Under the efficient action of the professional team, the hospital ward was quickly cleaned up.

Of course, it was only a preliminary cleanup, including gathering the bodies and removing most of the obvious bloodstains — later, a more cautious and thorough "aftermath management" will be needed here, during which higher-level experts in mysticism will perform spiritual vision observation and assessment on the entire room to ensure that no dangerous pollution remains, but that's for a later time.

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood followed the tall "Director" back into the ward.

There was still some finishing work to be done here.

A strange cool and chilly scent wafted through the air, a smell from the chemical mist sprayed by the cleanup team. Meanwhile, a Special Service Bureau officer wearing a yellow protective suit was placing a small silver-white device in the center of the room. At the top of the device floated a hexagonal prism structure embedded with a blue crystal; every piece of crystal on the prism's surface would occasionally emit a slight clicking sound as it rotated. Moreover, two armed officers wearing light armor stood vigilantly at the door, faces tense.

The headless body in front of the desk had already been taken away, and two staff members were checking other traces left by the deceased. Yu Sheng saw them carefully placing a blood-stained notebook into a sample box, which was precisely the notebook that "Sun Chen" kept writing in continuously in the afterlife.

"Wait a moment," Yu Sheng suddenly called the staff to stop, stepped up, and reached out for the notebook, "Let me see it."

The two staff members looked at each other and subconsciously glanced at the Director beside them.

The fish in the water swayed its fins, and a soft magnetic voice emanated from the speaker: "Let him see it. He has direct authorization from the bureau chief for the investigation."

Yu Sheng picked up the notebook. The nearby staff seemed to want to remind him about protecting evidence and preventing contamination, but quickly noticed the Director's gesture of consent (though they didn't quite understand how they noticed). So they pulled their colleague aside silently.

Yu Sheng paid no mind to those around him but casually flipped through the records in the notebook. He felt a small body grabbing onto his pant leg, climbing up, and soon Erin's small head came close, looking alongside him.

The pages were filled with chaotic and complicated symbols and equations, far beyond Yu Sheng's understanding of "mathematics." These things appeared to be some sort of "calculation," but upon close observation, he realized that there wasn't a single normal, logical mathematical symbol on them.

It was more like someone had been immersed in a frenzied and confusing dream realm for many years, and in a slowly awakening dazed state, their hands were entirely guided by subconscious hallucinations and hysteria, barely able to scrawl a "language" not belonging to this world.

The symbols written in the notebook were even more chaotic than those on the surrounding walls.

"How long would it take for a person to fill this much of a notebook, and also write on the walls, floor, even bedding?" Yu Sheng suddenly asked.

"If they neither eat nor drink nor sleep, it might only take a day or two — perhaps even less," the Director said from beside him. "A normal person would be limited by fatigue and mental capacity, but clearly, the person in question was not normal when they wrote these things."

Yu Sheng acknowledged with a sound, then suddenly turned his head to the puppet on his shoulder: "Erin, can you... understand it?"

He asked subconsciously, curiously observing the little puppet's expression.

He saw Erin actually studying those bewildering "formulas" earnestly.

The little puppet widened her eyes as she looked at the notebook in Yu Sheng's hand. She examined it closely for a long time, then jumped onto his arm, almost laying herself on the pages. After a series of thoughtful "ohs" and "ahs," she climbed back onto Yu Sheng's shoulder, pinched her chin, and pondered for a few seconds, finally looking up confidently: "I don't understand it at all!"

Truth be told, Yu Sheng's heart almost leaped out of his chest the second before she spoke. When she finally answered, his heart figuratively hit his appendix with a thud. Yu Sheng felt a bit helpless: "You don't understand, yet you were making all sorts of noises. I nearly thought you were recalling memories of a past life…"

"I thought I was about to awaken too!" Erin's eyes were wide, "In most stories, it unfolds like this. The atmosphere and clues are all set; the female protagonist with a load of secrets opens the blood-stained notebook — the movie BGM should be kicking in, so I was just building up the atmosphere. How was I supposed to know nothing would happen in the end..."

Yu Sheng sighed twice heavily, restraining the urge to toss the little thing on his shoulder out the window. He closed the notebook while Erin muttered beside his ear: "...Maybe it's about the BGM? How about opening the door and bringing the Mermaid over, let her hum a suspenseful tune, and I can take another look..."

"I think as long as you keep this mindset, we'll never have to worry about you awakening past life memories," Yu Sheng handed the notebook back to the staff, glanced at the little puppet, "Alright, stop your jabbering, you're just adding to the chaos here."

"Oh," Erin responded, paused for a moment, then patted Yu Sheng's head, "Is that a compliment? I mean, about the mindset part..."

Yu Sheng was already too exhausted to deal with this little thing...

About ten minutes later, they returned to the entrance hall of Jinglin Sanatorium.

"I'm very sorry, this incident is my responsibility," the tall "Director" stood at the main entrance, the goldfish inside the fishbowl on his head lying dejectedly at the bottom, "I will report to the bureau chief about what happened here. If there are any developments in the subsequent investigation, I will contact you immediately."

"Indeed, this needs thorough investigation, though... it's all a bit too coincidental," having the lead abruptly cut off was naturally frustrating for Yu Sheng, and besides this frustration, he felt a vague unease, "Based on what we know, Sun Chen first came into contact with the suspected source of contamination three years ago. For a long time thereafter, except for having nightmares, he wasn't overly affected by this 'knowledge'... As I've said before, there's no reason for the situation to suddenly worsen, there must be some kind of trigger in between."

"I understand," the tall figure stood upright, the fish in the fishbowl made a bowing gesture, "No matter who it is, if they indeed reached into this sanatorium, they must pay the price."

...

Yu Sheng and his group left the sanatorium and followed the path through the gloomy, misty woods again, entering a shortcut back to Boundary City through a giant "tree hole" deep in the woods.

As the Shadow Wolf swiftly traversed the tunnel, Little Red Riding Hood, riding on the wolf, came alongside Yu Sheng.

"Do you think there's a 'conspiracy' behind all this?" she asked curiously, "Do you think that 'Sun Chen' was murdered?"

"I'm just suspicious," Yu Sheng nodded, "Regarding evidence... there's nothing decisive, the only suspicious point I mentioned earlier is that the victim mentioned a 'melody,' which seems to have activated the 'knowledge' in his mind, initiating his calculations — this appears to be a trigger appearing out of nowhere."

Little Red Riding Hood frowned: "… Do you think someone could sneak into Jinglin Sanatorium, bypass all the surveillance and security, and secretly get close to Sun Chen to 'play' some kind of 'melody' for him?"

"How would I know? I don't really understand how capable this 'Jinglin Sanatorium' is," Yu Sheng replied candidly. "But from a common-sense perspective, this would be quite difficult to pull off. Although the 'director' doesn't seem easy to gauge, this facility is still a Special Service Bureau unit, and its security is no joke."

Little Red Riding Hood pressed her lips, hesitated a bit, then asked: "So what next? Do you have any plans, going home to wait for news? Or…"

"… Let's head to that 'Dark Alley' once more."

"To the Dark Alley again?"

"The lead on 'Sun Chen' is broken. Unless the 'director' finds something useful from Sun Chen's belongings, we shouldn't expect any other clues about the Broken Tower for now," said Yu Sheng. "In that case, why not try our luck in the Dark Alley again—this time with Erin."

"That could work… Should we call the King along?"

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, call him. We'll probably have to deal with the 'cat' in the Dark Alley."

He suddenly paused, as if he had just remembered something, and added: "Ah, speaking of that, we can also bring someone else."

Little Red Riding Hood looked curious: "Huh? Who to bring?"

"The travel agency's trailblazer, master explorer of Exotic Realms, born to be a force—our dear nephew!"

Little Red Riding Hood: "… Can we really do that?!"

Yu Sheng: "Just say whether you want to try it or not!"

"Well, that's true."

…

"Brother Li, why do I suddenly feel a bit cold?"

Sitting at the curb next to No. 66 Wutong Road eating boxed lunch with Li Lin, Zheng Zhi suddenly raised his hand to touch his neck and turned his head to speak.

"The wind's picked up, and it's getting colder these days," Li Lin said as he shoveled rice, looking up at the sky. "It should get colder; it's been hot for so many days."

"Oh," Zheng Zhi muttered, taking another couple of bites of his meal and suddenly seeing Li Lin stand up. "Hey, Brother Li, where are you going?"

"I'm going back inside to get a can of Coke."

"Hey, grab one for me too…"

"Lazybones… a cold one?"

"Cold, thank you, Brother Li!"

Zheng Zhi happily thanked him, watching Li Lin get up and walk to the small room nearby to get something, then put another piece of fried chicken into his mouth as he casually looked around.

Then his gaze was suddenly drawn to a long trench on the road not far away.

It was where Erin usually polished the Omen Wandering Star on the open ground outside.

The little puppet had some strength (although it couldn't beat Hu Li and Luna), and her stone ball was really durable—over time, it was quite normal for a trench to form on the ground.

Zheng Zhi stared at the trench for a few seconds and then suddenly got up curiously, carrying his boxed lunch in one hand as he walked over.

"… What is this thing?"

He frowned in confusion, looking at the faint black threads drifting out from the trench.

One of the threads floated gently and landed on his arm.

It was chilly—it chilled him to the bone.

All around suddenly seemed to become particularly dark.

"… I haven't even finished my food and now this damn thing brings me where?!"

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