Under the gaze of everyone, Li Xin tucked one hand into his pocket, stepped out from the shadows in the corner, and approached his “students.”
Everyone was observing his reaction, but Li Xin’s face revealed nothing. He rested one hand on the metal table, his fingertips tapping lightly.
To be honest, he hadn’t decided yet.
These NPCs seemed to be expecting him to personally clear the other players out of the game. But it would be ridiculous to say they were on his side—these entities, whether human or monster, hadn’t exactly been treating him with kindness.
These casual yet relentless back-and-forth exchanges—if he answered one wrong, he suspected he’d be the one lying on the bed in the next second.
Li Xin never felt he had much of a conscience before his memory loss, and now, it was even more limited. Since they weren’t on the same side, he had no moral burden when it came to selling out his opponents.
However… no matter what he “sold,” the premise was that the result had to be beneficial to him. And right now, he didn’t feel his dear “colleagues” were trying to help him.
Suppressing these thoughts, Li Xin ignored the expectant look on the school doctor’s face and walked slowly toward the others. He didn’t rush to speak, using the moment to confirm the feasibility of his plan.
He intended to personally try the doctor’s “physical exam package.” As for a reason, he’d already thought of one: since the students were afraid, he could demonstrate it for them himself.
As this thought crossed his mind, Li Xin almost wanted to laugh.
It seemed he really was quite insane. Using himself as a test subject—no wonder he was the kind of person who could pull a gun on himself.
But rather than being led by the nose the entire time, taking a little risk was acceptable.
Besides, he didn’t think he would die here.
Raising a smile once more, Li Xin turned back to the doctor. The doctor narrowed his eyes and let out a raspy laugh: “Have you decided, Teacher Li?”
“Of course,” Li Xin replied. “In that case…”
He hadn’t finished his sentence when a sudden shout from behind interrupted him:
“Him! Make him go! I saw his hand twitching earlier, there’s something wrong with his body!!”
Li Xin: “…”
Li Xin suspected he simply didn’t have the fate to do good deeds.
The hysterical screaming blocked the words Li Xin was about to say. Sighing at the fact that his rare moment of conscience had been extinguished, he turned back to see Liu Heng—who had been pushed out, fallen to the ground, and was now pale and foaming at the mouth—and the person behind him, trembling all over.
The person was Feng Hao. Li Xin remembered him; ever since he appeared, he had been hiding in the corner with his head down, never speaking, giving off the vibe that he could collapse at any moment.
In fact, Li Xin’s guess wasn’t wrong at all. This was indeed a ticking time bomb.
“Look! There’s something wrong with him, make him go first!!” Feng Hao continued to scream, looking around with hopeful, frantic eyes, like a madman.
Li Feng, standing beside him, finally couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed Feng Hao by the collar, his voice cold: “Shut up! Are you out of your damn mind?! If you’re too scared, just hide, but what good does it do you to have so many people die early on!?”
Feng Hao, shedding his previous timid demeanor, dug his sharp nails into the man’s wrist, his voice vicious: “Hide!? What’s the use of hiding?! Anyone could be chosen! I helped you all survive this time; don’t you dare go crazy and blame me for being thankful!?”
“You!” Li Feng was livid, but he had to admit that Feng Hao was right; they were the beneficiaries of Liu Heng being pushed forward.
But with a lunatic in the team—he had escaped this time, but who knew if he would be the next one stabbed in the back!
He wasn’t the only one thinking this. Lin Zhuanghong was also staring at the hysterical Feng Hao. Although there was no proof yet, he guessed that this guy had absolutely everything to do with him being sabotaged at the door earlier.
Seeing the conflict about to escalate into a civil war, Li Xin narrowed his eyes, bent down, picked up a blood-stained hammer from the floor, and tapped it against the metal table.
At the undeniable sound, the three men shuddered and looked at him simultaneously.
Not just them—the doctor stared at Li Xin’s hammer-wielding hand with a pained, meat-eating intensity, his teeth gritted: “That thing in your hand… that’s my wife…”
“Oh… I’m terribly sorry,” Li Xin said, looking at the hammer in his hand with surprise. Though he apologized, he had no intention of letting go. “I’ll just borrow your wife for a moment.”
Doctor: …Damn, you really are a piece of work!
Bound by the “colleague” dynamic, the doctor swallowed his rage, forced to stand in the distance, seething so hard he couldn’t even speak.
Having dealt with the doctor, Li Xin carried the hammer and walked slowly toward Liu Heng. He tentatively checked Liu Heng’s pulse, discovering the man was just unconscious. As for the foam at his mouth—he didn’t know if it was his imagination, but it actually smelled faintly of soap.
Li Xin was speechless. What a down-to-earth tactic.
Though the method was low-brow, he had to admit it was effective. After such a scene, Li Xin really couldn’t execute his original plan.
No matter how the student became unconscious, the fact remained. If he insisted on taking the “exam” instead of having the doctor treat the student, and this reached the ears of the Principal, who knew what would happen?
Since that was the case, he had to go with the flow.
Li Xin stood up slowly. Feng Hao retreated subconsciously at his movement. However, Li Xin didn’t even look at him; he simply gestured toward the still-angry doctor: “Doctor, one of the students has fainted. Shouldn’t you look after him? Don’t forget, the Principal is still watching.”
Just as Li Xin expected, the doctor’s face twisted at the mention of the “Principal.” Reluctantly, he stomped over, grabbed the unconscious Liu Heng, and tossed him onto the operating table.
Li Xin remembered the first item on the form the doctor had given him: verifying the student’s age.
As he wondered how one would verify an age, he looked up and saw the doctor pulling out a rusted iron saw from the floor.
Looking at that rusty saw, Li Xin subconsciously took a few steps back.
Seeing his reaction, the doctor paused, then grinned at him maliciously, his eyes filled with ill intent: “What, Teacher Li? Are you afraid?”
As he said this, his eyes held a hint of anticipation. If Li Xin showed even a hint of fear, he wouldn’t hesitate to drive the saw into his skull.
Li Xin sensed the doctor’s eagerness but simply rolled up his sleeve slightly and shrugged: “Not quite, but my clothes are a bit expensive. I’d rather not get blood on them.”
Doctor: …Stop showing off!
The doctor, enraged once more, threw the saw aside. Having completely lost interest in trying to intimidate Li Xin, he busied himself strapping the student down with restraints.
Once the preparations were done, the doctor pulled a pen from somewhere, drew a dotted line on Liu Heng’s forehead, grabbed the plugged-in electric shock device, and pressed it mercilessly against the man’s chest.
“Urgh… AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
The person on the bed jolted up, only to be yanked back by the restraints. His eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of his sockets, and a primal, agonizing scream ripped from his throat, until he could no longer even sustain the wailing.
Lin Zhuanghong’s expression darkened. This opening was far beyond his expectations.
In the City of Wishes dungeons, most missions were exploration-based—meaning you only faced danger if you broke a rule or made a wrong choice during exploration. It was rare—very rare—for an NPC like the school doctor to show such active, unprovoked aggression. At least, Lin Zhuanghong had never encountered it.
Some had summarized a pattern on the system network: in dungeons with high danger ratings, there were always one or two “old players” deemed extremely dangerous by the rules. To suppress them and balance the game, the dungeon would raise the difficulty and add new rules.
Now…
Lin Zhuanghong’s face was grim. With his current level, he couldn’t reach the higher circles, so he wasn’t sure if those legendary players were here, or who they might be.
Before he could ponder further, the screaming faded. Lin Zhuanghong swallowed his dry throat and forced himself to look over.
The person on the bed was no longer moving. Standing so far away, they couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead.
A sound came from behind. Lin Zhuanghong didn’t turn back, but in his peripheral vision, he saw Feng Hao sitting on the ground, gasping uncontrollably, the fear in his eyes nearly consuming him.
The doctor looked at the unconscious guy on the operating table, clicked his tongue, and reached out to touch the man’s neck. A faint pulse proved he was still alive.
“Heh, what did I tell you, Teacher Li?” The doctor said with a sinister laugh, his eyes full of schadenfreude: “This batch of students you have… the quality isn’t very high.”
Li Xin, having been insulted, didn’t answer. He watched the scene thoughtfully, pulling out the form the doctor had shoved into his hand back in the office.
He had looked at the form earlier; it only had two items: confirming the authenticity of the student’s age, and the student’s mental health status.
To be honest, at first, he didn’t understand the relationship between electric shocks and those two items.
But now, he understood.
Li Xin curled his lips, looking a bit nonchalant.
It seemed his earlier guess might have been wrong. This school doctor wasn’t trained in orthopedics after all.
Seeing the deepening smile on the man’s face, the doctor felt an inexplicable annoyance, as if he’d been seen through. The smile vanished from his face, replaced by a gloomy expression.
“The quality of the students is indeed average, but that’s alright.” Li Xin finally answered his initial question. He walked out from the edge, arrived at the operating table, and spoke in a tone that sounded half-hearted: “I will teach them well.”
Teach…
A sneer appeared on the doctor’s face, but before he could say anything, he saw Li Xin squinting his eyes with a look of amusement: “It seems the doctor doesn’t quite believe me. How about this? Let’s make a bet.”
“No bet.”
The doctor refused without hesitation. He never bet with anyone because those who proposed bets always had something nasty up their sleeves.
Li Xin sighed with regret. Having lost the chance for some rare entertainment, he seemed disinterested and chose to push the process forward: “Fine. Let’s continue with the physical exam.”
The doctor paused, appearing surprised by Li Xin’s decision.
He stared at him for a long time as if looking at an exotic species before squeezing a sentence out of his throat: “You’re sure you want to continue? If a physical exam cannot be completed due to unexpected circumstances, it can be declared finished…”
The doctor paused, then continued with a strange expression: “And you are saying, you demand to continue?”
“Of course,” Li Xin answered again, as if he hadn’t noticed the furious glares from behind him. His voice rose slightly:
“A student who hasn’t even passed a physical exam—what kind of qualification do they have to enroll? Wouldn’t you agree, Doctor?”