Outside the hospital, eerie red thorns silently extended from the black gelatinous substance that enveloped a god with an alien-like form. The thorns were covered with dried souls of the departed. Inside the hospital, players were discussing how to divert the attention of this god-like monster so they could further taunt the proud creator god until the very last moment.
Meanwhile, in the final intact ward, a private sacrificial ritual had just begun.
At this moment, the creature’s body was even larger than before, its black gelatinous form densely filling the entire room, consuming everything inside until only pale, fragile wheat remained. Jiang Yan lay on the creature's body, covered by a layer of black, semi-transparent film, resembling a cocoon. Large black tentacles brushed aside his hospital gown, enveloping his frail, sickly body.
Dark red thorns pierced through the window. The rose beside Jiang Yan looked even more vibrant than yesterday.
The black tentacles coiled around him more tightly. Bit by bit, they burrowed under Jiang Yan's skin, as if planting their own spores, or as if desiring to merge completely with him.
“Mm…” A slight, pained moan escaped Jiang Yan's throat.
“Yan… be good, Yan.” The tentacle gently caressed Jiang Yan's face, its voice carrying a restrained tenderness.
By now, over half of the tentacle had seeped under Jiang Yan's skin, and the creature grew even more excited.
To merge with Yan in this way was truly a rare pleasure! This long-awaited sacrifice was a feast for it!
Sweat beaded on Jiang Yan’s forehead, sliding down his chin and greedily swallowed by one of the tentacle’s suckers. Jiang Yan felt his whole body swelling to its limit. From his head to his stomach, everywhere was filled with the creature’s tentacles.
This wasn’t merely a sacrifice—it was a devouring propagation.
“This damn thing…” Jiang Yan muttered through gritted teeth.
663 said, “Sacrifice is meant to be painful; to become a vessel for a god means paying a price.”
In the sky, the god-like being seemed to respond in excitement. The black gel began pulsating as if boiling. Meanwhile, the creature, tasting sweetness, drove its tentacles even more frenziedly into Jiang Yan’s body. With a low groan of pain from Jiang Yan, a tear appeared in the sky, and a deformed, withered arm stretched out from the void.
—
At this time, the veteran players had completed their plan, mocking and taunting with a hint of amusement. They left the office, preparing to head to the god’s lair. The scene was set; add a spade and a shadow king, and they could attack the supreme god directly!
[Ha ha ha ha! Gotta say Jiang Yan going to lose]
[No kidding! Don’t forget Jiang Yan is the supreme god’s ‘illegitimate child’]
[But regardless of his “illegitimate” status, he was undoubtedly doomed this time. Failing the main quest—how could the supreme god favor him again?]
[Don’t speak too soon! Didn’t he survive after failing his last side quest?]
[That was a side quest; this is a main quest! How could it be the same?[
[So you’re all just assuming Jiang Yan will fail his main quest?]
[Hah? What kind of crazy talk is this? Jiang Yan’s actions are clear! Do you think he can single-handedly take down an S-rank player?]
[But isn’t the essence of an NPC main quest to play the assigned role well?]
[ Comment upstair, are you newbie? The role Jiang Yan’s playing in this instance is none other than the instance boss and himself]
The floor and walls had melted into an indistinguishable, sticky mass, slightly tacky underfoot. Watching Su An excitedly polishing his dagger up ahead, Tao Shi felt something was off.
“What’s up, boss?” Cao Youfeng asked, confused.
“I just feel… like we’ve overlooked something important,” Tao Shi said, deep in thought.
What could it be?
The main quest was to survive for seven days, and the side quest was to find the instance boss. They had both objectives firmly in hand. The game should be over at this point, right?
Yet, something subtle nagged at him.
Jiang Yan… was he really revealing his identity so openly out of confidence?
“Boss!”
At this moment, Yuan Xu, who had been walking at the back of the group and hiding in the shadows almost unnoticed, spoke up.
“What’s wrong?” Tao Shi turned around at the sound.
Yuan Xu held in his hand a palm-sized, intricately patterned silver mirror.
“Something’s off.” He furrowed his brows, staring at the image in the mirror with a look of shock and disbelief. “Jiang Yan… he… he…”
“He… ate his husband.”
“What?!”
Everyone gathered around Yuan Xu to look into the mirror.
They saw that the ward with the bright arched window had also turned into ruins. The soft, doll-like furniture and the creature that had clung to Jiang Yan like a shadow were nowhere to be seen among the rubble.
Only a small mountain of withered rose petals remained, with a pale, beautiful creature lying atop them—Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan was wrapped in thin, semi-transparent black membranes, lying quietly on the soft bed of rose petals, like a butterfly waiting to emerge from its cocoon.
Tao Shi’s face darkened, the eerie sense of dissonance in his heart growing even stronger.
“What… is this supposed to mean? Evolution?” Cao Youfeng seemed baffled.
“Probably just some weird instance setting,” Su An replied, unconcerned. “Like gaining power by devouring another god?”
“Well, at least that’s one less problem for us.” Wei Xiu chuckled softly.
He had always thought Jiang Yan’s husband was more troublesome than Jiang Yan himself. Now Jiang Yan had devoured his own husband.
That… could hardly be better!
“Devouring his own lover, using him as nourishment… what an enviable love,” Wei Xiu remarked mockingly.
“So, this whole instance is just Jiang Yan and his husband’s love game? The main system really is crude,” Su An sneered.
Tao Shi stared at Jiang Yan in the mirror, his expression growing increasingly grave.
Something’s wrong… something’s definitely wrong!
But what, exactly?
“Tao Shi, no need to dwell on it. Let’s just grab that kid, and after seven days, we’ll get the answers straight from the main system, right?” Su An, seeing Tao Shi deep in thought, urged him to snap out of it.
This game had ended at this very moment.
As long as they won, trivial details held no significance.
The god would surely fall.
“—!”
At that moment, Ding Wanyu, who had been silently standing nearby, let out a loud shout.
“Boom!”
A massive, thin, deformed arm crashed into the already crumbling wall, blocking their path.
“What… is that thing?”
After a burst of dust and rubble, everyone looked at the sudden obstacle in front of them.
Then, a whistling sound came from overhead.
They looked up and saw that the artificial god, after days of catalysis, had finally emerged from its cocoon.
In the sky floated a vast, indescribable creature.
The creature’s body seemed to have a thousand faces, a thousand mouths, and eyes, along with countless arms and legs. Whip-like appendages, resembling flagella, swayed densely across its form—countless small tongues belonging to it.
As its many faces met the group’s gaze, all its mouths began to speak simultaneously, shattering the oppressive silence of the world with a deafening cacophony.
In the next instant, its arms lunged toward the group, determined to capture these luckless sacrificial offerings that had narrowly escaped.
“Ding!”
With the system’s alert, all the players drew their items.
The battle with the monster’s limbs had begun.
Cao Youfeng was wrapped in [medical bandages], dodging the monster's attacks while watching the constantly fluctuating data on the hidden card. Unable to hold back, he exclaimed, “What kind of person’s mental world would have something like this? Jiang Yan is just a complete freak!”
“The one who's a freak is the main system!” Yuan Xu lightly leaped, replying.
“But the main system also creates related instance data based on real-life NPC data, right?” Cao Youfeng countered.
“Alright! Who would’ve thought Jiang Yan looked clean and neat but had such a twisted mind? He could rival Su An!” Yuan Xu added, following his lead.
“Why are you attacking me when all you want to do is talk about Jiang Yan?!”
Su An chopped off one of the monster’s arms, black goo spraying out and corroding the walls it touched.
On the other side, Jiang Yan, wrapped in the membranes, was awakened by the noise and the fierce battle sounds.
He opened his eyes irritably, saying, “So loud.”
“Get up, it’s time to end the game.”
Jiang Yan gently tore off the thin membranes covering him, using his hospital gown to cover his body as he slowly sat up from the bed of roses.
He held his stomach, still feeling bloated after sleeping for so long.
At this moment, his pale skin had become somewhat translucent, with black tentacles writhing beneath the surface of his skin.
Jiang Yan's long lashes trembled, and he couldn't help but mutter, “You… are really a freak.”
—
Sure! Here’s the text with appropriate spacing for easier reading:
---
Boom!
Another wall was knocked down by the monster, its black, viscous slime corroding the crumbling structure.
The veteran players remained relatively calm, seeming to treat this battle as a warm-up exercise before the real fight against the SS dungeon.
In contrast, Ding Wanyu, a real NPC with not-so-high stats, looked to be struggling.
Firstly, the original data of real NPCs and their autonomy in dungeons are inherently lower than those of players.
Secondly, although Ding Wanyu's abilities were decent, he appeared significantly weaker in front of this group of S-ranked players and the S-ranked system NPC.
Holding his soul-calling banner, he seemed somewhat at a loss against the monster's attack.
The monster, frustrated by its failure to gain an advantage over the others, emitted an even louder noise from its thousand mouths, creating a buzzing sound that made everyone’s heads spin.
At that moment, it noticed Ding Wanyu, who was wearing a dust-covered white lab coat; clearly, this sacrifice was easier to devour than the others.
It shrieked and extended its grotesque, purplish-blue arms, blocking Ding Wanyu’s escape route, slowly closing in...
“Dr. Ding! Be careful!” Cao Youfeng exclaimed, raising his voice to warn him.
At this point, Ding Wanyu had no way out; sharp, claw-like fingers pierced into his shoulder, and thick, red blood began to flow.
[It’s over! It’s really over!]
[No way! Getting contaminated on the last day would be so unfair!]
[It seems the real NPCs in this dungeon will all be wiped out.]
Just as the situation became dire, several thorny vines swiftly wrapped around the monster, halting its advance.
Before the monster could react, the vines quickly coiled around its wrists and forcefully severed its arms.
Black slime gushed out, and Ding Wanyu rolled to the side just in time, as the ground where he had just stood was already corroded.
“Dr. Ding,” Cao Youfeng said, reaching out to support him and dragging him to a corner.
The thorny vines climbed up the monster's arms, with countless thorns erupting from the ground, walls, and sky, binding the monster's numerous hands and feet.
The thorns pierced its orange-hued skin, and it let out simultaneous roars of pain from its many mouths.
“Be quiet...” A lazy, hoarse voice came from behind the crowd.
In the next moment, the thorns constraining the monster rapidly converged, forming a thorny cage.
Then, with a sharp whistle, the monster transformed into a pile of dry rose petals within the thorny prison—the blue sky became visible again.
Everything happened so quickly that it left everyone stunned.
The thorns returned underground, and the oppressive despair vanished without a trace.
Countless dry rose petals floated down from the azure sky, covering the now-ruined hospital and burying all the remains and blood beneath the roses.
The entire world was drenched in soft petals and sweet floral scents, resembling a fairy tale.
Everyone stared at the scene before them, dazed for several seconds before slowly turning back.
They saw a pale, handsome boy in blue-and-white striped patient attire, sleepily standing behind them and lazily greeting them, “Good morning!”
[What the hell!]
[So, this is the legendary dungeon bonus? That’s an S-ranked NPC!]
[It seems everything in this world is a fantasy conjured by Jiang Yan, so he can make it all disappear at will.]
This means he doesn't have to exert too much effort against this S-ranked system NPC, but... facing these S-ranked players is a different story.
The players had likely just been warming up and hadn’t gone all out yet, right?
[Alright, warm-up is over; the real boss, Jiang Yan, has arrived.]
[Ah... I must say, Jiang Yan has been quite impressive in this dungeon; even in death, he remains glorious!]
Upon seeing Jiang Yan, the players all became serious.
Su An drew a dagger and slowly spoke, “Now it’s your turn, our great creator.”
Standing amidst the rose ruins, Jiang Yan looked at everyone with his sky-blue eyes and slowly curled his lips into a smile.