Chapter 149 - 147: Preservative

Chapter 149: Chapter 147: Preservative

The truck rolled along the wide, flat highway, its wheels creating a steady, droning vibration that was enough to make anyone drowsy.

Huangfu Miaomiao was already asleep in the truck, her head resting on Feng Ling’s shoulder, swaying gently with the vehicle’s motion.

Feng Ling opened her eyes and looked toward the distant mountain peaks.

She had just checked on him with her mark. Li Qing had done as she asked, going to the parking lot of the Sanqing Mountain Scenic Area, but something was wrong with his condition. He was lying motionless in the narrow aisle of the RV, just like a corpse.

’He didn’t log off, did he?’

Feng Ling mused to herself, ’I should probably modify the Demon Contract between him and Huangfu Miaomiao to restrict his movements.’

If Li Qing had really logged off, it would be a huge loss for Feng Ling, like losing an encyclopedia of Alien Species.

Today, the Sanqing Mountain Scenic Area was completely empty.

The scenic area’s online booking platform may have been popular enough to crash the system, but after the incident with the Maze, things were different. It had only been two days, so the staff needed to inspect all the facilities again. The park wouldn’t reopen to the public until they could guarantee it was safe.

It was a good thing the park wasn’t open; there were few people and cars around. Feng Ling had the driver find a place to park, then took a drowsy Huangfu Miaomiao with her to the parking lot to find Li Qing.

「As evening approached, the heat remained oppressive.」

’The RV has been baking in this heat all day,’ she thought. ’And the AC can’t be turned on. Could Li Qing have passed out from heatstroke?’

Feng Ling felt a pang of regret for not giving him the car keys.

’Then again, it was his own fault. He was in such a rush to escape that he didn’t give me a chance to go back to the room and get the keys.’

Feng Ling found the RV she had rented and opened the door. A wave of stuffy, hot air washed over her, making her frown.

She told Huangfu Miaomiao to go check on Li Qing while she went to the driver’s seat to turn on the air conditioning.

A few seconds later, she heard Huangfu Miaomiao shout from inside the RV, "He’s not breathing!"

Feng Ling walked over and asked, "Did he log off, or is he actually dead?"

"I don’t know..." Huangfu Miaomiao pressed her ear to Li Qing’s chest. "I can’t hear a heartbeat."

She felt around a bit more. "His body is cold, too... Huh? What’s this?"

Huangfu Miaomiao reached into Li Qing’s clothes and pulled out a long, slender creature. It was the Green Weasel that Li Qing kept.

The Green Weasel’s body hung limp, looking as if it were on the verge of death.

"What’s that in his hand?" Feng Ling asked.

Hearing this, Huangfu Miaomiao put down the Green Weasel and pried open Li Qing’s fingers. She froze.

"A vial of general-purpose treatment agent, and a... packet of all-purpose preservative," she answered, her tone strange.

Feng Ling froze for a moment, looking from Li Qing on the floor to the Green Weasel on top of him.

’This is...’

’What the hell is going on?’

She stood there for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Then she walked over, took the injection and the preservative from Huangfu Miaomiao, and examined them closely.

The injection was just the standard recovery medicine commonly used by Alien Species, nothing special. The preservative came in a long, thin packet, like instant coffee.

’What kind of normal person just eats preservatives for fun?’

Feng Ling glanced down at the thoroughly dead Li Qing on the floor and gave a wry, speechless tug at the corner of her mouth. She handed both the injection and the preservative back to Huangfu Miaomiao.

"...You, use this injection on the Weasel."

Huangfu Miaomiao’s eyes widened. "Not for the administrator?"

"Isn’t he dead? If he lies there any longer, he’ll start getting liver spots," Feng Ling said with a frown. "Just hurry up and do it. Otherwise, they’re both going to die in my RV."

"Oh..." Huangfu Miaomiao expertly administered the injection to the Green Weasel.

Feng Ling was just about to ask if they should halve the dose for something the Green Weasel’s size, but Huangfu Miaomiao had already pushed the plunger all the way in.

’Oh well...’

’At least we did our best.’

After a short wait, the Green Weasel slowly began to stir.

It moved its head slightly. Its small, bean-like eyes opened for a moment, then quickly shut again. It was still very weak.

Feng Ling twisted open a bottle of mineral water, poured a little into the cap, then picked up the Green Weasel and placed it on the bar counter by the window to let it drink.

The Green Weasel buried its head and drank all the water in the cap. Then it sat up, holding the cap in its paws, and stared blankly at Feng Ling.

Feng Ling poured a little more water into the cap.

Huangfu Miaomiao didn’t like Li Qing, but she had nothing against small animals. She smiled and said, "It’s so well-behaved! Since that Daoist is dead, why don’t we keep it for him?"

Feng Ling gave her a speechless look. ’You really can’t figure it out at all, can you?’

The Green Weasel drank its fill, then with a SLIP, it leaped off the counter and burrowed back into Li Qing’s clothes. A few seconds later, Li Qing’s eyes opened.

Huangfu Miaomiao cried out in alarm, "He’s alive again!!!"

Feng Ling’s expression was calm. "Yup, alive again."

After her shock wore off, Huangfu Miaomiao grew angry. "How come administrators can log back in after they’ve logged off? When we players log off, we have to re-register our accounts if we want to log in again! It’s not fair!"

She assumed Li Qing had come back to life simply because he had been offline.

Li Qing slowly sat up. Seeing the preservative on the floor, he bent down to pick it up with an embarrassed expression. "I got caught in the rain last night and caught a bit of a cold," he explained. "I had a high fever on the way here. I was going to use a treatment I redeemed from the system store... but I think... I think I passed out before I could inject myself."

Feng Ling looked at him with a pitying gaze. "I doubt it was a cold. You probably caught some virus from that pile of medical waste. Next time you go dumpster diving, maybe try the food waste bin instead?"

Huangfu Miaomiao’s eyes shot wide as she stared at Li Qing with utter disgust. "Oh my god, does that mean you’re covered in viruses? I just touched your clothes!—"

She scrambled to the sink and began scrubbing her hands vigorously.

Aversion towards Li Qing +99!

Feng Ling said to Li Qing nonchalantly, "Why don’t you go take a shower? Don’t bother keeping those clothes. The light blue door back there leads to the bathroom."

’The shower is secondary,’ she thought. ’The main thing is to give him some privacy to hurry up and eat that preservative. Otherwise, I’m genuinely worried this clean-cut young man is going to start developing liver spots right in front of me.’

Li Qing nodded. Clutching the preservative in his palm, he furtively entered the bathroom.

Feng Ling heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. She turned to Huangfu Miaomiao, who was still at the sink, and said, "Go outside and buy a set of Daoist robes. On the road we came in on, there was a shop that rents out costumes for photos. If you spend a little extra, you should be able to buy a set."

Huangfu Miaomiao pouted, unhappy. She thought Feng Ling was being too nice to the Daoist—nicer than she was to her.

Feng Ling pulled out her phone. "I’ll transfer you eight hundred. Whatever’s left after buying the clothes is your spending money."

Only then did Huangfu Miaomiao reluctantly go to buy the clothes.

Feng Ling closed the RV door, walked over to the bathroom, and knocked gently. "Stop showering. It must be a pain to maintain the corpse if you get it all wet, right?"

"..."

Hearing no response, Feng Ling pressed her ear closer to the door.

"Daoist? Are you listening? ...Come on out. Let’s talk. I promise I won’t do anything to you."