The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

Li Can walked up to the two of them, pulled out a chair, and sat down as well.

Suddenly, the clock tower in the distance began to chime, its melodious sound echoing between heaven and earth, filling the silent atmosphere among the group.

For a full ten seconds, Li Can felt his body being restrained.

Only after the bell tolled did he look up at his mother-in-law across the soup pot.

"Excuse me, were there any survivors from the Wenxin Mental Hospital back then, besides you?" Bai Zhuo spoke first.

"Yes," the mother-in-law replied calmly.

Li Can's gaze shifted between the two of them. After a moment of contemplation, he asked his final question.

"You must be Wang Yali." His question was not a question, but a statement of fact.

"Yes," the mother-in-law replied again.

A moment later, she looked at Li Can and Bai Zhuo with bright eyes.

"Gentlemen, please answer. After all, each of you only has 60 seconds to think. Once you miss it..." Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted.

Bai Zhuo chuckled softly, "I'll give up answering. Let the other person go first."

As he spoke, he made a gesture of invitation.

Then she picked up the soup bowl in front of her and handed it to her mother-in-law.

"The rules don't say you can't give up, right? And no matter what, the person who drank the soup has to be served a second bowl, right?"

Li Can froze for a moment. Wang Yali's face was expressionless. She simply nodded and filled the empty bowl with a spoon.

The juices overflowed, enveloping the ceramic bowl in scalding liquid.

Bai Zhuo straightened his mask, took the bowl, and blew on the steam to dissipate the heat before sipping it slowly.

"..."

Li Can still didn't understand this strange man, why he did this.

But I don't have time to care about these things anymore.

"Splash..."

The mother-in-law then filled Li Can's bowl as well.

He watched as the rising steam, illuminated by the firelight, slowly drifted into the air. Soon, the white smoke, like dissipating fireworks, bloomed and vanished.

"And what about this person who's drinking the soup?" the old woman asked Li Can.

"The 'she' mentioned in the soup is you, Mother-in-law, the late Ms. Wang Yali," Li Can replied thoughtfully.

His fingers gently brushed along the rim of the steaming bowl, the dampness wetting his palms, but he paid no attention, continuing to work on the soup mystery.

"She died decades ago in a car accident caused by a family member of teacher Lin Wanyan, and her body was subsequently sealed in an ice coffin by her younger brother Wang Yaxiang without her consent."

"Wang Yaxiang used his position as the director of Wenxin Mental Hospital to secretly conduct inhumane human biological experiments, and eventually he himself was also harmed and turned into a monster that was neither human nor ghost."

"He thought the experiment had failed, but unexpectedly, during the disassembly of the human body by various parties, Wang Yali's re-stitched body tissues, under the catalysis of the [Resurrection] drug, brought her back to life."

"This was originally a good thing as he wished, but when Wang Yali opened her eyes, she lost her memory and mistakenly believed that she was Lin Wanyan from the brainstem memory."

"The day she woke up, she fled in a panic and, by a twist of fate, was reassigned to the general experimental area by the researchers."

"She kept trying to escape, just like Lin Wanyan thought and reacted. In the end, she died once again in the doctor's office on the 23rd floor at the hands of Dr. Fang Yi, Lin Wanyan's student."

Before Fang Yi died, he thought he had finally killed the monster, but to everyone's surprise, she was nourished by the [Resurrection] potion and would never completely perish again.

"Through constant death and rebirth, she finally regained her true memories and finally knew who she was."

"Everything was just a mirage. Unable to accept the truth, her body deteriorated and mutated, and she came to the second form, which is the semi-transparent state you are in now."

"After that day, she killed all the people in the hospital who knew about it, including her younger brother Wang Yaxiang."

"From then on, Wang Yali became a bound spirit in Wenxin Mental Hospital, trapped in a daze and unable to leave."

"Her past eventually condensed into a pot of soup, gathering all the players who came by accident or intentionally, and asking them what the soup base was."

"One by one, players die in a game full of lies and chaos, turning into monsters like her, neither human nor ghost, with no way to escape."

"What were her feelings? Perhaps after all these years, she hated herself, and she wanted to end her life one day to end the suffering."

After Li Can finished speaking, the air fell silent.

The soup gradually became lukewarm. He picked up the bowl, and the temperature of the soup was just right. It flowed down his throat and into his lungs, spreading through his esophagus, and it felt so comfortable.

This was the first time he had ever savored the flavor so carefully, and he was surprised that it tasted quite good when hot.

Li Can couldn't help but think that if there were a next time, drinking a few more bowls would be a novel experience.

However, there will be no next time.

After hearing Li Can's answer, the NPC grandmother couldn't help but laugh.

Her laughter carried a complex meaning.

It's like an absurd march, like a musical chapter that was accidentally written incorrectly.

Like a piece of waste paper that has been carelessly played and then discarded.

With a dry, strained voice, he finally uttered his last sound.

"Soup Drinker 1610, you won! Congratulations on clearing the game." She stopped laughing, then continued:

"I'm so happy that someone can finally understand me, but there's still one question I've always wanted to ask."

Li Can put down the ceramic bowl and sighed softly, "If I could answer that."

"How can a monster that cannot die be made to die completely?"

Bai Zhuo, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Why must you die? Isn't it better to live? To live on forever, carrying all the pain of the past, to suffer forever, might be a good thing for those who died because of you."

Li Can frowned, unsure of what he meant by saying that at this moment.

He had given up his last chance to answer and was still trying to provoke Wang Yali.

What does he want to do?

Surprisingly, Wang Yali did not react with anger.

She continued to look at Li Can, seemingly only expecting his answer, nothing else mattered.

"I don't know how she died completely, but as far as I know, she is dead. Now she can be anyone; everything depends on her choices."

He pondered, seemingly giving her an answer, but in reality, he was giving her a choice.

"What matters most is the identity she chooses to live by and how she chooses to live."

"After the car accident, the real Wang Yali died completely."

"The one who survives may be Lin Wanyan, or it may be one of the thousands of experimental subjects and players whose wills were killed."

At this point, he himself seemed to find it utterly absurd, as if his mind had been severely polluted since he came to this instance game.

A stiff expression flashed across Li Can's face. "Of course, this is unfair to others."

Yes, would someone who has died want this? The answer is obvious.

Similarly, is it fair that Wang Yali, who was resurrected by Wang Yaxiang at his own will, has her life controlled and arranged by others?

"Thank you."

Flames were burning, and the liquid in the pot was bubbling and boiling.

Wang Yali answered Li Can and Bai Zhuo.

"The game is over, soup drinker. Here, the winner can freely explore the visualized map of Wenxin Mental Hospital and choose when to leave."

"The loser will remain here forever."

"The game rewards will be distributed after the winner leaves the map. Please check your account promptly."

After giving her final words, Wang Yali vanished into thin air, just as she had done in the open space before.

Only the echoes remained in the air:

"goodbye."