Chapter 159

Chapter 159

After spending the entire night in Ward 07, Liu Ye finally emerged. Before leaving, he reminded Sun Miao of her duties.

“Did you memorize my movements? From now on, do this to him every morning, noon, and night. It will be tiring, but that’s our profession. Remember what I told you. We have to serve our patients at all times.”

Sun Miao remained silent.

She doubted the man would need anything ever again.

When they returned to the cafeteria, only three people were still capable of coming to eat. Wang Weiwei had stopped leaving her ward altogether after the others refused to listen to her.

“I can’t hold on much longer,” Sun Miao said in agony.

Although Liu Ye had dealt with that bastard the day before, excruciating pain still tormented her every moment. She felt close to her limit.

Tong Qian was in even worse condition. Her patient suffered from visual disparity disorder, and because Tong Qian had broken the rules, she could barely see the others anymore.

In her eyes, every person was no larger than a shoe.

“But isn’t that relatively harmless?” Wang Fugui asked. “It’s only a visual difference. It won’t kill you.”

Although he had followed the rules, Wang Fugui felt they did not protect him completely. He had already begun to lose all sense of hunger, while his patient’s body was gradually filling out.

Compared with his condition, Tong Qian’s illness seemed fairly mild.

“Are you an idiot? Do you remember what our mission is? We have to work as caregivers for seven days. At this rate, forget being caregivers-we’ll become patients. Then we’ll be trapped here forever!”

Tong Qian suddenly exploded. The mental strain she had endured for so long drove her to tears.

She was not particularly stupid. She had merely failed to fall asleep on time the first night, and her vision had immediately become impaired. Then her patient had refused the medicine the following day, causing Tong Qian’s illness to spread extremely fast. Now she could not move at all and could only wait helplessly for a hopeless end.

Wang Fugui fell silent as well. The participants in this mission had completed very few missions before.

The Fiendish World did not operate like a game where each cleared level produced a matching challenge. Every mission it arranged was random: random participants and random Fiend incidents.

With good luck, someone might complete several missions without encountering anything too dangerous. With bad luck, they could end up like John. His abilities were outstanding, yet every step he took brought another ordeal.

“We still have Brother Liu,” Wang Fugui said suddenly.

“You trust him? He isn’t even a player. In this place, he’s just an NPC!” Tong Qian snorted.

“Well… maybe not,” Sun Miao said.

Remembering Liu Ye’s earlier actions, she thought they might genuinely have to rely on him.

The group finished eating under a cloud of dread and returned to their wards.

At that moment, Wang Weiwei had fallen completely unconscious. Sister Han sat nearby, knitting a sweater.

An employee badge identical to those worn by Wang Weiwei and the others had appeared around Sister Han’s neck. Her likeness gradually materialized upon it.

Just then, the necklace around Wang Weiwei’s throat flashed. She opened her eyes.

But her gaze was entirely different from before.

She looked at the enormous structures surrounding her and at Sister Han, who resembled a giant. Not a trace of panic appeared on her face.

Instead, she picked up the cloth covering her pillow, tied it over her eyes, then rose and felt her way toward the door.
“Where are you going? I’ll take you.”

Sister Han hurriedly rose and moved to support her.

Instead, Wang Weiwei’s cold voice stopped her.

“Drop that hypocritical act. It only works on that idiot.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Sister Han asked in panic, instinctively grabbing Wang Weiwei’s arm.

Wang Weiwei caught her wrist in the same motion and bent it outward. Sister Han screamed in pain.

“What are you doing, Weiwei? You’re hurting me! We’re on the same side.”

Wang Weiwei swept her hair back from her forehead.

“Ma’am, the best lies are nine parts truth and one part falsehood. Most of what you said was true. The only lie concerned the medicine. It shouldn’t be taken, should it?

“That idiot believed you, but I won’t. And from everything I’ve learned, caregivers like us seem to exert some kind of suppression over patients like you. So tell me-if I beat you up, do you think I’ll be punished?”

Sister Han clutched her wrist and immediately retreated several steps.

Wang Weiwei ignored her. Judging from Sister Han’s behavior over the past few days, the patients probably could not attack caregivers.

Wang Weiwei had left herself almost entirely defenseless, yet Sister Han had never resorted to violence. She had simply waited, little by little, for Wang Weiwei to become a patient completely.

Wang Weiwei felt her way along one side of the corridor. At the first door, she knocked several times. When no one answered, she continued forward and knocked on the second door.

Someone immediately responded from within.

“Who is it?”

It was Wang Fugui’s voice. Wang Weiwei called back at once.

“Can you come out? There’s something I want to discuss with you.”

Wang Fugui found it strange. Hadn’t Wang Weiwei trusted that woman? Why was she coming to him now?

He opened the door. The moment he saw Wang Weiwei, he sensed something different about her.

“You…”

“I’m not Wang Weiwei. My name is Zhang Ru. Her idiotic ideas have nothing to do with me. I came out because I intend to complete this mission. Can we talk?”

Wang Fugui nodded blankly, closed the ward door, and followed her outside.

They found a random place in the corridor and sat down.

“Can you tell me everything that happened while I was gone?”

Wang Fugui nodded and gave her a detailed account without omitting anything.

“I understand. Wang Fugui, can you confirm two things for me?”

“Go ahead.”

“First, identify the condition in every ward. Second, check whether any of the nurses at the station have red cords around their wrists.”

“All right!”

Wang Fugui did not understand why he trusted Wang Weiwei so much at this moment. She seemed to possess an air of reliability.

He soon returned and gave her a detailed report on everything she had asked him to investigate.

“No. 1’s ward contains a patient with delusional disorder. Ward 02-the one assigned to me-contains the anorexia patient. Ward 03 is osteoporosis. Ward 04 is your Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Ward 05 is pathological hunger. Ward 06 is visual disparity disorder. Ward 07 is petrification, and Ward 08 is premature aging. I also checked the three nurses. None of them had a red cord around their wrists.”

Zhang Ru nodded, then made a startling declaration.

“I understand. I think I’ve roughly identified our path to survival.”