Willingly Sinking into Slumber
The "Seventh Psychiatric Hospital Recovery and Wellness Center" is located in a remote and sparsely populated mountainous area in the southwest of Longxia.
This place is less like a hospital and more like a secluded, technologically advanced paradise.
The air is filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers, the babbling brooks, and even the air itself seems to have been specially purified, carrying the freshness of the plants.
The "special care ward" where Luo Li is located is even more like a paradise within a paradise.
Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows are rolling green mountains and clouds. The room is fully equipped, even featuring a state-of-the-art immersive entertainment system and stress-relieving devices.
Doctors and nurses, dressed in white uniforms and with a gentle, almost cautious demeanor, would come regularly every day to conduct the most thorough physical examinations for him, provide psychological counseling in the softest tone, and offer him what could be described as luxurious meals.
They called him "Mr. Luo," their eyes filled with obvious admiration, pity, and a hint of... nervousness that they couldn't quite hide.
He was a hero who saved the world, but also a dangerous patient diagnosed with a mental breakdown and possessing world-destroying power.
Luo Li did not react to this.
He was like a very cooperative patient, eating on time, undergoing examinations on time, and occasionally giving short, confused, or completely irrelevant answers to the doctor's questions, but most of the time he remained silent.
He spent most of his time sitting in front of that huge floor-to-ceiling window, motionless, like a frozen sculpture.
The seasons change outside the window, wildflowers bloom and are covered by snow, he seems to see it all, yet he also seems to see nothing at all.
The once cold and sharp [Eyes of the Time Abyss] are now just a desolate emptiness, reflecting the scenery outside the window but unable to let in any light.
The inner pain did not lessen in the slightest with the passage of time or the beauty of the surroundings.
It was a silent, slow, agonizing process, like being slowly sliced apart with a dull knife.
Every breath he took seemed to remind him that he was still alive, living in a world without them.
Every heartbeat felt like an interrogation, a question posed to him: what had he given everything for in return?
The system's cold notification sound still seemed to echo in my ears, saying "Rewards being distributed," and then... it abruptly stopped, vanishing into Nihility.
fraud.
They're all scammers.
Like a fool, he followed the instructions of a strange "system," killing his way through, his hands stained with blood, believing he was laying the foundation for the path to them.
And the result?
The road was paved, but the bridge was broken.
No, even the existence of the bridge itself is now in question.
Those vampires, those sins, their deaths were real.
The surging power within him is also real.
But that promise... that coordinate...
Like writing on the beach, it vanishes without a trace when swept away by the tide, as if it had never existed.
A profound sense of absurdity and the despair of being fooled gnawed at his soul day and night.
What is more terrifying than death is the boundless, cold Nihility that follows the complete shattering of hope.
Sometimes the nurses would push him around in the garden, the warm sunshine shining on him, but he only felt it was too bright for his eyes.
They would whisper news from the outside world to him:
"Mr. Luo, the world is being rebuilt; Order has been restored in many places..."
Everyone is very grateful to you, calling you the ' Light of Dawn '...
"Look how beautifully these flowers are blooming! They're a new variety cultivated by the research institute, called ' Star of Hope '..."
hope?
A faint, cold smile would appear at the corners of Luo Li's lips.
His hopes had long since vanished along with that damned system.
He even began to suspect that the brief happiness he experienced with Castorice and Shiyu and Shiyi was just another, more long and cruel dream, meticulously woven by the system to drive him to complete his mission.
Once this thought arose, it spread like a poisonous vine, almost completely shattering his last remaining understanding of "reality".
Reality is too painful.
The pain was unbearable for him.
He possessed power enough to destroy the heavens and the earth, yet he couldn't even find the person he most wanted to see.
What use is this power?
What's the point of this clarity?
One day, when the gentle head nurse once again brought him a carefully prepared nutritious meal and softly asked him if he needed anything, Luo Li did not remain silent or give a confused answer as usual.
He slowly, extremely slowly, raised his head, and for the first time, his eyes, which had been empty for so long, focused clearly on the head nurse's face.
His voice was soft, hoarse from not speaking for a long time, yet exceptionally clear. "I want to... sleep for a while."
The head nurse paused for a moment, then gave a professional, gentle smile, "Okay, Mr. Luo, you can rest at any time. Would you like the curtains drawn?"
Luo Li shook her head.
The "sleep" he mentioned was not ordinary sleep.
He lowered his head again, looking at his outstretched, well-defined hands.
Within his body, the vast, star-like power that had absorbed the essence of the six deadly sins flowed silently.
Among them, a gray, Sloth," was quietly awakened by him, like a sleeping behemoth.
Belial...
The culprit who tried to imprison him forever with his beautiful dreams.
Now, its power has become the only thing he can grasp... a lifeline.
Since reality is so cruel and suffocating.
Since being sober only brings endless pain and Nihility.
So...
He slowly closed his eyes.
No more suppression, no more resistance.
He proactively and completely opened his mind, guiding that power of "Sloth" like a gentle poison, slowly flowing through his entire body, permeating his limbs and bones, and enveloping the core of his consciousness.
An irresistible sense of exhaustion and tranquility, like returning to the womb, gently lifted him up like a warm tide.
The sounds of the outside world gradually faded away, and the light became hazy.
The painful Remembrance, desperate screams, and cold interrogations in my mind... all gradually subsided and became blurred under the soothing power.
Instead, there are fragmented, warm images woven from the deepest longings of his heart... a blur of light and shadow.
There seemed to be silvery laughter, warm embraces, and familiar whispers, carrying the scent of the River of Souls yet incredibly gentle...
He knew it was fake.
It is an illusion constructed by power based on his obsession.
But this time, he stopped struggling and resisting.
He willingly succumbed to depravity.
If this is escapism, then he chooses to escape.
If this is weakness, then he admits to weakness.
He was too tired.
Exhausted, I had no strength left to face that cold, impersonal "reality" without them.
Let him... sleep for a while.
Just before his consciousness was completely swallowed by the warm darkness, he seemed to hear Xiao Hong's anxious, tearful cry, "Master! Don't sleep! Please, don't leave Xiao Hong..."
I'm sorry, Xiao Hong...
He said it silently to himself.
Then, it completely severed all contact with the outside world, propelled the power of "Sloth," wrapped and sealed its self-awareness layer by layer, and fell into the deepest and most profound... eternal slumber constructed by its own power.
His breathing became extremely slow and long, and his heartbeat was so faint that it was almost undetectable.
His body remained in the same position sitting by the window, as if he were simply asleep.
But all the vital signs monitoring instruments simultaneously emitted piercing alarms.
Doctors and nurses rushed into the ward in a panic, using a variety of testing methods in turn.
The result, however, plunged everyone into despair.
His physical functions are all normal, even stronger than anyone else's.
But his conscious activity... almost completely ceased.
It's like a high-performance computer that has been unplugged, leaving only the most basic life support programs running in the background.
"Conscious activity has almost disappeared... Autonomous thinking has ceased... This... This is..."
The chief expert stared at the almost flat straight line on the brainwave chart, his voice trembling.
"Vegetative state..."
Another doctor uttered the diagnosis with difficulty.
The news was strictly censored, but it still caused a stir at the highest levels.
The hero who saved the world fell into a deep coma in a mental hospital for unknown reasons (officially described as "severe psychogenic loss of consciousness due to post-traumatic stress disorder"), becoming... a vegetable.
It's unlikely he'll ever wake up again.
When the news finally reached the outside world through clandestine channels, it caused even more sighs and grief than when they first learned he had "gone mad."
It's insane, at least it still "exists".
A person in a vegetative state... is almost equivalent to "death" in a social sense.
A silent, even more magnificent cage.
The world is being rebuilt amidst the clamor, while heroes slumber in silence.
The flowers in the valley bloom and fade, the clouds roll and unroll.
Only that red Memory Spirit continued to guard the seemingly sleeping body day after day, stubbornly emitting a faint six-colored glow, as if waiting for a dawn that would never come.
(PS: You think this is the end? I just want to say no way, absolutely no way.)
The next phase will be a three-part special episode. As I said before, we'll consider whether to reveal the mastermind based on everyone's activity and support.