11:23 AM, Miracle Clinic.
The irritable Sun Miao looked at the two uninvited guests with a sullen face.
Yesterday, he unexpectedly got a "Golden Legend" level cancer cell sample, so Sun Miao put up a "Closed for the Week" notice on the clinic door today.
He planned to have a little fun on his long-stalled path of dark research.
Unexpectedly, just as he carefully prepared the nutrient solution and was ready to inject the sample for cell multiplication, someone knocked on the door so loudly that it almost made him drop the sampling tube.
He pretended not to hear.
But the knocking escalated into pounding, like a thunderous drumbeat, making it impossible for him to focus.
Sun Miao picked up a knife and went downstairs to open the door.
Hey! The spirit won't let him off.
The persistent patient from yesterday who had no martial virtues was back, now accompanied by a big man with bandages all over his chest.
"Dr. Sun, I'm sorry to bother you. My friend is injured. If we use the regular medicine from the co-op, it'll take at least half a month for him to fully recover. I thought Dr. Sun, with your superb medical skills and good character, would be the perfect choice for help."
Ren Zhong's attitude was very sincere, completely different from his shifty businessman look from last night.
They weren't really friends, but they had some dealings that were not for outsiders to know, which made Sun Miao almost unable to curse them out.
But the gentle and refined Old Sun managed to do it anyway.
He patted the door and pointed to the large notice, "Are you blind? Didn't you see these four majestic words? Can't you read?"
Ren Zhong looked at the notice.
This messy kindergarten scribble.
You really are a doctor!
If the Chinese Calligraphy Association saw this, they'd definitely be overjoyed.
The double negative impact of the times and medical study buried your talent, Old Sun. You should be a contemporary literary genius.
Ren Zhong hadn't looked closely earlier and really didn't recognize this as four words, thinking it was a Taoist symbol to ward off evil for a moment.
Now he squinted for a long time, tentatively asking, "I really can't tell, vaguely looks like 'Wood Phoenix Drinking Earth'? Does it have any special meaning?"
Sun Miao: "Get... This means 'Closed for the Week'!"
The honest Wen Lei was a bit nervous seeing Sun Miao's fierce demeanor.
He was afraid of offending the only doctor in this small town, in case he got blacklisted.
The big man tugged on Ren Zhong's sleeve, nervously like a timid wife, saying, "Brother Ren, let's just go back. Dr. Sun surely has matters to attend to. I told you not to disturb Dr. Sun. Uh... Dr. Sun, we're sorry, we'll just..."
Ren Zhong wasn't panicked and ignored Wen Lei's pulling, "Dr. Sun, you know it's not easy for us scavengers to make a living. Time is money, and we really can't afford to wait. You could take a day off, fine, but a week off? That's unbearable. Isn't my matter worth such urgency for you? It's just some cancer..."
"Stop! Just stop it! Come in! I'll treat you, okay?"
Sun Miao interrupted Ren Zhong's words at lightning speed.
Ren Zhong's eyes lit up.
He caught something sensitive for Sun Miao and decisively pressed the advantage.
He moved closer, looking at Sun Miao with shining, sincere eyes, "Dr. Sun, this won't take much effort, just a minor ailment, hardly worth mentioning compared to my cancer...laughs. Considering our cancer...friendship, it could be on the house, right?"
Sun Miao felt like old blood was stuck in his chest.
"Free today! But only this once! Don't push your luck! Damn, if I had known you'd be , I shouldn't have saved you! I shouldn't have told you anything, should have just taken your sample and let you die outside!"
He was fuming inside.
Previously, he didn't specifically caution Ren Zhong to keep it a secret, thinking the more he emphasized it, the easier it would be to arouse suspicion; he didn't expect it to be noticed anyway.
Hearing this, Ren Zhong laughed, secretly thinking, not a chance, next time you would still have to save me.
Oh well, preferably no next time.
The treatment process was not complicated.
Sun Miao merely had Wen Lei lie down on an iron bunk, do a full-body scan, then pull a mechanical arm from the wall, set the surgery and medication process, and the rest was automated.
"Anesthesia, anti-inflammatory, catalyzing cell division, then stitching, and finally bandaging. That's the basic sequence. It'll take about half an hour. I won't stay down here much longer. You guys can leave after the mechanical arm is done. The treatment cost is...forget it Ren Zhong, you can write me a note."
Ren Zhong: "What kind of note? Surely not an IOU? Really, no way, right?"
"Rewrite the Closed for the Week poster and help me post it at the door. Your writing is fairly neat, lacking artistic sense, but easily recognizable."
Sun Miao would never admit that his writing was ugly.
Ren Zhong chuckled, "Alright."
He hadn't imagined, after countless years, his handwriting could actually be of some use for money.
After finishing up, Sun Miao stomped upstairs, unsure if he was genuinely busy or truly didn't want to stay downstairs watching Ren Zhong, this troublesome patient, sulking.
Wen Lei lay flat, staring at his chest.
The thick mechanical arm flitted up and down, resembling a butterfly flitting among flowers.
Sometimes gently opening the wound to remove dead tissue, sometimes extending a small needle to spray anti-inflammatory medication evenly.
"Brother Ren, many thanks to you today. With Dr. Sun's medical skills, I'll be able to move again in three days at most."
Ren Zhong laughed, "No need to mention it, Wen Lei. Zheng Tian mentioned your solid skills, and I'm counting on you, as a true mechanical warrior, to guide me. Recover well, and in three days you'll give me real combat training."
"Sure! But since we can't move these three days, I can't demonstrate in real combat for you, but I can still guide you verbally."
Ren Zhong laughed, "Great."
That was one of the reasons he was eager to help Wen Lei heal.
Wen Lei sighed, "Luckily it's only three days; if I'd really needed half a month, it would've been troublesome."
Ren Zhong: "What trouble?"
"Three days is manageable. But if it was half a month, the other team members couldn't possibly wait that long for me; they'd definitely find external reserves, and if others are better and everyone works well together..."
Wen Lei didn't finish, but Ren Zhong understood his meaning.
He might be replaced.
When Zheng Tian's team first saw Ren Zhong, they abandoned him without a second thought.
Even though it seems the current team is getting along well, the world's nature is harsh.
Being overly nice often doesn't end well.
Zheng Tian, climbing from an ordinary scavenger to her current level, clearly isn't someone easily bound by so-called emotions.
Moreover, Zheng Tian might not truly be as warm towards others as she appears.
Being discarded like rubbish, left exposed to the wild, leaves a scar on the heart that's not easily healed.
To Ren Zhong, Zheng Tian's warmth always seemed theatrical.
"Never mind, since none of that has happened, there's no point thinking about what-ifs. Right?"
Ren Zhong felt cold at heart, but had a smiling face.
His chill was aimed at Zheng Tian, not at Wen Lei.
He still remembered, in his most desperate and hopeless time, this seemingly fierce strongman Wen Lei had said that being just an ordinary person yet managing to fight a First Level Ruined Beast was impressive; dying just like that would be a pity.
So Wen Lei was actually the first to suggest saving him; it was just negated by that fool Ou Youning.
When Wen Lei left, his eyes showed regret, but he had no decision-making power.
In the whole team, Ren Zhong didn't chat much with Wen Lei, but his impression of Wen Lei was the best.
"Hmm, but Brother Ren, you're quite something. Based on previous experience, treatment for this kind of injury typically costs at least 10 Contribution Points, yet such a stingy guy as Dr. Sun waived the fee for us. Zheng Tian was right about you being a great figure."
Ren Zhong laughed heartily, "Not at all, not at all."
"No, really, those 10 points are significant!"
The two conversed for quite some time, and only then did Ren Zhong, who had splurged on a Magnetic Storm Hand Grenade yesterday, truly grasp what 10 Contribution Points meant in such an extremely oppressive context.