Chapter 82: The Man Who Forcefully Changed the Rules

"The 'Ghost Type' falls under the spirit-based freaks category. They're rare but a real pain in the ass.

These guys usually mess with your head. The low-level ones make you see and hear things that aren't there, screwing with your mind and judgment. The high-level ones? They can straight-up control your body until you drop dead, like what went down with Pestoya.

But Roy ain't the clueless newbie he was when he first got here.

He knows that for a Ghost Type to control someone, it all comes down to mental strength. The weaker your mind, the easier you are to control. That's why these evil spirits scare the crap out of people first instead of just offing them. It's not 'cause they have a sick sense of humor; it's 'cause calm and healthy folks are tough to control. They gotta scare you and chip away at your mental strength until they can take over.

'It didn't attack directly, so this Ghost Type ain't that high-level.'

Roy stayed chill. Even though his two shots didn't do squat, he still picked up some useful intel.

He knew his mental strength was way above a first-tier pro, and even most low-tier Ghost Types.

The 'Creepy Nurse' didn't make a move, probably 'cause she couldn't control him!

The calmer Roy stayed, the more screwed the ghost was.

Plus, his gun was loaded with [Silver Alchemy Bullets] made for taking down special monsters.

But weirdly, Roy leaned against the wall for almost a minute and didn't notice anything off.

It seemed like the monster had bailed.

Only then did Roy start to move, thinking about changing spots.

But then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the glass on the door and saw the shadow of knife-wielding nurse Janice again.

And she was way closer now!

Earlier, she was fifteen feet away, but now she was only nine feet behind him!

Without a second thought, Roy whipped out his gun and fired two more shots.

But again, he missed. Turning around, Roy still didn't see any sign of the creepy nurse Janice.

Four bullets were now stuck in the wall.

'Instant disappearance, or maybe she can only be seen in reflections.'

Roy knew his shots shouldn't have missed.

He was quickly running through his head how the creepy nurse Janice had vanished.

Anyone else would probably be freaking out with a heart rate over 160, but Roy stayed cool at around 70."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Roy's head, and he got this weird sense of déjà vu.

Then he pieced together a clue and had an "aha" moment: 'That's right, it's her!'

While Roy was deep in thought, he felt something and glanced at the glass again. This time, no shadow—just a ghostly face smushed against the glass, staring right at him. It was that same deathly pale creepy nurse!

Man and ghost locked eyes, barely two feet apart.

But this time, Roy didn't shoot.

He just stared at Janice calmly and even blinked, like he wasn't fazed at all. 'Yep, just like I thought. If I turn around now, this thing's gonna be right in my face.'

Most folks would turn and bolt in this situation.

Thinking about it, Roy decided to test his theory and spun around without a second thought.

And there it was, that ghostly face, almost kissing him, just 0.39 inches away.

'No physical harm, just trying to scare me. Just as I thought, it's all in my head.'

Roy got it instantly.

This Ghost Type was his own creation!

He ignored Janice's terrifying face right in front of him, having already cracked the code of this cursed space. He muttered, 'When you think of it, it shows up. So that's the deal.'

Roy reached out to touch Janice, and his hand went right through her, just as he expected.

He confirmed something and analyzed, 'When I saw the name 'Janice,' I subconsciously pictured her as a long-legged blonde beauty. Mix that with this creepy hospital vibe, and boom, you get this terrifying nurse. But she does exist.'

The ghost nurse Janice was all about the scare factor. The knife in her hand? Just for show. Seeing that Roy wasn't scared at all, she floated away, bored out of her mind.

'Materializing thoughts, mental projection, wish fulfillment—this cursed space's rules are wild.'

Roy found the whole thing fascinating.

Sure, he'd practiced 'lucid dreaming' during therapy before, getting a similar wish-fulfillment effect,

but this was the first time in the real world that Roy had made his thoughts come to life.

'I can create it, but I can't make it disappear. So, that's the catch. If I conjure up too many powerful things by accident, they might end me.'

When Roy connected all the dots and thought it through, he figured out the whole set of rules.

In this cursed space, at least on this floor, the "killing intent" was right here.

The hospital, with its creepy vibe, might not have any real monsters at all.

Its whole shtick was to mess with your head: dim lights, empty hallways, unoccupied hospital beds—classic horror movie stuff that makes you imagine monsters.

Then, those fantasies would come to life, turning into real monsters that would chase you down.

And the things that scare the crap out of people are usually unbeatable.

But this cursed space had the bad luck of running into Roy, a hardcore player who'd cleared 800 horror movies and games.

There were some surprises, sure, but nothing that really freaked him out.

Roy felt like he had cracked the code and wanted to test it out.

"If I can make fantasies real, let's try a big-breasted beauty."

Roy pictured a voluptuous babe in his mind, but the next second, he was scratching his chin, thinking: "It didn't work."

"Maybe the fantasy wasn't specific or detailed enough."

Roy mulled it over.

Then, he imagined several detailed characters.

He tried characters from both 2D and 3D worlds, but none of them showed up.

The continuous failures had Roy puzzled: "The method seems off. My theory about the rules should be right; otherwise, that creepy nurse wouldn't have appeared."

Roy felt his logic was solid but knew he was missing something.

"Let me think, what other conditions were there when I imagined that creepy nurse? I was on high alert for monsters, and, oh yeah, emotional fluctuation!"

Suddenly, Roy felt like he had found the missing piece.

This cursed space couldn't just make anything appear; it could only materialize specific things that fit the rules.

For example, things that could scare you.

For a normal person, even if they figured out this loophole, the more they tried not to think about it, the more they would think about it.

In that moment of chaotic thoughts, the hallway would probably be crawling with all sorts of monsters.

But Roy, acting like it was no big deal, had various "characters" flash through his mind without any fear.

He wasn't ready to give up, holding his chin and saying, "If it's a horror character, it should be one that uses physical attacks, something I can beat up, not a ghost. Zombies would be perfect."

Roy suddenly imagined a bunch of long-legged, tight-fitting, low-cut, short-skirted faceless nurses, then controlled his mind to feel a bit tense.

The next moment, a miraculous scene appeared!

Roy thought there should be people in those empty hospital rooms, and sure enough, one by one, twisted nurses holding knives, steel pipes, and wrenches came out, their bodies all contorted and freaky.

Seeing this, Roy's eyes lit up, not scared but stoked: "It actually worked, finally seeing something real!"

Having played so many classic games and collected a bunch of figurines at home, Roy had always dreamed about seeing something tangible one day. And now, that dream was coming true.

These short-skirted nurses had strong attacking vibes, but their combat skills were a joke compared to the now-experienced Roy.

Roy easily dodged their knives and sticks, even taking his sweet time to check out some details that had always bugged him.

"So their bodies under the clothes are structured like human tissues."

"This lace is really detailed. They even wore underpants, kinda disappointing."

"Yep, real material, not stiff, and the texture is top-notch."

This finally satisfied Roy's long-standing curiosity.

Clearly, this cursed space's terrifying hospital scene had turned into an erotic game for Roy, who was totally not playing by the rules.

Before long, having seen enough, Roy raised his gun and easily took care of the group of monsters.

If this weren't a dangerous cursed space, Roy thought this hospital, where fantasies could come to life, would be his "happy place," and he might stick around to create more monsters just to satisfy his curiosity.

But hanging around too long might lead to unknown changes, so Roy decided to keep moving.

After figuring out the cursed rules of this space, Roy rampaged through the third floor of the inpatient department without running into another monster.

However, apart from finding a few nurse duty rosters, Roy didn't find any useful info.

Then he looked at the hospital stairs and headed down to the second floor.

As soon as he got down, he saw a blind man wearing a cowboy hat sitting at the door of a ward.

Roy knew this guy was blind because he immediately recognized the highly distinctive outfit and was surprised: "Blind Detective Bill Strauss, the previous tenant was this guy."

He didn't know from which corpse's memory he had pulled the image of "Blind Detective" Bill, but it didn't stop him from knowing that this was a famous bounty hunter in the inner city, a top-tier gunslinger, and one of the few "gun masters" in Old Linton!

It was said that this blind man's secret identity was also a major in the "Umbrella Organization"!