Chapter 9: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

Behind the white door was a downward staircase, and at the end of the stairs, another white door awaited.

As soon as Wu Chang stepped onto the stairs, he felt a flicker in his vision. Unexplained hallucinations rushed toward him—a chaotic, frenzied mosaic of fragmented images, jumping and disjointed, much like the thoughts flooding a patient’s mind before a complete mental breakdown.

He shook his head violently, relying on his formidable willpower to break free from the illusion.

The moment he regained his focus, he noticed a red key embedded in the wall beside him. Someone had placed the key to the fourth floor of the sanatorium here, purposely setting up this trial as a gatekeeper. If one’s will were not strong enough to break free from the hall of mirrors, they would simply wander through the corridor in a daze, never discovering the red key on the wall.

It seemed his willpower had passed the test.

He tucked the key into his personal storage space, strode to the white door below, and pushed it open.

Behind the door was a room resembling a clinic. A refined-looking middle-aged man in a white coat sat behind a desk, busy writing out prescription slips.

Wu Chang’s heart skipped a beat. *Damn it, walked right into a trap.*

No one had told him that a night-shift doctor’s office was behind that door. Now he had been caught red-handed violating the hospital rules; he could only hope the punishment wouldn’t be too severe.

Hearing the door open, the middle-aged man looked up. When he saw that the visitor was Wu Chang instead of the familiar Kingston, his brow furrowed involuntarily.

"Who are you?"

Wu Chang glanced at the doctor’s nameplate and replied demurely, "Hello, Dr. Wolf. I’m a new patient."

Dr. Wolf’s gaze swept over him. Wu Chang remembered something and instinctively covered the Traveler’s Amulet hanging at his waist.

"Did you kill Kingston?"

The atmosphere in the room plummeted to freezing at Wolf’s question. His tone was devoid of emotion—it was impossible to tell if he felt grief or anger. Wu Chang remained frozen in his submissive pose, unsure whether to answer truthfully or to strike first by pulling out his Silver Dawn and putting a bullet in Wolf’s head.

Now it was Wu Chang’s turn to break into a cold sweat. After a brief silence, he quickly assessed the situation: the things inside the white door were powerful enough to make a veteran doctor cautious, so launching an attack rashly would be unwise.

"Kingston lost his gamble."

It was the truth, but only a partial one. He left the rest for Wolf to fill in with his own imagination.

"That is truly wonderful!"

Upon hearing of his acquaintance’s death, Wolf didn't flare up in anger; instead, he broke into a radiant smile, as if he had just heard the best news imaginable.

Just then, the whistling of a boiling kettle came from the back of the office.

"My medicine is ready. Come with me; we can talk as we walk."

Wolf opened a door behind him and beckoned to Wu Chang with enthusiasm.

Passing through the office, they arrived at a vast cavern. Contrary to the neatness of the office, the cavern was crude and primitive, resembling the nest of some giant insect.

Once inside, Wolf’s body began to convulse. His skin swelled and tore rapidly, his entire frame inflating as if being pumped full of air, and everything below his ribs transformed into a bloated, pus-filled worm.

In mere seconds, the refined middle-aged doctor had become a man-insect hybrid monster.

"Apologies, the scent of the pharmacy room is too intoxicating; it makes it hard to control myself." Wolf scratched his head with his insect-like limb, a look of apology appearing in his blood-red eyes. "It’s all the fault of those demons like Kingston—they brought that damnable paranoia here, and it’s what turned me into this. I hope I didn't scare you."

Wu Chang shook his head and said in a tone of "Go! You can do it!":

"Dr. Wolf, you haven't been out in so long that you don't realize society now embraces diverse aesthetics. The notion that 'only looking human is normal' is outdated. Your current form is what truly defines beauty. If you went to the White Tower Nation, you could at least be a beauty pageant contestant."

"Beauty... pageant contestant?"

"Of course. In the White Tower, not only is aesthetics undefined, but even gender is fluid. For instance, my gender is an attack helicopter."

"Huh?" Wolf was completely stumped, staring at Wu Chang in bewilderment, as if Wu Chang were the one who had turned into a monster.

What was this? Was this kid mocking him, or had the outside world already fallen into the throes of mass paranoia?

It wasn't until they reached the innermost part of the cave that Wolf regained his composure.

Deep in the cave, a massive metal pot was set over a fire, with yellowish medicinal liquid boiling violently inside. Wolf turned off the fire and skillfully poured the liquid onto gauze, wringing it out until only a pale yellow mass of medicinal powder remained, which he placed into a metal bowl.

He then grabbed a burlap sack from the corner, took out a handful of various herbs, and began chewing them. Under the influence of the herbs, colorful pustules grew on Wolf’s bloated worm body. He squeezed the pustules, letting the pus drip into the metal bowl, ground the mixture with a pestle, and placed it into an oven.

Finally, he took out a tray of dried medicinal powder, sifted it twice, and filled pre-made capsules with it.

Having witnessed the entire manufacturing process, Wu Chang looked at the familiar capsules and felt his scalp tingle. "Dr. Wolf, what exactly are you doing?"

Wolf replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Making medicine. Didn't you see before you came in? This room is the pharmacy."

Looking at the colorful pustules on Wolf, Wu Chang felt his stomach churn. It was a good thing he hadn't yet taken the special medication issued by the sanatorium. He really wanted to ask Wolf who on earth taught him to make medicine like that.

Wolf put the finished capsules into a bottle, turned around, and asked: "Where were we?"

Wu Chang: "We were talking about how Kingston and the others turned you into this."

"Thank you very much."

Wolf looked down at Wu Chang and said slowly, "You are a new face. As an outsider who managed to get here, you must be a treasure hunter."

"You could say that." Wu Chang didn't know what a "treasure hunter" setting entailed, but seeing that Wolf held no immediate hostility, he decided to play along.

"It’s a pity, but the 'Gold of Curses' you are looking for doesn't exist. It’s all a scam. You and we—we’ve all been deceived."

Wolf sighed and began to recount the town’s past in a nostalgic tone.

The Moonlight Sanatorium was located in White Stone Town, a place almost as old as the kingdom itself, which had always been managed by the Anderson family. Originally, it was the White Stone Fief, earned by the patriarch, a farmer by birth, through legendary feats in battle. The descendants of the Anderson family had worked tirelessly through generations to cultivate the vast territory into a small town—a town on the verge of bankruptcy.

The dire financial situation forced the Andersons to seek help from the outside, but in opening the gates for aid, they also invited a wolf into their home.

The Veno family of Forest City, who owned dozens of large factories, possessed staggering wealth and expertise in management. They claimed to admire the long history of White Stone Town and could not bear to see it decline, so they offered their assistance.

Enticed by the magic of gold, the Veno family quickly seized control of White Stone Town. They built factories, surveyed for minerals, and established schools and churches. For a time, the town flourished, and the residents became wealthy.

But in reality, it was all a conspiracy.

Beyond their identity as wealthy merchants, the Veno family were members of the Tranquility Church—a group of lunatics living in an industrial society who nonetheless believed fervently in mysticism and magic.

The remote White Stone Town was their experimental field. Under their secret machinations, the town's water and air were polluted, and the residents' health deteriorated, leaving them plagued by constant illness. To escape their ailments, they were forced to turn to the church, eventually accepting the Tranquility Church's influence.

Under the guidance of the church, their minds began to unravel, and they contracted an infectious mental illness known as "paranoia." As the disease progressed, the afflicted would go mad and attack others.

To contain the spread of the disease, Randy Anderson—who had returned from the capital after studying medicine—and Wolf converted the oldest cathedral in town into the Moonlight Sanatorium.

Hearing this, Wu Chang looked up at Wolf and asked in surprise, "So you mean you were one of the builders of the Moonlight Sanatorium?"

Seeing Wu Chang’s astonishment, Wolf showed no pride. Instead, he said mournfully:

"I was also one of the architects of this tragedy. Randy and I were both wrong. Mysticism actually exists, and the Tranquility Church used the gathered paranoia patients to complete some terrifying magical experiment!"

"They succeeded, and using the power gained from the experiment, they sealed this sanatorium, tormenting the patients within, warping their minds and bodies, turning them into inhuman monsters. Just like..."

"Just like me."

"I was turned into this state because I investigated too deeply and was discovered by them. They have also kept Kingston here to monitor me."

Wu Chang stared at Wolf’s worm-like body and asked, "Does Dean Randy know you’ve become like this?"

Wolf shook his head and said, "Ever since the sanatorium was sealed, Randy hasn't left the fourth floor. I suspect his situation isn't optimistic either, but he is our last hope."

"Pitiful and wretched outsider, now you are caught in this as well. If you want to escape, you must help me! I can't tell which of the medical staff are followers of the Tranquility Church; I can only trust outsiders like you."

"The Tranquility Sect has mastered the power of an Evil God and is using it to warp reality. You must let Randy know of the Tranquility Church’s conspiracy and find a way to stop all of this!"

Wolf finished speaking with great excitement, but after waiting a while, he heard no response from Wu Chang.

He reached out with his insect-like arm to scratch his back and asked, "Outsider, is there something on my back that keeps you staring?"

Wu Chang gazed at the pale red resentment that Wolf’s insect limb was scratching, and shook his head. "Nothing at all."

Looking at the dying words within the resentment, then at Wolf, who wore an expression of sincere, natural earnestness, he let out a scoff.

*What a master actor.* If not for the information in the resentment, he might have truly fallen for Wolf’s act and believed the monster in front of him was a tragic hero.

He focused his gaze on the resentment, where a line of ordinary dying words surfaced:

"I never expected that a thick-browed, big-eyed pharmacist like you would be a believer of the Evil God just like me. Wait, High Priest, don't move! We're on the same side!"