Rhodes Island does not exist.

An alluring, almost intoxicating fragrance wafted around his nostrils, and a sound as potent as honey lingered. A tight-fitting nun's habit, encasing an even more muscular body, stood gracefully before him.

"Ah, it's like this." The doctor started making up a story without batting an eye. "When I was exploring the stairs from the second to the fifth floor, I accidentally encountered a trap. The trap kept me trapped in the same place and I couldn't escape. But I still managed to find the culprit. After I defeated the culprit... it turned into what you see now."

Although he may have never lied before, there is no doubt that he has a talent for lying.

"Then what do you mean by joking?" Ghost Shark asked.

"Well, I thought killing it would either remove the trap or reveal the correct path to me, but instead it sent me straight back here." After saying that, the doctor took a deep breath to show that he was very nervous.

Although he was indeed very nervous.

"Oh, by the way, I'm not dead." The Doctor waved his hand at Specter. "Don't even think about making me pay the bill."

“No price is charged without a reason,” Ghost Shark said with a smile. “Everything is an equal exchange, and I am just fulfilling my necessary duties.”

"Really? That's good." The doctor breathed a sigh of relief, then used his still-intact right hand to support himself on the dilapidated sofa and sat down. "Phew... I have to go back the way I came in a bit, just thinking about it is troublesome."

“This will be an inevitable path for you in the future,” Ghost Shark said with a smile to the Doctor. “Once you get used to it, you won’t find it troublesome.”

But then she added something else.

"But as your guide, I sincerely hope that you will not get used to it, nor get used to death, because death is the worst thing in the world."

"All the strange creatures here are dead, aren't they?" The doctor raised an eyebrow.

Actually, his opinion on Ghost Shark is still somewhat conflicted.

On one hand, he felt that his subconscious warning to "beware of the ghost shark" was concerning, while on the other hand, he felt that the ghost shark hadn't done anything to harm him except to collect the necessary price. These two conflicting thoughts made him feel somewhat annoyed and irritable, and he couldn't shake them off.

But no matter what he thought of Ghost Shark, Ghost Shark still looked at him with that gentle and soft expression as always, and slightly parted her pale pink lips.

“The deaths of the monsters are not the same as yours, please don’t confuse them,” she said. “There is a fundamental difference between you and them, because your goal is simply to leave this place, while their goal is to stop you. So please don’t have any idea of ​​cooperating with them, and don’t treat them kindly, because they are good at deception and seduction.”

"...You explained it in great detail." The doctor was slightly surprised by Ghost Shark's reaction.

It felt as if she had overheard his negotiation with the strange creature on the stairs.

“Because I hope you can leave here.” Ghost Shark’s tone was sincere. “I sincerely hope so, so I have an obligation to warn you about the detours you may be about to take.”

“Speaking of which…” the Doctor stared at the benevolent-looking Specter, “I’ve been thinking about something.”

"Please tell me."

"While you're on Rhodes Island, have you been to any other rooms, or do you know anything about the other rooms?" the Doctor asked, looking into her crimson eyes.

“I can’t leave room 403, so I’ve never gone out.” Ghost Shark shook his head. “But I know about the other rooms.”

"You can't leave this room?" The Doctor frowned. "Speaking of which, you told me before that you were a guide from Rhodes Island. Isn't a guide considered an anomaly?"

“A guide is a guide,” Ghost Shark replied. “Not you, not a weirdo, I’m just a guide.”

"Alright, stop playing games with me," the doctor said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Tell me something else, like information about the other rooms. How much can you tell me?"

“I can tell you about any room you’ve been to, but since I can’t visit them in person, I can only provide a few words of information. I’m sorry about that,” Ghost Shark said, bowing slightly to the Doctor.

Upon hearing this, the doctor couldn't help but feel relieved, thankful that his lies were all based on real experiences.

So he asked Ghost Shark a question.

"Could you tell me about the staircase maze I was in just now?"

"Of course." She smiled reservedly, then her red eyes flickered slightly, and her tone gradually changed.

[Spiral staircase.]

It was a voice and atmosphere like a hymn.

It makes one think that she was indeed wearing a nun's habit.

[A bizarre structure pieced together from countless eyes—Milia's dwelling place.]

If you step onto the stairs without knowing anything, you will gradually become trapped in an endless journey.

[But if they try to retreat, they will be devoured if they make eye contact with Milia.]

The number of eyes represents the number of desires; without the courage to confront them, one will likely only fall into terror.

Chapter 146, 145. The Mountain in My Dream

The sound of chewing filled the room.

The professor leaned back on the cushions of the tattered sofa, wolfing down a compressed biscuit in his left hand and a bottle of mineral water in his right.

"To be honest, I almost starved to death outside."

The doctor chewed on the biscuit in his mouth, his vocal cords still vibrating. "Wandering around in the same place pointlessly, wasting energy, until finally being forced to face the most pathetic way to die... that must be quite painful."

“But you’ve made it back here.” Ghost Shark smiled.

"Just lucky." The doctor shook his head, patted the crumbs of food from his palm and fingers into the pocket of the compressed biscuit, then sealed the pocket and put it back under the sofa. "Compressed biscuits are filling enough, this should be enough."

"Are we getting ready to leave?" Ghost Shark asked.

"We've eaten and drunk our fill and rested enough." The doctor stood up, straightened his coat, and said, "Now it's time to get back to business."

"Then I wish you good luck." Ghost Shark bowed.

"Thank you for your kind words." The Doctor picked up the pickaxe next to the sofa and nodded at Specter.

When the doctor was strangely bounced back to room 403 by the stairs, he happened to be holding his pickaxe in his right hand, so this personal item was lucky enough to come back with him.

Having weapons by your side always provides a sense of security, and there's no exception.

"correct."

Standing at the door, the doctor turned to look at Specter, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

"what?"

"Thank you, Ghost Shark."

"hehe."

Faced with the doctor's gratitude, Ghost Shark smiled naturally, "You don't need to thank me. Everything I did was out of obligation."

"Let's leave it at that. Goodbye."

The doctor turned the handle and walked out of room 403.

Then, just as his legs left the threshold and he gently closed the door behind him, he suddenly realized something.

"Why did I thank Ghost Shark just now...?"

-

This is the third time the Doctor has embarked on the same journey.

After passing through the fourth-floor corridor and arriving at the stairwell leading directly to the eighth floor, having escaped the strange, unprecedented sight that seemed like a thunderclap, the doctor and his "little friends" were able to reunite.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry." The doctor said apologetically, still feeling the affection of the slug-like creatures. "I promised to bring you food, but because of last time, last time..."

Oops.

When it comes to food, it's all about the collector's room.

When it comes to collectors' rooms, they're always strange.

Speaking of the strange things on the tenth floor...

Twisted and coiled pipes, misshapen nested steel plates, a horrifying skull, muscular limbs, and...

A colossal size.

That thing was less of a strange creature and more of a monster.

And it wasn't destroyed by the doctor at the time; it was just tricked into going to the ninth floor by some insignificant little trick.

But here's the problem.

The elevator on the ninth floor is now the only way for the PhD student to get there.

If the doctor wants to return to the previous place, he will inevitably have to face that giant monster again.

However... perhaps it's not impossible.

Perhaps it's not that it's impossible.

"Are you hungry?" The doctor looked up at the strange slugs surrounding him, his eyes softening.

The monsters swayed as if in response to the doctor's words.

"Since you're hungry, would you like something to eat?" A smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.

-

Passing through the white-bed walkway surrounded by slug-like monsters, the Doctor carefully opened the door leading to the ninth floor.

He hadn't had the chance to thoroughly explore the structure and internal layout of the ninth floor on his previous two visits, but now he might have to take advantage of that opportunity.

The door was slightly ajar.

The crevice was empty.

The elevator leading to the upper floor was closed, and I didn't know if there was anything inside.

"Hopefully its nerves aren't too sensitive. If possible, I still hope to resolve this peacefully." The doctor took a deep breath, reducing his tension, and then quietly slipped into the ninth floor.

The so-called prayer for peace is actually just a reflection of the vast difference in strength between oneself and the other side.

If we could crush an enemy with an opposing stance as easily as crushing an ant, then there would be no need for negotiation.

After all, we've never seen a human willing to negotiate with ants.

“But speaking of negotiation… if this anomaly has a normal mind, perhaps we could try to communicate with it.” The doctor slowed his pace, walking slowly on the ninth floor.

The nine-story building was somewhat simpler than the other floors he had visited.

Apart from the elevator, everything else placed on the ninth floor looked like useless construction waste or discarded building materials.

In other words, this floor feels like a garbage dump.

"In that case, even if the monster wanted to hide, it probably wouldn't have anywhere to hide..." The doctor's gaze shifted from the pile of garbage to the tightly closed elevator door. "So it really is still inside the elevator."

"In that case."

He took two steps back and opened the door leading to the eighth floor, while also opening the door on the eighth floor, connecting the two spaces together.

"Using such a monster to test rationality and the possibility of negotiation is far too costly," the doctor thought to himself as he tiptoed toward the elevator buttons. "A slight misstep could cost him his life; it's simply not worth it."

His plan was to throw his pickaxe towards the eighth floor the moment the elevator doors opened, drawing the monster's attention and letting the slug-like monsters on the eighth floor deal with it. But whether this plan would succeed depended entirely on the monster's and his own teamwork.

"Up."

Giving himself a mental pep talk, the doctor pointed his finger toward the elevator control panel.

Beneath the square button, a red light illuminates the dark background.

"Om-"

The two metal door panels slid open slowly to the sides.

The doctor felt some irregular vibrations coming from inside the elevator car as the elevator doors opened.

It seems my guess was correct.

It was indeed still inside the elevator.

So, if that's the case—

"Boom boom boom!"

As the two doors slid to the very edge, the doctor immediately swung his pickaxe, striking the elevator door frame with rapid, violent blows, and then, almost before the sound had faded, hurled it towards the floor door.

"Ding!"

The sound of metal objects hitting the floor is crisp and pleasant.

Successful.

The doctor executed all the envisioned actions flawlessly, without the slightest error.

Next, all we need to do is let the monster inside the carriage follow the sound out.

——That’s how it should be.

-

Thank you segment.