Chapter 185: Side Story: The Marriage-Urging United Front Alliance

Vision slowly returned from the darkness. Before they could fully adjust, an eerie green light filled their eyes.

They were standing in a hospital registration hall.

The glass of the dilapidated registration window was covered in smudges and handprints. Above the window, a digital clock displayed “23:44” in green, bathing everything around them in a sickly verdant hue.

The surrounding walls were mottled, with peeling paint. They were plastered with yellowed hospital notices, duty rosters, human acupressure charts, and a bizarre “No Noise” poster.

A few medical records were scattered on the floor. In the corner, there were even a couple of abandoned wheelchairs and several rusted IV stands.

The set, combined with the faint smell of disinfectant, was so realistic it was unsettling.

The guide who had been speaking to them earlier was nowhere to be found.

“This… It’s starting already?”

Wen Xiao’s voice trembled. After taking off her blindfold and seeing her surroundings, she immediately scurried over to Yu Xian’s side, practically plastering herself against him.

Wen Yu, on the other hand, had already walked over to a nearby bulletin board and was studying the yellowed duty roster with great interest.

‘Where’s my cousin?’

Yu Xian looked around and finally found Yu Zhengze squatting on the floor. He was holding a string of keys he’d procured from somewhere, frowning as he sized up a metal cabinet behind the registration desk.

Under the dim, fluorescent glow, Wen Xiao’s small face looked ghastly green. She didn’t dare move an inch from Yu Xian’s side.

Just as Yu Xian was about to say a few words to comfort her, a loud BANG suddenly echoed as a door next to the registration window, labeled “Emergency Room,” was violently thrown open.

Wen Xiao jumped, her whole body trembling, and instinctively grabbed Yu Xian’s arm.

A man in a white lab coat with messy hair and thick-lensed glasses walked out. He looked exhausted; his dark circles were visible even in the dim light. He clutched a ballpoint pen, neurotically clicking it over and over. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

“Oh! You’re finally here!”

The “doctor’s” acting was superb. He rushed over to the four of them as if he’d just seen his saviors, his tone anxious and hurried:

“I’m about to lose my mind! So many people have left, and the hospital won’t hire more staff. I’m the only official doctor on the night shift now. If you hadn’t shown up, I really wouldn’t have been able to handle it all!”

As he spoke, he unceremoniously shoved the clipboard he was holding, which had a few papers attached, into the hands of Wen Xiao, who was closest to him. His movements were rough and frantic.

“Quick, quick! Take this! You all need to go make the rounds in those wards over there immediately. Check if the patients still have vital signs! Remember to record their heart rate and blood pressure every half hour! Once you’re done, check it off on this chart!”

Wen Xiao fumbled to take it, staring blankly at the densely packed tables on the sheet.

After giving them their task, the doctor started frantically patting his pockets, his expression growing even more anxious and restless, as if he were the patient here, not someone else.

“Oh no! This is bad! Where are the ward keys? I swear I had them right here just a moment ago. This will be a huge problem if they’re lost!” He whipped his head around, looking at the four of them with a pleading expression:

“Quick, help me look for them. They should be somewhere around here…”

‘Yu Xian understood. This must be the first puzzle designed for the story: find the clue, get the key, and open the wards.’

However, before the doctor could finish his sentence.

“Are these what you’re looking for?”

A low voice cut through his performance.

Yu Zhengze expressionlessly held up the large ring of keys in his hand and gave it a shake, making them jangle.

The doctor’s expression froze instantly. His previously intense, frantically distressed performance seemed to pause, stuck on his face as if someone had hit a pause button.

He stared dumbly at the key ring, then back at Yu Zhengze. Even his hand, which had been clicking the pen, stopped.

“Ah… yes, that’s them.” The male doctor was, after all, a professionally trained NPC, so he reacted fairly quickly, but his voice now had a noticeable stutter:

“Where… where did you find them?”

Yu Zhengze casually pointed to a sturdy-looking metal box under the information desk. A complicated-looking combination dial lock was attached to it.

“I got them from that box.”

“That box…” In the darkness, Yu Xian saw the corner of the doctor’s mouth twitch.

“Doesn’t that box have a combination lock? Did you know the combination?”

“No.” Yu Zhengze shook his head.

“Then how did you open it?”

Yu Zhengze pointed at the combination lock with a matter-of-fact expression:

“This is an old-fashioned three-dial mechanical lock. The bolt mechanism inside is very simple. You just have to pull on the shackle with a bit of force, then turn the dials one by one. When you feel significant resistance or hear the tumbler fall into place, that’s the correct number.”

As he spoke, he pantomimed the action of opening the lock.

“A lock like this is only meant to keep out the honest, not the crafty. You don’t need the combination to open it.”

An awkward silence fell over the scene.

The male doctor fell silent as well. He looked at the now-open, empty box, then back at the key ring in Yu Zhengze’s hand, feeling as though his professional career had just faced an unprecedented challenge.

After several seconds, he took a deep breath and forced himself to remember his lines, though his tone now sounded a bit like he was giving up:

“Fine… fine. Since you have them, just get going. Remember to give me the chart after you’ve made your rounds.”

With that, he turned and hurried back into the Emergency Room as if he were fleeing, slamming the door shut with a loud BANG.