This is probably called, reality?

...Boom!

Flames erupted from the Suffocation Puppet, spreading rapidly through the dry, cluttered warehouse. Thick smoke billowed, causing the masses of flesh to sizzle.

Xiao Xiao, however, couldn't concern himself with anything else at that moment. He and the three hounds were charging outwards.

They still couldn't breathe, which at least prevented the toxic smoke from entering their lungs. They just needed to move as fast as possible and escape the deadly warehouse before the fire completely engulfed it.

"Is this guy insane?"

Further away, Ruan Ruan's eyes widened as she saw the raging fire, and she gasped for air.

She stomped hard on the ground, launching herself high into the air, smashing through the warehouse's dome and jumping outside.

"...Is that a cannonball come to life?"

Xiao Xiao was startled by the commotion and muttered to himself as he sped up.

Before them, twisted, grotesque arms and pale, eerie faces swayed, creating countless overlapping shadows.

These suffocated corpses seemed oblivious to the flames, driven by some mysterious instinct to reach out and grab them, intent on keeping them and the three dogs inside the warehouse.

Facing the grasping, pulling arms, Xiao Xiao gritted his teeth and pushed his inner potential to its limit.

The Violence Factor was finally doing its job.

His body felt imbued with superhuman strength. He charged left and right, forcibly breaking free from the countless hands and carving a bloody path.

He could even feel the dull sensation of tearing off rotten arms.

Finally, before his body completely ran out of oxygen and he passed out, he and the three dogs burst out of the warehouse doors and continued running without stopping.

At the same time, as the fire spread, the discarded oil drums stored in the warehouse, some of which still contained residual fuel, were ignited.

Blazing light filled the confined space, quickly forming a vast sea of fire.

Within this inferno, twisting, writhing fire snakes collided, releasing tremendous concussive force outwards.

The solid warehouse walls were blown apart like cardboard, and seven or eight windows shattered from the intense heat, with flames surging out.

Countless suffocated corpses, writhing in agony with twisted, grotesque forms, were engulfed in the flames, sizzling and gradually turning to charcoal.

"Huff..."

Xiao Xiao left the raging fire behind him, looked up at the starry sky, and took a deep breath.

The feeling of oxygen rushing back into his lungs was almost blissful.

After a few deep breaths, he turned back to look at the completely engulfed warehouse. Through the wide-open doors, he could still vaguely see burning corpses moving sluggishly.

However, these corpses didn't seem to be escaping the Choking Nest. Eventually, they slowly collapsed, regaining their deserved peace...

"It seems the Suffocation Puppet can only deprive people of their ability to breathe, not actually remove all the oxygen from the air."

Xiao Xiao thought to himself, "Physics still applies..."

He had realized this when he struck the match.

Of course, he hadn't expected the fire to burn so fiercely and create such a commotion.

Could it be related to the discarded oil drums in the warehouse?

As expected, he was still just a newbie with a lack of experience in handling these matters...

As he pondered, Xiao Xiao didn't feel any excitement from completing the task, but rather a sense of inexplicable loss.

The three hounds with him, however, didn't sense his loss at all. They were currently very excited.

As if they had just gone through a thrilling battle with Xiao Xiao, they were now ecstatic, wagging their tails wildly and jumping around him.

One of them even eagerly tried to climb on Xiao Xiao, stretching its tongue and trying to reach something on him.

Xiao Xiao looked down and was suddenly startled.

A withered, twisted hand was hanging from his chest. He must have torn it off a corpse while escaping the warehouse.

He quickly tore the hand off and threw it aside.

Seeing their master throw something, the three hounds excitedly rushed over, fighting and chasing after it.

"Is this guy feeding dead people's hands to his dogs?"

On the other side, Ruan Ruan, who had just come around from the other side of the warehouse, happened to see this horrifying scene and felt her scalp tingle.

At this moment, she completely lost her senior's demeanor in front of Xiao Xiao. She even walked up to him step by step with a somewhat bewildered expression, her chubby face looking unusually serious:

"What exactly did you just do?"

"..."

"I..."

Xiao Xiao glanced at the raging warehouse, hesitated slightly, and said, "Dealing with the problem..."

"Dealing with the problem requires burning down the warehouse?"

"This…"

Seeing Ruan Ruan's expression seemed a bit uncomprehending, Xiao Xiao quickly explained, "Now that a Choking Nest has formed, just killing the Suffocation Puppet might not be enough, right?"

"So, to be on the safe side, I still think it's best to burn it all down."

"Is there a problem with this approach?"

"…"

Ruan Ruan didn't know how to describe it for a moment.

The problem was, everything he did was… flawless?

It was just too damn reasonable.

She initially thought he wouldn't realize the difference between the Choking Nest and the Suffocation Puppet, but she didn't expect him to consider it and even come up with a solution.

But this only intensified the strangeness in her heart.

"You…"

She couldn't help but ask, "Are you really a newbie?"

Could a newbie unhesitatingly open fire when faced with hostile thugs?

Could a newbie remain calm when opening a warehouse door and seeing a corpse lunging at him?

Could a newbie accurately locate the Suffocation Puppet when faced with an escalating Choking Nest and even burn it down?

A newbie…

…Forget it, there were too many things. Even Ruan Ruan couldn't guarantee that if she were in the same situation as him, she could handle things so decisively.

"Of course, I'm a newbie…"

Xiao Xiao seemed confused by her question. "Didn't I just do what any normal person would do?"

"Newbie…"

Facing Xiao Xiao's frankness, Ruan Ruan felt like a powder keg had been lit, and the confusion in her heart exploded. "How can someone like you be considered a newbie?"

"How could a newbie perform so well?"

"How could a newbie not wet his pants?"

"…"

"This…"

Xiao Xiao suddenly felt awkward. Was this considered performing well?

Didn't it just require having a brain?

But facing Ruan Ruan's wide eyes, he pondered for a moment and tentatively said, "Maybe… being strong is just an innate instinct?"

Ruan Ruan immediately deflated like a defeated rooster…

I said that to show off back then…

Did you take it as a life motto?

Seeing Ruan Ruan's frustrated appearance, Xiao Xiao was a little worried: This cannonball seems emotionally unstable. Is she sure there's nothing wrong with her head?

He quickly changed the subject, turning to look at the warehouse engulfed in flames, and said in a low voice, "Actually, I also wanted to ask…"

"What exactly is going on here?"

"…"

Ruan Ruan turned to look at the warehouse and sighed, "What else could it be? You've already solved the problem. A newbie who hasn't even scored a hundred points solved this C-level crisis…"

"No…"

Xiao Xiao interrupted her, "I mean, that Suffocation Puppet… how was it formed?"

"There are many reasons for distortion."

Ruan Ruan composed herself. Seeing Xiao Xiao's serious expression, she perked up and said, "Some are affected by the Mysterious Source, some are transformed by a special power, and some are because the Pain Substance in their bodies has accumulated to the limit."

"Like the Suffocation Puppet we faced, it is said that some are monsters formed because they couldn't bear the burden of life and were tormented to the breaking point by the ubiquitous pressure."

"They can't find a chance to breathe in the vastness of life, so they also possess the ability to generate a choking force field."

"And usually, when a Suffocation Puppet appears in a city, it will unconsciously attract some equally desperate people to come here, influencing each other and forming a Choking Nest…"

"If we don't deal with it in time, the influence of the Choking Nest will become stronger and stronger, gradually eroding the city and forming a greater disaster."

"And the reason why the intelligence for our mission this time was wrong is…"

"…"

Ruan Ruan was explaining as clearly as possible, as if she had prepared it in advance, using these events to help Xiao Xiao understand this world as much as possible.

But Xiao Xiao was slightly distracted.

Since learning the true face of this world, he had felt that this city was particularly fake. Whether it was people or buildings, they were all fake, just the disguise of monsters, a deliberate performance.

But after seeing the Suffocation Puppet just now, he unexpectedly felt a special feeling…

…If he had to say, this was probably… reality?