“Why is he still not awake? I know for sure that I have helped you transfer a shit load of mana into his circuits! I have better things to do with my time, you know?!” Peppers threw her manga book down and complained as she was stuck on a more advanced blood transfusion machine which Qiu Yue had bought after learning of their leader’s situation.
She and Lynn had gathered funds from their individual Sub Systems and invested in specialised medical equipment for the Luxury Recovery Instance’s ICU (Intensive Care Unit.) Initially, Jin and Pei had agreed on creating a series of ICU rooms in case of fatal chi injuries, but the equipment was still pretty basic since no one was using them after the System’s proper calibration of the Dungeon instance.
Later, the instance had swiftly been designated as a temporary medical outpost, and Jin had even ordered boxes of basic medical supplies and equipment for the Huizhou evacuation in case of trouble. It was meant for patients to get admitted before they would be assessed and triaged.
With the System as part of the medical analysis team, the Panda Nurses would have judged whether they could be treated on the spot or be sent to hospitals for specialised treatment.
That was why Pei and Milk initially used basic blood transfusion kits because they were part of the medical supplies that Jin had bought beforehand.
“Is there any progress in his diagnosis?” Lynn asked as Pei was still at the side of his bed, looking extremely haggard. She was notably reluctant to bring him to see a proper doctor specialist mainly because it was her fault that she had left him alone with the System.
Not to mention how she predicted that most doctors would say it would be better to pull the ‘plug’ and let him off. Because if it was up to her, she would have done the same if not for Jin being the System’s User. What’s more, the hospital doctors were bound to discover the abnormalities in his physique that she placed into Jin were more valuable than any current medical equipment available on the market. The Dungeon Supplier could have easily been turned into a guinea pig for the government in his current state.
“Both of his chi and mana circuits have mostly been repaired. It turned out to be a good thing that I had strengthened his body a while ago. However, it is weird that Jin continues to be in an unconscious state. I did feel some weird fluctuations in the brain waves during the first day as if he was panicking from something…but since then… It had remained normal.” Pei filled her in as she was dying to do something more to ensure that Jin had not been reduced to a vegetative state.
However, it was Kraft who had explicitly ordered that no one was to touch him after checking up on him for a moment. Instead, they should just continue to rotate around the chi and mana insertion and ensure that his circuits would be well repaired. “Trust me on this. He will wake up, it’s just a matter of time.”
And unlike Kraft who could wander around without any worries, people with high social status had been coming to the shop to ask for Jin. Naturally, Yun rejected all of them no matter how important they claimed to be. She also ignored all sorts of threats they hurled her way (the System noted down any offenders). In fact, Hou Fei and Grandma Yuan were also protecting Jin by denying their fellow ‘colleagues’ from looking further into Jin.
They all repeated that Jin was busy recovering after the battle and had disappeared to his secret hideout to create dungeon instances for his shop. After all, the Chinese New Year holidays were coming.
Alas, the constant harassment from the Demon Exorcists and Military officials had continued to a point where Yun had entertained the idea of letting Kraft go deal with them (as non violent as he saw fit). Among the ‘repeat offenders’ were Ke Loong, his business partner and the State Agents.
Sadly, Ryuli left almost immediately upon learning that Jin was not available. She was not interested in experiencing any of the dungeons even though Mr Know-It-All wholeheartedly recommended them. (Especially the Deep One Escape City Dungeon Instance)
However, before she left, she did call Mr Know-It-All a liar since he promised that Jin would be at the shop after the Monster Horde Defence.
After a week of nothing but rejections, people finally believed that Jin had really disappeared to make some special dungeon instance and with promises to come back later, the Sub System Users could only buy that much time for their Boss.
“Isn’t it weird that there are still no new Dark Sludge Crystals coming from him? Usually, Jin would have filled this whole room with Sludge Crystals.” Milk tried to lighten the mood as she sat on a cushion at the side of the ICU, recuperating from the donation of mana.
“I was wondering the same, and that is why I am worried.” Lynn acknowledged the observation Milk brought up and was hoping that Pei knew anything about it.
“The more unusual thing is the creation of them in the first place. We have all been through cultivation, and we know that there might be times where we would shed a layer of skin like a snake. Or grow slightly prettier because our chi circuits became cleaner. However, for him to throw out this much ‘dirty chi’ is pretty much abnormal behaviour.” Pei tried to discern the nature of that.
“Maybe because he had been throwing out a ton of dirty chi also means that his storage might actually be way more than a regular person’s ability to handle chi. That could be the reason why we felt that the chi and mana that we were pouring in seemed to be going to an abyssal pit.” Pei theorised as she started to stand up and walk around the room for a moment.
“Then perhaps…he’s also using this period of unconscious time to regain what he lost.” The Crane Cultivator added as she picked up the phone and started to dial for the Panda Nurses. “Yes, it’s me. Mind bringing a box of chi potions here? No, the new ones that the researcher made.”
“That researcher?” Qiu Yue did not understand who Pei was talking about until she saw the wooden crate of specially stored chi potions. “Oh, so you meant Yu Xiang, the researcher that Jin hired to replicate the System’s chi potions?”
“Yes, she came in a day ago, wanting to show Jin her results as part of a Chinese New Year surprise but we told her the same convenient excuse as everyone. She had actually managed to make a chi potion similar to the System’s demands.” Pei explained.
“As I recall, it was a project meant for us to mass-produce them in the future to avoid relying on the System’s reliance on the Black Market. From what I have learnt, the prices started to increase rather drastically ever since Jin requested the System to buy a ton of them.” Qiu Yue reasoned.
“Exactly. That Yu Xiang is truly a genius lass. I personally tried one bottle since she had already brought them over. The quality might be the same as the ones the System bought, but the chi effects are longer lasting than the System’s inferior goods. It actually prompts the Dantian Core to produce chi. I plan to put this on a hydration cycle for Jin and dilute it with some basic mana potion. Let’s hope this will fill his bottomless pit and get him back up for work.” Pei told them as she already started to take one of the potions out.
“Does that mean that I can get this needle out of my arm?” Peppers felt left out by the conversation.
“What? No. You are connected to the universe pool of Mana. There is no way you are coming out of that seat until Jin wakes up. Milk has already overdone it, and I don’t want to have to treat her as well!” Pei stressed as she wore a pair of gloves and set up a drip stand with the chi potion on hand.
“But you just said that you are using basic mana pots.” Peppers argued, feeling frustrated.
“What are you talking about? You are the basic mana potion!” Both Milk and Qiu Yue said at the same time which made Lynn and Pei laugh, causing Peppers to roll her eyes and heaved a ‘brrrrrr’ sound out.
