Chapter 446: Is... a Human?

Hold on a little longer; there are still several wounds.

Jiangdu felt a pang of bitterness watching Lei Zhao's expression, but Lei Zhao gave him no reply.

His pair of heterochromatic eyes were half‑open, the pupils a bit unfocused.

Jiangdu didn't know what he was looking at; he simply lowered his head and dabbed the medicine onto the wounds bit by bit.

Lei Zhao's voice suddenly rang out, "Where is this?"

Jiangdu shook his head, "I don't know."

He paused, then added another sentence.

"It seems this isn't the same place we used to live in—no Church, no Dome, no Mutation."

"A very peaceful, stable world."

"A peaceful world," Lei Zhao echoed.

He looked down at his hands; his fingers were covered with tiny wounds, several nails cracked, and the old callus on his palm had been worn away by more than half.

By comparison, Jiangdu's injuries were far fewer.

After all, when they were swept into the temporal‑spatial turbulence, Lei Zhao truly protected him well, but if Jiangdu hadn't used his Aberrant Arts to shatter the weak point of the space‑time fissure, they might have both perished inside.

Listening to Jiangdu recount what happened before he fell into a coma, Lei Zhao fell into contemplation.

When he discovered the weak point and, disregarding everything, protected Jiangdu while launching an attack there, he knew they would surely get out.

Jiangdu's Aberrant Arts were classified under the Annihilation Principle; they merely opened a passage through the temporal‑spatial barrier for two people, which was entirely feasible.

He had speculated that after exiting there, many years might have passed outside; he even mentally prepared for the possibility of falling straight into an Aberrant Species nest upon emerging.

But he never imagined they'd arrive in such a completely harmless, utterly unfamiliar world.

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"…What can I possibly do? My last night shift wasn't easy—hemostatic medicine, anti‑inflammatory pills, iodine solution, and gauze."

He paused, probably listening to the other side, then sighed and softened his tone.

"Fine, fine, I'll just front the money; it's not much anyway, in case someone really needs it urgently."

Mainly because it really wasn't much, and they were all emergency medicines; perhaps something serious actually happened.

"You didn't see what the person looked like," his voice lowered, "their clothes were torn in several places, as if they'd crawled around somewhere before coming out. I asked if they needed an ambulance or police, but they ran off before finishing the sentence."

He seemed to recall something, his voice suddenly tense, "Do you think they were being bullied at school? They looked so young… No, I have to tell the boss, pull the surveillance footage and see what's going on."

Yang Yixie sat at the other end of the subway, scrolling his phone to check some trending comments.

In the end he still declined Zhiruo's suggestion to come along, and also left the playing cards that Xi Ren Sheng had turned into there.

He was already familiar with getting to the hospital, but this time the destination was slightly different.

He approached the reception desk; the nurse looked up, glanced at his face for a moment, and tapped the keyboard a few times.

"Is there something you need?"

"I'm here to visit a friend. He's a player, was brought in yesterday morning, and the appointment is already set."

"This way, follow me."

The nurse slipped out from behind the nurse station to guide Yang Yixie, her white shoes making almost no sound on the floor.

She told Yang Yixie that these players are each housed on a separate floor and need a card swipe to get up there.

"No wonder, I didn't see many people along the way."

Yang Yixie merely gave a knowing nod.

"Those staying here are basically......" the nurse said, oddly uneasy, "Visiting hours are regulated; each person can't exceed ten minutes per visit."

Yang Yixie murmured "Hmm," and asked nothing further.

The nurse stopped at a door marked "1206".

She pulled an access card from her pocket, swiped it on the sensor, pushed the door open, and stepped aside to let Yang Yixie in.

"You have ten minutes; when time's up, I'll call you."

Yang Yixie stood at the bedside, looking down at him.

Xi Ren Sheng's eyes were closed, far from his usual mischievous nervousness; just looking at his face, Xi Ren Sheng was indeed quite good‑looking.

Among them, aside from Lao Bao, who was a hulking muscular guy, the others all seemed rather slender.

In the Jian Kong Shi, the screen's light reflected on several faces.

"Is that him?" one person asked, pointing at Yang Yixie on the monitor, brow furrowed.

"Hmm."

Another person replied, tapped the keyboard a few times, and the image zoomed in, making the young man's face clearer on the screen.

Black-framed Glasses, short black hair, a softly contoured profile—he really looked hard to match the stories they'd heard.

"'Flame City Cannon' is the counterpart in our world, but his in‑game name is Ying Duo, and his real‑world name is Yang Yixie; the officials just transmitted the data, and more information is still being verified."

"However, many aspects differ—such as temperament or appearance—but facial similarity exceeds ninety‑five percent, so it can basically be confirmed as the same person."

The first person was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "What did he come to the hospital for?"

"Visiting. It seems the two of them are net friends; that green‑haired one was taken back as a player for centralized management, but his identity seems problematic. Most importantly, he didn't wake up at twelve."

That was obviously abnormal; this delayed return caught everyone off guard, and everyone's reaction after regaining consciousness should have been the same.

But Xi Ren Sheng was clearly an exception; he didn't turn into a monster, nor did he wake up—he seemed to have simply slept through.

From a medical standpoint, this would be called a vegetative state.

The timing of Xi Ren Sheng's coma was too coincidental, with no warning, yet the officials have no conclusive proof that he isn't a player.

In a sense, this appointment system is entirely a one‑to‑one service for Xi Ren Sheng and Yang Yixie.

"How old is this kid?"

The first person stared at Yang Yixie's overly youthful face and scratched his head.

Looking at this face, it's really hard to connect those deeds with the person.

"Looking at the data, he's only eighteen, but his isotope should be younger, possibly only ten."

This is truly extraordinary.

No wonder the higher-ups have basically confirmed that Yang Yixie is not a player, yet they still sent them here to monitor.

Leaving aside whether Yang Yixie and Ying Duo can be equated, just the fact that both of their isotopes' identities is enough to draw attention.

Kids in the game world are truly extraordinary.