Could You Brush My Hair One More Time?

When Yu Xing called out the Lingren's name, nothing happened.

The silence was shattered by countless Black Shadow. Han Yan's expression turned grim. "Who are you calling?"

That's right, the Lingren is very likely watching this live broadcast, but what did Yu Xing mean by that? Did he mean that he was the person the Lingren cared about most?

Absurd.

Han Yan boasted that he understood Lingren; Lingren could be very gentle or very tyrannical. They could use any means necessary to get what they wanted, and they could also destroy a person with ease.

But Lingren are uniquely incapable of caring about such emotions.

"Hahahahaha..." Yu Xing pressed his face against the semi-transparent black protective shield, and cracks quickly appeared on his face as if burned by the shield. The intense corrosive power seemed to want to penetrate from the skin, tear apart the muscle tissue, and go deep into the bone marrow.

But the next second, Yu Xing was pulled away by Zhao Yijiu. Zhao Yijiu looked at the wounds on Yu Xing's face and laughed disdainfully, "Just as I thought, you're still the same. Whether you're crazy or not, do you like to use self-harm to get what you want?"

"Don't you have any other skills?"

Yu Xing had never been interrupted halfway through his rant before. He first let his thoughts slowly return to normal before realizing what Zhao Yijiu was talking about. He nonchalantly pushed Zhao Yijiu away and said with a sinister smile, "Ha, I don't care--"

"If you don't care yourself, who else do you expect to care, Lingren?" Zhao Yijiu grabbed Yu Xing's neck under Yu Xing somewhat surprised gaze. The force from her fingers was no joke. Yu Xing was suddenly deprived of the right to breathe, but he didn't panic. Instead, he looked at Zhao Yijiu with a smile in his eyes.

"Even if you want to use him, you don't need to use your own life as a bargaining chip. I know all your abilities, but the pain won't lessen because of them." Zhao Yijiu's gaze was even more terrifying than Yu Xing's; it was the eye of a vengeful ghost. "If you're really this useless, you might as well be killed by me. Maybe I can use my remaining power to turn you into a living dead and let you truly experience the pain of death."

"You... even if you wanted to stop me... you didn't have to... kill me to silence me, did you?" he asked with difficulty, his voice barely audible. "You, in your Ghostification, are truly... ruthless."

"But..."

"With what you've got..."

You can't stop me.

Yu Xing always had his own way of handling problems. He was also a little annoyed when he was disturbed, and even if the person was Zhao Yijiu, he wouldn't tolerate it.

He gripped Zhao Yijiu's wrist and suddenly exerted force, using an unusually strong power to make Zhao Yijiu release her grip.

"...?" Even Zhao Yijiu, who Ghostification, was genuinely startled by his power, and a look of obvious surprise appeared on her sharply defined face.

Yu Xing glanced at the system; there were still nine minutes left until the end of the Fear Hospital.

He had to kill Han Yan within nine minutes, retrieve the fragment of the reporter's ID pass from him, and leave before the simulated world was destroyed or shut down. Otherwise, his mission three would be considered a failure, and he would still be punished even if the Yugi ended.

However, Han Yan's level was truly desperate. Neither Qu Xuanqing, Zhao Yijiu, nor he himself could achieve an effective kill within nine minutes. This had nothing to do with tactics, but was purely a difference in strength.

Only one person can kill Han Yan.

That was what he hated most—hypocritical and powerful Lingren.

So... although Zhao Yijiu meant well, he couldn't appreciate it at this time... Besides, Zhao Yijiu's vengeful spirit should know that even a powerful vengeful spirit cannot exceed the captain's arrangements and do whatever it wants in the future team.

Yu Xing gave Zhao Yijiu, who was clearly unhappy, a cryptic smile, and then turned away.

The Lingren always tried to instill panic and break down his psychological defenses by displaying a desire for control, but now he was making full use of that too. He glanced at Han Yan, who was leisurely watching his sudden argument with Zhao Yijiu, completely unaware of what awaited him.

Yu Xing's lips curled into a smile again. He seemed to have calmed down after Zhao Yijiu's interruption and wouldn't do anything so extreme again, but in reality... who knows?

"Have you given up?" asked the person inside the black vengeful spirit shield.

Yu Xing's repeated mentions of the Lingren had already put Han Yan on high alert. Han Yan had already withdrawn most of his mental energy, which meant that his arrangements were nearing completion and he no longer needed to pay such close attention.

If Yu Xing doesn't attack him now, it will truly be too late. Therefore, Han Yan is waiting for the last wave of prey's dying counterattack. He doesn't want things to go too smoothly, as that would seem a bit rushed and make his feast less spectacular.

The Shadow Ghost began to stir, and some Shadow Ghost not under Han Yan's control joined the main force. Han Yan only gave the Shadow Ghost a hint, instructing them to destroy this place of imprisonment in place of their sinful origin—the Dean.

One after another, unformed shadows drifted in the air, as if they were growing out of the ground, indistinguishable from the building, yet in the very next second of their birth they would turn the world that had given birth to them into ruins.

In the garden outside the building, such shadows also appeared in the muddy soil. The zombies surrounded the guests like a siege. The dean had just finished consuming the energy he needed. Its huge body was enough to make people with megalophobia faint on the spot. The cold scalpels meandered out sharp and dangerous arcs. Qu Xuanqing stood at the front of the guests, coldly watching this huge ghost.

"It seems there's a disobedient patient trying to destroy this place." The dean's voice boomed, and he flashed a smug smile in front of all the guests. "Great! Finally, someone has managed to destroy this place. That patient deserves a reward; I've decided to treat him last!"

"That's quite a dream." Qu Xuanqing conjured a red blood sword in her hand. Behind her, Ren Yi drew a larger circle on the ground with his finger, enveloping everyone inside. Zhao Mou held his fox-shaped cane. Even in this situation, he stood tall and straight, his face showing only composure, like a well-mannered business elite.

Shafuri sprinkled a "poison" targeting the ghosts outside the circle—or perhaps it couldn't be called poison, but rather a substance that withered away the soul.

She had originally intended to escape if possible, but the current situation clearly prevented her from escaping unscathed. Looking around, all she could see were dense black shadows. These shadows did not interfere with the Dean; the Dean seemed to be invisible to them, and the shadows did not try to devour him.

She knew this was a trick by Han Yan. Since the last attack, Han Yan had allowed them to escape freely for so long and given them enough time to heal. It would be strange if he didn't have a big move up his sleeve.

She had already realized what Han Yan was planning to do. The number of these Shadow Ghost was terrifying. Due to the accumulation of evil, they were constantly mutating. What was originally a shapeless silhouette gradually grew into all sorts of bizarre humanoid figures resembling medical staff or patients, holding shadow weapons such as scissors, syringes, and stethoscopes. Gradually, they were no longer satisfied with just floating quietly, and screams that were trying their best to imitate human screams came from the shadows.

There's nowhere to run anymore; it's fight or die.

Moreover, perhaps it was Qu Xuanqing's words that had an effect, but she suddenly felt that this was not unacceptable at all.

Yu Jing was positioned at the rear of the formation, defending against the Shadow Ghost that were closing in from behind. He protected the Rubik's Cube and the Pearl Seller in the very center. Apart from the Siren who was still basking in the sunset on the rooftop, everyone else was doing their best to resist the combined attack of the Shadow Ghost and the Shadow Dean.

Because the dean was there, the live stream from the garden was on, and all the viewers were watching the battle with bated breath. The dean's body was long enough for the scalpel to touch and kill the guests. With each scalpel strike, the guests had to move and dodge to a certain extent, while also being careful not to let the Shadow Ghost take the opportunity to attack them. Every dodge was extremely dangerous.

This was even after Qu Xuanqing deflected the blade for them.

The golden rays of dusk seemed to burn at their peak at this moment, the fiery red color of the sky spreading across half the world. As if knowing that it was about to disappear, even the sun was releasing its last rays of light and heat.

The sunset is no longer gentle.

Aggressive colors find a delicate balance between heat and darkness, the boundary between yin and yang, like the transition from day to night, the confrontation between light and decay, and the interweaving of light and shadow.

Under this strange power, the Shadow Ghost gradually began to twist. The shadows that had just gathered into human form underwent indescribable changes. Some of them stretched, some split, and they transformed from human form into complete ghostly forms.

Screams pierced eardrums, mixed with sickening laughter and the sharp scraping of metal like scissors clashing together.

The shadows, which should have been invisible, were shaped into all sorts of terrifying forms, creating a scene reminiscent of a procession of a hundred ghosts.

These shadows not only surrounded and attacked them, but also clung to the building, emanating a black substance. The building became rusty and fragile upon contact with this substance, with mottled old shadows emerging from the peeling paint.

The Pearl Seller's vitality was strangely maintained at a minimum threshold. Although she would be extremely weak without Yu Xing to restore her vitality, her condition did not continue to deteriorate.

She only had one eye left; she had gouged out the other one from her Rotten Heart. She keenly sensed the atmosphere of this makeshift team. Although most of them were tense in the face of death, Zhao Mou and Ren Yi had a subtle sense of certainty.

In the world of Single Prism infiltration, the quickest thing Pearl Seller learns is to sense other people's emotions and place himself in a safe zone.

Therefore, she was certain that Ren Yi and Zhao Mou would have a way to improve the situation. In other words, unless Yu Xing and the others failed to hold off Han Yan and allowed Han Yan to immediately start killing with the Shadow Ghost, she might still have a small chance of survival.

If that's the case, she should think about how to avoid being suspected and resented by most viewers after the event ends— Single Prism is a large organization, but its members often hide their identities as guild members because once exposed, they always encounter a lot of trouble and retaliation.

Now that Han Yan, who brought her to the Fear Hospital, has been exposed, there's no way she could extricate herself from the trap of the Single Prism, since she was the one who followed Han Yan from the beginning.

On the one hand, she needs to continue her undercover work; on the other hand, she cannot allow herself to be in danger at any time. At this point, she must distance herself from Single Prism in front of the public, pretending to be a victim deceived by Han Yan, and claiming that she was unaware of the situation. Although most people will not believe it, as long as there is still a possibility of breaking the veil, she will still be useful to Single Prism and will not be abandoned by Single Prism.

Her reputation, her life, none of that matters, but she has to stay in Single Prism.

Thinking of this, she took advantage of a lull in the Dean's attack to dodge a Shadow Ghost with a neck as long as a wheel, and whispered, "How much longer do we need to hold out?"

There were still seven minutes left until the end, but since she asked that question, it meant she believed she didn't need to last seven minutes. To be honest, surrounded by this density of ghosts, she wouldn't last even three minutes, let alone seven.

"Two minutes," Zhao Mou replied. "After two minutes, we only need to deal with these shadows, and the dean will no longer be a threat."

This promise gave the Pearl Seller a slight sigh of relief. Although it seemed that the ever-growing and increasingly bizarre shadows were the biggest threat, as long as the dean was not around, they would not have to deal with the most powerful attack. They knew that even Qu Xuanqing dared not confront the dean's scalpel head-on, because its sharpness could really cut a person in half.

She kept a close eye on the time, one eye bleeding profusely, and a plan took shape in her mind; she was going to take a gamble.

Fortunately, the Pearl Seller was the one who was better protected. Qu Xuanqing was injured in the process. In order to protect Zhao Mou, who was not so agile behind her, she rushed forward and blocked the dean's knife in a dodge, and half of her shoulder was cut off.

However, due to the existence of the Wicked Grace, this body could not make her feel pain, nor would it lose its mobility due to injury. She was still like an unyielding war god, leaving behind a slender silhouette for those behind her.

Zhao Mou saw everything, but instead of expressing his gratitude at that moment, he silently made a mental note of it.

When Yu Xing first visited their home and mentioned Qu Xuanqing, Zhao Mou only thought of Qu Xuanqing as a witch, based on countless pieces of intelligence and data. But now, the witch has appeared in his mind in an unexpectedly warm way.

Ren Yi, protecting the glasses on his nose, surprisingly displayed formidable physical skills. Although his main attack method was still his amazing "writing," he was far from as weak as everyone imagined when he was in motion.

It seems that neither the Research Institute, nor he himself, nor his best friend, the gambler Zeng Lai, ever said that he was frail.

The audience then realized how serious their stereotypes were. Ren Yi wasn't weak; it's just that his role in the rear was more important than his frontal combat. That's why he was always portrayed as a "scholar" in previous videos and live streams.

Despite still bearing the not-fully-healed wound on his chest, Ren Yi, like Zhao Mou, was considered disabled, yet remained agile. His new injuries came from the Shadow Ghost, but weren't too serious, as the array beneath their feet had effectively dispelled some of the ghosts, greatly reducing their burden.

However, after such a long battle, the circle formation is already on the verge of collapse, and the light on it is getting dimmer and dimmer. It is believed that it will soon become completely ineffective. At that time, most of the Shadow Ghost blocked by the circle formation will swarm in, and apart from Qu Xuanqing who can escape by himself, everyone else will die.

Just then, two minutes were up.

Zhao Mou looked up and called out, "Senior Ren Yi!"

Ren Yi's eyes flickered slightly, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He suddenly turned to the berserk Shadow Dean and said, "It's the final moment. Don't you want to appear before your daughter in a less repulsive way?"

Upon hearing this, Dean Shadow abruptly stopped. The word "daughter" seemed to touch the deepest chord in his heart, and he was unusually bewildered. "What?"

"I know you love your daughter very much. What happened with your daughter is the source of your delusions. Even when you needed to devour ghosts to increase your energy, you didn't lay a hand on your daughter, did you?" Ren Yi adjusted his glasses, his expression remaining blank even as he spoke words that sounded like advice.

He said to the dean, "Look back, your daughter."

Dean Shadow suddenly calmed down. He widened his eyes and turned to look. On the hospital rooftop, he saw a little girl with her hair in a bun standing on the edge of the rooftop, looking down.

Beside the little girl stood a woman, whose neck was covered with scales ranging from dark blue to light blue, somewhat resembling those of a marine creature. Her eyes were a deep, beautiful blue, like gems from the deep sea.

The woman was half-embracing the little girl, her face expressionless, but the twilight behind them burned brightly, making her look like a deity who had suddenly descended to earth.

That was a siren. From their angle, they could only see the siren's upper body. Strangely, the siren seemed to be leaning slightly forward. If it were a human, doing this would require tremendous leg strength, and they would easily fall off the rooftop. But the siren looked very relaxed.

But no one had the energy to explore what changes had occurred after the siren was taken away by Zhao Yijiu. After a moment of amazement, their gazes, like the dean's, were all fixed on the little girl.

"Nana..." Dean Shadow was stunned.

The little girl stood there, watching for who knows how long, until the Shadow Dean turned around and met her gaze. She smiled sweetly, tears already streaming down her face. "Daddy, are you finally willing to look at me?"

"No, I'm not your father!" The Shadow Dean suddenly covered his face as if to hide it. "Your father isn't like that, he's not like that..."

The little girl seemed unable to understand why her father was denying everything. She just cried and laughed at the shadowy director, saying, "Dad, stop covering your eyes! Look at me!"

"Nana is left unattended here, and you no longer do my hair. I try to comb my hair myself every day, but it always turns out awful."

The little girl seemed to have not talked to her father like this in a long time. With tears welling up in her eyes, she happily said, "But today I met a big brother. He styled my hair the way you used to like to style it for me. He's very good at it; it looks exactly like yours. See, doesn't it look just like yours?"

"I specifically asked an older boy to comb my hair because it's the only way I can see a resemblance to my father in him."

The little girl sobbed uncontrollably, and the siren embraced her from the side, as if to comfort her.

"Dad, you've changed so much, I almost didn't recognize you. Dad, could you comb my hair one more time?"

These words were like heavy hammer blows, shattering the Shadow Dean's body.

A glimmer of light appeared in the shadowy dean's hazy eyes. He suddenly remembered that when he was busy with work, his daughter would come to visit him at the hospital, and he would bring food to the rooftop with her to have lunch or dinner together.

No one ever comes up to the rooftop, so it became a secret haven of joy for the father and daughter. In the few times they spent together, the rooftop held a large part of their happy moments.

Even though he was imagined to have become a monster, he subconsciously protected this pure place, so no ghosts from the hospital ever came to the rooftop, and he himself would never use this monster body to go up to the rooftop on his own.

The dean stopped attacking because of the little girl, but the Shadow Ghost were unaffected and continued attacking the living people on the lawn. This meant that the guests wanted to see the storyline between the dean and his daughter, but couldn't spare the attention to watch it.

In the end, the only one who heard the entire conversation between the two was probably the siren.

Under the little girl's gaze, the Shadow Dean's body disintegrated, detaching from the building and crashing to the ground, transforming into a man in a white coat.

That was the dean the guests rescued in the dark mode—a human dean, no less.

This is what Ren Yi and Zhao Mou rely on. Others may not care too much about this, but they still remember that as long as they protect the Dean in the Night Mode, they can briefly awaken the real Dean in the Dusk Mode.

Now is the perfect time to awaken the dean.

Actually, it doesn't matter whether there's a little girl or not. Once they complete the task, the dean will inevitably wake up for five minutes under the guidance of Ren Yi, the recipient of the task completion reward. No matter how desperate they were before, they never used this trump card because they had anticipated that the closer they got to the end, the more difficult their situation would become after the rules changed.

For the final five minutes, the dean will remain conscious and will no longer pose a threat to them.