After 404 had revealed the existence of the third threat, every step in this place became a living hell. We walked through the imposing industrial hall, the roar of distant machinery echoing in my bones. The deeper we went, the more the scenery changed. The organized assembly lines turned into chaos, and we reached a massive back area filled with mountains of scrap metal and shattered machines. This was the graveyard of their failed dreams.

  I began to step cautiously through the debris, but I stopped suddenly. There was something else in the air, a cloyingly sweet scent, like rotting flowers. The next moment, I began to cough. It wasn't a normal cough, but a violent, dry hack that shook my entire body. I felt as if my lungs were on fire.

  "What is this... the air..." I muttered, feeling a wave of intense dizziness wash over me.

  I looked at 404, but the massive being stood with his usual calm, completely unaffected.

  The coughing grew worse, and breathing became difficult. My vision started to blur. The last conscious thought in my mind was a mixture of sarcasm and terror: "Am I going to die in such a stupid way... from just a smell?"

  Then, my body bent forward and collapsed onto the cold metal floor, and I sank into darkness.

  But he didn't find darkness.

  He found himself standing in another place. A quiet place, with no sound of machinery, but the sound of distant children's laughter. He was standing before the rusty iron gate of an old orphanage. Suddenly, he felt a small, soft hand take his own.

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  He turned to see a little girl standing beside him. She was incredibly beautiful, with blonde hair that was almost white cascading over her shoulders, and blue eyes as clear as the sky. She wore a simple dress. He knew her well.

  She smiled at him and said in a delicate voice, "Follow me."

  Hong Min felt a wave of strange and different emotions wash over him, feelings from the past, a mixture of sadness, longing, and a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time. He couldn't refuse. He walked with her, hand in hand, and for a moment, he felt he was no longer in a dark cavern, but had returned to the only place where he had known something resembling a childhood.

  Suddenly, the world shook. The image of the girl and the orphanage vanished, and the violent coughing returned to wrack his body. He opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back, staring up at the stone ceiling of the safe corridor we were in just minutes ago. He was coughing violently, expelling what was left of that toxic air from his lungs.

  After a minute, the coughing finally stopped. He lay there panting, his body trembling. He saw 404 standing over him like a stone statue.

  "What... what happened?" Hong Min asked, his voice weak and hoarse.

  "There was a biological hazard in the air," 404 said in his emotionless voice. "I did not sense it as a direct threat to myself, but you were affected by it. You lost consciousness. I carried you here."

  Hong Min sat up, still feeling dizzy. "But... I was going to die. How did I wake up? How did I recover so quickly?"

  404 replied with his usual coolness, "I applied the standard detoxification protocol. I pressed specific nerve points to accelerate the body's expulsion of the pathogen. The success rate was 82%."

  Hong Min stared at 404 in silent shock. A detoxification protocol? Nerve points? What in the hell is this creature?

  He felt a wave of bitterness. Even when he survived, it wasn't thanks to his own strength or intelligence, but thanks to the presence of this mysterious machine beside him. He sighed, and stood up on his trembling legs, ready to face the unknown once more.