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

Dr. Jiang froze completely, his glasses unable to conceal the tears welling in his eyes. He lowered his head.

Tang Li looked at him, then at her, her nose stinging, a dull ache spreading through her heart.

I regard you as my own sister.

How could I not notice? How could I not see it?

When I asked you about your relationship with Dr. Jerry, you said, "It was never good from the beginning," because you had helplessly lay on the operating table time and time again, enduring his unrestrained scalpel.

I asked you if you knew that the hospital was conducting human experiments, and you said "everyone from doctors to nurses knows" because you had tried to ask for help time and time again, only to find that everyone knew and no one had ever had any pity for you.

I asked you, did you kill Gu Xiaomei? You said yes, I killed her with my own hands, I've wanted to kill her for a long time.

It's because you hate her, hate her to the core. You hate that she dragged Gu Xiaoying into all of this. You hate that she left Gu Xiaoying and the hospital. You hate that she didn't have the ability to solve all of this. You hate that she couldn't drag the filth and stench of the hospital out of the gutter and expose it to the bright sun until the very end!

So you killed her, you killed Gu Xiaomei, that girl on the screen who once smiled so brightly, you killed with your own hands, and from then on you—you who took Dr. Jiang's place, stood before me.

I asked you if you were worried about Gu Xiaoying's revenge. You weren't worried. Of course you weren't worried. How could he possibly bear to take revenge on you?

You are Nannan, you are Gu Xiaomei, you are the one who hides in the shadows and saves children time and time again, you are the comrade who fights alongside me and shares my understanding, you are the warrior who refuses to live a life of compromise and resolutely enters the game.

You are a person who sacrifices your life for righteousness.

Dr. Jiang's voice trembled, becoming increasingly androgynous: "How...how did you know?"

Tang Li gazed at her tenderly and with a hint of pity, yet still gave her the answer: "You said that Gu Xiaoying's wish was to 'destroy the Ghost Story Private Hospital'."

"However, whether it's us players, the strange leader led by the dean, or even the lowest-ranking hospital staff, everyone knows very clearly that Gu Xiaoying's only wish is you, and the only weakness of the dungeon boss is Gu Xiaomei."

"The only one unaware of this open secret is the one who is caught up in the situation and oblivious to everything else."

"...Only me," Dr. Jiang responded softly, her gentle voice now completely feminine.

She removed her mask and glasses in front of Tang Li, wiped away the makeup that had been deliberately used to enhance the shape of her eyes, and tossed aside the white coat she always wore. Her neck, which was no longer covered, no longer revealed her Adam's apple.

Dr. Jiang… Gu Xiaomei looked at Tang Li helplessly and sadly: “What should we do? I had placed my hopes on you, and I was so happy all day, thinking I could finally be free.”

Tang Li suddenly realized that Gu Xiaomei thought the dungeon would be cleared today, the hospital would be destroyed, the dungeon boss Gu Xiaoying would wander but regain his freedom, and she... would die along with these dirty and eerie people in the hospital.

That's why she was so happy, and even today she "killed Gu Xiaomei," fulfilling a wish she had only ever had in games.

Like ancient death row inmates who had endured years of hardship in prison, before their execution, they would devour the cornbread they had been saving and that was almost sour.

In her final moments, the cheerful Gu Xiaomei comforted her.

Tang Li felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, forcing a smile as she abruptly changed the subject: "So, who's lying here? Is that new employee who held my hand the first time we met weird?"

As she spoke, she grabbed a corner of the blue sterile drape on the operating table beside her and forcefully pulled it off—

"Hey, wait—" Gu Xiaomei's words, trying to stop her, still lingered behind her.

Tang Li suddenly opened her eyes wide.

No, it's not... it's not that little female ghost bleeding from all seven orifices.

—She met the eyes of the thin man lying on the operating table.

The skinny man was tightly bound with restraints, his body stained with blood, a rag stuffed in his mouth, struggling as he looked at Tang Li, hot tears streaming down his face.

Tang Li: ...

She thought that apart from herself, Jiang Hui, and Qiu Wanting, all the other players in the instance had cleared it. How come there's still one who slipped through the net?

It's also because the skinny guy's presence has always been too low-key—which might be a good thing, after all, although she doesn't remember him, it's clear that the people who plant supernatural human bombs everywhere don't remember him either, and he accidentally escaped a disaster.

She slowly turned her head and looked at Gu Xiaomei: "...What are you doing?"

Gu Xiaomei paused for a moment, coughed lightly, and then turned the tables: "I was originally going to let him go, but then you came, so I didn't have time..."

Tang Li maintained an unmoved expression: "Why did you tie him up before I arrived?"

Gu Xiaomei spread her hands innocently: "He was too scared to play the role of a corpse well... This is, the only way."

At this moment, Tang Li saw a hint of Dr. Jiang's wickedness in Gu Xiaomei. Indeed, how could a pure, kind-hearted person possibly survive in a world of strange beings?

Anyway, Gu Xiaomei didn't intend to hurt him; she seemed to have saved the skinny guy's life before.

She used the dagger rather clumsily, cutting the rope in the skinny man's panicked gaze, then pulled out her medical record book and threw it to him, gesturing for him to quickly copy the booklet.

Amidst the skinny man's tearful, profuse thanks, Tang Li asked Gu Xiaomei, "So, the skinny man was 'killed' by you in Gu Xiaomei's place? Why did Liu Dan tell me that she saw you cut off Gu Xiaomei's head?"

Gu Xiaomei was casually grabbing a pen from her desk and tossing it to the skinny guy when she heard this. She paused for a moment, then smiled and pulled something out from under the operating table, enthusiastically holding it under Tang Li's nose.

Tang Li took a big step back: !!!

That's... the head of the strange new employee, "Gu Xiaomei"?!

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the cross-section that was originally connected to the neck was not flesh and blood or trachea, but a red sponge-like substance, within which... there seemed to be winding circuits.

This time, it was Tang Li's turn to be stunned: No way...

"Gu Xiaomei" had no body temperature and no pulse, but... but, she saw her eating with her own eyes...

Gu Xiaomei clapped her hands: "Xiaomei, Xiaomei~"

"I'm here!" A familiar voice rang out, and the computer screen on Dr. Jiang's desk suddenly lit up. On the desktop, a pixelated figure with blood flowing from its seven orifices was waving happily at her.

Tang Li felt a chill run down her spine: "Is technology in your world already that advanced?"

"Gu Xiaomei" is really an AI; the person she's holding hands with is actually a robot!

Gu Xiaomei gazed tenderly at the beady-eyed "Xiaomei" on the screen: "That night, Qi Cuiming almost killed me. A player from the tech side saved me."

"He said he was no longer able to complete the game, and in the end, he gave 'Xiao Mei' to me as a gift."

"After that, I found a way to replace Dr. Jiang. At that time, Dr. Jiang was marginalized and ignored because he tried to seize power from the hospital director. It was just right for me to take over the identity."

"As for 'Xiao Mei,' she rejoined the Ghostly Private Hospital. She has no memory of me, and the hospital's supernatural beings all believe that she is a supernatural being born from my excessive obsession, so no one dares to kill her."

"I need her to distract me so I can get my own things done."

Tang Li tilted her head and blinked: "This morning, her eyes were completely black, and she kept repeating the same old things..."

Tang Li's voice grew softer and softer.

Gu Xiaomei glared angrily at her from across the room.

"Which bastard fed my robot hot millet porridge?!"