Chapter 55

A single coin can defeat even a hero.

Without money, you can't take a step forward.

Throughout history and across cultures, countless literary works have depicted how difficult life becomes without money.

But this had never been part of Dr. Feng’s experience, until now, when Shi Jian threw the dilemma at him.

【Hahahahaha, no money to stay in the hospital, is this for real? The streamer is too clever!】

【Wow, is the copy ending right here?】

【The streamer says the most embarrassing line with the most casual tone, it’s like she’s not saying she has no money, but rather like she’s here to collect a debt from Dr. Feng.】

Many viewers felt that Shi Jian's expression and tone had a certain charm to it.

【Huh, is my stream buffering? Why is Dr. Feng so still?】

It wasn’t buffering, Dr. Feng was simply frozen. He didn’t know how to respond and even glanced towards the other nurses and doctors, seemingly looking for an excuse to evade or make an escape.

Of course, Shi Jian wouldn’t let him off that easily.

Dr. Feng wasn’t reacting, but Shi Jian could.

Shi Jian became like a broken record, her red lips chattering nonstop, "Dr. Feng, Dr. Feng, Dr. Feng..."

Shi Jian: If you don’t respond soon, I’ll really go through the discharge procedures.

Dr. Feng's face flashed with a hint of irritation, but he quickly suppressed it. He helplessly called out to Shi Jian, "Hmm, hmm, I heard you."

The implication was, Stop repeating, it’s so noisy!

Dr. Feng paused for a moment and kindly told Shi Jian, "You don’t need to worry about this. If you can’t pay for your hospital stay, it’s fine. The hospital will cover it. At Benevolent Heart Hospital, we never abandon any patient."

In Shi Jian’s mind, the translation was: Benevolent Heart Hospital never lets any patient go.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch in the world, but only in a horror game copy could this be made possible.

Shi Jian wasn’t discouraged by her first attempt failing. She continued to press him, "So, is the hospital covering the entire cost?""Just the hospital fees might not be enough, I can’t even afford food..."

"Who else is covering it? Why? Are they after something?"

"Mainly because I’m quite a beauty, and I’m afraid others might be tempted by my looks. After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch."

Dr. Feng’s patience was rapidly running out, as evidenced by the bulging veins on his forehead.

The person in front of him was a thousand questions, wasn’t she?!

Of course, Dr. Feng still had to answer everything in detail.

Dr. Feng’s voice was nearly squeezed out through his gritted teeth, "The entire cost is covered, including the food."

"There’s no ulterior motive. The one covering the medical fees is our hospital director, who is a kind-hearted philanthropist. No matter which patient comes to Benevolent Heart Hospital, they will receive treatment, even if they’re just a sparrow..."

The sparrow was something Dr. Feng added intentionally. In his view, Shi Jian was just as noisy as a sparrow.

What he really wanted to do right now was inject ten sedatives into Shi Jian!

Shi Jian didn’t feel provoked by the "sparrow" comment. He was talking about sparrows, what did that have to do with her, the phoenix?

In her subconscious, if she had to compare herself to a bird, it would be a legendary divine phoenix—at the very least, a peacock, right?

Shi Jian continued, showing a slightly embarrassed expression, "Hmm… is this really okay? I’m a bit shy."

Dr. Feng was already exhausted, his voice almost lifeless, "It’s fine. Anything else?"

Hurry up, immediately, just get back to your bed!

Shi Jian spoke quickly, "Well, since that’s the case, I won’t decline…"

At this point, Dr. Feng’s blood pressure finally dropped a little, and the veins on his forehead weren’t as prominent. But of course, he relaxed too soon.

The next second, Shi Jian continued, "Then please prepare some skincare products for me, along with some other daily essentials..."

The bullet comments flooded the screen with a row of "hahahaha."

Shi Jian had just redefined "having a thin skin."

……Shi Jian toyed with the edge of Dr. Feng's patience, testing the waters until she decided to retreat before he completely exploded, then returned to her ward.

Dr. Feng, though clearly frustrated, still agreed to get Shi Jian what she wanted. After getting what she had requested, Shi Jian felt the situation was even more severe than she had imagined. It seemed this copy wouldn’t let them leave the hospital easily.

The ward was very quiet, with the patients who had fallen ill all sound asleep, likely due to the effect of the blue liquid, which was called a sedative.

Shi Jian didn’t know when they would wake up.

As soon as she returned to the ward, a nurse knocked on the door. She handed Shi Jian a blank physical examination form and reminded her, "Remember to go to the medical examination center in half an hour."

Shi Jian noticed the nurse hadn’t given the form to the other patients in the ward, so she asked, "Am I the only one going?"

The nurse nodded affirmatively, "Yes, you don’t need to worry about them. They’re not in the same time slot as you."

That meant there were other patients undergoing their physicals at the same time as Shi Jian. She guessed there was a high chance it would be the streamer.

Could she finally meet Tang Tian?

Thinking about this, Shi Jian felt a bit more hopeful.

When she had first entered the Benevolent Heart Hospital copy, she had suffered a critical blow, with no chance to contact Tang Tian.

Now, with some free time, Shi Jian quickly took out her phone.

The screen showed two messages, both from Tang Tian. Tang Tian probably thought it would be inconvenient for Shi Jian to answer a call, so she had sent text messages first.

Tang Tian: "Sis, I’ve entered. Where are you?"

Tang Tian: "I’m in a ward now, temporarily safe. If everything is stable on your side, just contact me directly."

Shi Jian quickly sent a message back to Tang Tian.

"Can we talk?"

Tang Tian replied with an "ok."

Shi Jian immediately dialed her phone. This time, the call went through.

The team card from the mall, though a bit troublesome to obtain, was indeed very useful.

As soon as the call connected, Shi Jian asked, "Where are you now? The nurse here has arranged for me to go to the physical exam in half an hour. What about you?"

Tang Tian answered excitedly, "I’m in a ward. I just got the notice that I need to go to the physical exam center too."As Shi Jian had guessed, they would meet at the physical examination center.

In such a life-threatening situation, hearing a familiar voice brought an inexplicable sense of courage. Shi Jian confirmed that she would meet Tang Tian soon. Although both of them had a lot to say, they still held back.

They could wait until they met to talk; making a call still carried risks. If something unexpected happened and their attention was diverted, they wouldn’t have time to react.

Fortunately, nothing else unexpected occurred. Half an hour later, with the nurse’s guidance, Shi Jian arrived at the physical examination center and met up with Tang Tian, who had already been waiting there.

Tang Tian was also wearing the same blue-and-white striped hospital gown as Shi Jian.

Tang Tian couldn’t help but think: Why does the difference in how people wear the same clothes seem so big?

Tang Tian felt that wearing the hospital gown made her look like a patient.

But when Shi Jian wore it, it was—like a high-end couture outfit from a luxury brand.

...

Tang Tian said, "I went around looking for you when I arrived, but couldn’t find you. I guessed we might be in different areas. The doctors are strict and wouldn’t let me wander, so I could only wait over there for your message..."

The physical exam still required waiting in line. Tang Tian and Shi Jian found a corner to exchange information first.

Tang Tian blurted out everything she wanted to say. She was a bit curious and asked, "By the way, what are you here for? I’m here for cervical spine issues."

Tang Tian touched her neck.

"Modern young people, who still have a good neck these days? We’re all head-down people—playing on phones, working in front of computers."

When Tang Tian found out about her condition, she couldn’t help but sigh. Putting aside other things, just from the diagnosis, this copy seemed fairly reliable.

Shi Jian smiled without any real amusement. Although she wasn’t eager to speak, she had to tell Tang Tian, "Mental illness."

Tang Tian: ???

Is this copy really not targeting beautiful women?!

Alright, I take back my earlier praise for how reliable the copy was when it comes to diagnoses.

Shi Jian briefly shared her experiences in the ward. The more Tang Tian heard, the more worried she became for Shi Jian. Having to live with such patients? That sounded so difficult.

Tang Tian frowned and started thinking for Shi Jian, "We need to come up with a way to get you transferred out of that ward."Shi Jian nodded in agreement; she was thinking the same.

From Tang Tian’s description, Shi Jian learned that although Tang Tian’s ward didn’t have the same life-threatening experiences as hers, it wasn’t completely safe either.

Tang Tian’s roommates were all cervical spine patients. One of them had his head suspended in a device, with his body hanging below. The back of his body had separated from his head, but he casually continued to reattach his head as if nothing was wrong.

Staying in the same room with such patients wasn’t any better for Tang Tian either. Who knew if tomorrow she would end up being forced into that device too?

But that wasn’t the most urgent matter.

Looking at the shrinking line ahead, Shi Jian felt a buzzing pain in her head. With a sense of hopelessness, she told Tang Tian, "…It looks like it’s almost our turn."

Their immediate concern was the physical examination ahead.

No one in the line was treating this like an ordinary checkup.

...

Shi Jian and Tang Tian had tried to stay as far back as possible, dragging their feet, but they were eventually called to the front.

A nurse came over forcefully and grabbed them by the arms with urgency, "Shi Jian, Tang Tian, right? Go ahead and get in line!"

She didn’t leave after speaking but stood beside them, waiting.

Shi Jian and Tang Tian exchanged helpless glances. They couldn’t escape, so they had no choice but to get up and join the main group.

While they were in line, they could observe the others’ examination situations, hoping to gain some experience.

A nurse came over and handed out drinks, saying they were free, and they were cold.

It wasn’t clear if the air conditioning in the physical examination center was broken, but the bottles of drinks, with their bright colors, were emitting cold air. In the slightly warm environment, they were certainly tempting.

However, neither Shi Jian nor Tang Tian accepted the drinks. Shi Jian completely avoided drinks like that, considering them full of sugar, artificial colors, and a calorie explosion... As for Tang Tian, she rejected them for safety reasons.

The other patients didn’t have a choice either.

It turned out that after going through several copies, everyone had gained some experience.

This was because one of the items in their physical examination was blood sugar monitoring.Tang Tian couldn’t help but exclaim, “That’s too much! They just gave us drinks, and now they’re testing our blood sugar? It’s like they’re setting us up on purpose.”

Shi Jian felt like there were even more traps waiting for them.

Most of the patients were streamers, and everyone was on high alert, giving their all to handle the checkups.

Some even approached the streamers ahead of them, asking, “Hey, bro, can you give us a heads-up on the exam details?”

The streamers in front weren’t exactly happy to be at the front either.

Some had just absentmindedly queued up, only realizing something was off later. Others had been forced by the nurses to stand there.

By the time they wanted to switch places, it was already too late.

So now, the streamers at the front were both scared and anxious, and some, faced with requests, were already starting to trade information.

“It’s not impossible, but you’ve gotta give me something in return. Why would I tell you otherwise?”

Although this request for benefits earned them many glares from other streamers, in the context of getting more information for better chances of survival, some reluctantly agreed.

Shi Jian didn’t need to ask, as someone was already giving her the answers.

“Be careful during the ECG. The doctor will suddenly turn into a scary figure to scare people.”

A male streamer, blushing, told Shi Jian, then without waiting for her to say thank you, he shyly ran off.

Tang Tian felt ecstatic. Although she wasn’t a beauty, her friend was, and experiencing this joy through her was enough.

...

After receiving the tip, Shi Jian felt like she had been hit by a frost-covered eggplant—her expression remained composed, but her soul had already left her body.

“...”

Scary figure?

What scary figure?!

The thing she feared most was terrifying stuff.

Wasn’t this like dancing on her biggest fear?【Wow, they prepare drinks for the streamers when testing blood sugar, and when doing an ECG, they specifically scare the streamers to make their heartbeats abnormal. What’s with this Renxin Hospital? It should be called Blackheart Hospital.】

Shi Jian had a question: what would happen if the test results were not up to standard?

She soon found out the answer.

A streamer, pale-faced, walked out of the ECG room. Inside, the doctor’s cold evaluation could be heard.

“Abnormal heart rate, failure.”

Shi Jian and the others could see that the streamer’s test report had been stamped with a "failure" mark by the nurse. The nurse sighed and smiled encouragingly.

“You must make sure to stay healthy. Don’t fail next time. You have two more chances.”

The streamer, trembling, took the test report. His smile was worse than crying. He asked the nurse.

“What do you mean by two chances? What happens if I fail both times...?”

Shi Jian also pricked up her ears.

This was important information.

The nurse replied as a matter of course, “That means your health condition is not good, and you’ll need surgery.”

Surgery.

Just hearing those three words made Shi Jian feel uneasy.

“Serious failure. Your heart rate has a problem, and your heart is also problematic. You’ll need surgery.”

As everyone processed what the nurse had said about the surgery, the first unlucky person was already being taken away.

Shi Jian was very close to the nurse and could clearly feel the change in her expression after the ECG doctor finished speaking. It was like a fly smelling blood—she stared intently in the direction of the ECG room.

Just a few seconds later, a large group of doctors in white coats quickly arrived. Shi Jian didn’t know where they had come from.

Anyway, the doctors quickly pushed aside the waiting streamers and rushed into the ECG room.

The unlucky streamer who had severely failed the test could only let out a scream.

“What are you going to do? My heart is fine, I’m not sick, the abnormal heart rate is clearly because of your guidance... Ugh.”

He only managed to say half of it before a gloved hand covered his mouth.

The doctors, excited, pressed him onto a stretcher. The streamer, treated like a lamb to the slaughter, was quickly pulled away by the doctors and disappeared.They were basically saying it, they were sent to the operating room.

Although the examination center was a bit stuffy, Shi Jian had felt quite irritated after staying here for a while, but now it felt like she had suddenly fallen into an ice cellar.

Her fingertips were ice-cold.

"Will they survive after going to the operating room?"

"What do you think?"

A quiet murmur spread around.

The nurse, still trying to cover up, spoke with a passionate tone, "If the body is not well, it must be treated. Don’t be afraid, our doctors at Renxin Hospital are highly skilled, and they will ensure your health and safety."

"By the way, no discussions allowed."

The nurse, for some reason, now had a syringe as thick as a child's arm slung over her shoulder, and the silver needle was pointed directly at the patients, clearly threatening them.

"…"

Earlier, people had tried to get information about the examination details, but now the nurse directly banned that.

The worst part was, it was Shi Jian’s turn.

Among all the tests, the ECG room seemed the most likely to have issues. Shi Jian and Tang Tian had observed that several streamers had failed the ECG, and one of them was most likely already "done for."

Shi Jian shook her head at Tang Tian, who was filled with worry, and entered the room, stepping forward and back, unsure.

She took a deep breath and walked into the room, where the door was wide open, seemingly waiting for its prey.

【Ahhhhh, streamer, please stay calm!】

【My heart is already in my throat.】

...

Shi Jian entered the ECG room, where a young male doctor operating the equipment instructed her.

"Close the door."

Shi Jian didn’t want to close the door, but she had no choice.While closing the door, she took a look around the room. It wasn't very big, but it appeared neat and clean, with a small bed for the examination.

From the outside, there was nothing unusual about the room. It looked just like an ordinary hospital, and in fact, it seemed even better in terms of decoration.

The male doctor instructed Shi Jian to lie down on the small bed and attached the equipment to her.

The equipment here resembled the ones in the real world, but it could be used through clothing. Shi Jian thought for a moment... perhaps the game didn't want to censor it.

She had already been forcibly diagnosed as mentally ill and was facing ghosts and monsters, so this felt like a trivial detail. Shi Jian didn’t pay much attention to it.

What worried her more was the terrifying scenes described by the other streamers.

Very few people could face such sudden scares without reacting. While Shi Jian appeared calm on the outside, the physiological changes—

Her heartbeat.

How could she control it?

One could say that Shi Jian had been directly hit on her weak point.

The male doctor was checking the ECG, so he was facing away from Shi Jian. He had already begun to notice changes.

He was calmly waiting for the patient's heartbeat to accelerate.

However, there was no change at all.

The male doctor’s expression became serious, his first reaction—

Is the machine malfunctioning?

How could there be no change at all?

Even the bravest patients would have slight fluctuations in their heartbeat, but the ECG now showed an unusually stable pattern... as if the person were asleep.

The male doctor turned around in disbelief. When he saw the whole scene, he nearly wanted to devour her.

This patient, she was actually sleeping during the examination!

Such a tense moment, and she's sleeping?

Shi Jian lay quietly on the examination bed with her eyes closed. The light shone on her long, curled eyelashes, casting a small shadow on her delicate skin. Her skin was smooth as jade, and her slender hands were folded on her stomach, holding a bouquet of lilies.The years were peaceful, as beautiful as a poster.

After Shi Jian knew that she would see terrifying scenes, she had already made a decision in her heart—

Out of sight, out of mind.

Huh? You want to scare me? Fine, I won’t open my eyes, I won’t look, simple as that.

Shi Jian didn’t actually fall asleep, but chose to blank out. As long as no one called for the end, she could lie here with a steady heartbeat for several hours.

...

"I can't stop laughing, you scare all you want, I’ll just close my eyes, hahaha."

"Shi Jian: As long as I don't open my eyes, my heartbeat will stay as steady as can be."

"The streamer is so fair, mainly because this kind of fair skin is vibrant, so jealous jpg."

"Wife, wife, wife (rambling jpg)."

"Really annoyed by you people who just shout 'wife,' can we discuss something meaningful? Focus on the progress, let me shout 'wife' (dog head)."

"Flowers X999."

"Where did the lilies come from?"

"Clearly didn’t notice the details, the streamer picked them up near the door."

"Examination doctor: Provoked. She’s here for filming, how come she even prepared props in advance?"

Shi Jian was also very meticulous about the details. She held a bouquet of flowers, and just like that, the atmosphere instantly changed.

It was no longer monotonous.

The examination doctor was very unhappy, his face looked extremely grim, but it seemed like he thought of something, and snorted coldly.

Shi Jian had actually been paying attention to the movements outside. Now, with her eyes still closed, she fell into darkness. With her vision shut off, her other senses kept growing sharper. For example, she was able to catch that cold sneer.

She had already considered that the doctor would definitely notice. Shi Jian felt that, even though they had been quite troublesome, they wouldn’t force her to open her eyes, right? They couldn’t just come and rip her eyes open, could they?

Shi Jian had already prepared her excuse, "There’s no rule saying you can’t close your eyes during an ECG."The doctor indeed didn’t come to force open Shi Jian's eyes, but this was a horror game instance.

Shi Jian was horrified to find that her eyelids were uncontrollably opening and could not close!

She didn’t want to look, but was forced to.

Shi Jian lay on the small bed, her gaze meeting the male doctor not far away. The male doctor showed her a smile filled with intense malice.

It was as if he was saying—

Didn’t expect this, did you?

“It’s not over yet,” the male doctor said.

In his eyes, everything that had happened before was just an accident. Now it was time for the real game to begin.

Reset.

Shi Jian couldn’t close her eyes, and was forced to witness the male doctor’s back—what had originally looked normal—seemed to be hollowed out, with a mass of bloody and mangled flesh. A slightly darkened heart was beating there, "thump-thump."

It looked quite eerie.

The male doctor gleefully noticed that Shi Jian’s heartbeat had quickened, and her heart rate rapidly climbed. However, what disappointed the male doctor was that just when it was about to reach the failing mark, Shi Jian’s heart rate began to slow back down.

Shi Jian was practicing self-hypnosis.

When she entered the room, she had already told herself that no matter what the male doctor turned into, she would just treat him like a cabbage.

Now, the effect was showing.

Shi Jian: Oh ho! A cabbage with a rotten heart!

Once she thought of it like that, she wasn’t as scared anymore.

The male doctor, seeing that he hadn’t scared Shi Jian, tried another tactic.

How about this?

Shi Jian had realized, when other streamers failed, and some even failed severely, that it wasn’t just about facing the doctor's terror. After all, they had been through many instances, and people like her, who were easily frightened, were rare. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle a little scare.

It turned out, indeed, there were other trials.

But what Shi Jian hadn’t expected was that the television hanging on the wall suddenly started playing videos of various "near-miss" men. A group of men continuously made suggestive gestures and flirted with their eyes in the video.Shi Jian looked confused: ??? What is this?

The male doctor noticed that, despite Shi Jian being faced with this temptation, not only did her heartbeat not accelerate, it actually slowed down.

After waiting for a while, the male doctor showed a knowing expression, then changed the video on the TV to women.

Shi Jian remained unmoved. She thought this scene was incredibly strange: is he trying to make her heart race with this?

The male doctor was greatly shocked: Why is she unaffected by both men and women?!

Finally, the male doctor stared at Shi Jian with a strange look and switched the videos to animals. He mumbled cryptically, “Playing some weird stuff, huh?”

Really can’t tell.

Shi Jian: Huh?

The beauty was confused.

However, no matter how the male doctor used these provocative videos—his go-to move that made most patients’ heart rates go haywire—Shi Jian remained unfazed. It was the same tactic that got the other streamer into the operating room, but Shi Jian was unmoved.

Her heartbeat became even more stable, almost as steady as when she was resting with her eyes closed.

After waiting for a while, and still not encountering anything she feared, she began to feel a bit tired. She cleared her throat and asked the male doctor, “Is my test over?”

Technically, it should have been, but the male doctor didn’t want to let Shi Jian go. He gritted his teeth and coldly muttered,

“Well, since that’s the case, don’t blame me for pulling out the big guns.”

Both Shi Jian and the viewers in the livestream braced themselves.

Big guns?

Shi Jian’s sense of danger shot up: What else does this rotten cabbage want to do? She had to quickly hypnotize herself again, reminding herself that this was just a cabbage, to avoid being scared by any more terrifying scenes.

The cabbage leaned against the side of Shi Jian's bed and started dancing. It quickly squatted down and then slowly stood up, showing off its curves.

The male doctor stared straight at Shi Jian: Has she been charmed by him?

“......”

Shi Jian, expressionless: “If it’s finished, could you please take all of this off me?”She wanted to get down.

The male doctor, "…Oh, oh, oh."

How was this so different from what he had imagined?!

Shi Jian first confirmed her physical exam situation, "My heart is fine, right?"

She got the answer that everything was fine.

Actually, the male doctor felt that Shi Jian had serious problems. How could she be indifferent to those videos? How could she be unmoved by his dance?

After confirming that there was no issue, Shi Jian finally began, "Just here?"

She gave the male doctor a dismissive yet puzzled smile and ordered, "Move aside!"

Don’t block her stage.

The male doctor didn’t understand, but still, Shi Jian’s powerful aura suppressed him, and he dumbly moved aside.

Then, Shi Jian supported herself with the bed rail, squatted down, and then stood up. She used her other hand to casually take off the hairpin from her hair. Her soft, textured hair cascaded down, as if it had a life of its own, swaying along with her movements.

Even the striped suit couldn't hide her curvaceous figure. Her neck was slender and long, and her waist was soft and flexible, impossible to grasp...

She was both beautiful and seductive, her eyes glinting with hooks.

Shi Jian mimicked the male doctor's earlier movements, but hers were completely on a different level.

Shi Jian’s mocking laughter echoed through the room, and even Tang Tian, outside, could hear it.

Shi Jian made a gesture as if aiming a gun. She squinted her eyes, aiming at the male doctor’s heart, and coldly commented, "Severely unqualified."

Outside, the nurse grinned excitedly: "Another unhealthy patient to be taken to the operating room!"

A large group of doctors suddenly appeared, rushing into the electrocardiogram room. But they were stunned to find that it seemed like they were supposed to take away one of their own colleagues???