Chapter 3

I stared at Ji Lingchuan’s retreating back, grinding my teeth in fury.

Another message popped up.

[Baby, there’s a rabid dog among this batch of players. Make sure you stay away from him.]

[Su Yi. The one at the top of the rankings.]

[He loves wrecking instances. He even threw himself at me today. Luckily, I dodged fast enough that he didn’t get a single finger on me.]

My blood pressure shot straight up.

I deliberately sent back a sarcastic reply.

[Oh, him.]

[But I’ve seen loads of people shipping you two on the forum.]

[I think he’s really strong. And really handsome.]

Sure enough, Ji Lingchuan panicked and launched into frantic explanations.

[Baby, don’t listen to those people on the forum. None of it’s true!]

[I swear to God, there is absolutely nothing between me and that rabid dog.]

[Handsome? I don’t see it. One look at his face pisses me off. All I want is a real fight—to pin him to the floor and beat him to death.]

[You’re the only one in my heart. You have to believe me!]

I resisted the urge to smash my phone, turned off the screen, and stopped bothering with him.

At the nurses’ station, I rummaged through every drawer and cupboard, but there was no medical record.

The spawn rate here was usually pretty good. Just my luck.

I turned toward the records room and ran into two players.

The moment they saw me, they straightened up respectfully and hurried over.

“Su Yi! You’re running this instance too?”

“Have you noticed something’s off with the difficulty? It’s like all the NPCs have gone blind. They see us and act like we aren’t there.”

“I ran into a faceless doctor around a corner just now. Nearly scared me to death. It took one look at me and walked away.”

“Is this really an SSS-ranked instance? Is it bugged?”

I scoffed to myself.

This wasn’t a bug. That bastard Ji Lingchuan was going so easy on his never-before-seen online boyfriend that he might as well have turned off the difficulty altogether.

The whole instance was protecting his baby.

Whatever. I wasn’t going to complain about an easier run.

Just as I thought that, the two players’ expressions changed. They stared behind me in terror.

I turned.

Three nurses with backward-bent joints hung upside down from the ceiling. Five faceless doctors brandishing bone saws closed in on me from different directions.

My phone suddenly vibrated.

I stole a quick glance.

[Baby, I just ordered the NPCs to give Su Yi some special attention.]

[That’ll keep him too busy to bother us.]

[Tell me I did a good job.]

…Ji Lingchuan, you fucking asshole.