Rhodes Island does not exist.

What he needs most right now is probably rest.

"It's alright, take your time to think it over." Specter said gently, looking at the doctor who was in a state of confusion. "Everyone who comes here with a mission will initially forget their mission, and only when they remember their mission will they have the right to conquer this place."

"Mission...mission...I wanted to ask, Specter, no, Ms. Specter," the doctor looked up at Specter, "is 'Ms.' acceptable?"

“Of course, that’s entirely your prerogative,” Ghost Shark smiled. “Whether you use honorifics or not, call me by my first name, or give me some mocking or vulgar nicknames, that’s all your prerogative.”

“No, we don’t need nicknames.” The doctor shook his head. “I’ve never been fond of that kind of behavior.”

“After all, you are the Doctor.” Specter looked at the Doctor with a hint of affection. “How could someone who treats every operator with such care have such a heart?”

"Operator? You do know something, don't you? About the Rhodes Island I came from." Specter's words made the Doctor realize the crack between reality and illusion. At this moment, in his mind, the connection between the two Rhodes Islands was an undeniable fact.

“I do know, but I only know what you know.” Specter bowed slightly to the Doctor. “My knowledge of Rhodes Island is certainly no more than yours.”

"Alright, let's get back to the topic of mission." The doctor steered the conversation back to where we left off. "You said I came with a mission. Why? Do you know what my mission is?"

“If I were to answer your question, your mission would be rendered ineffective,” Ghost Shark replied respectfully. “I do not wish for that to happen. If possible, I would prefer that you grasp the true essence of your mission and the gears behind it yourself.”

"Failure is fine... haha." The doctor sighed. "So I guess I'll have to rely on myself?"

“You can sit on the bed for a while now, and leave when you remember.” Ghost Shark sat down kindly, the two facing each other.

Without a heart, how can one think?

The doctor really wanted to give that answer to the ghost shark in front of him.

But he knew that such words were meaningless, and it would be better not to say them at all, so he buried the question and found a new one.

"You just said you'd wait until I remembered before leaving, does that mean there's a world outside this door that I need to explore?" the doctor asked.

He could now sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere here.

“That’s right, you need to search here, search for everything that can be searched.” Ghost Shark nodded and said, “Hehehe... Once you leave this room, everything you do will be a search.”

"During your search, you may encounter life-threatening situations or things that make you uncomfortable, both of which could lead to your death," Ghost Shark explained in detail, acting as your guide.

"When you die, your body will be collected in this room and reconstructed. Each reconstruction will require you to pay a price to complete; otherwise, you will be removed from Rhodes Island and will never be able to set foot here again, thus losing any possibility of fulfilling your mission."

Ghost Shark's voice was calm and slow, as if afraid the Doctor wouldn't understand.

"Wait, do you mean that if I die on Rhodes Island, I'll just leave?" the Doctor countered.

“That’s right, but you don’t want to leave.” Ghost Shark nodded sincerely.

"—At least, you won't want to leave until you've completed your mission."

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you to 丶丶无枫昭, service connoisseur, and 九归一carmen for the monthly tickets, thank you.

Chapter 241, Chapter 239: The Tide Calms, the Sea Sinks, and the Sky Turns Dark

To return to where they came from, they built a tall tower.

But they received no answers, only the withering of life.

-

The unarmed doctor left the room.

Before leaving, he remembered his mission, the purpose of his visit, and everything he had experienced.

"So, this is the trial grounds?"

He stood at the door of room 403, all he could see was his past.

"This used to be one of the wards."

The doctor ran his hand along the rough door panel, then his gaze fell on the numbers above the door frame.

"Further on...further on, there's Frostnova's room." His gaze swept across the gray floor, then slowly rose, covering everything within his sight before embedding the scene from his memory into his current view, a feeling of melancholy washing over him.

"So, what's in these closed rooms now?"

He moved his feet and walked to the door of room 401, which was closest to him.

This is where the entire floor begins.

Room 401 has an empty wall on one side, while Room 402 is opposite it.

Then, without much thought, the doctor gently raised his hand.

Knock on the door.

Such polite behavior probably doesn't work here.

But he did it anyway.

"Dong dong dong."

As the knuckles fell, three rhythmic vibrations echoed from the ancient door panel.

After those sounds echoed, an uneasy growl came from behind the door.

"Sure enough, there are guests on this floor."

Hearing the expected voice, the doctor smiled slightly.

So, since there are guests in the room, the next step is to decide whether to wait for the guests to open the door or to go in directly.

For a PhD student, the natural choice is—

"boom!"

The doctor slowly raised his right hand, then kicked open the dilapidated security door of room 401.

Can a rusted security door still be considered a security door? The professor didn't know.

All he knew was that the intense force emanating from the soles of his feet stirred up wind and tremors, revealing the entire interior of the room.

"Gah-"

The hoarse and eerie cry sounded as if sandpaper was being rubbed against a microphone.

Inside the room, a twisted resident was snarling and growling at the uninvited guest, the Doctor.

"It's really ugly." The doctor said this from the bottom of his heart when facing the resident.

It was a monster that seemed to be made of mud. Its hands and feet dragged on the ground like liquid, and the floor of the room was covered with traces left by its movements, making it look filthy.

"Good morning."

After scanning the room and confirming that there were no usable tools or decorations, the doctor stepped forward and greeted the mud-covered resident.

"So judging from its casual appearance, it's probably one of the oddities that exists on Rhodes Island." He carefully examined the characteristics of the mud creature in front of him, and saw no fear or dread on it whatsoever.

Perhaps it's because he has a doctorate.

"Gurgle, gurgle gurgle gurgle..."

A strange sound echoed from deep within the throat, and the monster gradually dragged its rotting body toward the doctor.

It was so slow that the Doctor even looked up and stretched in front of it.

“I don’t think your presence will pose any threat to the fourth floor, but considering that we’ll be living here in the future, we still need to clean it up.” Staring at the strange creature that was gradually walking towards him, the Doctor rolled up his sleeves.

He planned to deal with the strange phenomenon with his bare hands.

Although its bizarrely slow movement speed and rotten appearance meant it had little combat ability, it would probably be difficult to deal with such an enemy using only its hands.

However, since the doctor made this choice, it means he must have his own methods.

"Come on, come a little closer." The doctor stretched out his right hand, which he had already rolled up his sleeves, so that it touched the strange heart. "Just come a little closer, that's all. Keep going."

He encouraged the strange creature as if it were his own child.

And the strange creature seemed to obey his command, struggling to crawl toward his location.

Its crawling posture was so focused, until its decaying body was touched by the doctor's fingertips, it was like a student studying hard to get a high score.

"Ah, you've tried your best, I can feel it."

Savoring the slippery feel on his fingertips, the doctor couldn't help but smile, then slowly leaned forward.

"puff."

As the doctor leaned forward, the fingertips broke through the slightly oily barrier and disappeared into the muddy flesh along with the blurred tissue.

"Woo——"

The mournful sound came from its throat, making one wonder if it even had any vocal organs.

However, none of that matters anymore.

Because the doctor's fingers had touched the only hard object in its body—its heart.

“Every anomaly has its own core, whether it’s rotten as mud or solid as iron.” The doctor felt the touch between his fingers and the round stone-like object in his palm, a slight smile playing on his lips. “What I once learned and thought about is now reflected in what I see and do… Indeed, if humanity wants to live in this world, the most important thing is to maintain a sense of reality about it—even if this place is an illusion.”

“Guwuwuwu…”

As the doctor squeezed the heart tighter in his hands, the grotesque body shrank toward its core, like a pitiful person stripped naked and left outdoors in winter.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to kill you either, but in this place, this is the only way our relationship can be." The doctor gave a regretful smile. "If you have any opinions or any unfair thoughts, then come and talk to me after your soul is reincarnated... assuming there really is such a thing as reincarnation."

"laugh--!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the doctor's right hand tightened instantly.

Under the intense pressure of the grip, the already fragile heart burst open in the palm, spraying thick, sticky, and strange blood from between the fingers, which sprayed out into different areas around the room along with the disintegration of the monster itself.

The dark brown liquid splattered, staining the walls and floors, then slowly seeped in, turning into water stains on those surfaces.

"All right."

Looking at the bizarre corpse before him, the doctor nodded, then squatted down, dipped his index finger in some dark brown tissue fluid, and wrote a word on the floor.

safe.

Chapter 242, Part 240: The Tide Rises and Enters the Sea

One day, we will understand those things that we cannot understand.

In order to understand, we have no other choice but to do this.

-

"……scholar."

"Bo..."

"PhD."

"PhD--!"

"what? What?"

In a hazy, delirious state, the doctor was awakened by repeated calls.

His mind was blank, and his vision was completely dark.

The world only brightened when he could distinguish two familiar faces.

"He looks awake; his pupils have returned to normal." Skadi breathed a sigh of relief.

"What just happened? I'm so worried. I'm afraid he'll leave me without saying goodbye like my old friends did. I finally made some new friends, and I don't want to say goodbye to them so soon. Waaah!"

The blocking circuit's crying sounded very fake.

However, her feelings were genuine, which could not be faked.

“Just now… I can only give you a rough idea.” Skadi recalled the scene. “We were going to the supermarket to pick out food, but suddenly he seemed to have been hit by something and just collapsed.”

"It's okay, I...I'm okay."

The doctor reached out and put his hand on Skadi's shoulder, then struggled to his feet.

Only then did he realize that he had been held diagonally in Skadi's arms.

"Have you regained consciousness?" Seeing the Doctor suddenly speak, Skadi immediately helped him up and sat him down in a chair at the tea party.

"It's recovered, so you don't need to worry too much."

With that, the doctor took a few deep breaths, then finished his tea and leaned back in his thick chair.

"You've made us so worried." The locked circuit's words were earnest, but it was impossible to tell whether they were faking it or genuine.