Rhodes Island does not exist.

In fact, there are at least six cameras currently watching the location of the three doctors.

"When you meet that woman called Reaper later, you're not really planning to negotiate with her, are you?" Skadi continued their conversation.

Anyway, there's not much else to do on the road besides talking.

“It’s true.” The Doctor nodded. “Do you remember the story I told you about her before?”

As he finished speaking, the doctor raised his right hand.

The vines wrapped around her forearm tightened slightly with this movement, like a young girl's shyness.

“Lavender… Ah, I see.” Skadi looked at the green on the doctor’s arm and understood what he meant. “She was once something like the locked circuit.”

“The manager of the second floor.” The doctor nodded. “Although I don’t know what happened to the second floor after she died, she was undoubtedly the manager there.”

"Dead? She's not dead." Skadi shook her head. "Didn't I already say that if she lost your nourishment, then she would truly be dead?"

“...That makes sense.” The doctor pondered for a moment. “So, in reality, the managers on the second floor didn’t actually disappear; they were just like the managers on the sixth floor.”

As he said this, the doctor subtly gestured with his eyes to the locked circuit walking ahead.

That look made her let out a muffled groan of displeasure, but that was all; she didn't react much else.

"But looking at it this way, it's quite interesting."

The PhD student pinched his chin, comparing himself to several managers he knew.

“What?” Skadi asked.

“The original fate of Lavender was to perish, but it survived because of my existence, which ensured the safety of the second floor,” the doctor said slowly. “And the Locked Circuit was once killed by the Reaper, but it survived because of the necklace on its chest that was integrated with its heart.”

“Is there anything noteworthy in common between these two?” Skadi glanced at the closed loop in front of her, the subject of the conversation. “Don’t tell me they both survived near-death experiences.”

“Exactly.” The Doctor nodded. “And I now suspect that the phantom on the thirteenth floor named Exia has probably experienced something similar.”

“Okay, so what if she went through it too?” Skadi shrugged. “What’s the point of simply surviving? It just proves they’re tough.”

“Yes, but being tough is just a result, not a cause,” the doctor said. “The reason lavender can survive is because of its parasitic behavior on me; it needs to continue parasitizing me to maintain its activity.”

“The reason the locked circuit survived is because of the power of that necklace,” Skadi pondered. “Although she herself did not explain what kind of power it was, we can infer from her words that it was both her strength and her weakness.”

The locked circuit continued moving forward, ignoring the rude remarks made behind it.

“So this time, the Reaper, having experienced failure before, will probably focus its attacks on her necklace,” the doctor said. “Of course, that is, provided she knows that the power to revive the locked circuit comes from that necklace.”

“In my opinion, she should know,” Skadi frowned. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

-

Thank you segment.

Chapter 217, Section 216: In Relative Freedom

In most cases, speaking the truth is a virtue, namely honesty.

But honesty is not a virtue in all circumstances.

Deception and truth are, in fact, twin sisters, playing complementary roles in the flow of the world, sharing the same condemnation and the same glory.

Some people are met with indifference and persecution for speaking the truth, while others are despised and scorned for concealing the facts and fabricating stories.

Therefore, these two are essentially the same.

The only thing that can determine whether they are good or evil is their current environment.

Ultimately, good and bad cannot be distinguished by the nature of things; what distinguishes them is always human subjective consciousness.

-

Led by the locked circuit, the two arrived at a place they had never visited before.

"This place is... a children's playground?"

The doctor scanned the area and finally understood the function of the place.

A slide made of colorful safety materials, a low seesaw, building blocks scattered all over the floor, a haphazardly piled sandbox, and... ugly dolls everywhere.

"This is a place where I used to play with my friends all the time." The locked loop picked up a dusty little bear from the ground, its smile bright.

However, the doctor wasn't entirely sure if it was actually a bear cub.

After all, according to his common sense, a bear cub probably wouldn't grow several limbs from its neck, nor would it have nine eyes.

"Why didn't they come back later?" The doctor picked up a small rabbit doll covered in parasitic plants and asked, "Because of the Reapers?"

"Aren't you just asking the obvious?" Closed Circuit hugged the teddy bear tightly, a happy smile spreading across its face. "Hehe... I haven't left the house since I was killed... hehe, so I definitely won't have another chance to come back."

"Then why not find a chance to take these... friends back with you?" The professor pointed to the dusty dolls scattered all over the floor. "Or do you think you already have a lot at home and don't need any more?"

"Why take them back?" the closed loop asked, sounding clearly confused. "This is already home for these friends. The right friends should stay in the right place. There are friends in the hospital, friends in the restaurant, friends at home, friends in the children's playground. The best friends are those you can meet anytime, anywhere. If you take all your friends home, then you won't have any friends outside."

For a moment, the doctor was actually convinced by the words about the locked circuit.

He couldn't even find anything in what the brat had just said that could be refuted.

"Ok?"

Just as the doctor was deeply engrossed in the theory of locked circuits, Skadi suddenly asked a question beside him.

"What's wrong?" the doctor asked instinctively with concern.

“I don’t feel like I’m being watched here like I do elsewhere.” Skadi reached out into the air, as if to touch something. “The feeling here… is different from other places.”

"What do you mean by 'different'...?"

“Use your Originium Arts,” Skadi shook her head, lowered her hand, and said to the Doctor, “Take a look at the surroundings, just like when I had you check the camera wiring before.”

"Row."

The doctor accepted Skadi's suggestion and covered his eyes with a layer of light green light.

as predicted.

No railway line passes through this area.

The surveillance cables that run throughout the entire sixth floor deliberately avoid this area, making it a blind spot.

"Locked-out circuit, what's going on?" The perceptive doctor immediately realized something and turned to ask about the locked-out circuit.

"Huh? What are you asking?" The locked loop turned around to face the doctor. "Monitors? Because this place doesn't need monitors. The place where my friends and I play doesn't need surveillance."

"No, but aren't the surveillance cameras your eyes and ears on the sixth floor?" the doctor asked, puzzled. "Without the surveillance cameras, how would you see anything?"

"Huh? Huh? Who told you you can't see things properly without a monitor?" The locked loop shook its friend in its hand. "If I can't see anything, how did I get in here, and how did I see my friends?"

"Do you really need eyes to see things? Do you? Don't you? Do you?" she asked the professor in a series of three questions.

Although these three questions are essentially the same question.

"Does not having eyes mean you can't see anything? Does not having a nose mean you can't smell anything? Does not having ears mean you can't hear anything? Do all the strange things you've seen along the way have these appearances?" she continued to ask the doctor.

Thinking about it that way, that's certainly true.

He never saw that Lavender had ears or a mouth, but he could hear her speak, and she could hear the Doctor speak.

Thinking about it this way, is what we see on the outside really the truth?

In Rhodes Island, perhaps the form of things is not important.

“My friend, don’t get stuck in a fixed mindset, don’t do that, especially on Rhodes Island!” Closed Circuit walked over to the Doctor and patted him on the shoulder. “You can’t judge everything here by common sense. You need to think more! Like me!”

Looking at her dignified and imposing expression, the doctor couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

He thought to himself, "If I were really like you, I would have been finished long ago."

"No, no, that's not right, that's not right..."

However, just as he was thinking this, the expression on the closed circuit suddenly collapsed. His previous arrogance turned into dejection, and then into shock.

what happened?

He thought so.

The locked circuit grabbed his left hand, its long, unkempt nails digging deep into his flesh, causing him pain but preventing him from uttering a sound.

"I can't see."

she said so.

The nails pierced his left hand with increasing force, and the tendons tightened and contracted like springs on a trampoline. His huge mouth was agape, and he seemed to be in a daze, groping in the air.

“Calm down, closed circuit, what can’t you see? Have you lost your sight or something?” The doctor endured the pain of his left arm being dug up by fingernails while trying his best to keep talking to her.

"The line, the line is broken! The line is broken! It's broken!" But she just kept repeating these words, like a pitiful person drowning and desperately searching for a plank of wood.

"You mean the surveillance camera wiring?" Skadi quickly realized. "So, the surveillance cameras were cut off, and you can't see certain rooms on the sixth floor?"

"Yes, yes! I can't see it anymore, I can't see it!"

She stamped her feet impatiently.

The smell of smoke began to rise from all around.

Chapter 218, Part 217, amadtea-party

Everyone kills their loved ones.

May everyone hear these words.

Some people looked at them with unpleasant expressions.

Some people use sweet words and honeyed phrases.

Cowards mostly use kisses.

Brave people use swords.

—Oscar Wilde

-

What are fireworks made of?

The answer to this question can be found in the elementary school textbooks of various city-states.

Its main component is high-energy stone powder, which originated from the ancient Yan Kingdom and was used by people at that time to drive away wild beasts and mythical creatures.

Later, they were developed into weapons and became commonplace on the battlefield. The number of people who die each year from high-energy stone weapons far exceeds the number of creatures driven away over the past millennia.

Therefore, when you smell the smell of fireworks, what you are actually smelling is not fireworks, but high-energy stones.

As for the high-energy stone, it is not a gentle thing.

"boom!"

As his body was thrown into the air and twirled freely due to the shockwave, the Doctor was still pondering why he hadn't been able to see the buried Originium bomb with his analytical eyes.

Logically speaking, finding a high-energy fossil reaction in a place without any monitoring network should not be difficult.

But the truth is he didn't see it.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be in the air right now, like those sages in the ancient Agamemnon civilization, flying and thinking at the same time.

But the explosions didn't happen only once.

There was more than one bomb planted.

Skilled assassins and mercenaries leave no room for escape from their hunting traps; once they decide who to kill, they ensure that person's death.

"boom!"

Then, the second bomb exploded in the center of the children's playground.

In the dazed state of losing his balance, he saw the earth crack open, a wild wind rise, and small pieces of stone fly out like shards, tearing through his clothes with their immense kinetic energy, grazing his skin, and slicing through the air around him.

He also saw the locked circuit suddenly lifted up, flailing about in the swaying space, like a child immersed in a trampoline activity.

Although she was just a child.

Having long been detached from the boundaries of thought, she must be enjoying this sudden sense of frivolity right now.

So, what about Skadi?

The doctor thought of that excessively strong woman, her resilient body, and the heavy sword on her back.

as predicted.

As the Doctor's gaze descended, he saw Skadi still standing in the blast, braving the scattering Originium energy streams, her broadsword planted in a crack in the floor, using its heavy blade to shield herself from everything in front of her.