Thriller Paradise

[This is a left hand, the wrinkles on the back of the arm is rather obvious. The fingernails are dry and thick, it looks like hand of an old man but the grip is surprisingly strong; the veins under the skin are popping and there are many puncture wounds around the intravenous vein, that points towards an often blood transfusion. The color of the skin is irregularly pale and it gives off a strong scent of Formalin; even through the curtain, he can find and grab at my wrist so accurately, the chance of this being a coincidence is very low...] Brother Jue’s eyes turned around and his mind was working fast.

At that moment, there were already three solutions that appeared in his mind; first, pick up the folding knife and stab forward with it; two, twist the grab around and drag the person out from behind the curtain and follow it up with an over the shoulder slam; third, why not pull open the curtain and take a look see first...

Considering his current fighting ability was already no better than a normal person... Feng Bujue ultimately chose the most rational and reasonable solution. Therefore, he reached out his one hand (while the other kept hold of the folding knife) and used his index finger and thumb to grab at the curtain around the bed and started to pull it to the side.

Tsk tsk...

The plastic rings that hung at the top of the curtain slid on the iron rod and created this grating noise. The person who was lying in bed soon appeared before Feng Bujue’s eyes...

Overall, it was an old man that had the appearance of a dry mummy. He was lying in bed facing up, wearing a faded blue patient’s garb. His skin was sickly pale and his body appeared to be frozen. From the first glance, Brother Jue had confidence to believe this person was 80 percent not a ‘living human’. That was because about more than 100 needles and tubes were stuck into the old man’s body...

The tubes’ end were all joined into the walls on top of the bed, black liquid was flowing inside the tubes. And the needle heads at the front end of the tubes were sunk into the old man’s skin at a 90 degree and they covered practically every inch of his body. The parts that were punctured with needles included the old man neck, forehead, body (through the clothes) and the bottom of his feet. These spots were quite understandable but the most shocking thing was... even his two eyeballs had two tubes poked right into them... this... literally was pain from first sight.

“Err...” The old man had his hold locked on tight on Brother Jue’s wrist as he slowly turned his head around. Even though there were two needles poking out of his eyeballs, he still turned to ‘look’ at Brother Jue and forced out with difficulty, “So thirsty... I am so thirsty...”

“Old sir.” Feng Bujue said in a sincere tone, “If medicine can deal with it, better not take needles, if you can take needles, better don’t take transfusion, have you heard of that? WHO has stressed on that so many times already...”

...

“So thirsty...” The elder ignored him and continued to repeat his script.

Feng Bujue sighed and gave up to follow the NPC’s script. “Fine... you want me to get you something to drink?”

“I want to drink... ice cold beer...” The elder came up with the answer.

“Sir, do you want to die? Do you know the condition you are currently in?” Feng Bujue tittered like a nurse. “Do you think alcohol is suitable for you now?” he lifted his head to look at the wall about his bed. “By the way... what are these liquids that are flowing into your body? Is it oil or coke?”

“Doctor Pepper...” The old man replied.

“Oh, you poor thing...” Feng Bujue said with twitching lips. (Dr Pepper was a drink that had gained fans all over the world for its lack of taste. The way it stood out was because in the debate of pepsi versus coke, those who did not wish to pick side often went for Dr Pepper. In South Park, it had been parodied many times, referring to it as an Agnostic beverages.)

“I want to drink... ice cold beer...” The elder repeated again.

“Fine fine... I understand...” When they conversed, Feng Bujue kept trying to pry the man’s hand back but his effort was futile. Therefore, he managed to confirm that this was a side quest that he would have to accept once he had triggered it. “I will go and find one for you.”

“thank... thank you.” When the elder heard that, he realized his grip of Brother Jue’s wrist. At the same time, the system notification came: “Side quest triggered.” In the quest tab, another new order was added, “Find and buy a can of ice cold beer at the vending machine located at the lobby of the cafeteria and give it to Mr. Harbert at Room 216.”

“Oh, so your name is Mr. Harbert...” Feng Bujue looked at the game menu and told the old man before him. “Do you mind giving me the direction to the cafeteria?”

“So thirsty... thirsty...” Harbert ignored Brother Jue’s question and continued to groan on his own.

“Em... Okay then.” Feng Bujue massaged his wrist that was getting numb and shrugged. “There is no hint at all, this is just fucking great.” Even though he was forced to accept this side quest, Feng Bujue still had some reservation when it came to whether he wanted to complete this mission or not. [Theoretically speaking, I can just stay in this room until the sun comes up and I would have completed the main quest, wouldn’t i...] Feng Bujue thought to himself. [But with how sick the game is, it probably would not allow me to stay at a specific spot for too long. If I stay at the corridor for too long, I will attract Chad’s attention, so what will I attract if I stay at a sickroom for too long...]

With that thought in mind, he walked to the second bed, the one next to Mr. Harbert. This time, Brother Jue moved swiftly and pulled back the curtain in one swift motion. But this bed was empty. “Hmph... Do you think I will fall for a simple trick like this?” Brother Jue scoffed as he pulled out the sunglasses.

In the next five minutes, he used both his naked eyes and the sunglasses to looked over the left right, up down, all the corners of the bed; he even turned up the mattress, touched it, sniffed it, he was that close to tasting it... after doing all that, he was still not satisfied, he used the folding knife to knock against the bedframe to listen for any hollow noises to check whether things like keys were hiding inside them or not. Finally, after a whole lot of nothing, and wasted a lot of his energy, he finally confirmed 100 percent that... this was a bed that was purely for decorative purpose only.

“Okay, on to the next one.” Brother Jue shrugged off the lack of discovery. Even if he was just wasting time, the man seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Hey, buddy.” Just as Feng Bujue was about to head to the third bed, suddenly a voice came from behind him. From the sound of it, he sounded like a middle-aged man. “I am here, behind you.” Feng Bujue turned around and followed the voice. The voice came from the middle bed on the other side of the room. Similarly, the bed was securely curtained off.

“You were calling me?” Brother Jue asked probingly.

“Yes.” The voice replied. “Can you come over here?”

“Sure.” Feng Bujue said as he slunk over there. When he was within a certain distance, he suddenly reached out and yanked the curtain back and jumped back in the speed of lightning.

“What the hell are you doing?” The middle-aged man in bed looked at Brother Jue and grumbled. His eyes as if saying [What is wrong with you?]

Feng Bujue gave the man a once over and then asked the obvious question, “Erm... so you are a vampire?” The reason I said it was an obvious question was because the person’s appearance was quite striking. The facial feature was a 100 percent copy of a classic vampire image from Disney cartoons. White complexion, red lips, sharp jaw, thin face, and an icy presence. If the person was wearing a western suit and not a patient’s garb, then Brother Jue wouldn’t have needed to ask...

“hey, kid, don’t you know it’s rude to ask question like that?” The vampire uncle replied, “Or are you a racist?”

“No, no... never mind, forget what I said.” Feng Bujue quickly shook his head.

“My name is Charles Sutherland, you may call me Count Sutherland.” The count said.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense.” Another shrill voice came from the bed on the right side of the count, or in other words, the bed right opposite from Mr Harbert. “he is no count.”

“Shut up, you drunkard!” The count roared back.

The voice that was called a ‘drunkard’ countered. “Every count has a castle, do you have one?”

“That is just a myth!” The count deflected, “Who made that a rule?”

“That has always been the rule!” The drunkard shouted back. When the two were arguing, Feng Bujue sidled to the side and pulled back the curtain of the ‘drunkard’. A green-skin, extremely small creature sat on the bed. He had sharp nose, pointed ears, big eyes and big lips. Undeniably... this was a goblin. And he too was dressed in a patient’s garb.

“What the hell? Don’t you know the meaning of respect for privacy?” After the curtain was pulled back, the goblin groused at Feng Bujue.

“I’m sorry... but I didn’t know a person who would eavesdrop on other’s conversation and chime in without asking would care about privacy.” Feng Bujue used a strong point to counter the accusation.

“Erm...” The goblin was stumped instantly.

“ha ha ha...” The count laughed. “Cat got your tongue?! Victor, you met your match today!”

“Oh... So your name is Victor.” Feng Bujue continued the thread of conversation.

“It is the great Victor Leadwords to you!” Victor replied, “A well known business magnate!”

“Pfft, he’s nothing but an illegal trafficker of various alcohol and military arms.” The count undermined.

“No one asked for your opinion, you fake royalty!”

“Shut up, you black-hearted businessman!”

And then they soon got into a heated argument. Feng Bujue sighed. He stood and watched. When the two cooled down slightly, he saw an opening and chimed in to ask the count, “So... why did you call me over here?”

“Oh, right right.” Count turned around to say, “You plan to help Harbert get his beer right? Then might I trouble you to go to the blood bank to get me some bags of blood. It’s best if it’s type B. I don’t need much, two bags should be enough.”

“Huh?” Feng Bujue replied weakly. “If you’re looking for blood... isn’t there a perfectly healthy goblin right here?”

“Hey!” Victor instantly grumbled with dissatisfaction.

“That is too banal. Sucking blood from a living creature is only what an animal would do.” The count looked at Brother Jue in a suspicion gaze. “Young man, you have watched too many violent movies, haven’t you?”

“he... he he...” Feng Bujue’s lips twitched and chuckled drily. “In a way, your answer gave me quite a relief.”

“Oh! If you’re going to the blood bank, then help grab something for me as well.” Victor added. “Yesterday, I lost a key. I believe I lost it at the pediatric emergency room, if you can help me find it, I will promise you a great reward!”

“No problem!” Feng Bujue promised easily. Of the whole sentence, the last two words were the ones that shot right into Brother Jue’s heart...

“I will not waste your time either.” Count said, “If you get me the blood, I will give you something as trade.”

“Sure.” Feng Bujue had already decided. Since he was going for a walk, might as well take as many side quests as he could and then return when he collected all the stuff.

“Side quests triggered.” Therefore, the system announcement came. Brother Jue’s quest tab had two new quests.

“Get two bags of Type B Blood Bags from the blood bank and hand it to Charles Shutterland in Room 216.”

“Find Victor’s Key at the pediatric clinic on the first floor and hand it to Victor Leadworks in Room 216.”

“Finally... I have a question.” Feng Bujue looked at these two. “From appearance, you two look perfectly capable of walking and you are not bound to the bed, why can’t you do these things yourself?”

“I have Cirrhosis and it’s not advisable for me to move around.” Victor answered.

The count’s reply was more to the point, just a single word. “Anemia.”