The entire Tiancheng City First Hospital seemed to be experiencing an earthquake, with strange "hissing" sounds coming from all directions.
Chen Bugu quickly ran back to the front of the outpatient building and found that all the plants originally clinging to the exterior walls and interior of the hospital buildings were rapidly shrinking.
It was as if a rewind button had been pressed; all the branches quickly receded from the walls, then gathered into a single mass, dragging trails on the ground as they retreated to the inpatient department behind the three hospital buildings.
Only then did Chen Bugu realize that the inpatient department building behind was already completely covered by branches, making it airtight.
What met his eyes was a bizarre building entirely covered in "green," with even the windows filled with branches.
Then, a strong wind blew!
Followed by an immense sense of oppression.
Chen Bugu saw himself, impaled on the city wall by a massive earth spike, his face covered in blood, his eyes wide in death.
Breaking activated!
The bloodshot in Chen Bugu's eyes quickly receded along with the illusion before him.
He retreated swiftly, but his eyes were uncontrollably fixed on the strange green building in front of him.
The next second, the scenery before Chen Bugu's eyes changed again.
He stood at the exit of the Initial Forest, and a torrential, inky black rain poured down on him, covering everything.
It pressed him down, making him unable to lift his head!
Not far in front of him lay two corpses, and Chen Bugu looked up.
"Boom!"
A blast seemed to echo in his mind.
Chen Bugu saw his parents; they were disemboweled, their deaths gruesome, discarded like two sacks by the roadside.
Chen Bugu's mind collapsed; the inky black rain before him turned scarlet, engulfing him like blood.
Chen Bugu knelt on the ground, his eyes bloodshot.
"Alas..."
A sigh came from an unknown place.
A purple light flashed in Chen Bugu's eyes, and Breaking activated on its own.
The world before him was no longer a crimson expanse but had returned to the outpatient building of Tiancheng City First Hospital, only the air was like a water surface being beaten by rain, constantly rippling in circles.
Breaking continued to activate, and Chen Bugu forced himself to focus, running backward at full speed.
While escaping, he caught a glimpse of Lin Ye, Bai Ting, Yan Kuan, and others out of the corner of his eye.
They had come out at some unknown time, and now their eyes were bloodshot, their expressions numb, like walking corpses, heading towards the green-covered inpatient department in the back.
Chen Bugu grabbed Lin Lin, who was closest to him at the moment.
But even though he held Lin Lin's hand, Lin Lin still walked numbly towards the main entrance of that inpatient building.
Chen Bugu felt a strong force from her hand; if he continued, Lin Lin would probably dislocate her own hand.
Helpless, he had no choice but to carry Lin Lin entirely and run.
Get out of this hospital first!
This was the only thought in Chen Bugu's mind.
He seemed to know what this strange plant was!
In his previous life, someone had rated the magical beasts of the Initial Forest, among which were the ten great exotic beasts, and the ninth ranked was called Vine Dream!
Vine Dream, a plant-type magical beast, resembled the human world's climbing ivy, preferring to attach itself to various buildings, then releasing invisible spores into the air.
The spores would parasitize living organisms through respiration and take root and sprout using the host's life as nourishment.
What was most daunting was that throughout this entire process, the parasitized organisms would fall into various illusions, completely unaware that the guillotine was already hanging over their heads.
Furthermore, the spores could forcibly catalyze the potential of the parasitized, at the cost of burning their life force. Of course, it was the life of the parasitized.
Organisms immersed in illusions would continuously transmit their mental energy to the Vine Dream, and once the mental energy was depleted, they would begin transmitting life force until they became a dried corpse.
Vine Dream itself was only a Black Iron medium-level magical beast, and not even among the strong ones, corresponding to the strength of human Awakeneds only around Black Iron Four Star.
However, its hallucinogenic ability was extremely difficult to Decipher.
Large-scale spores floated in the air, colorless and odorless, impossible to avoid or remove.
Once the spores took root and sprouted inside the body, the parasitized had no way to get rid of them except by quickly killing the Vine Dream.
Most parasitized organisms could not even break free from the illusions, let alone counter-kill the Vine Dream.
The ability to cause death unknowingly was what made Vine Dream terrifying.
It was precisely for this reason that, under various factors of evaluation, the plant-type magical beast "Vine Dream," with only Black Iron medium-level combat power, was ranked ninth among the ten great exotic beasts of the Initial Forest.
Chen Bugu guessed that he must also have been parasitized by spores at this moment, or perhaps he had been parasitized from the very beginning, but he had not quickly succumbed to the illusion entirely due to his stronger mental energy compared to others.
He was currently applying Breaking to his eyes throughout, not daring to interrupt it for a second, fearing that he might be dragged back into the illusion if he was not careful.
Charging towards the iron gate of Tiancheng City First Hospital, a faint purple light diffused in Chen Bugu's eyes, and he saw a faint gray layer at the iron gate.
In front of the iron gate, Chen Bugu stopped urgently, conjuring a fireball in his hand and throwing it forward.
To his surprise, the fireball seemed to hit an invisible air wall; in front of the hospital's iron gate, the fire scattered and turned into ashes.
Chen Bugu was surprised, and slowly reached out his hand to touch it, indeed feeling an invisible air wall.
"Barrier? No, is it a Secret Realm?"
It was truly pouring when it rained; this hospital had actually formed a Secret Realm just now.
Or, had this always been a Secret Realm from the beginning, just waiting for them to break in?
Lin Lin had been struggling on Chen Bugu's back just now, and Chen Bugu, worried about an accident, directly knocked her unconscious.
After placing Lin Lin in the guardhouse, Chen Bugu walked out and looked towards the inpatient department from afar.
In the rippling world, Bai Ting and others had slowly walked into the main entrance of the inpatient department.
That inpatient building, which was completely covered in green, only had its main entrance at the bottom still open.
That main entrance was like a "black hole," silently devouring everyone, all hope.
Chen Bugu's vision seemed to be sucked into that main entrance as well; he quickly slapped his face, the faint purple light in his eyes continuously flickering.
The previous "Bullet Time" combined with the continuous use of Breaking had already consumed more than half of Chen Bugu's mental energy.
Unable to leave the hospital, and he was also parasitized by spores, while others were even on their way to death; it seemed like a dead end before him.
Regarding Vine Dream, Chen Bugu's information was all hearsay; he could only confirm now that this plant-type magical beast was afraid of fire.
Plant-type magical beasts generally had a core, and destroying the core could kill them, but Chen Bugu had no idea where Vine Dream's core was, and the inpatient department was so large, where would he look for it.
Moreover, he feared that once he approached, let alone those teammates controlled by illusions, even just the hundreds of hard branches of Vine Dream would be enough to give Chen Bugu a hard time.
Just as Chen Bugu was pondering.
A startling voice echoed in his mind.
"Eye gene lock Decipher progress: 30%"
"Unlocked ability: Inference"