The days with a broken arm were boring.

This couldn't be done, that couldn't be done, and even the practice of martial arts had to be stopped.

Although Li Cheng颐 was using the radiance field to accelerate his healing, it was impossible to recover in just a few days.

He was only halfway healed in three days, and complete recovery was estimated to take five days.

In order not to waste time.

He began to continue studying the notes he had obtained from Zhong Hui regarding the exploration and records of the clock field.

He had read some of this notebook before, but not in detail, only skimming through it roughly.

This time, he once again read Zhong Hui's record of the Quiet Little Shop.

A foreigner named Gorn had found him and warned him not to enter again, otherwise unpredictable consequences would occur.

Zhong Hui must have ultimately heeded the advice and chose to directly take the merchandise and leave.

Otherwise, the subsequent information about other dead ends wouldn't have been recorded in such detail.

But...

'The essence of man... what is it?'

This sentence, following Zhong Hui's self-portrait, still made Li Cheng颐 think deeply at this time.

Nighttime.

He was alone in the white ward, sitting on the bed reading the notebook.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly someone knocked gently on the door.

The sound was soft, the force neither light nor heavy, giving a polite and restrained feeling.

"Come in," Li Cheng颐 said. He put the notebook under the pillow and looked up at the door.

It was already past eleven o'clock at night.

The nurse on duty had come by half an hour ago and had already gone to rest and change shifts.

Logically, no one should be coming.

Li Cheng颐 looked towards the door.

But there was no movement.

The door was obviously unlocked, and he had said to come in, but the other person still didn't move.

"Come in," he said again, raising his voice.

In the quiet ward, only his voice echoed slightly.

Still no movement.

The person outside seemed to still not hear.

Or perhaps, they heard, but didn't move.

Li Cheng颐 frowned slightly.

An invisible wisteria scale armor quietly covered his body.

The Titan Sunflower had also undergone a second evolution and could cover the entire body, merging with clothing, but because it had reached the ultimate form, everything around it would be indiscriminately ignited by the high-temperature force field once worn.

Therefore, he generally wouldn't use the Titan Sunflower casually except in critical moments.

Although the wisteria scale armor was broken and its defensive power had decreased, it was still more reliable and comprehensive than something like a bulletproof vest.

Ordinary bullets couldn't penetrate it.

After waiting a few seconds, Li Cheng颐 discovered that there was still no response, so he slowly got up and got out of bed.

The ward door was rectangular, with a square viewing window.

From the viewing window, he could see the edge of a gray wide-brimmed hat on the right side of the window.

It seemed that someone of medium height, about the same height as the viewing window, was wearing a gray wide-brimmed hat and standing in front of the door, quietly knocking.

"Who's out there?"

Li Cheng颐 slowly walked towards the door.

He rarely stayed in the hospital, but he also knew that doctors and nurses would never dress like this.

So the person outside must be an outsider, and an outsider was standing at the door, but not coming in.

His vigilance immediately increased.

Slowly.

Li Cheng颐 walked step by step to the door.

He reached out his hand.

Grasped the doorknob.

"You can't... can't..."

At this moment, a mumbling, seemingly unclear voice came from outside the door.

It was a man, his tone carrying a strange crying sound. He was speaking the Yi language, but one could inexplicably hear a strong sense of horror in it.

"Can't go in again... really, absolutely, absolutely can't..." The man's mumbled voice reached Li Cheng颐's ears through the door.

"Go in where? Who are you? Can you come in and talk? Can you be clearer?" Li Cheng颐 asked in a deep voice.

"Don't go in again... really, absolutely, absolutely can't..."

Whoosh.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew from behind Li Cheng颐.

His heart tightened. He remembered that the windows in the ward were closed.

He suddenly turned his head to look back.

Li Cheng颐 discovered that the window next to the bed, which was obviously tightly closed before, was now open somehow.

The cool night wind blew in from outside.

But at this moment, all he felt was a chill.

The radiance field unconsciously expanded, instantly covering the entire ward.

The radiance field with purification abilities gave Li Cheng颐 a lot of psychological comfort.

He turned back and looked out the viewing window of the door.

The edge of that hat was gone.

Click.

He turned the doorknob, and outside was a quiet, white corridor.

And at his feet at the door, there was a brown sealed envelope.

Li Cheng颐 bent down to pick up the envelope, closed the door, and returned to the room.

He wasn't worried about toxicity or anything. In the protective state, his entire body, even his breathing, was isolated from the outside world.

The flower scale armor could even provide oxygen separately, allowing him to be self-sufficient and isolated from the outside world.

Holding the letter, he looked at it slightly.

The postal code in the upper left corner of the yellow envelope had each box blacked out.

There was no address in the middle, only two words: Gorn.

Other than that, there was nothing else, all blank.

'Gorn...'

Li Cheng颐 immediately thought of the mysterious person mentioned in Zhong Hui's notes.

That mysterious foreigner who had once come to warn him not to continue entering the Quiet Little Shop.

Later, Zhong Hui had his blood exchanged, and then he disappeared. His wife cloned a new one to replace him and live in the same place.

But everyone knew that the real Zhong Hui was gone.

Li Cheng颐 didn't know how this Gorn had found him. Nor did he know what he meant.

'Perhaps, the root of everything is hidden in this letter...'

He looked at the letter and took a deep breath.

Hiss.

He tore open one end of the envelope.

He shook the inside and a piece of white paper folded into an irregular shape fell out.

He unfolded the white paper.

It was written with crooked Yi characters.

'Your body... is undergoing changes.'

'Whether you exchange your blood or not, you will slowly undergo irreversible changes as you enter and exit that little shop more often.'

'Something is watching you... They look a lot like people, but only look like them... They are not people!'

'Be careful... Be careful of your surroundings... They are coming!!!'

The last line was written with great force. The letter paper was pierced with cuts.

Li Cheng颐 could feel that the person writing the letter was in a bad emotional state.

That was all the content on the letter.

He opened it back and forth, confirmed that there was no other content, and then refolded the letter paper and put it back into the envelope.

"They are coming? What is 'they'? Are they people? Or monsters from the dead corner?"

Li Cheng颐 frowned.

This Gorn was mysterious and secretive, and wouldn't explain things clearly.

He didn't know what his intentions were.

But regardless, the other party hadn't taken any action other than a reminder, so perhaps it could be considered goodwill.

Once, Zhong Hui had also encountered this Gorn after entering the Quiet Little Shop.

Obviously, he had a way to monitor and investigate people entering the Quiet Little Shop.

The dead corner was suddenly affecting his reality.

This made Li Cheng颐's already tense state even tighter.

'It seems, I have to get out of the Quiet Little Shop as soon as possible.'

*

*

*

Night of the 15th.

On the old street where he first entered the Quiet Little Shop.

Li Cheng颐 was wearing a black trench coat and a black knit hat, covering his entire head and most of his face, revealing only his eyes.

He slowly paced back and forth on the old street, waiting for the flash to arrive.

The nearby street with bars and KTVs had a continuous stream of music and shouts from the crowd drifting over.

It seemed like an argument, or someone was drunk and acting crazy.

As winter approached, the temperature became increasingly cold.

Li Cheng颐 tightened his trench coat, lowered his head, and slowly walked along the sidewalk.

His left hand had completely recovered.

It only took five days in total, and he only used half of the potent nutrient solution that Da Xiong had given him.

The examining doctor looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at an enhanced human.

They all thought he had at least taken dozens of enhancement injections.

But only Li Cheng颐 knew that he had only drunk a genetic enhancement drug once.

That was when he was at the Brain Computing Center.

Pat.

Small raindrops fell from the night sky.

Li Cheng颐 looked up at the sky, a hazy, dark sky with no clouds, no white stars, and no moon.

Only a chaotic gray-black.

As the raindrops increased, the ground gradually became damp.

He straightened his hat and spread out his radiance field.

As soon as the raindrops landed on his head and shoulders, they were quickly dried and evaporated by the heat.

Walking along.

He passed a 24-hour self-service bank on the left. Blue and white lights shone from the glass automatic doors of the self-service bank.

The light shone on the tactile paving outside, shining on Li Cheng颐 himself, as if plated with a layer of blue and white film.

A chocolate-skinned girl with light golden hair, wearing crystal earrings and a milk-white low-cut dress and super-short skirt, staggered out of the self-service bank.

She leaned on the red fire hydrant at the door and bent over to throw up.

Li Cheng颐 wasn't surprised. There were many bars nearby, and this kind of situation was often seen.

He withdrew his gaze and continued forward.

After turning a corner, the left side of the road ahead was a black and white checkered wall.

墨绿色 green plants emerged from the inside of the wall.

Through the green plants, he could see rows of detached villas inside the wall.

He passed the iron gate of a villa.

In front of the door was a silver, mirror-like, round nameplate.

It had the homeowner's postal code, house number, etc. written on it.

Listening to the faint sound of television programs coming from the house.

Li Cheng颐 calculated the distance, turned around, and returned the way he had come.

The location of the Quiet Little Shop was in that street just now, so he couldn't be too far away from it.

He walked slowly.

Before long.

He returned to the front of the self-service bank just now.

The chocolate girl who was vomiting had another black-haired, slender young girl beside her, helping her sit on the steps in front of the bank to take shelter from the rain.

Li Cheng颐 slowed his pace slightly and recognized the black-haired girl.

Zhou Xing瞳.

Chen Pi had introduced her to him as his roommate.

She was wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt with white characters that said "Dudu Milk Tea" printed on the back. She was wearing large black-framed glasses and didn't wear much makeup. She looked much more haggard than before.

Li Cheng颐 didn't expect to meet an acquaintance at this time.

Although they rarely met, she would occasionally like his posts on WeChat.

After thinking about it, he still didn't greet her. This wasn't the time for casual chatting.

The danger of the Quiet Little Shop had increased significantly, and he had to be fully prepared to deal with it.

All of his flower scale armor had been repaired, and Rainbow Candy's life-saving suit had also been borrowed.

The drugs needed for first aid, short-term stimulants, and simple directional demolition explosives were all carefully prepared for him by Da Xiong and Rainbow Candy.

(End of chapter)