Chapter 63 Email from Director Lu
Friday, October 25th, Earth time.
The weather in Province G began to cool down in the sanatorium located deep in the mountains, adjacent to a 4A-level scenic spot.
Lu Yiyun, carrying a briefcase, led a younger man up to the second floor of the sanatorium with ease. After turning a corner, they found the ward with a nameplate that read "Liu Yaowu".
"Aunt Lu is here."
The little girl who was sitting by the bed and browsing her phone saw the two people come in, and immediately jumped up and busied herself with pouring water into a cup.
"Why is Xiaoyun still here? Isn't she in school?" Lu Yiyu asked in surprise.
"Aunt Lu, you are so forgetful. I graduated this year." Liu Xiaoyun said with a smile, "I was planning to submit my resume and find a job, but my dad needs someone to take care of him."
"Look at me, I'm so busy that I always remember you're still in your early twenties."
Lu Yiyun smiled and patted his head, put down his briefcase, sat down beside the bed, and leaned over with concern: "How is Lao Liu?"
The middle-aged man lying on the hospital bed had been looking at Lu Yiyu and smiling since Lu Yiyu entered the room, but he seemed to have difficulty moving and his reaction nerves seemed to have problems. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out, and only drooled from the corners of his mouth.
"My dad has been in much better spirits these days." Liu Xiaoyun poured water for the two visitors, then turned back to get her phone, turned to Lu Yiyun and pressed the play button, saying happily, "Look, Aunt Lu, this is the video my dad recorded. He was very clear-headed in the game, just like before!"
Liu Xiaoyun's mobile phone was playing an image of a skeleton projected onto the water.
The skeleton, which had projected its own face onto the water surface, was talking. Although the skull's facial expression could not be seen, one could tell from the sound of his voice that he was excited:
"Xiao Yun, don't listen to your mother and stay here with me. I'm fine. Just go and take care of your own things. You're already a grown-up, it's time to find a boyfriend..."
"Please tell nurse Li to stop putting the urinal under my bed. Even if it doesn't smell, it's annoying to me."
Actually, Old Liu is still conscious and understands everything, but he can't move or speak. He has been paralyzed for only half a year and his spirit is ruined. Last year, he could stay on the construction site for ten days or half a month with the young people, but this year he is as thin as a hairless old monkey.
The last time Lu Yiyun saw Old Liu lying on the hospital bed in real life, he almost failed to recognize this Engineer Liu who was responsible for the construction of many road and bridge projects.
It was not until he met him in the "game" that Lu Yiyun saw the spirit of this old Luqiao man again.
In the mobile phone video, Old Liu was still chattering about family matters in full energy. Old Liu on the hospital bed also knew that it was his voice and smiled at Lu Yiyu with a radiant face.
"You are indeed in high spirits." Lu Yiyun smiled and patted Lao Liu on the shoulder. "Lao Liu, take good care of yourself and cooperate with the treatment to get your body back. If you can't stand, at least you should be able to sit. Let's think of a way. Who knows, someday we may be able to develop technology that allows normal communication without speaking. How comfortable that would be."
Old Liu tried to move his lips but no sound came out. He blinked his eyes as a sign of agreement and rolled his eyes, looking at his eldest daughter longingly.
"Dad, you've been online for eight hours today. You can go online later for the rest of the time, okay?" Liu Xiaoyun knew what his father meant and came over to coax him, "Next time when you have nothing to do in the game after dark, just log off. It's not suitable to play for so long in one go."
Old Liu blinked helplessly a few times.
"Take good care of your father." Lu Yiyun smiled and stood up. "I'll go see Uncle Geng. Take good care of Old Liu."
"Okay, goodbye Aunt Lu." Liu Xiaoyun stood up to see her off.
Lao Geng's ward is on the fifth floor. Because Lao Geng is old and his wife who takes care of him is not young either, they use air conditioning when the heating is not turned on. The temperature in the ward is also higher than that of Lao Liu's.
"Xiao Lu is here."
Seeing Lu Yiyun, Mrs. Geng excitedly held Lu Yiyun's hand: "I really... Thank you, Xiao Lu, thank you for remembering Lao Geng. The old man has been in much better spirits these days, and he is willing to eat. He is willing to cooperate with the doctor's examination... Thank you so much, Xiao Lu!"
"Please don't say that. No one can bear it. If we talk about gratitude, I am not even on the list of people who should thank Uncle Geng." Lu Yiyun said quickly.
An old voice came from the ward: "Okay, okay, stop blocking Xiao Lu, let him in to talk."
Mrs. Geng quickly invited Lu Yiyun in. Lu Yiyun took a quick look and found that Uncle Geng had actually sat up, leaning against the pillow, holding a tablet in his hands. When he saw Lu Yiyun, he smiled at her.
"Oh, Uncle Geng! You, you--are you okay?" Lu Yiyun was extremely surprised.
She also had the medical records of Geng Jianguo and Liu Yaowu. The attending doctors of these two people also reported the situation to the expert group every day, but without actually seeing them, Lu Yiyu really found it hard to believe that Geng Jianguo had recovered so well.
"What's good about it ? It's just like that." Old Geng was indeed in good spirits, with a bright smile, but his voice was still weak, and it couldn't be compared to the voice in the game. "You spend less time in pain every day, so shouldn't you keep your spirits up?"
Liu Yaowu was paralyzed in his lower limbs due to a serious accident on a construction site half a year ago. His brain was also impacted and his nerve centers were damaged, resulting in abstract signal thinking disorder, also known as loss of language function. However, his micro-EEG is very active, almost the same as that of a normal person. After evaluation, the expert group made a bold attempt, and Liu Yaowu was able to "log into the game" normally, and he also restored his normal language function before the accident within the game. This provided a new idea for the expert group's research direction.
Lao Geng's situation is a little different. This old man has been fighting the disease for many years. Chemotherapy is effective, but after all, he is old, and his body and mind are gradually unable to bear it. In addition, long-term use of painkillers has developed drug resistance. Even the strongest spirit and tenacious willpower cannot withstand such an endurance...
Liu Yaowu is from Luqiao and has devoted thirty years of his youth to national construction. Lao Geng is a soldier. After returning from the Vietnam War, he fought in Northwest China for twenty years. Even though there was a big gap in helmets for "stimulation therapy" for patients with impaired consciousness, the expert group managed to squeeze out two helmets for these two.
Lao Geng proudly showed Lu Yiyun the video he had taken in the game. The canteen he and Lao Liu had built was very popular. Lao Liu, the mediocre chef, was worshipped by everyone. Lao Geng, who was eager to show off his soup-making skills, also showed off his skills, and the response was really good...
"What a pity! I've become a skeleton and can't tell the saltiness. I can only taste it by feel. Otherwise, Lao Liu and I could become cooking gods."
Old Geng, who is over 70 years old, showed off their abilities in the game like an old child, and Lu Yiyun and the assistant who accompanied her couldn't stop laughing.
After meeting these two people, Lu Yiyun and his colleagues went to see the attending doctors of these two people...
On the way back to the institute, Lu Yiyun, who was driving himself, was silent for half the way and suddenly sighed.
"Director Lu?" The assistant turned sideways.
"Nothing." Lu Yiyu smiled and said nothing more.
This sanatorium, hidden deep in the mountains of Province G, houses patients including Liu Yaowu, Mr. Geng, and several others who have made great contributions to the country.
A helmet cannot cure diseases directly, but it can provide spiritual comfort to those who have worked hard all their lives, and can relieve some of the pain of illness like Mr. Geng.
However, the institute has a limited number of helmets, and the limited helmets are needed to treat a large number of patients with impaired consciousness...
Lu Yiyun, who chaired the expert group, felt a little regretful.
There are too few helmets. If there were more, we wouldn’t have to struggle about who to prioritize.
During the period of providing the "target" materials, the expert group did not do nothing... they still did what they needed to do.
After a series of actions, the expert group confirmed that the "target" can indeed deliver real-life materials into the "game world", but it seems unable to transfer living creatures.
The Beidou satellite locator installed on the tricycle lost contact four hours after the container was handed over. Afterwards, Ji Tang found the working satellite locator again on the tricycle in the "game".
The gun components hidden in different tricycles were also successfully brought into the "game". Ji Tang quietly collected these components and assembled them for test firing, and there was no impact on the function at all...
In a certain container, the expert group deliberately placed a cage containing two white mice; Lao Geng, who "logged into the game" two days later than the container, dismantled the container with a special mark and found the bodies of two white mice.
Afterwards, Professor Yin Zhengliang from the expert group took over Lu Yiyun's forum account, offering various prices and making various excuses to test the other party. Unfortunately, the "target" was very determined to cooperate and refused any cooperation other than the exchange of materials and helmets.
After many negotiations, "Target" hinted that the number of helmets could not be increased endlessly, but had some kind of limit.
Professor Yin Zhengliang was unable to reveal what the restrictions were...
Faced with such an opponent who was gradually revealing his cunning face, Professor Yin Zhengliang and Lu Yiyun were both very troubled.
"We can only take it slow." Lu Yiyun sighed to himself and suppressed the anxiety in his heart.
That night, Yang Qiu returned to Earth from another world. As usual, after taking a shower and having a midnight snack, he checked the player forum, marked the experience posts as featured, and provided a one-stop service of deleting posts, warnings and banning the newbies who mindlessly posted and flooded the forum to ask for accounts.
The hottest topic on the player forum these past two days is the discussion about civilian NPCs. The new NPCs in the two "main city" maps, Exile Town and Desolate Stronghold, appear to be like real people, greatly attracting the interest of casual players, and all kinds of speculations surrounding these NPCs have almost dominated the forum.
Well... this is also quite normal. Compared to the "high-level NPCs" whose performances are quite out of touch with reality, "civilian NPCs" are indeed closer to the human beings that Earthlings understand...
Yang Qiu scanned these casual players' analysis posts one by one, mainly to confirm whether there were any crazy players who wanted to do something crazy - the civilian NPC identification skills showed green names after scanning, and there was no equipment "dropped"; but there could be idle players who wanted to try whether the civilian NPC could be killed or something... If anyone showed signs of such dangerous behavior, Yang Qiu would unceremoniously send a big gift package of account suspension.
At present, it is not so bad. There are plenty of monsters in the wild area of Desolate Stronghold and the spider nest at the end of the underground passage of Exile Town to vent the aggression of these players. In addition, when the previous "Suppress Rebellion" mission was settled, it was announced that attacking NPCs during non-mission period would deduct all reputation and ban the account. Therefore, none of the players who cherish their accounts are ready to commit suicide.
After reading the forum, Yang Qiu habitually checked the administrator's backend.
During this period of time, "Director Lu" sent him emails almost every day, using all kinds of rhetoric to try to get information from him. Although Yang Qiu was a little impatient, he had taken a large amount of supplies from him after all, so he couldn't just ignore him... If he got angry after taking the things this time, it would be difficult for him to ask for things next time.
Today, "Director Lu" sent me an email, which started with a grand statement that a certain granary in Nanzhou, Province G, had several hundred tons of old grain to sell, asking if anyone was interested...
Yang Qiu: “…”
"This guy, is he trying to test whether I have any intention of demarcating a territory and claiming my throne?" Yang Qiu did not show any excitement, but stroked his chin and pondered, "The civilians brought back from Kamoer and the priests who came to Exile Town to eat free meals have made these guys sure that the 'game' is indeed a world. Are they considering going ahead with me?"
If you ask Yang Qiu whether he wants food, he definitely does.
But you can tell with your knees that the person behind the account "Director Lu" has been replaced. He is no longer the scientist who focused on research before. If you take other people's food, you have to pay an equivalent price. It is impossible for you to get it for free.
And this is also the tricky part for Yang Qiu... He has not yet been promoted to a great magician, the branding matrix cannot be "expanded", and he cannot give them more helmets.
After some consideration, Yang Qiu replied that the other party did not need it , saying that there was no place to store it.
His attitude is that he neither denies the other party's guess, but also does not confirm it.
After expressing such an ambiguous attitude, Yang Qiu went to bed with peace of mind.
The next morning, when Yang Qiu woke up and opened the forum administrator's backend... he found that "Director Lu" had sent another email.
In this email, "Director Lu" made an even more blatant and shocking statement: "A machinery factory in Province X has a backlog of cement production lines, fertilizer production lines, thermal power generation units, and other supporting equipment due to Party A's default on payment. Are you interested?"
Yang Qiu: “…”
——Which machinery factory can squeeze out so many complete sets of equipment at once? Do you think I have no common sense?
