Chapter 212: Frog Hospital (IV) Egg

In the staff dormitory of the Green Frog Hospital, Lin Chen held an old-fashioned telephone and read woodenly, trying to sound calm: “Hello, I am Lin Chen, an orderly at the Green Frog Hospital…”

Beside him, a burly man with twin dragons tattooed on his arms and a black cloth covering his face rested a dagger against his neck, his eyes revealing a fierce light.

Not long ago, Lin Chen inexplicably achieved a te clearance in No. 33 Middle School instance, strangely climbing to 85th place on the rookie rank, and set his displayed nickname to his real name.

He had originally wanted to add a note next to his name saying “Lost and Found,” but had to give up due to the character limit.

Ever since he discovered that Qi Si was following his stream, his fighting spirit had been ignited, and his goal shifted from simply surviving to enhancing his strength.

He thought that as long as he stayed alive and frequently matched into instances, he would eventually run into the Big Boss again.

At that time, he would no longer need the Big Boss’s protection, but could stand on his own and be a useful person to the Big Boss.

Therefore, this time, without waiting for the seven-day countdown to end, he only briefly reviewed some history and literature knowledge before randomly matching into the Frog Hospital instance.

There were four players at the Green Frog Hospital: two males and two females.

Besides Lin Chen, the player who had cleared the most instances was named “Yu Kun,” and this was already his fourteenth time entering a instance.

This person was a gangster in real life, having thrived under several federal crackdowns until today. Upon meeting, he immediately killed a female player who was screaming in fear of the scene, silencing everyone.

The surviving female player was a kindergarten teacher, wearing a black suit, with long black hair and gold-rimmed glasses, maintaining silence throughout, as if she were mute.

Because Lin Chen went up to fight Yu Kun after he suddenly killed the player, he was stabbed in the waist, and it took a long time for the bleeding to stop after it was bandaged.

If Yu Kun hadn’t discovered a working landline telephone midway through, needing a talking guinea pig for trial and error, Lin Chen would probably have been killed off casually.

At this moment, Lin Chen sat beside the telephone table with a pale face, reciting the words as requested by Yu Kun: “Our hospital previously supplied some tadpoles to you. May I ask what happened to that batch of tadpoles?”

After two seconds of silence, a clear voice gently sounded: “Lin Chen, I am Cheng An. Long time no see. You worked hard in that Novice Pool instance.”

Although the familiar voice was muffled by the phone transmission, it was still recognizable enough.

Lin Chen widened his eyes… At the Blue Frog Hospital, Qi Si smiled silently after hearing Lin Chen’s voice.

He hadn’t expected this instance to be dual-threaded again, but this time it was the same time and space but different locations, unlike the Red Maple Boarding School’s scenario of the same location but different times and spaces.

To be honest, the probability of him randomly matching with acquaintances in the Eerie Game was quite high. First Chang Xu, then Lin Chen. It seemed he needed to develop the good habit of delivering the final blow to feel safe later on.

Of course, delivering the final blow wasn’t aimed at Lin Chen. In a way, running into Lin Chen again in this situation was genuinely good news for him.

Huang Xiaofei and Lu Zimo were openly teamed up, and Sun Dekuan clearly favored the stronger Huang Xiaofei faction. He was isolated, and if he wanted to gain an advantage in the game, he had to rely on external factors.

Lin Chen was that external factor.

Being located at the Green Frog Hospital in another location and being able to call and transmit information was indispensable for the integrity of the instance.

Since he was familiar with Lin Chen, he immediately possessed the maximum amount of information.

Huang Xiaofei and the others wouldn’t dare gamble on his relationship with Lin Chen, so they naturally wouldn’t easily move against him in the future.

—What if Lin Chen found out something happened to him and mixed false clues into the information to avenge him?

Qi Si got out of bed, took the receiver, and simply said hello. Then he heard Lin Chen’s voice ring out in the ward: “Brother Cheng, is that you? I’ve always wanted to thank you. If it weren’t for you in that instance, I would have died, and it would have been impossible to achieve te clearance…”

It must be said that Lin Chen’s intelligence had improved significantly. He actually understood the subtext in the conversation. On one hand, he helped Qi Si solidify the identity of “Cheng An,” and on the other hand, he told the other three that they were quite strong, having experience with te clearance.

Sun Dekuan listened nearby, his eyes slightly widened, instantly feeling that he had chosen sides too early.

The value of te clearance is unquestionable, and it is even an important indicator of how far a player can go.

Previously, Huang Xiaofei introduced herself with a long list of achievements but only brought up the rookie rank. It was conceivable that she likely didn’t have a single te clearance record.

If that were the case, the comparison of strength between her and Qi Si truly couldn’t be determined immediately.

Sun Dekuan immediately gave Qi Si a thumbs-up: “I’m not gonna lie, brother, you’re amazing! I don’t even have one te clearance record yet! Take care of me in this instance, brother.”

While saying this, he couldn’t help but wonder why “Cheng An,” who didn’t sound like someone who disregarded the lives of other players, had such great hostility toward the Huang Xiaofei siblings.

“Is this Lin Chen also a player? Do you two know each other? Did you enter together?” Huang Xiaofei looked Qi Si up and down, asking knowingly.

Qi Si turned his head to look at her, his smile sincere: “We do know each other, but we aren’t very close. We just went through one instance together. We weren’t a team; meeting here is just fate.”

Huang Xiaofei couldn’t tell if his words were true or false, and for a moment, she couldn’t figure out Qi Si’s background: “Then you talk to him. You know what information to ask for, right?”

Qi Si turned back and asked into the receiver: “Lin Chen, what’s the situation on your end? What is your main quest?”

The background sound on the other end of the phone was strangely quiet, but if one listened carefully, two very close breathing sounds could be heard.

Lin Chen’s voice was clearly articulated: “We are orderlies at the Green Frog Hospital, mainly responsible for raising frogs, making them lay eggs, and then sending the hatched tadpoles to the Blue Frog Hospital. Those frogs are very noisy and aggressive. They wore us out all day, and we only had time to call at night, haha.

“We don’t have a main quest yet, only a Current Task, which is to make the people on your side consume one thousand tadpoles within five days, roughly two hundred a day. We initially judged that the tadpoles we raise are a type of medicine meant for the patients at the Blue Frog Hospital, so Brother Yu told me to call and check the situation.”

Qi Si knew that Lin Chen was likely being coerced, otherwise there would be no need to mention the words “Brother Yu” in his speech.

It made sense. Anyone who saw an old-fashioned telephone wouldn’t dare dial out on the first day. If it were Qi Si, he would definitely trick a tool person into testing the death point.

He calmly asked: “What is the name of the director on your side? What color are the frogs?”

Lin Chen recalled for two seconds and said: “Our director is named ‘Cheng Ping.’ Most of the frogs are green, but there are one or two blue ones.”

The situation was similar to what he imagined. Qi Si nodded: “Our director here is also ‘Cheng Ping.’ It seems both hospitals are controlled by the same person. We have a strange blue frog here that makes a sound after players eat tadpoles, attracting green frogs to attack the players.

“Tadpoles are indeed medicine here, but we don’t know the specific effect. Initially, I thought it was for treating red rashes, but a companion’s symptoms didn’t alleviate after taking it—what is your task progress now?”

Lin Chen said: “One hundred forty. We haven’t taken any action here, but the number is slowly increasing on its own.”

Qi Si glanced at Lu Zimo and said: “If the information we obtained is correct, the tadpoles are administered as medicine once a day, fourteen tadpoles per dose. It seems ten people here have taken the medicine.

“We will try to persuade more patients to take the tadpoles here. You should also help keep an eye on the effect of the tadpoles on your side. I feel like this information cannot be found here.”

For the next five minutes, both sides compared their known clues.

Qi Si told Lin Chen the identities, symptoms, and tasks of the players at the Blue Frog Hospital, while Lin Chen described the layout of the Green Frog Hospital—

Exiting through the back door of the hospital and passing through a small patch of forest, there was a large pond filled with frogs of all sizes, which was exactly where the players raised the frogs.

On a stone platform in the middle of the pond, there was also a Baby Stone Statue, its edges damaged, as if it had been pried off from somewhere.

Sun Dekuan listened to Qi Si and Lin Chen’s clear and orderly exchange of clues and mostly understood—

Qi Si was probably an Intelligence-type Player, not the same path as a Strength-type Player like Huang Xiaofei, so it was no wonder there were conflicts in their actions.

When an Intelligence-type Player encounters a death point, their first reaction definitely wouldn’t be to roll up their sleeves and jump in. It was reasonable that he didn’t actively help earlier but chose to observe from the side.

On the phone, everything that could be said had pretty much been said.

Lin Chen paused for two seconds and said hesitantly: “I suspect this instance is related to fertility. Recently, I accidentally read a Forbidden Book…”

Exactly nine o’clock, ten minutes after the call began, the sound coming from the receiver was replaced by a “beep-beep” busy signal, as if the phone line had suddenly been cut.

At the same time, a “knock-knock-knock” sound echoed at the ward door, followed by the nurse’s shout: “Lu Zimo, Huang Xiaofei, Sun Dekuan, come out and get your patient gowns!”

…At the Green Frog Hospital, Lin Chen listened to the busy signal and looked up at Yu Kun.

Yu Kun used the cold side of the knife to pat his face, grinning maliciously: “Who is that Cheng An to you? What is his strength?”

“He is a Big Boss I met in the Novice Pool…” Lin Chen swallowed, his voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz. “Brother Cheng is very good at solving puzzles, knows all sorts of obscure and uncommon knowledge, and is proficient in logic and game theory. He might… be a high-level member of the Jiuzhou Guild.”

Upon hearing the words “Jiuzhou,” Yu Kun’s hand paused.

He had originally planned to use Lin Chen’s life to fill the gap when they encountered a death point, getting rid of this annoying idiot.

But now he discovered that this idiot had a capable friend also in the instance, who held the initiative to help them complete the task… Things suddenly became troublesome. Killing him might not only lead to losing key clues and failing to clear the instance, but also possibly attract the attention of those meddling guys from the Jiuzhou Guild… Even just for the sake of the smooth progression of the game, he needed to reconsider.

Yu Kun wavered internally, but his expression remained fierce and malicious.

He backhanded the dagger into the wooden table in front of Lin Chen, warning coldly: “Don’t try any tricks. Cheng An and Jiuzhou are too far away; even if they wanted to save you, they couldn’t.”

Lin Chen quickly said: “I’ll listen to Brother Yu. This is a Team Dungeon, haha, I just want to clear it alive…”

Yu Kun narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Lin Chen’s expression. Seeing his pale face and terrified appearance, he retracted the knife with satisfaction.

He lay down on the bed, not forgetting to threaten: “Don’t think about doing anything while I’m asleep. I have an Alerting Item; I’ll wake up if you make any movement.”

Lin Chen repeatedly said, “I wouldn’t dare.”

The female teacher was already lying on the bed, curled up in the corner with her head covered, quiet as a corpse.

Lin Chen supported his bandaged waist and limped to turn off the electric light, then clumsily lay down on the bed.

He still had to continue looking after those noisy frogs by the pond early tomorrow morning, so he needed to rest early to have the energy to cope.

In the thick darkness, Lin Chen’s memory drifted back to Rose Manor.

Back then, Qi Si, as a Veteran Player, could have chosen to coerce him with force, yet he spoke softly to him from beginning to end. Compared to someone like Yu Kun, the distinction between good and evil was clear.

Thinking about Rose Manor now, Lin Chen still felt guilty.

Judging from subsequent developments, he ultimately failed to kill Chang Xu, allowing Chang Xu to survive until the Carnivore instance, killing all the players in that instance. If only he had been more capable back then… In this instance, Qi Si’s situation was probably not good either. Judging by the demanding tone of the female voice from the Blue Frog Hospital side, combined with Qi Si saying they were “not very close,” it could basically be determined that Qi Si didn’t have much say and needed his remote cooperation to do certain things.

Just like in Rose Manor.

Given a second chance, he couldn’t let anyone down again.