"Old Xiao, looks like I'll be staying at your place for a few days." The dark-skinned man forced a smile at the corner of his mouth.

He didn't have any items from the local world, so he could only hitch a ride.

He had already decided on this earlier!

This time back, he wouldn't meet his family in person!

Just making a video call and saying a few words would be enough to satisfy him.

Otherwise, he was afraid he wouldn't have the courage to return to this purgatory.

At this very moment, he felt it would be just fine to die in the real world before the three days were up.

However, Xu Lang had promised him a huge wave of resources, and after safely returning, he could even use the Astral Foundation again...

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, and a spark of vitality reignited in his eyes.

"Hahaha, no problem, my wife's cooking is great!" The bald man laughed heartily and asked Xu Lang, "Lang Ge, we just need to step onto the platform now, right?"

"Go ahead." Xu Lang casually replied while tossing and catching a strange black box in his hand.

The two men stepped onto the stone platform almost simultaneously.

Immediately, the bald man said to Xu Lang, "Lang Ge, the system prompt is here, asking me to select an anchor point coordinate, and it's asking if I want to sacrifice a cost for teleportation!"

He was speaking to Xu Lang, but the dark-skinned man had already teleported away.

Seeing this scene, the bald man grew anxious.

"Teleport." Xu Lang nodded. "Be careful."

"Okay!" The bald man responded, his gaze involuntarily drawn to the box in Xu Lang's hand.

It was a mysterious black box. Its lacquered surface was old and worn, its opening seemingly half-open and half-closed, inexplicably exuding a sense of mockery, like a demon's smile.

Bald man Xiao Yi vanished, leaving the Blood Mist World.

The group stood in place for a long time, all of them somewhat unable to process what had just happened.

They really left...

"Wait, wait for them to return in three days." Li Shuwen sighed.

...

Xu Lang returned to his dormitory, swept through the facilities, then entered the Fusion Dream, transforming all these facilities into Nightmare Essence.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered trying the Astral Foundation once in a Simulation Dream, but he couldn't afford that dream...

The current price was ten thousand per attempt, and there were also restrictions on location and time.

The higher the level of the simulated subject, the higher the simulation cost naturally became.

And if the simulated subject was not the Nightmare Lord himself, the simulation cost would also skyrocket.

Ten thousand Nightmare Essence to simulate once, Xu Lang actually felt that was cheap.

If the entire real world was truly to be included within the simulation scope, then one would really have to weave a dream of immense proportions.

[Total Nightmare Essence: 3880]

"Sigh, they say I'm rich, but actually I'm still poor. I can't even buy out all the facilities in the supermarket." Xu Lang muttered. "Buying is ultimately not as cost-effective as seizing. I hope Twilight Building doesn't disappoint me."

Tomorrow, Twilight Building and Mad King Building would form a community.

Xu Lang had also inquired about its information.

It couldn't be said its reputation was good; it was truly notorious.

These past few days, new players had moved into Mad King Building, and their Experience wasn't low, greatly supplementing the knowledge and perspectives of Mad King Building's players.

Twilight Building was a "Monster Building."

Ninety-nine percent of those inside were Monster Players. It was said that whenever they encountered powerful or unmanageable monsters, they would find a way to recruit them.

This was one of Twilight Building's operational styles.

Over time, the monsters inside grew more and more numerous.

"The style of a dormitory building can be discerned from its name."

"Twilight symbolizes many things, but usually not good ones."

"Either it's demons and monsters emerging, or it's an omen of the apocalypse."

"And Twilight Building's building style is indeed brutal."

"It's just unknown if there will be corresponding restrictive rules after the community is established. If there are no rules, then Twilight Building's players are no different from monsters."

After much deliberation, Xu Lang still felt it necessary to enhance his own strength.

After pondering for a long time, Xu Lang successively tore up skill scrolls like "Inner Light's Return," "Thunderclap Blade," "Summon Souls and Call Shades," "Ash-Burning Soul Destruction Technique," "Pan-Human All-Language Proficiency," "Master-Level Driving Proficiency," "Reasoning," "Deductive Method"...

In short, as long as he felt it was useful, whether it was a passive skill or an active skill, he learned them all!

For a moment, a massive amount of knowledge flooded into Xu Lang's mind.

But he didn't feel the slightest discomfort; on the contrary, he felt relaxed and at ease.

The brain capacity occupied by these skills didn't even reach one-tenth.

Finally, he thought of the Sixth Sense that had been fused away. After a flurry of activity, he fused together another perception-type skill that was still somewhat decent.

[Ancient Mind's Eye]

[Type: Passive Skill]

[Level: 10]

[Rarity: Excellent]

[Effect: Perceives everything happening within fifty meters]

[Introduction: Close your eyes, and you will see a larger world]

...

"I'm home, I'm home, I'm finally home!!!" Xiao Yi weaved through the colorful high-rise buildings, laughing maniacally with his head thrown back.

"So beautiful, so beautiful, this world is truly so beautiful!"

"Hua Hua, Daddy's back, where are you? Did Mommy take you to school!"

"Eh, why can't Daddy move?"

"Haha, so it's you, little troublemaker, hugging me!"

"You're so strong!"

"That's Daddy's stuff, don't touch it, hehehe... There's a surprise inside for you. Didn't Daddy not let you eat candy before? This time I brought it for you from over there, a level ten Rare lollipop, super expensive!"

"Wait, Douyin says parents shouldn't talk about money with kids, it adds pressure to them!"

"Sorry, sorry, Daddy was wrong!"

"..."

Inside a sealed room, on a hospital bed, Xiao Yi, wearing a straitjacket, laughed uproariously.

Ever since he returned to the real world, the smile on his face hadn't stopped.

Outside the bulletproof glass, a group of people in white coats observed from a distance, holding paper and pens.

They were provincial team doctors, specially recruited by the military after the Blood Mist outbreak.

Today, two madmen in the city suddenly injured people. One was killed on the spot by the security team, and the other was now lying on this bed.

Ordinary injury incidents, of course, couldn't alarm them.

The key was that these two madmen both possessed extraordinary power.

"Professor Shen, we've looked up information on these two."

Several military doctors hurried over, addressing an elderly man wearing a mask.

"The deceased is Wu Quan. This man is called Xiao Yi. Both were missing persons before the Blood Mist outbreak."

Professor Shen glanced over the information, his brow deeply furrowed.

Neither of them had any history of mental illness.

Therefore, their abnormal power and mental state were likely two sides of the same coin.

Now the military was worried about one issue: that the two had contracted a "madness disease," and this disease had given them powerful strength.

If this disease was also contagious...

The consequences would be unimaginable!

"Open the door." Professor Shen said to the armed guard at the door.

"No, orders from above. What if those two are carrying something contagious..." When the armed guard mentioned contagion, a flicker of fear passed through his eyes.

A month ago, a person walked out of the Blood Mist, bringing out a source of contagion. In less than three days, it led to the complete collapse of an entire shelter!

That was nearly one million people!

"If it were truly contagious, with so many people on the streets at the time, they would have been infected long ago!" Professor Shen said gravely. "Notify the higher-ups for me."

"Okay." The armed guard breathed a sigh of relief.

He was afraid Professor Shen would force his way in.

Over ten minutes later, a man with a slovenly, careless demeanor walked over, a woman in his arms.

This was a superhuman sent from above to protect Professor Shen's safety.

Opening the ward door, Professor Shen and the group entered, immediately hooking Xiao Yi up to a bunch of instruments and drawing blood.

A young male doctor held a camera, taking photos of Xiao Yi's face, his heart trembling with fear.

He saw Xiao Yi's mouth stretched almost to his ears, his wide-open eyes completely bloodshot, as if they had never closed.

And that was indeed the case.

Earlier, while observing from outside, they hadn't seen Xiao Yi close his eyelids once.

This completely defied common sense. No matter how mentally abnormal you are, you can't defy this physiological instinct, yet Xiao Yi had done precisely that!

Inconceivable!

Suddenly, this male doctor put down the camera and stared closely at Xiao Yi's eyes.

"Professor Shen, it seems there's something inside the patient's eyes... It looks, looks like a box?"