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

Life is always full of ups and downs.

Lei Hong thought so.

He walked down the crumbling corridor. The once bright and magnificent private hospital now resembled an apple, cracked and rotten from lack of moisture. It was riddled with fissures, but instead of rotting maggots, it gushed forth bright white light, as clear as a bright blue sky.

Even Lei Hong admitted that the private hospital was rotten to the core, yet who would have thought that it would shine so brightly at the moment of its collapse?

No, it's not the shady private hospital. Lei Hong thought, almost laughing mockingly: he'd almost forgotten that this hospital originally belonged to him, before Gu Xiaoying stole everything from him—

This place was originally a business run by their family for three generations, and its real name is "Lei's Private Hospital".

Why did things come to this?

Lei Hong staggered down the corridor. Patches of paint were peeling off the walls on either side, the plaster flying in the storm like shards of light, like fireflies. Anger and fear burned within Lei Hong, yet this only maintained an eerie calm, enough for him to savor the melancholy of losing everything.

It's okay. He told himself again and again that it was okay. He still had most of his strength left, enough to allow him to stand tall and make his own way in the world after leaving the instance. His career wouldn't end at this point.

Once he regains his footing, Tang Li will pay a hundredfold, a thousandfold price.

All hatred and deception must be repaid in blood.

He kept thinking, until the strong wind swept away all the dark gray dust from his body. Lei Hong straightened his back and pretended that his white suit was still spotless.

That's it, Lei Hong told himself. He couldn't show such a pathetic expression. At this grand moment when his hospital was finally closing, he should leave with dignity...

"Trying to leave?"

But then a mocking laugh came from behind.

A violent roar in mid-air instantly pierced through all the noise of the storm.

The silver spear, like a meteor, cleaved the world before Lei Hong's eyes in two. The meteor trailed a bright red tail, which was the fluttering red tassel beneath the spear tip.

Jiang Hui suddenly appeared on the road ahead!

— Lei Hong, oh Lei Hong.

Now that things have come to this, how could we possibly spare your life!

A short-haired woman arrived on a whirlwind, the air currents whipping her hair and clothes. With a wasp waist and a slender back, her posture like a crane or a mantis, the eight-foot-tall woman wielded spears nearly three meters long, her aura imposing. Beneath her black hair, a bright gleam shone in her dark pupils; the brilliant gold, initially only at the edge of her eyeballs, had already spread to the deepest recesses of her pupils in the blink of an eye.

Crimson, eerie patterns spread around her golden eyes, as if outlined with cinnabar or filled with the blood of her prey. The red patterns spread from around her eyes to her cheeks, then down her neck, collarbone, and arms, finally covering her hands.

—Those hands landed on the spear, a loud bang filled the air, and the spear pierced his heart!

Lei Hong's pupils contracted to a single point!

He leaned back, but it was too late to dodge the lightning-fast thrust. The moment the spear tip pierced his chest, Lei Hong suddenly shattered into a pile of mangled corpses!

The spearhead sank into the minced flesh as if it were sinking into a swamp. At the same time, Lei Hong—that pile of dismembered corpses—expanded suddenly like a spring that had been compressed to its limit.

The mangled flesh and limbs multiplied and multiplied in the blink of an eye, and the countless human heads mixed in with them roared furiously at the same time. The walls and floors, which were already on the verge of collapse, helped Lei Hong one last time, and the growth of the huge aggregate of mangled limbs was no longer hindered.

Three meters, five meters... one floor, two floors...

The colossal creature, formed from fragmented corpses, continued to stretch its body, crushing the floor of the old archives. Amidst the storm, Lei Hong and Jiang Hui fell together!

Embedded in the center of the dismembered body was Lei Hong's head, his face covered with bulging, throbbing veins, no longer resembling a human. Lei Hong roared in fury; driven to the brink, he had finally given up on preserving his strength and escaping. In this desperate battle, Lei Hong finally went all out, unleashing all his rage!

And Jiang Hui?

Jiang Hui is smiling.

Countless heads screamed like a war song, scattered and colliding debris sounded like war drums, the wind howled, and the backdrop was the eerie scene of chaotic escape and the constantly collapsing hospital building—

Jiang Hui's laughter pierced through Lei Hong's roar. A blush rose on her cheekbones, her lungs filled with heavy breathing, and her strong blood swelled in her bones; anyone could tell how happy she was!

The spear tips were like shooting stars. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Hui had already exchanged several blows with Lei Hong. Her slender body was able to control such immense power, and her tiny figure was able to fight such a huge monster to a standstill!

Let them fight a little longer.

—What else is there besides the battlefield?

Life is always a series of comings and goings.

Zhuge Jiajia thought so.

The hospital staff who had previously fought them to the death are now fleeing in terror.

Like some kind of animal migrating in herds before disaster strikes, more and more bizarre creatures are running wildly in the storm, constantly converging into a river of escape.

But they are like stubborn rocks, motionless in the rushing water.

Anyone who saw this scene would be horrified.

The child huddled in the monster's arms. The monster, swollen and enormous from being submerged in water, barely maintaining its human form, unable to utter a single word.

Zhuge Jiajia thought to herself, defending the monster.

It was also a monster that obediently lay down at my feet, a monster that lifted me onto its shoulder, a monster that embraced me tightly, a monster that dared not hold me too tightly for fear of hurting me.

How did you recognize me?

Since you've become like this? I've already become like this?

As Zhuge Jiajia pondered, her gaze tracing the ugly, swollen human body before her, a sudden enlightenment dawned upon her, and she understood everything.

Yes, I can recognize you too.

She looked up at Liu Anbang's face, but received no response. Her voice fell to the ground in a faint, ethereal tone: "We are a pair of lovers who have become unrecognizable."

My love, from the moment we fell in love, you were destined to part ways. I just never imagined that our reunion would be so brief, and our separation so long.

The white light had spread to Zhuge Jiajia's feet. She heard the wind in the sky, heard a brand new world generously opening its broad chest to her, and heard a new destiny gently knocking on her door.

And Liu Anbang, these—every swollen human body.

The white light bypassed them; the new world was unwilling to extend a welcoming hand to them.

Yes, yes... Zhuge Jiajia thought tolerantly, how can we blame the world for being cruel? They were strangers in this new world, and besides, at this moment, they were already one of the thousands of strange beings.

My lover has become strange. If something is strange, it must remain in the instance. But the instance... the instance has been cleared. I was one of the people who helped clear the instance. The instance is no longer there.

...And what about my lover? Zhuge Jiajia's thoughts slowly turned. My lover, too, is gone?

The reunion was so brief, yet the separation was so long.

This moment is farewell forever.

"We can go now," a child's clear yet calm voice rang out.

Nanjiang said, "Remember to bring the parachutes we prepared in advance. If we don't make it to the ground in the dungeon, we'll most likely appear in the new world in the air."