The group lingered quietly for a while.

Mo Bai plucked a strand of her long hair and extended it beyond the range of her ability, testing whether any residual electricity remained outside.

When the strand hung limp, signifying that there was no static reaction, she finally relaxed.

Mo Bai put on the Prying Lenses and checked what the hospital looked like after the thunderstorm.

The outpatient building collapsed, and the basement level they'd been in had caved in. The records room was also gone.

The inpatient building, however, stood on the verge of collapse without actually falling, as if some force was protecting it.

All the monsters below the fourth floor had been wiped out with no survivors. Whether any Schizophrenic "mother body" had been there no longer mattered.

But the fog above the fifth floor remained, untouched by the lightning.

Li Ming stood suspended in the air, his expression grave as he stared at the inpatient building.

Clearly, whatever was on the upper floors couldn't be destroyed by physical attacks. In fact, it was precisely the existence of those fifth-floor monsters that had kept the inpatient building standing.

Even the underground passage they were in had been shielded by that same force.

Mo Bai removed the lenses and relayed everything she'd seen.

Du Heng and Sheng Yan hadn't been to the inpatient building, so they didn't know what was there.

Only the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor did.

Mo Bai crouched down and spoke to him gently. "See? If I hadn't protected you just now, you'd already be dead. We're not enemies, at least not right now. Do you want to work with me?"

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor looked up, and one of his eyeballs slipped out of its socket. He casually stuffed it back in and rasped, "The fifth floor of the inpatient building is a dream that cannot be awakened from. Until the dream's owner wakes up, no one can break the domain there."

Surprisingly cooperative. Mo Bai was quite satisfied with the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor's performance.

"Is the dream's owner the source of infection in Disease Town?" she asked.

"No. But there's a connection," he said.

"What kind of connection?"

This time, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor refused to answer. He picked up his scalpel and said, looking fierce yet oddly pitiful, "My duty is to guard this hospital's secret and prevent that mental contamination from spreading. Anyone who learns the secret, I will cut out their brain."

With that, the scalpel flashed coldly as he lunged toward the unconscious Liu Congyi.

Mo Bai had been ready for him.

The instant he moved, her hand flickered across his arms, legs, and waist. She didn't injure him. She simply used the Spatial Blade to slice through his stitches.

Snap, snap, snap.

His hands, arms, legs, and waist fell apart in several pieces, dropping to the ground, leaving him unable to reach Liu Congyi.

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor bared his teeth. "Don't think I'm helpless. I have special abilities."

"All A-grade monsters do. It'd be strange if you didn't," Mo Bai said. "What's yours?"

For some reason, Du Heng felt an undeniable authority in her tone.

It barely affected him or Sheng Yan, but it seemed to strongly influence the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor.

Almost involuntarily, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor answered, "I can control the spirits in the outpatient building and command them to guard the basement entrance to keep people from entering."

Du Heng muttered, "So those spirits were yours… I already harvested them all."

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor: "…"

Awkwardly, he straightened his head and, with the one hand Mo Bai had left him, began the painstaking work of picking up his scattered limbs and stitching them back together. As he sewed, he added, "I can also attack remotely, cutting through a person's skin and skull to sever their brain and organs, but I have to stay within two meters of my target."

Mo Bai glanced at the distance between him and Liu Congyi: three meters.

With a look, she signaled Sheng Yan, who quickly moved Liu Congyi and Du Heng farther away.

"What else? That's a bit weak," Mo Bai said with mild disdain.

Compared to the magician, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor's abilities were lacking. And with his body constantly falling apart, he was clumsy, almost an embarrassment for an A-grade monster.

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor glanced at her and sighed. "I have mental contamination. Normally, anyone who sees my stitches split open will hallucinate. Wherever I split, they'll feel like they're splitting in the same place. Anyone with weaker mental strength who sees my head fall will have the illusion that their own head is falling, and through that mental influence, their head will actually fall, killing them instantly.

But for some reason, it doesn't work on you."

Mo Bai blinked. "So that display just now was you attacking me? Not you trying to be funny?"

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor's eyeball trembled, as if he had been deeply insulted.

"You're the first person I've ever met who personally cut my stitches," he said.

Mo Bai pointed at Du Heng and Sheng Yan. "Even if your mental attacks don't work on me, what about them?"

"Mental attacks can only contaminate one person at a time," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor replied. "Only when I enter a frenzy state can I contaminate everyone who sees me at once."

"Then why didn't you go into a frenzy earlier?" Mo Bai asked seriously. "You have a big move, why not use it?"

She genuinely meant it. The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor was effectively captured now, facing the constant threat of death. In a situation like this, you need to use every ability you have.

"I only enter frenzy when I see the contents of the sealed records in the archives," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said. "And I haven't looked at any just now."

"Oh, so it's a passively triggered skill," Mo Bai concluded.

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor nodded. "Every time I enter frenzy, I lose my mind. I can only regain my senses by cutting off a part of my own brain. When I come to, there are always dismembered corpses everywhere, with wounds identical to mine.

I cut out their brains, stitch them back together, and place them in the morgue. Their souls and consciousness then attach to my scalpel and obey my commands.

But every frenzy costs me part of my brain. After so many times, there's not much left. If I don't evolve before it's all gone, and I keep seeing those records a few more times, I don't know what kind of monster I'll become."

Mo Bai asked, "So your role in this instance is just to guard those records?"

"Yes," he answered honestly. "I cannot let anyone see what's in them. I must protect this secret forever."

"Do you know what the secret is?"

He shook his head. "I don't remember. I only know it mustn't be seen by anyone. So I have to cut out that woman's brain."

He had just finished stitching his hands. With half his body still scattered on the ground, he raised his scalpel again toward Liu Congyi.

"Wait," Mo Bai pressed him down gently. "The records drove her mad, and I don't want her to keep losing her mind either. I want to treat her so our goals are the same."

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor stopped, tilting his head as he stared at her, and his eyeball dropped out again.

Mo Bai continued, "If she forgets that memory, she'll recover, right?"

He nodded.

Mo Bai said sincerely, "Liu Congyi has an ability card called Memory Erasure. I can use it to remove her memories of those records. There's no need to cut out her brain."

"That works. But you must keep your promise," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said.

He picked up the rest of his body parts and began carefully stitching himself back together.

Just like that, Mo Bai had inexplicably formed yet another agreement with an instance monster.

Off to the side, Du Heng and Sheng Yan watched her chat with a stitch-covered, hideous, terrifying instance monster as if they were exchanging pleasantries, her tone perfectly calm. Both of them felt a touch of mental disorientation.

At least back when Mo Bai had negotiated with the Phantom Butterfly, the Phantom Butterfly was beautiful, so they could just barely accept it. But this, they couldn't process. How could she be so warm with the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor?

Just looking at him made them want to swing a weapon.

The records were still on Mo Bai. She hadn't read them yet, since reading them would trigger the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor's nerves. She needed to extract every piece of information from him first.

After a moment, she said, "The outpatient building exists to guard these records, and the spirits outside are under your control, so you're the boss there. What about the inpatient building? Do those two monsters there listen to you?"

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said, "Those Schizophrenics are outsiders. He was drawn here by certain things in the hospital's past and decided to stay. I can't control him, but he doesn't interfere with my mission either. He seems to have wandered for a long time, constantly being driven away, before finally ending up here.

He agreed to help me watch over the patient in the inpatient ward who's trapped in a dream, so I let him stay in the hospital."

Mo Bai recalled what she had learned back at the institute: the leader of the Smiling Circus had exchanged genetic information from a nightmare creature for the Manipulation Thread.

Because of that, she had always assumed that there would be a dream-related monster in the Smiling Circus and had stayed on guard against such an ability.

Yet she had never encountered it.

Now it made sense. The magician only traded genetic information, not the nightmare creature itself or its flesh and blood. That meant he didn't control the nightmare creature. He merely knew it existed.

Since the magician was acquainted with the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor, he had likely obtained that information from the Abandoned Hospital and used it in his trade with the institute.

"You're guarding the nightmare creature... Is it because it's dangerous itself, or because its dream is dangerous?" Mo Bai asked.

"He's having an extremely dangerous dream," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor replied. "I can't let anyone see it. Anyone who does will either die in his dream, or die by my hand."

"And his dream is related to these records?" Mo Bai took out the stack of documents that had driven Liu Congyi mad.

"Give them back!" The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. He flew into a frenzy and lunged at her.

Mo Bai kicked his scalpel away, knocked him over, and pinned him to the ground with her foot.

"The spirits you control are dead, and I've disarmed you. Your mental attacks don't work on me, and your frenzy wasn't triggered. Right now, you're completely helpless in front of me, so behave," she said coldly.

Pinned beneath her foot, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor couldn't get up and struggled helplessly.

Off to the side, Du Heng and Sheng Yan instinctively huddled together, gripping each other's arms.

In just a single day, Mo Bai felt like a completely different person from before.

Sheng Yan couldn't even tell anymore. Between the cold, ruthless beauty in front of him and the helpless monster struggling beneath her foot, which one was more like a monster?

"You can't read them…" the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said with difficulty.

Mo Bai replied, "Are you guarding these records because you don't want them to leak, or because you're afraid they'll cause an even greater disaster?

If it's just about leaks, why not just burn the papers?"

"They can't be burned," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said.

"So it's not about leaks," Mo Bai said. "You're afraid that someone will read them, spread the contamination, and cause a greater disaster.

Ordinary people who see the records go mad. You can kill them easily, no big problem. But players and other instance monsters are different. Players and high-level monsters are strong, so if they're driven mad by the contents, the consequences would be uncontrollable.

That's why you're so desperate to guard these records. Am I right?"

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor used what little brain he had left to think it over carefully, then nodded. "That's right."

"Then you don't need to worry about me," Mo Bai said confidently. "I won't be contaminated by what's in these records."

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor studied her, then nodded in agreement. "You aren't affected by my mental contamination. You might really have the ability to resist it."

"Then let me read them," Mo Bai said. "After I do, I'll decide whether to destroy them based on what's inside. I can help you stop the spread of the contamination, and I might even help you deal with the nightmare in the inpatient ward. Isn't that a good thing?"

Once again, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor found her reasoning compelling. Lying stiffly on the ground, he began to seriously consider cooperating with her.

Mo Bai pressed on. "I've encountered many instance monsters, and you're the most special. Your true wish isn't to harm anyone. It's to protect. You may look frightening, but at heart, you're the most beautiful monster of all."

"We don't like players. We hate them. Even if you're beautiful, even if someone as lovely as you praises me, I won't be happy," the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor said, his face splitting into a horrifying grin.

"You're already smiling," Mo Bai said flatly.

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor: "…"

He found it strange too. Why did this player feel so familiar?

Being praised by her felt like being acknowledged by something he respected, feared, and admired. He even felt an immense sense of honor.

Seeing him still hesitate, Mo Bai picked up his scalpel and helped him to his feet.

"You can monitor me," she said earnestly. "If I lose my mind, just cut out my brain immediately so I forget what I read. Deal?"

"Are you crazy?!" Du Heng and Sheng Yan, who had been silent the whole time, both protested at once.

Mo Bai extended a hand and gently pressed it down toward them, signaling them to be quiet.

There was absolute confidence in her eyes.

The Dismemberment Forensic Doctor took the scalpel and said, "It's settled."

"I'll keep my word. And if I don't, you'll evolve," Mo Bai said. "After you evolve, you'll have greater power. That's a good thing for you. There's no downside, only benefit."

At last, the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor was fully convinced and completely agreed with her view.

Only then did Du Heng and Sheng Yan speak up. "Mo Bai, have you lost your mind? You could just kill him and read them. Why take this risk?"

Calmly, Mo Bai replied, "Because I think the contents of these records are connected to the Ultra-Star Rank monster. And I suspect they're connected to this Dismemberment Forensic Doctor as well. He's been guarding them all this time. Maybe it's to prevent that Ultra-Star Rank monster from being born.

Of course, that's just my speculation. What matters most is that I think the contents are critical, and I'm confident I won't be contaminated. But if I am, at least he can help me get rid of the contamination. The method is extreme, but it's still a layer of insurance."

Du Heng wanted to say Mo Bai, you're getting crazier, but he knew he couldn't stop her.

And Sheng Yan couldn't bring himself to question any of her decisions.

They held opposing views, but they couldn't act on them.

Standing within two meters of the Dismemberment Forensic Doctor, Mo Bai turned to him and her two companions. "Close your eyes. Don't accidentally read what's on the documents."

They obediently closed their eyes.

Mo Bai opened the documents and saw that they were handwritten records:

 

[

"Today was truly tragic. Dr. Yang, his wife, and their child were all sent to the hospital at the same time. I was once his colleague, I'd seen him save countless lives with his scalpel, and I never imagined he'd end up like this because of trying to save someone.

The doctors desperately tried to save his wife, Ms. Gao Siyun. Unfortunately, she had already passed away before being brought to the hospital.

As this was a heinous criminal case, I, as the forensic doctor, had to examine Ms. Gao Siyun's body and record everything. Those records would serve as evidence in court.

I was supposed to take her body back to the police station, but the doctors here told me something strange. They couldn't move her body out of the hospital, not even into the morgue.

I was greatly puzzled and tried to move the body myself. What happened next was shocking.

Ms. Gao Siyun's body suddenly sat up and clutched the worker trying to move her. From her throat came a voice that seemed to come from hell: 'Don't you dare take me away from my daughter.'

That's when we realized that her and Dr. Yang's daughter's ward was directly upstairs from this room, less than ten meters away.

This body would not leave her daughter's body.

I reviewed the case. During the fire, Ms. Gao Siyun had protected her daughter's life.

But that should be impossible.

How could a human body stop a raging fire?

And yet, the fact was that after Ms. Gao Siyun died, her body became impervious to flames, turning into a suit of armor that blocked out all the smoke and fire.

If the little girl hadn't already been severely burned before her mother died, she might have survived completely unharmed under that protection.

I was deeply moved. Love truly has a power that transcends everything.

Although our staff were all moved, this also left us in a difficult position. We couldn't move Ms. Gao Siyun back to the police station, nor could we send her into the morgue.

After discussing it with the hospital, we relocated the little girl's ward to one within ten meters of the morgue. Only then did Ms. Gao Siyun allow herself to be moved.

Under the hospital's arrangement, I performed the autopsy in a sterile room near the morgue.

After recording everything, with reverence, I stitched this great mother's body back together, and explained to her that the autopsy had been necessary to bring the culprit to justice, and asked for her understanding.

Throughout the procedure, her eyes had remained open, watching me. But after I said those words, her eyes finally closed peacefully.

To my surprise, the stitches on her body had also healed.

This body had gained a terrifying regenerative ability.

Perhaps it was for her daughter's sake that she'd been given these special abilities. But she was already dead. Such power is terrifying. Was there really no way for us to cremate her?

A few days later, Dr. Yang regained consciousness. We graduated from the same school, and he was an old classmate of mine, so I went to visit him.

He was injured all over, wearing an oxygen mask, and looked utterly weak.

The doctors said that Dr. Yang's injuries were too severe. Not just the surface wounds, but his respiratory system had been gravely damaged, and he had lost sight in one eye.

Dr. Yang's face was full of despair. He had lost the will to live.

To encourage him, I told him about Ms. Gao Siyun's situation. I wanted to tell him that his wife, even in death, had not given up protecting their child, protecting life, so he should also hold on and not give up.

I was wrong. I shouldn't have told him.

The day after I told him, the hospital reported strange noises coming from the morgue.

When I rushed over, I saw Ms. Gao Siyun with her eyes wide open, overflowing with fury, and her fists pounding against the bed over and over.

I didn't know what had happened, so I examined her body again.

This time, I discovered something truly horrifying.

Ms. Gao Siyun's heart was gone, but her chest had been stitched back up. If not for the large hollow cavity, I might never have noticed.

At the same time, Dr. Yang had been taken off the ventilator. They said that his condition miraculously begun to improve."

]