God's Imitator

Through the floor-to-ceiling window, Ye Lin could see that Tan Minglei was visibly startled by the two beeps of a communication request from the vending machine. He forced himself through the pain, made his way over to it, and pressed the ’Answer’ button.

”Who is this?” Tan Minglei’s voice was a little hoarse.

Ye Lin realised that the call function did not display her zone or name to the other party.

So she did not introduce herself, and instead said, ”That doesn’t matter. I can try to help you, but I’d like you to answer a few questions honestly.”

Tan Minglei’s voice carried obvious suspicion, ”You? Help me?

”Fine. Not much time. Ask quickly.”

Ye Lin said, ”You’ve probably already bought medication from the Doctor, haven’t you? How many types of medication did the Doctor tell you they had available?”

Tan Minglei was quiet for a moment, ”Only Type M.”

Ye Lin pressed further, ”What was the price?”

Tan Minglei said, ”1,500 Medical Points per tablet.”Ye Lin’s brow twitched, ”Per tablet?”

Tan Minglei said, ”Yes.”

Ye Lin took a slow breath and said, ”Would you like to know the real prices of these medications?

”The Sales player carries four types of Special Medication: Type C, Type M, Type O, and Type F. Of these, Type C can achieve complete pain relief for Standard Pain and prevent it from worsening.

”Type M, Type O, and Type F can all achieve complete pain relief for Special Pain.

”All medications come in bottles of five tablets.

”The recommended retail range for Type M is 1,200 to 1,500 Medical Points per bottle.

”And the minimum retail prices for the other three types are 500, 100, and 200 respectively.”

On the other end of the call, Tan Minglei was silent for a long time before asking, with a trace of disbelief, ”You’re saying Type O medication, which can fully cure Special Pain, is five tablets for 100 Medical Points in total?”

Ye Lin nodded and said, ”That’s right.

”To be fair, that is the minimum purchase price for the Sales player. In practice, since it passes through two stages before reaching the patient, some profit margin along the way is to be expected.

”There’s also something else I have to be honest with you about.

”Type O and Type F do carry certain side effects, and there is a risk of drug addiction if taken in excess.

”The Doctor only selling Type M may partly be a consideration of that.”

Tan Minglei gave a short, self-deprecating laugh, ”Drug addiction risk?

”Ha. You clearly haven’t been through Special Pain.

”If you’d felt what I’ve felt, you’d know I don’t care about any side effects right now. As long as it keeps that pain away, I’ll pay any price.

”That’s why I spent 4,500 points on three tablets!

”You’re a Sales player, aren’t you?

”You’re telling me all this because you want me to share it with all the patients?”

Ye Lin did not answer directly, ”I can guarantee that everything I’ve told you is true. You’re welcome to try to verify it through other channels.

”From my perspective, I’m completely happy with a low-margin, high-volume approach, as long as I’m not selling at a loss.

”What I can’t accept is my goodwill being exploited and turned into a middleman’s markup.

”Of course, that’s all I can do from where I am.

”As for what you patients actually do, and whether you manage to get medication at fair prices, that’s entirely up to you.”

Tan Minglei said quietly, ”Thank you.”

Ye Lin ended the call.

She could have chosen to talk for longer, even at the cost of forgoing a meeting with another player next round.

But she had no intention of doing that. A short call of barely one minute had been enough.

The information she had obtained from Tan Minglei only confirmed her suspicions further.

”Knew it would turn out this way.

”In a game like this, how could there possibly be a Doctor who genuinely gave up their own interests to help patients wholeheartedly?”

Ye Lin sat down on the sofa and let out a long breath.

By this point in the game, she had actually drawn out a great deal of information from Xu Yiheng.

At their very first meeting, Ye Lin had shown her goodwill as openly and without reservation as she could, and that kind of goodwill was certain to outshine whatever the other Sales player had offered.

That goodwill had been rewarded. Xu Yiheng’s trust in her had grown noticeably with each meeting.

And by making use of that trust, Ye Lin had gathered a great deal of valuable information from him, the most valuable being the real-world counterparts and effects of the four types of medication.

That was the most central secret of the entire game.

It also meant that Xu Yiheng was not a suspicious type of player, but one who was willing to place genuine trust in anyone who clearly expressed goodwill.

From what she had seen, Xu Yiheng was probably not a player who had only just joined in the Second Stage.

He might have joined partway through the First Stage, or perhaps he had benefited from this cooperative approach in an earlier game and developed a habit of playing this way.

Players who leaned toward goodwill and cooperation were a rare species in the Gallery. Running into one was naturally a good thing.

But on the other hand, their goodwill also made them easier to exploit.

...

Ye Lin went back to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked across at the VIP Patient room on the Zone A side.

She held the four different medication bottles up and pressed them one by one against the glass of the window, displaying them to the player inside.

That player was visibly startled for a moment, then quickly moved closer to their own window to look.

Despite the courtyard between them, the distance was not too great. The letter on each bottle should have been just barely legible.

Then Ye Lin held up her fingers to indicate the prices of the four medications in turn.

Six. Twelve. One. Two.

...

At the same time, Qin Cheng was watching the doors in his Treatment Room that led to the patient rooms.

Li Haoqiang from the Regular Patient room had sent a request.

He waited a little longer to confirm that no other patients had submitted a request, then accepted Li Haoqiang’s.

Li Haoqiang came in looking somewhat flustered, ”Doctor!

”I, I think I’ve been Infected!”

Qin Cheng gestured for him to sit down across from him, ”Don’t panic. Sit down first. Were you selected by the system as an Infected player, or were you passed the infection by another player?

”How many Infected players are there in the Lounge right now?”

Li Haoqiang said, ”At the moment, just me.”

Qin Cheng let out a small breath of relief, ”That’s fine then. Nothing to worry about.”

This was already the ninth round. Of the game’s total four hours, just over one hour had now passed.

That meant a second player selected by the system had most likely already become Infected.

According to the rules, one player per zone would be randomly designated as Infected each hour, though not necessarily in the first round of that hour. There was a degree of randomness to the timing.

Qin Cheng took out a bottle containing three tablets and passed it over.

”This is Type M Medication for treating Special Pain. There are three tablets in total, at 300 Medical Points each, coming to 900 altogether.

”Once you’re back in your room, take one tablet per round for three consecutive rounds and that will guarantee a cure.

”Make sure you remember, do not take more than one.”