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

In the corridor.

The nurse with the long, snake-like neck asked with a gentle smile, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Lord Karari?"

Tang Li lost her footing and almost bumped into the spring-like coils around the neck of the nurse on rounds.

She took a step back, instinctively forcing a calm smile: "I'm fine, you go ahead with your work."

The nurse on rounds thought to herself that she had missed another opportunity to make a good impression. She sighed regretfully to herself and reluctantly prepared to leave.

Tang Li suddenly had a flash of inspiration; there was something this ward-round nurse could actually help with. She called out to her.

"I'd like to ask," Tang Li said, "is there a patient currently in room 820?"

The nurse on rounds perked up again. She lowered her head and immediately began flipping through the blue record folder in her hand: "820...820, no patient has moved into this room yet, it's empty."

"I see," Tang Li said calmly, "I'm tired of the current ward. Can I move into room 820?"

The nurse on rounds frowned, looking troubled. "Would you like to change rooms? Room 820 isn't ready yet; it's not suitable for you. However, I can arrange a better room for you!"

Tang Li declined her offer and continued to probe: "That nurse in charge of cleaning the rooms... Wen Ying, I remember she's quite diligent, how come room 820 isn't cleaned yet?"

The nurse making rounds sighed helplessly: "It's all the fault of the previous patient who dirtied the walls of room 820 with paint. It needs to be repainted."

Tang Li casually repeated her words: "The previous patient? Throwing paint on the ward wall, did they have a problem with our hospital?"

The nurse on rounds suddenly tensed up, almost forgetting that Lady Tang Li also had the identity of an inspection leader.

Fearing that Tang Li would leave a bad impression of the private hospital's lax management, she quickly added, "That patient already has some mental illnesses... You see, I've already made a note of him; he's a key person to observe during rounds."

The nurse on rounds, fearing Tang Li might not believe her, eagerly handed over the folder of rounds records she was holding, asking Tang Li to take a look.

Tang Li lowered her head and glanced at it casually.

His gaze sharpened.

820... In the nurses' logbooks, the patient in room 820 was not surnamed Ding.

Her surname is Meng, and she is female. Her name is Meng Wanwan.

Tang Li's memories were like a book, and several pages were passed over in a flash.

In Lao Ding's story, his lover, the woman who entered the machine hand in hand with him, was named Meng Wanwan.

With a sense of doubt, Tang Li left the corridor one after the other, following the nurse who was making rounds.

She hadn't expected it; it was indeed her carelessness.

At the corner where the wall meets the ceiling, a previously almost useless camera is now glowing with a faint red light.

Like a strange red eye, it kept adjusting its angle, staring intently at Tang Li.

In the monitoring room.

Sun Ping wore a hearty smile.

"See that?" He waved his hands, the two fresh wounds on his face catching his smile, opening and closing in unison with the corners of his mouth, like two other joyful, gaping maws.

It appeared increasingly ferocious, like a vengeful ghost harboring resentment.

He spoke to the person behind him… to the eerie presence behind him, “See? It was just a red paint pattern left on the wall by a mentally ill person, and it bewitched her! Did you see those flashes of light on her body? Those are protective spells commonly used by players!”

He stood up like a victorious general, swaggered around the intensive care unit with his head held high, and declared, "She's not someone you should be afraid of! She's just a clueless newbie player!"

Sun Ping laughed loudly, revealing the truth.

"No, no, no! No!" Behind him, Vice Dean Qi Cuiming screamed in panic, rushing to the computer. "How could this be! Lady Tang Li! Lady Tang Li!"

Sun Ping whirled around, his expression utterly mocking: "You're still calling her 'Sir'?!"

He gripped the mouse, dragging the progress bar back to the moment Tang Li was enveloped in light when the protective spell was triggered. "Look! Look at the direction of the light. At that moment, she didn't make any hand seals; she didn't even move a finger!"

"How could she be your 'adult'?" Sun Ping's lips twisted in a grimace as he loudly repeated the truth, ignoring Qi Cuiming's resistance. "She used a player's protective spell!"

The moment the light was unleashed was frozen and magnified, layers upon layers of light and shadow surrounding the stunned girl. Sun Ping's finger was poking straight at Tang Li in the center of the screen, as if trying to pierce through the screen and penetrate her throat.

"Even the one who cast the spell wasn't her," Sun Ping said, each word dripping with cruel hatred, "but rather the player named Jiang Hui who was always protecting her!"

Qi Cuiming shook her head frantically, like a gambler who vaguely knew she had lost her bet but refused to believe it because the sunk costs were too high. Her voice was frantic and choked with sobs: "Impossible, if she's not an adult... No, impossible!"

Sun Ping's excitement subsided slightly. He turned around and looked coldly at Qi Cuiming: "Then let's continue watching."

"Tang Li can't do anything. She's just an ordinary person. Any monster could easily crush her."

"Dean Qi, remember what I said."

In the restaurant.

Tang Li lowered her head and poked at the mashed potato salad with a fork.

"What are you thinking about so intently?" Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting sat down opposite her with their trays.

In just a moment, Jiang Hui's expression also turned serious, and she exchanged a glance with Qiu Wanting.

Tang Li had lost all of her protective spells.

"What's in room 820?" Jiang Hui asked directly.

Tang Li then came to her senses and belatedly scooped up a large spoonful of mashed potatoes and stuffed it into her mouth: "There is indeed something unusual in 820. There is a wall covered with simple red line drawings, and a clump of hair."

However... her previous distraction wasn't because of room 820.

Tang Li drifted off into thought again, a chill running down her spine. Strange, could someone be plotting against her?

She straightened up and scanned the restaurant, but did not see Sun Ping.

"Did your sixth sense ring?" Qiu Wanting immediately understood her current state, remaining calm as if it were something very ordinary.

Rather, a keen sixth sense is a threshold for selecting high-quality players for dungeons.

Qiu Wanting casually picked up the untouched fried chicken leg from Jiang Hui's plate and put it into Tang Li's rice bowl, which was unusually free of meat.

Tang Li was also bewildered, staring hesitantly at the greasy chicken leg, and humbly asked, "Will eating chicken legs help?"

"No." Qiu Wanting lowered his head and ate his asparagus and scrambled eggs. "Eating chicken legs will fill me up."

"Only when you're well-fed can you cope with the dangers that are happening or will happen."

"Tang Li, don't panic, finish your meal first."

After leaving the restaurant, Qiu Wanting and Jiang Hui followed Tang Li back to the eighth floor.

But now is not the time to go back to my own ward to rest.

Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting hadn't thought that ward 820 was that important before, after all, Meng Wanwan inside "Old Ding" had completely broken down mentally, and it was clear to everyone that she would be a sacrifice in the early stages of the game.

This morning, Tang Li encountered "Old Ding," who had come back from the dead.

The three of them stood in room 820 again, ready to push the door open and enter.

Tang Li frowned.

The door is locked.