Miraculous Healing (1): Staggered shifts

The Field Mission Teleportation Room.

After spending an entire month in the Source Code Space to cooperate with the investigation into Bai Cha, Maintenance Team leader Li Qing finally received a new field assignment.

Technical Team leader Zhang Qin personally came to help teleport him.

Before that, Li Qing asked him to check a player's information again.

[Name: Gong Yao]

[ID: P-R0000111]

[Status: Dungeon instance in progress, located in dungeon instance A3021]

Gong Yao's various stats appeared in the center of Zhang Qin's screen.

He gave Li Qing a teasing look. "You seem especially interested in this player. Relax, he definitely won't die that easily!"

Li Qing rubbed his temple. "I just wanted to confirm whether he was currently in a dungeon instance."

"Huh?"

"The dungeon instance he's in isn't my destination. That's a relief."

Zhang Qin: "..."

"Don't be like that, darling. You'll break the viewers' hearts," Zhang Qin said earnestly. "Do you know how much traffic the two of you pull in together? People all over the internet are asking why you don't have a livestream channel."

"..." He was starting to hate the livestream system again.

Zhang Qin quickly and expertly read his thoughts from the faint change in Li Qing's expression.

He smiled helplessly. "Oh, don't think like that. Without the huge revenue from livestream channels, we'd lose a massive chunk of our funding. If you started streaming yourself, you could even earn some extra cash. But right now, your fans can only camp out in Gong Yao's channel waiting for you. That's a whole lot of traffic!"

Li Qing weighed the attention a livestream would bring against the risks it might pose, then answered without a second's hesitation. "No."

Zhang Qin: "..."

Li Qing stepped onto the mission teleportation machine. "Hurry up and start. Any later, and I might run into someone troublesome."

Zhang Qin shook his head and activated the mission teleportation for him.

[Mission description]

[Dungeon instance name: D0129-Miraculous Healing]

[Rank: D]

[Actual survival rate: ERROR (expected value: 60%)]

[Dungeon instance description: You are a doctor employed at a run-down township clinic. Few people visit this clinic during the day, but its emergency room is bustling at night.

[Treat these patients seriously. These choices are a matter of life and death.]

[Issue description: The dungeon instance's settlement function is malfunctioning, with settlement times for multiple rounds overlapping. Preliminary assessment indicates that the round in which the incident began failed to settle normally, causing a series of anomalies. This anomaly is suspected to have been caused by a cheat. Administrator, please investigate and resolve it.]

Li Qing opened his eyes and found himself standing at the entrance to a dilapidated clinic.

"Few people visit during the day"... That description hadn't exaggerated in the slightest.

The three-story clinic's aged, yellowing tiled exterior and brown-tinted doors and windows with peeling tape all gave off the unmistakable air of a place on the verge of going under.

Even in a township, a building this old and sinister would make people desperate to steer clear.

How reckless would someone have to be to come here for treatment?

Li Qing, of course, had nothing to fear.

He opened the control panel and ran a diagnostic command, receiving an error message reading "Unable to end." It matched the issue description sent by the monitoring department, but gave no cause for the error.

At the same time, the command returned another result: there was a livestream device inside this clinic.

In other words, there was still a player here.

Li Qing couldn't help raising his eyebrows slightly.

In this dungeon instance, all players took on the role of doctors and accumulated "performance points" by treating patients.

After seven days, if a player was still alive and their "performance points" met the requirement, they could be "transferred to the City Hospital"-in other words, leave the dungeon instance.

Was this a player stranded here when that first round failed to end?

Or a player who entered the dungeon instance afterward?

Li Qing immediately pulled up the dungeon instance data.

[Dungeon instance status: In progress (31/-)]

[Player clearance conditions: Survive for 7 days, with performance points > 100]

[Participating players: (1/-): P-QS091152]

Only one player, unable to end the dungeon instance, and still alive after thirty-one days...

Li Qing considered this for a moment, then pushed open the clinic door under the terrified gazes of passing townspeople.

The air-conditioning inside was so strong that goosebumps rose on Li Qing's skin almost the instant he stepped inside.

A security guard stood by the entrance, his skin a lifeless white.

He stared at Li Qing expressionlessly and asked, one word at a time, "Are. You. Sick?"

Li Qing thought for a moment and answered, "Yes."

"Come. With. Me." The security guard turned left on the spot and led Li Qing upstairs, his limbs stiff.

Looking at the signs on the staircase indicating the departments, Li Qing asked, "Don't we need to register?"

The security guard looked back at him strangely.

Li Qing said, "As far as I know, registering first is standard procedure for seeking treatment at human hospitals. You could improve that next time."

The security guard: "..."

The security guard remained silent the whole way. Only after leading Li Qing to an office door did he say stiffly, "Go. In."

Li Qing looked at the plaque hanging on the office door-Director, Yuan Shiyan.

He knocked politely and entered the office after receiving permission.

Even the director's office was every bit as shabby as the exterior. Li Qing gave it only a cursory glance before his gaze settled on the middle-aged man seated behind the desk.

The man wore a yellowed white coat and had thinning hair. As he raised his head, a gleam swept across his round glasses, concealing the admiration, surprise, and ill-intentioned scrutiny in his eyes.

He then adjusted his glasses, though his voice sounded quite refined. "What are you here for?"

Li Qing sat in the chair in front of him and said, "Medical treatment."

Director Yuan Shiyan chuckled. "Then you're in luck. You've caught me for a specialist consultation. Tell me, what's the problem?"

Naturally, there was nothing wrong with Li Qing, but he still picked something at random from his limited recollection of human symptoms. "Chest tightness, stomach pain, and trouble breathing."

"Oh? That might be something serious. Let me take a look..."

Yuan Shiyan picked up his stethoscope and reached toward Li Qing's chest.

The hairs on Li Qing's back suddenly stood on end, and an indescribable sense of revulsion washed over him.

He instinctively raised a hand to stop him, but Yuan Shiyan stopped at the same moment.

Still leaning forward, he slowly lifted his eyes to Li Qing, a cold gleam flashing through them. "Little brother, your body looks perfectly healthy. There's nothing wrong with you at all."

At the same time, a system notification sounded in Li Qing's ears.

[Alert: Data error. Abnormal energy fluctuations detected. Error source located.]