Liu Heng was still somewhat dazed as he climbed off the operating table.
The feeling of having narrowly escaped death, combined with the pain radiating through his entire body, left him in a half-dead state.
The school doctor hesitated for a moment, then realized with a pang of sorrow that he was genuinely afraid this student might drop dead halfway through the exam. To avoid giving Li Xin any reason to file a complaint against him with the Principal, the doctor eventually turned a shade of livid blue, rummaged through his drawers, and begrudgingly tossed a pill of unknown composition at Liu Heng.
Liu Heng: “…”
Facing the NPC’s sudden display of concern, he felt he might actually be doomed to die in this dungeon.
The yellow, unbranded pill filled Liu Heng with deep suspicion; the word “doubt” was practically written on his face. However, with the doctor standing right there, staring at him with a threatening glare, Liu Heng succumbed to the pressure and swallowed it tremblingly.
Although the pill tasted bitter and sour, he had to admit that dungeon-produced items were practically equivalent to props—the effects were immediate.
Within minutes, his visible injuries began to recede. His severed finger grew back. Aside from a dull ache as if he’d been beaten, Liu Heng regained his mobility in about ten minutes.
Instantly, the other players looked at the medicine bottle in the doctor’s hand with intense desire.
With someone to serve as a reference point, the subsequent progress was rapid. To avoid Li Xin’s “mandatory wake-up package,” both Lin Zhuanghong and Li Feng grit their teeth and endured the shocks, forcing themselves to stay conscious.
The only problem was Feng Hao. He remained curled up in the corner, panicked and terrified, refusing to come out no matter what, his mental state clearly in shambles.
Unable to do anything about him, the others could only brace themselves and look toward Yu Suheng, who was standing expressionless at the back of the line.
For some reason, Lin and the others had always been a bit afraid of him.
As they jostled over what to do, Li Xin watched from afar, showing no intention of interfering. It wasn’t until Yu Suheng stepped out of the shadows that Li Xin raised his eyes, a flicker of rare interest igniting within him.
The man’s face remained void of emotion, but good-looking people always had privileges. Even with an expressionless face and an aura that practically screamed “keep your distance,” he was impossible to look away from.
Yu Suheng had noticed that gaze clinging to him from the start. Without even turning around, he could imagine the unabashed curiosity on that face.
As for the school doctor, whose face was long enough to trip over, he knew he was destined to get nothing out of this day. He couldn’t even be bothered to maintain his fake smile, urging them impatiently: “Hurry up. I get off in half an hour. Let’s get one thing straight: I don’t do overtime.”
No one paid any heed to the doctor’s complaints. Ever since they realized he couldn’t actively kill them, the status of this NPC had plummeted in everyone’s eyes.
Sitting on the operating table, Yu Suheng turned around to see the doctor approaching with electrode pads.
These things needed to be stuck to the body, which was difficult to do oneself, requiring assistance from someone else.
As for the dungeon-designated assistant…
No need to ask: it was the doctor.
Yu Suheng stared at the doctor’s ghostly visage for a moment, doubting his own sanity if he allowed that.
What kind of moron designed this dungeon?!
Yu Suheng ground his teeth, finally accepting reality as the doctor reached his side.
With a look of utter hopelessness, he blocked the doctor—who was already preparing to lift his shirt to attach the electrodes—and turned his head, locking eyes with Li Xin, whose gaze was filled with curiosity and observation.
Caught in the act of peeping, Li Xin showed not a hint of awkwardness. Watching the hostility rising on Yu Suheng’s face, his smile only deepened. With a hint of teasing, he remarked: “Scared?”
Yu Suheng didn’t answer the stupid question. A ripple of something Li Xin couldn’t decipher flashed through his eyes, but before he could analyze it, he heard the man add: “Help me.”
“What?”
Li Xin blinked, his brain stalling for the first time. Following Yu Suheng’s impatient gaze, Li Xin looked at the electrode pads in the doctor’s hand.
His work interrupted midway, the doctor rolled his eyes, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. Yet, Yu Suheng didn’t spare him a single glance, keeping his gaze fixed on Li Xin from above.
The image made Li Xin’s mind drift for a moment. A scene seemed to shimmer in his memory, only to dissolve the moment he tried to grasp it.
Having received no answer yet, Yu Suheng just watched him quietly—no urging, no other actions—just standing there, infuriating the doctor who was rolling his eyes behind him.
After his search yielded nothing, Li Xin composed himself and gave the other man an apologetic smile. His gaze swept over Yu Suheng’s body contours beneath his jacket, and he raised an eyebrow in realization, though he didn’t answer immediately.
“Does little Yu Suheng want Teacher to help you?” Li Xin rested his chin on his hand, looking exactly like a spoiled second-generation heir flirting with a respectable lady in the middle of the street.
Yu Suheng: “…”
Very well. My fist is hard now.
As their gazes clashed, Li Xin watched Yu Suheng’s expression grow increasingly impatient, the mischievousness in his heart intensifying.
“Why aren’t you answering?” Li Xin tilted his head, his earrings swaying slightly with the motion.
Yu Suheng’s gaze flickered over the azure gemstone earring, unmoved by Li Xin’s “beauty attack.”
After a silent standoff, Yu Suheng’s patience was the first to run out. Without hesitation, he turned and reached out to the long-ignored doctor, his voice cold enough to freeze: “Give them to me.”
Is he so pissed that he’s ready to do it himself?
Li Xin rubbed the tip of his nose, finally deciding to act like a decent human being before the other man truly exploded.
Before Yu Suheng could snatch the electrodes from the doctor, Li Xin stepped over, leaned one hand against the edge of the operating table, reached past Yu Suheng’s body, and scooped the items out of the doctor’s hand first.
A faint breath brushed his ear. Yu Suheng didn’t even blink, allowing the other man to take the pads from the doctor without a word of protest.
Li Xin flipped them in his hand; they were light and felt slightly different from their real-world counterparts. Because there had been a gap since the last person, they felt quite cold to the touch.
Having figured out how they worked, Li Xin lowered his eyes to look at Yu Suheng and suddenly reached out to press lightly against the man’s slightly slender chest. He could feel the warmth beneath the thin fabric through his fingertips.
His body temperature seems lower than the average person’s. And he’s got a pretty good build.
His mind began to wander in unseen directions, though his face remained unreadable. Feeling the body beneath his hand remain perfectly still, he lowered his voice, sounding genuinely puzzled: “Aren’t you going to lie down? If I put them on like this, I’ll have to rearrange everything later.”
The man, wearing a look of feigned innocence, kept his hand on his chest with such righteousness that Yu Suheng suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. A moment later, he grabbed Li Xin’s forearm, moved it away without mercy, and then, without looking at him again, lay flat on the operating table.
Feeling the lingering warmth fading from his arm, Li Xin couldn’t help but chuckle.
Usually, people toss others aside after using them, but this guy starts giving me attitude before I’ve even done anything. He’s not even afraid that I might just hand the stuff to the doctor and refuse to help.
The man lying on the table didn’t show the same tension as Lin or Li; he just lay there, his jacket looking somewhat disheveled from the movement.
This time, Li Xin didn’t wait for Yu Suheng to say anything. Seeing him lie down, Li Xin stepped forward, reached his hand under the hem of the man’s shirt, and lightly touched the soft skin, finding the doctor’s designated spots within seconds.
The cool skin grew warm under his touch. Yu Suheng didn’t resist his movements; his half-lidded eyes seemed to drain away most of the coldness from his face.
This state of complete lack of defenses made Li Xin narrow his eyes in thought, but he didn’t linger. Once he confirmed the positions, he applied the electrodes and slowly withdrew his hand.
“Done.” Li Xin stepped back a few paces, his fingertips curling against his side.
The preparations were over, and this cold-faced handsome man who wore a sign saying “don’t mess with me” had been shockingly cooperative.
The other players were even more surprised than the doctor.
Lin Zhuanghong had initially thought that Yu Suheng’s sudden defiance of Li Xin meant this unknown “big player” had discovered some clue, but now, he was suddenly uncertain. At the very least, he couldn’t see any clues in their strange, tense interactions.
Li Xin was pondering something similar. He circled around the table to the doctor, who had already adjusted the instrument and, seeing Li Xin approach, slammed the switch.
Li Xin: “…”
There’s really no need to be that defensive.
The doctor was getting agitated just looking at Li Xin’s face. To avoid getting penalized for beating up a coworker, he decided to ignore him entirely, keeping his eyes glued to the instrument.
Being forcibly ignored by his “dear colleague,” Li Xin shook his head helplessly and could only turn back to stare at Yu Suheng on the operating table.
The intensity of the electric shock device here was clearly higher than in the real world. Even Lin Zhuanghong, who had the best physical fitness present, couldn’t fully endure it, almost falling off the bed during the peak intensity.
Yet Yu Suheng only furrowed his brows slightly from start to finish, not even letting out a muffled grunt.
This discovery made Li Xin feel a bit bored.
Then again, if it were him, he probably wouldn’t have much of a reaction, either. Through the last two days of “experiments,” Li Xin had discovered that his body’s sensitivity to pain seemed to be at an extremely low level, as if it had been specially trained.
This made him feel a rare flash of curiosity about his past identity; after all, this wasn’t the kind of thing an ordinary person would be trained in.
To this day, Li Xin still hadn’t recovered any of his other memories. But from Yu Suheng’s reaction just now, he had a hunch: Yu Suheng knew him—or at the very least, had seen him before.
This person hadn’t treated him like an NPC from the very beginning, yet hadn’t exposed his identity either.
However… even if we knew each other, it’s unlikely we were friends.
Thinking of this, Li Xin felt a tinge of regret, followed immediately by a sense of amusement.
According to his observations, Yu Suheng’s emotional fluctuations were rare; most of the time, he seemed completely uninterested in everything. But every time he faced him, those deep blue eyes were either impatiently looking for a fight or trying to provoke him, even appearing reluctant when he actually needed help.
It was very vivid, and very pleasing to look at.
Recalling those eyes full of impatience and irritability, Li Xin curled his lips, his gemstone earrings swaying softly.
It seems I really have taken an interest.
With that thought, Li Xin reached out to brush a stray lock of hair away from the man’s cheek. As the doctor began to recite the questions, he walked around the bed and headed back to his seat.
At the very least, in this game… I will take good care of you.