Arknights: The Life Inside-Chapter 39

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

When the door opened, Zhang Yuan squeezed in with a smirk on his big, round face.

"Yoren, your excuse for skipping class is too ridiculous. Mineralogy? What's next, flying to heaven?"

In truth, Yoren had two main reasons for calling Zhang Yuan over.

First, he was broke.

As for the second... he wasn't entirely sure himself. Maybe having a friend around would help ground him after slipping into this unfamiliar world.

Zhang Yuan placed a bag of buns on Yoren's cluttered desk, then frowned as his eyes landed on the poster on the wall.

"Yoren, why does your Rem... look so bloody? What's that red stuff on it?"

Yoren took a bite of a bun, chewing slowly before replying.

"Tomato juice."

Zhang Yuan narrowed his eyes but didn't press the issue. Instead, he casually reached into his pocket and pulled out a few crumpled bills.

"By the way, did you bring the money I asked for?"

"Yeah, here." Zhang Yuan placed three hundred yuan on the table. "It's not much. I've got more in my Alipay if you need it."

"Thanks."

Zhang Yuan studied him seriously. "Brother, don't thank me. But I do have one question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Why the hell are you wearing a scarf inside the house?"

Yoren's fingers brushed against the red scarf around his neck.

"My second aunt gave it to my mom for Chinese New Year. I like it."

"Alright, alright, no need for the details." Zhang Yuan flopped onto Yoren's bed, reaching for his phone. He picked it up and frowned at the cracked screen. "What happened to this?"

"Dropped it."

"At least the inner screen isn't busted. Should be fine if you just replace the outer glass."

"Mm."

Zhang Yuan paused, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, last night, didn't you ask me to go to the hospital with you?"

Yoren continued eating, his expression calm. "Yeah."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Ore disease."

Zhang Yuan clicked his tongue. "Tch. Lazy to care about you."

He pulled out his own phone, tapped on it for a few seconds, then leaned in close, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Yoren, I need to tell you something. Don't freak out."

"What?"

Zhang Yuan clutched his phone like it held a great secret. "I pulled Mr. Chen last night."

Yoren paused mid-bite. "Who?"

He genuinely wasn't trying to mess with Zhang Yuan. He hadn't logged into the game in ages, and to him, that was just another character in a story. He honestly couldn't remember who "Mr. Chen" was.

Zhang Yuan assumed Yoren was playing along, so he continued dramatically, "You know, the guy we fought in Chapter 5? Longmen Guard Bureau, ring a bell—?"

Yoren silenced him by stuffing a bun into his mouth.

"Okay, okay, enough. Finish eating. We're heading out."

By the time Yoren and Zhang Yuan stepped outside, it was nearly 10 AM.

They found a nearby phone repair shop, arranged to pick up the fixed device in the afternoon, and then hailed a taxi to the hospital.

Sitting in the backseat, Zhang Yuan looked over, uncertain. "Yoren, you're seriously going to the hospital? Are you actually sick?"

Yoren didn't answer. His gaze was distant, lost in thought, the red scarf still wrapped snugly around his neck.

To be honest, he didn't believe this world's medical system could do anything about Oripathy. More bluntly, he doubted these hospitals even had the means to diagnose it properly.

Though he wasn't a medical student, he understood the basics—Oripathy wasn't just an illness. It was a complete contamination of the blood, a fusion of Originium and the human body at a cellular level. It spread relentlessly, seeping into every fiber of the infected, making complete removal nearly impossible.

And when an infected person died? Their body rapidly mutated, releasing more infectious particles into the air.

A disease like this... there was no way a hospital in this world had a cure.

So why was he going?

Simple.

He wanted this world to know Oripathy existed.

It wasn't about himself. Well... not entirely.

His first reason was long-term. This world had no Originium, no Catastrophes. But who was to say that would always be the case? Maybe in a few years, a few centuries, something similar would arise. Maybe his actions now—introducing the concept—would help future scientists find a cure before it was too late.

It was a bit like Shennong tasting herbs, willing to suffer so others wouldn't have to.

Of course, his second reason was more selfish.

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If, by some miracle, the medical researchers here found a way to treat Oripathy using methods unknown in Terra, he might survive long enough to return with a cure.

Of course, that was wishful thinking. He wasn't holding his breath for some miraculous breakthrough. But there was one last, almost laughable possibility:

A doctor looking at him and saying, "Oh, this? No problem. Just a simple procedure and a shot, and you'll be fine by tomorrow morning. What? The rock on your neck? We'll just cut it off—no scarring! Just bring your insurance card and pay the surgery fee."

The odds of that? Less than 0.01%.

The taxi pulled up to the Municipal People's Hospital. Yoren and Zhang Yuan stepped inside the bright, sterile lobby, Yoren feeling an unfamiliar weight settle in his chest.

What department should he even register for?

Never mind. Internal medicine first.

Sitting across from the doctor, Yoren felt oddly out of place. The middle-aged man adjusted his glasses, flipping open the medical record.

"Alright, young man. What's the issue?"

Yoren hesitated. He didn't even know how to explain it. Saying "I have Oripathy" would be meaningless here. He barely understood it himself beyond the surface level.

After a brief pause, he unwound the scarf from his neck.

"Doctor, look at this."

A sharp intake of breath.

Before the doctor could speak, Zhang Yuan's eyes went wide in horror. "Yoren, what the hell—why do you have two massive cockroaches on your neck?!"

"Get lost. Do your cockroaches look like this?"

"Then what the hell is it?!"

The doctor leaned in, studying the crystalline formations embedded in Yoren's skin. He reached out, fingers brushing against them lightly, his frown deepening.

"This looks like a severe skin condition, maybe subcutaneous nodules... but I've never seen anything spread this aggressively."

Of course, he hadn't.

Yoren exhaled slowly. "Doctor, it's not just the surface. My insides feel... wrong. Like they're churning. I think it's related to the 'stones' on my neck."

The doctor grabbed a stethoscope and pressed it to Yoren's chest.

His expression shifted from concern... to confusion... to outright disbelief. It was as if he'd been expecting a classical symphony and got blasted with electronic death metal instead.

Finally, he pulled away and sighed.

"This... is complicated. You'll need a blood test, an X-ray, and a CT scan."

"Alright."

Zhang Yuan stood behind Yoren, his usual casual demeanor absent. He stared at the crystals, his mind racing.

"Yoren... are you—?"

Yoren clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Stop talking. Just come with me to get the blood test."