"Finally made it out..."

Landy wearily crouched on Lin Ye's back. As the drug's effects faded, he felt pain everywhere in his body.

"Are you okay?"

Lin Ye glanced back at Landy and noticed many strangely shaped wounds on his body.

"Not too bad. It's a side effect of using the syringe. It should ease up soon. Should we head to the next area now?"

Landy forced himself to perk up. The syringe's side effects were fading, but the feeling of discomfort throughout his body was growing stronger.

"No rush. Let me treat your wounds first. You should have a basic first aid kit in your bag, right?"

Lin Ye used a protrusion in the cavern to stop his sliding, coming to a halt near some glowing plants.

"You know how to treat wounds? I'm feeling a bit unwell..."

Landy took out the basic first aid kit and handed it to Lin Ye. His hands kept trembling. That discomfort was already starting to affect his normal movements.

"I've worked many jobs. Doctor was just one of them... You'd better close your eyes."

Lin Ye used a scalpel to cut open those strangely shaped wounds on Landy's body, extracting the insect eggs and larvae hidden deep within.

It was clear. The reason those long worms didn't kill them was to use their bodies to incubate new long worms.

And they were very impatient, starting to inject eggs into Landy's body during the journey.

"...Are you disinfecting it? Why don't I feel anything?"

Landy asked uneasily, his eyes closed.

"Don't worry. You'll feel it soon enough."

Lin Ye quickly dealt with the wounds on Landy's body. Those long worms had left many eggs. Fortunately, the wounds weren't too deep and didn't endanger any vital areas. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Debridement, disinfection, bandaging. Lin Ye performed the repetitive operations skillfully. These were basic skills for a clinical doctor, with no difficulty at all.

Soon, Lin Ye had cleared all the insect eggs from Landy's body. He gave Landy a painkiller before letting him open his eyes.

"Thanks. Let's hurry to the next area."

After Lin Ye's treatment, Landy felt much more comfortable.

"Alright. Be careful. Don't get snatched by bugs again."

Lin Ye had the strange illusion that he was accompanying the Tang Monk on his journey to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures.

And he wasn't just playing one role.

"Don't worry. I won't get caught again."

Landy and Lin Ye split up to act. They quickly found the cardboard. This time, without the long worms causing trouble, they smoothly entered another area.

"...Isn't this place a bit terrible?"

Just after passing through the cardboard, Landy saw a pile of rotten flesh not far away.

They stood on a patch of open ground. Rotten meat piles were everywhere around them. The stench of decaying flesh floated in the air.

"It's okay."

Unfortunately, there was no spiritual energy here either. Otherwise, this place would be half a home turf for Lin Ye.

Lin Ye didn't immediately split up with Landy. If Landy died, he'd have to start the simulation over. So this time, he wanted to find a relatively safe place first before splitting up with Landy.

"What should we do now?"

Landy asked wearily.

"Let's slide for a while first. You can rest a bit in the meantime."

Lin Ye felt sliding would be safer.

He had previously thought about finding a safe zone to rest. Now it seemed the sliding state itself was their safe zone.

"Are you okay with that? I'm not exactly light."

Landy was concerned about Lin Ye's condition.

"It's fine. Neither being stepped on nor normal sliding consumes much stamina."

Lin Ye picked a random direction and started sliding. This place seemed to be an abandoned district. There were no living people nearby, only piles of foul-smelling flesh and blood.

During the sliding process, Lin Ye deliberately stayed away from those rotting flesh piles. But rotten meat piles were everywhere here, so it was inevitable to get close to them while sliding.

After sliding on the street for a while and finding no enemies, Lin Ye stopped sliding and began to split up with Landy to act.

This time, he didn't find any cardboard. Soon, Landy ran over, waving at him.

"...What the hell are you now? Can't you monsters just quiet down and let us pass?"

Bang!

Feeling somewhat annoyed, Lin Ye blasted the fake Landy's head off with a gunshot. A foul stench wafted from within the fake Landy's body, which was stuffed with rotten meat.

The fake Landy, now turned into a pile of rotten flesh, still approached Lin Ye. Its body began to collapse, turning into something like a pile of sludge.

The sludge monster didn't let Lin Ye go. It continued to shift its body towards him.

Over a dozen fake Landys surrounded him from all directions. They waved at Lin Ye, showing friendly smiles.

Lin Ye used the sliding skill and began sliding towards where the real Landy was. He didn't know if Landy was still alive either, as the other might not be able to see through those piles of rotten flesh.

Soon, Lin Ye found Landy, who was shooting at the sludge monsters. Landy was spraying bullets at those piles of rotten flesh that had turned into Lin Ye, quickly gunning down the sludge monsters.

Seeing Lin Ye sliding over, Landy finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"The gap is over there."

Landy jumped onto Lin Ye's back, dodging the approaching sludge monsters.

Lin Ye carried Landy and slid to the side of the cardboard. They passed through the cardboard and arrived in another area.

"...Can we really still get back?"

Seeing yet another unfamiliar area, Landy felt somewhat discouraged.

"Yes. I'll get you back."

Lin Ye looked at this space that seemed to be a library. He actually didn't know how to get back either.

"Thanks. Let's split up and act directly. If I encounter a monster, I'll shout for help loudly."

Landy wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

"Alright."

Lin Ye and Landy walked towards opposite sides of the library, but they soon stopped.

Because this was a small library. There simply wasn't enough space for them to split up and act separately.

The library's windows and large door were boarded up with planks. Only by opening the sealed large door could they create enough distance between them.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no monsters inside the library. They walked around and didn't encounter anything abnormal.

"...Do you think the monsters here might be outside?"

Lin Ye wanted to check the situation outside through door cracks and windows, but he quickly discovered that all places that could make contact with the outside were sealed shut.

"I think that's about right. All the previous areas had monsters. It wouldn't be only here that doesn't."

Landy sat down on a chair to rest. The previous areas had left him feeling extremely fatigued.

"You're tired? Then rest for a while before we open the large door. I need to regroup too."

Lin Ye took out his treasured energy bar, tore open the packaging, and took a small bite.

A sensation similar to eating dirt clogged his throat, making it hard to swallow.

"I do need to rest for a bit. Here, this is for you."

Landy tossed Lin Ye a bottle of energy drink.

"Thanks. I'm going to take a look over by the bookshelf. Maybe we can find some information about this place there."

Lin Ye walked over near the bookshelf. Books of various kinds were chaotically arranged on the shelves.