"Oh my god, the last five generators are lit and the gate is open, yet they insisted on saving this guy. I seized the opportunity for a four-man slug, and now I'm just standing at the exit waiting for the endgame collapse. It still counts as a sacrifice for me, and with these two pip points, I'm right at Iridescent I. This is amazing!"
As the match ended, Lu Yun stared at the big Iridescent I killer rank on the screen and laughed out loud.
Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through his chest. Lu Yun hurriedly pressed his hands against his chest, but it did nothing.
Gradually, he could no longer breathe.
His consciousness grew more and more blurred.
The scene before his eyes grew hazier by the moment.
"I never thought I'd die like this. I'm so unsatisfied. I just hope someone can inherit my Steam account..."
At this thought, whether from grief or the agonizing pain, tears slowly welled up in the corners of his eyes, traced down his contorted face, and finally dripped onto the power strip on the floor.
A short circuit caused by the current sparked a fire instantly, and thick smoke billowed from the room in a split second.
Not only did a heart attack cause him agonizing death, but he had also inadvertently cremated himself with a self-made fire.
Lu Yun's soul flew out of his body, drifting off to who knows where...
Lu Yun's soul floated into a sea of black fog, but his soul was exceptionally bright and seemed to emit a special starlight, keeping the dark fog from coming near him.
Realizing it could no longer encroach upon him, the black fog simply ignored this soul.
I don't know how much time passed before Lu Yun finally regained sensation in his body.
"Hss-ha, ugh..." Lu Yun rubbed his head, feeling as though it were about to split open.
He opened his eyes, unable to adjust to the harsh light for a long time before he could clearly see his surroundings.
He seemed to be in a hospital. Didn't he die of a heart attack? And hadn't he accidentally cremated himself? Yet here he was, alive and well, with not a single trace of burns on his body.
Right at that moment, the ward door swung open, and a nurse walked in.
"Are you... Sister Xiao Qian?" Lu Yun asked.
The nurse stepped forward, felt Lu Yun's forehead, and asked, "Damn Specter, actually giving my little brother amnesia! Just wait, your brother Xiao Chun will avenge you. Poor child."
With that, Xiao Qian shoved Lu Yun's head straight against her chest.
However, there wasn't much padding to her chest, knocking painfully against Lu Yun's head.
"What on earth is happening to me?" Lu Yun asked.
Xiao Qian let go of Lu Yun and said, "Three days ago, you were attacked by a Specter. It was a Soul-Eater Specter that feeds on human souls. Fortunately, your brother Xiao Chun happened to come home and catch it in the act, otherwise you might really have died."
"Specter? What specter? Could I be..." At this thought, Lu Yun had a bad premonition. Could he have joined the ranks of transmigrators?
If he remembered correctly, Sister Xiao Qian had drowned back when he was eighteen years old.
With that thought, on a sudden impulse, he asked, "Are you human or a Specter?"
Xiao Qian slammed her hand onto Lu Yun's head and snapped, "Of course I'm human! Even with amnesia, you wouldn't lose your mind like this, would you?"
"Then I am..." Lu Yun was completely baffled, having no idea what was going on.
"Oh no, you remember people, but you can't remember anything else? What are you going to do about your college entrance exams in half a year? How are you going to get into a decent... Spirit Controlling University?" Xiao Qian said.
Lu Yun fell silent.
"My head just hurts a bit, and I can't remember things. It'll probably get better in a couple of days." Lu Yun brushed Xiao Qian off.
Xiao Qian couldn't win against him and simply left; she still had her own job and other people she needed to tend to.
"Walter, get a bottle of glucose for Old Mrs. Tan in bed 6, and put it on my health insurance," an old man shouted.
A metaphorical hash mark (#) seemed to appear on Xiao Qian's forehead, but she couldn't afford to get angry or yell at anyone just yet.
"Grandpa, are you her family member?" Xiao Qian asked patiently.
The old man replied, "Nope."
"Then you can't make decisions for other people, and besides, didn't you just meet her yesterday?" Xiao Qian said.
"Hmph, what kind of lousy nurses do they hire at this dumpy hospital, can't even get a simple thing right. I'm going to report you right now." With that, the old man limped out.
A few minutes later, she received a bad review and was dragged away by the head nurse for a stern talk.
"Xiao Qian, this isn't your fault, I know. I'll get this review canceled for you later. When you go back to the ward, put on a good act and pretend I chewed you out, okay?" the head nurse comforted her.
"I'm fine, thank you, Sister," Xiao Qian said, turning to head back to the ward.
As soon as she entered the ward under her care, she found that the old man from earlier had left only his hospital gown on the bed, along with a note held down by a lighter.
The first sentence on the note read: "Doctor, I'm not feeling well, so I'm taking a leave of absence to go home first."
Xiao Qian: "?"
Xiao Qian was completely dumbfounded.
Xiao Qian remembered that when this old man first arrived the day before yesterday, he complained that the nutrient drip was too slow, so he took it down and drank it himself.
The nurse on duty back then let out a piercing shriek.
When the nurse told the old man that this couldn't be drunk, the old man's reason was simply that he was thirsty.
Yesterday, while the old man was sleeping, he complained that the equipment beside him was too noisy, so he turned it off himself.
The nurse on duty at the nurses' station at the time was terrified, immediately calling every doctor still on night shift and shouting all over the hospital that the old man had stopped breathing.
When the attending physician rushed over, the old man was woken up and even asked those fully armored doctors, "In the middle of the night, why aren't you guys sleeping? What are you doing?"
Today, looking at this note, Xiao Qian was about to explode with anger. What do you mean by "Doctor, I'm not feeling well, so I'm taking a leave of absence to go home"?
Did he not trust their medical skills or something?
After a while, the psychiatry department received a phone call saying that the old man Wang who had been making such a commotion in the hospital over the past few days might have mental issues and should be sent over to her department for an examination.
And this very Grandpa Wang happened to be the patient who had taken leave to go home—the exact situation Xiao Qian had reported.
As a result, Grandpa Wang was hauled back and sent to psychiatry to check all his vitals, only to find nothing wrong, and was promptly sent back. The psychiatrist's verdict was: the patient has no mental illness, he is simply naturally rebellious.
However, Grandpa Wang's bed was moved to the left of Lu Yun's, while on his right was Mrs. Tan, whom Grandpa Wang had been yearning for.
Xiao Qian patiently said to Grandpa Wang, "Grandpa, be a good boy and remember to take your medicine on time at nine o'clock."
The old man answered obediently, "Got it."
Then Xiao Qian walked over to Lu Yun's bedside and asked him if there was anywhere else he felt uncomfortable.
Lu Yun said, "Sister Xiao Qian, I'm fine. You go ahead and get busy."
Lu Yun was still absorbing this body's memories and didn't want to move.
Xiao Qian said, "Then get some good rest. I'll be changing shifts soon, so if you need anything, you can look for Sister Li who's taking over."