PTYS Chapter 123

Xiao Muyu was determined not to let a certain sly fox get too full of herself. However, this fox loved to play dumb and insisted on pestering Xiao Muyu for answers, acting quite childishly.

“How can you not know? Just tell me, I’m curious,” Shen Qingqiu said in a deliberately sweet voice, which made Xiao Muyu shudder. She couldn’t help but glare at Shen Qingqiu, “Talk properly.”

Shen Qingqiu chuckled, “I can’t help it. You’re always so serious. If I don’t tease you, you don’t even react. Since it’s not because of the teammates that we can move, then it must be for another reason. After thinking about it, it must be that red thread. Tell me the truth, what does it show? Let me take a look.”

As she spoke, she tried to get closer to see Xiao Muyu’s control panel. Xiao Muyu sat upright, her expression bland, “I’ve told you before, it’s just for warming the bed.”

Shen Qingqiu remembered Xiao Muyu’s previous answer and laughed like a seductive fox.

Propping herself on the bed, Shen Qingqiu leaned closer, her breath soft, “I’ll believe you for now. So, when will I get to fulfill my duty of warming your bed?”

Xiao Muyu felt quite troubled; truth be told, she couldn’t hold out too well against Shen Qingqiu. Despite Shen Qingqiu’s playful and flirtatious words, there was always a mix of truth and falsehood in her teasing, enough to stir Xiao Muyu’s heart.

“Shen Qingqiu, stop teasing me,” Xiao Muyu said, surrendering. Her eyes softened, filled with affection and helplessness. A slight blush appeared on her usually calm face, and her voice was soft and tender, almost like a sigh.

Seeing this, Shen Qingqiu’s previously playful expression turned into one of slight embarrassment. She rubbed her earlobe, looking a bit wronged, “It’s because you’re always so calm. I just want to make you smile. These replicas are dangerous and horrifying; staying tense all the time isn’t good.”

As the team leader and the brains of the group, no matter how considerate Su Jin and the others were, they unconsciously relied on Xiao Muyu.

Shen Qingqiu also knew that Xiao Muyu cared about her teammates, which inevitably put a lot of pressure on herself.

Earlier, when they encountered that mutated zombie, Shen Qingqiu knew she had scared Xiao Muyu. Even though Xiao Muyu hadn’t mentioned it since their return, Shen Qingqiu understood her feelings.

Xiao Muyu looked at her and laughed lightly, “I understand, but too much is as bad as too little.”

After saying that, she seemed a bit embarrassed, her ears reddening as she softly added, “If you tease too much, it makes it harder for me to stay calm.”

Shen Qingqiu was momentarily stunned, then laughed cheerfully, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Xiao Muyu, “Alright, seeing how hard you’re working, I’ll stop messing around.”

She stood up to get Xiao Muyu a glass of water. At the door, she turned back, unable to resist one last tease, “Actually, if you find it too hard to stay calm, you don’t have to.”

Xiao Muyu stared at her, expressionless, until Shen Qingqiu left. Then, Xiao Muyu shook her head and chuckled to herself. That woman was truly something.

Because Lin Jian was around, their earlier discussion had been interrupted. Thinking it over, Xiao Muyu activated the family bonding feature and sent a message in the group chat.

Xiao Muyu: Everyone, check your points.

Su Jin, Chen Kaijie, and Zuo Tiantian responded in quick succession: Received!

After compiling the points, they found that their current team points were 30.

Individual points showed Shen Qingqiu in the lead with a clear margin – 138.6 points.

Xiao Muyu: 14.5 points;

Su Jin: 6.5 points;

Zuo Tiantian: 4.5 points;

Chen Kaijie: 13.5 points.

Su Jin and the others were stunned by Shen Qingqiu’s score.

The chat was instantly flooded with three people’s messages: Kneeling.jpg;

Worshiping the boss!

Su Jin: How did you do it? One zombie is like 0.5 points, the more powerful ones are 1 point, but Vice-Captain, how did you get 0.8 points?

“Not only Su Jin, but Xiao Muyu also couldn’t figure it out. Is there something special about it?

Based on her score, it can be inferred that Su Jin’s method of scoring is indeed correct. But what about the last mutated zombie? Is its score special?

Just as they were talking, Shen Qingqiu returned. She handed water to Xiao Muyu and frowned, ‘My score is still changing. And it’s changing very strangely, either adding 0.1 points or 0.5 points each time.’

‘0.5 points can be explained — it should count all the zombies burned in the fire as yours. But why 0.1? That should logically be from the fire, so why only 0.1?’ Xiao Muyu was puzzled.

“Muyu, do you remember those two teams that compensated us with 5 points each?” Shen Qingqiu remembered something and spoke up.

“I remember. I was just thinking, you must have started the fire to help them converge, so the system credited us with points. Then this 0.1, is it also a commission?” Xiao Muyu found it incredible, but considering the system’s unconventional nature, it was possible. It ensured fairness in theory while covertly making enemies for them, killing two birds with one stone.

Killing zombies increased points, and other teams couldn’t be unaware of it. Those zombies burned by the blaze but not killed were indeed excellent scoring tools.

Meanwhile, the other three teams surrounded the burnt-out windows and doors of the building, each scoring 0.4 points as they alternated in exterminating the zombies inside.

Zhou Zuo killed a zombie, his face cold as he cursed, ‘This system is really damn stingy, only giving 0.4 for burnt zombies.’

The short-haired woman listened to his words, glanced at the still-flaming building in front of her, a hint of amusement in her eyes. That team was really interesting.

At night, Chen Kaijie and a few others were busy preparing food in the kitchen. Lin Jian was alone as his family was on a trip, so preparing too much food for dinner wasn’t appropriate. Thus, he simply cooked some noodles.

Plain noodles with a few vegetables couldn’t compare to Xiao Muyu’s culinary skills, which Shen Qingqiu didn’t particularly like.

However, though she was picky about food, she wasn’t fussy as a person. If she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t say anything at such times.

But her eating speed was noticeably slower, and after finishing one bowl, she didn’t eat anymore. Xiao Muyu glanced at her, didn’t say anything, and just helped put away the bowls.

Everyone was both shocked and frightened today, dealing with zombies all the way, which seriously drained their stamina. Except for Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu, everyone added a few more bowls.

After dinner, several people stood on the balcony searching around. Only three rooms of the opposite building showed faint lights; the rest were pitch black, with few lights in the nearby neighborhood.

Xiao Muyu watched quietly and said after a while, ‘Are there usually so few people in this area?’

Lin Jian’s tone was low and heavy, ‘No, there were more than a dozen households last night.’

‘It seems this disaster can’t wait for rescue.’ Xiao Muyu naturally wasn’t saying this to Su Jin and the others. Lin Jian leaned on the balcony railing, hands covering his face, silent for a while.

Outside, the zombies’ howls echoed like wolves in the wilderness, terrifying and mournful, rising and falling in waves.

After a moment of silence, the six returned to the living room. Xiao Muyu didn’t delay and looked at Lin Jian, ‘Doctor Lin, I’d like to ask you something. This morning, when Nurse Tian prepared to treat me, she took a 20ml syringe. She wanted to inject me with something that looked like rust-colored liquid. It looked strange to me. Something seems off.’

Lin Jian was taken aback and immediately countered, ‘How is that possible? How could a 20ml syringe be used for injection? Besides, I didn’t prescribe any rust-colored medication for you. Your health is almost back to normal according to the blood tests, and the inflammation has subsided. You just need to replenish some electrolytes, no need for other treatments. Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Perhaps it was meant for another patient.’

But just after saying that, he frowned and denied, ‘Still, it doesn’t make sense. Why would rust-colored medication be used in general surgery?’

He stared suspiciously at Xiao Muyu, completely puzzled.

Xiao Muyu understood his meaning, shook her head, and said, ‘I checked twice. It was indeed rust-colored.’

Lin Jian looked puzzled at this, deeply in thought, ‘I haven’t seen such a medicine before; I really don’t know how to judge. Could it be brought in by Nurse Tian herself? She’s been acting strangely these past few days. Nurse Li advised her to take leave if she wasn’t feeling well, but she refused.’

‘It seems she was the first to fall ill today, but according to the news, this virus causes symptoms like fever and vomiting, which she didn’t have.’

‘Did you notice the deep scar on her right wrist?’ Xiao Muyu asked.

Lin Jian shook his head, ‘I didn’t notice that. I’ve been busy these days and haven’t worked shifts with her.’

The clue was interrupted again, and Xiao Muyu felt a headache. On the other hand, Shen Qingqiu glanced at Xiao Muyu and interjected, ‘So Dr. Lin, are you Xiao Muyu’s attending physician?’

Lin Jian nodded.

Their eyes met, and Shen Qingqiu understood. She continued to inquire, ‘What exactly happened to my Muyu? When I came back from my business trip just now, I asked her what happened, but she wouldn’t tell me.’

Xiao Muyu frowned and pretended to be displeased, ‘It’s just a minor issue.’

However, Shen Qingqiu didn’t intend to let it pass. Lin Jian smiled and didn’t notice anything wrong, ‘But it’s not a minor issue. Miss Xiao has become quite famous in our hospital.’ Mentioning this, Lin Jian seemed excited but also felt incredulous.

Su Jin and others looked at Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu in harmony, and unexpectedly, they asked the same thing. They all stared at Lin Jian curiously, waiting for him to explain.

‘Miss Xiao was sent to our hospital after a car accident. Her condition was critical, almost in shock when she arrived. We initially suspected liver rupture.

Such cases are often very critical; without timely surgery, it could lead to… But when she arrived at the hospital, her blood pressure and heart rate had stabilized.

The CT scan showed a lot of blood in the abdominal cavity, but there were no bleeding points in the liver or spleen, just some contusions.

We used laparoscopy to explore, but found no active bleeding points, so no surgery was performed; we just drained the accumulated blood.’

Realizing that saying this in front of the patient’s family might scare them, Lin Jian quickly changed the subject.

Thinking about this, Xiao Muyu also found it strange. Lin Jian had no reason to deliberately distort the facts, but it was very unreasonable.

After a car accident, arriving at the hospital should have been timely. Such severe internal bleeding couldn’t just heal itself in less than an hour. If there were no injuries, where did the bleeding come from?

‘How strange. Could there be other bleeding points you missed?’ Chen Kaijie probed.

‘How could that be? With that amount of bleeding, without finding the bleeding point, the person wouldn’t have been able to hold on. Miss Xiao herself is very aware of this.

But it’s strange; the internal organs didn’t rupture, yet the infection was severe, with high fever for many days, and all the indicators were strange. It took several days of fluid before she got better.’

Lin Jian shook his head at this and said, ‘In all my years as a doctor, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. Miss Xiao’s constitution is very special.’

‘Doctor Lin, do you know which day the first reported case of Yaxiang Shuixie was in the hospital?’ Xiao Muyu had been silent from beginning to end, her face calm as water, her eyes focused and deep, sorting through her thoughts. Only now did she ask a question.

‘We are part of the medical system, so we might be more sensitive to this. I remember the first appearance should have been on May 3rd, but not at our hospital; it was at the Second Hospital.’ Lin Jian recalled and answered.

May 3rd, wasn’t that the day she entered the hospital?

The information she got from Lin Jian wasn’t much, but as Xiao Muyu said, she had learned a lot about herself from him.

‘Alright, everyone is tired today; let’s rest early. As soon as it’s light tomorrow, we’ll have to go out again. The zombie we encountered today was very sinister. If my prediction is correct, zombies will continue to mutate. If they all become like the gas station zombie today, we will be in a very passive position. So, tomorrow we must continue to stock up on supplies. With water and electricity still available, we need to be prepared for the worst.’

Everyone agreed with Xiao Muyu’s words. The zombie had cast a heavy shadow over them all today. If it weren’t for Shen Qingqiu’s agility and Xiao Muyu’s decisiveness, Shen Qingqiu would have almost fallen there.

When they returned to their rooms, Chen Kaijie followed Xiao Muyu and handed her a can.

Xiao Muyu was a little surprised. She saw Chen Kaijie smile and said, ‘I noticed Vice Captain, you and Deputy Captain didn’t eat much tonight. Deputy Captain killed so many zombies today; it must have been exhausting. If noodles don’t suit your taste, eat this. We tried this canned beef on the way, and it’s not bad.’

Xiao Muyu hadn’t expected Chen Kaijie to be so thoughtful. She took it and thanked him, helplessly saying, ‘Clearly, I can endure hardship, but I’m picky about food.’

Chen Kaijie chuckled at her words, ‘The Vice Captain has always been the hardest-working one. These small demands aren’t excessive.’

Xiao Muyu nodded, ‘They’re not excessive. It’s just that this copy can only make her make do.’

Chen Kaijie felt that their captain’s intention was somewhat worrying about Deputy Captain’s treatment in the last days of the world.

He shook his head again, quickly made an excuse, and went back to the room. He was led astray by Su Jin’s two people, feeling that the two captains were too close.

Author’s note: It’s been so hot these past few days; I’m almost cooked. Surviving on air conditioning.

Public displays of affection are now routine. Congratulations to Xiao Shen on getting a commission, haha.