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

Tang Li and James sat facing each other.

One was calm and composed, the other was trembling.

"Sir, I... I will do my best to cooperate with you..." Dr. James said timidly, his eyes full of pleading, "But the dean has already placed a gag order on us. If I try to say something I shouldn't, the gag order will be activated..."

Therefore, you may not get what you want.

James was afraid that he wouldn't be able to answer the adults' questions and would be blamed by them.

Tang Li understood James's implication, but she had no intention of making any promises.

"Really?" she said lightly. "Then let's try it. The first question is, in each experiment, two people must enter the machine, and only one person must come out at the end, is that right?"

"Yes, sir." Dr. James breathed a slight sigh of relief and answered very decisively.

"When the two come out, do they merge into one in some unspecified way?"

"Yes, the specific form depends on the desires they have in their minds while they are inside the machine."

Tang Li stared intently at the face on Old Ding's stomach: "Does 'two becoming one' mean one is inside and the other is outside?"

James was relieved that he could answer these questions fluently: "Yes."

"I understand..." Tang Li looked at the relaxed Dr. James and suddenly asked, "Has Gu Xiaomei been inside this machine?"

Dr. James opened his mouth.

A sudden, loud bang.

Dr. James slammed his head on the table, struggling in agony. His hands gripped his neck, making hoarse noises, as if someone were strangling his thin neck, preventing him from giving an answer.

"Alright, no need to answer." Tang Li nodded. "It seems she did go in."

The possibility that Nannan is Gu Xiaomei has increased even further.

The answer that was swirling in James's mind was spoken aloud by Tang Li, so there was no need for James to reply. The gag order had lost its effect, and he lay on the table, panting heavily.

"Next question," Tang Li asked, noticing that Dr. James's expression had softened slightly, "Were Gu Xiaomei and Gu Xiaoying actually related by blood before using this machine?"

Dr. James could answer that question. He nodded with difficulty, his voice hoarse: "Yes, yes."

So, their previous suspicion that Nannan and Gu Xiaoying were not related and that the machine had given them a mother-son relationship was proven wrong.

Next, Tang Li asked James a variety of questions, including "Were Gu Xiaomei and Gu Xiaoying the original two test subjects?", "Who was inside and who was outside when the machine was launched?", and "Where is their specific experimental data?"

Aside from tossing James to the ground, panting and groaning, no answers were asked.

Tang Li clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

As she got up to walk past James and leave, she looked at the white coat he was wearing and her heart suddenly stirred.

"James," Tang Li blurted out, "can this machine really cure diseases? Including the 'infectious disease' that the dean mentioned earlier, the 'strange' one?"

Even as James lay dying, his eyes lit up when the topic was brought up, and his face radiated fervor and pride: "Of course! This is the only machine in our world capable of separating the supernatural from the human body!"

"This is a groundbreaking invention!" Dr. James's voice rose even higher. "Once the parasite is removed, the patient will be free from worry for life, never having to fear being parasitized by the parasite again!"

Never have to worry...

"Why?" Tang Li instinctively felt she had finally grasped the key point, and she pressed on almost urgently, "What is the strange mechanism behind the machine's peeling away?"

“Look,” James said, gesturing with his hands, “if a parasitic individual and a healthy individual were to enter the machine at the same time, and the healthy individual happened to have a deep affection for the parasitic individual—”

Tang Li's thoughts followed his train of thought, and she murmured, "He would wish he could take his place..."

"Yes! That's it!" James exclaimed joyfully. "The machine will grant his wish, and the supernatural will transfer to healthy people. But in our world, once a supernatural parasitizes a human body, it will mutate. They are like DNA in a person's body. Each infected person will only be parasitized by one specific supernatural in their lifetime. There are no two supernaturals that are the same in the world."

"The supernatural entity from the original infected person can survive in the healthy person, and a person can only be parasitized by one supernatural entity in their lifetime. Therefore, as long as the original healthy person is still barely surviving, the original infected person will never have to worry about contracting the supernatural entity again..."

So that's how it is. It turns out that healthy people were willingly sacrificing themselves from the very beginning.

Tang Li followed his words, her heart pounding so heavily that she seemed almost childish at that moment. She asked, "What about the healthy people who have experienced this strange phenomenon?"

James chuckled nonchalantly, "Just making do. But if you're rich, powerful, and lucky enough to find a scapegoat willing to take the blame for your health, you could get into the machine transfer monster again."

Ignoring the coldness in her words, Tang Li suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"So," she asked, "can a patient who has already received treatment on the machine use it a second time?"

"It's okay to accept the bizarre, previously healthy individuals," James answered fluently, showing off his extensive knowledge of the machine. "But it's not okay to accept the original infected individuals, because they've become immune to the bizarre; the machine will automatically report an error if they enter."

Blood roared in Tang Li's ears.

So that's how it is.

Do you remember those scenes from the game?

Nannan went up to the fifth floor and tried to enter the machine, but the machine displayed an error message.

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

—Nannan has entered the machine before, but is not allowed to enter a second time.

Tang Li's heart pounded like a drum, her scalp tingled, and her whole body felt cold.

She was so shocked that she almost forgot to breathe, and at the same time, hot tears welled up in her eyes.

So that's how it is. No wonder Nannan was able to leave the hospital. Of course she was able to leave the hospital; she was cured, completely cured! When she came out of the machine, she had already regained her lucky, complete, and eternal health.

No wonder Nannan felt so guilty, no wonder she hated herself so much that she wished for her own cruelest death! No wonder Nannan went crazy trying to get back to the hospital, no wonder she would rather die than give up on Gu Xiaoying!

Nannan is the bizarre parasite.

Nannan is the one who needs treatment.

And Gu Xiaoying, the healthy Gu Xiaoying...

He took the blame for Nannan.