Jiang Che reached out his hand, and just when everyone thought he was about to rescue the dried corpse from the rack, he straightforwardly took the watch off the corpse's wrist.
He put the watch on his own wrist, tilting it back and forth under the light for inspection.
The reflected light from the watch face was dazzlingly clear, all the characters inside were perfectly legible.
Jiang Che studied it from every angle. Seeing how precious the physical exam doctor treated it before—getting so mad just because a patient touched it—he'd assumed it was something impressive. But now that it was on his own wrist, it just felt like nothing special.
His move made the dried corpse's eyes go wide, and every viewer in the livestream went silent.
[I'm done. Just now I was praising him—saying he might be crazy but he's still kind-hearted. I take it back.]
[He really is crazy. Does money even work here?]
[So, this is what mental illness looks like.]
[Even if you don't help him, at least get some intel before he dies, right?]
[If I were pinned down like that, I'd want someone to die with me too.]
[I'll let you go if you talk. Wanna talk? But what does a crazy person know?]
...
The viewers couldn't understand Jiang Che's actions, and neither could the allies in the dungeon who were watching from a nearby building.
"Who the hell is that?" said a man in casual clothes. Despite the getup, his slick, neat hair screamed society's professional elite—probably a regular suit-and-tie type.
"One from our hospital. A mental patient." A nurse let out a sigh, her envy obvious as she watched Jiang Che daring to make such moves. The evil spirit hadn't come out to catch him yet.
This psycho had walked down the street as brazen as you please, still in one piece—and even dared open the evil spirit's cabinet!
They, on the other hand, had just landed and immediately got caught by the evil spirit. Now? They didn't even dare step outside, let alone set foot on the ground.
If they wanted to move locations, the only option was to try crossing through the buildings—since only the floors inside weren't covered in blood.
"What if the evil spirit catching us wasn't actually because we stepped on the ground?" said another man, this one in sportswear. Unlike Mr. Elite, his healthy bronze skin and dense, strong muscles showed he'd spent a lot of time training for this dungeon's survival.
"Maybe we were just unlucky, ran into the evil spirit by chance?"
He frowned, thinking that wasn't impossible.
The four of them had landed together—supposedly the "easy mode," with a much better chance of survival than a solo run.
After all, you only have to outrun someone else. The slowest runner becomes the team's meat shield.
"No way!" The elite shook his head, then paused, frowning. "But it's not impossible."
As he spoke, he glanced sideways at the athletic guy without a change in expression. There were three of them left—the doctor was already gone. His own fitness was average at best; if things went bad, no way could he outrun sports-guy.
It wasn't for lack of effort—he worked out just as much, but he just couldn't match the other guy's stats.
"Maybe we should go out and give it a try?" The elite suggested, tone cautious.
He'd make sure to get sports-guy killed before anything happened to himself.
Dying in the dungeon he could accept—but being a cushion for someone else? No way in hell.
"We should follow him now, stay with him—this mental case looks weak and off-balance. If there's danger…" The elite trailed off, but the meaning was clear.
"I think it'll work!" The nurse raised her hand. "No one here ever talked to these mental patients about dungeons or anything. They probably don't even know where they are."
"Maybe we can trick him into opening doors or scouting ahead." The more the nurse thought, the more excited she got. It was a great plan.
Three of them, each with their own agenda—but if there's an outsider, he's the first to get thrown under the bus.
The mention of letting someone else scout for dangers made the other two instantly light up.
"Let's move then—right now. If he's fine out there, it means we'll be fine too!" The elite didn't waste another word; he took the lead immediately. They still knew where Jiang Che was, but wait too long and he might be gone.
He left the building without hesitation, didn't even look back, and broke into a run.
The nurse stepped outside, hesitated at the bloody mess, then ran after him.
Sports guy froze for a heartbeat, then quickly caught up,
His physique really was superior—within seconds, the nurse was trailing behind him.
Watching the other two run ahead, the nurse was more determined than ever to find Jiang Che.
If they didn't find Jiang Che, next time danger hit, she'd be the meat cushion.
Jiang Che was walking slowly, and the three were pretty close by, so it took just a few minutes to catch up with him.
"Hey, buddy, wait up!" The suit guy called out hurriedly. "You can't just stroll around like this—it's dangerous here!"
Without waiting for an answer, he dragged Jiang Che into a nearby abandoned room.
Only when they left the sticky, blood-soaked floor did he finally breathe easy.
Even after seeing Jiang Che walk around outside unscathed, he still felt nervous just being out there.
The other two kept close, and once inside they all gulped down air, trying to calm their nerves.
"Hey man, I'm Zhao Qi, this is Nurse Ya, and this is Wang Bing." He pulled the two others over for introductions.
"Hi, I'm Jiang Che." Jiang Che replied politely, glancing at them both.
The nurse looked vaguely familiar; not a deep impression, maybe she'd glanced at him from a distance in the asylum, but spent most of her time in Anding District.
Jiang Che?
Nurse Ya eyed Jiang Che and instantly recognized him.
The hospital only had around a hundred patients. Before all the weirdness came, most were just organ donors.
Nurses and doctors had daily tasks: counting heads to prevent escapes, and tracking patient conditions—to avoid anyone with a mental disorder doing something serious, whether self-harm or violence or eating something random.
She knew Jiang Che—one of the better donor candidates in the hospital.
Other than looking for his family all day, he didn't hurt others or himself.
"Jiang Che?!" Nurse Ya lit up. She definitely knew about him—if you mentioned his family, he'd become super obedient.
Immediately, Nurse Ya knew exactly how to control Jiang Che.
"I know where your family is. I'll take you to them later, okay?"