The eccentric doctor never makes a misdiagnosis!

"Hmm, what do you think, Sister Haida?"

Fran lowered her eyes shyly, raised her index finger to lightly cover her lips, and occasionally secretly raised her amber eyebrows, with a hint of girlish timidity.

His expression was exactly the same as Flamel's at that time.

"……I see."

For a fleeting moment, Haida felt a slight warmth rising on her cheeks.

Because she genuinely treated Flamel like an ordinary girl throughout, even using a coaxing tone when speaking to her. If Dr. Fran had truly been observing the whole thing, it would indeed evoke a strange sense of shame…

"Please don't take it to heart. Flamel is only a part of me. I only learned about this experience after the Otherworld ended."

Noticing the nun's fleeting embarrassment, Fran pursed his lips, suppressing a smile.

"Ah."

Haida quickly composed herself and stopped dwelling on the little incident.

"Dr. Fran, what should we do now?"

"Sister Heda, you've already led 'me' through those three buildings filled with memories, and now the 'Shisham' Hospital is right before us... So what reason is there not to go in?"

As he spoke, Fran extended his index finger, covered in sutures, and pointed to a desolate and somber hospital outpatient building directly in front of him.

Q: So... the path I took in the 'inner world' was reflected in the 'outer world' in real time?

U Haida immediately looked back and indeed found the deep alleyway she had come from.

It's incredible. The seamless switching between two completely different world rules is almost like some kind of forbidden ancient secret realm.

"If the alarm sounds again... will Dr. Fran revert to his Flamel state?"

Because of her apprehension about the strange nature of the Silent Hill, she was now more interested in knowing if Fran had a solution to it.

"Whether the alarm sounds or not is meaningless."

4. "The boundary between the real and the real worlds began to blur as soon as we stepped into the town. And the immense malice of the 'Rotten Crown' completely disrupted the already fragile balance here..."

Lin Haida's gray-chestnut eyes narrowed slightly, as if she were deep in thought.

Sifulan, as if teaching a student, patiently continued to explain.

In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between the 'surface world' and 'reality' here?

"An unsettling silence, coal ash floating in the air, and... bizarre town features?"

Haida answered according to her own understanding.

Fran tilted her head slightly, narrowing her amber eyes. Haida's answer was somewhat different from what she had expected. Why...?

Oh, by the way... Sister Heda was from Norrington.

For her, the appearance of evil spirits on the streets was nothing surprising. The town's infrastructure was rather modern, which made it all the more strange to her.

In Haida's common sense, reality should be filled with wandering evil spirits and wicked offspring.

Therefore, she found it difficult to immediately think that... in the "reality" of the general world, monsters should not exist.

Fran's gaze softened slightly.

“The ‘surface world’ of the Silent Hill only reflects the shallow dark emotions in people’s hearts, so monsters rarely appear under normal circumstances. The ‘reality’ is completely devoid of monsters.”

"The fact that we encountered the 'man in the case' as soon as we stepped into the world of appearances shows that this place has already been deeply corrupted..."

At this point, her expression unusually turned somewhat serious.

"The Hill of Silence manifested the crown from nothingness in my mind, but I have no control over it. Before it completely infects this land and breaks through the inner world... we must find a way to resolve it deep within the hospital."

"……I see."

Sensing the gravity in Fran's words, Haida responded in a deep voice.

There was still one thing she was wondering about: if "Flamel" in the Otherworld was a selfless desire to save others, then what part of that was "Fran," the director of Shisham Hospital?

The two exchanged a brief conversation and soon arrived at the hospital's outpatient building.

Fran didn't rush inside, but stood outside the gate for a moment. Then he turned to look at Haida beside him.

"Hyda, why have you been deliberately avoiding the issues of Viola and the Great Plague?"

Haida was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Fran to be so blunt in pointing this out.

After a moment's hesitation, she shared her thoughts.

"As Dr. Fran said, the nine memory fragments that appeared in the Otherworld previously concern your privacy, and I do not wish to offend you. Moreover... it does not seem appropriate to discuss the past now."

"If you're so understanding, I'll feel embarrassed."

Fran stroked the stitches on his knuckles, his amber eyes flickering slightly, carrying a hint of something intriguing.

“As the head nurse of Fog Street Clinic, you don’t need to be so reserved. You’ve already seen those three memories, which means you’ve already invaded my privacy… So let’s be thorough and not leave any doubts for ourselves.”

“The previous ‘Medical Secretary’, Viola, was my student. She was exceptionally talented, extremely diligent, and possessed the purest kindness…”

"In the end, she died to end the great plague."

For a moment, Haida paused, speechless. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but remained silent because of long-standing habit.

Why did Fran disappear for two whole years during the pandemic, offering no help to his students?

Why did Yaheng call her the "witch of the plague" and the "culprit"?

And why... is the decaying crown able to manifest in the "inner world" through her mental image?

If Fran gave him the worst answer... then he would probably have no choice but to draw his sword against her. Even more so, with the power sword "Nie," which she had given him...

Seeing Haida hesitate slightly, Fran raised an eyebrow and slowly stepped forward to take her hand. His expression carried a hint of invitation... as if urging his dazed dance partner.

“Dear Sister Heda, the actual situation is rather complicated and cannot be explained by words alone. Come with me into the depths of this dark memory... to witness it all firsthand.”

Heda felt a slight warmth from Fran's soft palm. Her previously heavy thoughts eased somewhat.

With the truth so close, how could I possibly give up before the finish line?

In just a moment, her chaotic thoughts calmed down, and the decisiveness and composure that belonged to the funeral maid returned to her.

“Okay…I accept this invitation from Zhong×′转⊙≮qun:鸠、）澌#*¤2∶泗♀〔↓lin`伍.”

The two then stepped into the long-abandoned hospital building.

……

Time passed slowly, and the originally cold and glaring sky over the town became increasingly murky and gloomy.

Several figures trapped in the trapdoors staggered out of the shadows, their distorted faces, devoid of features, becoming even more grotesque, like a wound that had been cut open and torn apart.

But the emotion contained within that distorted face... was extreme fear.

The next moment, one of the people trapped inside began to kneel on the ground and vomit uncontrollably.

What it vomited was not acid mist, but a dark green bacterial spore lysate.

Almost the instant the bacteria touched the air upon landing, they began to grow and spread rapidly, multiplying and flourishing.

As the fungal spores spread across the ground, the colossal phantom wearing a crown of living corpses grew increasingly solid beneath the sky. It stretched out its arms, made of piled-up bones, almost touching the buildings before it.

The air raid siren suddenly blared, but the next moment it seemed as if its throat had been suddenly choked, turning into a silent sob.

The inner and outer worlds represent the shallow and deep layers of consciousness, respectively. At this moment, they no longer need to be switched; they are about to be merged into one by some immense force...

"boom!"

In the hospital's administration building, as Haida fired her standard-issue weapon, a monster dressed in tattered hospital gown collapsed limply.

“More and more.”

After finishing off the corpse, Haida immediately replaced the magazine on her pistol with a spare magazine.

Fran looked at the thick, dark green liquid overflowing from the corpse's mouth and raised an eyebrow.

“A small amount of lysing marks have appeared on the monster; it has begun to affect the surface world.”

Moreover, the slowly growing scarlet rust stains on the wall and the increasingly strong smell of blood in the air... indicate that the boundary between the real world and the outside world has become blurred.

The imminent sense of death brought Fran a profound sense of comfort; she almost relished watching the surrounding light grow increasingly dim.

As the two approached the dean's office on the top floor, the previously peaceful surface world was finally completely swallowed up by the malice of the inner world, merging into one and intertwining.

At the same time, this is also a building that carries "memories"!

The surface, the interior, and the memories—the three scenes overlapped in a staggered manner. If Fran hadn't been holding her hand, Heda felt she might have been lost in the illusory space.

Without an elevator, the two found reaching the head nurse's office somewhat difficult, but fortunately, Heida could carry Fran quickly... It seems having a head nurse with exceptional battlefield mobility is indeed quite advantageous.

It can also be used as a vehicle in critical moments... It consumes half a soldier's ration every ten kilometers.

After some twists and turns, the two finally arrived at the mysterious door.

Fran pushed open the wooden door to the dean's office, which was covered in green mold. Another "Franc," dressed in a white coat, sat upright in the office.

The two almost identical doctors initially confused Heda, but she quickly came to terms with the situation.

There were no stitches on the other person's neck.

She is Fran from the past in "memories," because at this moment the inner and outer worlds have overlapped, allowing the two to appear simultaneously.

Fran, seated in his leather chair, looked at the visitor who bore his identical appearance, leisurely propped his long, slender legs, encased in black stockings, onto the desk, and let out a low sneer.

"Welcome to my office."

"You severed my madness from my mind... You gained eternal calm and became the 'winner.' But you also lost a great deal of skill, strength, and memories. Look at your frail body now, was it really worth it?"

"Even now, you still need to rely on your past arrogance to solve 'He'? You're really useless."

This "Fran" glanced at Haida beside her, her amber eyes full of mockery.

"A defective product. But the material itself is quite high quality. If it were up to me... heh."

“I have stolen most of Fabius Bayer’s genetic technology. As long as there are enough high-quality consumables, research on ‘prototype’ will be within reach…”

Fran approached his past self, reached out and grabbed her collar, pulling her up from the leather seat.

"Without further ado."

"The incarnation of the Decaying Demon Crown is right before you. Do you want to wait here to die, or... kill Him again?"

This doctor always seemed to maintain an elegant and gentle demeanor, except when dealing with me, when he displayed a peculiar rudeness.

Fran, who was being grabbed by the collar, slowly moved closer to his other self until their eyes met and they could hear each other's breaths.

"Since Miss Winner has made this request, it seems the loser has no choice but to comply."

The next moment, she slightly parted her lips, revealing a smile that was almost frenzied.

Two pairs of amber eyes burned with fervor at the same time, and for a moment, their figures overlapped, almost becoming one.

"—Let me take His crown once more and send that guy back to his damn void home!"

---

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I wanted to do something big at the end of Volume 1, but my writing skills are lacking, so please forgive me (as usual, please vote).

Thanks to [Naming is such a hassle] for the treasure chest! If I'm able, I'll add more (and make up for the previous missed updates).

Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Crown Thief [The Hill of Silence (Part 1)]

You yearn to dissect a living body, peel it apart and dismantle it into its intricate parts, and feel the rhythm of each organ.

You yearn to deconstruct the mind of living beings, to appreciate their collapse, reconstruction, and subsequent despair, and to record every moment of emotional shifts.

You yearn to explore the ultimate meaning of life and death... only to be hindered and troubled by fragile bottom lines and human nature.

Admit it! Hundreds of millions of living beings are merely resources to be used. Do you really want them to lose their only value in the inferior shaping of natural evolution? The mystery of the genes is within reach; you already hold the key to unlocking perfection.

Cast aside your ridiculous pride, knock on the door, and indulge in the power of the Creator.

If there really is a "God" who creates things behind that door... you might as well tell Him that He is a fool who only produces flawed products!

A deep, dark fantasy resonated in Fran's mind, and the long-extinguished madness surged from her lips and eyes, transforming into ever-spreading waves of flame.

The Hill of Silence embodies the darkness and malice within the hearts of those who enter it. Therefore, this patient... is Fran himself.

The symptom is precisely the previously explained "dissociative identity disorder (severe late stage)".

The madness that Fran had abandoned twenty years ago briefly returned to her mind at this moment.