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

[System prompt: The currently available replica information is as follows:]

Dungeon Name: "Gold Medal Assassin"

Dungeon rating: Beginner, 5 stars.

Main quest: Become the sect's top assassin.

The spin-off missions are not yet unlocked.

Current main quest progress: 1%

Escape path from the instance: Reach the assassin's graduation standard and become a fully-fledged assassin.

Friendly reminder: This instance has no safe zones and does not restrict players from attacking each other. Your character may be randomly assigned to an opposing faction, so please be careful at all times.

The world where the instance is located is an important property of the lord, and cannot be destroyed or damaged.

Players are advised not to harbor unrealistic fantasies.

...Tang Li's wish to blow up this world was shattered.

But life must go on.

After the fickle murderer left, Tang Li sighed and wearily got out of bed.

She also has a mission: to investigate the cause of the flower girl's death.

It was obvious that the system's criteria for determining the cause of death could not be simply dismissed as "murder." Tang Li minimized the dense task information in her eyes and began to observe the flower girl's body again.

At this moment, Tang Li noticed her loose nightgown.

Beneath the loose collar, a splash of bright red stung her eyes.

The fatal wound was in the neck? But there was massive bleeding instead.

Or was the flower girl strangled to death by the murderer?

She reached out and carefully parted the flower girl's silk fabric and messy black hair, revealing her neck completely.

Tang Li's pupils contracted sharply, and her heart trembled again, as if someone's hand had squeezed it tightly.

There were no wounds, no strangulation marks, but a straight, bright red line that ran down from the throat and into the nightgown.

Ignoring the offense, Tang Li ripped open the flower girl's clothes.

From the throat, through the collarbone, and down to the chest.

What a clear vertical line.

Before falling asleep, the story of the flower girl echoed in my ears in a hazy way.

"This venomous insect is born to lay eggs inside a person's abdomen, so once it entered her mouth, it wriggled and burrowed into her throat."

"The insect's hairs are poisonous, and the effects are extremely rapid; wherever it crawls, a vibrant red tinge appears."

You can see a bright red trail left by the worm crawling inside the human body. Quietly visible on the fair skin, it presents an almost rotting, menacing presence.

It sucks.

Tang Li already had a premonition. She suppressed the fear and nausea surging in her heart and reached out to pry open the flower girl's mouth.

She had only recently died; her body was still limp, as if she could still speak at any moment.

Tang Li saw the tongue.

"A person poisoned by this insect will have their tongue turn red."

Yes, the flower girl was right; it was indeed an extraordinary red that one would never forget once seen with their own eyes. A bewitching red, almost orange-red, with a fiery glow within it; it could be a flower, it could be fabric, but it should never be part of the human body.

The eerie brilliance was like having her tongue cut off and then being fed a mouthful of balsam petals.

The killer murdered the flower girl, using the same method she had used when she committed her first murder—the same method she had drawn by lot. Could it be that the assassin had already sneaked into the bedroom and been quietly listening to their pre-sleep conversation?

Tang Li unconsciously clenched the fabric in her hands.

She suddenly realized that even though the killer was gone, her crisis was not over.

—Is that poisonous worm still inside the flower seller's body?

This thought stirred up new fears.

Tang Li's gaze involuntarily lingered on the flower girl's abdomen. Her strong and slender waist and abdomen showed the marks of training, and the thin but tough skin was stretched to the point of forming an ominous bulge that was writhing incessantly right in front of Tang Li.

It is a poisonous insect that is laying eggs.

As if the sight could stimulate it even through its belly, the venomous insects became more and more agitated, and its skin was stretched open again and again, as if it would burst out of its body at any moment!

Tang Li felt like she was going crazy.

Her hand reached back under the pillow, and the flower girl's dagger returned to her palm once more.

Tang Li forcefully pulled out the dagger, its blade reflecting the moonlight.

Don't hesitate any longer. Are you really going to wait for it to emerge from the shadows with its litter of pups?

Tang Li raised the dagger, hovering it above the poisonous insect.

—A sudden stab!

"Wake up! Wake up!"

A sharp pain shot through my cheek.

Tang Li opened her eyes in a daze, her mind blank, but her body still felt tense and stiff.

The first thing you see is the antique-style decor.

This is... how...

The flower seller's urging voice rang out again, and the young woman smiled gently.

"Get up quickly, or Instructor Han will come and catch you."

Tang Li jolted awake and became completely conscious.

Flower girl?

She grabbed the flower girl's hand, which was about to pull back the covers, her nightgown soaked with cold sweat. The hand was warm to the touch. "You...you weren't dead?"

"What's wrong? Your face is so pale. Did you have a nightmare?" the flower girl asked curiously, raising her hand to touch her forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.

Tang Li looked around the bedroom, where a thin sliver of morning light was already filtering in. The flower girl sat alive beside her, her nightgown neatly arranged, her fair neck frosty white, and no trace of the bright red mark left by the crawling insects.

Tang Li gripped the corner of the blanket tightly, trying to recall what had happened last night.

She discovered the flower girl was dead, she spoke with the murderer, she wanted to kill the poisonous insect, and she raised a dagger…

She raised the dagger...

--Then what?

She lost her memory after that.

Tang Li sat on the bed, feeling bewildered and absurd.

Or is this truly a vivid and realistic nightmare?

She reached under the pillow and felt something hard and cold against her fingertips. The dagger was still there. She pulled it out of its sheath, and the bright light stung her eyes.

The flower girl sighed helplessly and took the dagger from her hand: "You're not old enough to need this yet."

The dagger was the same one as before, its surface so smooth it could reflect a person's image, yet it was never stained with a single drop of blood.

Was it really just a meaningless dream? Tang Li wondered, the sweat still clinging to her body. This was a bizarre dungeon; even if it was a dream, it was full of clues and omens.

Was it precognition? Or something else entirely?

Urged on by the flower seller, Tang Li, still full of doubts, got up unsteadily to change her clothes and get out of bed.

"We always get up at dawn to practice, and if we're late, we'll be punished. Even the morning bell didn't wake you just now..."

The flower girl's voice could still be heard intermittently.

No. No.

Tang Li turned to the side, her lowered eyebrows concealing the turbulent emotions within her eyes.

She discovered the flaw. She saw the clue.

The flower girl... her tongue.

It's a red color, like that of a balsam flower.

Delicate and charming.