Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

It was those maple branches from the abandoned hospital!

Could these maple trees be alive?

Cheng Cheng had thought that the fourteenth floor was just a bit strange and there were no monsters, but now it seemed that the entire maple tree on the floor was a monster!

If I set this on fire, I could harvest so many experience points... I actually thought I could just leave, what a waste!

Cheng Cheng's mouth watered with desire, but he shook his head and decided to break free first.

He tried to break free of the branches, his muscles tensing, but he found that he couldn't muster any strength at all—the branches that had pierced his blood vessels were constantly absorbing his magic, and even the resin they secreted seemed to be poisonous, making it impossible for his body to exert any force!

"Well……"

The girl's consciousness was awakened by Cheng Cheng's actions. After a moment of confusion, she suddenly realized that her body was out of her control!

"Who are you! Where am I?" Freya exclaimed in terror.

"I am your husband."

Freya: "???"

Freya: "Laughable! I think you're more like my son! Get out of my body!"

Tsk, the new wife is being a bit impolite.

"You're not allowed to swing here," Cheng Cheng said seriously. "I'm trying to figure out a way to get you down."

After saying that, Cheng Cheng began to use the fire.

Black flames erupted from his palm, scorching the tree branches. Then his skin cracked open, revealing countless black gun barrels that fired wildly at the tree branches in all directions!

"Boom boom boom boom boom—!"

The bullets trailed dark red flames, tracing arcs in the darkness. Tree branches were snapped, debris flew, and resin sprayed everywhere.

As the smoke cleared, large sections of branches were smashed into a pulp, and the branches around him were charred—but in that moment of relaxation, branches surged in from all directions again, coiling around his body like countless snakes, leaving him completely powerless to move!

"Well!"

Unsurprisingly, he was bound in a turtle-shell style again.

"Um... can you give my body back now?" Freya's voice weakly echoed in my mind.

"No, you fraudster."

Freya: "Huh?"

"This isn't the photo you sent me when we were dating online!" Cheng Cheng exclaimed angrily. "Where's your Da Lei? Where are your long legs? Why does he look like a child now?"

In the instant he broke free of his restraints, Cheng Cheng also saw his current body clearly—a petite figure, a childish voice, and a flat chest. While it might not be exactly the same as the CG in the game system, it was certainly unrelated.

If this isn't online dating fraud, then what is?

Just like Ayaka Kamisato in "Genshin Impact", the princess cut hairstyle in the CG illustration is elegant, beautiful, delicate and cute. But after spending dozens of single pulls, what I got was a turtle with a poor model. It's not that turtles aren't cute, but isn't it a bit too much of a rip-off?

"Then I'll change back?" Freya was a little embarrassed by what he said.

“No need, it’s fine as it is.” Cheng Cheng shook his head. “Small is fine too, small is cute. After all, as the saying goes: roses don’t need to grow tall, lovers will bend over for them—I’ve already bent over to the point of having a herniated disc.”

Besides, even if the model is changed, is she still the same person?

"Holy crap! You perverted lolicon!!!" Freya trembled with fear. "I think you need an electric shock!"

What's going on? You're unhappy whether I say something good or bad. I think you're just here to pick a fight. Besides—"Even if you're going to use electricity, it should be on a loli, not on me." Cheng Cheng said matter-of-factly. "Without lolis, where would the loli-con come from? Just like when the Opium Wars were destroyed, it was the opium that was destroyed, not the opium smokers."

"what?"

Freya didn't understand what the burning of opium at Humen meant, but she roughly understood it.

"Get out of here, you pervert!"

"Fine, I'll get out."

Cheng Cheng nodded and began searching for the exit game icon.

"Hey, wait a minute, you!"

Freya was about to say something when she suddenly felt her body regain control.

Then, branches pressed down from all directions, obscuring the view, layer upon layer, enveloping it, making it sink deeper and deeper...

"Wait, I was just kidding, come back and save me, waaaaah..."

…………

reality.

Cheng Cheng unplugged the brain-computer interface and sat up in bed.

Then he was covered in sweat!

The moment I exited the game, the memories that had been deleted and erased, the times I spent with Freya, Li Xianyu, and Paul, flashed through my mind like a burst dam, all returning to my memory!

"This is terrifying, it can actually affect my memories..."

Cheng Cheng rubbed his temples: "Fortunately, this kind of consciousness modification is limited to within the game, or rather... limited to the fourteenth level."

Fortunately, I had a sudden inspiration and realized that since I had a second character, there was a possibility that he might have left some clues in reality, so I exited the game to check.

"But the problem now is... if we go back to the game, will we lose our memories again and have our perceptions altered?"

Cheng Cheng gritted his teeth.

Forget it, I don't have time to think about it!

Every minute Freya and the others are in reality is suffering!

Although I was extremely unwilling, if all else failed, I still had the option of committing suicide to revert to the previous state!

He took a deep breath, quickly put on the virtual reality headset, and returned to the game.

…………

"Sylvia, listen to me! We have teammates!"

Upon returning to the game, Cheng Cheng, fearing his memories would be altered again, quickly spoke up.

"Huh?" Sylvia didn't understand.

"They are Freya, Li Xianyu, and Paul!" Cheng Cheng said quickly. "One of them is in the hospital, and the other two are missing in the forest... We have to go and rescue them!"

Although Sylvia didn't understand the situation, she still responded softly.

Without much time to explain, Cheng Cheng told her to remember everything he had just said, then recalled the scene he had seen when he possessed Freya, and headed towards the center of the hospital.

Sure enough, they soon found a group of twisted and tangled branches that were still wriggling.

"Fire at the stake!"

Black flames climbed up the tree branches, and flames leaped out from the gaps in the branches, making them sizzle. Cheng Cheng took out the Dragon Roar sword from its box and slashed at the branches. He hacked and dug, and finally found the unconscious Freya deep in the pile of trees.

Her face was as white as paper, her lips were purple, her eyes were closed, and her eyelashes were motionless.

Cheng Cheng slapped her awake, and Freya looked up in confusion: "Where is this? Who are you, sister?"

"Stop talking nonsense, quickly cast 'Aurora's Whisper of Clarity' on yourself!"

Upon hearing that it was a buff spell, Freya didn't refuse. Following her savior's instructions, she dazedly reached out and cast the spell on herself.

A light shone in her palm, and a gentle breeze brushed past her ear. Freya's eyes widened in surprise!

"It's amnesia..." She felt a wave of fear at first, then gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with fighting spirit, "Cheng Cheng, this layer is not simple... It is very likely related to the kingdom's source essence 'forgetfulness'!"

"I think so too."

In hindsight, Cheng Cheng realized that as Freya regained her memories, the Freya in his own memories also stabilized, and he even remembered Sylvia in his mind. He grumbled speechlessly, "My premonition was right. I should have just left this guy behind..."

"Alright, there's also Li Xianyu and Paul... We need to find a way to locate them."

Cheng Cheng reached out and hugged Freya, who had exhausted her magic, preparing to fly towards the place outside the hospital where he had seen Li Xianyu for the last time. Freya's pretty face flushed slightly, but she did not refuse and let Cheng Cheng take her flying.

The moonlight shone down, casting the shadows of the two people onto the maple forest.

Within minutes, they arrived at the place where Li Xianyu last appeared in their memories, but all they could see was an endless expanse of blood-stained maple forest.

"This is troublesome..."

"Use fire, you idiot!" a teammate said. "Why don't we just burn this whole area down?"

“But I don’t know Li Xianyu’s exact location, and she might get injured too…” Cheng Cheng hesitated.

"She has 'Miracle with You', and besides, burning trees won't kill gold. At worst, we can just treat it afterward."

"That's right."

After saying that, Cheng Cheng unleashed his full power of the Fire Punishment Black Flame towards the maple forest below!

…………

"Experience points +30"

"Experience points +30"

"Experience points +30"

"Experience points +30"

The notifications about increasing experience kept flashing across the screen, as fast as flowing water.

Thankfully, a "5000 experience points" message didn't suddenly pop up while the fire was burning.

Until a large forest was burned to ashes, billowing black smoke obscured the moonlight, Cheng Cheng finally found Li Xianyu curled up among the tree roots.

She was covered in dust, and a few strands of her short, golden hair were burnt, but thankfully she wasn't seriously injured.

After Freya treated her and cast "Aurora's Clear Whisper," Li Xianyu slowly woke up, blinking her eyes twice like a cat that had just woken up.

Seeing Cheng Cheng and the others, she felt a chill of fear: "How scary! It feels like my memories are like mud, molded and played with until they're a mess... If this level knocks my head off, I'll never come here again!"

They were so scared that they even had to use their local dialect.

Without giving Li Xianyu a chance to rest, Cheng Cheng carried the two exhausted from their magic and flew towards Paul's direction.

Having mastered the method, saving lives again will not be difficult.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Cheng dug Paul out of the ashes, and after some treatment, they flew together to the hospital.

This time, may you have a smooth journey.