Chapter 90: Antibodies

Two hours later, everyone met in Xing Ye's room as agreed earlier.

When they separated, Xing Ye was to search the second hospital building. Cao Qian searched the third building while Yan Hebi and Guan Ling searched the first.

Each team searched a building, doing all they could to search through every nook and cranny. Even if they couldn't find a lead, there was at least a chance of finding QR codes.

When the group entered Xing Ye’s room, they found an array of exquisitely made dishes on his table.

“This..” Yan Hebi smelled the aroma of food and couldn’t help but gulp.

The four only had a few pieces of bread and bottled water to fill their stomachs this morning. They didn’t even dare to drink the hospital’s water.

Xing Ye said, "Since we can't eat the things in the hospital, I thought of going outside to buy food. But when I try leaving the hospital through the first-floor doors, it always somehow leads back into the hospital. The system doesn't allow us to leave the hospital. If we think about it from a different perspective, it means the parasite's limited to the hospital. At least for the duration of our mission, the parasite can't leave the hospital. That means food from outside is safe.

"When I was on the first floor, there was a package for me, showing things can be delivered to the hospital. I went and searched up a restaurant with good reviews and ordered a few dishes and soups for lunch. We've spent the whole morning working, let's eat first."

Yan Hebi's eyes sparkled as he stared at the dishes on the table. He casually searched up the name of the restaurant on the takeout boxes, gulping when he saw the prices listed on their site.

“Yiyi, these dishes… how much did they cost?” Yan Hebi asked.

Xing Ye didn’t care at all, “Not too much, probably. This body's rich anyways, so if we have money, we might as well spend it.”

“That’s true, it’s not your own money anyways.” Yan Hebi happily pulled out a chair and started chowing down.

After experiencing the power of money in the campus world, Cao Qian and Guan Ling just shook their heads before sitting down and eating.

It was currently noon. They had 12 more hours before Xing Ye lost his memory again. After eating their fill, they resumed their meeting in high spirits.

Guan Ling and Yan Hebi gave their report first.

Guan Ling said, "We found something interesting in the Infectious Disease Department. That measles patient that transformed last night is now completely healthy, lying in his bed. I measured his temperature and found his fever was almost gone. His symptoms have also gotten much better. I asked the department head and they said he could leave the hospital in three days.

"I asked the measles patient and he said he didn't remember why he was in the emergency room. He also claimed he slept very well last night and didn't remember anything.

"Also, when I walked by the X-Ray Department, I suddenly wanted to get a chest fluoroscopy. The film it was printed on actually had a QR code on it."

Guan Ling presented the QR code for Xing Ye to memorize it before storing it away.

"Cough," Yan Hebi gave a cough to attract Xing Ye's attention, "I took the responsibility of investigating the nurses and family members of the patients in the Infectious Disease Department. The nurse I questioned seemed completely normal. She hadn't worked multiple consecutive shifts but did mention something: she said she didn't know why her boyfriend's been arguing with her for two nights in a row. He's angry that she doesn't pick up the phone at night. There don't seem to be any suspicious patient family members. The measles patient doesn't have any family members accompanying him."

Cao Qian had inspected the third building. "I found a QR code in the surgery room. I also went to visit the cancer patient and confirmed he is an opposing fate player, but his current condition is very bad. He has esophageal cancer and can't eat anything, completely relying on tubes to survive. His entire body is essentially crippled.

"However, he is determined and fought to find clues. He took advantage of a disturbance from another patient's family to sneak into the department head's office. He seemed to have found a clue, but refused to tell me anything."

Xing Ye shared his findings as well, "I made contact with Nurse He and Doctor Fei and confirmed they are both following fate players. I also found a QR code under a pile of lab tests in the testing room."

Cao Qian and Guan Ling gave their QR codes to Xing Ye. With that, Xing Ye had three QR codes, making his starting abilities much more effective than when he had just woken up.

But they still had no means of offense. Xing Ye pondered for a moment before returning the QR codes to them.

Xing Ye said, “You guys should keep it. Having a few more cards never hurt."

Guan Ling had zero QR codes. Cao Qian had two QR codes, but neither of them was offensive.

Regardless of if he had his memory or not, Xing Ye would always think of his teammates.

He recalled the projector QR code. Xing Ye followed their instructions and imagined the starting abilities tab in his brain, finally unlocking his starting abilities. He activated Redrawing Pen.

Xing Ye set the time to last night at 4 am, when they had just entered the Gynecology and Obstetrics department.

They locked the door. A projector suddenly appeared in the room, projecting a video onto the wall. The gynecology department's Director Wang wore a mask, performing a C-section on a pregnant woman in the operating room. The scene was difficult to watch.

With a clap, Xing Ye shut the cosmetic mirror on the table and put the mirror into his bag. Cao Qian also stuffed the swan crystal into her bosom.

Yan Hebi looked at them, “Huh?”

He and Guan Ling weren't actually doctors in the real world and seeing this scene made them feel rather unwell. On the other hand, Xing Ye and Cao Qian watched calmly.

Girls are probably used to blood, that's why they can deal with it. Yan Hebi thought painfully.

The three following fate players in the video weren't much better, standing stupidly in the operating room. Doctor Fei held the scapel in his hand, trembling.

After reactivating the projector several times, the group finally saw Director Wang take out a baby and a... something from the pregnant lady's stomach.

“W-What's that?” Doctor Fei asked in the video.

The baby was very small and skinny, just over 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds). He couldn't even cry after exiting the mother's body. Director Wang's assistant placed the baby into a warm box before allowing the staff outside to take him away.

“This?” Director Wang said, “It’s not anything important.”

After saying that, she picked up what looked like a skinless gecko and carefully put it on a glass dish before starting to sew up the woman who had just given birth.

The pregnant lady was unconscious and wasn’t aware of anything.

Doctor Fei and the other following fate players were dazed for a few moments before one by one, they placed their hands in their pockets. Phones were forbidden in the operating room, but they clearly didn't follow the rules.

"Why do you guys look so scared?" After sewing the lady back, Director Wang took off her mask and gave them a friendly smile, "Don't be afraid, we're doing this for humanity's sake. You guys saw everything, did I ever harm this lady? I was just helping her and her child."    

"W-We made so many mistakes yesterday, why, why did you still want us to help?" Doctor Fei asked, stuttering.

"We need manpower. Plus, I wanted you three to understand how amazing of a project we've been doing." Director Wang looked kind, but her smile, magnified several times over by the projector, looked incomparably twisted.

Nurse He said, “T-Then what can we do to help?”

“I’ll give this to you three,” Director Wang handed them each a bottle of blue liquid, all roughly the size of a medication bottle. "Drink it."

The faces of the three following fate players immediately changed. Nurse Lin bravely asked, "What is this? What if we don't drink it?"

"They're antibodies." Director Wang said, "You've all been chosen to participate in the most important project we will ever have, so of course we can't allow for any accidents. That's why we need antibodies. There's a very dangerous, infectious, unknown parasite in the hospital. With this, you won't be in risk. Drink up."

“Why did you choose us?” Doctor Fei asked, “This isn’t in our specialty!”

“Stupid children, did you forget? Nurse He is pregnant.” Director Wang stared at him, “It’s already been a month. Congratulations again, you'll definitely have a healthy child. That reminds me, you can participate as well and share in some of Nurse He's glory."

“What about me?” Nurse Lin held the bottle, trembling.

Director Wang's assistant held her hand, "Be careful, don't drop it. It's very precious."

"You're also pregnant," Director Wang gently stroked Nurse Lin's head. Her hands were still encased in surgical gloves, covered in blood and unknown tissues as she rubbed Nurse Lin's face, "Even though you refuse to say who the child's father is, I'll still help you give birth."

Nurse Lin and Nurse He looked at each other, their faces filled with despair.

"I know you're afraid, but you don't have to worry. These really are antibodies." Director Wang said, "I've drunk it before too. And if I really wanted to do something to your fetuses, why would I have Doctor Fei drink it too? Don't worry, it won't have any effect on your children. I won't force you to drink it right now,  just take the antibodies with you. When you want to drink it, just find me and drink it in front of me. Remember not to break the antibodies or... hehe..."

The new mother was carried away, still under anesthesia.  Director Wang took off her gloves and washed her hands. She suddenly spoke again, "I almost forgot. For the next couple of days, don't leave the hospital until you drink the antibodies. It'll be bad if you were infected and brought the parasite outside of the hospital. There's a few lounges near my office. If you feel tired, feel free to rest there."

With that, she left the operating room with a kindly smile still on her face. The three following fate players stared at the antibodies with fear.

Yan Hebi and Guan Ling both covered their mouthes in fear they would start screaming.

The two girls on the other hand, just stared at the screen seriously.

After watching the projection, Xing Ye was silent for a while before speaking, "It looks like things are more complicated than I thought. Those following fate players sure are lucky, seeing that strange procedure and getting such an important prop on the second night."

Yan Hebi stared at him, "You call that good luck?"

"Of course." Xing Ye said, "Thanks to their pregnancy, they were able to get close to the core of the mission from the start. The bodies the system assigned them allowed them to quickly gather important information. Just look at us in comparison- good thing we have the projector QR code, or there's no way we'd be able to get such important clues."

Cao Qian said lowly, "I felt bad for those girls. If they were just unmarried, young girls, they might be traumatized for life."

Yan Hebi nodded forcefully, "And if they don't complete the mission by the time limit, they'd be stuck in here, pregnant and forced to drink that unknown liquid. It's tragic, I'd rather just die from the start at that point."

Xing Ye suddenly thought of something and asked Guan Ling, "Is there any proof that the measles patient was a player before he was infected by the parasite?"

Right now, they had already found 8 players. They were four, there were three in the gynecology department and the tenacious cancer patient. There were 9 players in this game. They've found all four following fate players already, leaving only one opposing fate player. If the measles patient really was that last opposing fate player, then he was both very unlucky and very useless. If he wasn't, that meant the last player was still unknown. Without knowing their stance, it was easy for unexpected issues to crop up.  

Guan Ling shook his head, "I can't say for sure right now, but there are security cameras in the hallways. We can try checking that."

Yan Hebi said, "You ran into that parasite last night. I think it's better we use my starting ability. It's unlikely the hospital will have the security footage out in the open when they're trying to hide the truth."

Xing Ye looked at Yan Hebi, "That's true. There are some classified files Guan Ling might not be able to see, but you can. The most important documents won't be saved on the computer, but for something as memory-heavy as security footage, it'd definitely either be on the computer or on Cloud."

Yan Hebi rubbed his hands, "No problem, I'll go through the doctor's computer again tonight."

"It doesn't have to be tonight." Xing Ye pulled out a case from under his desk, "I ordered express same-day delivery for the best laptop in the mall. You can use it here."

The three: "..."

Having money sure was great.