Fifth floor.
After Doctor Li opened the password-protected door, he led Jiang Lin inside.
Protected by security personnel, the more spacious, brighter, and even somewhat brand-new corridor was completely empty, with almost nothing there.
Doctor Li confidently took Jiang Lin around several times, yet still nothing happened.
"Is this what you called your backup plan?"
"Now you should believe it, right? That thing was completely talking nonsense!"
As Doctor Li spoke, he stopped walking.
Jiang Lin gripped the vocabulary notebook in her hand so tightly her knuckles turned white.
After a long while, Jiang Lin finally released her grip as if accepting her fate.
"Of course," Doctor Li said solemnly, "There's still hope if you properly accept treatment now."
Jiang Lin still refused to give up.
"But even if everything is fake, and that guy went so far as to forge handwriting with special ink to deceive me, there must be something on the fifth floor, right?"
Doctor Li sighed and lowered his gaze: "You need to understand, that guy fundamentally cannot come up to the fifth floor."
Jiang Lin bit her lower lip, staring directly at Doctor Li's face: "You're lying to me. Your expression just now precisely indicated that guy has been to the fifth floor before."
Doctor Li looked at Jiang Lin.
After a long pause, he spoke again: "Fine, he did sneak up here once... but it was only for a moment before security dragged him out!"
"Then if you want to completely convince me—prove it to me, show me the place he reached back then."
Doctor Li clearly couldn't stop Jiang Lin, so he could only sigh and lead her to a door for critically ill patients.
"Right here—but opening the door is impossible. There's a very dangerous critically ill patient inside."
Doctor Li said.
But as Jiang Lin stood there, she suddenly spoke unconsciously.
"No... no need to open the door."
She saw a crude drawing-like mark floating before the door.
It looked like...
a gray crow.
And the moment Jiang Lin saw this gray crow, she felt her consciousness, her soul, as if struck by a heavy hammer!
"Bang!"
Jiang Lin staggered dizzily, clutching her head as she crouched down.
"Urgh..."
In her mind, she seemed to see the scene from when this mark was imprinted.
"You made it here? Congratulations!"
"Behind this door lies the secret of this dungeon's core trick and design. Your arrival here precisely conceals my true purpose—because they'll pin their hopes on the self-correction mechanism after the door opens, they'll instead overlook this backup plan I left on the door."
"The one who designed this dungeon is strong, but... as I understand, in the Misty Islands, nothing can surpass that crow."
"So, cognitive interference methods cannot blaspheme marks related to the true god of this realm—along with the memories this mark can bring."
"Now, you should remember everything, right?"
"It's fine if you can't take out 【items】, don't forget... you already have an 【item】 that belongs to you in your hand."
"Use it as an anchor point to reclaim the privileges that belong to you."
"Then... their deception will appear to you like a true farce."
The memories almost instilled into her mind gradually became clear with each stroke of the crow mark.
Finally, Jiang Lin exhaled and looked at Doctor Li.
"I saw it. You're lying to me."
"This place is indeed fake. This isn't some mental hospital at all—it's just a game dungeon!"
"You cannot alter memories directly related to 'gods'."
Hearing Jiang Lin's words, Doctor Li looked somewhat stunned.
But then his expression turned serious: "It seems your illness cannot be cured so simply after all."
"Then what about your parents, Miss Jiang..."
"Do you think they're fake too?"
Jiang Lin didn't answer.
She raised the vocabulary notebook in her hand and said: "You want evidence of 【item】 privileges related to 『Players』, right? This is the evidence!"
"This thing... was originally my 【item】!"
Hearing Jiang Lin say this, Doctor Li instead seemed relieved as he confidently spoke.
"Then put it away—according to what you said, shouldn't you be able to store it in your item space?"
"I don't need you to take out new 【items】, you just need to put this away, and I'll acknowledge what you said."
Jiang Lin laughed.
"Ahaha," she shook the notebook in her hand, laughing with unprecedented happiness, "I don't know what exactly you are, Doctor Li... whether you're the residual consciousness of 『Freud』 or a subordinate of the Misty Islands Master, as the true controller of this asylum, you're somewhat too eager for success."
"But I can't blame you, it's just... this 'entrapment' scheme, using me as bait, is really beautifully executed."
"Anyway—sealing 【item】 privileges is indeed quite an impressive trump card, although you used some clever method... probably by separating our souls and bodies, making us unable to use our full privileges."
"So I'm more inclined to believe you're that First Generation 『Freud』... because you understand 『Players』 too well!"
"But unfortunately, I don't need to use 【item】 privileges themselves to confirm that this thing is my 【item】."
As Jiang Lin spoke, Doctor Li's expression grew more grave.
"Your episode this time is really severe. I'm afraid I'll have to adopt more radical treatment methods..."
"But I still hope you can come to your senses yourself—everything you just said cannot be proven, but I do have concrete evidence that you've lived in our hospital for five years, Jiang Lin."
Hearing Doctor Li's almost final attempt at persuasion, Jiang Lin smiled and shook her head.
"I really overestimated you... to be foolish to this extent."
"Everything I just said, of course, has a way to be verified."
"To be honest... your tactics using parents and familial bonds are indeed very effective and targeted. I can see you've put a lot of design into this, but unfortunately..."
As she spoke, Jiang Lin raised the notebook in her hand.
That notebook twisted and transformed, turning into a flowing black substance in Jiang Lin's hand.
"Let me introduce you—this isn't an item called 【Portable Notebook】, but 【Counterfeit】."
"Just like how I'm not actually Jiang Lin or 『Robin』 either."
The young woman exhaled, her facial features shifting to reveal a young man's delicate face.
"You can call me 『May May』—or 『Director』 is fine too, respected First Generation 『Freud』."