Chapter 1029: What is Reality

While Jenna was thinking fast about how to "get" that silver-white pocket watch from Zhou Mingrui's hand, Luo Shan suddenly spoke:

"I'll go."

*Uh... * Jenna and Lu Mian looked at Luo Shan at the same time.

Luo Shan revealed a "this is nothing" smile:

"I know Zhou Mingrui, have a friendship, are good colleagues, and am easier to approach him than you guys.

"Although he is also a bit suspicious of me now, knows I have extraordinary power, and has received my hints, overall, he should still think I belong to the friendly side, standing on the position of helping him, right? Is my analysis okay?"

Luo Shan revealed a side of not having much confidence in this kind of thing.

Without waiting for Lu Mian and Jenna to respond, she laughed at herself:

"Zhou Mingrui might be vigilant, might be on guard, but he absolutely wouldn't think that my goal is that pocket watch.

"And..."

Luo Shan paused and said:

"And you guys are outsiders. Even if you just stimulate Zhou Mingrui and are suspected by him, you might be kicked out, but I won't. I am a person here, at most I'll be careful afterward!"

"No, this is also very dangerous." Jenna reminded Luo Shan with a serious expression, "We haven't tried letting someone like you remind Zhou Mingrui or do something against him before. There is no way to predict the possible development and the worst ending. And from other similar things, maybe the light on the ceiling will suddenly fall, smashing on your head, smashing you to death, or, you just touch that pocket watch, and die suddenly on the spot."

Luo Shan's expression settled.

She nodded slowly:

"I know."

Without waiting for Jianna and Lu Mian to persuade her further, she suddenly asked in a low voice:

"What am I like in reality?"

While Lu Mian was observing the movements of Zhou Mingrui and Zhou Shasha, Jianna fell silent for two seconds and said:

"You are a clerical worker at the police station, and your father was also an official Beyonder who died in a supernatural disaster.

"She has a lively personality; although she is a bit lazy, she is well-liked by her colleagues. Everyone treats her like their own younger sister. She is married now and has a lovely child."

Luo Shan listened very attentively, and only after a few seconds did she say:

"Isn't this just another me...

"This is indeed another me..."

She looked at Jianna with flickering eyes and said, as if joking:

"If there is a chance to meet her, please help me tell her:

"I envy her very much..."

Hearing this, Jianna suddenly felt a sourness in her nose, emotions churning in her throat, making it difficult to speak.

Luo Shan slowly straightened her back:

"Also, please tell her that I have my own pride and experiences that she might envy."

Luo Shan's somewhat heavy expression gradually softened, as if she were speaking to herself:

"I have been reflecting every day during this time, reflecting on my past.

"My mother was so real, my interactions with her were so real, my father was also so real, his sacrifice was equally real, my childhood, my middle school, my high school, my university, my experiences after starting work—all the details, all the little things were also so real.

"I can recall the scent on my mother, the taste of her signature eggplant with pork; I can recall where my father's police uniform had a hole burned by a cigarette butt, and where he hid the snacks he bought for me...

"In your eyes, these are dreams, but to me, they couldn't be more real; they are the meaning of my existence.

"It is precisely because of these memories and this past that I feel I am real, no matter how you see it.

"Now, I am going to do the one thing I yearn for most; it will make me even more real, make my life more meaningful, no longer fake, not just someone else's dream!"

Before Jianna could speak, Lu Mian suddenly said:

"Good, you approach Zhou Mingrui and find an opportunity to steal that pocket watch."

Luo Shan was stunned for a moment, not expecting Lu Mian to agree so quickly.

In the blink of an eye, a smile appeared on her face, a smile carrying a bit of pride and attachment.

She looked at Jianna and asked in a soft voice:

"If, if the dream shatters later and you leave alive, will you remember me? Will you remember that there was such a Luo Shan, and remember the things I did?"

Jianna's vision blurred instantly, and she said with a choked voice:

"I will, I will always remember that I had a friend named Luo Shan. She was lively and kind, and although she was a bit lazy and a girl who always missed her mother, she was full of a sense of justice, just like her father..."

Luo Shan smiled, very gratified:

"This means I truly lived, and my life is real."

She took a deep breath and pointed in the direction of Zhou Mingrui and Zhou Shasha:

"I have to go quickly; they are almost at the parking lot entrance for the ride-hailing car."

"Okay." Lu Mian and Jianna could only respond briefly.

Luo Shan took a step outward, then suddenly turned around and flashed a brilliant smile at Jianna and Lu Mian.

She said, a bit nervous but quite yearning:

"I can also be a guardian."

Without waiting for Lu Mian and Jianna to respond, she, wearing a shirt and skirt, turned her body and ran toward Zhou Mingrui and Zhou Shasha in the distance.

She used her "Reporter" ability slightly, moving at high speed, as light and agile as a little deer.

Lu Mian watched Luo Shan's back and whispered that sentence she had just said:

"Guardian..."

…………

Red Moon Hospital.

Inside a ward with the curtains drawn, which still appeared somewhat dim at noon.

Anthony used the "Ice Mirror Charm" that still had one "Mirror Travel" effect left and emerged with Ludwig from the mirror in the bathroom.

Walking to the bedside, Anthony examined An Xiaotian—whose head had multiple centipede-like stitches and whose face was covered in thick, black stubble—for a few seconds, then asked Ludwig:

"Can you heal him?"

"I don't know, I'll only know after trying." Ludwig plucked a golden mushroom from the corner of his cracked eye, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it.

Regarding whether the spore-healing ability extracted from the mushroom could awaken An Xiaotian, he was currently uncertain; this was not in the Gourmet's knowledge base.

Anthony looked around, took out a blank sketchbook and a pencil, and began sketching rapidly on the ward's TV table.

Not long after, he completed a drawing.

The content of the drawing was a complex maze, but every path in the maze seemed to lead nowhere.

Tearing off this sketch and putting away the remaining five pages of the blank sketchbook, Anthony carefully went to the ward door, applied his "Psychological Invisibility" ability, pulled open a gap, and stuck the drawing to the outside of the door.

The drawing suddenly became illusory and sank inward, merging with the ward door.

After finishing this, Anthony observed the passing nurses and patients, retreated back into the ward, and closed the door.

Only then did he say to Ludwig:

"Start the treatment."

Ludwig hesitated slightly, took small steps to An Xiaotian's bedside, and pressed both hands onto the head that had been shaved clean, was inserted with many instruments, and had multiple hideous wounds.

The next second, a damp and fresh feeling radiated from Ludwig's body, making the surrounding area seem to turn into a forest after the rain.

Anthony waited patiently as every second ticked by.

Suddenly, he saw bumps trying to drill out from under the skin of An Xiaotian's face, only to shrink back quickly, occasionally shifting a few centimeters.

On the monitor screen, data such as heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation changed instantly.

It's effective, but I don't know if it's enough... Anthony subconsciously held his breath.

Then, he used "Pacify" on himself to calm his mood.

After another ten or twenty seconds, Anthony didn't know if he was hallucinating, but he felt the dimness in the ward had deepened a little.

Just then, he saw bumps on An Xiaotian's face and head suddenly surge, breaking through the skin and flesh, and growing out.

They were thumb-sized mushrooms of all kinds: some with flesh-like textures, some fluffy and white and tender, some overflowing with white liquid—all sorts, too many to count.

These mushrooms grew rapidly outward, constantly getting larger, eventually turning An Xiaotian's head into a cluster of mushrooms, with only his eyes, nostrils, and mouth not covered.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The data on the monitor fluctuated violently and sounded an alarm.

Several nurses at the nurse station ran over immediately, some leading the way, some pushing treatment carts.

After they opened the corresponding ward door, what appeared before them was not the bathroom on the side and the end of the bed, but a long corridor, a corridor leading to an unknown place.

There were many unmarked doors along this corridor.

Normally, the nurses should have retreated outside the door to confirm if they had gone to the wrong place, but they ignored everything, running forward wildly, constantly opening different doors to find the real ward entrance.

Amidst the alarm sounds, Anthony clearly felt the ward become even dimmer, and some kind of hidden, dangerous, and obscure aura began to echo here.

Ludwig retracted his hands, retreated to Anthony's side, looked at the mushroom-covered An Xiaotian, licked his lips, and said:

"Effective."

Just as he finished speaking, the comatose An Xiaotian suddenly sat straight up.

Zzzzt, the lights, TV, monitoring equipment, and other electrical appliances in the ward simultaneously emitted a clear electrical sound, an electrical sound that even the beeping alarm couldn't cover.

At this moment, An Xiaotian, who had sat straight up, opened his eyes, revealing a pair of pitch-black, world-weary, and slightly hollow eyes.

Compared to the mushrooms covering An Xiaotian's head, this appeared very normal and rational.

An Xiaotian opened his mouth, spat out many tiny spores, and made a hoarse sound:

"Be careful..."

At the same time as hearing this word, Anthony and Ludwig suddenly felt the environment become abnormally oppressive, and the surrounding dimness gradually became like substance, truly submerging and crowding them out.

With Anthony's mental state and emotional management level, he couldn't help but shiver at this moment, wanting to escape the ward.

The next second, An Xiaotian's voice became sharp and shrill:

"Be careful of Zhou Mingrui!"

(End of chapter)