Chapter 170: [Transplantation] Change the Subject
The village health clinic wasn’t hard to find.
Wood sorrel was planted outside its entrance as well.
An elderly male doctor sat inside. Seeing Wen Xing and Bai Cha about to step in, he immediately stood up to block the doorway.
“Our Xiaoguang Village has a rule: women are not allowed inside the clinic. You two stand further back.”
“Holy cow, what century are we in that there are still restrictions like this?” An Xiang was the first to leap forward.
No joke, did this kind of discrimination against women only harm female players’ interests? No, male players’ interests would be harmed from a different angle as well.
The village doctor frowned and said, “What’s it to you? It’s not like you were banned from entering. Fine, I know you city college students don’t care about these things, but our village cares about them! If you’re unwilling to abide by them, don’t come here! Every place has its own customs! And you call yourselves college students—don’t you even know how to respect local customs?”
A single sentence rendered An Xiang utterly speechless.
What kind of custom was this supposed to be?
“Then please get me some medicine—fever medication, if you will,” Bai Cha said, looking very easy to talk to.
Hearing this, the village doctor sized her up.
“You’re sick?”
“Nonsense, are you blind?” Wen Xing was far less polite.
The village doctor’s face darkened.
“A young girl who’s neither properly feminine nor masculine, speaking so rudely! In our village, someone like you wouldn’t be able to get married at all! A young girl should act like a young girl!”
Wen Xing was so infuriated that she laughed.
She was never one to tolerate nonsense to begin with.
Stepping straight forward, she grabbed the village doctor by his collar. With a sudden surge of force in her hands, she flipped him completely over.
“It’s none of your damn business how I choose to act! I asked you to get some medicine, and you’re standing here spewing nonsense?!”
The village doctor shouted in horror and rage, “You shrew! You’re an absolute shrew!”
“Say another word, and I’ll show you what a real shrew looks like!”
Saying this, Wen Xing tightened her grip. Feeling his bones on the verge of snapping, the village doctor frantically blurted out, “I’ll get the medicine! I’ll go get the medicine right now!”
Wen Xing let out a cold snort and released him.
The village doctor scrambled into the clinic in utter disarray.
A short while later, he hurled a medicine bottle straight out without even bothering to step up to the doorway.
Wen Xing caught the bottle and handed it to Bai Cha.
Bai Cha took a look—it was a small bottle of paracetamol.
“No issues here. Let’s go, thank you, Big Sister!”
Bai Cha offered Wen Xing a sweet smile.
Wen Xing’s face contorted slightly.
“Don’t call me ‘Big Sister’, isn’t that disgusting?!”
Bai Cha immediately lowered her head in a pitiful, vulnerable manner.
“Alright then, I’ll call you Xing-xing instead!”
Wen Xing choked on her breath, goosebumps breaking out all over her body.
No one had ever called her “Xing-xing” in such a coquettish tone before.
“Can you just call me by my name directly?”
“Sure thing, Sister Wen Xing!”
Wen Xing: “…”
Forget it.
It’s fine, still better than ‘Xing-xing’.
“Do you guys have hot water over there?” Wen Xing changed the subject, turning to look at An Xiang.
“Yeah, you guys don’t have any? Follow me.”
The accommodations arranged for the male players were indeed exceptionally thoughtful. Fruits and candies were laid out on the table, and there was even a thermos of hot water inside the room.
The other players were currently out exploring the village. Spotting them on the road and learning that Bai Cha needed to take medicine, they cast a few extra glances in her direction.
To think someone actually fell ill upon entering a game.
Bai Cha took her medicine and casually scanned their courtyard.
This small courtyard looked vastly better than theirs. On both sides of the courtyard sat two small flowerbeds, entirely filled with wood sorrel.
The flowers bloomed far more vibrantly here as well.
Bai Cha looked thoughtful.
“This instance is so cozy…” Bai Cha offered a seemingly naive sigh.
Wen Xing frowned and said, “Don’t let your guard down so casually! The more peaceful things seem under these circumstances, the more dangerous the night will be!”
An Xiang nodded in agreement.
“Why? Is there a reason behind that?” Bai Cha turned around curiously.
She could guess the general logic behind it, though she truly hadn’t encountered a scenario like this before.
She had cleared very few instances, after all.
This was one of the drawbacks of ranking up too quickly.
Scaling up through ranks would prove increasingly difficult down the line, with the number of instances rising accordingly. However, due to a lack of experience, the intrinsic difficulty of the instances themselves would escalate, making it entirely possible to suffer a fatal blunder.
Her clueless reaction left Wen Xing feeling both annoyed and helpless.
“Can you… can you… can you pay a little more attention?!”
Bai Cha immediately blinked her eyes at her again, making Wen Xing feel immensely irritable.
“Ahem, it’s like this: under normal circumstances, an instance would never feature such a safe Survival Mode. A situation like ours usually implies that the gameplay is divided into day and night. Daytime serves as a safe period for buffering and rest, while nighttime is bound to be terrifying.”
An Xiang offered an explanation from the side.
Bai Cha wore a look of enlightened understanding.
“Then what do you guys think the ghosts in this instance represent? Young girls?” Bai Cha posed the question to the two of them.
This question naturally prompted the two to begin discussing the instance.
“It’s possible, considering the heavy preference for men over women in this village… It’s hard to say for sure, mainly because the title of this instance is quite subtle as well.”
An Xiang scratched his head.
“‘Grafting’—how does that connect to favoring men over women? Secretly swapping a baby girl for a boy?”
Bai Cha offered a beaming smile: “What if that’s the case? I heard that some places have gender-swapping potions, right?”
The moment those words left her mouth, both An Xiang and Wen Xing felt a sudden chill run down their spines.
It felt as though, accompanying Bai Cha’s mention of gender-swapping potions, a fleeting moment of darkness descended simultaneously—yet it passed so quickly it felt like a mere blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Bai Cha still maintained a completely naive, oblivious expression.
An Xiang opened his mouth, yet didn’t know what to say.
Wen Xing knitted her brows, lowering her voice.
“Don’t speak so carelessly inside an instance! Didn’t the adults in your family ever teach you to speak less in unfamiliar places?”
Bai Cha immediately adopted a aggrieved look: “They did! But aren’t we without outsiders right now? Are we not friends already?”
An Xiang and Wen Xing: “…”
Both of them simultaneously felt things were getting a bit tricky.
“It seems your parents must have protected you quite well. I give up, fuck!” Wen Xing cursed under her breath once more.
“Sigh, still, the plot in Survival Mode isn’t usually that hard to guess. It might really be just as you guessed.” An Xiang pulled the topic back on track.
If it involved gender-swapping potions to turn baby girls into boys, that would indeed tie back to the title “Grafting.”
If that were the case, however…
“But I heard gender-swapping potions always carry risks. If it fails, the baby born is still a girl, or dies right at birth…”
Before Bai Cha could finish speaking, Wen Xing clapped a hand over her mouth.
An Xiang almost reached out to cover her mouth as well.
Stop talking, Big Sister! Didn’t you notice the sky just overcast?!
Bai Cha looked at them with an innocent expression.
“Alright, we can wrap up this topic. It’s enough that we have a general idea in our minds.”
An Xiang cleared his throat, deciding to change the subject.
“Let’s talk about the decorative lanterns instead. Up until now, none of us have spotted a single lantern.”
