Rhodes Island does not exist.

Every single seed landed where it was meant to be, not one more, not one less. It was as if they had already decided where they were going the moment they were bagged.

"Then all we need to do is wait for them to take root and sprout."

His gaze swept over all the beds on the eighth floor, and a rare tenderness flowed in the doctor's eyes.

Perhaps in the original Rhodes Island, the Doctor's gentleness was not valued.

But here, it is an absolute rarity.

Because this place is not worthy of his tenderness.

"Maybe I'll see them sprout again someday... but I don't know if I'll live to see that day." The doctor held the pickaxe upside down in his left hand and pushed open the door leading to the ninth floor.

"squeak--"

Accompanied by that slightly mournful sound, the two doors slowly opened outwards in front of the doctor.

A simple scene unfolded before him.

It was a stairwell somewhat similar to the one we came out of on the fourth floor, but much shorter than the one from the fourth to the eighth floor, and it was clearly a separate one.

After walking a few more steps up the stairs, the door to the ninth floor appeared before him with a huge number on it.

Of course, like the doors on the fourth and eighth floors, this door is a conventional, tightly closed fire door.

The doctor even began to think that the fire doors had the function of isolating space; otherwise, why would there be such doors on every floor?

"squeak--"

The sound of pushing open the door to the eighth floor just now echoed in front of the doctor.

It seems that the doors on the ninth and eighth floors are in a very old state, and every time they are opened and closed, it is an inhuman torture for their hinges.

"I wonder what would happen if this door broke down"—a slightly wicked idea suddenly popped into the doctor's mind.

However, now is not the time to put this idea into practice.

Upon arriving on the ninth floor, the doctor's gaze first swept over the entire area.

To be honest, the ninth floor was a bit simpler than the other two floors he had visited.

Apart from the elevator, everything else placed on the ninth floor looked like useless construction waste or discarded building materials.

In other words, this floor feels like a garbage dump.

Moreover, it's a relatively small landfill.

Because besides the mountain of garbage piled up in the very center, there is only one elevator near the side.

This is the only facility on the ninth floor—if that mountain of garbage can be considered a facility.

"These nine floors are really too small. If they're like this, then even if the strange creature wanted to hide, there probably wouldn't be anywhere to conceal itself—"

"Screw rustle..."

However, as if deliberately slapping the doctor in the face, when the doctor said those words, the garbage mountain located in the very center of the ninth floor suddenly shook.

"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"

In an instant, countless pieces of electronic and construction waste rolled down the already unstable mountain, making a tremendous noise as they crashed onto the ground.

"There is something."

Startled by this sudden reaction, the doctor immediately activated his eyes and directed his analytical vision, which was flashing with green light, toward the mountain made of garbage.

"Let me see, what exactly is it... wait a minute?"

The doctor's analytical eye had barely been lit when he discovered what was hidden in the mountain of garbage.

No, saying it's hidden isn't quite accurate.

"This thing... no way?" Memories of the past swept through the Doctor's brain like a storm, pounding the past events onto his skin one by one.

Yes, there is indeed a strange thing in that garbage mountain, but it needs to be corrected that the strange thing is not hidden in the garbage mountain at all.

Because it is that mountain of garbage.

This mountain made of garbage is actually just a pile of loose parts covering that monster; it would be impossible to create such a tall and magnificent sight on its own.

And now, the strange creature covered in garbage is awakening because of the doctor's arrival.

"call--"

The heavy breathing sounded like the heat of hell, and white dust billowed from the gaps in the garbage mountain.

The enormous monster is shedding its scales, rising like a mountain, and it will surely regard the first person in its sight as an enemy.

However, a single, enormous monster would not have been enough to shock the doctor so much.

Because the Doctor knows so much, there are very few items or pieces of information in this world that can evoke genuine admiration from him.

However, this oddity did just that.

It wasn't because of its immense power, nor because it could manipulate the Doctor at will, nor even because the Doctor had never seen anything so bizarre before.

exactly the opposite.

The reason this strange appearance shocked the doctor was because the doctor had known him before.

“Crackle, crackle—”

Rusty gears fell, broken steel plates fell.

Countless pieces of construction waste and industrial debris fell to the ground like rain as the garbage mountain trembled.

"Om-"

The sound of the fan blades spinning at high speed whistled through the relatively narrow space. The sharp wind clashed and reflected against the walls, eventually flowing into the doctor's cochlea, seeping into his body, and permeating his memory.

The metal roared.

Industry is roaring.

War is raging.

"boom!"

The chunks of trash piled up at the foot of the mountain were kicked away, exposing the robust feet encased in layers of metal plates to the air.

The strange thing has already begun to move.

In the doctor's eyes, it had entered a fully active period.

The previous dormancy was simply because no guests visited. Once any living being arrives, it will trigger this strange, guard-like behavior, causing it to stand up and expel anything that does not belong here.

But the doctor didn't want to do it.

"Grandpa, is that you?"

He simply stared at the mountainside that was constantly shedding countless industrial wastes from its body, muttering to himself.

"I never thought we would meet here in the end... or rather, we did meet here."

"boom!"

With the other foot, he kicked the trash aside, exposing it to the air.

“Perhaps you no longer remember who I am in your current state.” He shook his head with a wry smile. “But even so, I still have to defeat you and get through here for my mission.”

"Let's finish what we couldn't finish before, old man."

(The following text was copied incorrectly and cannot be deleted after publication. Please ignore it.)

"I never thought we would meet here in the end... or rather, we did meet here."

"boom!"

With the other foot, he kicked the trash aside, exposing it to the air.

“Perhaps you no longer remember who I am in your current state.” He shook his head with a wry smile. “But even so, I still have to defeat you and get through here for my mission.”

"Let's finish what we couldn't finish before, old man."

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you lyzdzc for the disarming blade and monthly pass, thank you.

Chapter 251, Number Two Hundred and Forty-Nine: Crimson Blood Drops

Twisted and coiled pipes, deformed and nested steel plates, a terrifying and hideous skull, muscular limbs, and... an enormous body.

That thing was less of a strange creature and more of a monster.

But the doctor understood that it was not some strange creature or monster, but a warrior.

Previously, he had a codename called Patriot.

Before that codename, his name was Bozokasti.

"Roar--"

Intense sound waves emanated from his distorted skull, reverberating across the narrow walls of the ninth floor, and eventually penetrated the doctor's skull, leaving him dizzy.

At this moment, the moving mountain finally stood up.

He gripped a bent I-beam tightly in his hand, treating it as his weapon, and charged toward the doctor.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!"

Every step he took was accompanied by an earthquake-like tremor, and every time his body moved forward, it was accompanied by a pressure from the air.

"Come here, Bozocaste! Let's see if you can still remember your former glory, your former name, in your dead state!"

The doctor raised his pickaxe, his posture unwavering, his will steadfast.

Even though the size difference between the two is like heaven and earth.

"call--"

So, the patriot, rushing forward, slammed the heavy I-beam down on the doctor's head.

According to the laws of physics, a doctor of this size would inevitably suffer serious damage, or even be shattered, after being subjected to such an impact.

However, this did not happen.

"Ding--!"

It was a sound wave that sounded like a buzzing bee.

It was born from the contact surface between the I-beam and the pickaxe.

It was a spectacular sight. When the Patriot's giant steel bar came crashing down, it was easily stopped by the Doctor's pickaxe and remained motionless afterward.

“You’re out of strength, Bozokaste.” The Doctor resisted the Patriot’s relentless downward pressure with the single hand holding the pickaxe that reached out from above his head, but he didn’t even tremble the slightest bit.

"What's inside you right now? I'd guess nothing."

The doctor exerted a slight force with his right hand, slowly pushing the I-beam that the Patriot had smashed back, while his speech continued without stopping.

"The final stage of your life was a process of constantly abandoning your faith. For your daughter, you abandoned everything you should have protected, even yourself." The doctor's pickaxe began to gradually press down on the Patriot steel bar. "You are destined to be a loser, and you will remain so even after death."

"Roar--!"

However, Patriot seemed unable to understand the doctor's language; he was only angry that his attack had been countered and continued to increase the force he was injecting into his arm.

But this had no effect.

His rage did not affect the doctor's right hand in the slightest.

“Even if you are a loser, you still have a chance to redeem yourself here—after all, even I, who committed a terrible mistake, had such a chance, so why can’t you, who is just trying to protect your family?”

His gaze was fixed on the eyes on the patriot's strange head, and his words were earnest and sincere.

"No, perhaps you can't." Looking at the old warrior who had almost lost all reason and only knew how to launch attacks, the doctor couldn't help but shake his head. "After all, if even you yourself are unwilling, then what can I do? In the end, it is your own will that determines whether you can be saved."

"Bozokasti".

He called his name again.

At this point, the original standoff between the two had completely turned into a one-sided confrontation with the Doctor, and had even escalated to the point where the Doctor began to pressure the Patriot.

“Your spirit is strong, your body is tough, you are one of the strongest warriors I have ever seen, so I believe that even in death you will be no different from when you were alive.” His gaze seemed to burn a hole in Patriot’s skull. “And what you need to do now is prove me right.”

"Come on, prove me right, Bozokasti!"

The doctor's voice was almost a roar.