I picked up a boyfriend in the infinite game

Chapter 237, 4th Hall, 2

The players followed the old man into the alley, and their vision suddenly darkened.

The alleyway was filled with the mixed smell of herbs and disinfectant, weighing heavily on the gray bricks and tiles. Even the wind seemed to have stopped; the air was silent and tense, like a dead grave isolated in the human world.

The alleyways are narrow, allowing only two people to walk side by side at most. Some players walk alone, while others travel in pairs.

Song Guicheng and Shi Sui walked on the muddy road, the wet mud mixed with dregs of medicine and broken leaves, sticking to the uppers of Song Guicheng's shoes.

The earthy, musty, and herbal smells swirled together, overwhelming the players. Several players couldn't help but cover their noses with their sleeves, while others cursed under their breath.

The strong smell was a disaster for Song Guicheng, whose senses were particularly sensitive. The smell here could not be described as merely unpleasant; it was a withered, deathly stench.

Song Guicheng's fingertips twitched, but he didn't raise his hand to cover his nose. He could smell the faint scent of blood mixed in the air.

Shi Sui looked normal and surveyed his surroundings.

The houses on both sides of the alley are low, at most two stories high, and the marks of wind and rain erosion are left on the exposed bricks, tiles and wood, mottled and dripping.

Most of the wooden doors of the houses were half-open, the creaking of the hinges being torn apart by the wind. On the rooftop balconies of some houses, a few faded white shirts hung listlessly.

After walking for a while, I didn't see many residents around. Occasionally, I could see people peeking out of windows, and sometimes I could hear suppressed coughs and groans.

The old man leading the group coughed a few times before finally speaking. His throat was hoarse, as if it were covered in phlegm, and his Mandarin was very broken: "Everyone has taken their medicine and is ready to rest at this time. We'll ask them to register tomorrow; there's no time for today."

The old man spoke with an air of familiarity about the medical team's entry procedures, but his attitude toward them was lukewarm.

As the old man led them deeper into the alley, he explained the basic situation of the alley to them.

There are two roads in the alley, one running east-west and the other north-south, and forty-three households are crammed along these two roads.

The road they are walking on now runs east to west. The medical team's accommodation is at the very end of the west alley, next to the health clinic and supply and marketing cooperative.

Song Guicheng's gaze swept over the surrounding houses. There were traces of grayish-white lime water in front of each house, some of which looked freshly poured, with white water meandering along the muddy road.

Every household has a sachet hanging at their door. Although they are called sachets, some are actually just bundles of grass tied with mugwort and hanging at the door, and the mugwort has long since dried up.

The old man at the front paused for a moment before continuing, "Besides the clinic, you also have to manage the supply and marketing cooperative. We can't read... The supplies sent from above, apart from those that were distributed, are all piling up in the supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse..."

After walking for quite a while, the players finally spotted another living person.

She was an old woman with gray hair and a hunched back, squatting by the stove outside the thatched hut. She held a chipped enamel bowl in her hand, and the dark brown medicine in the bowl was emitting thin steam. She coughed twice, covered her mouth with a handkerchief, the corner of which had turned dark yellow.

"That's Granny Liu, she has no children, alas..."

As he spoke, the old man in the lead quickened his pace and went up to greet Granny Liu.

"Grandma Liu! Grandma Liu!" He walked up to Grandma Liu and called her name several times. Grandma Liu, who was squatting on the ground, slowly raised her head and looked at the person in front of her. It took her a while to react.

"For the people...you've come..."

The old man leading the group was Jia Weimin, which didn't surprise the players. Who else could be in charge of the alleyway to receive the medical team?

Jia Weimin spoke a few words to Granny Liu in his local dialect, then pointed to the medical team. Granny Liu raised her cloudy eyes and glanced at the players in white coats before lowering her head to drink her medicine.

Song Guicheng didn't understand what they were saying, only hearing two "good"s. He didn't know what Jia Weimin meant by "good"—that the illness could be cured.

After watching Granny Liu finish her medicine and helping her into her house, Jia Weimin turned back to explain to the players.

"You are the fourth group of comrades to come here. The first three groups... sigh... couldn't even cure themselves, let alone cure us... We were so happy when the first group of people in white coats came to us..."

As he rambled on, he led the players deeper into the alley. Soon, a red banner appeared on the wall that read, "The strength of epidemic prevention depends on everyone." The banner had faded and was streaked with water, resembling someone's tear-stained face.

Next to that wall, you can see the big characters for "health clinic" and "supply and marketing cooperative". The medical team's residence is sandwiched between these two buildings, and from the outside, it looks no different from the other houses in the alley.

The adobe walls, eroded by time, are pitted and uneven, revealing the yellow soil mixed with wheat straw inside, like the chapped back of an old man's hand. On the black tile roof, a few clumps of foxtail grass sway in the wind. The tiles at the eaves are chipped, revealing the rafters underneath, which have turned black from being soaked in rainwater.

The paint on the two wooden doors had peeled off, revealing a light yellow wood color, and some dried mud was stuck in the cracks.

Jia Weimin opened the door for the players, and it creaked as if someone was sighing softly.

He handed the key to the leader of the group: "You'll stay here. There are work notes left by the previous groups in the room. You'll be in charge of arranging the specifics of what to do and how to treat the patients."

After saying that, he didn't say anything else and dragged himself away.

A man with full-arm tattoos stepped across the threshold first, exclaiming, "Holy crap, is this a place for people to live?"

The mud floor inside the hall was uneven, worn smooth, with cracks in the corners that let in dampness. The adobe walls were cracked, and cobwebs clung to the corners.

Against the wall stood an eight-immortal table, its red paint long faded to a dark yellow, and a piece of the edge was chipped off, revealing the wood grain underneath, like an unhealed scar. On the table sat a rusty kerosene lamp.

Several sheets of paper were pasted on the east wall, with red titles, such as epidemic prevention regulations and work schedules... Several players have already gone to see them.

"Let's get to know each other," the woman who had just taken the keys from Jia Weimin said. "My name is Lin Caiwen."

Lin Caiwen looked to be in her thirties, tall and slender, with a neat low ponytail. She looked very smart in her white lab coat, with only the clean cuffs of her light blue shirt peeking out, fitting perfectly with the lab coat cuffs. The Velcro on the cuffs was fastened tightly, and the fabric moved smoothly with her wrists, without any looseness.

Lin Caiwen said, "I used to be a doctor."

Upon hearing this, those whose attention was elsewhere instantly turned their gaze to him.

The value of a doctor in a disease-specific scenario is self-evident, even without her explicit explanation.

If Lin Caiwen happens to be ranked first in the beginner dungeon, she will receive a system-issued item that matches her attributes, just like Song Guicheng. If Lin Caiwen gets it, it will most likely be related to medicine.

However, Lin Caiwen's introduction was brief, without emphasizing anything additional or specifying which team she belonged to.

The woman who was with Lin Caiwen also said, "My name is Su Xiao."

Shi Sui then spoke: "Shi Sui."

As soon as he said his name, several people turned to look at him; Shi Sui was clearly well-known.

Shi Sui put her arm around Song Guicheng and said, "This is my boyfriend, Song Guicheng."

Chen Wenyu was dumbfounded. When did this happen?

Zhao Xiaoyun's gaze darted back and forth between Chen Wenyu and Song Guicheng, lost in thought.

Song Guicheng sighed, "Being affected by Shi Sui is like contracting some kind of disease."

He smiled and said, "I am Song Guicheng."

Zhao Xiaoyun raised her hand as a greeting to everyone: "Zhao Xiaoyun."

Chen Wenyu adjusted his glasses: "Chen Wenyu."

The tattooed man kept staring at Shi Sui with hostile eyes, but Shi Sui didn't care at all. He had plenty of enemies, and he couldn't even remember this kind of small fry. But his body still honestly moved a little closer to Song Guicheng's back.

Song Guicheng met the gaze of the tattooed man, a silent spark seemingly igniting between calmness and ferocity. The tattooed man uttered three words: "Zhang Haoqing."

Another man in a neat white coat spoke up: "Sun Zhida."

He also looked to be in his thirties, with a stern face and every move he made exuded a sense of disciplined training, unlike Lin Caiwen's natural and unpretentious demeanor.

The middle-aged man and woman standing under the epidemic prevention regulations on the east wall appear to be a married couple; the woman's name is Zhou Fang, and the man's name is Liu Qinggen.

Finally, there was a young man left. He hadn't said a word since entering the instance. He stood there alone, tall and slender, with a camera hanging from his chest. His black hair had a slight curl and covered half of his eye.

Everyone waited for him to speak before he finally said his name: "Chen Mo".

They were quite silent.

Song Guicheng, however, was looking out the window, his attention wandering. He still hadn't sensed Wu Zhi's presence. Could Wu Zhi be a resident here? Was he going to kill his clone again this time?

The wind outside the window swept through the empty alley, past the tightly closed window frames, carrying the smells of medicine, mildew, and a faint, indescribable, astringent scent of silence, penetrating deeper into the space.