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

Dean's Office.

Lei Hong looked up at the strange phenomenon reflected in the sky outside the window, his face ashen.

He was always proud that his emotions could influence the celestial phenomena of the instance, and the strange beings in the hospital had all trembled under the storms he summoned. He always regarded this as a sign that he would replace Gu Xiaoying.

However, it wasn't until now, until he witnessed the giant hand looming over the bizarre private hospital building, that he finally understood.

He suddenly realized that this was the true power of the dungeon boss.

This is what is meant by emotions influencing celestial phenomena.

"This is great news, Dean!" Qi Cuiming excitedly grabbed his arm.

She had completely changed. The tall, serious woman whose wrinkles once held eyes were now replaced by a pair of shocking, bloody holes. And below those holes, on her cheekbones, a pair of darting, shifting eyes had appeared.

"Who has ever seen anything like this before? In all these years, Gu Xiaoying's emotions have never fluctuated this much!" Qi Cuiming shouted. "It's all because of you, Master Tang Li! It's Master Tang Li who drove Gu Xiaoying to such madness!"

"Just last night, they must have had an argument last night. Gu Xiaoying angered the adults, and the adults punished Gu Xiaoying, so that's why Gu Xiaoying couldn't control his emotions, and the sky in the dungeon changed..."

Curled up in the corner, Sun Ping furiously pounded the table, his face covered in blood. Each roar was accompanied by a loud thud as he slammed his fist on the table: "Tang Li! No! Your adults! Are you blind? Still won't give up your pathetic fantasy? She! Is just! an ordinary person!"

"Impossible, impossible!" Qi Cuiming screamed. "Tang Li is definitely an adult! If she's not an adult, who else could stop Gu Xiaoying!"

"Shut up!" Dean Lei Hong snapped, finally losing his temper. "This is my copy! It doesn't need any adults interfering!"

Just then, a new, eerie force pushed open the door from the outside and entered.

"Dean! Dean!" Director Cao, with his three eyes and two mouths, cried out in alarm, "Gu Xiaoying, Gu Xiaoying and that Tang Li are fighting!"

The three of them suddenly turned to look at him.

"Just this morning," Director Cao said, waving his large arms with conviction, "I was keeping watch next to room 807 as the dean instructed, when suddenly Tang Li came out covered in blood and ran away in a panic. After that, Gu Xiaoying also came out of the room, looking exactly the same as before..."

"Dean, if Tang Li is some strange being who came to inspect, how could she have been injured by Gu Xiaoying? Is she... is she just an ordinary person?" Director Cao winked at Sun Ping in the corner, his eyes gleaming.

"You're wrong!" A hoarse female voice interrupted him. Liu Dan from personnel appeared at the door right after, her voice still panting. "Dean, I was there at the time. Lady Tang Li's hands were indeed covered in blood, but she didn't escape. She walked out normally. It was long after she left that Gu Xiaoying came out of the room. On the contrary, he looked unsteady, as if he had been injured."

"Dean!" Liu Dan emphasized loudly, "The one who's injured should be Gu Xiaoying. The blood on Lady Tang Li's hands is Gu Xiaoying's!"

The two individuals presented conflicting accounts.

Dean Lei Hong's face turned ashen; his head was buzzing from the noise, so he had no choice but to step forward and make the final decision.

"So, the key to determining whether Tang Li is an adult is to see whether she hurt Gu Xiaoying or Gu Xiaoying hurt her."

Lei Hong said slowly and deliberately, "Think of a way to see if she is actually injured."

"—Who is the closest strange being to Tang Li right now?"

Even though she had a heavy weight on her mind, Tang Li couldn't help but smile when she saw the person waiting for her outside the door.

"You finally remembered to see me?" she asked affectionately.

The female ghost, bleeding from all seven orifices, also revealed a stiff smile.

Xiao Zhao.

The culprit who sent her to the hospital was the one who served her undercooked mushroom hotpot.

If Xiao Zhao hadn't taken Tang Li to the hospital hand in hand and followed her around for the first few days, Tang Li would have really blamed her.

"So much has happened these past few days," Tang Li said, opening her arms to Xiao Zhao. "Can you see any changes in me?"

"Xiao Zhao"—the newly hired female ghost Xiao Mei's pupils involuntarily contracted. She lowered her head in awe, her teeth and tongue fighting in her mouth: "As beautiful as ever."

Tang Li smiled, but sighed inwardly: Yes, none of you could see the blood all over my hands and body.

I am the illusion that I depend on for survival.

As if doused with cold water, Tang Li was abruptly pulled from the joy of reuniting with her friend. Gu Xiaoying's last words still echoed in her ears, striking her heart like a death knell.

Tang Li said, "Let's go have breakfast."

They headed to the restaurant together. Tang Li was preoccupied with her thoughts and didn't notice that "Xiao Zhao" was also silent. Her friend, who usually walked alongside her, was now trailing behind her by half a step.

Why would she understand everything once she got to the restaurant? Tang Li pondered Gu Xiaoying's words, an invisible countdown ticking with each step she took. Tang Li got off the elevator and walked step by step toward the restaurant.

Tang Li appeared at the restaurant entrance.

The noisy restaurant suddenly fell silent.

The patients looked up, their faces filled with horror as they stared at Tang Li—at Tang Li's hands.

A middle-aged couple gripped each other's arms tightly, a short-haired woman covered the mouth of a long-haired girl, and a skinny man covered his eyes in alarm... They stared at each other, as if they had never thanked Tang Li for the candy before, as if they had never known Tang Li at all.

Like a silent film, they reminded each other not to show anything unusual, shaking their heads in fear.

hand……?

Tang Li lowered her head blankly, looking at her outstretched palm.

Of course she could see what she had in her hands.

Only she can see it.

"You said..." The silent alarm blared sharply in her ears, carrying a sense of exhilaration at finally breaking the silence. Tang Li asked with difficulty, "What are they looking at?"

"Ah." Xiao Zhao—the female ghost bleeding from all seven orifices—smiled behind her.

"I forgot to ask if you would like to clean your hands before eating."

"—After all, your hands are covered in blood."

So, so.

Tang Li thought.

It is known that her hearing and language abilities are normal; she is simply confusing the horror movies she has watched with the real hospital in terms of sight and touch. She attributes all her previous abnormalities to hallucinations.

So, may I ask you this?

If Gu Xiaoying's bloodied and mangled face in the ward was an illusion, if the sticky liquid on her hands when she held his face was an illusion, if her hands now covered in blood was an illusion.

So, why could they—all of them—see the blood in her hallucination?