A black car passed through the gloomy woods and followed the forest path to the building that looked like a cement tombstone, completely devoid of windows. The Special Service Bureau officers stationed in front of the main building immediately approached—the car door opened, and Baili Qing, dressed in a white suit, stepped out. She gave a slight nod to the armed Special Service Bureau officers in front of her and then lifted her gaze to the gray sanatorium building. "What's the situation now?" A scene commander immediately spoke up: "An hour ago, the alarm sounded in the core zone. Currently, all patients and medical staff in the main building have been evacuated to the 'Shortcut' transit station and the woodland Sanctuary according to emergency plans, but there is a security team still trapped in the building—they are the 'Dean's' surveillance team. They were supposed to evacuate with everyone else when the alarm sounded, but for some unknown reason, they remained in the building. The signals monitored by the communication station indicate they seem to be engaged with an unknown enemy." Baili Qing furrowed her brow almost imperceptibly: "Are there any other signals in the building now?" "Only the 'Dean's' containment system continues to issue leak alerts; otherwise, the entire facility has been shut down," the commander replied gravely. "The core zone is currently in a 'flooded' state, so it's impossible to confirm the situation on the office side." Baili Qing nodded and ordered the on-site personnel to continue sealing off the facility, then stepped towards the building entrance. The access control system had already been lifted. Baili Qing pushed open the door of the Jinglin Sanatorium, and a damp atmosphere hit her face. The first-floor lobby was empty, illuminated only by the dim emergency lights casting a ghostly glow on the deserted hall and corridor. Behind the reception desk not far away, the large screen continued flashing alerts about the dean's containment breach and facility emergency evacuation. The surrounding air was so humid it felt like it was saturated with water, breathing gave one the illusion of drowning, and many small streams seemed to slither along the ceiling and walls like living creatures, forming various-sized puddles on the ground. Read full story at 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚑𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚑𝙣𝙚𝙩 Without any accompanying personnel or guards, Baili Qing only slightly frowned at the situation in the lobby, then proceeded towards the corridor leading to the core zone. The interior space of this building was far more expansive than its theoretical physical structure—especially after the "Goldfish" containment breach. The flooded environment magnified the deep corridors and expansive areas. In the deserted building, illuminated by the dim light, there was an eerie silence, broken only by the hollow echo of Baili Qing's footsteps in the corridor. As she went further, the surroundings grew colder and damper until the entire corridor presented a bizarre atmosphere as if it had been submerged underwater for decades or even centuries. The mottled algae covered the walls, and coral-like structures jutted abruptly from the ground. The ceiling draped with glowing filamentous water plants, numerous streams detached from the walls, floating weightlessly airborne, silently flowing between the corals and water plants. A pair of pale eyes emerged on the damp wall, and Baili Xue's voice sounded: "The 'Dean' has been quite well-behaved for half a century... How did it suddenly breach containment?" "All entities tend to breach containment, which has nothing to do with whether they are 'well-behaved.' It's just a matter of suitable conditions," Baili Qing said indifferently. "So rather than the breach itself, I am more curious about who created this 'condition' for it—that goldfish doesn't like anyone intruding into its office." A distinctly defined "watersurface" suddenly appeared in the hallway—just a few meters ahead, the corridor leading to the dean's office was completely "flooded." The rippling water surface was perpendicular to the walls, seemingly bound by invisible force. Clear water filled the entire core zone, expanding outward at a very slow pace. A few figures wearing Light Power Armor floated in the water not far away, swaying slowly with the currents. It was the missing security team. Baili Qing's expression remained unchanged as she walked straight toward the water body. A fine, scale-like, faint light pattern suddenly appeared on her cheeks and arms. As she walked through the water, she moved as if she were in the air, without any resistance. She approached the Special Service Bureau officers floating with the current and placed her hand on one person's head. The helmet mask of the Light Power Armor quickly turned transparent, revealing it hadn't filled with water; the young officer was still conscious, with a serene and content smile on his face—his eyes open as he floated in the water, a goldfish swimming magically inside his helmet. The goldfish wagged its tail in the air under the mask, occasionally darting into the officer's head like an illusion, swimming through his eyes, then out of his ears, leisurely and carefree. Baili Qing inspected the entire security team and saw that each had a goldfish swimming inside their mask. These people were still alive, but half an hour later, they might as well have been dead—they would live forever in a dream where they were a goldfish, gradually forgetting how to breathe air. Baili Qing waved her hand, an invisible force propelled the security team trapped in the "goldfish dream" out of the water, dropping them clumsily onto the corridor outside the water body. They suddenly awoke from the dream, looking up dazedly at their surroundings. "Withdraw; there is backup outside the main door." Baili Qing's voice sounded in everyone's mind. Then Baili Qing turned around, ignoring the security team beginning their retreat, and continued to walk deeper into the corridor. The goldfish's illusion appeared in the water, swimming around her. Tiny, sharp noises began to emerge around her ears. The goldfish swam faster, seeming somewhat agitated. Baili Qing frowned and endured listening to the non-stop tiny voice in her ears— "I was attacked! I was attacked! Despicable attacker!" The voice, which could make ordinary people dizzy and even fall into an unending dream realm, was babbling. "I didn't break the fish tank on purpose. I was forced to break the containment! That lunatic without a disease broke my fish tank! "I'm innocent, I'm the victim, I didn't want to run out— "I wanted the security team to retreat, but they were knocked out. I entered their minds for protection purposes, otherwise, they wouldn't have survived in the waterlogged environment until now… "I know you can definitely arrive here within two hours…" Baili Qing stopped and looked expressionlessly at the goldfish illusion swimming back and forth before her. The goldfish floated in front of her, its semi-transparent fins trembling constantly. "Hit, hit lightly in a moment." It cautiously negotiated. The illusion of the goldfish disappeared, and the office door of the director was ajar where it had vanished. Baili Qing pushed the door open and entered. In the office filled with clear water, many fragmented objects floated within, and besides that, bubbles of various sizes were everywhere in the room—each bubble contained a blurry light and shadow. There were daily scenes from Jinglin Sanatorium, records of Yu Sheng and his group visiting, scenes of the "Director" checking the surveillance, and the scene of the attacker taking action in the office… The images within each bubble repeated continuously every seven seconds. And a goldfish—not an illusion—was slowly swimming between those bubbles, going round and round, as if wandering in its own dream realm. Baili Qing's gaze first landed on those bubbles. After watching the images reflected in each bubble, she stepped into the center of the office. A tall human female shell floated lifelessly in the water, with a crack on the spherical fish tank where the head should be. Although the entire office was submerged in water, not a drop of water was in that fish tank. Baili Qing carefully examined the human shell and the spherical fish tank for a moment, then calmly stared at the crack at the bottom of the tank. The crack on the fish tank was reflected in her extremely light-colored eyes. Moments later, the crack reflected in her eyes began to shrink slowly—and with the change in the scene in her eyes, the crack on the spherical fish tank began to heal. The water level in the office began to decrease, and the goldfish swimming between the bubbles seemed disturbed, immediately struggling. Then, this struggle turned into a ferocious rampage. But it only had time to ram a few times before it was suddenly gripped by an invisible force. Baili Qing extended her hand towards the goldfish, fine scales covered her forearm and the back of her hand. The originally pale and delicate human palm suddenly became rugged and fierce, the stout and powerful knuckles and sharp hooked nails quickly swelled and grew with creaking sounds. She looked up and stared intensely at the goldfish which was instinctively struggling, gradually applying force, with the invisible force imprinting the goldfish's entire body and then dragging it slowly towards the fish tank. The goldfish's eyes bulged out, its whole body expanding and contracting violently like a balloon about to burst, a tiny voice echoed in the water, "Gentle, gentle, I didn't want to run but you know I can't control… hey hey hey! Stop gripping! The boss gently! X is about to come out…" Baili Qing swung her hand and tossed the goldfish straight into the spherical fish tank. The water accumulated in the office quickly receded, the pervasive dampness in the air seemed to fade like an illusion as the ventilation system restarted. Baili Qing's arm soon returned to its original state. She turned her head to see that the two-meter-tall human female shell was shakily standing up, its movements clumsy and stiff like a system rebooting. The goldfish that had been gripped nearly lifeless swayed around in the fish tank for two laps before its fins began to relax and stretch. "Ah, it feels so good to have clear thoughts again…" A lazy, charming female voice came from the speaker beneath the fish tank, "Chief, fortunately, you arrived in time." Baili Qing nonchalantly shook her hand, then pulled a tissue from the desk to wipe her fingers. The previous "submersion" seemed like an illusion. After the goldfish returned to the fish tank, the things that had been soaking in water returned to a dry state. "Alright, now tell me, how did you end up ."