"Yu Hong, why are you still asleep?"

At that moment, a familiar voice rang in Yu Hong's ears.

Under the dim light, he was momentarily stunned, quickly looking around.

He found himself alone in the cave, with no living souls outside and nothing but shadows.

"Who is it?" He crawled out of his sleeping bag, alertly grabbing a silver amulet, glancing around cautiously.

"Why have you been sleeping for so long without waking up? Didn't you say we were going to have a team-building exercise? Everyone found you sleeping at home, unable to wake, so they took you to the hospital. You've been lying there for two days! Luckily, you're making some noise now; otherwise, the hospital would have had to call in specialists for you—this is a rare case," the voice continued.

Yu Hong began to inspect every corner of the cave, trying to locate the source of the voice.

However, much to his disappointment, there was nothing around.

The voice gradually faded, becoming weaker, much like a radio signal losing reception.

"Chen Huiru? Is that you?" He recalled the voice belonging to his closest female colleague at the office.

"Yes! It's me! It's only been two days, and you act like you don't recognize me. Can you see me? Can you see my hand?" Chen Huiru said, followed by the sound of her waving.

"Can you see my hand?" she repeated.

"It seems lying down too long has affected your sight," Chen Huiru said, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Don't worry, the company will reimburse eighty percent of Little Yu's medical expenses. This rare condition is taken seriously by the hospital's expert panel, and they are actively discussing specific treatment plans," a male colleague chimed in.

"Can you see anything? This is a bit troubling," a third voice spoke from nearby.

"Everyone needs to put the gifts by the bedside. A check-up is about to happen. The patient needs to rest; visiting hours are over," an impatient female voice, likely a nurse, interjected.

"Nurse, can you tell me how my friend is doing?" Chen Huiru asked.

"He’s okay, but you all need to be careful. Patients often dream they see doctors and nurses as monsters, and they might even sleepwalk and hit people, so watch out for safety," the nurse replied curtly.

Yu Hong stood in his safe space, listening to the ceaseless voices around him, his expression unchanged.

He poured himself a cup of water and drank it down, trying to figure out what was happening with these voices.

"The patient is trapped in their imaginary world, unwilling to return to reality. It helps for you to check on him periodically; it can assist in his recovery," the nurse's voice continued to echo, fading in and out.

"Yes, we understand."

"We'll visit whenever we can."

"Oh, such a young man, Little Yu truly..."

A group of colleagues soon left, their footsteps fading.

Yu Hong stepped to the entrance, gazing out at the rain still pouring down, feeling a sense of chaos in his heart.

'Was that really Yu Ren just now?' he wondered. 'Or perhaps I’m truly just dreaming in my unconscious state? Is everything in front of me merely a figment of my imagination?'

He reached out, gently touching the wooden door.

Its rough texture and cold hardness made him truly aware of the world's reality.

Withdrawing his hand, he started a fire to cook something to eat.

The bright flames danced, releasing waves of warmth that filled the cave.

As he added more firewood, suddenly, his hand grasped nothing as he tried to reach for more.

He turned to see that the pile of firewood had already been depleted.

"There's no dry wood left," he sighed.

"Yes, it seems there's no wood," Chen Huiru's voice echoed in his ears.

Yu Hong froze, quickly looking around, yet there was still nothing to be found; he remained alone in the cave.

"He seems to be talking in his sleep again," another nurse remarked.

"The doctor said, for cases like his, only he can wake himself from the dream to regain consciousness."

"How can he wake up? Sometimes it seems amusing, yet after a while, it feels rather pitiful," Chen Huiru's voice replied.

"In a few days, he will undergo surgery. The morning's test reports confirmed that he is affected by a peculiar tumor in his brain, which is why he can't wake up. As long as they remove the tumor, he should recover quickly," the nurse said.

Yu Hong, expressionless, leaned against the side of the fireplace, listening quietly to the voices.

Before long, everything quieted down.

The voices of the nurse and Chen Huiru gradually faded, replaced by a faint sound of rustling.

It sounded like something was being cut, a rustle that was somewhat grating to the ears.

As the cutting continued, he also heard Chen Huiru’s soft humming.

"I’m here to see you again. This time, I brought you some fruit. You're going to have surgery soon; I don’t know if it’s dangerous, but you must cooperate with the treatment and strive to get better soon."

Listening to the voice, Yu Hong took a bowl of food he had prepared and picked up a red value detector.

He had managed to gather a few of these during previous encounters and now kept them all with him.

The red value still showed the same quiet stability.

He set down the detector, stood up, and walked to the door, opening the small window for viewing.

Outside, the rain continued to pour, the mist making it hard to see anything clearly.

He stood quietly at the door, unmoving, staring outside at the rain.

In the post office, inside a stone house basement.

Li Runshan held his daughter Aisenna, sitting in one of the bright bedrooms, reading a book.

"Daddy, I think I just heard Uncle Yu Hong knocking on the door," Aisenna suddenly turned and asked.

"That’s not related to us. You must have misheard," Li Runshan replied with a smile.

"But I really heard it!" Aisenna asserted.

"Hearing it doesn’t mean we can respond. Right now, the Language Spirit has suddenly contaminated our area; we can't reply to any sounds. If we respond, we will be infected," Li Runshan sighed.

"The Language Spirit is a malevolent shadow that is usually undetectable through red value changes; it continuously accumulates, creating a vision of one’s most desired reality, making one believe everything in front of them is false. Only by leaving this place can they return to normal."

"That sounds terrifying," Aisenna said, shrinking back a bit in fear.

"I originally intended to leave a note for Little Yu, but..."

Li Runshan shook his head, recalling the scene he had just seen, his pupils constricting involuntarily.

Earlier, just over ten minutes ago.

With a thud.

Outside the stone house, Li Runshan heard shouting and quickly rushed to the surface, peeking through the window with a crumpled note in his hand, throwing it out the window with a forceful toss.

The paper balled up and hit Yu Hong as he stood outside the yard.

Yet, to Li Runshan's astonishment, Yu Hong remained expressionless, as if he had not seen the paper land right in front of him, continuing to shout towards the stone house.

"Is anyone there? Open the door."

Yu Hong stood outside the yard, repeatedly shouting the same words, continuously knocking on the door.

His posture was stiff, and oddly enough, he wasn’t holding his usual wolf-tooth club.

Seeing this, Li Runshan's heart sank, and the voice he was about to respond with got caught in his throat.

He instantly recalled the Language Spirit's detailed information, fear washing over him.

Watching Yu Hong knock mechanically outside, he dared not say a word, quickly shutting the window and retreating underground.

Yu Hong continued to knock for a while, but with no answer, he blankly turned and walked away.

The note that had fallen was crumpled on the grass in front of him; despite its striking white color, he ignored it completely and left.

"Daddy, what if someone gets infected by the Language Spirit? How should we deal with it?" Aisenna's voice pulled Li Runshan back from his thoughts.

He focused again, letting out a long sigh, surveying the quiet basement room, his gaze landing back on his beloved daughter.

"The way to be infected by the Language Spirit is very tricky. As long as you hear a sound and respond, you'll be infected. The initial infection doesn’t pose much danger; at most, you’ll hear different sounds. But as time goes on, the Language Spirit becomes increasingly dangerous and unstable. In twelve hours, it will ultimately erupt."

He paused.

"And the only way to resist it is to prepare enough luminous stones at the moment it fully breaks out."

"How many do we need?" Aisenna asked anxiously.

"I don’t know," Li Runshan shook his head.

"But at least a negative two thousand red value, which means we need at least twenty to thirty large luminous stones."

"Then Uncle Yu Hong should be fine; he makes large luminous stones, so he will have enough," Aisenna sighed in relief.

Li Runshan did not reply.

He just recalled the scene when he last saw Yu Hong.

'Based on my calculations, if he was just infected then, it should soon be time...'

Thinking of this, a thread of worry crossed his brow.

He had invested so much in Yu Hong; if that kid were to die, it would be a huge loss.

Inside the cave's safe house.

Yu Hong watched the heavy rain outside, taking a deep breath, preparing to turn around and rest.

Bang!

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed through the rain.

"Run, run!!!" A very familiar female voice rang out after the gunfire.

Then came the sound of hurried footsteps and frantic breathing.

Yu Hong's entire body trembled as he rushed to the viewing window again, peering outside.

But the rain was too heavy; he couldn’t see a thing.

Bang! Bang!

Soon, there were two more gunshots.

"Yi Yi!" Another familiar female voice shouted.

"Run! I'll distract him!"

"No, no!" A small stuttered voice followed.

At this moment, Yu Hong could no longer hold back; he swiftly changed into a lighter reinforced grey lizard outfit, grabbed his wolf-tooth club, and rushed out the door.

Creak!

Lightning sliced through the sky, illuminating everything in a pale light.

Yu Hong dashed towards the source of the sound, crossing the yard and plunging into the rain.

With each heavy step, clear footprints marked the ground.

However, just as he burst out of the yard, he suddenly hesitated and looked ahead.

"Something feels off."

All he saw was pouring rain and trees swaying in the wind.

In the dark moorings of the morning, besides himself, there was no one else around.

'Isn't Yi Yi supposed to be far away in Hope City? How could she suddenly appear here?'

Thinking about this, he felt foreboding; his internal qi erupted, and he reversed direction, charging back into the yard.

The luminous grass spread across the ground gave him a considerable sense of security.

Upon returning to the yard, he decided against venturing out and instead dashed back into the cave.

But no sooner did he open the door to enter than he heard a thudding noise behind him.

Boom!

"Yi Yi!" Dr. Xu's cries erupted again.

"Your leg! What happened to your leg?" she cried out.

Crack.

Listening to the sounds, Yu Hong's grip on the club tightened.

He fought the urge to rush out again, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath.

(End of Chapter)