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

Tang Li finished her dinner with a heavy heart.

She has always had a broad and open mind, but when she thinks of that little child, she can't help but feel a little sad.

As she walked, these thoughts crossed her mind. The moment she opened the door to 802 and stepped inside, it felt as if an invisible film of water had shattered around her, and Tang Li suddenly realized something was wrong.

The door slammed shut. The doorplate returned to its original state.

"?" "The anchor has fallen for it." "A cheap trick. If the anchor had been even slightly on guard, this thing would have been useless." "Who did it?" "That bald guy this morning, he lost an eye over a few candies." "Who lives in 807?"

"It's over." "Host—" "Sigh, the host is really finished now."

The boy sitting on the windowsill turned his head slowly and strangely.

Caught off guard, Tang Li froze on the spot. She thought about the boy all the way here; she felt pity for him, she sympathized with him, and she regretted advising him to listen to the doctor earlier.

But at this moment, as she met the boy's empty eye sockets, Tang Li could only recall one thing. Yesterday, in the hospital room, he had said something to her.

"Hide well. Don't let me see you again."

Human intuition always senses danger before the person themselves. A chill runs down your spine, a tingling sensation spreading from your neck to your lower back—it's death, ambiguously drawing circles behind you.

Twisted shadows slowly streamed down the windowsill. The boy sighed wearily and closed his eyes in the darkness where even the moonlight couldn't reach.

Alright, then he would take her life.

—A crisp snap.

The boy's ears twitched slightly, and when he glanced over, he saw Tang Li slap his eyes.

Tang Li: Ouch—it hurts!

Is this fungus that poisonous? She just saw the boy mutate!

Not only was it faceless, its flesh and bones torn apart, and blood flowing everywhere, but it also began to spread outwards a terrifying shadow, writhing like the giant tentacles of some kind of marine creature.

Before, it was just about horror movies, right? How come it's starting to go in the Cthulhu direction now?

Tang Li took two deep breaths: it seemed to be more than just a hallucination. Her back felt numb, her heart was pounding, she was inexplicably covered in a cold sweat, and she felt dizzy. What was going on? Could it be that the chicken wings she ate that afternoon weren't cooked through and she had food poisoning?

But when it comes to food... everything else is forgotten.

Tang Li clapped her hands lightly, her voice filled with a carefree and delighted tone: "I was just looking for you, and here you are, without any effort at all."

"You stay here and don't run away like last time!"

Tang Li slammed the door shut, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps gradually fading into the distance.

The boy stared silently at the door, the shadow that had been spreading across it almost getting caught in the door, and stopped, looking a little aggrieved.

No one is allowed to run away? Me, running away?

She must have found an excuse to run away, the boy thought. A shadow crept out from under the door, following Tang Li all the way. The shadow was ever-present; today, she was doomed.

After chasing it around, the shadow, completely bewildered, crawled back from under the door. Tang Li, riding on the shadow's tail, made a dazzling entrance with great excitement.

Clutching a large bag of snacks, she used a layup-like technique to leap onto the windowsill and sit on the moonlit side. She pushed the snacks towards the boy, saying generously, "Here, have some."

The boy did not eat.

"Did the nurse give it to you, Tang Li?" the boy asked. "Was the nurse very kind to you?"

Tang Li paused slightly; she hadn't expected the boy to be so sensitive.

"Do you like the Dean?" The boy's voice rang out eerily, and the terrifying face, reeking of blood, drew closer and closer. "I see it, Tang Li."

"I saw you two chatting happily in the screening room."

The shadow gradually wrapped around Tang Li's neck, about to tighten.

"Yes," Tang Li said, "I also watched the hospital's promotional video that the director made, you know? The director said his wish is that no more children will be infected."

The boy inexplicably tore open his bloodied and mangled mouth and gave a very faint laugh.

Tang Li felt a chill, which brought with it a sense of unease. She moved around a bit without feeling better, so she opened a bag of potato chips and invited the boy to share, hoping to warm herself up.

The boy stared at her as if she were a bewildered crab, already placed on a steamer basket, shrouded in the shadow of death, yet unsure how to escape this sense of crisis. So he casually picked up a few shredded ginger pieces and brought them to his mouth, reassuring himself that eating something would make him feel better.

"Do you believe what he said? You must admire him a lot, right?" The boy's voice was rapid and menacing. "Weren't you extremely moved by what he said?"

Tang Li looked at the tide of shadows, as if she could see the boy's true emotions. She knew this must be a synesthetic experience triggered by the fungus; what she saw became what she heard, what she smelled became what she touched. The boy's pain, in her world of confused senses, transformed into an eternal tide, rising and falling daily without end.

As if guided by some unseen force, she plunged her hand into the dark water.

The boy suddenly looked up. His warm hand was burning hot.

"I don't know the dean, so I can't comment. I only believe what I see with my own eyes."

Tang Li thought about Jiang Hui's words, and about the little child who had trusted the doctor completely but lost everything in a medical accident. She wondered how much he must hate him, how much he must regret it.

"However, I was also impressed by the dean's glittering title, and I was also moved by his words when he took the oath with such sincerity," Tang Li said, her warm fingers gently stirring the ripples of water filled with shadows.

"If I really choose to believe him, what wrong have I done? If one day I become terminally ill, I might exhaust all my wealth to find a cure. If the cure is useless, I will be the biggest fool in the world to pray to gods and Buddhas."

Tang Li searched for the boy's eyes, hoping that he could read her heart through them.

"Those who seek medical treatment are not wrong, not foolish, not gullible, and not blindly obedient. The ones who are wrong are those evil spirits who, for fame and fortune, wield scalpels without the necessary skills. So do not ridicule those who dare to entrust their trust, do not despise their courage, and do not mock their desperate gamble when they have no other choice."

Even if that person is yourself.

Your life is already difficult enough, please let yourself off the hook.

The boy stared blankly at Tang Li; his shadow seemed to detect a person's truest emotions. They said: Really, really, really. It's so hot.

Every thought and word is true; a sincere and passionate heart is revealed within.

The boy stared blankly, tears streaming down his face.