Chapter 62
Chapter 62
While the nurse was off getting the medicine, he had searched the Shop and exchanged for vitamin tablets that resembled the pills. They did not look exactly the same, but with the act of taking medicine as cover, they were convincing enough to pass for the real thing.
The wall clock in the room showed that it was 4:32 in the afternoon.
The window had iron bars, and the door was locked from the inside.
Ning Shuo had thrown a fit and locked himself in.
He sighed, exchanged for a length of wire from the Shop, and was just about to pick the lock when he heard movement outside.
It was the nurse delivering meals to the patients.
At the same time, the Script Effect kicked in, and Ning Shuo distinctly felt waves of hunger surging through him.
Oh. So he couldn’t refuse the meal either.
Only after making sure there were no other sounds outside did Ning Shuo unlock the door and wander out.
Thankfully, there were no surveillance cameras in the Script.
Ning Shuo wandered over to the stairwell and heard several doctors talking downstairs.
After eight o’clock, the stairwells in the psychiatric inpatient ward would all be locked to prevent psychiatric patients from getting out and Harming Others.
Ning Shuo sat on the stairs and eavesdropped. What he heard was all medical jargon he had never come into contact with before.
They discussed things for about ten minutes before finally wrapping up. Just as they were about to leave, a young doctor suddenly said, “Oh, right. Didn’t Doctor Shen ask us this afternoon to help look for a Cloth Doll? He said it had fallen into the psychiatric inpatient ward.”
“A doll? What’s a grown man like him doing looking for a doll?”
Ning Shuo waited until they had left before sneaking out.
If Doctor Shen had asked them to look for the doll in the afternoon, that meant this “Doctor Shen” was most likely also a Player. All Players entered the Script at the same time.
The mission was to find the little girl and satisfy her request. Had Doctor Shen found the little girl already, and was the girl’s request to find her Cloth Doll?
Ning Shuo did not know which nurses and doctors recognized him, so he simply avoided everyone. Then he climbed out through a second-floor window and left.
He first followed the map to pediatrics.
For no other reason than that there were very few people in pediatrics who would recognize him as the “mental patient.”
He went to the restroom, changed clothes, and put on a mask, disguising himself as an ordinary outpatient. Then he went to the nurses’ station. “Hello, ma’am. Do you know where Doctor Shen is?”
The nurse looked at him suspiciously. “What do you need Doctor Shen for?”
She did not ask for his full name, nor did she ask which department’s doctor he meant.
That meant there was most likely only one doctor surnamed Shen.
Ning Shuo pulled down his mask, revealing a good-looking face. “It’s like this. I made an appointment with Doctor Shen…”
Seeing the nurse’s face darken visibly, Ning Shuo reacted with extreme speed and added, “To pick up my nephew’s report.”
It was just an outpatient appointment. There was no reason for the nurse to see through his lie instantly, much less almost transform into a Ghost/Monster.
Doctor Shen was not in psychiatry. Then, in such a large hospital, what department would make the nurse realize Ning Shuo could not possibly be seeing Doctor Shen as a patient?
Most likely pediatrics.
After Ning Shuo made up the excuse that he knew Doctor Shen was a pediatrician but did not know how to get there, the nurse suspiciously pointed him in the opposite direction.
Ning Shuo was pretending not to know the way. It was not as if he actually did not know it.
Since the nurse was testing whether he was pretending, Ning Shuo followed the direction she had pointed and walked straight ahead for quite a long way.
Sure enough, just as he was about to turn the corner, the nurse called out from behind him, “Sir, I’m sorry, I got so busy I mixed things up. Doctor Shen’s office is that way.”
Even if it was time to get off work, Players would not leave. When Ning Shuo wandered over to Doctor Shen’s office, the door was open a crack.
He stopped at the doorway for a moment and heard a little girl’s clear, crisp voice from inside. “Have you found my Cloth Doll?”
Doctor Shen’s voice was gentle: “Not yet. When I find it, I’ll give it to you right away, okay?”
The little girl remained silent, clearly in a bad mood.
Ning Shuo frowned.
Main quest: Don’t let her get angry.
Was it because the “anger” emotional threshold hadn’t been reached yet, so this Player didn’t even bother to comfort her?
Going in now would only let Ning Shuo confirm the little girl’s appearance; it wouldn’t advance the quest much, and Doctor Shen’s intentions were unclear.
He was about to turn and leave when a hand suddenly grabbed his.
He turned to face Luo Li’s expressionless face, and the little girl called out to him in a crisp voice: “Brother!”
Ning Shuo looked up and met eyes with the nurse who had escorted Luo Li over.
By sheer coincidence, this was the very nurse who had given Ning Shuo directions earlier.
The door opened, and a Player in a white coat, leading another little girl with two pigtails, exchanged glances with them.
This really wasn’t a good time to recognize each other.
The nurse was furious, as if she might transform in the next second.
Luo Li, unaware that Ning Shuo had been given directions by the nurse, was looking for an escape route while wondering where they had slipped up.
A sudden weight on her head-Ning Shuo’s left hand landed with a light slap on her head, while his right hand quickly took her pulse in the nurse’s blind spot: “Little sister…”
After getting a preliminary sense of her pulse, he said slowly: “I’m here to pick up the report for your little nephew. Don’t you have a weak heart? Why aren’t you in your hospital room?”
The nurse’s darkening mood seemed to pause; as Luo Li was about to speak, the nurse cut in front of her: “Your nephew, what’s his name?”
The doctor was right there; if Ning Shuo gave a name, the nurse would insist the doctor produce the report.
Doctor Shen didn’t know them; even though the situation clearly showed they were Players, he might not necessarily save them.
Just as Ning Shuo was about to knock out the nurse, Doctor Shen’s voice came out warm and smooth: “You’re Li Gang’s uncle, right? You’re late; I almost thought you weren’t coming.”
Ning Shuo picked up the act: “Haha, got lost.”
“Couldn’t you have asked for directions at the nurse station?”
“The nurse was too busy; she accidentally gave me the wrong directions.”
The nurse who had misdirected him was stunned, her face returning to a normal flush of embarrassment. She apologized awkwardly and turned back to the nurse station.
There was still that NPC little girl beside them; the stage was set, so the show had to go on.
Doctor Shen shuffled through some papers and pulled out a report form, on which the signature line bore a flamboyant “Shen Zhiwang”.
Though it was scrawled, it was fortunately not an actual doctor’s signature.
As he handed over the report, Shen Zhiwang said: “My name is Shen Xiangwangzhi. We’ve dealt with each other a few times now, just call me by name.”
Ning Shuo took it: “Sure, just call me Ning Banxian.”
Luo Li, holding Ning Shuo’s hand, said: “Lolita.”
Shen Zhiwang raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly: “Mm, I know.”
Meaning he knew who they were.
Without further exchange, the little girl who had been led by Shen Zhiwang immediately grabbed Ning Shuo’s hand: “Brother, sister, have you seen my Cloth Doll?”
Before Ning Shuo could say more, Luo Li denied it outright: “No.”
Ning Shuo was a bit shocked: “… Aren’t you going to be a little more tactful?”
Shen Zhiwang and Luo Li both looked at him as if he were an idiot: “Why be tactful?”
Ning Shuo was speechless.
He rechecked his quest to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.
So, Shen Zhiwang and Luo Li were both sharp-tongued?