Chapter 67: Open-Chest Surgery, Just Saying Hi

Chapter 67: Open-Chest Surgery, Just Saying Hi

"No way, this is way too brutal." The Rat Player covered her mouth, eyes wide with shock.

Ji Yan hadn’t expected Liu Yan to be this ferocious either. In the blink of an eye, she had torn off the Asthma Supernatural Entity’s head.

He suddenly remembered a previous hint—Liu Yan had been transferred from the [Severe] ward to the [Moderate] ward. She was a genuine patient of the [Emergency Building]!

According to the Instance’s setting, the most dangerous map was the [Emergency Building], where the patients were almost all extremely vicious and hard-to-defeat Supernatural Entities.

Thinking about it this way, it made sense.

Liu Yan’s bloated, deformed mountain of flesh leaned in, staring at Ji Yan’s sliced-open chest before casually tossing aside the bloody tissue in her hand.

Gazing at Ji Yan’s "open-hearted" chest, she oddly showed a hint of shyness.

"Goat Doctor, there’s something dirty inside you."

Ji Yan wiped the cold sweat from his face. "I know."

"So, I need Rat Doctor to help me with a simple excision. Rat Doctor, as colleagues, you wouldn’t refuse, right?"

Before the Rat Player could respond, Liu Yan’s death-threatening face slowly approached. "Rat Doctor, please."

"Your life is tied to the Goat Doctor’s. If he dies, you’ll have to follow. You understand what I mean, right?"

Faced with that "friendly" smile, the Rat Player felt immense pressure and had no choice but to agree.

She took the Other Shore Scalpel and performed the so-called surgery on the bloody, exposed interior.

The Supernatural Infant parasitizing inside had just opened its eyes, ready to burst out, when a gloved hand reached in and plucked it out.

The infant was about to throw a tantrum when a deformed hand grabbed it. Liu Yan squeezed its head like a pimple, popping it instantly…

With the root cause removed, the Rat Player used the needle and thread from her medical kit to stitch Ji Yan’s chest back together bit by bit.

As the thread was cut, the stitches miraculously vanished, the flesh healing perfectly without even a scar.

An open-chest surgery, absurdly completed just like that!

The Rat Player winced in pain. The [Seamless Stitches] was a Supernatural Artifact she had been reluctant to use—it could perfectly heal any stitched flesh, even restore vitality to ruptured organs.

And now, it was wasted on an outsider…

Rubbing his chest, Ji Yan noticed her distress and attempted to console her. "You said it yourself—we’re allies. The longer I live, the more it helps you in the game."

"Consider it an investment."

The Rat Player: "..."

Liu Yan crouched down, her massive body crammed into the narrow storage room.

She gazed adoringly at Ji Yan, then glanced at the door. "Goat Doctor, there’s another pair of eyes watching you outside."

"Should I help you take care of them too?"

She sensed that those eyes also held intense hostility toward Ji Yan.

The Rat Player raised an eyebrow. "It’s the Black Dog."

"During Nighttime, he has Zodiac Privilege buffs—his sense of smell is extremely sharp. Any hostile Supernatural Entity approaching him would be detected."

"Besides, that Black Dog is sneaky and cautious. If you want revenge, it might be a bit difficult..."

Liu Yan's expression turned cold upon hearing this, her gaze icy as she stared at the Rat Player. "If the Goat Doctor wishes it, I can have his head delivered to him within five minutes."

The Rat Player could tell Liu Yan was eager to prove her worth in front of Ji Yan, constantly fawning over him.

She couldn’t help but wonder—had this A22 patient been won over by Ji Yan’s tactics, or had she been thoroughly conditioned?

This was… way too much like a "simp."

Ji Yan, however, steered the conversation elsewhere. "What is the Dog Player’s Wish?"

The Rat Player thought for a moment. "Loyalty. The more loyal he is to the Dog Supernatural Doctor, the stronger his Wish Privilege becomes."

There was a clear distinction between a Wish and a Wish Privilege.

A Wish was a certain trait manifested between a player and their Zodiac Medical Instructor.

Only by strengthening their Wish could they enhance their Wish Privilege.

For example, Ji Yan’s Wish was "sincerity."

But his Wish Privilege was the [Lies Parchment]. The more sincere he was toward the Goat Supernatural Doctor, the more powerful the parchment’s privileges became.

Yet, to use the parchment, he had to lie—which directly contradicted "sincerity." This paradox had left Ji Yan utterly baffled for a while.

"Loyalty…"

Ji Yan’s eyes gleamed as a ruthless plan of vengeance took shape in his mind.

"What would happen if the Dog Doctor discovered his medical student was disloyal… or even betrayed him?"

The Rat Player shook her head. "Unless that Black Dog has lost his mind."

"Betrayal means death. Why would he jump into the fire himself?"

Ji Yan smiled meaningfully. "He wouldn’t jump himself."

"But I can give him a push."

The Rat Player stared at Ji Yan in confusion.

Ji Yan said nothing more, buttoning up his white coat.

Liu Yan watched Ji Yan’s devilish smirk, her deformed hands cradling her oversized face, her eyes filled with infatuation. "So wicked… I love it…"

---

In an inconspicuous room.

The Dog Player suddenly whipped his head around.

He saw the Sandalwood Incense he had lit—still unfinished—yet it had inexplicably extinguished, thin wisps of smoke curling upward.

His pupils shrank to pinpricks.

His voice trembled with disbelief. "How… That was an A13 patient!"

"That little White Goat just arrived in the Instance today. What method could he have used to kill the Asthma Supernatural Entity?!"

He had witnessed the horror of the Asthma Supernatural Entity.

Invisible to the naked eye, the moment its target heard a cough, their fate was sealed.

Most never even saw what it looked like.

No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t figure out how Ji Yan had escaped such a death trap!

He clutched his blinded eye, which still oozed endlessly…

He had dealt with the Knocking Supernatural Entity, but not without losing an eyeball in the process.

Another thing the Dog Player couldn’t comprehend—what method had Ji Yan used to turn the Knocking Supernatural Entity, which he had painstakingly controlled, against its own master?

"The Knocking Supernatural Entity… the Asthma Supernatural Entity…"

Having lost two of his trump cards in a row, the Black Dog began to sweat profusely, his burning desire for revenge now thoroughly doused.

He was starting to realize that this new White Goat was nothing like the previous pushovers—this one was a ruthless thorn in his side.

"Forget it."

"Consider this a loss I’ll have to swallow. Damn it, it’s so frustrating!"

After sensing no malicious Supernatural Aura in the surroundings, the Dog Player finally stood up, preparing to return to his resting room.

However, as soon as he opened the door, he found a dark figure standing silently outside.

"You—"

Before the Black Dog could react, a cold glint shot straight for his throat. He stumbled backward, but a gash still split open across his neck.

Clutching the blood spurting from his throat, the Black Dog glared at the figure. "Who are you?"

"Goat."

Moonlight spilled in, illuminating half of Ji Yan's face.

The Black Dog held his breath, every hair on his body standing on end as he stared at Ji Yan in the doorway like a deadly enemy.

Wiping the Black Dog’s blood from his scalpel, Ji Yan smiled warmly. "Don’t be nervous."

"I just came to say hello."

"After all, you’ve ‘looked after’ me twice tonight. It’s only right we meet properly."

The Black Dog’s eyes darkened, one hand subtly hidden behind his back. "White Goat! You took one of my eyes—we’re even now."

"If you insist on a fight to the death, I swear I’ll drag you down with me!"

Ji Yan paid no mind to whether the Black Dog’s threats were empty or not, merely smiling faintly. "This scalpel of mine was taken from the morgue. According to the panel info, it’s heavily contaminated."

"If it cuts a player, within half an hour, the infection will spread through their body. Black wool will sprout all over, horns will grow from their head, and they’ll turn into a mindless Black Goat Supernatural Entity."

Hearing this, the Dog Player couldn’t help but laugh.

"Hah, who’d believe such nonsense?"

"If you’re gonna lie, at least make it convincing. If I were really infected, why wouldn’t my system panel show any warning?"

"Scaring kids with this kind of act? How pathetic."

Ji Yan showed no sign of discomfort at being called out. Instead, his smile deepened. "Not all Supernatural Artifacts come with warnings."

"You think I’d buy that?" the Dog Player sneered.

"Believe it or not, in ten minutes, you’ll have your answer."

"What you should be worrying about now is—what will your Medical Instructor do when they see a dog growing wool and horns?"

With that, Ji Yan put away the scalpel and turned to leave.

The Dog Player was stunned.

That… that was it? He just left?