Daniel thought for a moment but couldn't come to any real conclusion. Maybe this was also related to Sarah?

He turned his head and looked at Sara again—she looked shocked. The teachers and security had already gone over to James to check on his condition.

Daniel frowned at the idea that this incident might also be connected to Sara. He really didn't have the patience to deal with her.

"Let's go," he told Joe, and they walked away. He had beaten up James pretty badly, but he wasn't worried about any consequences.

Simply because this place was an illusion—whatever happened here was part of the purpose of the simulation, so he wasn't really concerned. That's why he hadn't held back when hitting James.

Afterward, he and Joe went to a café to grab something to eat. It wasn't long before Linor joined them.

"Hey man, what's up? I heard you beat up James again," Linor said excitedly as he sat down.

Joe jumped in, just as excited, and started explaining everything that happened. Daniel smiled as he watched them.

When was the last time he went out with both of them? Their group had fallen apart after they turned sixteen. Being able to see this kind of scene again… it wasn't so bad after all.

After they finished eating, they left the café and Daniel went home. The fact that nothing else had happened throughout the day made him wonder—could this be related to his family?

He entered their building and headed to their unit, but noticed the door was open...?

His mom never left the door open. He frowned and stepped inside—there was blood on the floor.

"Shit." Without hesitation, he rushed into the living room and the scene made his murderous intent explode.

His mother and sister's dead bodies were lying on the couches. Blood had splattered everywhere—violently, horrifyingly.

"This is just an illusion," Daniel reminded himself, and his rage simmered down.

Even though it was fake, seeing something like this was still disgusting. He walked over to the bodies and inspected them.

"Maybe I should find the killer?" Daniel thought, trying to see if there was anything he could learn from the bodies.

There was nothing. He looked around and searched the entire house, but still found nothing useful.

Daniel sighed and returned to the living room, looking at them one more time.

Who could've killed them? It really depended—but Daniel only considered people who might be part of the simulation's goal.

The only person that stood out to him was James. Maybe that bastard did it for revenge? But then the question was, how and when?

Daniel checked the bodies again and used his knowledge to try to estimate their time of death.

Fortunately, he managed to do so. Based on what he knew, if he was right, they had been dead for about twelve hours—which meant it happened in the morning.

"The only one who could've… but why would he do it? Whatever, this is just a fake world, who cares." Thinking of something, he immediately left the house and headed somewhere.

On the way, he pulled out his phone and called Linor to ask for someone's address.

"You don't know where he is? Isn't he supposed to be home right now?"

"No? I think he said he'd go to the Central City Hospital."

Daniel thanked him and hung up, then drove to the central hospital.

Once there, he immediately walked in and asked the staff about James. The receptionist checked and gave him the room number.

Daniel headed to the room and entered without knocking—what he saw was more or less what he had expected.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?" Joe asked with a frown.

Daniel sighed. The scene in front of him was something he'd never imagined seeing in reality.

James was on his knees in front of Joe, clearly begging for forgiveness for something.

"Tch. I'd really like to meet the bastard who built this pagoda," Daniel muttered to himself, then focused on Joe and James.

"Daniel, it's not what you think, I just came here to—" Before Joe could finish, Daniel stepped forward and grabbed his throat.

"You killed my mom and sister?" Daniel asked coldly.

"What are you talking about? Why would I kill them?" Joe asked in disbelief.

"You think I'm an idiot? Then how do you explain this?" he said, pointing at James.

Joe tried to deny it at first, but Daniel tightened his grip on his neck. That's when fear finally made Joe talk.

It turned out Joe had been paying James to bully and harass Daniel.

Joe hated Daniel—just hated the fact that he was so good at everything. A pathetic reason.

"Then why'd you kill my mom and sister?"

"I swear I didn't kill them!" Joe denied it desperately.

Daniel frowned. Was he wrong? Actually… no, he wasn't. He had never assumed Joe acted alone.

He had considered everyone he met that day a suspect.

Boom!

Suddenly, he felt blood dripping from his forehead. Before he could understand what was happening, he collapsed to the ground.

His vision blurred, but through the haze he could barely see someone entering the room.

"Linor? Ah, so it was you," Daniel laughed, and then his eyes closed.

The space around him shifted, and a moment later, he found himself in a completely white space.

Luckily, this time he was wearing his own clothes. He looked around coldly—everything was white.

But that wasn't the strange part. He noticed something off about himself—he didn't feel anything. No emotions at all.

Normally, after going through those two illusions, he'd be furious, or tired, or at least curious enough to try and figure out what was going on.

But he felt nothing. Like he had become a robot.

"Hm?" Without wasting time, he checked his body—especially his soul.

More than ninety percent of his soul had turned dark. And only because of the remaining ten percent had he been able to keep his sanity.