[Infinite flow + eerie instances + rule-based horror + high IQ + brain-twisting deduction + causal reasoning + calm and rational protagonist + ensemble cast + strong team bonds]
Chen Zhi, a crisis negotiator who left his clinical psychology PhD program before graduating, is pulled into the “Kindhearted Hospital” instance late one night by a strange nursery rhyme. The admission slip lists his remaining survival time as 72 hours. There are only three hospital beds, but five players.
This isn’t a game. The System’s will is, in essence, the dying consciousness of Earth, and the eerie instances are nightmares it cannot suppress. In this survival game of absolute rationality, companions will die, memories will be devoured, and another “you” will wait in the mirror, ready to take your place.
The supernatural powers awakened in souls at the very brink of life and death are called “Hun Yin”; the objects that bear the obsessions of ghosts and monsters are called “Nian Qi.” Chen Zhi’s ability is to deduce cause and effect.
He must face more than the ghosts in each instance. An even more terrifying truth awaits him: his sister was killed by “Smiley,” the System’s cleanup agent; the “Bloodstained ID Badge” in his possession holds the secret of the first player to break the game; and the only way to clear it is to replace the System’s will and bear the eternal nightmares of every instance himself.
Luckily, he has teammates who trust one another with their lives. Lin Lu, a nursing student, becomes his anchor to humanity; special forces soldier Gu Ming gives his life to close the final watertight door; and Go player Zhou Ye tears up his game record and chooses to trust his comrades...
“If I turn into a heartless monster, you have to end me with your own hands.”
“You won’t.”
In the finale, many years later, elderly Lin Lu enters the heart of the System one last time. Chen Zhi, long asleep, opens his eyes and smiles. “I dreamed of you.”
