The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

The hospital has returned to its dilapidated state, with flesh and blood growing on the signs of each department, and black, messy hair tangled together, making it impossible to tell which way is which.

In the pitch-black night, clumps of human tissue fragments, resembling minced meat, were merging together until they coalesced into a massive mass of dark matter.

It wanders aimlessly through the cozy mental hospital, its center filled with pain and fear, like a vortex that constantly draws people in, searching for something to fill the emptiness in the deserted corridors.

Li Can seemed to hear the screams of the dead, the sounds deafening.

The tangled strands of hair were restless and agitated, tightly binding themselves together. Perhaps only by huddling together in one place could they find a calming agent to soothe them.

The world spun before Li Can's eyes, and the interior of the laboratory began to transform into fragments of pantomime scenes recording people's laughter and sorrow, shattering piece by piece.

He heard the voices of countless people.

There were men and women, young and old among them.

Some were unfamiliar, some were familiar.

"It's not just physical ailments that deserve attention and treatment; psychological trauma is the most painful hidden disease."

"I am willing to dedicate the rest of my life to becoming someone like Teacher Lin, illuminating others and helping those who are lost in the spiritual world to regain a new life."

"She's dead."

"Sister, you died so young, I'm not reconciled! The ones who deserve to die are clearly others, I won't let them get away with this!"

"Sister, I'm so happy today. I've finally found a way to bring you back to life, but I'm also terrified. Will you hate me for doing this when you wake up?"

"But I don't regret it, I don't regret it at all!"

"Mom, that wicked woman actually married into our family. I miss you so much. Every time I see her face, I'm reminded of how you died. She disgusts me."

"What is Lin Wanyan pretending for? How can anyone be so shameless? But Uncle has already developed the antidote. I'll make her experience what it means to wish she were dead!"

"I'm just a lowly worker, forced to sign the agreement and do this, but I know in my heart it's wrong."

"I'll just ask you one question: are you willing to believe me?"

"Dr. Fang, I will fight alongside you to expose their heinous experiments. We will definitely succeed."

"sorry……"

"What is the meaning of our endless cycle of rebirth and death, of losing memories and regaining them, going on and on?"

"I do not wish to be born on the same day, month, and year, but only to die on the same day, month, and year. Heaven and Earth bear witness to this heart..."

"Big brother, let me help you!"

"..."

"1610 You can't disturb the other patients' rest like that. He's taken his medicine and is still sleeping."

Li Can felt as if she were lying on a soft bubble, her body so light that she felt she would fly away at any moment.

Before me lay an impenetrable darkness, and the sounds around me gradually faded away.

Until the giant bubble seemed to have lost its last bit of vitality, it burst open with a "pop".

He finally felt like he was back on solid ground.

"Huff..." As if diving to the bottom of deep water, the suffocating, near-drowning feeling enveloped Li Can.

He suddenly woke up from his dream, his whole body soaked in sweat, and sticky strands of hair clinging to his forehead.

He sat up in bed and began to breathe deeply.

He finally came to his senses after his lungs were filled with oxygen.

"Where am I..." Li Can adjusted to the darkness before her. The torch at the door of the ward lay on the ground, its flame still burning, bringing a sliver of light and warmth.

Inside, the sticky, black, fleshy blood was spread out on the floor, and the room was filled with a strong stench of decay.

It was like fermentation after a person has been dead for a long time, relentlessly seeping into his nostrils.

The torn wire was stuck in the minced meat, and several empty saline solution bottles were scattered around.

"I'm back."

Realizing where he was, Li Can rubbed his aching head, feeling as if needles were pricking his temples.

He sprang out of bed with a somersault, then suddenly seemed to remember something and looked toward the bed next to him.

"Wang Qing!"

By the light of the moon and the last rays of the torch, he could only see a skeleton, already highly decomposed, on the bed near the ward door.

Maggots wriggled around the skull's eye sockets, busily devouring the few remaining bits of flesh and blood.

There's no trace of Wang Qing here anymore.

All that remains is the torso named Wang Qing.

The bedding on the hospital bed was soaked with the fluids from his decomposing body, and sticky yellow liquid dripped onto the floor.

The sound was clearly very soft, but to Li Can it sounded like a muffled thunderclap.

Based on the degree of decomposition of Wang Qing's body, it was clear that it had been there for more than a few hours, at least several years.

"Wait a minute, Chen Qi is thinking about the death loop they mentioned... Could it be...?"

Li Can picked up the source of the fire from the ground and hurriedly ran towards the outside of the corridor.

By the light of the fire, he stood in front of the ward door on the other side of the 16th floor.

The door, covered in thick dust, clearly hadn't been opened for several years.

Li Can pressed the doorknob with trembling hands.

"Squeak..." The door opened wide, and the familiar smell of decay still wafted through the room.

On either side of the hospital bed lay two skeletal corpses, one large and one small, their shapes seemingly fitting perfectly to Wu Xiuyuan and Xiaoyu...

He didn't even need to go to the 23rd floor to foresee Chen Qixiang and Xiao Mo's fate.

They're all dead...

In the quiet Wenxin Mental Hospital, you could clearly hear a pin drop.

Li Can, holding a torch, staggered slightly as he leaned against the gate.

[How far are we from the destruction of Earth?]

【20:19:57】

【20:19:56】

【20:19:55】

……

The long-lost countdown to the death of Earth has reappeared.

After entering the illusionary world, he subconsciously ignored it, and only now that it has reappeared in his mind did Li Can belatedly realize it.

He calculated that about two hours had passed since he woke up.

Li Can forced herself to calm down and thought about her next step.

Now that all the clues have come together, recalling the game rules that the NPC Granny had read out earlier, the next step is for him to arrive at the cafeteria at 3 a.m. for his second bowl of soup.

"This is probably the final settlement moment of the game."

Li Can frowned. He had seen the location of the cafeteria on the map when he first entered the hospital; it was the main hall on the 17th floor.

I was very close to him.

After a long sigh, he closed the ward door again and silently walked towards the stairs.

The hospital was now completely dark. He used the firelight to reach the 17th floor and saw two figures at the dining table in the center.

One male and one female.

The NPC grandmother still had Lin Wanyan's aged face, and her body was like a melted, semi-transparent state. She stood in front of a set-up iron pot, constantly stirring the soup with a ladle.

The aroma of boiling food filled the cafeteria, making everything seem so warm and cozy, yet strangely out of place.

A young man with completely white hair and wearing a mask sat with his back to him at the table, tapping his fingers on the surface as if he were thinking about something.

"Looks like everyone's here for the soup." The old woman looked up when she heard Li Can's footsteps.