Even if I give it away, that energy remains mine.

Zhang Yurou frowned at the mention of the word, looking toward Xie Yunying. "A partnership? What kind of deal are you proposing?"

She knew instinctively that this bizarre doctor had ulterior motives.

Xie Yunying did not answer directly. "Whatever the deal may be, you are in no position to refuse, are you?"

"Because our statuses have never been equal, not from the very beginning."

"If you do not agree, I have nothing to lose."

As she spoke, Xie Yunying began to walk down the stairs. Passing by Zhang Yurou, she added one more sentence.

"I imagine others would be quite happy to make this deal with me."

After that, Xie Yunying fell silent. The only sound in Zhang Yurou's ears was the clicking of high heels against the tiles. Coupled with the decaying, dust-filled environment and the weight of Xie Yunying’s words, a mere few seconds felt like an eternity, and Zhang Yurou could feel her sanity plummeting rapidly.

Finally, just as Xie Yunying was about to turn the corner, Zhang Yurou spoke up.

"Wait! Director Xie! I agree."

Xie Yunying stopped. After Zhang Yurou ran up to her, Xie Yunying frowned, asking with a hint of confusion, "Why are you crying?"

Only then did Zhang Yurou react, slowly reaching up to touch her face.

Was she... crying?

It felt damp and cool to the touch. When had she started crying? She hadn't even realized it.

Seeing that Zhang Yurou’s pupils had shrunk to half their normal size, Xie Yunying’s frown deepened.

"Have you been tainted by mental corruption?"

"Is that what it is?" Zhang Yurou asked, blinking her unusually dilated eyes.

Xie Yunying felt that a mentally broken Zhang Yurou was of no value and was about to leave when her system, Xie Yunying (the system), spoke up at the right moment: "Host, you could turn her into your own corpse-puppet!"

"Those powerful entities love doing that. Besides, having an inside agent among the players would make our work much easier, wouldn't it, Host?"

Xie Yunying was intrigued, but looking at the corrupted Zhang Yurou, she said with disdain, "She doesn't even know when she was mentally corrupted. What use is she as an inside agent?"

Hearing this, the system emerged from the system space.

After circling around Zhang Yurou, the system returned to its space. "Host, she is currently in the latent period following infection or contamination. Once she adapts, Zhang Yurou will not only return to normal but her strength will also increase significantly. The side effect, however, is that she will never be able to leave this dungeon. She will lose her humanity and become completely 'bizarre,' turning into one of the spectral nurses of Chongshan Psychiatric Hospital. But human players infected by 'bizarre' entities or pollutants can still leave the dungeon."

Xie Yunying was eager to try. "How do I do it?"

"Host, pierce her heart with your fingernails and drip a drop of your blood into it. Then, use your spectral energy to cover the mental corruption she contracted from the dungeon."

Xie Yunying followed the instructions, and at the system's prompt, withdrew her hand. She then resumed her normal appearance, waiting for the transformation.

The bloody hole in Zhang Yurou's chest began to heal slowly, and the pupils in her eyes gradually returned to their normal size. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that they were no longer purely black, but slowly becoming stained with a deep, vivid crimson. Her skin grew pale, like a patient who had been bedridden for a long time without seeing the sun. Her fingernails grew until they reached ten centimeters before stopping. A lock of hair at her temple began to frost over with white.

In about five minutes, Zhang Yurou had completely changed.

Then, her eyelids fluttered, and she opened her eyes. Seeing her abnormal skin tone and hands, Zhang Yurou recoiled in shock.

"What is there to be surprised about? Oh, right. I have some unfortunate news for you: you were mentally corrupted by the dungeon. The silver lining is that the corruption on you has been replaced by mine."

Seeing that Xie Yunying was about to continue, Zhang Yurou interrupted, giving in to despair. "So? What do you want?"

She did not believe Xie Yunying had gone to such lengths just to make a simple deal.

"I not only saved you, but I will also help you complete your mission! Once you leave the dungeon, you won't need to do anything. Just be yourself."

Could a 'bizarre' entity really be this kind? To her, a monster being kind to a human was like a weasel wishing a chicken a happy new year—it was nothing but bad intentions!

So, upon hearing this, Zhang Yurou was even more confused. Was she just having a stroke of incredible luck today? Had the Goddess of Fortune blessed her?

"You are a veteran player, after all," Xie Yunying said, walking up to her and leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Don't you pay a price when you use your own artifacts?"

Xie Yunying knew that Zhang Yurou’s vitality had been nearly drained by her two artifacts. Now, tainted by her own energy, Zhang Yurou was only alive because of the strength she had just imparted. The only reason Zhang Yurou could still speak was because Xie Yunying had not yet triggered the spectral energy within her.

Seeing Zhang Yurou tense up, Xie Yunying playfully intimidated her. "Besides, even if I gave you my power, it remains my power! I can trigger it anytime, anywhere! So don't try to play any tricks on me."

Listening to the continuous stream of fear-value notifications in her mind, Xie Yunying knew that Zhang Yurou had taken her words to heart.

Seeing that the girl had quieted down, Xie Yunying stood up straight and pulled a key from her pocket.

"This is the key to my office. Take it. Remember: do not come out between midnight and seven in the morning."

After Zhang Yurou took it, Xie Yunying walked past her. Upon reaching the lobby, she saw two spectral nurses standing behind the reception desk.

"Yingying! I'm about to go on a killing spree!"

As she spoke, Xie Yunying stretched her limbs and headed toward the reception desk.

"D-Director Xie! Are you on duty tonight as well?" One of the nurses smiled as she approached. It would have been better if the dead skin on her face weren't flaking off, though.

"No, I'm not on duty tonight! But you, you’ve truly disgusted me today!"

"Huh?"

Before the nurse could understand what Xie Yunying meant, she was grabbed by the throat. A mere F-rank spectral nurse had her neck snapped instantly by Xie Yunying.

As Xie Yunying tossed the nurse onto the lobby floor, the other E-rank nurse was still standing at her station in a daze. But the next second, she joined her colleague, her throat slashed by Xie Yunying’s sharp claws.