I'm a High-Difficulty Patient

When her warm hand was ruthlessly waved away, Zeng Lai felt shocked, helpless, sad, and wronged.

"What do you mean? Just because we haven't seen each other for a while, you're going to deny our friendship?!" The brown-haired youth clutched his chest. To be fair, his healthy, wheat-colored skin made him look much stronger than Yu Xing, and he wasn't at all suited to pretending to be weak in front of Yu Xing. "Have you looked down on me now that you've become stronger? Fine, tell me. As long as you say you don't want to see me, I'll leave right now!"

The onlookers. "..."

The gambler's predictions always seem like he's sick, but this time he seems particularly ill.

I don't know where he learned these heart-wrenching and intellectually taxing lines from romance dramas. His acting is exaggerated; it's less of a accusation and more of a joke.

A bead of cold sweat trickled down Yu Xing's pale cheek, disappearing into his already damp clothes. His smile remained gentle, "No, I just wanted you to be gentler."

Seeing that he looked really uncomfortable, Zeng Lai stopped being cheeky and scratched her head, saying, "I didn't use much force either."

He had barely said a few words when his Northeastern accent started flying out uncontrollably.

Yu Xing sighed, lowered her voice, and leaned close to Zeng Lai's ear, saying in a voice only the two of them could hear, "My status is that of a high-risk patient. One of the difficulties is amplified pain sensation, which makes me weak for a long time after an injury. So I'm already very weak, and you still hit me... Senior, don't you think you've gone too far?"

His narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes squinted in pain, yet he tried to open them wide as if to prove his sincerity. The contrast between his dark pupils and the whites of his eyes was striking, making them appear very clear. The corners of his eyes were slightly upturned, giving him a pitiful look.

When Yu Xing realized his body had become so weak again, he instinctively switched to feigning weakness. He was currently unarmed, and fighting would be a huge disadvantage. Every time he took a hit, the other person would take a hit, meaning he would experience many times more pain than them. How could he endure that?

Not to mention, given his current state, if he clenched his fist and punched someone, the other person would be crippled, but his hand would probably be ruined, since... the effects of force are mutual.

First, we need to survive; once we get the weapons, everything will be fine.

"I didn't mean to hit you... Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Zeng Lai never thought he would be deceived. In the Alice's Park instance, he received a lot of help from Yu Xing, and even had her save his life. He had long regarded Yu Xing as one of his own.

Seeing that Yu Xing seemed unwilling to reveal her identity to others, Zeng Lai couldn't help but lower her voice. "But your pain amplification is a bit too high. I just gave you a light tap, and it hurts you this much?"

"Hmm, I guess the magnification is about 30x. Anyway, I'm in pain all over, and even walking normally is difficult." Yu Xing no guilt at all about how easily he had fooled this idiot, especially since he had only fooled half of him. "This is the price I paid for choosing the high difficulty level. There's nothing to complain about. I'm going to find my teammates. I don't know the people from the Mysterious Eye, so I won't be with them. I just wanted to say hello to you."

"Hey, wait a minute." Zeng Lai glanced at the onlookers watching them with a mixture of doubt and caution, then looked at Yu Xing, who was just as weak as before, Yu Xing from anemia even while soaking in a hot spring. "I'm with you, but I'm not very familiar with them either."

"Huh?" After listening to the two of them whispering for a while, no one could tell what they were saying, except for Zeng Lai's Zeng Lai sentence, which was unusually loud. Bai Xiaobing twitched her eye. "What are you saying? All those predictions I made with you before were for nothing, weren't they?"

"Haha, little sister, it's alright." Bai Junrui pulled his irritable sister back, speaking with a reasonable tone, "It's obvious that Yu Xing doesn't trust us much, which is normal. We've never met him before, and he's been quite prominent lately, so there might be many people who want to harm him. Being cautious is a good quality. He's all alone, and Zeng Lai has a good relationship with him, so choosing to go with him is a good thing, as it provides some protection. There are four of us in total."

Bai Junrui smiled and said to everyone, "It just so happens that we still need to find the remaining people. Let's split into two groups and head in two different directions. Once everyone gathers together, we can explore further into the island. The Dead Silent Island instance is very dangerous, and if we split up at the beginning, it will be too disadvantageous for the whole group."

"Sure, I have no objection. I'm just teasing Zeng Lai." Bai Xiaobing glanced at Zeng Lai with a hint of mockery. "I've known him for a long time. Ever since he joined the Research Institute, he's been inseparable from Ren Yi. I almost thought they were gay. Now that we can finally work together again, she's going to run off with someone else. Tsk, life..."

Yu Xing glanced at Zeng Lai with some surprise, unsure whether she was surprised by Zeng Lai's good relationship with the people of the Mysterious Eye, or by the word "gay".

The other two overheard this gossip but didn't say anything. After laughing for a while, they urged, "Let's go find the people first; getting together is the priority."

So the six people said goodbye to each other and split into two groups, two and four, and set off along opposite sides of the coastline, agreeing to bring the person back here after finding them.

Zeng Lai smiled until the four people disappeared from sight, then her smile vanished abruptly, and she snorted coldly, "They certainly know how to pat themselves on the back."

"Oh, how so?" Yu Xing finally had time to examine Zeng Lai's clothes closely. Zeng Lai's clothes were much more refined than his. He wore an inner shirt, a long-sleeved shirt with the buttons undone, and white trousers that looked smooth. He also wore a pair of mid-calf boots.

Although it became especially heavy after getting wet, it was still enviable.

Judging from their attire, neither he, Zeng Lai, nor the other four wore particularly modern clothing. Instead, they resembled European steampunk style from the post-Industrial Revolution era, gradually transitioning from ornate and elaborate to simpler. So far, their clothing has been relatively lightweight. I wonder if any of the twenty people will be wearing vests and Schmidt dresses.

Judging from his clothing alone, Yu Xing couldn't discern Zeng Lai's identity. He withdrew his attention from the attire, turned around, and began walking in another direction. To avoid his legs going numb and aching too soon, he kept looking for the flattest spot on the ground to step on. "Gold plaster?"

"I did know Bai Xiaobing quite early on; we were in the same newbie instance. In the beginning, I didn't know many people, so I teamed up with her several times. Later, when the Mysterious Eye was expanding its recruitment, she wanted to recruit me. At that time, I hadn't joined the Research Institute yet, but I already knew Ren Yi, so I refused her."

Zeng Lai slowed his pace and walked beside Yu Xing. He noticed that one of Yu Xing's arms seemed to be immobile, so he walked carefully to avoid touching his wound. "Later, this woman stirred up a storm. Although she didn't do anything to kill me, it caused me a lot of trouble in joining the Research Institute. I knew then that I shouldn't get too close to this kind of person."

Under the blowing of the dark sea breeze, he spoke more than before, his tone calm, as if recalling the past. "Later I distanced myself from her, and she even said it was because of Ren Yi. What a joke! Do I need her permission to make friends? Who does she think she is?"

"As for being gay, don't worry, not yet. Ren Yi and I are very good friends."

"Your use of the word 'still' makes me a little uneasy." Yu Xing tell that Zeng Lai was really unguarded around him. He didn't think he was trustworthy, but he would still be happy if someone trusted him, so he made a little joke along with Zeng Lai's words.

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue." Zeng Lai laughed twice, then suddenly asked, "Seeing how hard you're walking, how about I carry you? Seriously, even I would be skinned alive if I stepped directly on these rocks."

When he first woke up, he was fully clothed, and at least his shoes had thick soles. Yu Xing didn't look as strong as him to begin with, and now he was barefoot on the ground, which made people feel a little sorry for him.

"You can?" Yu Xing a little surprised. He reminded him, "Now that the physical attributes the system gave you are gone, are you sure you can still walk while carrying me?"

"Don't worry, I was already in good physical condition before I joined Absurdity. I used to skip classes to play basketball. My academic performance was embarrassing, but my athletic ability was excellent."

Perhaps fearing that Yu Xing might feel embarrassed about troubling her, Zeng Lai quickly took two steps to stand in front of Yu Xing and bent down. "Besides, although I don't know what's on the island, judging from those few lines of information, there should be many human facilities inside. It would be great if there were a clothing store near the coastline, so I can change my wet clothes and you can find a pair of shoes. Even if there isn't a clothing store, I think finding a few clothes and shoes in this kind of place shouldn't be a problem."

"Based on my experience, the fact that our researchers' clothes are so wet is a huge problem. There's an 87% chance there's a clothing store nearby. So, as someone from Research Institute, you should trust my data analysis capabilities."

Since he put it that way, Yu Xing naturally wouldn't refuse. Who would want to feel pain with every step if they could have an easier time?

Once he found a teammate, he asked Brother Jiu to carry him on his back, so as not to trouble Zeng Lai too much.

With this thought in mind, he was slightly grateful as Zeng Lai carried him on her back, when Zeng Lai exclaimed in surprise, "How come you're so light?"

Zeng Lai, who is 1.85 meters tall, thought that Yu Xing would be quite heavy, but when he carried her, it was not the case at all.

Yu Xing's weight is indeed much lighter than that of a man of this height. Although his muscles are very well-proportioned, due to the nature of his previous experiments, his bones and internal organs seem to have undergone certain changes, and the weight loss is mainly in his bones.

"I'm a patient." He paused for two seconds. "A patient with a high-risk condition, physically very weak."

"That's true..." Zeng Lai carried Yu Xing forward, blinking, "I'm a novelist of medium difficulty, and I don't seem to have any negative buffs at the starting point, so I'm quite resilient."

"Oh, right, let me tell you about the Mysterious Eye. This guild's power structure leans towards the mysterious. Like the Ghost Enthusiasts Club, they excel at dealing with intangible ghosts and are relatively neutral among all guilds. But that Bai Junrui, Bai Xiaobing's brother, isn't a friendly person at all. Look at what he just said! He seemed to be defending you, but every word he said was telling everyone that our separation was because of you. He even quietly pulled those two disbanded members to their side, saying that they still have four people on their side."

Zeng Lai curled her lip, her face full of disdain. "I don't believe you can't see it, but since you didn't say anything, I'll just let him be."

Although he treated Yu Xing very well, it was definitely not the same attitude he had when they first met at Alice's Park, where he treated Yu Xing as a junior. He had followed Yu Xing through several live-streamed deductions and had a very direct understanding of Yu Xing's abilities.

"Yeah, I see," Yu Xing agreed. "It really doesn't matter. I just want to find my teammates. I don't care at all whether the others are with me or what they think of me."

"By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what team is it? You... you formed it yourself?" Zeng Lai was quite curious. He had heard that several powerful forces had offered Yu Xing opportunities, but Yu Xing had refused them all. Someone with this kind of personality would probably build his own faction, right?

Yu Xing: "Broken mirror."

The two walked around the reef. Zeng Lai was indeed as he had said, with excellent stamina. He carried him around for a long time without complaining of being tired, and his breathing was not even disordered. After they turned around a giant reef, the view suddenly opened up before them.

After breaking through the reef circle, the coastline was much flatter than where they had woken up, even covered with mud, and sloping into the Black Sea at an angle, forming a buffer zone.

It turns out that not all the coastal environments on Dead Silent Island are as harsh as they seemed.

Eight or nine people had gathered on the shore, seemingly discussing something. Yu Xing immediately spotted Zhao Yijiu and Qu Xuanqing, who were standing apart from the crowd.

Carlos's blue hair was also very eye-catching. He seemed to not recognize Zhao Yijiu and Qu Xuanqing at all, and was chatting happily in the crowd. Yu Xing understood their plan and smiled.

"Zeng Lai, thank you. You can put me down now. The ground here shouldn't hurt me." Yu Xing patted Zeng Lai's arm.

Zeng Lai saw this and agreed. Besides, there were so many people in the distance, and Yu Xing must have some pride, so he put Yu Xing down on the spot and walked with her towards the crowd.

This group of people had clearly already searched for a while and had gathered together.

Yu Xing had already seen the publicly available personal information of all the top 100 deducers in the exam from Zhao Mou, as well as some confidential information that Zhao Mou had collected himself. He could match the faces of all these people.

In fact, he knew the identities of those four people at a glance.

There are nine people in this group. Apart from his three teammates, they are all strangers. The four hourglass members have been gathered. The other two are also regular teammates, star predictors, who are very famous in the Absurdity System and are no less famous than Zeng Lai.

So the five people he hasn't seen since he woke up are Zhao Mou, Huang Bai, Huai, the last member of the Mysterious Eye "Fei Jing", and Wu Kaiyun, Cui Hui's teammate from earlier.

They approached quickly.

"You've finally arrived." Qu Xuanqing turned her head, accurately catching Yu Xing's location, her gaze casually sweeping over Zeng Lai, startling Zeng Lai.

Qu Xuanqing was wearing the Xiu Mizi dress that Yu Xing had just thought of. It can be seen that although they are not in the same time and space, the historical trends of many predicted planes are not far apart. Qu Xuanqing's dress is more revealing than ordinary dresses, perfectly accentuating her waist. The dress has several tears due to the erosion of the sea and the scraping of the reefs, but fortunately, the parts that should be covered are still well covered.

Looking at Qu Xuanqing standing there, Yu Xing immediately thought of her identity as a model.

The system said that being a model is not a suitable identity to be revealed, and there might be something hidden behind it. Qu Xuanqing herself is already eye-catching enough, and this outfit will definitely attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. Yu Xing began to wonder if Qu Xuanqing would be beaten if she were to identify herself as a "dancer".

"Hey, Zeng Lai?" The group mostly recognized Zeng Lai and greeted him. Then, noticing Qu Xuanqing's reaction, the [Ferryman] of the Hourglass laughed, "This must be Yu Xing. It turns out that without the sacrifice's cover, Yu Xing is even more handsome than I imagined. The face I imagined while watching the live stream wasn't even a tenth as good as yours."

Since Qu Xuanqing is here, this is the perfect time to shower her with compliments.

Yu Xing greeted them politely.

These people were all quite capable, but the one who caught his attention the most was a quiet girl in the Hourglass Guild. She wasn't a star predictor, but she was very strong.

She seemed to deliberately avoid all kinds of live-streamed simulations, but had achieved many terrifying results in other types of simulations. The girl was born with white hair, and the data provided by Zhao Mou showed that she had albinism. Her eyes were also light in color. She stood there without participating in any topics, just staying next to a tall boy, and seemed a bit withdrawn.

This seemingly frail young girl is none other than "Sha," the president of the Hourglass.

The boy next to her, who looked only sixteen or seventeen, was the vice president, actually twenty-seven years old, and his name was Xu Huan.

The Xu family, shrouded in gloom.

Xu Huan probably belongs to the type of person whose profession can be determined by their clothing, as the system mentioned; he looks like a... pirate.

Pirate headscarves and pirate clothing have very distinctive features, and coupled with his own aura of ferocity and gloom, Yu Xing especially wanted to pull him and Zhao Yijiu together for a photo to see who looked more like a ghost.

"We meet again." Carlos leaned closer and gave Yu Xing a thorough once-over. "As expected of the rookie king from my batch, you got first place in the exam and have been making waves lately. My loss wasn't unjustified."

"Hmm, we meet again, Magician," Yu Xing replied casually.

The outside world only knows that he has a very good relationship with Qu Xuanqing and the two Zhao family brothers. They are likely to have already formed a team by now that they have come together. However, the only time he and Carlos have interacted in front of others was during the Rookie Tournament. He just discovered his teammates' plans, which is a hidden move.

"Eleven people now." Pirate Xu Huan, with the face of a young boy, swept his sinister gaze across the crowd. "Are we still waiting?"

"Four more people went in that direction." Zeng Lai picked up a small pebble and tossed it in his hand, to console the spirit of his now-gone dice, and pointed back the way he came with his other finger. "I haven't seen the remaining five either; they might be over there too."

"Shall we go that way?" the guide asked tentatively.

"No, I'm not going." Yu Xing refused outright, nodded politely to Carlos, and then walked over to Zhao Yijiu and Qu Xuanqing, explaining under everyone's gaze, "The rocks over there are too hard. Besides me, Qu Xuanqing and Sha Ye don't have shoes and will get hurt. But there's no danger along the way. My personal suggestion is to find someone who can run fast to go and call everyone back."

His tone was calm, but beneath the gentleness lay an undeniable air of confidence, as if he had powerful backers and the world was his own. It was clear to others that even if everyone here said they were going in the direction he came from, he wouldn't follow.

Zhao Yijiu calmly supported his back, providing him with additional support.

After all, he was already familiar with him. He knew very well Yu Xing kind of sickly person Yu Xing was before entering the deduction. Judging from his complexion, he was obviously injured and about to start whimpering again. It would be better to do what Yu Xing wanted to do before he opened his mouth.

The group of people were all injured to varying degrees and didn't want to move. Sha looked towards the sea and then said softly, "Exile, you go and get everyone to gather over here."

"What if someone doesn't come?" The extradition man seemed to listen to the chairman.

The sound of sand was like a wisp of smoke, dispersed by the sea breeze. "Tell them the way to the island is right here; no one will fail to come."

Upon hearing this, Yu Xing glanced towards the center of the island.

Indeed, at the inner end of this relatively flat coastline, there is a path that is clearly wide enough for humans to walk on. The path is relatively flat and offers good visibility, making it an excellent choice if they want to advance further into the island.