Chapter 56: Trigger Words, Psychological Wounds
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The standard mission was completed successfully. Yet, the player known as Chicken seemed to have lost fifty years of vitality, transformed into a frail, trembling old woman. Her body was covered with black spots and wrinkles, a torment far worse than death for a woman who once cherished her beauty.
Still, Chicken was a seasoned player who had cleared a dungeon before. She did not collapse or scream. Instead, she fiercely concealed the murderous intent in her eyes. When she lifted her head, she masked all negative emotions on her face and replaced them with a smile.
“Sister, you’re naturally more beautiful than I am. I’m the one who should be jealous, not mocking you. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?”
Nearby, the Bull player and Ji Yan were speechless. Don’t be fooled by her silly appearance; her mental resilience was truly formidable.
“Really? I misjudged you, sister,” Chicken said softly. “Doctor sister, please continue applying my eyeshadow.”
Her entire face drooped, and her large, basin-like eyes lowered to focus on Chicken. Holding the eyeshadow brush, Chicken’s hand trembled slightly—not just because of the challenge of applying makeup to such large eyes, but because those eyeballs seemed injected with countless drugs, threatening to fall out at any moment.
Within the whites of her eyes, she clearly saw numerous parasite-like organisms writhing...
Gurgle, gurgle.
At that moment, one side of the patient’s massive flesh body tore open between the folds of flesh. The brownish-yellow fat inside, resembling jelly, gushed out with a splash.
Then, a tumor as large as a basket swelled and grew from within...
One after another, the skin ruptured, and amidst the exploding fat, these tumors emerged like flower buds.
Moreover, these tumors writhed as if they were animal embryos.
“I have pimples again! I hate these things the most. They’re hideously ugly when they come out. Please, help me get rid of them quickly!”
Upon seeing the tumors, the patient screamed sharply. Her already terrifying face showed unmistakable terror.
Knowing this was her moment to assert control, the Bull player took the initiative. “Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
“Just sit still; I’ll clean them out for you.”
He opened his medical kit and took out instruments, preparing to cut away the tumors.
But before he could act, the writhing tumors suddenly burst one by one, spraying blue-green pus everywhere…
Half of the Bull player’s body was drenched, nearly causing him to curse.
Even with his seasoned experience, he couldn’t endure such a nauseating scene.
After the pus-filled sacs burst, the flesh rapidly withered, and many parasitic maggots swarmed out from the wounds.
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It was hard to imagine just how many microorganisms were parasitizing this patient’s massive body.
The Bull player was already on the verge of collapse.
Seeing the densely writhing microbes within the pus, he completely lost control and spat out, “Damn, is this a patient or a monster? Could it be any more disgusting?”
His words were heard by the bizarre patient.
For some reason, her emotional reaction was intense.
Her loose eyeballs stared at the Bull player.
“Monster... monster...”
“Why does even the doctor call me a monster?”
“I tried so hard to become someone you would like. I underwent countless injections, layered on heavy makeup, all so you would see me as normal, treating me with respect.”
“But no matter what I do, you still harbor such malice toward me!”
“Was I born to die like this? To cower in darkness, never seeing the light?”
Witnessing the patient’s further descent into darkness, the Bull player’s face turned ashen in an instant.
“Damn it, I stepped on a landmine!”
Before he could say another word, a deformed hand suddenly reached out and grabbed him.
Fingernails coated with polish scraped across his back, leaving a shallow wound between flesh and skin.
Then another malformed hand grabbed a clump of brown-black oily fat and forcefully shoved it into the Bull player’s body, tossing him into a corner.
He felt an unbearable itch on his back.
When he stood up, his body was swollen and covered with dense pus-filled sores. In a mere instant, he had become an ugly monster.
Touching his face, his voice trembled violently. “What did you do to me...?”
The bizarre patient grinned, her red-lichen-covered lips curling. “I just wanted you, the doctor, to taste this feeling. Not bad, right?”
Watching the Bull player’s miserable state, Chicken, still applying eyeshadow, felt somewhat reassured and continued focusing on her makeup.
“Hospital Rule 5: During daytime working hours, players have absolute life safety protection. The bizarre patient must not cause harm without reason, but this protection applies only to life safety.”
Ji Yan recalled this rule.
Looking at the two players—one drained of fat, instantly aged by decades; the other stuffed with fat, covered in sores—he felt it was even worse than outright death.
It was clear that patients in A22 were extremely sensitive about their appearance. Any hint of ridicule, even a glance, could trigger their dark transformation.
Chicken, simply for being more attractive, was already pushed to her limits. That showed just how sensitive they were.
“So what exactly is wrong with this patient? How should she be treated?”
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“Could it be that we have to restore this monstrous image back to a normal human form? If that’s the treatment, then it’s basically incurable—no hope of recovery.”
Though not yet affected himself, Ji Yan felt the pressure mounting.
He raised his head to gaze at the patient’s melting, cheese-like features, expending mental energy to activate his talent, Omniscient Understanding.
He obtained hidden information about the patient before him:
“My name is Liu Yan. I once had a man I loved so deeply I couldn’t escape his grasp. Afraid of losing him, I tried to satisfy all his desires. He liked double eyelids, so I had surgery on my eyelids. He thought my figure wasn’t slim enough, so I had large amounts of fat removed.”
“Gradually, I began to love this feeling. I craved becoming the perfect woman, correcting every flaw with plastic surgery. For those parts that couldn’t be fixed surgically, I hid them with makeup.”
“But the side effects of the cosmetic drugs worsened my condition. More defects appeared on my body. I had to keep using more medical techniques to cover and fill them.”
“In the end, my body couldn’t bear it anymore. What I experienced was no longer the spotlight’s admiration, but countless frightened and disgusted gazes. Even the person I loved most called me a monster.”
“But it’s because of him that I became like this, isn’t it?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. As long as I have enough fat to fill and enough makeup to cover, everything that belongs to me will return.”
“There must be some miraculous doctor who can save my rotten, broken body!”
The hidden information vanished, and Ji Yan’s brain reeled, his body suddenly drained of strength.
Though his upgraded talent was easier to trigger and no longer cryptic, the mental cost of 100 points still took a toll.
At this rate, he couldn’t activate it many times a day and would need ample rest and energy replenishment.
In other words, this patient’s ailment was not physical but a severe psychological trauma.
No wonder she was so sensitive to the word “monster.” When her beloved said that to her, the psychological wound must have been immense.
The Bull player’s inadvertent remark had unfortunately struck a nerve...
Now that the source of the illness was clear, Ji Yan at least had a direction for treatment.
But the information was still insufficient.
He needed to uncover more hidden details to find the true root of her condition...
“Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
“Your gaze is just like theirs... or are you hoping to have some fat stuffed inside your body too?”
The patient suddenly fixed her gaze on Ji Yan. His naked stare seemed to trigger her insecurity and sensitivity about her own grotesque body.
A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and her deformed hand lunged toward him...