The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

He was in so much pain that he was numb, but knowing that he now had a "golden shield," he had nothing to fear for the time being.

Regardless of whether the extracted ability is permanent, he still has at least nine chances to withstand it. He doesn't believe that monster can be so stubborn as to keep fighting.

"Don't be afraid, it's alright..."

"Bang!"

No sooner said than done, the monster charged forward again, seemingly defiant.

This time it seemed to be using all its strength, charging up for a single strike.

Li Can quickly activated his special ability to protect himself, which also shielded Lin Wanyan inside.

He dares not let her die now. Tang Mi is saying that the doctor killed her, so she cannot die at the hands of a monster now.

At least Li Can wouldn't just stand by and watch her die like that.

The monster was thrown back by gravity and slammed hard against the same spot on the opposite wall once again. This time, it was clearly more seriously injured than before.

Its limp body slowly slid down the wall and fell to the ground like a puddle of mud...

Seeing that Lin Wantan was completely unharmed, Li Can coughed and suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

What kind of time is this? I'm still so dedicated to doing dungeon quests.

The interior window was broken, and a gust of cool wind rushed in from outside again.

The white curtains were stained with bright red blood, like plum blossoms blooming in the snow.

"...It seems like it's about to run away?" Lin Wanyan kept a close eye on the monster's movements.

Li Can looked up and saw that the monster was also looking back at them.

It crawled on the ground until it reached the windowsill on the 23rd floor. After turning its head to take one last look at them, it jumped down without hesitation.

He immediately felt that something was strange. He looked at the monster's retreating figure after jumping off the building, and then at Lin Wanyan below who was terrified.

It seems like this thing started paying attention to Lin Wanyan later on...

And besides, aren't you supposed to be a good fighter? Why are you running away? Come on, let's fight!

Li Can was prepared to fight this monster for at least nine more rounds, but unexpectedly it ran away.

"Cough cough cough..." Li Can finally fell out of the crack in the wall.

The battle caused him heavy losses, but he also gained a lot.

This 23rd floor is strange; they've been fighting for so long and not a single person has come to watch.

It doesn't make sense; people are naturally gossipy, so they'd all want to know what's going on, right?

Li Can laughed at himself for thinking about this. It was hard to say how many layers of illusion this was, yet he was still trying to make it seem reasonable.

Does that mean everything else makes sense?

The wind was still howling indoors.

Li Can leaned against the wall, and Lin Wanyan used the gauze and bandages she had found to bandage his wounds.

Fang Yi leaned against him, half-dead, and looked like he wouldn't last much longer.

"Thank you... for saving me." Fang Yi said gratefully to Li Can, who was covered in bloody wounds, while covering his neck with one hand.

Li Can simply waved his hand, still mentally analyzing the suddenly appearing near-death value.

"Near-death value," as the name suggests, refers to a risk level assessed by something when one is facing imminent death...

He recalled the first time he transmigrated to the wasteland planet Blue Star, when he failed to enter the vortex and ended up hanging on a building, and the first gashapon machine prompt that appeared in his mind.

At the time, it seems that nothing was mentioned about "near-death value". Even after entering the instance, he did not seem to encounter a moment that would put him at a high risk of death like this.

This was the first time he had personally experienced "death" so closely.

Neither when I was surrounded by those humanoid spider monsters in the open space, nor when I fought with the dark matter when I first entered the hospital, did this information pop up.

Thinking about it this way, Li Can felt that it could explain two things.

One possibility is that the situation at the time did not endanger one's life, so the near-death value was not triggered, and naturally no points were gained.

On the other hand, it might be on the verge of collapse, but its gashapon machine system hasn't yet enabled point-based controls...

There are only two possibilities.

Comparatively, Li Can agrees more with the first option because he was the person involved and knew better that during the previous fights, he was not actually forced into a situation where he would die at any moment.

If that's the case, then if I want to upgrade my lottery or something in the future, won't I have to keep jumping around at the moment of death?

This cheat code is just too "wonderful"... Li Can thought through gritted teeth.

"Reporter Zhou... I found crucial evidence in my safe." Fang Yi's lips were pale, and each breath seemed to kill him.

Li Can was interrupted from her thoughts and turned to look at him.

"This is the key, please make sure to keep it safe..."

"I've already been exposed in the hospital. Please take the evidence out of here, whether to destroy it or hand it over to the state, please don't leave it in this hospital any longer..."

Fang Yi handed a key soaked in blood to Li Can's palm.

"I've already heard your story from Teacher Lin... I really admire what you've done..."

He spoke slower and slower, his throat constricted, and he kept choking on his words.

"Thank you. I'll leave the rest to you, Reporter Zhou. The safe is located in the storage room across the street..."

"You are a hero of the people, please expose everything here."

Li Can stroked the ordinary key, and Dr. Fang Yi's words stirred a small ripple in his heart.

Is he a hero?

Li Can didn't know.

In his own eyes, he was a complete fraud, even his identity was fake.

But he was trusted so much by those people from this past time and space... He really was... taking advantage of them.

"Okay, you can rest assured that I'll take care of it." Li Can replied to Fang Yi readily and casually put the key into his pocket.

As he spoke, he got up and slowly moved his body, his wounds already bandaged by Teacher Lin.

After resting for a while, he felt that he was feeling a little better.

Although my limbs are still in pain, I can't let that stop me from doing my task.

He immediately took out several painkillers from his medicine box and swallowed them before he felt a little better.

Fang Yi nodded. After watching Li Can get up and walk towards the opposite storage room, he waved to Lin Wanyan.

Upon seeing this, Lin Wanyan hurriedly approached him anxiously, asking, "What's wrong? Does it hurt too much?"

"..."

Fang Yi spoke very softly, so she could only get as close to him as possible, her ear very close.

"Teacher Lin, my time is running out. I have a few last words I want to say to you from the bottom of my heart..."

"Please don't cry..."

"Thank you for all you've done for me over the years."

"I will definitely avenge you..."

Fang Yi's face was deathly pale. He trembled as he tried to wipe away Lin Wanyan's tears, but he couldn't dry them no matter what he did.

She kept crying, her tears falling like pearls.

"Good child, you have done very well. It is the teacher who has dragged you down." Her voice was trembling with tears.

As Li Can walked to the door, she overheard the tender moment between the teacher and student, and her eyes involuntarily reddened for a moment.

"How wonderful," he couldn't help but think of the people he had met during his school days... "Hmm... it doesn't seem like there's any need to reminisce," Li Can sighed, leaning against the wall.

He is covered in a mess of injuries, and the painkillers haven't taken effect yet.

Every step he took was excruciatingly painful, so he could only move as slowly as possible.

"you!"

"Go to hell! Hahahaha..."

Everything happened in just a few seconds. Li Can was startled by the sudden change in sound and quickly turned around, limping.

Fang Yi had concealed a dagger in his robes at some point, and now the hilt was deeply embedded in the blade, which was completely pierced into Lin Wanyan's heart.

She only managed to utter a final, weak sound of pain, her eyes fixed on Fang Yi, filled with disbelief and panic.

"Why...?"

But at this moment, Fang Yi had completely gone mad, his laughter echoing throughout the room, giving Li Can goosebumps all over.

"Teacher Lin, I will definitely avenge you! Teacher, I will avenge you! Hahahaha..."

His voice was so cheerful and hearty, as if he had finally released the heavy burden that had been accumulating in his heart for many years.

Fang Yi's last moments of spirit were like a final burst of light before his death, like a candle burning itself out after emitting its last glimmer of light and warmth.

Lin Wanyan stared wide-eyed at the familiar face before her, unable to shake off the feeling.

The two of them breathed their last in front of him.

Li Can looked puzzled.

He leaned against the wall, completely clueless for a long time.

No? He hasn't even stepped out of the room yet, how could things have changed so drastically?

He had imagined a hundred ways for Lin Wanyan to die, but after learning all the inside stories, he never expected that she would die at Fang Yi's hands.

He even now desperately wanted to shake the already dead Fang Yi awake and ask him:

"What happened?"

"Why did you kill her? You had no motive. Were you bitten by that filthy thing and the toxin attacked your brain?"

"So, all that effort I put into saving you was just to help you two complete the storyline?"

His heart was beating faster and faster.

No, there must be more to this than meets the eye. What clues did I miss?

Li Can pondered, his gaze drifting to the storage room opposite. Through the frosted glass window on the wooden door, he could vaguely make out a figure standing inside.

There was no one here just now.

Alarm bells rang in his mind, and he hurriedly grabbed the keys and limped across to the other side.