It was no surprise that Miao Feichi thought of Mu Sicheng. Bai Liu had only played two games and hadn't joined a guild. Even as a control-type player, he still needed players to control.
Control skills were ineffective in the game hall, which meant Bai Liu could only develop accomplices inside the instance, not offline. However, he had only participated in two games so far. The first was a single-player instance. In the second multiplayer game, Bai Liu had controlled Du Sanying and Mu Sicheng.
Du Sanying later came forward and made it clear he had broken free of Bai Liu's control. His luck value was ridiculously high—he always found a way out of any predicament. It wasn't surprising that Bai Liu couldn't control him for long.
Liu Huai and Fang Ke had been controlled indirectly through Puppet Zhang. After Puppet Zhang died, they were freed as well. That left only Mu Sicheng.
So when it came to Bai Liu's accomplice, the first person Miao Feichi thought of was Mu Sicheng.
Miao Feichi was wary of Mu Sicheng. The man had enormous potential and formidable skills. Miao Feichi wasn't afraid of him—but he found him troublesome. Mu Sicheng possessed sharp judgment and exceptional movement speed. A head-on fight would be possible, but difficult.
Mu Sicheng's personal skill as a thief was extremely powerful. If he worked together with Bai Liu to protect him, his speed and hate-drawing ability would cause serious problems for a burst-type attacker like Miao Feichi. It was just like when Mu Sicheng had relied on his judgment to steal items from Spades—the player with the highest attack power in the game.
No burst-type attacker liked dealing with Mu Sicheng. Miao Feichi was no exception. Earlier, at the welfare home's registration office, Miao Feichi had specifically checked whether Mu Sicheng's name appeared on the roster. It hadn't. But he didn't completely trust written records. He needed personal confirmation.
Liu Huai and Liu Jiayi's identities had already been verified directly in the cafeteria. Liu Huai was a player from the King's Guild, and Miao Feichi wouldn't make things difficult for him without a conflict of interest. Liu Huai, in turn, wouldn't refuse a minor request from someone ranked higher than Puppet Zhang, such as confirming his identity.
In the game, the quickest way to verify a player's identity was to examine their system panel. Liu Huai had openly shown his panel, which displayed his secondary identity as his sister Liu Jiayi.
Even so, that method wasn't completely reliable, especially when dealing with someone like Bai Liu, who possessed control skills. So Miao Feichi had confirmed Liu Huai's identity in multiple ways: observing his personal skill and verifying information about the King's Guild.
There were six players in the Love Welfare Institute. Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang took two spots. While Liu Huai and his sister took two. Bai Liu took one. That left only this person. Miao Feichi narrowed his eyes.
"Are you really not Bai Liu's accomplice—Mu Sicheng?"
Mu Ke looked confused and shook his head. "I'm not. I'm just an ordinary player."
The scale tilted toward truth again.
"Open your system panel," Miao Feichi ordered. "Show me."
Mu Ke obediently displayed his attributes panel and even his warehouse.
He had no personal skills. His attributes were C+, not bad, but far below Miao Feichi's. His warehouse was cluttered with miscellaneous items: a fire torch with ten minutes of usage remaining, campus notes, a bundle of rope, a keyboard missing several keycaps, and a mermaid statue.
"He really does look like an ordinary player," Miao Gaojiang commented from the side.
Miao Feichi clicked his tongue. "Wasn't Mu Sicheng controlled by him? Why didn't he follow?"
"Mu Sicheng is a thief," Miao Gaojiang replied calmly. "He has plenty of channels to buy and sell items. It's not strange if he obtained something to remove Bai Liu's control." If Mu Sicheng weren't here, things would be much easier.
Mu Ke listened silently, lowering his head and clenching his fists. Mu Sicheng was far stronger than him, so strong that even top players like these were cautious around him. If Mu Sicheng had accompanied Bai Liu into this game, Bai Liu wouldn't have needed to take such risks.
Mu Ke knew he couldn't compare. He didn't have Mu Sicheng's personal skill. His development time was far shorter. But he wasn't reconciled.
He wasn't reconciled to the fact that Bai Liu trusted him so much, yet he still couldn't grow into someone who could support Bai Liu the way Mu Sicheng could.
No one had ever placed such expectations on him before. He was sick. He couldn't do much. Having hope placed on him was seen as a burden—a waste.
Yet Bai Liu had said, "You have to do it. I believe you. I'll assume you can do it 100%."
Miao Feichi was about to ask another question when Miao Gaojiang stopped him. Miao Gaojiang crouched down and placed the scale in front of Mu Ke. He smiled kindly. "There's one question left. You didn't lie in the first two. I hope you won't lie now."
He looked straight into Mu Ke's eyes. "Are you a player controlled by Bai Liu?"
It was the most crucial question. This old fox was guarding against the possibility that Mu Ke, an ordinary player, had been controlled after entering the instance.
Mu Ke forced himself not to avert his gaze. He tilted his head back to meet Miao Gaojiang's eyes. His hand, pressed against the floor, trembled uncontrollably. The sensation of the whip cutting through Bai Liu's flesh replayed in his mind. His breathing quickened.
He couldn't lie. The scale would not fail on such a simple question. He was indeed being controlled by Bai Liu. If the scale judged it a lie, both he and Bai Liu would die.
Mu Ke inhaled deeply and answered in a shaking voice: "…I am a player controlled by him."
The scale trembled twice before slowly tipping toward truth. Miao Feichi's eyes sharpened. He lifted his twin blades, ready to eliminate Bai Liu's controlled pawn.
Tears streamed down Mu Ke's face. "But I broke free!" he cried. "I escaped when he was fighting the monster. I attacked him while he was distracted! He was seriously injured by me and the monster. When he's unconscious, he can't control other players!"
He opened his system panel again, raising tear-filled eyes toward them. "You can check! There's no control status on my panel. I've escaped from his control!"
Normally, if a player was under someone's control, their personal panel would display a status such as: Player XX is under the control of Player XXX. However, Mu Ke's panel was clean.
That was because Bai Liu hadn't used a conventional control skill. He had positioned himself like a behind-the-scenes system guide, something that left no trace on Mu Ke's panel.
After checking carefully, Miao Feichi slowly lowered his weapon. Miao Gaojiang, however, wasn't convinced.
He stood beside Mu Ke and narrowed his eyes. "You're an ordinary player. How did you find the courage to resist and attack Bai Liu? He's ranked second on the Rising Stars leaderboard."
Mu Ke bit his lower lip. Tears welled up again, and he sniffed. "Because I don't want to be controlled by him," he said hoarsely. "I hate Bai Liu."
That reaction immediately triggered something in Miao Feichi's mind.
In Bai Liu's second game, he had risen to second place on the Rising Stars leaderboard. His popularity was enormous. During the support charging season, his fan spending didn't even lose to some small guild star players—like Miao Feichi himself. In fact, if it came to support points, Miao Feichi's data might not match Bai Liu's.
That irritated him. Bai Liu was rising too fast. If Bai Liu entered the league next year with Mu Sicheng, he would shine brilliantly—and that would bring Miao Feichi a great deal of trouble.
Part of the reason Miao Feichi had targeted Bai Liu was jealousy. He was a marginal figure in league team battles. Bai Liu's last round of support points had made even a one-year professional like him feel inferior.
It was like a professional athlete being jealous of an internet celebrity who earned more money—especially when that celebrity was about to compete in the same arena next year, and might even surpass you in popularity. Miao Feichi was narrow-minded enough to bully him preemptively.
Top-tier players like Hearts and Spades disdained targeting newcomers. They focused on team training. Miao Feichi had no real prospects in team competition. He could only compete in doubles, so he resorted to sensational tactics.
Mu Ke was clearly someone who had prior ties to Bai Liu. Exposing a scandal about a rising star could reduce their support points. Miao Feichi wanted to smear Bai Liu to disgust the viewers watching on the small screens.
"You say you hate him," Miao Feichi said, curiosity piqued. "Why?"
Mu Ke's eyes filled with tears. His voice broke as he collapsed to the ground, sobbing in despair. "He almost made me personally kill the most important person in my life! I hate him!"
He cried so pitifully that even with his slender, somewhat sharp features, it stirred a trace of sympathy. Miao Feichi couldn't help asking a few more questions.
"You have a grudge against him in the real world?" Miao Feichi raised an eyebrow.
The three questions allowed by the scale had already been used, so Mu Ke finally relaxed slightly. He maintained his tearful expression and continued sobbing realistically.
"Yes."
Miao Feichi wanted to dig deeper into Bai Liu's "black material," but Miao Gaojiang signaled for him to focus on the game. Miao Feichi stood up, looking bored.
"It's only a Level 2 game. How many Level 2 instances have we cleared in the league? Some even against high-level opponents. What are you so nervous about?"
"You're Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang, right?" Mu Ke peeked at them cautiously. He grabbed a chair to steady himself as he stood and respectfully presented the Siren's Fishbone to Miao Feichi, bowing his head. "I know you're planning to kill Bai Liu in this game. I'm willing to give you everything I have, as long as you take me with you to kill him."
"We could take it from you even if you didn't offer it," Miao Feichi replied casually as he snatched the whip. "But offering it shows you know how to behave."
He swung the whip lightly. It struck the floor with a crisp sound—but left no mark.
Miao Feichi frowned. "This whip is hard to use. Its attack power looks even stronger than Mu Sicheng's weapon. Then why isn't it doing any damage?"
The whip, still stained with Bai Liu's blood, felt like a blade without an edge. When it hit the ground, it felt dull and blunt. Even the fishbone spines weren't sharp, as if their tips had been hooked onto something and worn down.
After testing it twice and even using a reconnaissance item to confirm its identity, Miao Feichi stored it away with a dismissive sigh.
"You've all seen it," he muttered to the unseen audience watching. "The item you were looking forward to isn't that impressive. I guess it depends on the ghost mirror's performance."
He and Miao Gaojiang spoke among themselves, clearly unconcerned about Mu Ke.
"You can only kill Bai Liu in this hospital, at most," Mu Ke said suddenly, forcing himself to speak. "But there's also the child version of Bai Liu in the welfare home. He has 50% of Bai Liu's health."
That caught their attention.
"If the child isn't dead, Bai Liu won't die either. And as investors, you can't enter the welfare home freely. Do you know how to kill little Bai Liu?"
He paused deliberately.
"Besides, you don't know what's happening with your children over there, do you? Yet they carry 50% of your health."
Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang fell silent. It was a real problem. They were strong—but their child counterparts weren't. Those children carried half their health bars, yet they had almost no information about their situation.
Miao Gaojiang hadn't received a call from his child at all. Miao Feichi had received one, but little Miao Feichi had been running around wildly. His obedience was extremely low. No matter how much Miao Feichi threatened or coaxed him, the child just cried before hanging up. He hadn't obtained any useful information.
Forget killing Bai Liu—they didn't even fully understand the children's main task yet, much less how to control them.
"My child called me last night. And again this morning," Mu Ke said carefully. "I was braver as a child. He listens to me very well."
In truth, it wasn't his child at all. As a child, Mu Ke had been timid. The bold one was Bai Liu's child. At present, the only person who had received two calls totaling nearly thirty minutes was Bai Liu. From what little Bai Liu (6) described last night, only Miao Feichi should have received a call—and that one hadn't gone smoothly.
But since no one else had received useful information, Mu Ke lied without hesitation. "I have very important information that can help us eliminate little Bai Liu. My child can also help us understand the welfare home—and even kill little Bai Liu under my instructions."
Miao Gaojiang stared at Mu Ke for several long seconds. Mu Ke controlled his breathing carefully and did not break eye contact. "Fine," Miao Feichi said first. "We've brought low-level players along before."
He sheathed his twin blades. "Follow us obediently. Don't cause trouble."
Miao Feichi licked his teeth and smiled strangely. "We can't let any version of Bai Liu escape. Not even the little one in the welfare home. Of course… It's better to save the most delicious dish for last."
"For now," he added with a narrowed smile, "let's kill the older one in the hospital. Before entering, my audience charged me tens of thousands of points to 'eat' him. That's at least one and a half kilograms of meat."
Mu Ke watched as Miao Feichi headed toward the ICU. His heart leapt into his throat again. He forced himself to calm down, recalling the plan Bai Liu had discussed with him, and followed behind the two men.
The hospital elevator lit up as it descended from the operating room on the seventh floor to the first floor. The doors slid open. Nurses rushed out, pushing an emergency bed. The person lying on it was covered with a white sheet. His eyes were closed, his face unnaturally pale. His hands were folded neatly over his abdomen. He looked like a corpse.
Mu Ke's legs nearly gave out when he saw the blood-soaked white sheet. His face drained of color, tears flooding his eyes as he almost cried out Bai Liu's name.
The sheet was drenched in blood, hanging heavily over both sides of the bed. Two nurses pressed firmly at his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Blood seeped through the fabric and dripped onto the floor, forming a red trail from the elevator to the corridor.
"The patient is bleeding excessively! Prepare the ICU ward!" one nurse shouted.
"The bleeding was controlled temporarily, but he's lost too much blood. Has he found his medicine? That would be far more effective than drugs!"
"No! He was admitted yesterday!"
Mu Ke instinctively stepped forward, his eyes following the stretcher. Then he saw it. Beneath the bloodstained sheet, Bai Liu's slender fingers shifted slightly with the movement of the bed. Something thin was wedged between his index and middle fingers.
Mu Ke's breath caught. Reason returned to him instantly. He stopped moving. Opening his system warehouse, he checked quickly. Sure enough, the keyboard had changed.
Previously, the [1], [0], and [7] keycaps were missing. Now, the missing key was [Enter].
Just moments ago, that very keycap had been hidden between Bai Liu's fingers. In computer language, "Enter" meant to execute a command. Literally, it also meant to enter.
Bai Liu's message was clear: Continue executing the plan. Enter Room 107.
Miao Gaojiang was far more vigilant. He noticed Mu Ke glancing at his system panel and cast a quick look of his own, only to find that Mu Ke appeared to be merely counting his items. Most of Mu Ke's belongings were tattered. Apart from the mermaid statue, which was somewhat useful, the rest were ordinary items with no special skills. There was even a keyboard missing a keycap.
…Wait. Was it only missing one keycap before?
Miao Gaojiang frowned slightly, momentarily confused, but his attention was soon drawn elsewhere.
Miao Feichi attempted to attack Bai Liu with his twin knives, only to be stopped by the nurse guarding him. Bai Liu was pushed into the ICU and placed beside another patient covered with a white sheet—a figure with unnaturally long arms and legs.
Mu Ke noticed that the ICU, like the other wards, had bookcases. The books inside were similar to those in his ward, but they were clearly much older and looked as if they had been read countless times. Some were damaged, and handwritten notes could be seen in the margins. Just as Bai Liu had said, the patients in this ward must have made detailed annotations.
Miao Feichi tried twice to enter the ICU but was sternly reprimanded by the nurse each time. Growing bored, he eventually gave up. He stared at Bai Liu through the glass, where a ventilator had been fitted over his face. "There are NPCs blocking me. I can't get in."
"Wait for the shift change," Miao Gaojiang said calmly. He was far more composed than Miao Feichi. "When I was searching for the map earlier, I passed by the nurses' duty room and saw their schedule. Between 8:45 and 9:00 p.m. is the handover between the day and night shifts. There should be fewer guards in the ICU at that time."
"Looks like I'll have to wait until tonight." Miao Feichi sheathed his twin knives. "I thought I could eat him at noon. Didn't expect him to turn into a midnight snack instead."
The two of them discussed breaking into the ICU as though it were an ordinary ward, clearly not taking the monster inside seriously. This wasn't surprising—Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang both had exceptionally high panel attributes.
Miao Gaojiang reminded him, "We'll be fighting monsters tonight. Check your personal panel and replenish your mental value and stamina. We're operating at half health, so we should be cautious."
After speaking, he opened his own panel and began using mental bleach and stamina recovery agents.
"Got it," Miao Feichi replied carelessly. "It's just a level-two instance. No need to make such a big deal out of it. The strongest monster here is only an A+ rank. Even at half health, we can clear it easily."
Even so, he casually opened his system panel to take a look. Neither of them paid any attention to Mu Ke while reviewing their stats. After all, their player panels were visible to the audience. In fact, for players with attributes like theirs, displaying their panels was practically a way to show off and attract viewers.
Mu Ke seized the opportunity to sneak a glance at their personal panels.
[Player: Miao Feichi]
[Physical Strength: 780]
[Agility: 1,793]
[Attack: 3,900]
[Resistance: 1,400]
[Comprehensive Attribute Total: Over 8,000 — S-grade Player]
[Player: Miao Gaojiang]
[Physical Strength: 1,980]
[Agility: 1,300]
[Attack: 2,000]
[Resistance: 4,300]
[Comprehensive Attribute Total: Over 8,000 — S-grade Player]
Mu Ke's heartbeat turned irregular, but he masked it well, lowering his gaze and pretending innocence as he withdrew his eyes from their panels.
Both of them were actually S-grade players. No wonder they treated the ICU patient as insignificant. The thief brothers who had made Bai Liu suffer so much last time had only been A+ monsters—the highest rating in a level-two instance. Meanwhile, these two were S-grade players. They were on an entirely different level from anything a level-two instance could produce.
It was no wonder they hadn't seemed anxious after entering the game. The monsters here simply posed no real threat to them. Once they killed Bai Liu, they would only need to spend a bit of time completing the task. Their lives wouldn't be in danger at all.
But he and Bai Liu were different. For Bai Liu, the monsters in this level-two instance could very well be fatal. On top of that, two S-grade players—far more terrifying than the monsters—were hunting him. Worse still, their panel attributes complemented each other perfectly.
At least monsters had weaknesses. Based on their panels and skills, Mu Ke felt that the combination of Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang had virtually none.
Miao Feichi's defense was slightly weaker, but his output was terrifyingly high. With the enhancement from his personal skill, his twin knives could deal nearly 3,000 damage in a single strike. He moved with extreme speed. A-grade monsters were usually cut down within two or three blows.
Miao Gaojiang's output wasn't as overwhelming, but his defense was monstrous. If he stood still and fully activated his defensive skill, it would take five to ten ultimate attacks from the younger brother in Exploding Last Train just to bring his health close to zero. Moreover, once his mental value dropped, he would explode to protect Miao Feichi. He was known as the number one tank in the league.
In simple terms, the two of them together could kill Bai Liu with ease. In a non-plot instance with an open confrontation map, Bai Liu would be cornered and finished the moment the game began—a clean GG.
Of course, Love Welfare Institute was clearly not such an instance.
The NPCs imposed heavy restrictions on players. There was also the child version mechanic that split each player's health in half. Miao Feichi, an attack-oriented player who had spent months grinding instances to prepare for the league, found himself somewhat out of sync with this rhythm. Still, they were top-tier players. It didn't take them long to grasp the rules.
During the day, Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang searched the entire hospital for the life-recovery medicine. As veteran players, their thinking aligned more with Bai Liu's strategic style. How could experienced players obediently follow GM prompts? Carefully reading books for clues was out of the question. Besides, they weren't afraid of the ward monsters. They simply stormed in, believing they could obtain the medicine directly from the patients.
Unfortunately, after breaking into nearly every ward on one floor, complaints were filed against them for disturbing the patients' rest. The nurse NPCs forcibly confined them to their own ward and prohibited them from leaving before dinner.
They might not fear monsters, but they couldn't disobey NPCs. Disobedience would trigger attitude penalties, causing NPCs to further restrict player actions.
[System Tip: The nurse NPC is very angry about player Miao Feichi and player Miao Gaojiang's disorderly behavior. This is a warning. If it continues, you will be forbidden from leaving the ward tomorrow.]
Thus, Miao Feichi had no choice but to return to his room. It wasn't the first time he had angered NPCs. What veteran player hadn't done so at some point? The Miao father and son remained calm, even chatting leisurely as they headed back.
Mu Ke followed behind them. They hadn't taken special precautions against him while searching the wards, but neither had they paid him much attention. It was as though he were a stray cat trailing after them. They didn't bother avoiding him when they spoke.
Miao Gaojiang pondered aloud, "There are twenty-one wards on the first floor. We searched them before the nurses detained us. The books in the old patients' wards are indeed better than those in the new patients' rooms. They're much older. The more severe the illness, the older the books—and the more annotations. I think the life-recovery medicine is more likely connected to them. The real problem is the nurse NPCs."
"Yes." Miao Feichi nodded, irritation creeping into his voice. "But we can't take the books out, and we can't stay in the wards long enough to read them before the nurses notice."
"There's an entire bookcase in each ward. Even if the notes hint at what the life-recovery medicine is, we don't have time to comb through everything before the nurses come to chase us out…" Miao Gaojiang frowned, running into the same deadlock Bai Liu had faced earlier.
"It's a full bookcase. Even skimming them would take more than a day, let alone extracting key clues. And the nurse NPC shows up every ten minutes…" He narrowed his eyes. "What we need is an empty ward—one we can occupy for over a day—with those old bookcases. And we can't have nurses driving us out for disturbing other patients."
The answer was obvious to the father and son, who had no qualms about killing monsters. They exchanged glances and quickly reached a decision.
"Kill a patient and clear out a ward," Miao Gaojiang said decisively. "New patients only move in during the afternoon. It's afternoon now. That gives us exactly one day before the next intake. More than enough time to search the bookcase."
Mu Ke walked behind them with his head lowered. When he heard Miao Gaojiang casually suggest killing a patient to free up a ward, he paused for a moment.
Then he forced himself to move again.
His delicate features were hidden beneath the thin, ghostlike mask, but a dark, turbulent emotion flickered in his eyes. His breathing faltered; his wrists trembled uncontrollably.
He was afraid. Afraid of the overwhelming strength of the opponents he was about to face.
The monster patients that he and Bai Liu couldn't confront head-on were spoken of as disposable prey in Miao Gaojiang's mouth. That crushing disparity in power made Mu Ke shudder.
For a fleeting moment, resentment welled up within him—resentment toward himself, even toward Bai Liu.
He resented Bai Liu for so easily placing his life in the hands of someone unreliable and weak like him. He resented his own incompetence—how easily he could be crushed like an ant. He resented Bai Liu's excessive trust, forcing him to walk a tightrope where a single misstep meant death.
For a few seconds, Mu Ke even wished he were Mu Sicheng.
The pressure was suffocating. He had only just entered this game, yet he felt as if he were about to break down and cry.
He had always been a sheltered young master, someone meant to be protected. But Bai Liu was cruel. Bai Liu had forced him to shoulder burdens far beyond his limits.
After nearly killing Bai Liu, Mu Ke had sat in that pool of blood on the verge of madness. His eyes had been hollow, tears refusing to fall. He had even wondered whether his mental value had dropped so low that he was hallucinating—seeing Bai Liu lying lifeless in blood, the fishbone whip dripping in his own hands.
But Bai Liu hadn't died. And Mu Ke hadn't gone mad. Just as Bai Liu had expected, once pushed to the brink, Mu Ke's mind had stabilized instead of shattering.
Now Bai Liu was gone. Mu Ke could no longer rely on him to ward off death. Instead, Bai Liu's life depended on him. So this spoiled young master didn't cry. He didn't collapse under the threat of two S-grade players.
He simply clenched his trembling hand and adjusted his breathing, forcing himself into calm rationality—just as Bai Liu would.
Mu Ke, he told himself, you want to save Bai Liu. If you lose control, both of you will die. So you must never lose control. Even if they are S-grade players, you can't lose control. You have to win—just like Bai Liu said. Win against this pair of S-grade bastards.
"The more seriously ill the patient, the higher the chance of finding the life-recovery medicine," Mu Ke said, smoothly inserting himself into the conversation between Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang. His voice was slightly hoarse from tension at first—but after that single sentence, the dryness vanished. When he spoke again, his tone was steady and persuasive, as calm as the expression on his face.
Mu Ke met Miao Feichi's gaze without flinching. "Based on that reasoning, killing the patient in the ICU would give us the highest chance of obtaining the life-recovery medicine, wouldn't it?"
Miao Feichi narrowed his eyes at him, then gave a dismissive snort, as if he couldn't be bothered with the ramblings of an ordinary player.
Professional players were usually arrogant toward suggestions from regular players. They might bring them along, but they rarely treated them as equals—especially someone like Miao Feichi.
Miao Gaojiang maintained a mild expression and offered an explanation, though his eyes still carried unmistakable disdain. "We can't kill the ICU patient. Bai Liu was admitted there today, which means there will be more nurses than usual. We don't know how the NPC nurses would react if a patient were killed. It would be discovered immediately. The risk is too high."
"There's more to it than that," Miao Feichi added lazily, seeing Miao Gaojiang handling Mu Ke. "The ICU is indeed the most likely place to have the life-recovery medicine. But once the patient dies, it's impossible for us—ordinary patients—to remain there for long. A replacement patient would be brought in quickly. At best, we'd have fifteen minutes during the shift change."
"Fifteen minutes and a full bookcase," he continued with a scoff. "Even if I brought a camera, I couldn't photograph every page. And most digital communication devices are banned here anyway. Cameras, recorders, phones—they don't work. The only thing we can use is this."
He lifted the walkie-talkie in his hand and raised an eyebrow at Mu Ke, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Do you think this thing can take pictures? Fifteen minutes isn't enough to record an entire bookcase."
"Fifteen minutes is enough," Mu Ke cut in calmly. "If I have a notebook and can take shorthand notes, I can go through the bookcase."
He looked straight at Miao Feichi, unblinking. "I have a photographic memory."
Both Miao Feichi and Miao Gaojiang froze for a moment. Miao Gaojiang gave Mu Ke a second, more scrutinizing look. "You don't have a personal skill like that."
"It isn't a personal skill," Mu Ke replied smoothly, his expression unchanged. "I was born with it. I've always had an exceptionally strong memory."
He didn't hesitate as he lied. "If you're going to kill a patient anyway, then the ICU patient is the best choice. That's where the probability of finding the life-recovery medicine is highest."
Mu Ke stepped forward. His eyes were earnest, almost sincere, yet there was an indefinable allure in his tone—subtle, persuasive. "If you take me with you," he said steadily, "I can help you find the main task clue within fifteen minutes."