Totem

Totem

While talking with Shen Jiyue, Mu Sichen had quietly taken a careful look around the ward.

There were call buttons by the patient's bed and beside the ward door, and a list of daily schedule rules was posted on the door.

It listed the patient's meal times and treatment times, with a special note: before 19:55 each day, medical staff, volunteers, and family members had to obtain enough contribution points to leave the hospital. Before leaving, they had to shut the ward curtains tight, lock the door from the outside, and prevent the patient from leaving the room.

The next day, the process would repeat. Over and over again.

Mu Sichen still did not know how to obtain contribution points, but he knew one thing clearly: if he did not act quickly, he would become one ingredient in Shen Jiyue's treatment today.

He found the doctor's office with a flashlight in one hand and his other hand loosely clenched, ready to summon the pickaxe at any moment.

If the doctor could communicate normally, he would try talking and ask how to obtain contribution points. If the doctor could not communicate, then the doctor could not blame him for being impolite.

Mu Sichen had no intention of following the rules or minding his manners. He went to the office closest to the ward, listened at the door, and when he heard a sound inside, he opened the door directly.

Mu Sichen had already prepared himself for the possibility that, if the door was locked, he would smash it open with the pickaxe. But if he did that, there was no telling what punishment he might run into.

Luckily, the door was not locked, and Mu Sichen opened it without trouble.

The room was a mess. Papers were scattered everywhere, and someone in a white coat who looked somewhat familiar was rummaging through drawers and cabinets. The whole room looked as if it had been robbed.

Mu Sichen recognized him at a glance. This white coat was the "+543" he had seen earlier in the plaza.

This man was obviously a Fallen. He had also come to Clear-Sight Sanatorium, which meant this sanatorium had to be connected to the fight against Big Eye.

When the white coat saw Mu Sichen, a hint of hostility flashed through his eyes.

Mu Sichen noticed it keenly. To dispel the white coat's hostility, he made a move.

He swiftly revealed the flashlight in his hand, aimed it at the white coat, and asked, "Doctor, what are you doing?"

The flashlight was an item from outside the town obtained from the diary owner. It had a certain degree of lethality against Followers.

If "+543" was, as Mu Sichen suspected, connected to Xiangping Town, then the flashlight could help "+543" confirm that Mu Sichen was a friend rather than an enemy and avoid an unnecessary attack.

If Mu Sichen had misjudged him and "+543" was Big-Eye's follower, then the flashlight still had some killing power, enough for Mu Sichen to protect himself.

When "+543" saw the flashlight, the killing intent in his eyes gradually receded, though he remained on guard.

He looked Mu Sichen up and down, while Mu Sichen observed him in turn.

On the white coat's name badge were the words "Doctor: Yao Wangping."

Mu Sichen had seen this name earlier in the registration book. Because the man's registration time was extremely close to his own and he seemed to be connected to Xiangping Town, Mu Sichen had made a point of remembering the name.

"+543," or rather Yao Wangping, looked at Mu Sichen and suddenly said, "When the Primordial awakens under the gaze of the stars, all shall return to chaos."

Mu Sichen: "..."

He guessed that Yao Wangping was giving a countersign.

After seeing the high-powered flashlight in Mu Sichen's hand, Yao Wangping had guessed that Mu Sichen was also from Xiangping Town, or had been influenced by someone from Xiangping Town and obtained the flashlight. But Yao Wangping could not be completely certain, so he chose to test him with a coded phrase.

However, Mu Sichen had no idea how to answer the coded phrase.

But that did not mean he had no method at all.

With a calm expression, Mu Sichen said to Yao Wangping, "I don't know how to respond to that, but I do know how to say this: Qin Zhou Qin Zhou Qin Zhou Qin Zhou Qin Zhou..."

Mu Sichen had no choice. Big Eye's power was not something a player who had just left the starter village could contend with. There were no normal people around him, and he did not even know how this world actually operated. He had to find someone he could communicate with.

Yao Wangping was the only person Mu Sichen had encountered who looked both capable of communication and strong. He had to make cooperation with Yao Wangping happen if he possibly could.

But he did not know the coded phrase, so all he could do was shout the name most likely to strike a chord with Yao Wangping.

This time, perhaps because Mu Sichen said it too many times, and because his tone held such profound emotion, Mu Sichen once again felt that gaze.

Yao Wangping had already readied himself to attack, but Mu Sichen's repeated cries of "Qin Zhou" stopped him. He looked at Mu Sichen with confusion written all over his face.

Mu Sichen felt there was a chance. After thinking it over, he decided to say Shen Jiyue's name as well, to further close the distance between himself and Yao Wangping.

Just then, Mu Sichen suddenly felt that the gaze falling on him was no longer so far away. It was as if it were right beside him, right before his eyes.

Only, the pressure from this gaze was not as intense.

Mu Sichen could not help suspecting that Qin Zhou himself was here, and that his exact location was probably Yao Wangping's left shoulder.

But there was nothing on Yao Wangping's left shoulder.

Mu Sichen thought for a moment, then raised a hand to cover his right eye.

After he was injured by looking directly at Big Eye, Mu Sichen's eyes had undergone some changes. When his right eye could see, the view before him was normal, while his left eye saw only a mass of fog. Once he covered the right eye, his left eye could see images ordinary people could not.

With his right eye covered, Mu Sichen saw, within the fog, a chibi octopus crouching on Yao Wangping's left shoulder. Its eyes were huge and adorable. Its eight tentacles swayed back and forth, lengthening and shortening at random, and one tentacle had already reached Mu Sichen and was about to touch his face.

Mu Sichen: "..."

Don't be fooled by the octopus's huge, adorable, mascara-commercial eyes. Its gaze was extremely serious, and it was staring intently at Mu Sichen.

That feeling of being watched was exactly the same as Qin Zhou's.

Seeing that the tentacle was about to touch his face, Mu Sichen decisively let go, allowing his right eye to see again. The image before him vanished at once.

He raised a hand, pointed at Yao Wangping, and asked in confusion, "Qin Zhou... is on your left shoulder?"

Yao Wangping immediately lifted a hand and pressed it to his left shoulder. He looked coldly at Mu Sichen and said, "It seems you not only know General Qin's name, but also know I have his totem tattoo on my body. Who are you?"

General Qin! Hearing this title, Mu Sichen felt the slightest trace of emotion rise in his heart.

It was General Qin, a normal human job title, not some phrase like Great Being, Eye of the Sky, guardian god, or the like.

In the short five hours since he had crossed into this otherworld, Mu Sichen had been listening to sermon-like words recited like poetry. Hearing something so normal now felt like a lifetime away!

Mu Sichen raised his hands and said honestly, "I'm just someone struggling to survive under Big Eye's rule.

"I've heard a broadcast about Qin Zhou. I don't want to go insane, and I don't want to turn into a monster covered head to toe in eyes. I want to live normally.

"I have a tiny bit of special power. I can see a person's mental state. When I saw you earlier in the plaza, I felt you were someone worth trusting, so I followed you here."

Apart from concealing matters related to the game system, Mu Sichen had not lied.

"Big Eye?" Yao Wangping asked.

Mu Sichen pointed at the sky. "Him. The one the entire Town of the Eye keeps preaching about."

"That's a good nickname. He really is just a Big Eye."

The corner of Yao Wangping's mouth lifted into a smile as standard as a robot's, but the smile did not reach his eyes.

Aside from the guardedness and killing intent from earlier, Mu Sichen could not sense any human emotion from Yao Wangping.

Yao Wangping came two steps closer. Seeing the words "family member" written on Mu Sichen's name badge, he nodded and said, "You don't look like you're lying. If you were Big-Eye's follower, you wouldn't become a family member or patient."

Yao Wangping quickly adopted Mu Sichen's "Big Eye" nickname.

Mu Sichen said, "When I entered, the gate guard said I was a 'volunteer,' but the badge on my chest says 'family member.'"

"Only Big-Eye's followers become volunteers. Town residents and Fallen who have thoughts of their own are only classified as 'family members' and 'patients,'" Yao Wangping said.

Those words made Mu Sichen take a step back. Looking at the word "doctor" on Yao Wangping's chest, his scalp went numb.

Yao Wangping noticed his gaze, adjusted his name badge with one hand, and said flatly, "Volunteers, family members, and patients are the three categories automatically assigned after entering the sanatorium. Medical staff are people who were already here to begin with, or people who found a way to become medical staff themselves."

"How can someone become medical staff?" Mu Sichen knew that in the sanatorium, medical staff held the highest status and the greatest power.

"I don't trust you," Yao Wangping said bluntly. "Unless you earn my trust, I won't cooperate with you."

"How do I earn your trust?" Mu Sichen asked.

Yao Wangping said, "Language and emotions can both be faked. Only shared faith cannot. Tattoo yourself with the totem representing General Qin, and we will be people from the same faction."

His proposal sent Mu Sichen temporarily into silence.

Yao Wangping was very smart. First, he had acted as if he temporarily trusted Mu Sichen, disclosed some information about the sanatorium, and told Mu Sichen he knew how to change identities.

He had given Mu Sichen hope, but refused to reveal the intelligence. He demanded that Mu Sichen join his faction before they could communicate further.

Mu Sichen understood Yao Wangping's approach. In a world like this, not trusting anyone easily was the most basic principle.

But that principle applied to Mu Sichen as well.

He did not trust Yao Wangping or Qin Zhou either, and he did not know whether he should rashly tattoo Qin Zhou's totem on himself.

Mu Sichen rapidly ran the numbers in his head, listing the pros and cons of cooperating and not cooperating.

If he did not cooperate, he would be unable to move an inch. His skills were weak, his MP bar, or energy, was insufficient, and very soon he would become one ingredient in Shen Jiyue's treatment, his body covered in blister-eyes as he turned into an ugly madman.

If he cooperated, he would become a member of Qin Zhou's faction, work with Yao Wangping, learn the sanatorium's rules, and seek a path to survival.

Once he did the math, there seemed to be no reason to refuse.

If he did not cooperate, in the end he would most likely become Big-Eye's follower and remain in the Town of the Eye "happily" forever.

If he cooperated, he would most likely become Qin Zhou's follower and live with relative clarity and rationality. Just look at Yao Wangping. The man was so smart he even knew how to use both threats and inducements.

The answer was obvious. In any case, Qin Zhou had already marked him. It seemed he had no real way out.

Mu Sichen nodded. "I agree."

"Good. Close your eyes, take two steps back, stand by the wall, and bare your left shoulder," Yao Wangping said.

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Author's Note:

Qin Zhou (rubbing his tentacles): I'm here I'm here I'm here!!!

Mu Sichen (grinding his teeth): I want grilled squid.

PS: The top is not an octopus. He is a handsome guy. Please note the emphasis. It's only the totem and ability, okay? That's the only hint, no more spoilers.

PS to the PS: The little theater is just for a bit of relaxation and fun, to restore my dear little angel readers' SAN. Qin Zhou says he will not be responsible for the contents of the little theater. Everything here is slander.