Over the intercom, the Plague Doctor briefly described how he had solved the supernatural events at the school infirmary by constantly reliving memories of death, and he explained the effects of his Title Skill to his two companions.

Normally, a player's Title Skill should be kept confidential, especially those with healing effects, which required extra caution against covetous teammates.

But the Plague Doctor's current physical condition was far from optimistic, and he might soon become a "burden" to the temporary team. In this situation, the Plague Doctor needed to demonstrate his worth to some extent, to ensure his teammates valued him more and to avoid being treated as disposable and simply abandoned.

Setting aside the typical player intrigues and deceit for the moment, Li Ang and Black Trojan felt a surge of encouragement upon hearing about the "Miraculous Healing" skill. The ability for emergency healing was just too critical in script missions, capable of saving lives at crucial moments.

The Plague Doctor coughed a few times. "COUGH, COUGH," he said into the intercom, "I'm going to rest here at the school infirmary for about five minutes. In five minutes, I'll be at the entrance of the club activities building."

Li Ang responded, "Alright, I'll head over after I finish searching the swimming venue."

Black Trojan said, "I'm still in the art building. See you later."

After the communication channel disconnected, Li Ang clipped the intercom back to his waist and swept the dried-up swimming pool with his flashlight beam.

He found no Mermaid.

Li Ang walked out of the swimming pool area, searched the staff lounge, storage room, and sauna behind the swimming venue, and finally arrived at the bathhouse entrance.

SPLASH...

Even before Li Ang stepped into the bathhouse, the distinct sound of running water came from behind the waterproof curtain of the men's section.

A faucet in the men's bathhouse had been turned on.

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, took half a step back, stood off the steps, and yelled towards the waterproof curtain of the men's section, "Hey, is anyone there?"

There was no response, only the continuous sound of flowing water.

Suddenly, the lights in the men's bathhouse switched on, and a billow of warm steam spilled out from beneath the curtain.

The sound of water, the lights, the warmth... it was just like a typical commercial bathhouse.

Li Ang stood at the entrance and bent down, trying to peek underneath the curtain.

Unfortunately, the warm, damp mist obscured his vision and also blocked the Cat's Eye's Spiritual Energy detection. Always read at the source—*.

Chai Cuiqiao's head emerged from Li Ang's neck, her expression solemn. "It seems very dangerous inside."

Li Ang nodded. "Hmm. If there are a dozen young men from the Japan Islands in the men's bathhouse ready to compare sizes with me, as a proud son of Huaxia, I definitely won't back down. You've got to have faith in me, Chaichai."

"Who are you calling Chaichai! That damn name sounds like it belongs to a dog!"

Chai Cuiqiao turned her head, giving Li Ang an exasperated look. "Can you please not be an idiot right now?"

"You're right." Li Ang nodded, his expression turning serious. "Those guys from the Japan Islands... they might take a couple of male hormone pills before a size comparison. I should tell the referee to give them a urine test."

"A goddamn urine test..." Chai Cuiqiao's expression twisted. She clicked her tongue and decided to burrow back into Li Ang's body, concealing her presence.

SPLASH, SPLASH...

Whether it was an illusion or not, the sound of water in the men's bathhouse seemed to grow louder, and the steamy mist billowed through the waterproof curtain to the entrance.

Li Ang clicked his tongue, took a full-coverage gas mask from his backpack and put it on. Gripping a thick, long steel rod, he walked straight into the dense fog.

In the fog, where visibility was zero, Li Ang held the steel rod, sweeping it left and right like a blind man's cane, probing his surroundings.

Of course, one could also say he was using the steel rod to smash things up as he went.

After some probing, he found that the front of the men's bathhouse was a communal changing room. Wooden lockers lined three walls, and four wooden benches sat in the center.

Li Ang broke open each locker door with his fist. Most were empty, but seven contained clothes and other items.

The fog was dense. Even wearing his S.W.A.T. uniform, Li Ang could feel a damp warmth seeping through the gaps in the fabric, reaching the small areas of his exposed skin.

The S.W.A.T. uniform, now wet, had become significantly heavier, but it didn't impede Li Ang's movements.

Since visibility was so poor in the fog that he had to get very close to see anything clearly, Li Ang piled these clothes and items onto the wooden benches in the center of the changing room and gave them a quick inspection.

He discovered that all these clothes were Ibaraki Middle School uniforms. Based on the badges, four of the seven boys were in the same second-year class, two were third-years, and one was a first-year.

Could it be that these students gathered in the bathhouse to play a wrestling game and, when discovered, were so ashamed they committed collective suicide?

Unable to find any more clues from the clothes, Li Ang left the changing room. Sweeping the steel rod back and forth in front of him, he entered the bathroom proper, located behind the changing area.

The mist in the bathroom was even denser than outside, and the ceiling lights were blurred by the fog into circles of flares.

The sultry air was extremely humid, almost like being submerged in water.

Luckily, the gas mask Li Ang wore had been specially bought for him by Tama Riyadi. It was excellently made from high-quality materials. Its eyepieces didn't fog up at all in the dense mist, proving it to be very reliable.

Li Ang's boots made SQUELCHING sounds as they trod on the water flowing freely across the floor. He bent down; judging by the direction of the current and the sound, an open faucet on the left side of the bathroom seemed to be the source.

Li Ang straightened up, staying close to the wall and gripping his rod as he moved toward the left side of the bathroom.

He quickly found the leaking faucet. After he tightened it, the water stopped flowing.

A single faucet surely couldn't have created fog this thick.

Almost the instant Li Ang tightened the faucet, the one in the neighboring shower stall mysteriously turned on. A fierce torrent of water gushed from the showerhead, splashing everywhere.

"What's the meaning of this?" Li Ang muttered, tentatively testing the water temperature. It was quite comfortable. "Are they inviting me to take a bath?"

If this were, say, the women's bathhouse, Li Ang might have been tempted to enjoy a refreshing soak. Unfortunately, this was the men's bathhouse, where only male ghosts with covetous eyes would be leering at Li Ang's perfect physique through the fog.

Just the thought was unsettling.

Li Ang shook his head and tightened the newly opened faucet.

The bathroom was divided into three sections: to the left were single shower stalls with showerheads; the inner section housed massage and scrubbing stalls; and to the right were two large bathtubs.

Almost the instant Li Ang tightened that faucet, every other faucet in the bathroom turned on simultaneously, and water began to gush violently from all showerheads.

Li Ang, still in his S.W.A.T. uniform, was drenched by a nearby showerhead. This time, however, the water pouring out wasn't comfortably warm, slightly above body temperature; it was scalding hot, near boiling point.

"Damn it, so sudden!" Li Ang cursed under his breath. Even though his S.W.A.T. uniform offered some protection, the boiling water still seeped through the gaps and scalded his skin.

Even with a Physical Attribute of 8 points, the boiling water left red marks on his skin, which was now continuously pricked by a faint burning sensation.

"HISS..."

The Ripple Breathing Method activated instantly, focusing on the skin surface under the gaps in his uniform. That patch of skin rippled gently like a wave, shaking off the clinging water droplets.

Li Ang stepped back to avoid the stream, reached up to wrench the overhead showerhead free, threw it to the ground, and quickly turned off its faucet.

This time, turning off the faucet triggered another change. The dense, sultry mist gradually began to coalesce, forming six human-like silhouettes.

The silhouettes were indistinct, but one could vaguely discern a group of youths lining up to shower in the single stalls.

Soon after, another small, slender, foggy figure walked in. It "glanced" at the original six and silently moved to a distant corner.

However, the six figures in the single stalls seemed to notice him. They leisurely turned off their faucets and approached him.

There seemed to be pre-existing animosity between them. After a brief exchange of words, the situation quickly escalated into a conflict.

The small, slender silhouette was pinned to the ground and beaten by the group. One of the figures directed his companions to hold the victim down tightly. Meanwhile, this figure removed a showerhead, poured scalding hot water back and forth over the victim's body, then pried open his mouth and stuffed the fully-on showerhead inside.

The small, slender silhouette struggled violently for a while but soon stopped moving. This apparently terrified the six larger figures, who immediately tried to flee towards the bathroom door. However, before they could reach it, the showerheads lining the aisle erupted, spewing torrents of boiling water. It scalded their eyeballs, ravaged their limbs, and cooked their skin.

All the foggy figures gradually dissipated, and the bathroom was once again shrouded in heavy fog.

"Is this, like, a death memory?" Li Ang murmured to himself.

Considering the seven sets of clothes in the changing room lockers, Li Ang guessed these seven foggy figures were the source of the supernatural phenomena here.

He frowned and shouted into the heavy fog, "So what exactly do you, or all of you, want?"

After a long silence, a vague voice emerged from the mist, "Take a bath."

"No way." Li Ang firmly refused, speaking earnestly. "You're a big boy now; you need to learn to wash yourself."

The voice within the fog seemed not to hear what Li Ang said, repeating only, "Take a bath."

Li Ang looked at the faucet that was frantically spraying boiling water, chuckled, turned his head, and said, "Tell me the truth, are you hoping to secretly drink my bathwater?"