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

"How come she's still alive?"

The players in the restaurant were whispering among themselves.

"Wasn't she captured by the female ghost as soon as she entered the dungeon?" the long-haired girl asked in a low voice. "Not only did the female ghost not harm her, but she even personally escorted her to the restaurant?"

"Is she not just an unlucky person, but one of those super powerful big shots?"

"What do you know? Why would a super boss come to this kind of beginner's dungeon?" the bald, burly man sneered. "Maybe he's been parasitized by some weirdo and is already dead, just an empty shell wandering around."

"Ugh, this is disgusting. Bro, can't you just kill her? Being controlled by a weirdo sounds terrifying," the long-haired girl said in a coquettish voice.

"Don't rush," the bald, burly man chuckled. "I'm an old hand at this. I'll kill her sooner or later."

"Those controlled by the supernatural cannot enter the safe zone." A faint voice interrupted their conversation.

The two people who were having a heated discussion suddenly fell silent, turned their heads, and glared at the table next to them.

A sneer crept across the bespectacled man's lips as he met the bald, burly man's intimidating gaze without flinching. "What? Didn't you claim to be a veteran player? You don't even know the basic common sense that a newbie like me knows?"

"You!" The bald, burly man had already half stood up, but then the bespectacled man shrank back, cleverly revealing the figure of the person sitting next to him at the next table.

The bald, burly man fell silent instantly: "Jiang Hui? Didn't you get promoted? What are you still doing here?"

"The boss paid too much for this order. Otherwise, how would I have run into you?"

The short-haired woman didn't even glance at him, focusing intently on drinking her millet porridge. The muscles on her bare forearms were well-defined and beautiful. "Relax. Since I'm here, don't get any funny ideas out of me."

"Her death won't stop you from living, and her life won't stop you from dying."

the other side.

The skinny man took a deep breath and was about to speak.

"Isn't that blond guy with you?"

The person sitting opposite suddenly looked up, a smile on their lips, and asked softly.

The skinny man felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

She was threatening him. If he revealed her secret, she would send him to keep the blond guy company.

Tang Li's beautiful eyes shifted slightly, from the skinny man's trembling pupils to the beads of sweat on his forehead, and then back to the ham fried rice in front of her.

"We're already at the restaurant, why are you still so nervous?" She slowly scooped up a spoonful and chewed it. "No one here is going to lay a hand on you."

The skinny man's legs buckled, and he collapsed into the chair. She was threatening him; since the safe zone hadn't stopped her from entering, she could attack him at any time inside the instance.

Yes. The skinny man suppressed a sob in his throat. How could he have dared just now? At that close distance, before he could even accuse her of being a monster, he would have already lost his head.

"I...I...I won't tell...I won't reveal your secret," the skinny man said almost as if he were swearing, his eyes full of pleading.

"Huh?" Tang Li tilted her head, puzzled. "I don't have any secrets. What do you know?"

She thought about it, and realized that the only thing she could call a secret was the reason she was in the hospital. Getting poisoned from eating mushrooms was indeed a bit embarrassing, and the constant terrifying hallucinations would certainly make others wary.

Could it be that the skinny man happened to be outside the door when I was seeing the doctor and overheard my symptoms?

No wonder he was so scared.

"Don't worry, I won't suddenly pull out a knife and attack you," Tang Li reassured her. "I just occasionally see some bloody and terrifying things. The doctor said I'm harmless."

"But you, don't always be so timid and hesitant. You'll easily attract the attention of bad guys." Tang Li thought of Huang Mao and decided to give him a word of advice.

The skinny man curled up backward, sweat pouring down his face as he looked at Tang Li's innocent face: "Can...can we...not be...targeted by bad things?"

Tang Li smiled and said, "Then, if you can rely on yourself, then rely on yourself."

"If you can't rely on yourself, then open your eyes wide and find a kinder boss instead."

broken.

An hour later, Tang Li returned to her ward and belatedly realized what was happening.

...This skinny guy seems to think of me as the boss.

For the rest of the dinner, Tang Li was pampered by the skinny man, who served her tea and water at every turn. After the meal, he even escorted her back to her ward.

As they said goodbye at the door, the skinny man slipped something to Tang Li, bowed, and ran away trembling.

"Here you go, here you go, this is for you," he said.

Tang Li opened her hand, and lying in her palm was a shiny candy.

The more I look at it, the more familiar it seems.

"The nurse's candy is for antidotes." "Patients need to take medicine, and the dungeon will definitely give poison, so we need this candy to counteract it." "Skinny is such a waste, it must have taken him a lot of effort to steal one, he really went all out." "It's a pity the streamer can't protect him." "Why is the streamer so lucky? If it weren't for Skinny, she would never have gotten this candy in eight lifetimes."

I remember now!

A thought flashed through Tang Li's mind, and she reached into her pocket with her other hand, pulling out a handful of candy, exactly the same as the one the skinny guy had given her.

"???" "This..." "Holy crap, are there any candies left at the nurses' station?" "There'd be more than enough to last until the end of the dungeon." "Did anyone see how the streamer got all that candy?" "I didn't watch her stream when it first started. Did she raid the nurses' station within five minutes of entering the dungeon?"

Tang Li recalled that this was the candy the receptionist had given her when she first entered the hospital to get her number. The receptionist was very polite and had even bowed to her.

Why did the skinny guy give this to himself? And in that tone of paying protection money? He was so reluctant to part with it that he was almost crying, and the candy wrapper was sweaty from clutching it so tightly.

Tang Li casually tossed the candy onto the bedside table and prepared to go to sleep.

It seems he really likes sweets. I'll give him a few more tomorrow.

Ward 401.

The skinny guy sat on the bed, holding his head in his hands, staring intently at the barrage of comments that only he could see, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Coward!" "Disgraceful bastard!" "He risked his life for the antidote candy, and he just gave it away for nothing. Trash streamer, I'm unfollowing him."

"I want to see the streamer slap himself in the face while cursing himself for being a coward. Streamer, why are you doing this? I'll tip five points!" "Great, I'll offer ten points!" "I'll also offer ten points, you cowardly streamer, hurry up and hit yourself!"

The skinny man, his face flushed with humiliation, struggled to protest, "No, no! I'm not a coward, she's a monster, she's a monster! She ignores the rules, I have no choice but to listen to her!"

He stubbornly insisted that his decision was correct: "She wants to recruit me, I have value! I'll acknowledge her as my leader, and she'll protect me!"

"I laughed." "Laughed like crazy." "Another one got scammed." "You're sitting at the same table with that bunch of blind weirdos." "I followed streamer 1414174 for a while this afternoon, laughed like crazy." "She's no boss, she's just a newbie with mushroom poisoning. (This comment has been blocked from other streamers due to privacy concerns.)"

The skinny man squeezed his head, muttering nervously, "She will protect me, I made the right choice, she will protect me..."

"Buzz—"

An invisible radio wave sounded, and all the lights on the eighth floor went out in an instant.

At 11 o'clock, the nurses made their rounds in complete darkness.

The skinny man huddled on the bed, his body curled up like a shrimp. His ward was 801, the first room down the corridor.

No, no, please, don't stop in front of my door.

The number of viewers in the live stream continued to rise, and the chat was filled with laughter.

"She's here." "She's here!" "Quickly pray to your new boss for protection!" "She's knocking on the door!"