Chapter 5 Xincheng Hospital: Can he change teammates?
Time passed by, and ten minutes had gone by since the system issued the team-up task.
The six people who had been sitting together and discussing animatedly just moments before have now split into three camps—no, to be precise, four. Liu Yang and Xia Wanwan are together, Cheng Jianshu and Lin Yarong are together, and Shi Yu and Shen Su are each sitting on their own beds, each forming a separate camp.
The ward was so quiet that only the sound of the air conditioner could be heard.
Cheng Jianshu is player number 1, Lin Yarong is player number 2, and the two are in the same group. Player number 3 Liu Yang and player number 4 Xia Wanwan also successfully teamed up.
Is the system even humane? It didn't break up the couple.
Shi Yu thought.
But the system probably has some kind of serious illness. Do he and Shen Su look like a couple?
Shi Yu leaned against the headboard, closing her eyes to rest. Shen Su pulled out three lollipops from somewhere, tossing them into the air and catching them one by one, thoroughly enjoying himself. Even though Xia Wanwan had asked him for candy yesterday, he had told her he didn't have any.
Liu Yang and Xia Wanwan snuggled together on the bed, heads close together, and began to whisper to each other. Lin Yarong and Cheng Jianshu also exchanged questions and chatted by writing in their notebooks.
Shi Yu and Shen Su showed no intention of communicating.
Clearly, they didn't take the system's helpful tips seriously.
They weren't in a hurry, but the chat in the live stream was:
[Did you see the team information? It's such a big team information post! You should have seen it, right? The first step is to form an alliance! What are these two doing?]
[You could say the system is humane, but it issues a team-up quest just when everyone is trying to unite; you could say the system is inhumane, but it puts couples together.]
[Hahaha, the system knows how to sow discord.]
I love hearing people say, "Couples are all arranged to be together," so say it more often!
Those of you still in the mood to ship couples have probably forgotten that this dungeon has a 17% success rate.
[You guys should communicate! Share clues! The other two teams are already discussing strategies, Chen Su, what are you doing, trying to pull off some acrobatics?!]
[Your partner doesn't seem very familiar with each other. This dungeon really tests teamwork. I think it's going to be a disaster.]
...
Shi Yu closed her eyes, her mind racing as she thought.
What is the system's intention in forcing players into teams? Is it to create competition between players? Are subsequent tasks only possible in teams? Can't one person do them alone?
Can he change teammates?
However, this idea is unlikely to work. Not to mention whether the system allows the switch, even if the system allows it, the four people in front of them are a married couple and lovers, so they will definitely not agree to the switch.
At 8 o'clock, the nurse brought breakfast, a simple egg and white porridge. Everyone had eaten the food last night without any problems, so everyone ate breakfast without any suspicion this morning.
After breakfast, the nurses took them out for some fresh air in the small garden they had passed by on their way to the rehabilitation center the day before.
This "ventilation" should also be one of the system tasks, as the exploration progress did not increase.
Having learned from yesterday's experience that "it was a bit cold in the small garden," everyone put on a coat over their hospital gowns.
The nurse led everyone to the garden and said, "You have one hour to relax. You can move around freely in the garden."
The red sun hangs in the east, and the golden-red sunlight shines on the treetops, gilding the lush leaves with a golden halo.
The gardener who waters the plants is not here, and there are no other patients or staff members. The only people in the small garden are the six of them and the nurse who brought them here.
The nurse was an older woman, and Lin Yarong seemed to be trying to get some useful information out of her by chatting with her about children.
Cheng Jianshu sat on a bench under a tree opposite, writing and drawing in his notebook with his head down. Xia Wanwan was strolling in the garden with Liu Yang on her arm. It looked like a stroll, but they were actually looking for clues.
Shi Yu was also strolling in the garden. He walked along a bluestone path, and when he reached the end of the path, the edge of the garden, he found that he couldn't go any further. It wasn't that there was an obstacle in front of him, but that he couldn't take another step forward. He could only lift his foot if he turned around.
It seems to be some kind of game mechanic that, starting from the "free time" storyline, they are confined to this small garden.
It's still very cold here.
Even though Shi Yu was wearing an extra coat.
Shi Yu stood there for a while, then suddenly remembered that yesterday in the outpatient hall, when the nurse found him, she said to him, "Why are you running around in your hospital gown?"
Last night, the nurse reminded them not to leave the ward at night. In his dream, he and Shen Su did not leave the ward and nothing happened, but the other four encountered ghosts when they went out.
This shows that what the NPCs say makes some sense; at least under the game rules, listening to the NPCs is not wrong.
You can't run around while wearing a hospital gown.
So why isn't he wearing a hospital gown?
Shi Yu wanted to verify his guess, so he took off his coat and draped it over his arm, and began to unbutton his hospital gown.
His skin was very fair, almost translucent in the sunlight. His exposed neck was slender, and whether it was because his skin was too delicate or the fabric of his hospital gown was too rough, there was a small red patch on the back of his neck. It made one wonder if holding his hand would easily leave fingerprints.
Are you hot?
The sudden sound from above made Shi Yu stop what she was doing.
Shen Su appeared behind Shi Yu without anyone noticing.
Shi Yu and Shen Su were born in the same year. In fact, Shi Yu was a month older than Shen Su. From kindergarten to elementary school, Shi Yu was two centimeters taller than Shen Su. In junior high school, they both started to grow taller. However, no matter how much they grew, Shi Yu was always half a head shorter than Shen Su.
Shi Yu is 179cm tall, while Chen Su is over 1.9m tall. The difference isn't noticeable from a distance, but when they stand close together, it creates a sense of oppression, which makes Shi Yu very uncomfortable.
He stepped back, thinking that Shen Su was probably a bit off. Were they really that close? Why did he come over to talk to him?
"No."
Shi Yu's tone was indifferent.
He buttoned his clothes back up and turned to walk on the other side of the cobblestone path.
After walking a while, Yu looked back and saw that Chen Su hadn't followed. He was standing where Yu had been standing, looking at the greenery next to him, seemingly lost in thought.
Shi Yu walked to the other side of the garden, intending to take off his hospital gown and try it on, but the outdoor time was over, and the nurses called everyone to gather and return to their wards, so he had to give up.
As she left, a leaf was blown by the wind into Shi Yu's palm. The leaf was emerald green with clear veins and was very symmetrical, making it perfect as a bookmark. Shi Yu took the leaf back to her ward.
After lunch, it was time for rehabilitation therapy. The process was the same as yesterday, but there were some differences. In order to avoid a repeat of yesterday's incident, Shi Yu insisted on having a rehabilitation room by herself.
With yesterday's experience, they handled the treatment with ease.
They could only go out during the morning fresh air time and the midday rehabilitation treatment time. At other times, they had to stay in the ward. Shi Yu was bored and opened the game panel to check and found a new system notification.
It came from six hours earlier, when they returned to their ward after exercising.
[Exploration Progress +2]
(Note: A leaf)
Can leaves increase exploration progress?
Shi Yu took the leaf out of his pocket and looked at it. Would he max out his exploration level if he just plucked all the leaves off a tree?
Of course, Shi Yu was just thinking about it; it couldn't possibly be that simple.
However, this leaf also indicates that the small garden is an important location.
Lights out at night is still at 10 PM.
Ding-dong.
At two o'clock in the morning, Shi Yu opened his eyes and, unsurprisingly, he was the only one in the ward.
The nurses didn't tell them tonight that they weren't allowed to leave the ward, so Shi Yu got out of bed, put on her coat, and walked out of the ward.
The corridor was lit up, and nurses on duty walked by from time to time. The duty room at the end was also brightly lit, and two nurses inside were looking at medical records under the light. There were also security guards patrolling at the stairwell.
Shi Yu explored the entire floor and prepared to go down to the first floor. As he turned around, he accidentally bumped into a man, whose pen fell to the ground. Shi Yu bent down, picked up the pen, and returned it.
This was a man in his thirties, wearing a white lab coat and silver-rimmed glasses. He was handsome and had a refined air. After taking the pen, he smiled gently at him and said, "Thank you."
Shi Yu said, "You're welcome."
He didn't think the people here could be considered "human".
But the doctor's hands were warm.
Shi Yu saw the doctor again at the entrance of the emergency room.
At that time, an unconscious patient was pushed off the ambulance, and several nurses and doctors rushed to the emergency room with the gurney. This male doctor was one of them.
His expression was anxious yet calm. He seemed to say, "I will be the surgeon." The nurses next to him widened their eyes, looking very worried. The doctor then whispered something, and the nurses' expressions instantly calmed down.
A group of people pushed the patient past Shi Yu.
Shi Yu noticed that the person lying on the hospital bed was a very young man.
Everything here is perfectly normal.
No supernatural events occurred; doctors and nurses performed their duties as usual, just like any other hospital in reality.
After waking up, Shi Yu returned to her original ward, where the other five people were also present.
Shi Yu received a system notification:
[Exploration Progress +10]
(Note: Triggering key characters)
Key figure?
Is it that male doctor?
Everyone immediately communicated with their teammates upon waking up.
Only Shi Yu and Shen Su continued to do their own thing, ignoring each other.
Xia Wanwan chatted with Liu Yang for a while, and then Xia Wanwan said, "Did everyone sleep well last night? When I woke up last night and saw that no one was in the ward, I knew that I was dreaming again. I followed Brother Chen Su and closed my eyes and fell asleep again, so I slept pretty well last night."
Although the system assigned them teams, disrupting their original cooperation, information that did not involve interests could still be exchanged.
Lin Yarong said, "Neither my husband nor I left the ward. I searched the ward thoroughly, but there was nothing inside. There was no ghost either."
Liu Yang: "It seems we still have to listen to the NPCs. If the NPCs don't let us go out, we shouldn't go out, even if it means our exploration progress doesn't increase at all."
Xia Wanwan: "If it didn't go up, it didn't go up. At least it's not haunted."
Liu Yang: "That's true..."
"I did go out last night."
The four were having a pleasant conversation when Chen Su suddenly uttered those words, causing all four to fall silent.
"Did you encounter a ghost?" Xia Wanwan asked after a while.
Chen Su: "No."
Shen Su: "Exploration progress increased by 10."
The four fell even more silent.
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