Once I double-checked that the last of the scouts were fully out of the hospital, I picked up the intercom and addressed the hospital. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen of Hope’s Memorial, the invaders have bitten the bait. Everyone in positions, please. Patients who need extensive care are to be moved into the basement medical facility now. Disciplinary squads should be in position, and all nonvital staff should move to their dorms until further notice. We’re going to give these new guests a warm welcome.”

  Through my link with Sarah, I could see the first of my orders carried out flawlessly. The invaders will likely come within the next half hour or so since the scouts still have to report back what they saw. Most likely, they’d be longer, but it was better to be safe with my assumptions here. Either way, it gave me just enough time to discard the ruse that I’d shown the Aspirants. I wanted them to get complacent, to get comfortable, and to come all at once. I only had the element of surprise once, and I planned to use that to net as much juicy fish as I possibly could.

  And as if on cue, the first set of Aspirants stepped into Hope’s Memorial not 45 minutes after my speech. And while the enemy was scouting me, I had Noel do the same for their group. From the most recent reports I was receiving from the redhead, about a good third of their numbers stayed in reserve, about a mile or two away from the main building. The ones that were left included the 12 that snuck into Hope’s Memorial first and most of their long-distance reminiscence Aspirants. Only about 150-200 were combat-ready, and none of them were expecting any sort of danger at their base camp.

  Walter’s Fine: Your turn, Noel. Reak as much havoc as you can before they find out, and then come back as soon as you can. You can’t take on 200-odd Aspirants yourself.

  It was a good thing that linking with Sarah had restored my ability to communicate via system chat; otherwise, coordinating between Noel, Vadeem and I would have been a headache. The hospital only had walkie-talkies to work here, not exactly high-tech stuff.

  Lady Awesome: Got it, boss. Expect some good news soon.

  Walter’s Fine: Vadeem, you ready on your end?

  Vadeem the Dream: Yup, I think I hear them come now. I’m ready to seal off the exit whenever.

  Walter’s Fine: Perfect. Shouldn’t be much longer now. Just make sure you let no one escape.

  Vadeem the Dream: I worked as a bouncer for years, Walter, and keeping people in’s probably easier than keeping people out. This will be easy.

  I smiled. Things were working as planned for once. See, the only real problem with having everyone set as a guest was that they could just… well, leave the premises whenever they wanted. Sure, they had to follow hospital rules here, but no normal staff could keep them inside if they didn’t want to be here, hence I had Vadeem sit his huge ass right next to the only doorway out of here. He was a contract worker, so the worst that would happen is that he’d be fired in a week or two for abusing his authority. It wasn’t as if he was planning to work here for longer than that in any case.

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  Of course, that wouldn’t be the only thing I did to ensure that none of our new guests escaped. No, once more of these invaders enter the heart of Hope’s Memorial, I’ll show them just how much I can change the Hospital’s layout. Good luck making it out of a fucking maze designed right out of the back offices of Q’s site! Even if you did, you’d have to contend with a super beefed-up Vadeem. He might not be able to fight off hundreds of advanced Aspirants, but a few dozen? I’d bet money on my big friend any day of the week.

  All that was left was to hand out some tantalizing bait for these idiots to follow, and once they were nice and securely inside, Noe’ll do her magic and convert them into guests. Speaking of Noe, how’s the bait going, oh best system buddy?

  “I have given out the necessary messages to the Aspirants as needed, my Host. They should come running into the hospital lobby in haste.”

  What’d you display to them?

  “A fake time-sensitive mission; all gathered parties are to enter the lobby before 10 minutes are up for a bonus reward of up to 100,000 gold.”

  And they just bought it? That’s a lot of money to do so little.

  “Not everyone has the Trash Matrix out for them, dear Walter. These Aspirants have no reason to distrust Central’s official missions.”

  Eh, fair enough.

  “I believe that the last of the Aspirants have entered the building, my Host. Shall I start adjusting the layout of the Hospital now?”

  Make it as fucking cripplingly horrible as you can, Noe. Make good use of those Luck Charges.

  “As you wish, my Host.”

  And from my vantage point in my office, I saw the corridors leading to the entrance start to twist and turn. Some extended underground, bending left and right at random intervals, while others twisted upon themselves or ended abruptly. This went on, stretching for what seemed like kilometers, and made full use of the ample size of the hospital’s courtyards. No one said that I had to make it easy for guests to leave, after all.

  As if the sheer size wasn’t bad enough, the corridors themselves were constructed in a way that made it next to impossible to distinguish them apart. They were a windowless, eggshell white hellscape of bland design, and they were just the right size so that only about 2 or 3 fighters could engage in one direction. Perfect for Vadeem to wreak havoc later down the line, picking off stragglers and the lost.

  Fortunately, the Aspirants haven’t noticed the changes yet, but they’ll be in for a rude awakening once they try to open the door to get out. I almost pitied them. Almost.

  “I will initiate the forced transference of identities soon, my Host. It is your turn to take over.”

  I nodded and felt a sinister grin creep up my face. Yup, while Noe’s in charge of screwing with the system interface of the Aspirants, and whatever else she needed to do to fuck with the Trash Matrix, it was all up to me to make the new rules and coordinate with the Hospital staff. I didn’t even need to use the Absolute Luck Skill here, and I couldn’t help but admit that I was looking forward to this. I’ve been the one being screwed over by an unseen entity one-sidedly since the start of the Trials, so I think I deserve to be on the other side of that dynamic for once.

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