Outside the archive room, Wu Jiu and his target, Grudge Manifestation, battled, gradually revealing the essence of the situation.

Meanwhile, inside the archive room, Bai Wu began to make contact with Hong Yin.

Just like the first exploration, when they touched the history of this hospital, they would meet.

In the black and white barrier of resentment, countless grudges converged into a balloon, but the girl in a red dress was missing.

Only the essence of the balloon remained.

Bai Wu gazed at the severely distorted body of Hong Yin, feeling pity for the girl deep in his heart:

"I’ve been wondering if this world is one without me, that I died in that sewer."

"But whether I’m here or not, there shouldn’t be patients other than you and Elijah in the Ninth Psychiatric Hospital."

Actually, there were a few insignificant ones... but those were all non-sapient species.

"So when I saw the first patient, I assumed... these people don’t really exist; they are manifestations of resentment."

If Bai Wu had Prayle’s Eye, he wouldn’t need to guess and could directly see these things.

But now, without Prayle’s Eye, all he could do was to make bold assumptions and carefully verify them.

Therefore, along the way, Bai Wu restrained himself, not wanting to act rashly, and also advised the captain not to do so.

Inside the twisted spherical body where immense resentment had gathered, countless eyes were watching Bai Wu.

"I mean no harm, Hong Yin."

When the name Hong Yin was mentioned, all the eyes within the distorted bodies revealed an expression of confusion.

"This world is one without Bai Wu, and it has gone through a long time, becoming severely distorted."

"But I hope you believe that in another world, someone once came looking for you, hoping to take you away from here."

Hong Yin naturally didn’t believe him, but Bai Wu was not in a hurry:

"In this hospital, there’s only you and Elijah, and you, who once defeated Elijah, always hoped he would become stronger, so you could become friends."

"So you’ve been helping it grow stronger, it’s just that the guy is too much in awe of Cain."

"You once had a grandmother who would seriously help you comb your hair."

"You also fantasized about life outside, but no one ever took you away."

"You couldn’t leave this hospital either."

"Time has been too long, and the despair for the world, as well as the already severely distorted world, started to make you lose your nature."

"Being too lonely, you created companions out of strong resentment, simulating past patients."

Bai Wu’s deduction was indeed the truth of this hospital.

Hong Yin grew more perplexed as to why this man knew so much.

Bai Wu said:

"I won’t attack you, because I believe, even in this world, we’ll still become very close friends."

"You lie!" Many voices blended together, indistinguishable as to whether any were Hong Yin’s.

Inside the barrier of resentment, the already distorted body suddenly grew larger.

As if shrouding the entire space.

Bai Wu stood at the center of the huge balloon-like entity.

Looking around, all he saw were eyes.

Eyes filled the world between heaven and earth, mutually glaring at Bai Wu with resentful glances.

Bai Wu spoke loudly:

"In the world I come from, you eventually defeated the resentment of your former patients, and you mastered them! You wore a red dress, and although you were a loner, everyone liked you!"

"Hong Yin! Maybe there was no Bai Wu in this world before, but now there is! You won’t be alone anymore! I believe no matter how distorted the world is, it hasn’t corroded your true nature!"

Each eye brimmed with terrifying spiritual power; in this world, Hong Yin was vastly different from the real world.

Her level of distortion was too high, arguably the most twisted one among all the Evil Fallen Bai Wu had ever seen.

Numerous resentments converged.

Patients who had been turned into Evil Fallen by doctors in an inhuman manner and eventually died in agony had their resentment absorbed by Hong Yin—her memories, their souls as well.

Under severe distortion, these resentments developed their own will, seeking to devour the very Hong Yin who once redeemed them.

But Bai Wu still believed that Hong Yin was still there.

"Who are you really...?"

Terrible spiritual power was exerted on Bai Wu.

If it were not for Bai Wu’s equally profound expertise in this area, he would have been crushed by this spiritual power just by being stared at.

Bai Wu could have pretended it was very hard for him; he knew very well that Hong Yin was essentially a very kind girl.

But this time he did not do so; he did not need to deliberately show anything.

In the mine, when confronting Zhong Xu, during the Baichuan defense battle...

Hong Yin had always been able to stand out; he absolutely believed in her.

[He absolutely believed in Hong Yin, but the girl in the red dress was gone, only a messy cluster of huge grudges remained. Was Hong Yin still Hong Yin?

No, of course it wasn’t, it was just a monster. A monster made of countless people’s grudges—Hong Yin? She had long been devoured.~]

"There is no Hong Yin, Hong Yin is dead! Hahahaha, now I am a monster! I will kill you all!"

"Are you jealous of the you in that world?"

"Why does the you in that world get to be redeemed!"

"Exactly, kill him! Let the you in that world also lose him!"

"Kill him, kill him, heeheehee, let him become a part of us!"

Countless voices kept coming from near the different eyes; the grudge personas absorbed by Hong Yin were constantly provoking her.

It was as though Hong Yin had truly died, and now she was truly a "monster" composed of a multitude of patients.

She seemed to be the hospital itself.

[There was no more point, Bai Wu thought, Hong Yin was probably indeed dead.]

Of course, Bai Wu did not think so.

[Bai Wu decided to give up on redeeming Hong Yin, for without Hong Yin, how could he redeem? He prepared to use his twisted power to erase everything around him.]

[He kept amassing power, and those eyes around him also showed increasing malice!]

[Calls for Bai Wu to die rose and fell; his eyes were bloodshot with anger. These damn things, they were the ones who had returned his kindness with ingratitude and devoured Hong Yin! He would kill them as vengeance for Hong Yin!]

Bai Wu’s eyes were bloodshot; the death of Hong Yin seemed to have really made his rage uncontrollable!

And the voices around him were predicting how Bai Wu would die, just as if fated.

"Drain him! Did he not go to the 11-19 ward? Let him have it!"

"No, no, no! Let him be with that waste Elijah, right?"

"Why not just tear him apart!"

Voices full of resentment kept rising one after another.

And the yellowed pages, with their words as if they could command the world, made all beings operate by will, were also constantly stirring up Bai Wu’s desire to kill.

Both parties were surging with fighting intent, and it seemed that Bai Wu was finally being provoked too.

But at this moment, the image of the girl in the red dress flashed across Bai Wu’s mind.

"Brother, are you coming to play with me?"

This sentence was not spoken to Bai Wu by anyone; it was just the face and words of Hong Yin that surfaced in Bai Wu’s mind.

The words on the yellowed pages continued, like fateful commands, constantly appearing in this file named "Bai Wu.exe".

[Vengeance, vengeance, vengeance! Hong Yin is dead, this was all Bai Wu could think!]

"Kill him, kill him! Let him become one of us!"

In just an instant, Bai Wu suddenly roared:

"Silence! All of you, silence!"

Red-raged anger appeared around Bai Wu, and with his shout, everything around him quieted down.

In the grudge mist that was like grey fog, all the eyes carried a hint of fear.

But Bai Wu did not make a move; he said loudly:

"You can’t control the Captain’s will, so you can’t control my will either!"

[So he said, but he was still ready to fight. Could he really accept the death of Hong Yin!]

The inner rage kept being provoked. At this moment, Bai Wu had come to truly believe that will could crush will, but could not directly erase a piece of will.

"Hong Yin, I didn’t lie. In another world, we were friends. Friends who had been through many dangers together."

"I believe you must still be alive! They have all been saved by you, as long as you are willing, these grudges will eventually listen to you!"

"I will take you away from here."

[Well... he also won once. The Dragon Slayer finally realized that he could be suggested, could be bewitched, could be disturbed, but he was always himself.

Just like that little girl who really wanted to heed the words of the grudges, to kill Bai Wu, but she was still desperately resisting inside, wanting to understand this person who claimed to know her from another world.]

In the depths of the grey mist, a pair of eyes, starkly different from those around and filled with confusion, appeared below a girl in a black dress.

"Can you... really become friends with me?"

In this world, twisted a hundred times more than reality, Bai Wu finally heard a familiar voice.

Hong Yin appeared in front of Bai Wu.

Even though this form was just a condensation of grudges and not her true body.

But no girl doesn’t love beauty, no girl would accept that she had turned into an ugly monster.

Bai Wu nodded, aware that the immediate crisis had been temporarily averted.

Step by step, under the gaze of countless eyes, he walked to the girl’s side:

"Long time no see, Hong Yin."

...

Outside the archive room.

That figure formed of grudges initially hesitated in its attack.

But later, it struck with lethal moves, which made Wu Jiu think that Bai Wu had screwed up.

Wu Jiu had always thought that Bai Wu had a great talent for winning over the affections of Evil Fallen, especially female Evil Fallen.

Fortunately, in the end... the grudges suddenly dissipated.

The tense atmosphere in the archive room also eased significantly.

Wu Jiu nodded towards the direction of Building Four.

...

Inside the archive room, within the barrier of grudges, Hong Yin directly constructed a part of the hospital.

At this moment, Hong Yin and Bai Wu were sitting on a bench outside the ward.

Like a brother and sister in a hospital, waiting for news about their relatives.

This world’s Hong Yin didn’t recognize Bai Wu.

But Bai Wu’s feeling of being very familiar with and understanding Hong Yin wasn’t feigned.

Hong Yin could sense that this person truly cared about her.

This feeling made the grudges around them look at Bai Wu with even more resentment at times, while at others, their gazes softened considerably.

The two of them were whispering to each other.

Gradually, as the two of them continued to talk...

The surrounding eyes began to close one by one.

The girl’s gaze towards Bai Wu also gradually lost that sense of chaos and madness caused by long-term solitude and division.

Bai Wu could feel that his timing in coming to this world was critical.

Perhaps after a while... Hong Yin would have really changed.

...

...

Outside the archive room, after an unknown period, Wu Jiu finally heard the sound of the door opening.

"Is everything taken care of?"

"Yes... Hong Yin is still our friend."

Although Wu Jiu was blind, he still gave a look that said "as expected of you."

But sensing that Bai Wu’s mood was a bit off, Wu Jiu asked:

"What’s wrong?"

"I’ve discovered quite a lot of things. This world is actually very small, divided into several areas. These areas are more or less similar to the scenes we’ve experienced before, but not entirely the same," Bai Wu said with a solemn tone.

Wu Jiu understood and asked,

"So, the places we’ve explored before might reappear? But with an entirely different level of difficulty?"

"But if you think about it from another angle, at least we have an information advantage, don’t we? We could use this to get close to the Guardians of each area."

Wu Jiu’s comment made Bai Wu start.

The team captain with his thick eyebrows and big eyes has also learned this trick?

But he shook his head:

"It was because of Hong Yin that we avoided a disaster. Although she’s severely distorted, she still has a heart of goodness."

"But in other areas, that might not be useful."

Wu Jiu nodded.

Not all the Evil Fallen in each area had been strategized by Bai Wu with just a few words.

There might still be tough battles ahead.

"By the way, where is Hong Yin? She’s in the fourth block; shouldn’t we go and see her?" Wu Jiu said this out loud.

Bai Wu’s eyes dimmed:

"Let’s not, captain... She doesn’t want us to see her true form."

"Her true form?"

Wu Jiu knew that Hong Yin was an Evil Fallen, but in his memory, Hong Yin was still a girl in a red dress.

"She doesn’t want us to go there nor does she want us to take her away. She only said that if there’s a way to purify the distortion, to come back for her then."

Wu Jiu didn’t say much else.

Afterward, Bai Wu sat in silence outside the archive room.

He was still recalling what Hong Yin had said.

Everything seen inside the archive room was just Grudge Manifestation within the spiritual barrier.

But the real Hong Yin, in the fourth block, had already turned into some kind of distorted monster that defied description.

Her grudge filled the entire fourth block, and those materialized grudges outlined her bizarre form.

"Did the real me in the world outside look like what I imagined? Did she also have a nice dress?"

"Yes, she’s also very likable."

"I’m so envious of her... because I can never be like that anymore..."

These words pained Bai Wu.

"Let’s go, let’s head to the next area... If we don’t find the source of all this, the real me in the outside world will turn into what I am now, won’t she?"

"I envy her, but I don’t want her to become another me."

The monster that filled the entire fourth block had an appearance that instilled fear at a glance.

But her heart still had Hong Yin’s goodness in it.

Bai Wu nodded; he also didn’t want the Hong Yin from another world to end up like this.

In the end, the yellowed pages offered Bai Wu some enlightenment.

[You have eradicated the obsession of one of the four Guardians in another way. Your will has been strengthened.

Although toppling your will has become more difficult, I believe the next area will make you crumble.

After all, the first scene is always the tutorial scene.]

After these words appeared, Bai Wu felt an indescribable sensation.

It was as if the shackles of the book pages on him... lightened.

This meant that the yellowed pages had less influence over things.

In fact, if Bai Wu were to return to the real world, he would find his power beginning to transform, as his will started to affect some things.

But at this moment, while they were in the fifth layer of Well World, they couldn’t yet sense this change.

And in the next scene, there would no longer be a kind-hearted Hong Yin.