I Run Away with the Earth to Save the World [Unlimited Flow] - Chapter 103

The group looked at each other and followed without hesitation.

Even the staff who had just arrived hesitated only slightly before boarding the plane.

Before heading back to the cockpit, Gu Leshan grabbed Lu Lingxi and reminded him solemnly, “Record the meeting for me later, buddy!”

Lu Lingxi replied sincerely, “Want me to record a video instead?”

Gu Leshan couldn’t help but laugh and gave Lu Lingxi a fist-pump gesture. “Even better!”

The formation of the third erosion area was imminent. Given the special circumstances, the domestic flight approval for the private plane was processed at lightning speed.

It was already 7 p.m. local time. The sky outside was completely dark.

No one had time to care. Everyone sat around the dining table in a circle, all with serious expressions, turning the private jet’s small dining area into a makeshift conference room.

David, Caroline and Joyce tactfully gave up their snack-and-chat seats to the two staff members.

Jing Qizhen took the initiative, “Tell me about the general situation at Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital?”

The staff member was startled. “They—they’re currently coordinating with other major hospitals in Binhai City, transferring their critically ill patients in the first batch. Hospitals in neighboring areas with the capacity have also taken in some patients.”

Jing Qizhen: “Can they complete the transfers before 2 a.m. tonight?”

The other staff member frowned. “It’s already past seven. From now until two in the morning, we have less than seven hours. Even if the medical staff works overtime, there might not be enough ambulances… All we can say is that we’re doing our best.”

Even though they hadn’t entered an erosion area themselves, they knew how unpredictable and dangerous it could be. It’s hard enough for a healthy person to come out unscathed but if patients from the hospital got pulled in, there would definitely be serious problems.

Jing Qizhen reassured them, “The erosion area won’t expand immediately. There will be a time gap before it spreads from the old building of the Second Municipal Hospital to the new outpatient and inpatient buildings.”

The two staff members nodded.

They weren’t directly in charge of coordinating the patient transfers but just thinking about the overwhelming pressure on the Second Municipal Hospital made them anxious.

Caroline, David and Joyce didn’t understand Mandarin but were very curious about what Jing Qizhen and the others were discussing. So, they took out the voice translators on their phones or tablets, huddling together in the back, trying to guess the meaning of the conversation.

Wilcox glanced at his frowning little cousin and became even more convinced that Joyce was just a burden. After all, Joyce couldn’t understand what Jing Qizhen and the others were saying, nor could he read most of the signs in the Second Municipal Hospital. In a situation with a language barrier, he’d probably struggle even with opening a door or pressing an elevator button.

Sensing his cousin’s slight look of disdain, Joyce felt a bit wronged.

Perhaps out of a shared sense of helplessness, Caroline and Joyce had grown much closer.

The three foreigners huddled together and whispered, “After we get off the plane and they go into that new erosion area, what do we do?”

Joyce said, “Didn’t they say someone would be assigned to host us?”

David said seriously, “I’m thinking about how to explain this to my family. Should I act out a scene?”

After a pause, David added, “How about this? After we land, I’ll call my father, pretending to be super cheerful. Then one of you snatches my phone midway. I’ll act like an idiot who doesn’t realize he’s been kidnapped.”

Caroline said, “…Your dad knows you’re not that dumb.”

“Exactly. That’s why he’ll know I did it on purpose and then he won’t send a group of people across borders to rescue me,” replied David.

Caroline nodded. “That kind of makes sense. I’ll join in with you.”

Then the two friends looked at Joyce.

Joyce said simply, “My family knows my cousin is with me.”

David and Caroline immediately had a ‘Then it’s fine’ look on their faces.

Joyce: “…”

At the table, the conversation among Jing Qizhen and the others had shifted from transferring the current patients out of the Second Municipal Hospital to the hospital’s internal situation.

One of the staff said with a bitter smile, “We’ve already contacted the local government of Binhai City and are working with the hospital staff to sort through records of employees from 1970 to 2020. Especially the retired doctors who were rehired. Right now, everyone is working off name lists and gathering information one-on-one.”

The approach was inspired by their last experience in the remote village in Shennongjia.

Barring any surprises, it would become standard procedure when dealing with new erosion areas in the future.

However, Si Jiayang shook his head. “Isn’t the Second Municipal Hospital a top-tier hospital? A large general hospital like that must have several hundred staff members…”

Jin Guijuan didn’t understand the structure of hospital staffing but she knew about village demographics.

She said worriedly, “That village in Shennongjia only had seventy or so households and many of them were related. Even in that setting, the interpersonal relationships were so complex. If it’s a hospital with hundreds of people and mostly coworker relationships, wouldn’t the relationships be even harder to untangle?”

Lu Lingxi shook his head. “The issue isn’t just that it’s difficult. The problem is that it might be impossible to sort out. Plus, the staff turnover in a workplace is way higher than in a small, remote village.”

Old Xiao started wiping his cold sweat again. “So even if we go in with a full roster from the Second Municipal Hospital, we might still be completely confused?”

Jing Qizhen was calm. “It’s not like we can prepare for everything outside the erosion area anyway. But having some preparation is better than none.”

Everyone nodded, no longer dwelling on the issue.

Jing Qizhen turned his gaze to Manman and Si Jiayang, both veteran players of horror puzzle games. He asked, “In horror movies and puzzle games, hospitals are pretty common settings or sources of inspiration, right?”

Both Manman and Si Jiayang nodded.

Si Jiayang thought for a moment, categorized everything in his mind, and then started explaining, “The first type of plot is where the player wakes up in a hospital and the main objective is to solve puzzles and escape from what seems like a locked-down, terrifying hospital.

“The second type is the reverse. The protagonist is outside and enters a sealed hospital to either rescue survivors or eliminate the big boss inside.

“Another type appears in more complex horror puzzle games. In these, the hospital is just one scene, basically a supply station where players can get medical resources.

“Oh, and hospital scenes are often combined with zombies or other mutated creatures.”

Manman added slowly, “There’s also a special type of plot where everything before is just the protagonist’s imagination. All the puzzles and battles are just the protagonist playing mind games with thin air. In the end, they wake up from the delusion and leave the mental hospital. Or sometimes, they never wake up at all and the game drops subtle hints that the protagonist was a lunatic the whole time. That’s the kind of game with a ‘screw-you’ vibe.”

Lu Lingxi’s eyes were starting to spiral. He instantly recalled the fear of being tormented by horror puzzle games for several days straight.

Everyone: “…”

Jing Qizhen: “…So, based on the horror games you’ve played with hospital themes, do you have any suggestions?”

Si Jiayang: “Suggestions? Sure! First, a complete map of the hospital, especially key locations like the director’s office, department head’s office, HR office, morgue and medical equipment rooms.”

Jing Qizhen borrowed a notebook from Lu Lingxi and immediately wrote down a checklist.

[1. Complete floor plans of the hospital over the years.]

[2. Keys to all floors and rooms in the hospital.]

As he was writing those down, Manman suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, “Before we go in, should we put on lab coats? And maybe also get some director or doctor ID badges?”

Yan Hong said, “But we’re not sure what year this erosion area is from…”

Manman said, “Then let’s take ID cards and badges from all the different years. Once we confirm the time inside, we can destroy the others.”

Yan Hong agreed. “Sounds good to me!”

Jing Qizhen added another note to the list.

[3. Director, department head, and attending physician’s ID cards and badges (versions from different years).]

The two staff members nearby, watching Jing Qizhen and the others brainstorm up close for the first time: “=口=!!!”

After thinking for a moment, Jing Qizhen offered a new idea, “How about we also bring the ID badges of the janitorial staff and Drug Administration personnel? After all, the medical profession requires strong expertise.” It was very difficult to act the part, especially since none of them were actual doctors.

Even Manman and Si Jiayang were briefly stunned upon hearing that.

Manman couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, in all the horror hospital games I’ve played, there are occasionally police involved but I’ve never seen the Health Bureau or Drug Administration show up…”

Jing Qizhen blinked and turned to the two staffers. “Would getting those ID badges be difficult to arrange?”

The staffer with the ‘=口=’ expression quickly said, “Once we get off the plane, I’ll have to ask the higher-ups first.”

After all, Tang Song wasn’t present, so they couldn’t make major decisions on the spot.

Jing Qizhen understood and smiled. “Alright.”

After an hour-long flight, the private plane landed smoothly at Binhai City Airport.

Jing Qizhen used his phone to take a picture of the memo page from his notebook and sent it to the two staffers beside him. “These are the things we’ll need before entering the erosion area.”

The staffer reacted quickly. After boarding the shuttle bus with Jing Qizhen and the others, he immediately forwarded the memo to the local Binhai City’s government contacts and reminded them to prepare what they could in advance.

Then he began calling his superior to report the situation. While waiting for the call to connect, he explained to Jing Qizhen, “Keys to all hospital departments, hospital maps, emergency exit layouts, and nameplates for the director and doctors at the Second Municipal Hospital shouldn’t be a problem. But the Health Bureau and Drug Administration fall under different departments, so we’ll need to coordinate first.”

Jing Qizhen nodded.

After exiting the airport, Jing Qizhen and his group were led by local staff to a bus that drove them directly toward Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital.

On the way, Jing Qizhen received a call from Tang Song.

Tang Song said, “I’ve already been informed of everything. The relevant departments have also been coordinated.”

Jing Qizhen understood immediately. Clearly, Tang Song had his own information channels and already knew the latest updates without needing any explanation.

Jing Qizhen joked with a smile, “Still worrying about us from abroad?”

Tang Song calmly replied, “Yeah, I can manage.”

Jing Qizhen chuckled again, his tone now more relaxed. “That’s good.”

Then Tang Song added, “By the way, in addition to the ID badges, I also got a few blank, red-stamped documents from the Health Bureau and Drug Administration. But you can’t take them directly. They’ll bring them to you and you’ll need to sign something and provide a guarantee.”

Jing Qizhen was stunned for a second. “…Okay, what do I sign?”

He had only intended to build on Manman and Si Jiayang’s idea of using higher authority identities for convenience during investigations, more like bluffing, really.

But Tang Song took it a step further. Having them bring blank red-stamped documents into the erosion area was practically suggesting they fabricate government orders on the spot to resolve problems…

Tang Song added, “Just sign whatever they ask. After all, those blank red-stamped documents come with risk for them too.”

Jing Qizhen: “…Alright.”

The bus eventually stopped in front of a hotel not far from Binhai City’s Second Municipal Hospital.

The hospital’s current director, the current head nurse, and the former heads of two hospital departments, all retired, came out warmly to greet them.