He mumbled indistinctly as he dodged Agamemnon’s aggressive kiss. “You—you let go!”
The nearly suffocating goodnight kiss finally came to an end. Agamemnon kept one arm wrapped around his waist while slowly parting his lips, savoring the hot mist of breath spilling from the boy’s mouth into his own. Their mingled breathing came out sticky and wet, as if laced with water.
“Still want to leave?”
His hand stroked the boy’s trembling back. “Lili, can you even walk anymore?”
Luo Li’s legs had turned to jelly. He could barely stand, clutching the doorframe as he struggled to catch his breath.
The twisted black haze distorting half the man’s face gradually receded. He steadied Luo Li’s back, then swept him up into his arms by the waist.
“You really like goodnight kisses that much?”
Agamemnon’s voice was low and hoarse, laced with a sinister edge that sent chills racing across the skin. Yet his tone remained as gentle as ever, unable to hide the undercurrent of madness.
What kind of precautions had they even taken?
That careless bastard had left Lili’s legs in this state and still had the nerve to claim it was safe.
“Where do you want to be kissed, Lili? Want Daddy to kiss you? Anywhere you like.”
A torrent of dense kisses descended like a storm, trailing from lips to neck. He kissed the boy’s sensitive, yielding body slowly, as if savoring every inch.
But this time, the kisses differed from their usual tender affection. They carried more force, deliberately grinding against skin already swollen and tender—like punishing a disobedient child.
Luo Li grew more and more afraid. He instinctively curled into himself, clutching the plush bunny tightly.
At that moment, a gunshot rang out.
Bang!
The bullet tore through the room door and struck Agamemnon’s body, only to be swiftly devoured by the twisting black haze.
In the same instant, Agamemnon flung open the door behind Luo Li. His other hand pressed firmly against the back of Luo Li’s head, shielding him against his chest.
The terrace door burst open. Outside, rain poured in sheets.
Luo Li’s almond-shaped eyes flew wide at the sight. His fingertips, resting on Agamemnon’s collar, tightened involuntarily.
…Around the corner, Fu Shiyue was already waiting. He raised the shotgun propped against the wall.
The black muzzle loomed less than half a meter from Agamemnon.
Fu Shiyue narrowed his eyes, gaze fixed on the young man cradled in the monster’s arms.
The boy was gripped tightly around the waist, his body covered in kiss marks, his eyes and brows flushed red with unshed tears.
In that moment, Fu Shiyue had no doubt: even if he pressed the gun to this Leader Boss’s neck, the man would first shove Luo Li behind him, shielding him from any sight of blood.
If not for his obsession with Fu Shiyue’s most cherished adopted son, this Leader Boss might never have revealed his true nature.
Agamemnon’s eyes narrowed as he sized him up. “What are you doing?”
Fu Shiyue spoke with deliberate clarity, each word sharp.
“Of course—to kill you and get Lili out of here.”
He racked the shotgun, sighting down the barrel at Agamemnon’s forehead—the monster’s sole fatal weakness.
Bang!
Luo Li squeezed his eyes shut. But the anticipated stench of gunpowder never came. That deafening roar didn’t sound like gunfire at all.
The floor shuddered beneath their feet. Then 007’s alarm blared in his ear.
“Agamemnon has detonated the laboratory’s virus.”
It was the first time Luo Li had heard such a grave tone from 007. He lifted his gaze from Agamemnon’s embrace and peered outside. Sure enough, thick black smoke was billowing upward.
“The virus will spread through the entire city in just twenty minutes. You have those twenty minutes to stop Agamemnon.”
“Or you can choose not to intervene. If the virus spreads successfully, Task Five will complete, and you can leave this instance.”
After a long pause, 007 added, “It’s your choice.”
Luo Li’s heart pounded wildly. Bewilderment flooded him.
Did he even have a choice?
With one arm, the man held him steady and unfurled an umbrella to keep the rain off. They reached the terrace door and stepped through the rising fog of thick black smoke.
The direction they were heading…
The laboratory?
…
The laboratory lay in ruins, blasted into fragments everywhere he looked.
Smoke stung Luo Li’s eyes, blinding him. He’d lost all sense of direction and fumbled forward blindly. Moments later, he tripped over scattered chunks of debris littering the floor.
As he pitched forward, a strong arm caught him, steadying his body.
Amid the choking black smoke, Luo Li could no longer make out Agamemnon’s features. He sensed only that every trace of his human facade had been stripped away. The thing confronting him now was nothing less than that grotesquely twisted monster.
The palm pressed to his arm felt icy and clammy. The colossal monster loomed between the cold storage units, bowing its head toward him.
…A monster even more terrifying than Wado.
The Leader Boss of this instance.
Luo Li’s legs felt weighted with lead. He teetered on the verge of collapse, held upright by some inscrutable force.
The monster’s inky black tentacles slithered slowly around the boy’s neck, cradling his soft cheeks and drawing the face that haunted its every thought into clear view.
With a trembling voice, Luo Li asked, “You… you’re still the Dean, aren’t you…?”
The monster offered no reply, its touch still caressing his slender, fragile neck.
The tentacles coiled around his waist tightened further. Only then did terror truly crash over Luo Li.
Could he escape?
Would this creature imprison him here forever…?
The thought of being trapped eternally in this nightmarish world made Luo Li’s eyes heat with fear. Tears welled up unbidden.
His nose twitched. He pressed his palm to the monster’s chest, but escape was impossible. He could only listen as it murmured softly into his ear.
The monster’s green eyes drooped. Its tentacles wound around him in what felt like an embrace—or perhaps reassurance.
“There are so many things I never got the chance to tell you.”
“That night at the banquet, I didn’t respect you. I’ve wanted to apologize ever since, but you refused to see me. I… didn’t have the face to approach you either.”
“I admit it—seeing you so close with Dr. Fu, I couldn’t bear it. The whole hospital buzzed with rumors that you two were lovers. Every day brought fresh gossip: where he’d kissed you, how he’d fed you, the way he’d draped his coat over your shoulders. Those were things only I should have done for you.”
His voice, cold and commanding like a general’s order, betrayed an unmistakable thread of loneliness.
“You and Dr. Fu had been drinking at the banquet—your cheeks all flushed. I knew how rare it was for you to go out and have fun, how happy you were. But I lost control of my anger right there in front of everyone and scolded you.”
“From the time you were little, no matter how much trouble you caused—no matter how enormous—I could never bring myself to say a harsh word to you. But that night, with all those people watching, I called you immature. Too young to be chasing romance, shameless about it.”
“You cried. You tugged at my sleeve, your hot tears splashing onto the back of my hand. Sobbing that Daddy, you’d been wrong—don’t abandon me.”
“…Silly child, how could I ever abandon you? The moment your eyes start to redden, I’d rip out my own heart and hand it to you if I could. But that time, I was cruel on purpose. I wanted to force you to break things off with Fu Shiyue.”
By now, Luo Li understood exactly what incident Agamemnon meant.
Only the story sounded nothing like the news report.
In a daze, it felt as though he were reliving those events. An unexpected sting pricked at his nose.
“Your face was streaked with tears, and I lost every shred of reason.”
“I knew the banquet was crawling with reporters and cameras, but I couldn’t think straight. I just… kissed you, right there in front of everyone.”
Agamemnon leaned in close, his scorching breath ghosting over Luo Li’s nose—as if on the verge of another deep kiss.
But in the end, he held back.
“I shouldn’t have forced you into something you didn’t want. I’m sorry.”
【Current Identity Exploration Progress: 100%】
【Unlocked Branch Ending: The Dean’s Love】
【This doesn’t match the reports at all. The Dean seems to have been sincere about you all along. Those scandals cost him his prized reputation, but that pales beside your importance to him. He’s regretted dragging you into the mess ever since, so he never dared show his feelings again. Tonight’s confession might be his final outpouring of true emotion.】
Explosions rocked the area outside the laboratory, the chaos visibly creeping closer.
Touched by those words—whether or not—Luo Li felt a sour ache in his chest, an indescribable sadness.
Agamemnon’s thumb gently rubbed his cheek.
“Maybe I really don’t deserve you.”
“But neither do they.”
“I absolutely won’t allow…”
No one was worthy of his treasure. Not even Agamemnon himself.
If he could remain by Luo Li’s side forever in this warped, hideous monstrous form—protecting him, staying with him—then it would all be worth it.
Heaven knew how much he envied Wado.
Luo Li tilted his neck back and whispered, “Daddy…”
His lashes fluttered as he trembled. “I—I won’t eat strawberry cake anymore. I won’t leave. Please don’t be mad at me…”
The monster’s enormous body bent forward slightly. A strange, guttural rumble escaped its throat.
It said nothing, as if weighing whether Luo Li’s words came from the heart.
Luo Li had no idea what to do. He just didn’t want to see Agamemnon like this—didn’t want him to become a monster for real.
Even if he’d committed terrible wrongs, he’d never once harmed Luo Li.
The young man rose onto his tiptoes and wrapped his arms gently around the officer’s waist, now encased in mutated flesh and bone.
“Daddy, let’s go home, okay? Lili will listen to you from now on.”
The monster fell silent.
The cold storage freezers kept exploding one after another, filling the air with ceaseless crackling and popping noises.
He tilted Luo Li’s chin up and said slowly, “You’ll never escape. You’ll be trapped here forever.”
He was no longer human. He had lingered in this abandoned hospital for so many years, shaping the place with countless monsters, all because it had once been Luo Li’s favorite paradise.
Of course, he had his selfish desires. As he kissed Luo Li without restraint, he realized that deep down, he truly yearned to live with him as lovers under the sunlight.
He wanted to do all those intimate things that ordinary couples did.
But none of that could change the fact that Luo Li didn’t love him.
Luo Li would still open the door for that young, handsome doctor, share shy kisses with him, and one day, take his hand and stand before him, announcing that this was his boyfriend.
Everything was just like it had been all those years ago… exactly the same.
He could never change the ending where Lili died.
That virus he had researched his entire life had made him abandon the humanism he once held dear. Even if it meant being reviled for eternity, he had to seize even the slimmest chance for Luo Li to survive.
But what had been the result?
Why had the virus failed everyone else, only for him—this sinner—to survive and turn into a monster?
God had played too many cruel jokes on him, perhaps because he bore sins that could never be redeemed or repaid.
Now was not yet the time for him to claim Lili as his own.
…
He felt the grip around his waist slowly loosen. The pitch-black, twisted Leader Boss bent down and carefully retrieved the Golden Key from Luo Li’s Storage Space.
Without a word, he placed the key into Luo Li’s palm. Then, amid the swirling dust and smoke, a hidden door materialized before their eyes.
As if compelled by some force, Luo Li inserted the key into the lock and gave it a gentle twist. The door swung open.
It was the gate out of the Instance.
The boy stood at the threshold and turned back, hearing the sound of gunfire.
Agamemnon gazed down at him, then placed a hand on his back and gave him a push.
Luo Li stepped across the threshold.
…
So the key he had searched for so desperately—the one to leave this place—Agamemnon had given it to him right from the start.
No key was needed to access the Top Floor. Agamemnon had simply been waiting for him to come home.
And whenever he wanted to leave, he could do so at any time with that key.
Booming explosions echoed one after another. A flash of white light erupted in an instant, and everything related to this Instance vanished behind the closing door.
