# Chapter 298: The Weak Point of the Spiritual Realm
Unlike the darkness before, the interior of this round tower was brilliantly bright. The tower, stretching endlessly into the distance, wasn't built against the spiral staircase but instead surrounded it like concentric circles, completely disconnected from each other.
Xu Huo glanced back at the spiral staircase behind him. The staircase immediately retreated several meters, and a large round table appeared on the contracting floor. There were no chairs around the table, but three items were placed on it.
A playing card facing down, a bloodstained knife, and a black circular thin sheet.
A chair appeared beside the table. He walked over and sat down. When he placed both hands on the table surface, a white-covered book two fingers thick materialized in the center.
At this moment, he and the three other items formed a square shape together. However, after waiting for quite a while, no second chair appeared beside the table.
Xu Huo stood up and stepped back onto the spiral staircase.
The round table vanished. The round tower, along with the spiral staircase, returned to darkness. He retraced his path, walking for over ten more hours before finally reaching the exit.
The office and Tang Guangbo, which had disappeared when he entered, had both returned to normal. Xu Huo closed the small door, turned around, and bid farewell to Tang Guangbo.
Tang Guangbo adjusted his glasses and said with a smile, "Feel free to come find me whenever you want to talk."
Xu Huo nodded. As soon as he stepped out, he was stopped by Sima Xiao'er, who pulled him into a ward. "Were you in the doctor's office the whole time during lunch? Was he trying to brainwash you? Don't fall for it, man."
His eyes carried a hint of fear as he continued, "I saw two other players on the third floor just now. They came in with me, and now they're acting all weird—one moment saying they're players, the next begging the nurses to let them call their families, saying they don't want to be hospitalized... Have they gone crazy?"
"Don't be so scared," Xu Huo said. "Just keep your current state of mind and focus on finding the instance. You'll be fine."
"Is there really an instance here?" Sima Xiao'er clenched his fists. "The nurse just said my family is coming to see me this afternoon. They want me to meet with them..."
"Don't you even trust yourself?" Xu Huo smiled. "Don't overthink it."
Sima Xiao'er was somewhat convinced. He added, "You haven't eaten yet, have you? I said I'd get you an apple earlier, but the nurse sister said she saved you a meal."
Xu Huo nodded and went out to find Yu Qingqing.
Zhou Ning had specially saved him a meal in an insulated container. Yu Qingqing brought it out, along with his medication, and said, "You haven't been taking your medicine properly these past few days, have you? I'm going to watch you take it all today."
Xu Huo didn't say much. He put the medicine in his mouth in front of her, swallowed it with water, then opened his mouth for her to check.
Yu Qingqing confirmed there was no medicine hidden under his tongue before smiling in satisfaction and walking away.
Xu Huo dumped both the medicine and the food into the toilet.
After the afternoon nap time passed, he went out for a walk, deliberately circling around to sit outside the reception room window.
"...You need to stay in the hospital and get treated properly. Don't cause trouble for the hospital. You're an adult now. We have no obligation to take care of you. We only pooled money for your treatment out of consideration for your deceased parents. If you have any gratitude, you should get proper treatment and come out to be a decent person." A thick female voice rattled on without pause in the reception room. "Look at these bills—all money you promised to pay back. If you don't drag us down for the rest of our lives, that'll be a blessing!"
"Alright, alright," the accompanying doctor quickly interrupted the woman. "Mr. Sima's condition has actually improved. He's now on the third floor, and his mental state is very stable. If he maintains this condition, he can be discharged again soon."
The woman sighed. "Xiao'er, I'm not trying to scold you, but you're this old now. Stop indulging in that game world. I'm really afraid that one day you'll mistake an outsider for someone in the game and kill them..."
Xu Huo, who had been lounging lazily, stood up upon hearing this. He abruptly pushed open the window and nodded toward Sima Xiao'er. "Want to play ball?"
Sima Xiao'er, who had been hunched over with his head down being scolded like a grandson, turned around with an ugly smile. "I'm talking with my aunt. Find someone else."
"Aren't you an orphan? Where did you get relatives?" Xu Huo asked back.
Sima Xiao'er gradually came to his senses. He shot up and leaped out of the window as if escaping for his life. "Holy crap! I knew something was off!"
Sima Xiao'er ran off. The people in the reception room shouted uselessly before leaving in frustration.
Xu Huo looked at the doctor in the reception room, raised his hand, and wiped it through the air. The person was still there.
"It seems interfering with someone else's spiritual realm isn't that easy..."
After a brief pause, he turned and went to find Sima Xiao'er.
Sima Xiao'er had already run to the activity area. When he saw Xu Huo, he waved frantically.
Xu Huo walked over. The fool didn't sense anything wrong at all. Instead, he said excitedly, "I knew they were definitely fakes! Don't misunderstand—I was just playing along to see what tricks they were trying to pull. I didn't actually believe them!"
"As long as you're happy," Xu Huo said, thinking this state suited him fine.
Sima Xiao'er rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Now I understand why the others got all messed up. Damn, this hospital goes all out with the act. Those who escaped last night didn't actually see their real families. How could dead people come back to life? It must be the hospital's method to completely confuse people!"
"So are you still looking for the instance entrance?" Xu Huo asked.
"Of course I am," Sima Xiao'er said. "The hospital isn't that big. We'll find it eventually. There's no danger before the instance starts anyway."
Xu Huo reminded him, "At least find it before the end of the month. Some players haven't completed this month's instance yet. If they stay trapped here, they'll be sent to high-difficulty random instances later."
Sima Xiao'er nodded repeatedly. "I'll go tell them right now!"
With that, he rushed off in a flurry.
Xu Huo watched his figure disappear through the building entrance before withdrawing his gaze. He looked up at the steel letters reading "Seventeenth Hospital" on the rooftop. His eyes narrowed slightly. After a moment, the letters gradually became blurry and transparent, soon completely invisible.
The building itself hadn't changed at all.
He raised an eyebrow, then turned back into the building. Along the way, he kept seeing doctors leading different people inside. Some patients started crying before they could even speak when they saw their visitors, while others begged their families to let them be discharged, promising they wouldn't relapse.
"Xu Huo!" Yu Qingqing walked over with a beaming smile. "Your parents and your older brother are coming to see you tonight."
Xu Huo abruptly stopped in his tracks, his expression turning icy as he stared at her.
Yu Qingqing was startled. She immediately put her hands behind her back to signal the other nurses.
Several male nurses on the same floor noticed her gesture and began moving toward them in unison.
Xu Huo relaxed his expression. "Everyone else gets daytime visits. Why am I getting nighttime ones?"
"So that's what you're worried about." Yu Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. "Your brother just returned from abroad. He seems quite busy and could only squeeze in time tonight."