards, capable of doing anything inhumane and resorting to any means necessary to achieve his goals.

Yet, he also lacked the courage to take responsibility, even forcing his wife to have an abortion to comply with policy.

If he merely wanted to collect a thousand corpses to hold the Ritual, he could have placed all the killing and murder in a single location.

Dividing the space into the Blue Frog Hospital and the Green Frog Hospital, each with its own duties, definitely wasn’t superfluous… In the pond before him, as the last corpse fell into the water, countless green translucent spiritual entities flew out from beneath the surface, rushing toward Xu Qing along with the black smoke. Her figure flickered twice and then disappeared.

The black smoke lost its direction of convergence, circling above the pond. The infant-shaped green spiritual entities and the black smoke mingled into a single mass, colliding with each other.

“If the sin in this instance isn’t dealt with promptly, it will attract attacks from Ghosts, right?”

Qi Si narrowed his eyes, realizing something.

At the same time, a void appeared in the blood-red pond, as if a section of the bloody water had suddenly been drained away.

The surrounding pond water surged toward the gap, forming a constantly spinning vortex, with distorted ripples wrapping around the central opening—

The passage appeared.

The passage connecting the two hospitals was indeed at the bottom of the pond, but it would only open after the Ritual of corpse sacrifice was completed.

Since the female corpses at the Blue Frog Hospital were fewer than a thousand, it was highly likely that the Green Frog Hospital was performing a similar sacrificial Ritual and would open an identical vortex-shaped passage afterward.

The main quest on both sides was to find the Statue of the Holy Son and the Statue of the Virgin, which, when combined, meant uniting the two scattered statues.

Lin Chen only needed to bring the Statue of the Holy Son to the Blue Frog Hospital for the union, and the players’ tasks on both sides could be completed simultaneously… but reality was far more complicated than the ideal scenario.

Qi Si put his hands in his pockets, turned, and walked toward the hospital entrance… Green Frog Hospital, late night.

The Female Teacher reached out, pushed open a room door, walked into the corridor, and stood leaning against the wall.

A long procession of Ghosts moved through the humid corridor. Corpse after white-robed female corpse walked slowly, their expressions vacant, dragging heavy footsteps.

Lin Chen’s entire body was wrapped in invisible threads. Like a Puppet, his limbs were manipulated, and he uncontrollably followed the procession out, stopping beside the Female Teacher.

He didn’t know what method the Female Teacher used, but the two living people somehow failed to attract the attention of the corpses.

At this moment, Lin Chen had a rough idea of the Female Teacher’s identity.

“The Puppeteer,” the legendary President of the Sera Guild… Although the one here was not the main body but merely a Puppet, she was still not easy to deal with… If the information on the forum was correct, Puppets were considered deceased and would not be pulled into a instance by the Eerie Game after the countdown ended; any Puppet appearing in a instance must have actively matched into it.

So, why did the Puppeteer dispatch a Puppet into this instance? Was there something special about this particular instance?

Lin Chen’s mind raced, checking known clues one by one, but he couldn’t find any leads.

He knew too little, to the extent that he couldn’t fathom the opponent’s goal; he simply hadn’t gathered enough information, leaving him struggling at this critical moment.

After leaving the instance, he definitely needed to work harder reading strategy posts and watching walkthrough videos… But could he really leave alive?

“I don’t plan on killing you right now. In many situations, the benefits brought by the living far outweigh those brought by the dead.” The Female Teacher said without turning her head, as if she had read Lin Chen’s thoughts.

Was it mind reading, or something else?

Lin Chen couldn’t decide, but judging by her meaning, it seemed she intended to keep him as a Puppet for future reuse… If he was going to be controlled by the Puppeteer to harm others in the future, wouldn’t it be better to die immediately?

Lin Chen thought this with a touch of tragedy, then realized he couldn’t even commit suicide right now… The long line ahead finally reached its end. The last female corpse had the number 【S1000】 clearly woven onto her wrist.

The Female Teacher casually followed, and Lin Chen followed closely behind, his face full of grief and indignation.

The two passed through the flat level’s large door, descended the escalator, went around several stairwells, and finally exited the hospital’s main door.

Under the cold moonlight, the female corpses walked uniformly toward the pond, jumping into the water one after another, making “plop” sounds and splashing pure white water.

Large clusters of dark Green Frogs surfaced, covering the corpses. Soon, only a pool of bloody water and floating residue remained.

The loud and resonant croaking of “Guagua-gua” filled the air. Amidst the incessant noise, the Infant Stone Statue lay quietly in the center of the stone platform, gazing up at the moon overhead.

A vortex appeared in the pond, spinning rapidly around the sudden opening, yet the pond water never seemed to diminish.

The Female Teacher turned her head to look at Lin Chen and said calmly, “You just need to take the Holy Son Statue through this passage, and you can complete the level.”

No, he couldn’t complete the level now… Completing it now would take the Puppet Threads out of the instance, and he would never be able to get rid of them… As long as he was still in this instance, there was hope… Lin Chen screamed frantically in his mind, unable to utter a single word aloud.

He sank into despair, but suddenly a familiar voice echoed in the back of his mind: “Lin Chen, if you see the passage, don’t bring the Holy Son Statue over yet.”

It was Qi Si! Qi Si wasn’t dead!

The sudden joy of recovery brought an ecstatic emotion, which Lin Chen struggled hard to suppress, making sure not to show too much abnormality.

Qi Si’s voice continued: “The Director is using a thousand corpses to hold a Ritual and summon an Evil God, which is bound to generate a massive amount of sin. If he doesn’t want to bear this much sin, he must be seeking a way to frame someone else.”

“I guess the critical step for completing the Ritual is merging the Holy Son and the Statue of the Virgin. Whoever completes this step will bear the greatest responsibility for the sin and become the target of the Ghosts’ revenge.”

“Although you can’t receive substantial damage for three minutes after clearing the level, taking too much sin into other instances might lead to unknown trouble. Give me half a day; I need to think of a solution.”