Warning! The evil god's minions are invading the eerie dungeon.

Three minutes later.

Qi Xie, Chen Mu, and Lin Tong found the swindler who sold Lin Tong the silver badge. After a friendly exchange, they reached a consensus.

The situation is roughly that Chen Mu and Lin Tong said they no longer wanted the item and hoped to return it for a refund.

The other party asked if they wanted to knock.

Then Qi Xie grabbed him by the collar with one hand and leaned out of the window on the thirtieth floor.

So the other party not only offered to refund the money, but also generously gave Qi Xie all the strange points they had stored.

It wasn't much, only five thousand Weird Points, but for Qi Xie, who had just spent all the remaining twenty thousand Weird Points, it was a steal.

After this little incident, with only a little time left before 10 p.m., Qi Xie led Chen Mu and the others away.

He needs to find another shelter to empty it out so he can test his new abilities and try some experiments on his own contamination.

According to his vague memory of falling from the sky, there should have been a hospital a little further away nearby.

That thing is so big, there's no reason it can't be used as a shelter.

Chen Mu and Lin Tong actually intended to stay at this base, but because of Lao Wu's problem, they chose to go out with Qi Xie to find a way out.

Although we could try to take Lao Wu out to find someone to treat him, no one knows how much longer we'll have to stay in the instance, and taking an unconscious person with us is just too risky.

However, they also exchanged contact information with Moze. This official traveler promised to ask everyone who came to the stronghold if they knew anyone who could treat Lao Wu, and to send them a message.

As for Qi Xie...

Although we didn't find the stolen fragment this time, we did acquire a rather unusual B-grade skill, learned that we could stay for another six days, and learned that there was suspected extreme danger in the eastern part of the city. So, it was still a worthwhile trip.

That's life, a mix of sweet and bitter, a fact he had long understood.

On the dilapidated and cracked road, the three set off again.

"Brother Lu, where are we going now?"

Lin Tong looked at Qi Xie.

Although this young fellow had learned a lesson from being tricked, he was still a child at heart and was no longer afraid of Qi Xie.

In his view, someone who saved him and helped him get back the strange points was a good person.

As for Chen Mu, who took over the role of carrying Lao Wu, he simply accepted his fate.

Since there's no way to escape their grasp anyway, and there's no way to resist, just close your eyes and enjoy it.

"Go to the hospital. I remember there should be a hospital about ten kilometers away in this direction."

Qi Xie replied:

"The hospital is so big, I don't believe there aren't special missions. Let's go take a look; maybe we can even get a treatment reward after completing the mission?"

"This trip was a complete waste, and we didn't even find those two damned beasts... Sigh... Poor Wu Ge..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Tong first grumbled and cursed, then looked at Old Wu on Chen Mu's back with a sorrowful expression:

"I wonder when Brother Wu will wake up... He can't die here, his fiancée is waiting for him at home..."

Hearing Lin Tong's nagging, Chen Mu seemed to have thought of something and felt something:

"This is the most dangerous instance I've ever been involved in. I don't know if I'll survive. If, if I die in this instance, I hope you can help me send my ashes to my home. You can find the address on our forum. Tell my family to bury my ashes next to Xiao An's and to have this sentence engraved on my tombstone: He and his beloved sleep in each other's arms..."

Chen Mu's voice gradually lowered, becoming more gentle with a hint of reminiscence.

Lin Tong nodded in deep agreement:

"This is also the most dangerous instance I've ever faced. It's terrifying. It feels like there are murderous things everywhere—plants, food…"

He immediately fell silent, and after a long while, he spoke in a somber, somewhat sorrowful voice:

"If I don't make it out, and you are still alive, I would like to ask you to help me deliver my belongings to my mother. The sealed artifact on my body can be used as payment. No matter how I died, please tell my mother that I died peacefully, without pain, and help me comfort her..."

The air fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of the three people's footsteps on the road.

After a long pause, Lin Tong looked up, somewhat moved, at the tall, silent figure in a trench coat at the front:

"Brother Lu, is there anything you want to say or do?"

"Yes." Qi Xie's lips twitched silently a few times:

"...Don't make wild predictions."

Chen Mu glanced at him, then at his bare, pale hands, and asked with considerable curiosity:

"Mr. Lu, don't you have a partner?"

In Chen Mu's view, although the young man in front of him was of average appearance, he was not ugly, and he was very strong. Although he seemed to be mentally unstable, he made Chen Mu feel very safe.

Such a person should be very popular in the traveler community.

Qi Xie walked on expressionlessly, trying to quiet the two of them down with his silence.

But perhaps because he had started talking, or perhaps because of the time they had spent together, Chen Mu had indeed let down his guard against Qi Xie, and he seemed to be talking non-stop:

"That shouldn't be the case. Let me tell you, even someone like me was able to receive teleports from certain young girls back then..."

"..."

"..."

Okay, now it's quiet.

Qi Xie let out a breath.

As for public opinion and such.

What does it matter to me, Qi Xie, that Lu Renjia is gay?

The three walked for a while longer, and Lin Tong cautiously said:

"So, Brother Lu, don't you have anything to say to your family, like your parents?"

Parents… Qi Xie paused for a second, then calmly said:

"I have no family."

Lin Tong opened his mouth slightly, unsure how to respond.

Chen Mu quickly tried to smooth things over:

"Actually, you can bring them to friends too, good friends and family as well..."

"I don't have any friends either," Qi Xie said calmly.

"..."

"..."

Now it's finally completely quiet.

The three of them moved forward in silence, with Chen Mu and Lin Tong internally slapping themselves and feeling like they deserved to die.

Time slips away as we rush on our journeys.

Guided by his hazy memories, Qi Xie finally stopped.

Looking up at the building in front of him, he felt a sense of surprise that wasn't quite unexpected.

The entire building was peeling gray and white, partially collapsed, and most of the exterior glass was shattered.

The large signboard at the main entrance was hanging crookedly, making it difficult to see the whole thing. It seemed to be "Second Branch of [Hospital Name]".

Two blurry characters can be seen on the fallen sign: "Compassionate Action".

……

……