Chapter 9: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

Behind the White Gate was a staircase descending downward, at the end of which stood another white gate.

As Wu Chang stepped onto the staircase, his vision blurred, and an inexplicable hallucination surged toward him—composed of countless fragmented images, chaotic, jumping, insane, like the visions that erupt in a madman's mind just before total mental collapse.

He shook his head violently and broke free from the hallucination through sheer willpower.

The instant he regained his senses, he noticed a red key embedded in the wall beside him.

Someone had placed the key to the fourth floor of the sanatorium here.

To ensure this, they had set up a trial.

If one's will was not strong enough to break free from the mirror illusion, they would wander the corridor in a daze and never notice the red key on the wall.

It seemed his will had passed the test.

He stored the key in his personal space and hurried to the white gate below, pushing it open.

Beyond the door was a room resembling an examination chamber, where a refined middle-aged man in a white coat sat behind a desk, writing out prescription after prescription.

Wu Chang's heart dropped—dammit, he'd walked right into a trap.

No one told him the door led to the night doctor's on-call room—now he'd broken hospital rules and been caught red-handed; hopefully the punishment wouldn't be too severe.

Hearing the door open, the man looked up—and when he saw it was Wu Chang, not the familiar Jinton, his brow furrowed unconsciously.

"Who are you?"

Wu Chang stole a glance at the doctor's nameplate and replied meekly: "Hello, Doctor Wolf, I'm the new patient."

Doctor Wolf's gaze swept over Wu Chang, and Wu Chang suddenly remembered something—he instinctively covered the Traveler's Talisman hanging at his waist.

"Did you kill Jinton?"

The moment Doctor Wolf spoke, the room's temperature plunged to freezing.

Doctor Wolf's question carried no emotion—neither sorrow nor anger could be discerned. Wu Chang froze in place, his meek expression locked, unsure whether to answer truthfully or strike first—pull out Silver Dawn and blow Doctor Wolf's head off.

Now it was Wu Chang's turn to break into a cold sweat.

After a brief silence, he quickly assessed the situation: whatever lay beyond the White Gate made even seasoned doctor-tier experts wary; launching an attack now would be unwise.

"Jinton lost the bet."

It was the truth—but only part of it; the rest was left for Doctor Wolf to fill in himself.

"That's wonderful!"

Upon hearing of his acquaintance's death, Doctor Wolf didn't rage—he beamed with radiant delight, as if he'd just heard the best news imaginable.

At that moment, a whistling sound came from behind the office—the kettle had boiled.

"My medicine's ready. Come with me—we'll talk as we go."

Doctor Wolf opened a door behind him and warmly beckoned Wu Chang.

Passing through the office, they entered a vast cavern—contrary to the tidy office, the cavern was crude, like the nest of some giant insect.

Upon entering the cavern, Doctor Wolf's body began to tremble—his skin swelled rapidly, tore open, and his entire form inflated like a balloon, his lower torso transforming into a bloated, pus-covered wriggling worm.

In mere seconds, the refined middle-aged doctor became a half-man, half-insect monster.

"Sorry," Doctor Wolf scratched his head with his transformed insect limb, his blood-red eyes showing regret. "The scent in the pharmaceutical room is too intoxicating—it makes it hard for me to control myself."

"It's all Jinton and his kind's fault—they brought this damned delusion, turning me into this. Hope I didn't scare you."

Wu Chang shook his head, speaking in an encouraging tone: "Doctor Wolf, you've been out of circulation too long—you don't know modern society embraces多元 aesthetics. The idea that 'only looking human is normal' is outdated. Your current form is the true definition of beauty—if you went to Bai Ta, you'd easily win a beauty pageant."

"Beauty pageant…contestant?"

"Of course. In Bai Ta, aesthetics aren't defined—and neither is gender. For example, my gender is an armed helicopter."

"Huh?" Doctor Wolf was utterly baffled, staring at Wu Chang as if the monster wasn't him but Wu Chang.

What the hell was this kid doing—mocking him, or had the surface world already collapsed into delusion? Only when they reached the deepest part of the cavern did Doctor Wolf snap out of his daze.

At the cavern's rear, a massive metal cauldron sat over a fire, its pale yellow medicinal broth boiling violently.

Doctor Wolf turned off the flame, skillfully poured the broth onto gauze, squeezed out the moisture, leaving behind a pale yellow clump of medicinal powder, which he placed into a metal bowl.

Then he grabbed a sack from the corner, scooped out a large handful of colorful herbs, and stuffed them into his mouth to chew.

Under the herbs' effect, colorful pustules sprouted across Doctor Wolf's bloated worm-body—he squeezed them open, letting pus drip into the metal bowl, then ground the pus and medicinal powder together with a pestle, placing the mixture into an oven.

Next, he retrieved a tray of pre-dried medicinal powder from the oven, sifted it twice through a fine mesh, and filled pre-made capsules with it.

Wu Chang, having witnessed the entire process, stared at the familiar capsules, his scalp prickling: "Doctor Wolf, what exactly are you doing?"

Doctor Wolf replied as if it were obvious: "Making medicine. Didn't you see before you came in? This is the pharmaceutical room."

Looking at Doctor Wolf's multicolored pustules, Wu Chang felt his stomach churn—he was glad he hadn't eaten the sanatorium's special medicine yet. He really wanted to ask who the hell had taught him to make medicine like this.

Doctor Wolf placed the finished capsules into a vial and turned to ask: "Where were we?"

Wu Chang: "You were saying Jinton and the others turned you into this."

"Thank you very much."

Doctor Wolf looked down at Wu Chang and spoke slowly: "You're unfamiliar. As an outsider who made it here, you must be a Treasure Hunter, right?"

"You could say that." Wu Chang didn't know what a Treasure Hunter was, but since Doctor Wolf showed no hostility, he went along with it.

"Too bad—the 'Cursed Gold' you're seeking doesn't exist. It's all a scam. You and we—we've all been fooled."

Doctor Wolf sighed, recounting the town's past in a nostalgic tone.

The place where Moonlight Sanatorium stands is called Bai Shi Town—a village nearly as old as the kingdom itself, long governed by the Anderson family.

Originally, Bai Shi Town was Bai Shi Domain.

The Anderson patriarch, a peasant by origin, earned this land through legendary battlefield exploits.

His descendants, through generations of relentless effort, successfully transformed the vast domain into a small town.

But it remained a town on the brink of bankruptcy.

The dire financial state forced the Anderson family to seek aid from neighboring regions—but in opening their doors for help, they also let a wolf into their home.

The Vino family of Forest City, owning dozens of large factories, possessed staggering wealth and exceptional business acumen; they claimed to be moved by Bai Shi Town's long history and unwilling to see it decline, so they offered assistance.

Under the magic of gold coins, the Vino family quickly took control of Bai Shi Town, building factories, prospecting for minerals, and establishing schools and churches there.

For a time, the town flourished, and the townspeople's lives grew prosperous.

But in truth, all of this was a conspiracy.

Beyond their identity as wealthy merchants, the Vino family held another layer: they were members of the Quiet Church, a group of fanatics living in an industrial society yet devoted to mysticism and magic.

The remote Bai Shi Town was the Quiet Church's testing ground.

Through their covert manipulation, the town's water and air became polluted, the townspeople's constitutions deteriorated, and illnesses plagued them constantly.

To escape their ailments, they had no choice but to turn to the Church, gradually accepting the Quiet Church.

Under the Quiet Church's guidance, their minds began to be corrupted, contracting a contagious mental illness called Delusion Syndrome.

As the illness worsened, the afflicted gradually went mad and began attacking others.

To contain the spread of the disease, Randy Anderson and Wolf, who had returned from studying medicine in the capital, converted the town's oldest cathedral into the Moonlight Sanatorium.

Hearing this, Wu Chang looked up at Wolf and asked in surprise: "So you're one of the builders of the Moonlight Sanatorium?"

Seeing Wu Chang's astonishment, Wolf's face showed no pride, only sorrow as he said:

"I am also one of the creators of this tragedy. Randy and I were both wrong—mysticism truly exists. The Quiet Church used the gathered Delusion Syndrome patients to complete a terrifying magical experiment!"

"They succeeded. With the power gained from the experiment, they sealed off this sanatorium, torturing the patients within, twisting their minds and bodies into inhuman monsters. Like…"

"Like me."

"I became this way because I investigated too deeply and was discovered. They've been sending Ginton to spy on me ever since."

Wu Chang stared at Wolf's worm-like body and asked: "Does Director Randy know you've become like this?"

Wolf shook his head. "Since the sanatorium was sealed, Randy hasn't left the fourth floor. I suspect his condition isn't better, but he's our last hope."

"Poor, pitiful outsider—you're now caught in this too. To escape, you must help me! I can't tell which medical staff are Quiet Church believers. I can only trust outsiders like you."

"The Quiet Church has seized the power of a demon god and is using it to warp reality. You must make Randy know the Quiet Church's conspiracy—and stop all of this!"

After speaking passionately, Wolf waited a moment—but heard no response from Wu Chang.

He scratched his back with his insect-like limbs and asked: "Outsider, is there something on my back that has you staring so intently?"

Wu Chang looked at the pale red resentment where Wolf's insect limbs scratched and replied: "Nothing."

Looking at the last words within the resentment, then at Wolf's sincere expression and natural tone, he clicked his tongue.

Old actor—he might have believed this monster was a tragic hero if not for the resentment's hidden message.

His gaze fixed on the resentment, and a simple final message surfaced within it:

"Never thought you, a bearded pharmacist with such an honest face, were also a demon god worshipper. Wait—Priest, don't strike! We're on the same side!"

(End of Chapter)