The skeleton is too invincible; I leveled up with the school beauty!

The dripping of the IV drip mingled with the patient's groans, making it hard to breathe.

Her gaze fell directly on the bed furthest inside, by the window—the place where her mother had lived for six months.

But now, there are several dirty storage boxes piled up on the bed!

"mom?!"

Her voice trembled, and her backpack fell to the ground with a thud. She panicked!

My mom was still getting an IV drip when I left this morning, how come she's nowhere to be found now?!

Could it be... that her condition has suddenly worsened? The old man in the next bed suddenly coughed violently, blood seeping into his spittoon: "Girl, stop shouting..."

His withered, twig-like fingers pointed tremblingly down the hallway: "This morning...cough cough...your mom was carried to the bathroom door...girl, could you call the waiter for me while you're at it? I pooped in bed..."

Xu Nuo's bony hand clenched tightly.

The ward reeked of sweat and urine, the IV stand was rusty, and there were leftover rice grains stuck to the bedside table.

In such a terrible environment, they actually want to kick people out?

Su Wanqing's vision went black!

Mom was carried out, to the toilet door?

She rushed out of the ward like a madwoman, her school uniform hem knocking over the rusted IV stand.

With a loud crash, she staggered and almost fell, her knees slamming heavily against the doorframe.

A sudden, excruciating pain!

But at this moment, she seemed to feel no pain.

Only one thought screamed in my mind: Find Mom! I must find Mom!

Xu Nuo's skeleton creaked and groaned as it followed closely behind her. The will-o'-the-wisps in his eye sockets flickered violently, a premonition that what he was about to witness would not be pleasant.

As she turned the corner, Su Wanqing suddenly stopped, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.

"mom......"

Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, and her lips were trembling uncontrollably.

At the end of the corridor, near the restroom, a thin woman was curled up on the cold floor.

Beneath her was only a thin, stained sheet, as thin as paper.

He was covered with a blue striped quilt that was provided by the hospital, washed until it was faded and frayed, and had almost lost its ability to keep him warm.

A cleaning lady was pushing a mop out of the toilet, humming a tune that was out of tune.

Without even glancing at the person on the ground, she simply splashed the dirty water onto the ground—

"Splash!"

Dirty water mixed with disinfectant and unidentified filth splashed all over the woman, even her face wasn't spared.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

The cleaning lady offered a half-hearted apology; it sounded more like a complaint about how annoying she was.

He then pushed the mop forward again, muttering to himself, "Serves him right for blocking the road."

Su Wanqing's pupils contracted sharply, and her fingernails dug deeply into her palms.

"mom!"

Su Wanqing practically lunged forward, her knees slamming heavily against the cold floor tiles.

Ignoring the pain, she trembled as she wiped the dirty water off her mother's face with her school uniform sleeve.

"Mom, what's wrong? How could they treat you like this! It's too much!"

Lin Yueru's eyelashes trembled a few times, and she opened her eyes very slowly.

Her eyes were cloudy and yellowish, giving off an aura of impending death.

This is the genetic collapse syndrome that this game brings to the world after it merges with reality.

People don't die immediately, but living is a kind of torture.

When Lin Yueru's gaze vaguely focused on her daughter's anxious face, a faint glimmer of light was squeezed out from the depths of her lifeless pupils with great difficulty.

"Wan...Qing...you've come..."

Her lips moved, her voice barely audible: "Mom's... fine... just... cold... cold to the bone..."

Su Wanqing's tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

No... the temperature here is abnormally low!

She then noticed that her mother was lying right in front of the air vent, and the biting cold wind was blowing in.

The smell of ammonia mixed with disinfectant wafted from the toilet, making my eyes sting.

She hurriedly took off her school uniform jacket and covered her mother with it, then frantically rummaged through her bag for tissues, carefully wiping the water stains from her mother's face and hair. "Mom, how could they leave you here! I paid the hospital fees this morning!"

Su Wanqing's voice was choked with sobs, "I'm going to confront them!"

Lin Yueru gently pulled her daughter's wrist and shook her head: "Don't go...it's no use..."

Her fingers were so thin they were skin and bones, and the backs of her hands were covered with needle marks and bruises, some of which were even inflamed and suppurating.

What's even more striking are the several pale pink scars of varying depths and ages on the inside of his wrist—some are thin marks left by cuts, some are bruises from bruises that haven't faded, and some are even friction cuts from being strangled by ropes!

These are the marks of despair she left behind from her countless attempts to end this endless suffering!

In fact, Lin Yueru had tried to end her life many times because she didn't want to be a burden on her daughter anymore, but she was rescued several times.

"Mom! It's not your fault! The hospital went too far!"

Su Wanqing could no longer hold back, and tears streamed down her face. "We've never owed any medical bills! The house Dad left behind... the money I earned from working... I've never owed any money. Why did the hospital leave you standing at the toilet door?!"

Her voice grew softer and softer until it turned into a sob.

Lin Yueru struggled to sit up and suddenly began to cough violently.

Su Yueqing quickly supported her, feeling that her mother's body was frighteningly light, as if it were just a layer of skin covering bones.

"Late Spring..."

After her cough subsided, Lin Yueru gasped for breath, her icy hands gripping her daughter's. Her withered eyes were filled with a deep sense of guilt and despair that seemed to want to drown her.

"Mom should have left long ago... It would have been better if she had left... She wouldn't have... dragged you down like this..."

"Do you know...."

Her unfocused gaze swept over her daughter's worn-out school uniform, the cuffs of which were torn and frayed, and then fell on her daughter's cracked nails and rough hands, which were worn from overwork. Tears welled up silently.

"You should have...you should have gone to school wearing your prettiest floral dress...talked to your classmates about celebrities, watched movies...went out to play during holidays...like all carefree children..."

"Instead of... rushing to work like a wind-up toy after class every day... being woken up by the alarm clock when I can't wake up... having to come to the hospital to take care of me in the early hours of the morning... wiping my poop and pee... guarding this... this oil lamp that has burned out..."

"The thing I've regretted most in my life is... that I've dragged you and your father down with me..."

"If it weren't for my exorbitant medical bills driving you to desperation... your father wouldn't... wouldn't have forced himself to explore that bizarre dungeon for that reward money..."

"Mom...you are your calamity...let me go...let you be free...let...everyone be free..."

"Mom doesn't want to see you so tired."

Her words were filled with self-loathing exhaustion and the deepest pleas.

From the depths of her tearful, utterly desperate eyes, Xu Nuo seemed to pierce through her heart, which was filled with extreme contradictions.

A deep reluctance to let go of life—to live, just to see his daughter one more time.

And a stronger self-destructive impulse—to free his daughter.

Two conflicting emotions were tearing at her fragile nerves.

"Mom! You're not allowed to say that! You're never allowed to think that way!"

Su Wanqing shook her head vigorously, tears streaming down her face. "Dad was willing to risk his life for you because he loves you more than his own. And me... I work myself to the bone every day, staying up all night to take care of you, also because I love you!"

"Wanqing... Mom loves you too..."

Lin Yueru trembled weakly in her daughter's arms, every bone in her body telling a story of pain and reluctance: "But this body... it's just a rotten burden... Mom can't bear to see you crushed by it..."

"We can't break her! Never!" Su Wanqing's voice was resolute, with the force of a do-or-die attitude. She forcefully wiped away the grime mixed with tears from her mother's face, revealing a smile that was even more painful than crying.

"As long as Mom is still breathing beside me, and I can see into your eyes... I have strength!"

"We're family! We'll get through this together!"

"Dad... Dad must be on his way back!"

"Your illness will definitely, definitely get better!"

Her voice was both trying to persuade her mother and to convince herself of her own heart, which was being consumed by despair.

Lin Yueru's tears flowed uncontrollably: "Silly child...you and your father...how can you both be so foolish..."

Just then, Lin Yueru, who was leaning weakly in her daughter's arms, inadvertently glanced over Su Wanqing's shoulder.

The pale face drained of color the moment it saw the two-meter-tall skull behind her daughter, and her lips trembled violently.

"Wanqing, watch out!!"

She suddenly propped herself up on her elbows, with an almost clumsy, mother-of-the-beast instinct, desperately trying to shield her broken body from the giant skeleton behind her daughter and Su Wanqing. The skeleton was over two meters tall and had eerie flames burning in its eye sockets.