After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

Following AI Xiaomei's suggestion, Tang Li tentatively put her hand into the basin.

Her fingers reached into the red sand at the bottom of the basin, the damp, rough feeling biting her fingertips. The next moment, everything in front of her blurred into large patches of color, and the world spun around her.

Tang Li felt as if she had been put into a washing machine. When she opened her eyes again, she was met with deep darkness.

She found herself in an extremely spacious enclosed space. Tang Li looked up and saw that the high ceiling far surpassed the towering dome of a church.

As she looked around, countless filing cabinets rose up around her, reaching all the way to the ceiling, row upon row, forming a labyrinth with no end in sight.

The filing shelves stood imposingly, and despite being modern facilities, Tang Li felt as if she were walking through a dense, sun-shading forest.

I'm completely lost.

"Xiaomei, do you have the map from the basin?" Tang Li asked. In the extreme silence, her voice even startled herself.

"No, the terrain of Doupen changes, and there's no map," Xiaomei said.

"So, will this place restrict the abilities of those who enter?"

"...No," Xiaomei replied softly, "but all tracking methods are unusable inside the fighting basin."

No wonder Gu Xiaomei made Tang Li hide in the basin.

"Are the starting points of the fighting basins the same? If Lei Hong chases into the fighting basin, will he suddenly appear where I am now?"

"It's different; the fighting will separate you."

So, Tang Li wondered, should I play hide-and-seek with the Dean in this maze?

She tentatively took a few steps forward. The marble floor was smooth and hard, and the hard soles of her shoes made a crisp sound. So Tang Li took off her shoes and walked barefoot, the cool touch spreading from the soles of her feet to her knees.

She looked around, familiarizing herself with the terrain. Visibility was low in the maze; all she could see were the outlines of towering filing shelves. Tang Li followed her instincts and found a shelf with a gap about half a person's height in the lower half.

She tried to curl up inside, and it was the perfect size.

The dean hasn't arrived yet.

Maybe he went into the archives, didn't see anyone, and turned around and left? Maybe he didn't even notice that I had entered the latrine.

Tang Li reassured herself in this way. Only now did she realize that she was feeling afraid. The previous crises always came too quickly, leaving her no time to savor the fear before she had to set aside her emotions and start dealing with them.

But now, she's like a child playing hide-and-seek with a ghost, quietly waiting for it to come to her.

The maze was cold. Tang Li huddled up, waiting. This was a rare moment of leisure in her long day. Tang Li hugged herself, trying to use her knees to stop her uncontrollable heartbeat, the force almost causing her chest to ache.

No, we can't let fear defeat us before the enemy even arrives.

Tang Li emerged from the file shelf again and did something that none of the previous members of the Doupen had ever done.

She took the file off the shelf.

The cover of this book features a black and white checkered dress.

Tang Li opened the document, but instead of files, she found pages covered with drawings of all sorts of little girls' clothes on yellowed, brittle paper. Various styles, various colors, a dazzling array.

Tang Li spotted several familiar dresses; they had been hanging in Nannan's wardrobe in the first game of the mobile game.

Tang Li carefully closed the design sketchbook, then picked up another one, which still contained all sorts of clothes.

From 1 to 100 years old, from infancy to old age, clothes for every age group are quietly displayed on this row of filing shelves.

Tang Li put down the last book, her fingers trembling slightly.

...So that's how it is; that's the purpose of the water basin.

What you thought was a treacherous maze was actually a wall painstakingly designed to shelter you from the wind and rain.

She closed her eyes, and the image of the basin full of dead insects from a few days ago flashed before her eyes.

What have you hospital staff done with this place?

"...Tang Li? Tang Li!" Xiao Mei's anxious voice kept ringing in the earpiece, "The dean has already entered the archives!"

Tang Li wasted no time. Like a ghost wandering through a maze, she silently walked to the next shelf and reached for the next file.

The cover of this book no longer features a heartwarming illustration, but instead displays half a bloodstained fingerprint, which sends a chill down one's spine.

Tang Li opened the title page; on the blank page, there was only one line of hastily written text:

I'm sorry to her.

The character "她" (she) is surrounded by a small ripple of ink, as if a tear of regret once lingered there.

Tang Li's heart skipped a beat.

【11月12日

Dean Lei Hong contacted me, saying that his hospital could cure Xiaomei's illness.

He told me that "weirdness" is not some unspeakable supernatural thing, but just a rare new disease. As long as it is a disease, there will definitely be a corresponding treatment.

I was very grateful to him; he invited me to visit the hospital.

After the visit, Xiaomei and I decided to go to the hospital for treatment. Xiaomei will be fine.

……

【12月13日

Xiao Mei doesn't look well.

During each treatment, the hospital would take Xiaomei into a private room, and family members were not allowed to accompany her during the treatment.

I'm very worried about Xiaomei. But she always says she's fine. I asked the doctor, who scolded me, saying that her unstable emotions would affect her.

I regret it; I won't ask anymore.

……

【12月25日

Xiao Mei's condition is worsening.

The hospital didn't tell me about this, but anyone with eyes could see it.

I'm afraid to let Xiaomei look in the mirror anymore.

The doctor told me that treatment is a process and I need to wait.

……

It is Gu Xiaoying's record.

He didn't have the habit of keeping a diary, and there wasn't a single word about himself in his records, but he meticulously recorded everything related to Gu Xiaomei's "illness".

Tang Li flipped through the pages rapidly, reading quickly.

Her heart clenched; she knew that she and he were both getting closer to that cruel truth.

After several days without recording anything, a new page came into view, with large, chaotic characters occupying the entire blank page, almost impossible to decipher.

Because the person writing was trembling.

【March 21.

I saw the attending physician's records.

Experimental subject? They called my Xiaomei an "experimental subject"?!

What does that mean?

【March 22.

The dean is a fraud!

The hospital is full of scammers; the treatment is a fraud!

They can't cure the anomaly at all; they're experimenting on my Xiaomei! How dare they!

He's spouting nonsense! They're all spouting nonsense! I'm going to kill them!

They're spouting nonsense.

Tang Li suddenly recalled that noon when she first entered the dungeon. On the snow-white hospital building, the hospital's name was painted in red paint, and in a daze, it seemed to meander down like blood.

The bright sunshine in her memory seemed to still be right in front of her, and Tang Li felt a chill run through her body. It was as if the fear, panic, and shock she should have felt when she first entered the dungeon had backfired on her in a doubly strong way.

...A bizarre private hospital.

The frantic urging of AI Xiaomei seemed to come from a great distance:

"Tang Li! Tang Li! The dean is here! Quick, hide!"

Tang Li seemed not to hear.

The fingers continued to turn the pages, only faster and faster.

[January 23: I have obtained the evidence. I am going to call the police.]

[January 24th: The hospital director found me and said their hospital was at the forefront of research into the supernatural, and if I still wanted to save Xiaomei, she couldn't be transferred to another hospital. I wanted to kill him. I verified this over and over again, hacking into the internal networks of various top hospitals one after another. I knew he was telling the truth.]

"Tang Li! Tang Li! Hide!"

I didn't transfer Xiaomei to another hospital, nor did I call the police. I feel disgusted with myself.

The hospital is developing a machine called "Dreams Come True." The hospital director told me that the purpose of this machine is to completely remove the supernatural from the human body and transfer it to other organisms.

I know this is Xiaomei's only chance to regain her health. But I'm worried the hospital will lie to me like before.

So I... so I...

I joined the hospital's research group. I put on a white coat. I became a member of the hospital. I became one of the silent executioners.