Deadly Game: Almighty Boss’s Guide to Making Money

Chapter 1278. The Emotional Mental Hospital (8)

Lin Xi didn't say anything, but walked to the middle of the three intersections, squatted down, and stroked the ground.

The brick surface at the intersection of the archives room was cooler than the other two places, and the black paint in the grout lines seemed to be flowing, but it was actually avoiding a slightly raised paving stone.

She tapped the floor tile with her finger, and it made a hollow sound.

"The clues aren't in the room, they're under the intersection. The paint in these portraits is a carrier of emotions; it flows into the archives because there's a mechanism under the floor tiles there that requires emotional energy to activate. But fear alone shouldn't be enough; we only triggered half the mechanism just now, we need other emotions too."

"Other emotions?" Ma Xiaofeng frowned. "Does it mean I have to deliberately get angry or nervous?"

Ma Xiaofeng didn't mention being sad, because Bai Ye's emotions just now clearly showed that he was sad, but it was to no avail.

“That’s right.” Lin Xi pointed to the remaining paint on the wall. “Look at these paintings, there are crying and laughing, anger and peace. The previous rule said that ‘emotions are both poison and antidote,’ but now it seems that each emotion is a key that needs to be used in combination. Fear is the first key, but we also need other emotions to fully unlock the mechanism.”

“It’s not that sadness is wrong, it’s that the order is wrong,” Huang Jingjing interjected.

Everyone fell silent instantly.

Actively releasing emotions is more difficult than passively losing control, especially when it comes to precisely controlling the dosage.

No one knows where their emotional threshold is, and if you're not careful, you'll be haunted by monsters.

The key issue is that we don't even know the correct order.

“I’ll take charge of the anger,” Yu Wenjing said first, clenching the bone in her hand and sharpening her eyes. “When my ex-boyfriend cheated on me, I smashed his game console. I still remember that feeling of being furious very clearly.”

As Yu Wenjing spoke, her cheeks flushed slightly, and her breathing became a little rapid.

But no shadow appeared on the body.

She had her emotions under perfect control.

The black pigment reacted immediately, flowing towards the intersection of the "pharmacies" and merging with the previous stream, forming a net-like pattern under the floor tiles between the archives and the pharmacy.

In the portraits that remained on the wall, the people in hospital gowns began to roar, their voices so loud they hurt one's eardrums, yet they did not materialize into any physical monsters.

"It seems possible," Fang Ming said. "I just don't know what the next emotion will be?"

It's quite cruel to make everyone experience negative emotions one by one.

If it gets out of control, it can easily backfire.

Liu Yun hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, "When my daughter went to college for the first year, I went to see her off. When she hugged me and said goodbye to me, I turned around and cried. It wasn't sadness, it was reluctance to part with her."

Her voice was choked with emotion, and tears welled in her eyes. It was a calm sadness, devoid of any negative energy.

The paint flowed again, this time spreading towards the intersection of the "treatment room." The black streams from the three intersections finally converged under the central paving stones, forming a complete circular pattern. In the center of the pattern were engraved complex symbols, which were the "core emotional symbols" drawn in the dean's diary.

"It seems we still need one more person." Huang Jingjing frowned slightly. "And what is this?"

"Let me try again," Bai said.

“Okay,” Lin Xi replied.

Bai was definitely thinking about his parents, but he didn't lose control of his emotions.

Perhaps, once he leaves this instance, Bai will dare to go home and spend the money left by his parents.

Then they wouldn't be poor little devils anymore.

Bai closed his eyes, and after a while, his eyelashes began to tremble slightly.

A gray mist began to rise from the shadow behind them.

Lin Xi stared intently at Bai Ye. If Bai Ye's emotions materialized and turned into a monster, then he would probably be eliminated early again.

Fortunately, the gray fog gradually thinned and soon disappeared.

The pattern made of black pigment began to glow, first purple fear, then red anger, then blue sadness, and finally painful gray. The four colors merged together, and surprisingly, it was not black, but gold.

The raised floor tiles slowly sank, revealing an entrance leading underground. The sound of flowing water emanated from within, no longer carrying the previous stench of blood. "Success!"

Chen Xiaoqiang jumped up excitedly, but accidentally knocked over the last portrait painting on the wall.

The picture frame fell to the ground and cracked, spilling out a yellowed piece of paper.

The dean's handwriting reads: "The end of the emotional cycle is accepting all emotions."

Lin Xi picked up the note, lost in thought: "So the real rule of the dungeon isn't controlling emotions, but accepting them. Before, we kept trying to suppress negative emotions, but we ended up being controlled by them. Now, by actively facing them, we've found a way out."

Huang Jingjing turned on her phone's flashlight and was the first to enter the entrance.

Inside was a damp tunnel, with glowing moss embedded in the walls, illuminating the path ahead.

At the end of the tunnel, there is an iron gate with a sign that reads "Emotional Acceptance Room," and it is unlocked.

The moment I pushed open the door, a warm light rushed in.

There were no monsters or traps in the room, but there was a statue.

—Oh my god, another statue?

—The sight of the statue reminds me of Teacher Zhong.

—This dungeon and the sculpture museum were designed by the same person, right?

—What a connection! Isn't this a new type of sculpture?
—Can sculptures turn into people?
—Holy crap, aren't we indoors? Why has it started raining?

—It's raining in the basement? The hospital is going to collapse.

—I thought I would be done once I solved the cycle of reincarnation.

—How could it be so easy?

—Hey, players are so focused on getting through the game, don't they eat?

—If I get hungry later, my negative emotions will likely increase again.

Lin Xi and the others also felt water dripping down from above, like it was raining.

"Is the hospital going to collapse? Let's get out of here first," Lin Xi said.

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw that Huang Jingjing and the others began to become transparent again.

Well, they've started actively teleporting them again.

They probably won't have to go to the corridor again; they should have already broken the cycle of reincarnation.

The rain suddenly intensified, and Lin Xi quickly summoned an umbrella.

Everyone else except Chen Xiaoqiang had an umbrella.

Liu Yun summoned two weapons and handed one to Chen Xiaoqiang.

"Are we in the hospital courtyard?" Yu Chen looked around and asked.

“It should be,” Lin Xi said.

As Lin Xi spoke, she walked towards the main gate.

The others followed behind Lin Xi, but after only a few steps, they heard a muffled groan.

Everyone, turn around quickly.

It was quite a sight to see Fang Ming's shadow transform into a monster, which bit Fang Ming's shoulder hard.

The rain was quite loud, and no one had really noticed Fang Ming, who was walking at the back, had actually put some distance between them.