6: Chapter 6 Abandoned Hospital, Newcomers' Graveyard

Blinding electric light instantly filled the entire infirmary.

“Ah—!”

Zhou Heng let out a miserable shriek as he was sent flying back.

Bang!

His back slammed heavily against the wall.

A burnt smell filled the air.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

No one expected that the A-grade Thunder Spear would suddenly lose control.

The shaft of the spear in Zhou Heng's hand had already cracked.

A massive amount of electrical current was still wildly surging around.

Several students nearby backed away in terror.

“Holy crap!”

“It actually exploded?!”

“What's going on?”

The Homeroom Teacher was completely stunned.

How could an A-grade class equipment malfunction in a place like this?

Lin Jin, however, wasn't surprised at all.

Because from the perspective of the Hand of Rules,

that Thunder Spear had long been glowing so red it was about to smoke.

Continuous high-intensity overloaded output, combined with Zhou Heng's loss of emotional control, had brought the energy circuit close to collapse.

Just a dozen seconds later,

and the explosion would have been even worse.

“You—”

Zhou Heng clutched his blackened right hand and stared fixedly at Lin Jin.

His gaze was like he had seen a ghost.

“How did you know it would explode?”

The infirmary instantly fell silent.

Everyone looked at Lin Jin.

Right.

How did he know?

Lin Jin's expression remained unchanged.

“I am a Repairman.”

“Your equipment was broken. Isn't it normal for me to see that?”

With just one sentence,

he completely choked everyone up.

The logic actually held up perfectly.

But the problem was—

could a normal Repairman tell when an A-grade equipment would explode with just a single glance?

Who would believe that!

Zhou Heng's face grew increasingly unsightly.

He suddenly realized

that starting from today,

he was actually starting to fail to see through Lin Jin.

This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

Even a little... afraid.

“Enough!”

The Homeroom Teacher finally snapped out of it.

“This is the infirmary, not a place for you to make trouble!”

With a dark expression, he looked at Zhou Heng.

“Go back and receive treatment immediately.”

“Also, the school will investigate today's matter.”

Zhou Heng gritted his teeth,

but couldn't say a single word.

Because if he caused trouble now, it would only be more embarrassing.

Especially since—

he had just been blown up by his own Thunder Spear,

and Lin Jin had even warned him in advance.

If word of this got out, he would lose all face.

Zhou Heng stared dead at Lin Jin.

“Don't get cocky too early.”

“The Combat Academy assessment isn't about repairing things.”

“Once we actually enter a dungeon, a lifestyle class like yours will only drag us down.”

Lin Jin smiled faintly.

“Then remember to stay far away from me.”

“Lest your equipment breaks and there's no one to fix it.”

Beside him, Chen Ye burst out laughing on the spot.

Zhou Heng's face turned completely black.

He turned around and left.

Several students from the Zhou Family also hurriedly followed.

It wasn't until the infirmary door closed again

that the tension in the air finally dissipated.

The Homeroom Teacher rubbed his temples.

He had a massive headache right now.

In the past, the biggest conflicts in the class

were nothing more than who disliked whom.

Now, it was just great.

It had directly escalated into a conflict between class paths.

And by the looks of it,

Zhou Heng had completely targeted Lin Jin.

“Be careful lately,”

the Homeroom Teacher warned in a low voice.

“The Zhou Family has considerable influence in Jiang City.”

“Zhou Heng... has rarely lost since he was a child.”

Lin Jin nodded.

“Understood.”

He didn't actually care much about Zhou Heng.

What truly concerned him was another matter.

The Maintenance Log.

Since a moment ago,

the log had been vibrating slightly.

As if prompting something.

Lin Jin closed his eyes

and sank his consciousness into it.

In the next second,

the log slowly turned its pages.

New content emerged.

[First Repair Reward has been distributed]

[Obtained: Temporary Maintenance Space]

[Current storable items: 3]

[Obtained: Rule Proficiency +10]

[Current Rank: First-Order Maintenance Apprentice]

Immediately after,

a new grey page slowly emerged.

Upon it was a line of blood-colored text.

[New quest detected]

[Quest: Enter the novice dungeon 'Abandoned Hospital']

[Quest Objective: Repair the Death Rule]

[Danger Level: D]

[Quest Reward: Unknown]

Lin Jin's pupils shrank slightly.

Abandoned Hospital?

Before he could react,

the Homeroom Teacher's phone suddenly rang.

After answering it,

it was unknown what the other party said,

but the Homeroom Teacher's expression clearly changed.

“What?”

“Announcing it now?”

“But they've only just awakened—”

A few seconds later,

he hung up the phone.

Everyone in the infirmary looked at him.

The Homeroom Teacher fell silent for two seconds

and slowly spoke.

“The rules for the Combat Academy's early assessment have changed.”

Chen Ye was startled.

“What do you mean?”

“The original qualification review has been canceled.”

“All classes can participate.”

The room instantly fell silent.

Chen Ye leaped to his feet.

“Holy crap?! It really changed?”

The Homeroom Teacher nodded with a complex expression.

“But a practical test has been added.”

“All applicants must enter a designated novice dungeon.”

Lin Jin's eyes flickered.

“The name of the dungeon.”

The Homeroom Teacher looked up at him

and slowly uttered four words.

“Abandoned Hospital.”

The air fell silent for a brief moment.

Lin Jin's heart sank slightly.

A coincidence?

Or did the Hand of Rules warn him in advance?

The Maintenance Log in his mind vibrated again.

That line of quest prompt slowly turned a dark red.

[Warning]

[The Death Rule of this dungeon is damaged]

[Danger level is rising]

At the same time,

Shen Tingxue suddenly spoke.

“I'm signing up.”

The Homeroom Teacher nodded.

“S-grade classes are approved by default.”

Chen Ye immediately raised his hand.

“I'm signing up too!”

“D-grade Shield Warrior, a professional at taking a beating!”

The Homeroom Teacher's lips twitched.

Then he looked at Lin Jin.

“What about you?”

The air grew slightly quiet.

Lin Jin looked down at his palm.

There were still residual burns from repairing the magic circle today.

He suddenly smiled.

“Of course I'm signing up.”

“Others enter dungeons to fight monsters.”

“I'm going there to work.”

Chen Ye: “...”

Homeroom Teacher: “...”

Shen Tingxue looked down,

the corners of her lips curving slightly once again.

But right at this moment,

outside the infirmary,

the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed.

Immediately after,

a teacher slammed the door open and rushed in.

His face was pale.

“This is bad!”

“Something has happened to the novice dungeon!”

Everyone instantly looked up.

The teacher's voice was trembling.

“The Test Team that entered the 'Abandoned Hospital' in advance just now... has lost contact.”

“The last sentence captured on the surveillance was—”

His throat bobbed.

He spoke slowly.

“The people on the list...”

“...must all die tonight.”

“The people on the list... must all die tonight.”

The moment the teacher's voice fell,

the entire infirmary fell completely silent.

Even the air seemed to have grown colder.

“What does that mean?”

Chen Ye was the first to speak.

“What list?”

The teacher's face was pale, as if he had just crawled out of a nightmare.

“Just now... a Test Team entered the Abandoned Hospital dungeon in advance.”

“It was originally just a routine environmental check.”

“But after they went in, communication was suddenly cut off.”

“The surveillance last captured—”

Speaking up to this point, his throat visibly bobbed.

“At the end of The Hospital corridor, an electronic screen appeared.”

“On it were the names of all the Test Team members.”

“And then those names, one by one... turned red.”

No one in the infirmary spoke.

Because this description no longer sounded like a normal dungeon.

It sounded more like a supernatural event.

The Homeroom Teacher frowned.

“Where are they now?”

The teacher fell silent for a few seconds.

“They haven't come out yet.”

The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.

Losing contact in a dungeon.

In the era of class transitions for all, these words were practically equivalent to a death notice.

Because most dungeons had a forced exit mechanism.

There was only one situation where it would fail.

Rule collapse.

Lin Jin's eyes flickered slightly.

The Maintenance Log in his mind was vibrating continuously.

[Warning]

[Dungeon 'Abandoned Hospital' rule anomaly]

[The Death Rule has been contaminated]

[Recommendation: Handle immediately]

It was becoming more and more like it.

Just like the Awakening Plaza.

This was not a normal dungeon at all.

And beside him,

Shen Tingxue also sensed that something was wrong.

“Has something happened in this dungeon before?”

The teacher nodded.

“Yes.”

“The Abandoned Hospital is an old dungeon, and its rating has always been E-grade.”

“But in the past six months, the mortality rate has suddenly begun to rise.”

“At first, it was just occasional.”

“Later, teams that went in would often suffer mysterious casualties.”

“Some died in The Hospital rooms.”

“Some died in the elevators.”

“Some even clearly exited the dungeon, only to be found dead in reality the next day.”

A chill ran down Chen Ye's spine.

“Holy crap.”

“And this is still a novice dungeon?”

The teacher smiled bitterly.

“So now, everyone outside calls it—the Novice Graveyard.”

Lin Jin didn't speak.

Because he knew

that the truly dangerous thing wasn't the monsters,

but the rules.

A dungeon with broken rules was more terrifying than a high-level boss.

Because you had absolutely no idea how you would die.

Just then,

the sound of footsteps echoed outside the infirmary once again.

This time, those who entered were people from the Department of Education.

And there was more than one.

Leading them was the commissioner from before.

The first thing he did upon entering was look at Lin Jin.

His gaze was complex.

“You signed up too?”

“Yes.”

The commissioner fell silent for two seconds.

“I suggest you give up.”

Chen Ye instantly became displeased.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Looking down on Repairmans?”

The commissioner shook his head.

“Quite the contrary.”

He stared at Lin Jin.

“Right now, I suspect that you might be more easily targeted by that dungeon than many combat classes.”

The air fell slightly silent.

Lin Jin narrowed his eyes.

“Why?”

The commissioner spoke in a deep voice:

“Because dungeons prioritize targeting 'those who can see the rules'.”

With those words,

Lin Jin's heart suddenly sank.

What did he know?

But the commissioner clearly had no intention of explaining further.

He simply placed a file on the table.

“This is the currently known information about the Abandoned Hospital.”

“You'd better take a look first.”

The Homeroom Teacher took the document

and flipped to the first page.

There was only a blurry photograph on it.

In the photo was an old hospital corridor.

The lighting was dim and yellow.

The walls were blackened.

And at the end of the corridor,

stood a figure wearing a white lab coat.

The most bizarre thing was—

that thing had no face.

Chen Ye's scalp tingled as he watched.

“What on earth is that thing?”

The teacher whispered:

“Currently codenamed—Faceless Dean.”

“One of the most dangerous existences in the Abandoned Hospital.”

“Currently, no one knows its true rules of action.”

“But one thing has been confirmed.”

“It conducts ward rounds.”

The air fell silent once more.

Ward rounds?

Why did these words sound so terrifying when coming from a bizarre dungeon?

The commissioner continued:

“After entering the dungeon.”

“If you hear a broadcast announcing ward rounds—”

“Do not leave The Hospital room under any circumstances.”

“Otherwise, the mortality rate is close to one hundred percent.”

Chen Ye was completely dumbfounded.

“No, wait.”

“A novice dungeon is playing this hard?”

The teacher beside him smiled bitterly.

“So this time, the Combat Academy is actually weeding people out.”

“Only those who can pass and stay alive are qualified to enter the academy.”

This was reality.

The era of class transitions for all was never a game.

Dungeons would kill people.

And what the academy truly wanted to cultivate were class holders who could survive from among the dead.

Just then,

Lin Jin suddenly spoke.

“Does The Hospital have an elevator?”

Everyone was startled.

The commissioner frowned.

“Yes.”

“What about it?”

Lin Jin's eyes flickered slightly.

Because after he uttered the words 'Abandoned Hospital',

the Hand of Rules had already automatically generated a portion of a blurry structural diagram.

And the most eye-catching location in it

was the elevator shaft.

It was red to the point of turning black,

like the heart of the entire dungeon.

[High-risk malfunction area detected]

[Target: Inpatient Department Elevator]

[Danger Level: D]

[Current Status: Rule Dislocation]

[Hint: It is sending living people to the Morgue]

Lin Jin slowly raised his head.

“After entering.”

“Stay away from the elevator.”

“Especially people like Zhou Heng who like to rush to the front.”

Chen Ye was taken aback.

“What did you see again?”

Lin Jin didn't answer.

Because at this very moment,

outside the infirmary window,

the sky suddenly darkened.

Everyone subconsciously turned their heads.

The distant school broadcast suddenly emitted a harsh static sound.

Zzz—

Zzz-zzz—

Immediately after,

a raspy mechanical voice slowly echoed throughout the entire campus.

[Jiang City Combat Academy Early Assessment Notice]

[Dungeon: Abandoned Hospital]

[Entry Time: Eight o'clock tonight]

[Current Survival Rate: 41%]

The broadcast paused for a moment.

In the next second,

a new voice suddenly cut in.

It didn't sound like the system.

It was more like...

some woman chuckling softly.

[Welcome to The Hospital.]

The entire infirmary instantly fell dead silent.

Because that voice...

was not human at all.