Chapter 84

As Jiang Pengpeng pushed his morbidly obese, swollen “son” towards the hospital, he suddenly noticed a crowd of little NPCs gathered up ahead.

What happened?

These past two days, he’d been cooped up inside dealing with this little ancestor, barely stepping outside.

Couldn’t sleep well, couldn’t eat well, couldn’t relax. He’d aged a decade from sheer exhaustion.

And yet, the “son” he’d been serving like an ancestor had still suddenly fallen gravely ill, forcing him to bring the kid to this so-called hospital.

A hospital—classic setting for ghosts and monsters in horror stories. The “son’s” illness didn’t look like something curable in a day or two. Tsk… the next stage would likely be right here in the hospital.

“Holy crap, look! That’s a player!”

His teammate exclaimed in surprise, leaning close to Jiang Pengpeng’s ear. “What is she doing?”

The mournful, desolate melody lingered in the air. The two ran closer, then past, their faces full of disbelief, heads turning back involuntarily.

—Daughter Seriously Ill, Urgently Need Money. Second-hand Sale, Hope for Support.

Had players already gotten so desperate in places they didn’t know about? They needed to street perform to pass now?

But soon, Jiang Pengpeng and his teammate understood why.

“Your son already had Down Syndrome. Now he has developed nephritis and needs a kidney transplant. Discuss amongst yourselves who will donate. Furthermore, the total treatment costs one million yuan. Please pay as soon as possible, or we can only proceed with conservative treatment.”

The Little Doctor announced this terrible news with a serious face, leaving the two to figure it out themselves.

Once she left, Jiang Pengpeng and his teammate chose conservative treatment without hesitation.

It was just a dungeon, just an assessment, and they pulled this kind of melodramatic plot? Come on, they weren’t fools. Who knew what would happen once they entered the operating room.

They wouldn’t be able to control themselves, and if danger struck, they wouldn’t even be able to run.

Jiang Pengpeng slumped onto a chair, watching the “son” receiving an injection while asleep, and finally sighed in relief. “Damn, I was wondering why he looked so vacant, needing constant supervision. So it’s this kind of illness.”

Their “son” was completely incapable of self-care. One moment of inattention, and he might relieve himself anywhere. Another lapse, and his clothes would be soiled with drool.

Whenever they failed to promptly address and care for him, points were deducted.

Although the “son” was quiet most of the time and didn’t make demands, he actually had plenty of needs. If he wasn’t satisfied, he’d become manic.

At that point, if they couldn’t immediately fulfill his demands for toys, food, or games, points would still be deducted.

To avoid hitting zero, the two had guarded the “son” around the clock. Not only physically exhausted, but they also had to rack their brains trying to guess what he wanted.

Just two and a half days, and they’d developed four eye bags each.

This torment was simply too much to bear. Jiang Pengpeng couldn’t help but complain, “I’ve never even guarded my own son this closely.”

“Huh, you have a kid?” The teammate was shocked. “Then how come you don’t even know how to change a diaper?”

Jiang Pengpeng said bluntly, “Isn’t that what my mom and my wife are for? I’m so tired from work, how could I have the energy to look after a child? Ugh, you don’t know, kids are so annoying when they cry, especially at night. Woke me up several times, so I had to go sleep in the small room alone.”

Teammate: “…”

Seeing the neighboring hospital bed was empty, Jiang Pengpeng said, “I’ll sleep for a bit. Swap with you tonight.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll call you if something happens.” The teammate didn’t say anything more. Whatever Jiang Pengpeng was like at home, it didn’t matter, as long as he did his duty during the mission.

The teammate checked their “family’s” financial situation. Money was definitely insufficient, but then again, they never intended to proceed with the surgery anyway.

They planned to use the stalling tactic.

The assessment was only a few days long. This “son” couldn’t possibly just suddenly drop dead, right?

…

Night fell before they knew it.

The teammate bought dinner and returned to the ward, shaking Jiang Pengpeng, who was sleeping soundly, awake. “Get up, eat something, then we’ll switch shifts.”

While in the hospital, the “son” was unconscious most of the time, making him easier to care for than at home.

When they’d been on the verge of a breakdown from serving this little ancestor, they’d asked other players and found out that every family’s situation was somewhat different.

Although some families’ kids had no mental issues, some had huge tempers and were extremely good at tormenting people. Others had terribly frail bodies, bruising all over at the slightest bump.

In comparison, it was hard to say which child was the luckier draw. In short, every family had its own difficulties.

“While you were sleeping this afternoon, three more families came in. Now there are five families in the hospital.” The teammate slurped noodles as he spoke. “I asked around. Every child’s illness is very serious. Most require the parents to undergo surgery as well for a cure…”

The teammate’s expression turned a bit strange. “You know, there’s actually one family that really plans to go through with the surgery.”

Jiang Pengpeng froze. “Who’s that stupid?”

The teammate said, “That second-hand seller we saw on the road earlier.”

“With that much money, how can they even manage?” Jiang Pengpeng said. “I think she’s just putting on a show. Still, you really should try hard to put on a show.”

While they were chatting, another commotion arose outside the ward. Turns out, even at night, another player family had arrived with their child at the emergency room.

Judging by this pace, it wouldn’t be long before all ten families ended up in the hospital.

“Enough chatting, I’m dead tired. You take the night watch, I’m sleeping first.” The teammate tossed the disposable bowls and chopsticks into the trash can, took the adjacent hospital bed, and fell straight asleep.

Jiang Pengpeng had just woken up not long ago and was currently wide awake.

He boredly flipped through a magazine for a while, then suddenly felt something was off. Turning his head, he found his “son” awake at some unknown point.

Those pitch-black, listless eyes were silently staring at him.

Damn, his teammate was asleep, and the “son” just had to wake up. Now he was stuck dealing with him alone.

Jiang Pengpeng felt a headache coming on. Forcing a smile, he coaxed the kid into eating. Then he discovered the child was being so well-behaved tonight it was almost unsettling…

Ding-dong!

The sound of a text message alert rang out in the ward.

Jiang Pengpeng had just opened it and felt relieved at securing today’s passing grade when the lights in the ward suddenly went out.

“Ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling, curfew time is here. All patients, please rest promptly and take good care of your health.”

A bizarre, childish voice came from the small speaker hanging in the corner of the ward ceiling. Jiang Pengpeng helplessly flipped the light switch several times, finding it truly unresponsive, before settling down.

Tsk, he was bursting with energy now, couldn’t sleep at all.

A while later.

Jiang Pengpeng’s nicotine craving hit. He stood up, planning to smoke a cigarette in the corridor. No choice—smoking in the ward would get points deducted.

The corridor was silent. If there was any sound, it was likely just his own footsteps.

Jiang Pengpeng leaned against the window at the end of the corridor, smoking while looking at his phone. Suddenly, he picked up a strange sound.

Slow, sticky, like the sound of some soft, heavy object dragging along the ground.

The sound came from the Safety Passage beside him. Jiang Pengpeng instantly shuddered, turned around, and ran back towards his ward.

Squelch—

The sound suddenly grew louder. Jiang Pengpeng involuntarily looked back, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. Squeezing through the crack of the safety passage door was a mass of soft flesh: pale, swollen, and foul-smelling.

The iron door groaned under unbearable strain, the sound drilling into his ears like a needle, setting his teeth on edge.

Jiang Pengpeng grabbed the ward door handle and pulled hard. It didn’t budge. He froze, his face instantly turning grim. No longer caring about point deductions, he immediately yelled his teammate’s name.

Yet no matter how he shouted, his teammate, separated by just a single door, remained completely unresponsive, sleeping like a dead pig.

That body lay sideways on the hospital bed, motionless, as if… not even breathing.

Was he dead? Impossible, he wasn’t even sick… Wait, where was the “son”?

The moment he realized this, Jiang Pengpeng sucked in a breath, horrified.

Creak, squelch, squish.

More and more soft flesh squeezed through the door gap. It looked like that iron door was about to give way and burst open.

Jiang Pengpeng couldn’t bear the terror of waiting to die in place. He ran forward while banging on the doors of other wards.

He yelled and made a racket, trying to find any player or medical staff to save him. Yet the only thing answering him was the sound-controlled lights in the corridor, flickering on and off.

…

When Zhu Ming woke up, she still had a drool mark on her face.

Yin Yu grabbed her arm and shoved her towards the bathroom. “Quick, go wash up. You’re filthy.”

Zhu Ming, her face full of stupor, nearly tripped.

Because last night, she’d given the bed to Yin Yu and kept watch by the Little Princess’s bedside herself. But while keeping watch, she’d somehow inexplicably fallen asleep.

Dead asleep, dreamless all night, slept like a log.

The downside was, staying in one position all night without moving left her body numb, sore, and exhausted.

After washing up with weak, trembling hands, Zhu Ming soon ended up lying down right next to the Little Princess.

The Little Princess pushed her away in disgust. “You’re so squishy!”

Zhu Ming yawned. “Don’t fuss. Daddy will only be with you for a little while now. Later, I still have to go out and sell stuff.”

Yin Yu smiled as she fed the big one and the little one, looking just like a truly warm and loving family.

Speaking of which, business was pretty good yesterday. With the strong support of the little adults, they’d earned seven thousand in a single day.

Too bad seven thousand meant nothing against a hundred thousand shortfall. Now it was the fourth day of the assessment, with only two days left. At this rate, they wouldn’t gather enough money by the end.

“Come on, open wide.”

Zhu Ming: “Aah—”

Seems this assessment didn’t actually force players onto the operating table. This setup was probably also testing their attitude…

“Here, eat an egg.”

Zhu Ming: “Aah—”

The Little Princess pushed her away angrily. “Are you sick?! That one was for me!”

Zhu Ming: “…”

Looking up, she met Yin Yu’s smiling eyes. Zhu Ming’s old face flushed red. She almost snapped, “What are you looking at!” Fortunately, she remembered just in time that they were currently in a loving couple persona and managed to hold back the curse.

“I just spaced out. Besides, so what if I ate one of your eggs? My money bought it anyway…” Zhu Ming muttered under her breath.

Just then, the ward door was knocked on. A Male Player poked his head in. “Hey, can I ask, have any of you seen a guy in a camo T-shirt?”

“Nope, haven’t seen him.” Yin Yu asked patiently, “What happened?”

The Male Player scratched his head, his worry undisguised. “It’s my teammate, named Jiang Pengpeng. Haven’t seen him since early this morning. Thing is, he took the first watch last night, but never woke me up. I suspect something happened. By the way, did you two encounter anything strange last night?”

Zhu Ming was the one on night watch duty last night. She shook her head. “If I had to say something strange, it’s that I meant to keep watch last night, but I unconsciously fell asleep, and slept extremely deeply.”

The Male Player sighed. “Thanks, I understand. I slept incredibly deeply last night too.”

He didn’t say much more before leaving, clearly having accepted the fact that Jiang Pengpeng had met with mishap.

Well, it made him a little uneasy, but the two weren’t that close. He couldn’t say he felt grief, nor would he do something touching like braving danger to find a corpse.

Thank goodness it wasn’t me who had an accident last night.

He thought.