Chapter 83: The Parasitic Method

Xing Ye believed that even if it was his yesterday’s self, there was no way he had zero direction in his investigation. He didn’t trust Yan Hebi’s words.

Furthermore, this pervert with a crossdressing fetish survived more than sixty worlds and got 8 true endings. How could Yan Hebi really be as simple as he seemed?

Yan Hebi muttered despondantly when he saw Xing Ye didn’t believe him at all, “Yiyi darling, don’t look at me like that or I won’t be able to control my heart. We actually did make progress yesterday, but I can’t write stuff like that down. It’ll be trouble if somebody else accidentally sees.”

That was reasonable. Xing Ye observed Yan Hebi secretly.

Yan Hebi continued, “I can only tell you things about the mission verbally. I studied computer science in university and learned hacking from a great god online. If the world has computers, I’ll be able to find clues with the computer and get a true ending.

“Unfortunately, my luck isn’t great. In more than sixty worlds, only six of them had computers and I only discovered true endings in the 50th world.

“Look at how unlucky I am, it took me fifty worlds to finally have one with a computer… even my starting skills are related to computers, so I couldn’t even use my starting skills in the first 49 worlds!”

Yan Hebi’s eyes grew watery as he spoke. Even a big, strong man like him wanted to cry when he thought about his luck.

Xing Ye didn’t remember his luck value and asked. He listened to Yan Hebi’s answer before commenting, “If the opposing fate camp has a 1% luck value, a world with computers should only come by once in 100 worlds. Running into one at the 50th world actually means your luck’s pretty good.”

Yan Hebi’s face turned terrified, “Don’t jinx me!”

He thought again, “But I’m about to become a high level player anyways, so even if we just get the normal ending, 100 points will still be enough to enter high level worlds. No worries, no worries.”

Xing Ye was speechless.

When he thought about Yan Hebi’s luck value, his words sounded exactly like a very big flag.

The two walked to a locked doctor’s office. Yan Hebi took out a key and directly opened the door.

“This is Master Key, a prop-type QR code I got in a different world with fifty uses. It’s really convenient!” Yan Hebi explained as he said happily, “You don’t remember QR codes, right? I’ll tell it to you first then write it down later. It doesn’t matter if other players find out since everybody knows about QR codes and starting abilities.

My QR codes… Xing Ye remembered the game had a QR code box that could be opened, but when he tapped it, it just said 0…

Xing Ye was puzzled: why did I dare to challenge hard mode with such little equipment?

They walked into the doctor's office. Yan Hebi acted like an expert carrying a girl in a game as he opened the computer, explaining while he booted it up. “I copied the list of employees working night-shift at the hospital yesterday, now we have to copy today’s day and night shift attendance list.”

Xing Ye immediately understood what Yan Hebi meant, “Another parasite gets added every night, meaning those already parisited can’t leave the hospital at night. Normal employees wouldn’t work two night shifts in a row to avoid affecting their work efficiency, but parasites would! If a hospital employee continues to work 2, 3, or 4 night shifts, it’d be reasonable to suspect they’ve been taken over by a parasite.

“Apart from parasites, players would also want to stay in the hospital. Regardless of if its players or parasites we’re looking for, it’ll be much easier with the range narrowed down.”

“Smart!” Yan Hebi gave him a thumbs up, “Yiyi, even without your memory, you’re just as smart as yesterday. You speak exactly the same. Yesterday, I was just planning to sneak into the doctor’s office to hack into the whole hospital network and see if there was any information when you suddenly suggested that.”

Xing Ye noticed he could even hack into the hospital’s case history and said, “Make a copy of all the case records too, excluding the ones that have already been discharged.”

Yan Hebi asked, “But there’s a lot of patients who have stayed in the hospital for a long time. Will you be able to find anything?”

Xing Ye nodded, “That’s why it’s even easier for the parasites to attack patients. Pay attention to patients that should’ve been discharged today but weren’t, as well as those whose conditions have suddenly changed. Note them down, regardless if their condition turned better or worse. Make a copy of normal patients too of course, but put them at the back. We’ll look at the more suspicious ones first.”

Yan Hebi’s fingers flew on the keyboard, filtering through the data as he said, “Yiyi, aren’t you a bit too smart? No wonder the system sealed your memory. If you had your memory, with your brain and my ‘Keyboard King’ starting ability, wouldn’t we be undefeatable? Hey, aren’t we a match made in heaven?”

“No.” Xing Ye said coldly, “You already resolved yourself to walk the path of the solitary warrior, while I’m just a roadside fling. Nevermind this, tell me about your starting ability.”

Yan Hebi said, “Keyboard Warrior is one of my starting abilities. As long as I have a computer, I’ll be the king of the internet. Even if the world’s technology level is far beyond our world’s, I’ll still be able to find crucial clues. The use conditions are having two working hands, a keyboard, and 50 points are consumed per hour of use. Using it for more than 3 hours a day can cause side effects such as hand cramping, short sightedness, astigmatism, cervical spondylosis, crooked posture, carpal tunnel, etc.

“That reminds me, I’ve actually got worlds with computers 8 times, but I didn’t even have hands in two of them!”

Starting abilities had side effects?

Xing Ye heard starting abilities needed points and reminded him, “You used Keyboard King yesterday and today, so aren’t your points less than 49950 now?”

“Shoot!” Yan Hebi knocked his head, “Damn it, it looks like we have to get the true ending after all. Well, whatever. With my data collecting abilities and that IQ of yours, we’re a perfect team. Working with the opposite sex keeps it interesting too, so we’ll definitely be able to get the true ending.”

Xing Ye pulled a chair to sit behind Yan Hebi and looked at the data on the computer. He suddenly thought of something, “How many players are in this game?”

“Nine. Five opposing fate players, four following fate players. Now that you mention it, it’s kind of weird. In my previous worlds, there have always been more following fate players than opposing fate players. Why are there so many opposing fate players in this world?” Yan Hebi asked.

Xing Ye pondered, “Probably because opposing fate players are unluckier, so there’s a higher chance they’ll run into the parasite and become its host.”

Yan Hebi gaped as he stared at Xing Ye, his voice soft, “It shouldn’t be. We all have starting abilities and QR codes, how could we go down so easily?”

“Do you know how the parasite enters its host?” Xing Ye asked, “Do you think it’s through bites like a zombie?”

“Probably not?” Yan Hebi rubbed his arm, feeling goosebumps.
Xing Ye suggested again, “If the parasite lays a small egg at night and it’s slipped into your medications or food, won’t the person infected with the egg become the new host?”