Oh no! I'm surrounded by female ghosts!

Jinhui Residential Area, Chang'an City.

The sun was shining brightly outside, but the living room of a certain apartment was dark because the curtains were drawn.

Tang Tang curled up in the middle of the sofa, her eyes lowered, making it impossible to see the expression on her face.

Only the phone on the coffee table was still playing a recording intermittently.

"Remember, I'm the one who brought you back to your senses, so you owe me something."

"I'll tell you once I've thought about my requirements."

That was the sound of Chen Zhiwei and Su Ming's last conversation.

Why?

The recording played on repeat in the living room.

Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

"Why is it that all of you are trying to take my Meimei away?"

Her tone was filled with extreme resentment.

I bowed my head and repeatedly whispered words of self-consolation, but it sounded more like self-hypnosis.

"He's just sick, he's just sick."

In Tangtang's world, Su Ming has never changed.

He was simply overwhelmed by illness, unable to see his surroundings clearly, and unable to see himself who had always been by his side.

But at this very moment, countless people rushed into his world, trying to take her place.

"First it was Wen Qi."

"Next is Yu Mengnian."

"And now I still have you, Chen Zhiwei."

"Why are you all so fixated on my Mingming?"

A pair of reddened eyes stood out starkly in the dim light.

Meanwhile, at the Chang'an City Comprehensive Mental Hospital.

The open-air garden inside the courtyard was bathed in sunshine.

With Chen Zhiwei's secret care, Su Ming was able to get rid of medication.

He was leaning lazily against the bench, watching the other patients coming and going in the garden.

Wen Qi didn't show up today; I wonder what she's busy with.

Moreover, the atmosphere in the courtyard is different today.

Medical staff, who used to be a common sight, walked hurriedly with tense expressions, and a sense of hidden tension permeated the air.

I heard that the hospital has mobilized all its medical resources and is doing its utmost to treat an extremely important patient of very high status.

My gaze shifted and landed on the corner of the flower bed.

Xu Qinghe remained as usual, squatting there alone, her fingers repeatedly drawing circles in the soil, which looked quite strange.

After thinking it over, Su Ming ultimately decided not to go.

Instead, they looked up at the sun.

Although the sun was warm, it could not dispel the chill from his body.

The future timeline is even more bizarre than the doomsday timeline he experienced.

While they were still in heaven, although terrifying, the impact they had was quite direct.

But when they descended from heaven and became the old gods who were close to man, they could no longer see clearly.

It's no longer a direct impact, but rather a gradual, pervasive effect.

It's when you clearly feel something's wrong, but you can only discover it little by little.

Boiling bones in lukewarm water is the most terrifying thing.

You can clearly sense that something is subtly wrong with everything around you, and you can sense that people's hearts and the world are quietly shifting, but you can't find the exact source, let alone stop the damage in time.

They could only watch helplessly as the eeriness slowly spread, gradually devouring the original order and normalcy.

The scariest thing is that by the time you truly realize it, it may already be too late.

Just like Tangtang right now.

To outsiders, her obsession and possessiveness are nothing more than the obsession of a girl deeply in love, the usual romantic feelings between lovers.

But in Su Ming's eyes, it concealed a deadly danger.

Just then, a series of orderly footsteps suddenly came from the other side of the garden.

A group of people dressed in formal attire and exuding an extraordinary air came in.

The crowd looked respectful and moved in an orderly fashion. In the center, a young girl sat comfortably in a wheelchair, being slowly pushed forward by a staff member.

The moment Su Ming saw her, his pupils contracted sharply.

It's Shen Wanyu.

She actually woke up.

She woke up before I could even call her.

Shen Wanyu, who had been in a deep coma for a year, looked extremely pale and her body was so thin that she seemed like she could be blown away by a gust of wind.

But her inherent elegance and composure remained undiminished.

With gentle eyes and a dignified posture, she always wore a polite smile when facing the elders and experts accompanying her, calmly responding to everyone's greetings and concerns.

Su Ming squinted his eyes, still leaning back on the bench, basking in the sun.

In fact, Shen Wanyu waking up was within Su Ming's expectations.

I just didn't expect her to wake up so quickly.

What Su Ming was more concerned about was why Wen Qi hadn't come today.

At this time, accompanied by a nurse, Wen Qi completed the temporary discharge procedures and temporarily left the comprehensive mental hospital.

And this nurse, and even Wen Qi's attending physician, had long since become her people.

The solution is simple.

For Wen Qi, making money is the easiest thing.

Money can often solve more than 90% of problems.

The car smoothly drove out of the hospital block, through the streets and alleys, and finally stopped in front of a private courtyard.

Guided by a specialist, Wen Qi entered the house.

An elderly woman in her sixties was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Her name is Lin Lin, and she is the director of a comprehensive mental hospital.

Judging from her appearance, one can vaguely see some resemblance to Lin Jiajia.

If Lin Jiajia lived to be sixty, she would probably still look like this.

Lin Lin's condition is strange.

According to the others, since she was imprisoned, she has remained silent and has been extremely cooperative, almost eerily docile.

Wen Qi stepped forward and sat down in front of Lin Lin: "Hello, my name is Wen Qi."

"I think you must know me."

"This Ms. Lin Lin, or perhaps, the Eye of the Stars."

Lin Lin remained silent.

After a long, deathly silence, she finally exhaled, her voice hoarse and filled with defeated dejection: "I lost."

"I should have known that I lost this game from the very beginning."

She once thought it was a game she had complete control of and was certain to win.

But once she entered, she discovered it was a huge scam.

She was merely a sacrifice for the birth of a new life.

There are not many eighth-order pollution sources in the world.

Each of them will become nourishment and offerings for the birth of new life.

Because of the law of conservation of energy.

New life grows from the corpse of old life.

The total mass and total energy remain unchanged during the transition from old to new.

But this new life needs a lot of energy to nurture it.

Lin Lin looked at the composed Wen Qi and asked, slightly puzzled.

"I'm curious, when did you first discover me?"

"I designed this game myself."

"I originally intended to use this game to erase all of Su Ming's memories and make him a part of this world."

Wen Qi smiled and answered Lin Lin's question.

Actually, I didn't notice you at first.

"You should think that the story Su Ming told was just the delusion and imagination of the others after they went insane."

"The more normal the world is, the more absurd and unbelievable his story becomes."

"So I didn't believe it at first either."

"But my intuition tells me that he wasn't lying."

"His tone, his eyes, his subconscious reactions—they were all the most genuine."

"Su Ming once told me that the hospital was waiting for him to make a mistake."

"I'm very curious why he came to that conclusion."

"So I used some methods to hack into the hospital's surveillance system."

"I discovered that the video of Su Ming escaping the ward that night had been deliberately deleted."

Wen Qi stared straight at Lin Lin.

"The only person who could quietly gain control of all the hospital's permissions and delete crucial evidence is you."

"You're waiting for Su Ming to make a mistake, waiting for him to commit a serious enough error so you can get a legitimate handle against him before you can target him completely."

"Because you, like him, are bound by the rules of the game and dare not act recklessly."

"You choose to abide by the laws and order of this world."

Upon hearing this, Lin Lin took a deep breath and nodded: "Yes."

"You're right."

"But it was here that I realized that the laws and order of human society are just the surface."

There are rules for the game.

It is very clear.

The laws of this world are the rules of the game.

What is permitted by law and what is prohibited are all clearly written down.

Su Ming has forgotten how to live in a normal society.

This was Lin Lin's first time experiencing normal human society.

She believed that what the law forbids is absolute, and that once a mistake is made, punishment is inevitable.

But she ultimately underestimated the complexity of human nature and the chaos of the world.

The law is just a red line; those above and below the red line can coexist.

It could even be said that what lies beneath the red line is far greater and darker than what lies above it.

It is a gray area that will always exist, hidden in the blind spots of all laws.

If she had understood this from the beginning, perhaps she would have had a sliver of a chance of winning.

But now, it's all too late.

Lin Lin looked at Wen Qi with mixed feelings: "I just didn't expect that you would be the first person to find me."

"never mind."

She shook her head with a wry smile and said, "I lost. Take me to see Su Ming."

Wen Qi countered, "Why should I take you to see Su Ming?"

This question caused Lin Lin's pupils to contract sharply.

After a rapid thought, she asked in shock, "Could it be that Su Ming didn't know you had caught me?"

Wen Qi nodded truthfully: "He doesn't know."

"This game cannot end just yet."

"Because I still have many threats to eliminate."

Seeing Lin Lin's puzzled expression, Wen Qi slowly explained, "You said it yourself, this is a game."

"In this game, the only real players are you and Su Ming."

"You possess the most complete memories and understand the ultimate purpose of this game."

"And all the rest of us, in your eyes, are nothing more than NPCs in this world."

"But the NPCs in this world are not pre-programmed, cold programs; they possess independent thoughts and cognition."

"If they gained their full memories, realized it was all a game, and understood its ultimate purpose, what do you think would happen?"

After a moment of silence, Lin Lin uttered two words: "Awakening."

Wen Qi nodded: "That's right, it is awakening."

"So, the real core of this game seems to be you and Su Ming."

"It's actually our battlefield."

Wen Qi pointed to his chest: "A battle between us is inevitable."

"Because," she said with utmost seriousness and solemnity, "this is the destiny of forced favorability."

"We can't resist."

"This is the last trace of the old destiny."

She looked up at the window and said, "In the last round, Tang Tang was the last one standing."

"But this time," Wen Qi turned to the dean, "cooperation?"

"The benefit I'm giving you is that you can become one of the carriers of this new life."

Lin Lin's face stiffened, and she quickly lowered her head to consider.

Since she can't replace Su Ming, she can accept becoming a new vessel for life.

But in reality, it is still a lie.

Wen Qi had the upper hand.

Lin Lin was unaware that even if she didn't cooperate with Wen Qi, she would still be forcibly bound to him by a favorability rating and become Lin Jiajia.

After clarifying her thoughts, Lin Lin looked up and asked in a deep voice, "You want me to help you kill Tang Tang?"

Wen Qi shook her head: "No."

"I need you to help me kill Yu Mengnian."

"She's a bigger threat than Tangtang."

"We would all choose to eliminate Yu Mengnian first."

Meanwhile, Su Ming, who was sunbathing in the garden, was shrouded in shadow.

When she opened her eyes, she found that the person who came was actually Chen Zhiwei.

Chen Zhi smiled and looked at Su Ming, asking, "Are you waiting for Wen Qi?"

Su Ming hummed in agreement.

Chen Zhiwei said with slight surprise, "Didn't you know that Wen Qi applied for discharge from the hospital this morning?"

"Discharged from the hospital?" Su Ming was slightly taken aback.

He then resumed his relaxed demeanor.

What can Wen Qi do after being discharged from the hospital?

Of course, she went to make an appointment with the dean on her behalf.

As long as I see the dean, I can bind her with forced affection and then end this future timeline.

Chen Zhiwei sat down next to Su Ming, glancing at Shen Wanyu who was surrounded by people on the other side, and couldn't help but sigh, "That's the Shen family's daughter, she just woke up last night."

"You didn't see it. Last night, the hospital brought in many of the nation's top experts, all on standby, just to watch over her as she woke up. The scale of the event was terrifying."

Su Ming hummed in agreement.

Shen Wanyu's status was already noble, which is normal.

Chen Zhiwei sighed from the side, "It's so good to be rich."

"However," she said with a hint of doubt, "I didn't see the dean last night."

"The dean went missing last night. We can't get through to him on the phone, and there's no one in his office."

"I wonder what she's been up to."

"She missed such a good opportunity."

Su Ming's eyelids twitched, and he hurriedly asked, "The Dean has disappeared?"

Chen Zhiwei nodded: "I'm not sure if they've gone missing."

"We just can't get in touch with them for the time being."

"That's strange, the dean has never experienced anything like this before."

Looking at Chen Zhiwei's expression.

Su Ming had a feeling that she was intentionally giving him the information.

Wen Qi said last night that he would help me contact the dean.

Then the dean went missing last night.

This morning, Wen Qi applied for discharge from the hospital again.

This forced Su Ming to ponder the relationship involved.

"And another thing," Chen Zhiwei poked Su Ming's forehead, "Meng Nian sneaked into your room last night and slept there all night, only leaving early this morning."

I don't want to delve into the secrets between you.

"But don't forget, Tang Tang is still your official girlfriend."

"If Tang Tang finds out about this, what do you think she'll think?"

"Fortunately, I saw that video when I came to the hospital to see the director last night, so I'm covering it up for you for now."

Su Ming pursed his lips.

I didn't know how to explain, so I could only say, "Thank you."

Chen Zhiwei waved her hand: "No need for thanks."

"Be careful from now on."

After saying that, Chen Zhiwei left.

Su Ming watched her retreating figure.

Chen Zhiwei's appearance today was too deliberate; every word and every message seemed like a carefully planned setup.

"What exactly is this guy trying to do?"

Su Ming rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, but then he noticed that Xu Qinghe, who was drawing circles by herself, was looking up at him.

When she realized she was being watched, she lowered her head and continued drawing circles.

Su Ming was somewhat curious.

But he ultimately didn't go over.

They didn't hear Xu Qinghe muttering, "The spider is spinning its web."

"Spiders in heat will carefully seek out prey, build their love nests, and give birth to their offspring."

"Then eat your partner and turn it into nutrients for the fetus."

"Mating and eating one's husband: romantic yet cruel."

"Brother, run away!"

But her voice was too soft.

Su Ming couldn't hear it.

No one can hear it.

She was the only one repeating it over and over again.