The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

As the elevator descended, Li Can leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, feeling a wave of weightlessness wash over her.

He had observed the floor buttons inside the elevator car before. Whether it was the previous desolate and eerie version of the hospital or the current "normal" hospital that seemed like a dream, all of them had the same floor, with the lowest floor being the second basement level.

After the older woman pressed the button for the second basement level, he quietly and silently withdrew his gaze.

So that's where it is.

He hadn't expected this NPC to be so easily fooled, which gave him a lot of inspiration for the other things he needed to do next.

What's most important in a game? Follow the rules, adapt to the rules, and then break the rules.

Use whatever you can, and try to rely on words as much as possible instead of physical action.

"We'll split into two groups in a bit. I'll go to the west end, and you go to the east end. That way, it'll be faster," the older woman instructed Li Can without turning her back as the elevator doors opened on the second basement level.

"Okay." Li Can watched her sneaky figure walking ahead and began to carefully examine the structure of the basement.

This place looks no different from any other hospital floor; under the cool white lights, the whole space looks clean and tidy.

The signs on the doors on both sides of the corridor have titles, which are nothing more than the same old ones: storage room, activity room, equipment room, etc.

It's so quiet here right now you could hear a pin drop.

In this area that stretches as far as the eye can see, Li Can has not found a third person besides the two of them.

As Li Can walked out of the elevator, she felt colder and colder, and goosebumps silently rose all over her body.

"Do as I just said." The woman seemed to be worried and reminded him again.

She walked to the activity room at the far end of the corridor, opened the round peephole on the wooden door, and aimed one eye at it.

A moment later, the seemingly ordinary door opened in a sawtooth pattern, splitting in two, accompanied by the clicking sound of mechanical gears.

"High-tech, huh?" Li Can thought to himself. He had expected it to be difficult to find this lab, but he hadn't expected it to be so well hidden, even using iris scanning.

He suddenly felt a little guilty. Luckily, he had brought a human guide with him. If they really wanted to scan his iris, the door might have sounded an alarm on the spot.

After all, one's identity is fake. It might work to fool NPCs with a smokescreen, but machines are inanimate, so it's hard to say.

"Let's go," Li Can replied.

As the two stepped into the world behind the door, the disguised mechanical door slowly closed automatically.

From his perspective inside, the entire wall, painted in its original stainless steel color, appeared perfectly integrated.

If he hadn't just come in from here, he would never have believed there was a hidden door.

Interesting. Li Can knew that the camouflage on the outside of the second basement level was to prevent outsiders from accidentally entering.

But why make the internal disguise even more rigorous? To prevent the experimental subjects from escaping?

He guessed that was probably the case.

Turning around, what comes into view is a triangular metal wall, with one corner facing the entrance.

The walls extend long to both sides, creating two seemingly endless all-metal corridors within the room.

The air was filled with a strong formalin smell, mixed with a hint of sweetness.

The soundproofing here seems to be quite good; at least so far, he hasn't heard any other sounds.

It was as quiet as if it were dead.

Watching the older woman tiptoe away, Li Can chose to walk in the opposite direction.

"Go scout ahead for me." Li Can immediately released the vulture, which had shrunk many times over to the size of a mosquito, from the puppet egg.

At this moment, he can control the action scenes from two different perspectives simultaneously.

However, since evolving, he can also completely turn off the vulture's perspective display, allowing it to operate on its own after receiving commands, and then provide feedback in Li Can's mind.

This way, it will save more mental energy and won't interfere with Li Can's own focus.

After sending away the scouting puppet, the sweetness in the air grew stronger as Li Can walked further ahead.

As he passed the first doorway and peered through the transparent glass security window, he was so shocked that his eyes widened.

"Wow, so much hair!" he exclaimed.

This room is less of a laboratory and more of a barbershop.

The spacious area behind the glass was filled with single operating tables, each equipped with four casters.

On each bed lay an unconscious human being, dressed in hospital gowns, just like the other patients Li Can had seen in the building.

Inside the room, a staff member wearing a black apron, sitting on a sliding stool, was intently and carefully using a sharp knife to slowly separate the patient's scalp from their skull.

This process is repeated until the hair follicles are not damaged, at which point a complete human hair wig can be removed.

Then place it in a pre-prepared container filled with an unknown solution and seal it for preservation.

Looking around, the entire wall was covered with glass jars filled with real human hair caps.

Looking at the round, bloodied heads that had already had their hoods removed, Li Can's stomach, which had been empty for a long time, suddenly churned, and he felt a little nauseous.

Remembering the cold soup he had drunk by the campfire in the open space, the nausea he had finally managed to suppress suddenly surged up again.

He took two steps at a time and fled from the area as if he were escaping.

Fortunately, the people inside were so attentive that they didn't notice anything unusual about him outside.

"stop!"

After a while, he stood at the entrance of another laboratory, preparing to pry open the tightly closed door to go in and inspect it.

A sudden commotion erupted behind me, creating a splash in the otherwise silent experimental space.

"This is unbelievable! How can he run so fast!"

Li Can turned around, and a woman with disheveled hair, whose appearance was obscured, suddenly ran out of the "barbershop" behind her.

She seemed to have been injected with anesthesia; her steps were unsteady, but she wasn't moving slowly.

In this completely enclosed room without a single gap, she couldn't find a single door leading to the outside. She felt like a headless fly, not knowing which direction to run away from.

Li Can was startled and silently stepped aside, not intending to get involved. However, the barber who had just seen his face seemed quite surprised.

"You're here! Great! Quick, help me catch her!"

Li Can: "..."

He casually watched the woman pass him by at lightning speed, then made a feigned movement, as if regretting not catching her, "Damn it, how did she get away!"

The woman, of course, sensed that Li Can was relieving himself and turned to look at him with great surprise.

Li Can was also watching her back at the same time.

Their eyes met, and in an instant, the image of the soup-making NPC grandmother flashed through his mind—it was as if they were cut from the same mold as this younger face.

They were exactly the same; he was almost certain it was the same person.

"Hey? Wait a minute." He was even more anxious than the "barber" now.

How can I keep that woman with me, prevent the "hairdresser" from interfering with him, and temporarily keep my identity from being exposed?

He stood there thinking rapidly, and as the barber passed by, he silently stuck out a foot and tripped him.