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

Tang Li manipulated Nannan to go to the fifth floor.

You have arrived at Dr. James's office. There seems to be no one inside. Do you wish to enter? Yes/No

Tang Li chose "Yes".

As the scene changed, Tang Li knew she had come to the right place.

In Dr. James's office, the largest space occupied by a machine that looked like a space capsule had one entrance and one exit, with the entrance being large and the exit small.

Having already guessed what was going on, the pixelated figure approached and clicked on the machine.

[A machine that makes dreams come true].

Tang Li felt as if she had been struck by something, and her mind went blank for a moment.

She put down her phone and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while longer.

"Dreams Come True"... This name sounds like a joke. How could there be such a machine in a hospital?

Of the dozens of conjectures Tang Li had about Lao Ding's story, this machine was the only one not included. She firmly believed that the "dream-come-true machine" was a fabrication by Lao Ding, possibly a symbolic, imagined creation.

She thought that Lao Ding and his lover had undergone some kind of treatment or tried a new drug together, and that only one of them could live because one of them could try the drug first. Lao Ding's lover failed the drug trial and died.

Old Ding survived, and as a survivor, guilt drove him further insane.

But who would have thought that this machine would be so persistent, reappearing in the game? Is it a fictional creation in the game, just a name given randomly?

But if this machine doesn't actually exist, how come Old Ding's story is the same as the content in the game?

Has Lao Ding played this game too?

Tang Li's thoughts wandered aimlessly, with more than a dozen ideas flashing through her mind in an instant, but to no avail. None of the explanations could stand up without involving metaphysics.

The chill that had been suppressed before gradually crept up her spine again, as if something was lurking in some easily overlooked corner, watching her, just waiting for the right moment to erupt.

Let's play games first.

Tang Li controlled Nannan, circling the machine a few times, but did not trigger any more game prompts. However, she discovered that the machine's power was still on.

Tang Li made a tough decision; people stuck at a level will do anything, no matter how crazy. She made Nannan lie down at the machine's entrance, trying to get the pixelated figure to crawl into the machine on its own.

Without pressing any buttons, the machine started humming on its own. The platform where Nannan lay slowly moved into the machine's cabin, like the classic procedure for an MRI, or like a steel monster slowly swallowing its prey.

from head to foot.

Nannan's rapid breathing came from the phone, and the game's sound effects became incredibly realistic, as if someone was really breathing heavily in her ear.

The moment Nannan was fully inside the inspection chamber.

The phone screen suddenly turned blood red!

The urgent alarm blared, startling Tang Li so much that she nearly dropped her phone. Then she realized that the chilling red light on the screen was an enlarged view of the machine's display.

Error pop-ups filled the machine's screen, flashing the word "Error" in red and blue. The light was blinding, and Tang Li squinted, barely able to make out the white explanation below the "Error":

Error code: 408.

408? Tang Li immediately realized that she needed a machine manual.

She waited for Nannan to die and return to the save point, but to her surprise, this time, the machine spat Nannan back out of the entrance completely unharmed.

Tang Li helped Nannan stand up and search around Dr. James's office. Just as she pulled out a small booklet filled with writing from next to the machine, before she could even say "lucky," Nannan on the screen suddenly stopped moving.

You heard footsteps.

You heard footsteps.

Hide!

At that moment, Tang Li couldn't tell whether she had accidentally touched the screen to control Nannan or the game animation had carried out the follow-up. As if Nannan had come to life, she nimbly lowered her body and crawled under the hospital bed next to her.

Tang Li's perspective was the same as hers; she could only see the door open and a pair of brown leather shoes walk in.

A sliver of light shone through the bed, and Nannan didn't waste any time, using the light to open the booklet.

408, 408...

found it.

[Error code 408: The biological information of this experimental subject has been collected. Do not duplicate the same experimental subject into the machine.]

Tang Li felt a chill run down her spine.

She received two pieces of information:

First, the machines are not used on patients, but on experimental subjects in human trials.

Second, Nannan had already entered the machine before the current point in time.

In other words...

Tang Li opened her eyes wide in horror.

—Nannan was also a test subject in hospital human experiments.

According to Qiu Wanting and Jiang Hui's speculation, Nannan and Gu Xiaoying are mother and son. It's already confirmed that Gu Xiaoying is a human subject for hospital experiments. So, why did Nannan, a hospital employee, also become a test subject?

When did she become a test subject, before or after Gu Xiaoying's accident?

Did Nannan escape from the hospital as an experimental subject, and then sneak back into the hospital to try to rescue Gu Xiaoying?

Tang Li's thoughts were a jumbled mess, and she almost forgot about the game in her hands.

They also forgot that Nannan was hiding under the hospital bed at that moment.

In Dr. James's hospital room, only the sound of him humming softly could be heard.

Nannan's small, thin figure hid very well; she was not discovered.

Amidst this background noise, Nannan suddenly sprang into action. She laboriously turned over from under the bed and then taped something small and shiny to the back of the bed leg on the inside of the bed.

The first time, the dialog box lit up automatically without Tang Li's intervention.

The vertical cursor blinked as words were typed out from the dialog box.

I hid a USB drive containing machine data under my bed.

Tang Li stared at the simple line of text. This was the first time the dialog box had used "I," as if... Nannan was speaking to her.

Tang Li suddenly had a chilling realization.

She already knew that the game was based on reality. But she couldn't understand why such a game would be designed in the first place. Was it just to take pleasure in Nannan's death?

Now, she realizes there is another possibility:

Nannan collected evidence of the hospital's illegal experiments, but she couldn't take it out.

Tang Li suddenly stood up. The flash of inspiration in her mind encouraged her, and she found herself pacing around the ward.

Nannan can't be taken out, can't be revealed, can't be exposed.

So she hid the information in the game, hoping that someone like Tang Li, or better yet, an investigator like Jiang Hui or Qiu Wanting, would enter the game out of curiosity or duty, and unravel the mystery until they personally witness the terrifying and enormous truth.

Therefore, the hospital's routes are so detailed that even the doctors' preferences are clearly recorded in the game.

She desperately wanted to shout in their ears: Come here! Save me! Save him!

The phone was burning hot in Tang Li's hands. A sense of respect belatedly rose in Tang Li's heart.

The game's creator is Nannan. This phone most likely belongs to Nannan. The smiling girl on the phone wallpaper is very likely Nannan herself!

Therefore, she was able to obtain machine data in the short time she infiltrated James's clinic, so no matter how much Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting searched in the system, they could not find the person "Nannan".

Because Nannan was originally an expert in using computers.

Nannan, oh Nannan.

Tang Li's heart pounded like a drum, and her blood surged through her body.

Since you want me to discover and expose the secrets of the shady private hospital.

Tang Li thought: How could I dare to let you down?