Chapter 122: Ward
When Dice brought Mo Tan back to the blockade, the inspection work was still ongoing…
“This is Black Vatican, a Priest of the Dawn Sect.” Dice introduced Mo Tan to his two companions, then glanced at the Orc Shaman from before: “Give me another bottle of Burning Dew, Basa.”
The latter nodded silently, pulled a small bronze pot from his waist, and tossed it over: “This is all that’s left, it’s all yours.”
Dice caught it with a raised hand and tucked it into his waist, letting out a dry laugh: “You think I really like using this stuff, huh?”
“You’ve worked hard.” The old Priest, who had just drunk a little less than half a bottle of magic potion, nodded to Dice, then turned and shook the cross in his hand at Mo Tan: “I am a Lower Priest of the Ina Town Dawn Church. May the Goddess’s grace be with you and me.”
Mo Tan also shook the cross in his hand in a similar fashion, smiling: “Greetings, Senior. May the Goddess’s grace be with you and me.”
“Just call me Owen.” The old Priest also smiled at Mo Tan, then slowly stood up and nodded to Basa: “I’m fine now, let’s continue…”
The Orc Shaman looked at the other’s complexion, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing, silently running to the front of the crowd to continue organizing the inspection.
Owen made a blessing gesture unique to the Dawn Sect at Mo Tan, then turned and walked to the front of the slowly moving line nearby, softly comforting the clearly deeply infected person being examined, while ‘inspecting’ him with divine magic.
“Senior Owen’s condition doesn’t seem very good.” Mo Tan whispered to the Dwarf Thief beside him: “Is he…?”
The latter, while sharpening his spare dagger, rolled a discreet eye: “He’s using divine magic to check if those people are infected with the Plague. Infected ones are stopped, uninfected ones are let go. It’s that simple.”
“I thought so too.” Mo Tan looked at Owen’s slightly hunched back and sighed with a complex expression: “I think I understand…”
…
Real-world time PM 19:35
T City, a hospital, in front of the PICU ward
A suppressed, extremely low groan came from within the room.
Several nurses, heavily wrapped, were quietly chatting about something.
“It’s starting again…”
“Yeah, it’s been like this for half a month now.”
“The little girl is only Fourteen this year, right? Is there no justice in this world?”
“There’s no helping it. This kind of illness is congenital. Every extra day she lives is a bonus. Don’t overthink it, which child on this floor isn’t pitiful?”
“I wonder how much longer her parents can hold on. The prices here…”
“Sigh, you’ve seen her family. They’ll definitely hold on for as long as they can. That child will die if she leaves here.”
“So, is she still allowed to play that game or not?”
“I don’t know, but she was fine before. Ever since she started playing that game, the child has been… Ah! Deputy Director Wang!”
A white-haired old woman appeared behind the nurses at some point, and it seemed she had been standing there for a while.
“How is Xiaoyujing doing?” she asked sternly: “Has her condition worsened?”
A round-faced nurse hesitantly shook her head: “Well, at least from the monitoring data, everything is normal, but she just keeps crying out in pain…”
“I understand. You all go about your business. I’ll go in and see her alone.” The old woman instructed in a low voice, then waited until the nurses had gone to attend to their duties before pushing the door open and entering.
This was a single patient room, surrounded by various precise and expensive medical equipment. In the center of the ward was a small white bed, on which lay an even smaller girl.
She was very sweet and lovely, with a pair of misty big eyes, a sickly pale face, and a body much smaller than her peers due to years of lack of exercise, wrapped in an oversized hospital gown. Her long pigtails did not make the girl look energetic; instead, they highlighted her haggardness even more…
“Yujing, Grandma Wang is here to see you.” Wang, Deputy Director walked to the girl’s bedside and asked softly: “Have there been any changes in your body recently?”
The girl, called Yujing, reacted slightly, staring blankly at the old woman in front of her for a long time, then immediately broke into an incredibly innocent smile, happily laughing: “You’re here to see me! Oh… it hurts…”
“Are you okay?!” Wang, Deputy Director was startled by the sudden cry of pain from the young girl in front of her. She quickly and carefully held the girl’s small hand, nervously asking: “Where does it hurt? Is there any difference compared to before…?”
But the girl softly interrupted her: “No, Grandma Wang, please don’t worry.”
“No?” The Deputy Director looked at the girl in front of her, who was trembling constantly from the severe pain, and lovingly hugged her, comforting her softly: “That’s good, that’s good. What do you want? Tell Grandma, and Grandma will buy it for you, okay?”
The girl’s pale face immediately flushed, and she happily laughed: “Then I want to play games!”
“You mean, that one?” The old woman gave a wry smile, pointing to a game pod in the corner of the room: “The birthday present your dad sent half a month ago?”
The girl nodded vigorously: “Yes! I want to play!”
“But Grandma doesn’t want you to play, what should we do?” The old woman chuckled and shook her head, gently tapping the girl’s small nose.
“Then kill Grandma~” The girl also replied with a giggle: “And all the nurse sisters who are so nice to Yujing, kill them too~ Then no one will stop me from playing! Hehe, I’m just kidding!”
The old woman was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: “You child, don’t make jokes like that. Come, tell Grandma, why do you like playing that game so much?”
The girl tilted her head, then clapped her hands hard: “Because it doesn’t hurt anymore! Ah, pain…”
“Be careful.” The old woman quickly rubbed the small hand of the girl in front of her, who was about the same age as her granddaughter, then shook her head: “But someone told me, Yujing, that you’ve been complaining of pain ever since you started playing that game. Grandma is worried.”
The girl frowned in distress, gently biting her finger: “Hmm, who told Grandma that? They’re so mean!”
“Grandma is being serious with you!” The old woman glared, her face stern as she asked: “What exactly is going on?”
This time, the girl thought for a long while with a troubled expression…
“Because when I play the game, it doesn’t hurt at all, and my body feels especially, especially comfortable…” The girl awkwardly organized her words: “It’s just, I don’t feel unwell, my head isn’t dizzy, nothing hurts anywhere. It’s completely different from usual, so I want to play.”
The old woman nodded and asked: “Then why have you been saying you feel unwell during this time?”
“Because when I’m not playing the game, it hurts again. Here… here, here… and here…” The girl stretched out her small hands, pointing to almost every part of her body. Cold sweat continuously seeped from her bloodless face: “It hurts terribly. Although it’s the same as before and hasn’t gotten worse, I just don’t know why it hurts so, so much.”
So that’s how it is…
The old woman understood at once.
The girl in front of her wasn’t in pain because she played the game, but because she, who had been tormented by illness almost since birth, had experienced what ‘health’ felt like in that game. So, after leaving the game, she realized just how much suffering she usually endured.
This principle is very simple. To give an inappropriate example, the same poverty might not mean much to the poor who are accustomed to living rough and eating simple meals. But if someone who has been wealthy for most of their life suddenly falls to rock bottom, losing everything and then facing the same poverty, the sense of disparity is immense…
A healthy child, who only gets one or two vaccine shots a year, might cry loudly before the needle, while a child who has been unhealthy since childhood and constantly deals with hospitals wouldn’t mind an extra shot or two.
The same pain yields completely different results for people who have grown up in different environments.
The principle is that simple…
This girl named Yujing didn’t feel worse because of playing the game; it was only after she understood the taste of ‘health’ that she realized what she had truly been enduring.
“Grandma understands…” Wang, Deputy Director leaned over and picked up the girl, saying with a chuckle: “From now on, as long as you’ve finished your routine check-ups and treatments, you can play whenever you want, okay?”
But the girl stuck out her small tongue: “Yujing isn’t that playful. Yujing only plays at night. During the day, I’ll eat well, take my medicine, and cooperate with the doctors for check-ups. I definitely won’t cause any trouble~”
【This child…】
Looking at the innocent and radiant little girl in her arms, who, despite being Fourteen, felt as light as a feather, this highly respected Deputy Director almost exhausted all her willpower to keep her tears from falling.
“Be good, don’t move around. Grandma will carry you in~”
“Hehe, that tickles~ Hahahahaha~”
“Oh dear, my little ancestor, don’t fall!”
“Grandma Wang is so nice, I love you the most!”
…
【Your spiritual connection has been detected, personal information is being synchronized… 】
【Connection complete, character information is being read】
【Welcome back, chaotic evil Wen Qiu, Innocent World will be loaded shortly. Good night to you.】
…
Innocent Continent, Misha County, Ina Town Dawn Church
A young female Priest was moving medicine at the church entrance. Of course, these were just some simple painkillers and bandages, which were not even comforting to most Plague infected people. But given the resources available here, reaching this level was already commendable…
“I heard that the two Holy Maidens from the Light Capital have already arrived, and other sects in the alliance will organize another support team soon. I hope everyone will cheer up, we will definitely be saved, we will definitely be saved…” She wearily distributed the medicine to those Plague infected with ashen faces, repeating these words over and over, occasionally casting a few somewhat effective healing spells on some tormented children. Soon, a box of medicine was distributed.
And then…
“Oh!” The exhausted female Priest suddenly let out a cry of surprise, then quickly turned to look at the giggling little girl in front of her, her eyes instantly softening, though she still chastised: “This little girl is causing trouble as soon as she wakes up! Are you… are you… are you hungry? Do you want me to get you something to eat?”
Facing that innocent and lovely smiling face, she was ultimately defeated…
“Haha, little Wen Qiu is being naughty again~”
“Still full of energy today!”
“Darn it, I want to touch her too…”
“Get out of here!”
“Be good, little girl, stay away from us. It wouldn’t be good if you caught the Plague.”
“That’s right, stay away from us.”
The originally lifeless crowd at the church entrance gradually became lively. Everyone looked at the little girl not far away, who was sticking out her tongue and making funny faces at everyone, with great affection. This girl, who had been picked up by someone and brought to the church not long ago, seemed to always radiate endless vitality and vigor. No matter how desperate a person was, seeing her mischievous pranks would always make them laugh unconsciously, and then they would want to lovingly rub her little head, but…
“It’s okay!” The girl actually skipped and ran in front of the infected people who had been lingering around the church all day, saying with a giggle: “I’m not afraid of anyone! And I’m not afraid of getting sick either!”
“Don’t make trouble!”
“Get away from me quickly!”
“You brat, one more step forward and I’ll spank you!”
“Go away, go away, go away!”
“If you come any closer, I’ll slit my own throat first!”
Everyone put on a smiling face, then quickly scattered in a hurry…
No one wanted to be too close to this girl, as sweet and lovely as an angel, and no one wanted this infinitely energetic little one to die without reason.
【She should have a better future!】
Everyone nearby who knew the girl ‘Wen Qiu’ thought the same…
“Pfft, everyone ran so fast, they don’t look sick at all~” The girl ran to the female Priest she had ‘attacked’ earlier, shaking her hand and saying: “Sister Mona, am I that scary?”
Mona, the novice Priest, gently pinched the girl’s cheek and shook her head: “How could you be~ Wen Qiu is the cutest, everyone is just afraid of hurting you, that’s why they’re avoiding you. And you, you shouldn’t always go near people. It’s actually quite… dangerous.”
“Hehe, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m so healthy, I won’t get sick!” The girl blinked, then suddenly asked: “Where’s Grandpa Owen! Didn’t Grandpa Owen say he would tell Wen Qiu a story yesterday? Why isn’t he back yet?”
Mona smiled: “Senior Owen should still be at the blockade right now. He probably won’t be back for a while. You go back to your room in the church and play by yourself for a bit. I’ll go get you something to eat first…”
“Wow! An angel!!” The girl suddenly pointed behind the nun and exclaimed.
“Where? Where is an angel?”
Mona subconsciously looked back, then quickly turned around, but…
The girl had already run off…
Mona stomped her foot in annoyance, then ran towards the south of the town with a helpless expression.
“You brat, don’t get into trouble!”
Chapter One Hundred Nineteen: End