Trembling At A High Altitude

When he awoke again, Li Teng had already been taken off the helicopter and was lying on a corpse cart.

Perhaps it was just an emergency medical bed, but to Li Teng, it felt more like a corpse cart.

"I... am... not... dead..."

Li Teng opened his eyes, trying hard to tell the two staff members.

But he couldn't open his mouth or make a sound.

He couldn't even shake his head, only blink his eyes.

But his head was tilted to the side, making it hard for his blinking to be noticed.

The two staff members pushed Li Teng directly into a building nearby.

As Li Teng was wheeled in, another corpse cart was also brought in.

On that cart was a woman, a stranger to Li Teng.

This woman was fairly attractive and her condition was much better than Li Teng's; she could move her limbs and was constantly talking to the two staff members about the accident she had on top of the stone pillars.

But the staff showed no interest in engaging with her.

Occasionally, she would glance over at Li Teng.

Li Teng quickly blinked at her, trying to signal that there was a living person here.

But soon, Li Teng realized that he seemed to have lost even the ability to blink.

So, after giving him a glance, the woman quickly shifted her gaze away.

Because no one is interested in a dead body.

Especially one so swollen and discolored that it was nauseating to look at.

Li Teng could not help but feel a bit despondent; he could no longer blink, yet he was still not dead!

The two corpse carts were both pushed into the examination room together.

The Black-hearted Doctor came over, and the woman immediately started talking to him.

Hearing what the woman said, Li Teng was reminded of his own past situation.

"Just to let you know, you weren't injured while filming, so it's not covered under the Film and Television City's medical insurance. You'll need to pay with credits for treatment. If you don't have enough credits, I can help you apply for a loan, and then you can pay it back in installments."

Although the woman tried hard to ingratiate herself with the Black-hearted Doctor to secure free treatment, he was unmoved and simply handed her the form for advance payment and installment repayment for her to sign.

With no other options for treatment, the woman had no choice but to sign the form, just like Li Teng had before.

Only after signing her name did the woman realize that her nightmare had just begun.

The Black-hearted Doctor called over a few aides, who clumsily lifted her onto the operating table in the next room.

Then, using alloy buckles, they locked her wrists, ankles, and neck in place.

The Black-hearted Doctor did not immediately enter the operating room.

Because there was still an ugly 'corpse' that needed his attention.

With a look of disgust, the Black-hearted Doctor glanced at Li Teng's swollen and blackened face and limbs, then prodded Li Teng's swollen eye sockets with his hand.

Li Teng wanted to blink, but could not; he did not yet know that his face had also become swollen and discolored.

The Black-hearted Doctor seemed not to recognize Li Teng.

Swollen like this, even a ghost wouldn't be able to identify him.

"Can't tell if you're dead or alive, only the Medical Pod can determine that. You can't sign in this state, just press a handprint as confirmation of the treatment costs for now." The Black-hearted Doctor picked up Li Teng's swollen and numb hand, coated it with Seal Paste, and pressed it onto a blank form.

After finishing all this, the Black-hearted Doctor called the aides to toss Li Teng into the Medical Pod. He then, humming a tune to himself, pushed a cart filled with rusty surgical instruments into the operating room where the woman was.

"Lucky me, the woman drew his attention, and I avoided a disaster!" Li Teng secretly felt relieved.

Li Teng couldn't move and couldn't see his own condition; his 'corpse' looked truly unappealing this time, swollen and black all over. Even without that woman, the Black-hearted Doctor probably wouldn't possess any interest in dissecting this lump of rotten flesh.

The treatment began, and shortly after immersing in the mysterious Solid-Liquid Biphasic Substance, Li Teng's consciousness started to blur.

After about ten minutes, the lid of the Medical Pod opened.

Li Teng sat up from the mysterious Solid-Liquid Mixture.

He felt refreshed.

But ravenously hungry.

Feeling hungry was a good thing, for if he had lost the sensation of hunger, he would have been close to dead.

A caretaker stood by the Medical Pod, handing a neatly folded set of patient clothes to Li Teng.

Li Teng was already wearing several layers of clothing, including a set of patient clothes, and during the treatment, the Medical Pod had even conveniently cleaned and repaired the damaged areas of his garments.

Indeed, the Medical Pod was quite miraculous, fixing both the body and clothing.

However, Li Teng had also discovered that the pajamas he wore from home could not be repaired by the Medical Pod.

This indicated that all the clothing in Film and Television City was made of special materials, possibly the result of biotechnology, otherwise there was no explaining why the Medical Pod could mend their tears.

Now the caretaker had brought him another set of patient clothes.

Without a doubt, it was worth 20 credits, which were then directly deducted from his account.

Whether he wanted it or not, he had to take it.

After receiving the patient clothes, the caretaker silently took out a photocopy of the advance payment request form, which bore Li Teng's handprint.

The form was now filled with various charges.

The total treatment cost was the same as before, 999 credits.

Li Teng's medical debt was approaching 2000 now.

Of course, he had paid back some already, but he had no idea when he would be able to finish paying it off completely.

Luckily, the deduction was still half of his salary. With an added debt of 999 credits, the repayment was simply deferred until he paid it off in full; they wouldn't deduct his own half just because he owed a double portion.

If that had been the case, he really couldn't have gotten by.

From the adjacent operating room came the screams of a woman, incredibly shrill, which even the closed doors could not block out.

The Black-hearted Doctor was busy vivisecting her, the reason why he was too occupied to bring the patient clothes to Li Teng himself.

The Black-hearted Doctor was probably taking part in the performance, right?

And he hadn't made preparations to leave yet?

Was the companion card of any use to him at all?

The companion card should be infallible. Since the doctor hadn't left yet, it meant there was still time before the performance began.

Li Teng wanted to explore the hospital to see if he could find some benefits.

Such as free food or free coffee, for instance.

But he was quickly spotted by the hospital security and expelled.

There were signs on the street.

And the shops by the street had countdown timers.

He had arrived too early this time. After the Medical Pod healed his injuries, he still had about two hours before the next performance started.

There was plenty of time.

Li Teng already knew the distance between the filming location and the hospital. A run would take about fifteen minutes, so he wasn't in such a rush to get there.

He wanted to find something to eat.

Anna had left, and Daisy might be gone as well.

Elsa and Gao Fei were relatively stingy.

It would be difficult to scrounge up free food from now on.

He now had a balance of 50 credits, at least; spending two credits on a few steamed buns was possible.

As soon as he thought of the steamed buns and the free pickled radish strips, Li Teng's mouth watered.

He strode into a restaurant by the street and approached a food vending machine, ready to exchange for six steamed buns and six pickled radish strips.

But then a yellow question mark popped up in the corner of the food vending machine's screen!

Clearly, the food vending machine and the street terminal were networked, possessing some of the terminal's functions. When Li Teng began to order, he was automatically logged into his account.

Clicking on the yellow question mark, a rookie prank task appeared.

It was also a task to help rookies.

The task was very annoying.

Gao Fei had previously done this task.

Li Teng could go to the clothing store to rent a set of special formal wear with a control device for free, then head to the wax museum to play a prank on the rookies.