Chapter 110

Chapter 110

Bai Fuling had imagined all kinds of possible follow-up scenarios, but he never expected the NPC to actually puke—okay, just dry heave.

But dry heaving totally counts as throwing up, right?

What does this mean? Was the NPC not happy with this outfit? Bai Fuling spun his character around for a full look, feeling like he was radiating a "clearly loaded and maxed-out" vibe, brimming with enviable capital.

He never expected the NPC to react like this, actually daring to diss a high-score outfit—how ridiculous! This NPC had zero taste.

The man in the car closed his book. He turned back, his face going calm again, as if that barely-suppressed dry heave was just an illusion.

From a distance, his gold-rimmed glasses framed eyes that stared at Bai Fuling. Above his head, a string of dots slowly appeared.

The man said nothing and didn't make any extra moves. But the player noticed the three pixelated question marks above his head—standing in for his unknown name—seemed to be turning slightly red.

Bai Fuling: "?!" He was shocked.

What the hell? Was he about to go hostile over a single look?

No, wait—this wasn't a disagreement over words, it was a disagreement over a look! ...Is there even a risk of death just from changing outfits these days?

Now, the player couldn't help but go back to his first impression: Wow, this guy really is a psycho!

The driver came rushing from behind: "Sir!" he called out, quickly stepping forward and yanking Bai Fuling aside.

The middle-aged man's face had lost its earlier smile, now twisted with displeasure. "Please leave. Now."

Oh, a forced expulsion prompt triggered. Bai Fuling switched back to his gaming mindset. So the outfit didn't meet the score requirements?

He had piled on so many clothes, yet it still wasn't enough—was it one of those rules where stats had to fall within a specific range? Going over or under both failed.

How annoying! Hidden stat evaluations were always the worst. Bai Fuling pouted, but he stayed pretty calm. It didn't matter—the player's original goal wasn't to beat the dress-up game, but to freeload a bunch of nice clothes.

Now, his wardrobe was finally stocked up, like he'd broken into a clothing store in the dead of night and grabbed everything in sight.

Looking at the inventory, it was filled with a faint glow, no longer just the boring mental patient uniform.

Of course, no matter what, Bai Fuling's true love was always the fluorescent yellow raincoat.

After all, it was the starting outfit he got when he first logged into the game, carrying a special sentimental value. As mentioned before, Bai Fuling was actually a bit sentimental.

In the parking lot.

The driver shoved the player, hard enough to knock Bai Fuling back two or three steps. He seemed flustered for a moment, but quickly composed himself and strode forward.

The player had just steadied his character's stagger when he saw the driver slip into the driver's seat. The middle-aged man started the car and drove off quickly.

The rear window was already rolled up, the black pixelated privacy film blocking everything. He couldn't see the NPC, or the color of the name above his head.

On the screen, the silver-gray extended car soon disappeared from sight.

Bai Fuling watched the pixelated car drive off, still a bit baffled. So this guy just showed up briefly, took the player on a clothes-shopping spree, and then left?

The player's first guess was that he was a guide NPC for a dress-up game template. But the book in his hand, along with his later attitude, made Bai Fuling think things might not be so simple.

Out of habit, whenever the player got to a new place, he liked to poke around and try to trigger or pick up something.

Earlier in the car, since he'd been contacting Zhong Xiaye for a while, he hadn't had time to explore thoroughly.

Still, the player had scanned the car's interior, especially the book in the man's hands—it had pixelated butterfly photos on every page.

Butterflies. That made Bai Fuling perk up. That key element showed up again. So who was this guy? What was his connection to the butterflies?

From start to finish, the driver only called the man "Sir," without a specific name. That was why the spot above the NPC's head, where the name should be, stayed as three unknown question marks.

Bai Fuling felt there was more story to come.

At least for now, he had gathered some info—the man had a cleanliness obsession, so exaggerated it bordered on pathological, to the point where he couldn't even tolerate a high-score, layered-up player... That must be it, right?

Still, thinking about it was a bit annoying. The player had worked hard to stack those clothes using a bug, and this guy couldn't appreciate it—what a tasteless NPC!

Bai Fuling shook his head, putting the man out of his mind for now. He organized his wardrobe and changed back into the familiar, eye-catching fluffy blueberry cupcake dress.

According to his plan, his next stop was the hospital.

From the minimap, the hospital wasn't far from here. Bai Fuling thought for a moment, then pulled out a bicycle he hadn't ridden before from his vehicle inventory.

This bike was one of the gifts Luo Qingyue had given him along with the wheelchair. So far, the player had only tried the wheelchair, not the bicycle.

The wheelchair required seatbelt fastening and was prone to tipping over, so Bai Fuling chose the bike as his mode of transport this time. If he accidentally crashed the wheelchair at the hospital entrance, he might trigger forced medical treatment and get locked up!

The player didn't want to trigger forced medical treatment, as it would delay his quest progress and deduct from his already meager funds.

He got on the bike and pedaled toward the hospital following the directions.

Since he wasn't in a hurry, he rode slowly.

It was his first time moving this leisurely, allowing him to appreciate the scenery around him.

Though he had marveled at it many times before, every time he noticed the detailed pixelated backdrops and NPC movements, he was still amazed by the game's level of refinement. Could a game really achieve this level of detail? It was as if—

—As if this were a real world.

This thought briefly crossed Bai Fuling's mind, along with a casual notion: living here wouldn't be so bad.

The angel halo above his character's head wobbled, as if poked, uncontrollably sprouting a tuft of fluffy tendrils.

Bai Fuling exclaimed in surprise, "Can halos get moldy too?" and made his character reach up to grab the halo.

The moment before the player touched it, the extra fluff retracted. Bai Fuling opened his personal panel to check, but found no information—it felt like an illusion.

Again. Next time the halo had an abstract mutation, he would definitely screenshot it first, the player thought silently. That way, he wouldn't have to doubt whether it was an illusion! And he could report the system bug to the developers.

Bai Fuling continued riding leisurely, stopping a few times by flower beds to pluck every flower in sight—same species stacked into one inventory slot, so why not take them all?

The player ravaged the flowers mercilessly, leaving nothing untouched in his path.

After gathering flowers all the way, he finally reached the Central Hospital.

Like the library, the Central Hospital was a landmark building in this town, officially unique. From a distance, the towering pixelated building was visible.

The last time the player was here was with Olbert, visiting Luo Qingyue.

Speaking of which... how was Luo Qingyue doing?

Bai Fuling thought he might check on Luo Qingyue after exploring Lin Shanze's information. Some time had passed, and he wondered how the other was doing.

He folded the bike and stuffed it into his backpack in a spot without NPCs nearby, then made his character walk forward.

Oh, right, he still didn't know Lin Shanze's ward number. Should he first go to the archives to search? Or should he twirl that aluminum alloy pole and fly up to peek through each window?

Anyway, let's first head around to the back of the ward building.

Bai Fuling followed the mini-map there, remembering his plan to check the windows. He tilted the camera and looked up.

On the screen, among the closed, copy-pasted pixel windows, one stood out—an open window.

It was windy today, and the white curtain billowed out of the wide-open window, flapping noisily.

By the window stood a familiar NPC figure.

...Luo Qingyue?

Bai Fuling recognized him. Was he already well enough to get out of bed?

But before he could think more, the figure by the window suddenly stepped forward, leaning half his body out while gripping the sill.

Bai Fuling froze for a second. In that split second, he realized what was about to happen.

Luo Qingyue was going to jump!

Damn it, why would he jump?! The player had just saved him, and Luo Qingyue said he didn't want to die! He trusted the player! He relied on the player! He believed in the player!

But there was no time to think about why. He couldn't even shout "Luo Qingyue!"—not that it would help, since half his body was already dangling out. In his injured state, he didn't have the strength to pull himself back in.

Bai Fuling immediately made his character sprint toward that spot.

Last time, the resurrection was a fluke. The player didn't know if he'd get another chance, or how many times an NPC could respawn.

He had to catch Cotton Spirit!

The player wasn't afraid of dying, because the game's mechanics would leave a sliver of health for reaction time, even from fatal damage. But at this height, even if the player acted as a cushion down below, it wouldn't help!

He had to catch Luo Qingyue from above. Bai Fuling quickly figured that out. But twirling the pole to fly up would take too long, and he couldn't fly and catch him at the same time.

If only he had wings—

An angel should totally have wings!

Bai Fuling pressed his fingers hard against the screen, cranking the speed to max. He ran forward, jumped up, his gaze locked on the figure about to fall.

"Whoosh—"

A sound echoed in the background, but Bai Fuling didn't have the focus to pay attention. He rushed toward Cotton Spirit, fingers glued to the screen, closing the distance between them. Just as Luo Qingyue was about to fall, he lunged and caught him!

Finally! Bai Fuling let out a heavy sigh as he saw his character catch Cotton Spirit on the screen.

Oh my god, that was terrifying!!

Bai Fuling held Luo Qingyue tightly in his arms. The other guy was taller, making the pixel scene look a bit odd.

Luo Qingyue, tall and curled up in the player's arms, looked pale, his misty green eyes gazing over.

"...Cabbage Friend? You... are an angel?"

A feather drifted down from Cotton Spirit's forehead.

It was only then, as his heart finally calmed, that Bai Fuling noticed the character on the screen had somehow sprouted a pair of large, white wings behind his back.

He had flown up to catch Luo Qingyue.

Wow. Bai Fuling blinked in amazement. The player really had grown those "999 yuan, bro, come at me" giant wings!