Chapter 73

Chapter 73

After both of them drank the nutrient solution, the tension hanging over them that day was finally eased.

However, Xiyu's conditions for success were much more difficult than Luo Xi's. Because of this, Luo Xi was quite worried. In the dining hall, he almost grabbed a bun and left immediately, clearly in a hurry.

Fortunately, the other streamers were all busy trying to find nutrient solutions to sustain their lives and didn’t stay around the dining hall.

Xiyu and Luo Xi hid in a secluded small storage room, eating while discussing. "Actually, the background and purpose of the story are clear now. Those undercover agents probably have to get the evidence they need before they’re willing to leave, and escaping will definitely be troublesome. I’m really worried the traitors might figure out the undercover identities in advance and try to sabotage us."

Luo Xi replied, "It’s not that simple. Didn’t you say the spring nurse seems meek and inconspicuous? I’m afraid her determination will only show in front of you. Just be careful."

Xiyu nodded.

Luo Xi said, "The priority should be to figure out the NC character relationships quickly, otherwise, gathering evidence later won’t be easy."

Xiyu bit down on his bun and nodded again. "So… should I go around like Yuan Wei, trying to test things out with a bold face?"

Luo Xi thought for a moment. "First, go check on Director Hao Zhong and see what he has to say about hosting the dark hour."

Xiyu frowned. "I think the dark hour and the daylight therapy center are two completely different worlds. The director probably doesn't even remember. Actually, I’m more interested in who the host tonight is, and what the meaning is behind their appearances and the order."

Even though the night had long passed, Kunshan Rehabilitation Center still felt like a place filled with despair and shadows. The dried bloodstains and the smell covered by disinfectant were just a facade hiding the guilt beneath.

Yuan Wei and Zhang Hua, two pleasant-looking female streamers, hurriedly walked through the corridor.

Unexpectedly, Yao Shengming suddenly appeared from around the corner, politely asking, "Ladies, can we take a little time to chat?"

Yuan Wei's face was pale, and her once rosy lips were now dry. She looked awkwardly at Zhang Hua.

Zhang Hua showed an unhappy expression. "What do you want?"

Yao Shengming said, "We’ve been through a few dungeons together, and we understand each other’s personalities by now. There are no weak players in this competition, so how about we team up? We can increase our chances of winning by sharing nutrient solutions, sedatives, and information."

Yuan Wei shook her head. "No need, we don’t have anything to share."

Yao Shengming crossed his arms. "Don’t say that. Don’t you trust that I have important information?"

"Who needs your information?" Zhang Hua couldn’t help but sneer. "You’re the weakest of the male streamers, and now you’re trying to hold onto women’s coattails? Go away!"

Yao Shengming clearly didn’t expect such treatment, and his face naturally darkened.Zhang Hua also realized her mistake and lowered her head, quickly pulling Yuan Wei away in haste.

Yuan Wei, following closely, whispered, "What's wrong with you? You used to be so good at handling things with others?"

Zhang Hua looked confused. "I don't know, I just feel really annoyed inside."

"Could it be related to your illness? You need to control your emotions." Yuan Wei said, then coughed a few times.

Zhang Hua immediately held her hand. "You too."

Meanwhile, Yao Shengming, left standing where they had discarded him, hadn’t heard their conversation. He was clearly quite angry, about to leave when he saw Luo Xi and Xiyu walking side by side. He blinked and quickly recovered his composure. "Xiyu, why are you wearing a mask?"

"He has a sore throat." Luo Xi chuckled. "What are you doing here? Didn’t you find anyone to ally with?"

Yao Shengming remained noncommittal.

Luo Xi clicked his tongue. "You think you’re emotionally intelligent, but after playing so many games, how many people don’t know that the ones you treat well in the beginning are often the first ones you’ll betray later on?"

Yao Shengming responded with a look of innocent righteousness. "I wanted to be a good person from start to finish, but does the game allow that? Don’t be so hypocritical."

"At least I’m not pretending to be the good guy," Luo Xi retorted deliberately. "…So, have you found the nutrient solution yet?"

Yao Shengming didn’t respond, giving them a cold glance before walking away first.

Xiyu, following behind Luo Xi, asked, "Do you know him?"

Luo Xi replied, "Ah, I see him around on the Cloud Platform all the time. Hardly anyone there I don’t know. Plus, that guy Rabbit likes gossiping, so over time, I end up hearing a lot of news."

Xiyu couldn’t help but ask, "So, who do you think among the other ten players will be the hardest to deal with?"

"Ying Zhixing. He can handle Mu Yuan in a one-on-one fight, and he’s the calm and rational type, gets things done quickly and efficiently. He has hardly any weaknesses." Luo Xi answered without hesitation. "Technically, Ying Zhixing’s ranking should be higher. I’m not sure what happened during the preliminaries."

Xiyu quietly replied, "No one is without flaws. I’m more worried about Zhou Rong being hard to deal with."

Luo Xi laughed. "Someone who doesn’t play by the rules? Just treat her like a crazy person."

By then, the two had already approached the director’s office, and both fell silent, walking more quietly toward the door.

Unexpectedly, before they could knock, Luo Xi suddenly shushed, leaning against the door to listen for a moment, then grinned mischievously and shook his head.Xiyu, confused, also tried to eavesdrop but was instantly embarrassed, not knowing how to react. From inside, faint female groans could be heard, seemingly a mix of pain and pleasure. It was clear that someone inside was engaging in intimate activity.

Luo Xi quickly pulled Xiyu away, hiding in a corner where they could peep at the director's office door. Finally, he laughed aloud. "It's supposed to be an all-age stream, but I didn’t expect the game planners to be playing this kind of borderline game."

"Wait, the story is telling us that Director Hao is having an affair. His wife is clearly Nurse Lin... but this definitely isn’t her..." Xiyu hesitated for a moment, unsure how to describe the appearance of the head nurse, before finally adding, "Director Hao seemed to really like pretty girls last night, so he must be a pervert."

Luo Xi leaned against the wall and sat down. "We’ll know soon enough. This kind of greasy middle-aged guy can't keep it up for long."

"..." Xiyu sat down next to him, feeling very awkward as they had to wait for the NC to finish.

This situation inevitably brought back memories of his past dreams.

Had he and A Yu ever had a physical relationship? After all, A Yu was the one who bought him the synthetic assistant, yet...

He didn't know what the outside world thought of the relationship between natural humans and synthetics.

Or perhaps, to put it another way, was he just a foolish plaything who had fallen for A Yu?

Xiyu looked at Luo Xi beside him, his eyes filled with mixed emotions.

Luo Xi raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Xiyu lowered his head, not saying much. At least, what he felt for A Yu was sincere, and what he felt for Luo Xi was even more sincere. Why had the carefree and genuine A Yu turned into the scarred Luo Xi? Nobody knew the answer. However, he shouldn’t doubt that he had feelings for the person he liked. Otherwise, if he condemned his own heart, all the struggles on the Cloud Platform would have no meaning.

Luo Xi, of course, had no idea about Xiyu’s feelings. He just quietly took Xiyu’s hand and intertwined their fingers. Then, with a relaxed expression, he waited as time passed.

After about ten minutes, the door to the director's office finally opened.

A long-haired beauty with flushed cheeks stepped out, adjusted her white coat, and quickly walked away, her black high heels clicking as she went.

Luo Xi snorted. "She doesn’t look like a nurse. She must be dressed like a doctor."

Xiyu had regained his composure. "The director has set up such a corrupt operation in the therapy center, and yet he’s also flirting with other female doctors under his wife’s nose. This is a plot point we can use."

Luo Xi raised an eyebrow. "Let’s go. Should we go talk to the director?"

Xiyu responded, "…It feels a little gross to walk into his office."

"Then you wait here." Luo Xi stood up and sighed. "Ugh, why do I always have to do all the dirty and hard work?"Xiyu silently watched as Luo Xi left, trusting his ability to extract information and deciding not to stay around to witness the aftermath of the NC scene. He settled back into his seat, lost in his thoughts.

The office window was ajar, and although there was a breeze, the strange smell inside still lingered.

The couch was a mess, and papers were scattered around the desk, making the whole room look chaotic.

Luo Xi, who had barged in, immediately mocked, "Oh, Director Hao, it looks like there’s been a world war here."

Director Hao Zhong, sitting there, looked irritated and straightened his tie. "What are you rambling about? What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk about my condition." Luo Xi approached confidently, leaning in to speak to Director Hao. "I think I’m perfectly healthy. I want to leave the hospital!"

Director Hao seemed to be used to being threatened by patients. He sighed in frustration, "That’s because your disease is still in its latent stage. Once the symptoms show, it could be very dangerous. Since your family has entrusted you to me, you must stay here. I have the authority to keep you here!"

Luo Xi crossed his arms. "Looks like you know what illness I have?"

Director Hao, like the nurses, was skilled at playing the waiting game. "We need to observe further. Once diagnosed, we’ll notify you. I’m a scientist, so I can't make rash statements."

"How shameless. Yesterday, I wandered around the corridor for five minutes and saw two patients being carried out after passing away." Luo Xi mocked. "This place is basically a morgue, isn’t it?"

"Terminally ill patients have a high mortality rate, some even 100%!" Director Hao fumed, blowing out his mustache and glaring. He slapped a wall full of various awards. "I can detect terminally ill patients in the latent phase by analyzing their genes and treat them early. This is internationally recognized. If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll lock you up!"

Luo Xi scoffed, "You’re just a doctor. What gives you the right to lock me up?"

Director Hao sneered coldly and pulled a legal document from his desk. "See this? Before entering the therapy center, every patient’s family has to sign an authorization, giving us full control over the treatment. What right do I have? What do you think?"

Luo Xi nodded. "Fine, then where did you recruit your medical staff from? They can’t all be as excellent as you, can they?"

Director Hao proudly replied, "Both of the attending doctors are my students. The nurses were carefully selected and went through several rounds of interviews. Don’t worry, you’ll receive the best treatment here."

"Let’s hope so." Luo Xi narrowed his eyes. "But what’s with you leading the patients to play ‘The Darkest Hour’? What’s going on there?"

Director Hao’s face showed confusion and impatience. "What are you talking about? Stop bothering me here. If you have nothing to do, go get ready. Treatment is about to start!"

Meanwhile, Xiyu, waiting outside, felt a sharp pain from the sores on his face. He just touched his mask to cool off when a pair of long legs appeared before him.

Looking up, it was none other than the handsome Ying Zhixing.

Xiyu instinctively stood up and asked cautiously, "Is there something you need?"Ying Zhixing took out a bottle of nutritional liquid. "Want to cooperate?"

It seemed that all the streamers were trying to find partners.

Xiyu’s understanding of him was limited to Luo Xi's few words, so he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why cooperate with me?"

"To be precise, cooperate with you and Luo Xi. Your performance in the preliminaries was very impressive. While the other streamers are just focused on surviving, you two almost completed most of the main storyline, showing that you are more than capable." Ying Zhixing spoke firmly, "I admire strong individuals, and I'm not weak myself. I believe we can surprise each other."

Xiyu shook his head in refusal. "Thanks, but after we put in the effort, we'll find the nutritional liquid ourselves. You should keep it for yourself."

Ying Zhixing didn’t seem angry, just confused. "Why refuse?"

Xiyu replied, "In a game with clear distinctions in identity, blindly forming alliances without understanding the situation is a mistake only a fool would make. I believe you understand this principle, and you're probably just testing me, right?"

Ying Zhixing put away the nutritional liquid and gave a noncommittal smile. "Since you refuse, there won't be a second chance. When we meet again, we'll be strangers."

"Of course, we'll be strangers unless you want to become enemies." Luo Xi's voice came from behind.

Ying Zhixing turned to glance at him and said, "Being arrogant is meaningless. I'd advise you to keep a low profile."

After saying that, he quickly walked away.

Luo Xi scoffed.

Xiyu also smiled. "He even tried to lecture you."

"You should've eagerly taken the nutritional liquid and acted like you’d never seen one before." Luo Xi said helplessly. "It’s obvious he came to test you. If I’m right, he's probably off to test someone else now."

Xiyu took a step forward, pondering seriously. "Could it be that Ying Zhixing has an identity? Otherwise, he wouldn't care about others' identities."

Luo Xi replied, "Can't be sure. Let's observe a bit more."

Xiyu nodded, then asked, "Any news from the director?"

"Basically, he's a heartless medical expert. The patients here have no rights, it's like they’re being sold." Luo Xi said, "He doesn’t know anything about the Darkest Hour. It seems your guess was right, the game is indeed from another dimension, but I suspect that as the days go by, NCs with different identities will help players who benefit them."

"That thought makes sense." Xiyu nodded.

Luo Xi said, "Apart from Director Hao, there are only two other doctors at the therapy center. Both of them are his students. The female one's surname is Yao, the one from earlier. The male one's surname is Fan, and I haven’t seen him yet. Want to go talk to him?"Xiyu was about to agree when suddenly, Winter, the caregiver, walked over with a dark expression and said sharply, "So you two are hiding here. Come on, it's time for your treatment!"

Being treated by these people would definitely lead to a bad outcome. Without thinking, Luo Xi grabbed Xiyu and ran!

However, Winter suddenly blew the whistle around his neck. In an instant, five or six identical, burly caregivers appeared out of nowhere and mercilessly grabbed them!