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

Tang Li sat in Jiang Hui's chair, sipping her Golden Broth Beef Flavored Milk in a daze.

"What is this?" She was forced to close her eyes and put on a steam eye mask, so she could only ask helplessly in the darkness, "Actually, I think it tastes pretty good."

Where Tang Li couldn't see, Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting were solemnly performing a ritual.

"I stole the soup base from the restaurant. We'll have pickled fish tomorrow," Jiang Hui said nonsensically, a talisman between her fingers as she circled Tang Li counter-clockwise.

Jiang Hui breathed a sigh of relief when the talisman didn't turn black, and nodded to Qiu Wanting.

It's confirmed. She wasn't possessed by some strange entity. The unusual phenomena Tang Li saw were simply because she accidentally awakened her superpowers.

"Jiang Hui, you got into a fight in the archives?" Tang Li continued excitedly, "I later discovered another archive, and this file was actually hidden in that archive. Sun Ping was there too, and there was also an old man looking after the files."

Qiu Wanting pulled a magic wand from his sleeve and waved it at Tang Li. A flash of red and green light appeared, and all the wounds on Tang Li's body from the chase earlier began to glow faintly.

He raised his eyebrows upon hearing this and asked, "Do Sun Ping and that old man get along well? Did they hit it off immediately, or is their relationship just so-so?"

Tang Li brought back the file folder, so Old Yan, who was guarding the archives, probably didn't hand the file over to Sun Ping immediately. Old Yan and the dean are probably not on the same side.

"Oh no, Old Yan's a gambling addict. He doesn't give anyone face, he just forces us to watch cricket fighting." Tang Li pouted, noticing a flash of light in front of her eyes every now and then, and couldn't help but ask, "Why is it flashing so brightly? What are you doing?"

"Oh, Qiu Wanting is watching short videos. He's concerned about his image, so he's watching on silent."

Jiang Hui made up a story without any expression, while carefully sprinkling the healing powder on Tang Li's wound. "Go on, what cricket fighting?"

"It's just a basin, filled with red sand, lots of dead insects, lots of poisonous insects," Tang Li said, speaking whatever came to mind. She was wearing an eye mask and was practically drowsy.

"...There's also a small, agile crab-shelled blue crab, and a very large one with a bronze head and an iron back...fighting..."

Jiang Hui watched as her head bobbed sleepily, a rare tenderness welling up inside her: "And then? Did you have a particular fondness for that crab-shelled green crab?"

Tang Li: "Oh, no."

"Then I'll definitely bet big, just to see how awesome it is."

Tang Li: "Ah—why did you hit me on the head?"

The chaotic night finally passed, and the sun rose as usual at the Ghost Story Private Hospital the next day.

Gu Xiaoying's file was spread out on the table.

Just as Qiu Wanting and Jiang Hui had guessed, there were two files, an old one and a new one. The old file contained patient medical records, while the new file contained medical experiment records.

In the patient's case, "Patient Gu" contracted a rare disease. He believed the hospital's false advertising and chose to be hospitalized for treatment. However, after a long period of treatment, not only did his condition not improve, but he also completely lost the chance of a cure due to a medical accident.

The side effects of various treatments manifested in him, but he was still unable to be discharged from the hospital.

Starting from a certain day in the file, the title "Patient Gu Moumou" was completely changed to "Test Subject No. 1". In the new file, various experiments were carried out in a dense and varied manner. Even Tang Li, a layman who knew nothing about medicine, felt a chilling and terrifying feeling when she looked at those cold terms and jargon.

The three of them flipped through the file page by page. Tang Li asked, "This file, along with Gu Xiaoying's, shouldn't be enough evidence to bring all these heartless lunatics in the hospital to justice?"

She looked at Jiang Hui with some worry, "Moreover, you went into the archives last night and fought with Sun Ping's henchmen. I'm worried that your true identities have been exposed. Staying in the hospital any longer might put you in danger."

"Besides that, I was running around the hospital all night. Although no medical staff showed up in the end, I made quite a commotion. If the surveillance cameras record me, I'll end up in the same situation as you."

Jiang Hui looked at Tang Li, a hint of admiration flashing in her eyes once again. Qiu Wanting also nodded silently.

In these eerie dungeons, players must be bold, courageous, and have the will to fight to the death—but the number of players who die from recklessness and those who die from cowardice is roughly equal.

Although Tang Li is sometimes impulsive, she also possesses the shrewdness and caution to gracefully retreat from the limelight.

Unfortunately, this is a bizarre instance, and the [Tales of the Private Hospital] is only a low-level instance. The instance area is limited to the hospital, and they cannot step out of the hospital gates at all, let alone go out to avoid trouble or call for help.

Qiu Wanting shook his head: "It's easy to get out but hard to get back in. We still need to find out where one of the people is."

He pulled out a blurry photo from the very bottom of the file folder.

There is a woman's profile in that photo.

"Who is this girl...or woman?" Qiu Wanting asked. "And what is her relationship with Gu Xiaoying?"

Jiang Hui then explained to Tang Li, "We suspect she is Gu Xiaoying's mother. Remember the rumors I told you about this hospital? Gu Xiaoying's mother also works at this hospital."

"Even now, this person is still missing." Qiu Wanting handed the photo to Tang Li, her tone suggestive. "Gu Xiaoying was treated like this by the hospital afterward, and we suspect that his mother has met with some mishap."

Tang Li immediately thought of her previous "dream".

She stared at the figure in the photo and thought, "Are you Nannan?"

Nannan was caught up with and brutally murdered by Vice Dean Qi Cuiming.

That explains everything.

A belated realization suddenly struck Tang Li. She thought, she finally knew what Nannan in the game was looking for.

I finally understand why Nannan was willing to die that night, just to hold something in her arms.

—It's Gu Xiaoying.

The person she would rather die to protect is Gu Xiaoying.

Tang Li suddenly stood up, startling Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting.

"Who among you can hack into the hospital's staff system?" Her eyes shone brightly, her hair tossing as she excitedly paced back and forth in the small ward.

"Go check, check if there's anyone named Nan Nan—or Nan Nan?"