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

Qiu Wanting pondered the underlying principles.

"The Machine That Makes Dreams Come True"—when the two mice entered the machine, they had only one dream: to eat more nuts.

The machine granted their wish. One mouse lived directly inside the nut, while the other nearly had its belly burst from being stretched by the nut.

Indeed, they are inseparable from the nut for eternity, but in such a cruel and deadly way. Isn't the way "Old Ding" and Meng Wanwan fulfilled their wishes the same?

Qiu Wanting confronts a cruel kind of dark humor through a machine.

So, what about Nannan and Gu Xiaoying? If the people who use the machine will become physically one, are Nannan and Gu Xiaoying also a pair of experimental subjects of this machine?

Qiu Wanting recalled the phone wallpaper Tang Li had shown them. The girl in the picture, who resembled Nannan, looked far too young; she looked more like a recent college graduate than a mother.

Is Nannan really Gu Xiaoying's biological mother?

Or was it that this machine somehow forced Gu Xiaoying into Nannan's body?

the other side.

Jiang Hui led Tang Li to find someone.

"This patient, because of his profession, never leaves his computer behind," Jiang Hui introduced to Tang Li when she saw him huddled against the wall in the corridor from afar.

He was a thin man with a sallow complexion and square-framed glasses. For some reason, he managed to make the striped hospital gown look like a plaid shirt.

"Fang Yingjie, here's a USB drive. I need your help with something," Jiang Hui said, getting straight to the point.

Fang Yingjie was a beat slow to react; Jiang Hui was already standing next to him before he finally looked up at them, still confused. Tang Li couldn't help but watch him worriedly. Was this guy experiencing low blood sugar?

Jiang Hui wasn't surprised: this half-dead state clearly indicated that he had just returned from an adventure in the clinic.

Fang Yingjie's special ability is that he can materialize a computer.

There are countless supernatural abilities in the bizarre dungeons, all of which are related to the player's experience, profession, dreams, and circumstances, so it is even rare to encounter two supernatural abilities that are exactly the same.

Besides that, there's imagination. Superpowers originate from imagination.

Jiang Hui imagined herself having the courage to defy fate with her own hands, so she awakened the superpower "Red Tassel". Qiu Wanting imagined himself having the ability to debate with a group of scholars, so he awakened the superpower "Golden Rules".

And Fang Yingjie...

Alas, who could not feel pity for him?

How can someone be in a bizarre dungeon and subconsciously feel like they're working overtime?

After listening to Jiang Hui's words, Fang Yingjie sighed wearily.

The weak office worker slowly got up, took the USB drive, and pulled out his old laptop from his laptop bag. Some stickers still clung to the surface of the computer, like his lost youth.

"Hmm... this data is a bit strange." Fang Yingjie said, examining the table on the screen and stroking his chin.

Tang Li leaned closer to the computer and couldn't help but frown.

The data consists of dozens of lines. Except for the first line which is labeled "Experimental Subject No. 1" and the second line which is labeled "Experimental Subject No. 2", all the remaining data are uniformly named "Experimental Subject No. 3".

Tang Li's stomach churned uncomfortably. After number one and number two, each number three was labeled with a real name. She stared at the names of the men and women, imagining what kind of people they were.

She thought of Old Ding's bracelet, on which the number 3 was scrawled in blue ballpoint pen.

Tang Li inwardly mocked herself. She thought the wicked schemes of the quack hospital started with test subject number 1, Gu Xiaoying, and ended with test subject number 3, Lao Ding, a total of three cases.

She still thinks too highly of the world.

After Gu Xiaoying and Nannan, every experimental subject was number 3.

However, Tang Li tried to cheer herself up: the experimental subjects on the list were both victims and clues.

She tried to be optimistic and said to Jiang Hui, "What if someone inside, like Lao Ding, accidentally ran out on their own? Maybe I'll run into them in some corridor."

Jiang Hui gazed at her quietly for a while, then gave a sorrowful smile.

Impossible, Tang Li.

Do you know who they are?

"Holy crap, isn't that her in the third-to-last row?" "She's the really cute one, the streaming platform even promoted her before, what a tragic end." "Teacher Nan's here too, I even tipped him before." "That's so long ago, she's a relic of the past." "Watch out, streamer, you're next!"...

Jiang Hui's live stream was flooded with comments, but she ignored them.

She never expected to see a familiar name on this list.

Experimental subject No. 3, Southern Xinjiang.

His special ability is divination. He divined that "Subject No. 1 is the person who hates the private hospital that spreads rumors the most." At the time, Jiang Hui was laughing at this true nonsense in his live broadcast room and other bullet comments. The next day, Nanjiang died in the dungeon.

Subject No. 3, Han Mengzhen.

She was a cute young girl who, before entering the eerie instance, was a rising idol who attracted a wave of fans with her sweet appearance. Jiang Hui knew about her because her death was both cruel and tragic, and it was edited into the opening animation of the newbie zone by the live streaming platform and promoted for three days.

Experiment Subject No. 3: Liu Anbang. Experiment Subject No. 3: Zhuge Jiajia.

This is a couple who vowed to be together in life and death. Zhuge Jiajia once lost half her face and three fingers to save Liu Anbang. Countless comments said that one would abandon the other sooner or later, until they fulfilled their promise with their lives.

……

The comments section said they were "tears of the times." Yes, back then, she was just a new streamer, and their deaths happened a long time ago.

Jiang Hui belatedly realized that this was why they could still meet on this list. Because their timeline for the dungeon run was before Nannan stole the machine data.

The newly deceased, like Meng Wanwan, died quietly, their names never even appearing on this blood-stained list.

"What's wrong?" Tang Li asked anxiously, "What's wrong with this list? Do you know who they are?"

I know who they are.

They weren't natives of the instance; they were streamers who died in Dr. James's office during rounds of horror games.

So Tang Li, how could you possibly run into them in a corridor?

They entered this instance long before you and I; our instance was opened by their deaths. They were the same kind of people as you and me.

They were innocent victims, but also brave pioneers among the players.

"It's alright, Tang Li," Jiang Hui asked her. "You said before that Nannan's wish was to reveal the truth about the hospital, right?"

"Yes." Tang Li continued to gaze at her with those same eyes.

Jiang Hui said, "Now, it's also my wish."