I Am a Doctor

"Whoosh!!!"

A flock of birds in the woods took flight in a hurry.

"That sound..."

Zhang Hao stopped in his tracks, turning back to look at the woods behind them. He couldn't have misheard; that was Li Bo's scream.

"Don't stop. It's almost dark. We need to get out of here quickly, or who knows what else we'll run into!"

Zhou Yu was walking in front, and seeing him stop, she urged him on.

"Yeah, yeah, the more I look at this place, the more terrifying it gets. That was a zombie just now. Who knows what we'll run into at night..."

Wang Shaohui didn't dare finish the word "ghost." He only felt the sky darken, making the deep forest ahead look even gloomier and more ominous. Looking around, everything was a hazy gray; he couldn't even tell north from south.

Seeing Zhang Hao's hesitant expression, Zhou Yu sighed. "That fatty is beyond saving. When a zombie grabs someone, you can't even pry them loose with an iron bar. Once night falls, the zombies will crawl out of their coffins, and by then..."

Zhou Yu gave a cold smile and didn't continue, but the implication was clear.

"But... what if we cut off the hand?" Zhang Hao asked, refusing to give up.

The question made him look like an idiot. Zhou Yu rolled her eyes at him, leaving him to figure it out for himself.

Wang Shaohui, standing to the side, whispered an explanation: "Brother Zhang, cutting off a wrist would cause massive blood loss. In TV shows, people lose limbs all the time, but that's just TV. If you actually cut off a wrist in real life without medical treatment, you'd die very quickly."

Zhang Hao turned bright red, realizing he didn't even know common sense that a student like Wang Shaohui understood.

But soon, he realized something and looked up at Zhou Yu.

"You seem very familiar with this place. Have you been here before?"

Recalling the journey, Zhou Yu's composure and the way she had intentionally guided them to find the scripts on their bodies—not to mention her words just now—all suggested that this wasn't her first time entering a Script World.

"Wait until you've survived the mission in this world before asking about that."

Zhou Yu didn't have the patience to explain anything to them and urged the two to keep moving.

"Brother Zhang, let's go!"

Wang Shaohui also urged him. Zhang Hao took one last look behind him, then ultimately chose to follow obediently behind Zhou Yu.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."

The sky grew darker. Every step on the ground produced a crunching sound, and from time to time, a cold wind blew, causing the leaves in the forest to rustle like the crashing of ocean tides.

The three of them didn't know how long they had been walking when Zhou Yu, who was in front, suddenly raised her arm to signal them to stop.

Zhang Hao and Wang Shaohui didn't know what was happening, so they crouched down behind her, not daring to move a muscle.

They didn't know how much time had passed when a faint, jingling mule-bell sound drifted from the distance, and a dim, yellowish light slowly approached.

"Follow them!!"

Seeing the mule cart approaching, Zhou Yu hurriedly called the other two to chase after it.

The mule cart was moving very slowly, so the three of them caught up without much effort. The old man driving the cart was startled by the three people suddenly jumping out. He raised his oil lamp to get a better look, and only after seeing their faces did he let out a sigh of relief.

"Sir, we got lost in the mountains. Could you give us a ride?"

As Zhou Yu spoke, she pulled a piece of silver about the size of a fingernail from somewhere and handed it to the old man.

Looking at her fair, delicate hand, the old man hesitated for a moment. He raised the oil lamp to look Zhou Yu up and down carefully, then nodded after a brief silence and accepted the silver.

He tapped the back of the mule cart with his whip handle, signaling them to climb on.

"Damn, this is more tiring than running a five-kilometer marathon."

Zhang Hao and Wang Shaohui, who had been walking the whole way, flopped onto the cart and stretched out their legs, feeling as if they were about to fall off.

Looking down, they saw their shoes had been worn through.

It wasn't their fault; the mountain paths weren't as smooth as city roads. They were uneven and covered in rocks, making walking naturally exhausting.

In contrast, Zhou Yu seemed much more relaxed than the two boys. After getting on the cart, she took out her bronze mirror, turned her back to the old man to check her reflection, smoothed her hair, and then sat down steadily.

"You lot are lucky. This mountain is desolate; it's crawling with wolves, tigers, and leopards. It gets haunted something fierce at night. It's a good thing you ran into me, otherwise, one night out here would have been enough to finish you three kids off."

The old man drove the mule forward with his back to the three of them, speaking as he went.

"Heh heh, we just got lost, that's all," Wang Shaohui said, scratching his head.

Zhou Yu, however, followed up on the old man's topic: "Sir, do you mean this place is very dangerous?"

"Hmph!"

The old man pursed his lips and turned his head, his face half-buried in shadow as he said gloomily, "I don't mind telling you, this mountain has been haunted lately. A few days ago, a merchant caravan was traveling through the night. I warned them not to, but they wouldn't listen. The next morning, they were all dead!"

"Then why did you decide to travel at night today?" Zhang Hao asked, unimpressed.

"I was late coming back from the market. But we're almost at our village. You're in luck today; we're holding a wedding, so you can tag along and have a drink."

As the old man finished speaking, a cold prompt sounded in the ears of all three.

[Main Mission: Deep Mountain Ancient Village]

[Mission Objective: Uncover the secret of this village.]

[Mission Hint: Recently, travelers and merchant caravans passing through this mountain have been disappearing without a trace. No one knows when a village appeared in these mountains, but perhaps the answer can be found within it.]

Hearing the notification, the three of them perked up simultaneously. Zhang Hao was just about to speak when a look from Zhou Yu stopped him. She whispered into their ears, "Wait and see!"

"Ouch! Slow down!!"

In the woods nearby, two figures—one fat and one thin—were making their way down the slope.

Li Bo followed behind, stumbling and falling to the ground. His left hand was tightly wrapped in cloth, and even when he fell, he made sure to lift that hand first, preferring to land on his face rather than risk hitting the wound.

Seeing Li Bo on the ground, Xu Tong finally stopped and looked back at him, stepping forward to help him re-secure the gauze on his wound.

Li Bo sat on a rock, his lungs burning as if they were about to explode. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, feeling as though he had climbed a lifetime's worth of mountains in this single night.

"Actually... you could have just killed me. Why save me?"

Looking at Xu Tong as he re-secured the bandages, Li Bo felt this guy was a complete lunatic. After chopping off his hand, he had dragged him along to hide behind a grave mound to watch a zombie.

Of course, they never actually saw the zombie crawl out; the coffin was wedged halfway into the dirt, preventing it from emerging. But just listening to the crunch-crunch-crunch of the zombie feeding was enough to make Li Bo feel sick; he didn't need to imagine what it was eating.

"Kill you??"

Xu Tong looked up at Li Bo, laughing as if he had heard something hilarious.

"What are you laughing at? Don't think I won't stab you again, Laozi!"

Seeing that smug, mocking grin, Li Bo felt his rage boil over. Yet, the moment the words left his lips, the smile on Xu Tong's face gradually faded.

His cold, stern face was shrouded in shadow. As he slowly stood up and loomed over him, those sharp eyes were as piercing as a blade.

Li Bo's heart skipped a beat, as if a hand had tightly gripped his chest, forcing him to hold his breath involuntarily.

Xu Tong bent down, his face drawing closer and closer to Li Bo's. Under that cold, indifferent gaze, Li Bo's muscles went rigid.

Until he leaned in and whispered into his ear.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Li Bo felt a chill in his right hand as something was shoved into it. Looking down, he saw it was the short blade that had severed his hand.

The blade had been fitted back onto its handle and placed into his grip by Xu Tong, the tip pointing directly at Xu Tong's own chest.

Xu Tong tilted his head and whispered again, "Don't believe me? Try it!"

As he spoke, he leaned forward, pressing his body against the blade. Li Bo could even feel the rise and fall of Xu Tong's abdominal muscles through the tip of the knife.

"Madman!!"

Li Bo let out a strange cry. Unable to handle the pressure, he dropped the knife and shoved Xu Tong away. He pointed at the man's nose, his mind flooded with a torrent of profanities, but though his mouth hung open, he couldn't manage to spit out a single word.

"See? I told you you wouldn't dare."

Xu Tong picked up the knife and toyed with it casually, his expression one of complete innocence, which only made Li Bo feel like he was going to cough up blood from frustration.

Of course he wouldn't dare. This wasn't like before; back then, his wrist had been firmly gripped by the zombie, and he had just watched as Zhou Yu and the others abandoned him, leaving him to wait for death in total despair.

In such a state, it was no surprise that a person might do anything.

Furthermore, Xu Tong had scared Zhang Hao away with his constant chatter at the time—how could he not hate him?

But things were different now. Even though he had lost a hand, he had kept his life.

Although they were still trapped in this damned Script Space, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, Li Bo wouldn't take the risk of killing the only person who could help him.

Xu Tong wiped the blade a few times. Seeing Li Bo staring blankly, he casually rested the edge against his neck. Feeling the icy chill of the steel, Li Bo looked up, dazed.

Under the moonlight, Xu Tong's face was buried in shadow; Li Bo couldn't tell if he was smiling or furious.

"You wouldn't dare, but I would. Want to bet?"

The blade rested lightly on Li Bo's shoulder, as casual as a feather. Even the hand holding the knife gripped it loosely, and his tone was as relaxed as a joke between best friends.

Yet, Li Bo felt a deep, unprecedented malice wash over him, making every hair on his body stand on end. His stiff face twitched as he forced his mouth open, using every ounce of his strength to whisper, "I wouldn't dare!"

After saying this, Li Bo seemed to have all his spirit drained away, his head drooping in defeat.

"Just a joke!"

Seeing Li Bo's utterly aggrieved expression, he slowly lifted the short blade from his shoulder and pointed to Li Bo's severed hand. "Don't forget, I'm a doctor. Saving lives is my vocation."