A pale, yellowed ceiling came into view, with traces of dripping water in the corners.

　　【Beep beep beep... Main system successfully connected】

　　【Welcome, E-level horror trainee Henry Clark】

　　This was a room with four white walls, no windows, and barely any interior decoration to speak of.

　　Henry Clark was lying on his back in the center of the room on a rusty iron bed, covered with a matching cotton quilt. On the iron cabinet to his right sat a cup of cold boiled water.

　　All around was dead silent, the atmosphere in such a cramped space felt chillingly cold.

　　Henry Clark kept his eyes open, not rushing to get up, but instead quickly digesting the information he currently possessed in his mind, comparing, analyzing, and integrating the information from the original text with the main system’s explanation.

　　The first round of competition was set in solo show mode. This meant that in this rating match, there was no team cooperation, not even a need to care about others’ survival. The trainees only needed to focus on how to perform better in this round’s role-play and survive until the post-round evaluation.

　　The top priority was to stay alive, and next was to perform as well as possible. Because even if you survived, if you received a low evaluation from the main system and the mentors, you would still face the embarrassment of elimination.

　　Although the main system made it sound nice, saying that even if you were eliminated by rank, there was a chance for revival. But having read the original text, Henry Clark knew well that the punishment instance was not a good place to venture into. The original described the death rate in the punishment instance as high as ninety-five percent, which meant that if you ended up there due to rank elimination, it was basically a death sentence.

　　As for how to perform in the instance and get a higher score, the main system had also explained this not long ago.

　　Turning the tables in desperate situations, making a strong comeback against the odds, surviving against all expectations with a stunning counterattack... all these could raise your evaluation score. On the other hand, if you were timid and cowering just to stay safe, your evaluation would naturally not be high.

　　In short, it all boiled down to two words: courting death.

　　Or to put it more bluntly, encouraging everyone to go die.

　　This approach made Henry Clark keenly sense something unusual, even a whiff of conspiracy.

　　It was a pity he hadn’t finished reading the original, or he would have known everything.

　　Henry Clark sighed inwardly and turned his head slightly.

　　At the head of the bed was a battered iron cabinet.

　　Through the peeling, faintly reflective surface of the cabinet, he saw his current appearance.

　　White hair, pale pink eyes, wearing a blue-and-white striped hospital gown, buttons neatly fastened in front, limbs pale and slender, blending into the white wall behind him, like a delicate, oversized doll.

　　The only thing unchanged was the blue letter E hanging on his chest.

　　After looking for a while, Henry Clark closed his eyes again and opened his identity card in his mind.

　　The information on the identity card was very simple, showing only that his role this round was a seventeen-year-old albino boy with autism, usually silent and withdrawn, admitted to the hospital this morning. Exactly the same as in the original, with no difference at all.

　　After a moment of silence, making sure there were no other sounds around, the young man finally turned over and got up from the bed.

　　The movement should have been smooth, but due to intense dizziness and weak limbs, it became sluggish and awkward, with an indescribable sense of delay.

　　His body had been tampered with.

　　Henry Clark bent his arm and pressed a few times, coming to a conclusion—

　　He had previously taken some kind of psychiatric sedative, about six to eight hours ago, and there was still some residual effect in his blood.

　　He clenched his fingers with effort and stiffly picked up the cup from the iron table.

　　His hands were already weak, and with the added effect of the drugs, he couldn’t even lift the cup. Helpless, Henry Clark had to lean over to look.

　　The cup was an ordinary stainless steel one. On closer inspection, the outer wall was coated with a thick layer of limescale, looking like it had been used for quite some time.

　　At the bottom of the cup, a line of blood-red small characters was engraved.

　　XXX City Psychiatric Hospital.

　　At the same time, the cold system prompt sounded again in the empty, narrow ward.

　　【First solo show for horror trainees begins, located at Sub-venue 13: Psychiatric Hospital】

　　【Main task: Survive for three days. Extra task: Find the existence in this solo show whose identity card differs from the others】

　　【Failure of the main task results in immediate elimination. The extra task is not mandatory; if successful, the rating coefficient doubles, if failed, there is no effect】

　　【Attention: 360-degree panoramic cameras are now on, all trainees are now in full live broadcast mode】

　　In an instant, the previously dark livestream room lit up, the huge 【Horror Trainee】 sign in the center extremely eye-catching.

　　The survivors who had been waiting outside for so long cheered and rushed in.

　　No wonder the survivors were so enthusiastic—this was the first time the infinite loop had ever held such a competition with an entertainment and public-friendly twist.

　　As soon as they entered, they rushed to the livestream rooms of the top-ranked trainees. For small, unknown E-levels like Henry Clark, no one would bother to pay attention.