Cheng Shuili looked expressionlessly at an exceptionally sturdy fire lizard. It stood up on its hind legs with effort, its front paws gesturing wildly in a strange pose, while the other lizards slapped their tails against the ground with a rhythmic pattering sound.
It seemed like they were expressing agreement, but as for what they were actually saying...
Cheng Shuili was not a lizard, so naturally, she did not understand lizard language.
The one being held suddenly began to struggle, its short legs pointing desperately toward the depths of the passage, then back at the gold vial, finally performing an exaggerated movement.
Cheng Shuili did not understand what they were saying, but she realized one thing: the item she was looking for must be down there, and following the passage these lizards had dug might lead her to it.
Moreover... these little creatures seemed harmless.
Cheng Shuili hesitated for a moment before releasing the little lizard in her hand.
As soon as the other fire lizards saw their companion was free, they immediately leaped in place, spun in the air, surrounded the little lizard, and crawled toward the depths of the passage using all four claws.
Cheng Shuili pondered for a moment and pulled the folding entrenching tool, which she hadn't used since obtaining it, out of the Abyss Ring.
It was too dangerous to just crawl down there; why not just dig it open?
Lang Yu, who had been watching the spectacle from the side, finally found his purpose. His eyes lit up suddenly, and he said, "I'll go get two more shovels."
Before Cheng Shuili and Su Rui could even react, he had already scurried away.
Cheng Shuili and Su Rui exchanged a glance, both seeing speechlessness in the other's eyes.
Honestly, could a beastman like Lang Yu really be a doctor?
But thinking back to what Director Xiong had said about the hospital having issues even with the simplest sutures, Cheng Shuili felt it wasn't so strange that Lang Yu was the attending physician here.
Fortunately, they had the Gold Supply Crate; otherwise, if she had handed Qi Wanyi over to these beastmen...
Cheng Shuili shook her head violently. Her chef absolutely could not have anything go wrong!
She swung the folding entrenching tool, but just as she was about to strike, a fatal problem occurred to her.
She and Su Rui could only stay in the beastman town for two hours!
Although Cheng Shuili had never been kicked out before, she didn't think it would be a pleasant experience.
Furthermore... digging a hole was not only physical labor, but it was also extremely time-consuming!
Relying only on the three of them... they probably wouldn't find that special device even with this two-hour block and the next two-hour block after that.
Strength in numbers! In that case... time to call for backup!
Cheng Shuili put away the folding entrenching tool, glanced at Su Rui, who was standing to the side in a daze, and gestured, "Let's go."
Su Rui immediately followed, "Not digging anymore?"
"Of course we are, but not by ourselves."
Cheng Shuili gently brushed the dust off her clothes and headed back the way Lang Yu had led them.
Soon, they arrived at the director's office.
Before she could knock, Su Rui suddenly said, "I thought you would call out your subordinates."
Cheng Shuili raised an eyebrow slightly. She wasn't that kind of bad boss who exploited her subordinates!
Although the item would ultimately belong to Cheng Shuili, they were currently helping the hospital deal with a problem.
In terms of reason and sentiment, the hospital should be the one providing the manpower.
Cheng Shuili had subordinates, but she wouldn't hand everything over to them to do.
If a boss didn't think about securing benefits for their subordinates and instead found work for them to do when there was nothing to do... that would be going too far.
Cheng Shuili raised her hand and knocked on the door. A familiar "Please come in" soon came from inside.
Su Rui pushed the door open. The moment Xiong Ji saw the two of them, his brow furrowed as if he didn't want to accept reality. He turned his head slightly and said with a pained voice, "I was already prepared. The safe is repaired, so just put it inside. The password is 888888."
Cheng Shuili: "......"
What a terrible password.
She clicked her tongue lightly and waited for Xiong Ji to perk up again before stating the purpose of her visit.
As soon as Xiong Ji heard, he immediately became spirited. He pressed, "There's still hope, right? My hospital can still get better?"
Cheng Shuili didn't make any guarantees, "That depends on the manpower Director Xiong arranges."
Xiong Ji's expression turned serious. He immediately stood up, patted his chest, and said with a hint of solemnity, "Follow me."
The two followed Xiong Ji around a few corners until he pushed open a door, and they entered right behind him.
The room was furnished simply: a table with a microphone placed on it.
Cheng Shuili had a faint guess in her heart. A moment later, Xiong Ji sat down in front of the microphone with a stern expression, cleared his throat, and said solemnly into the mic:
"Attention all medical staff! Attention all medical staff! An emergency mobilization notice is now being issued!!!"
"Traces of fire lizard activity have been found in the basement morgue, confirmed to be related to the hospital's abnormal events. We now require thirty volunteers to bring digging tools to the site to assist with the investigation. Medical staff participating in this operation will receive a 20% increase in this month's performance bonus. Additionally... for the batch of honey that just arrived at the pharmacy, each participant will receive two jars."
Xiong Ji paused and added:
"Doctor Lang Yu is already on-site, but he cannot dig it all alone. Repeat, this is not a drill! This is not a drill! Our hospital is facing a major crisis!"
Finally, he almost roared:
"For the glory of the beastman hospital! For our honey reserves! Charge!!!"
After speaking, Xiong Ji "clicked" the microphone off and turned to show Cheng Shuili an honest smile, "Will this work? Our hospital's mobilization efficiency has always been very high."
No sooner had he finished speaking than waves of wolf howls, bear roars, and excited cries from various beastmen echoed through the hallway, accompanied by the sound of "thump-thump-thump" running footsteps. The entire hospital seemed to have suddenly come to life.
Should be fine, right?
Cheng Shuili wasn't entirely sure.
She thought about it and decided to lead Su Rui to the basement to take another look.
A large number of beastmen had gathered there, far exceeding the thirty Xiong Ji had mentioned, and... they were almost exclusively bear-race beastmen.
Each of them had a shovel. They would dig a scoop, stomp on it hard with their feet, and scoop out a large amount of soil. With so many people, it wasn't long before the frantically fleeing fire lizards were dug out.
Fortunately, these bear-race beastmen had no intention to kill; their eyes were filled only with a craving for honey.
Cheng Shuili had originally intended to let them dig for a while longer while she and Su Rui went to check out the weapons shop.
But looking at this speed, they should be able to find where the special device was in no time.
Cheng Shuili felt like she had forgotten something. As soon as she turned her head, she saw Lang Yu limping over, leaning on a bamboo stick he had found somewhere, and giving her a pitiful smile as he explained, "My King... I just found a shovel, but I don't know what happened; those bear-race beastmen just swarmed in and took them all."
He wiped his eyes, looking truly aggrieved, "I didn't manage to grab one in the end, and I was pushed several times. Because I didn't stand steady, I also fell and hurt my leg..."
His voice grew lower as he spoke. When he looked up to see Cheng Shuili's reaction, he happened to see the bear-race beastmen frantically digging the soil with shovels.
Lang Yu immediately let out a cry of surprise: "Why are they here?"
It seemed he hadn't heard Xiong Ji's broadcast, which made him easy to fool.
Cheng Shuili coughed lightly and explained, "The director came by just a moment ago and said he'd find people to help us, and then these beastmen arrived."
"Is that so?"
Lang Yu seemed somewhat surprised, but holding deep faith in his King, he accepted this explanation without hesitation, "Then should we still dig?"
Dig what? Could they even squeeze in?
Cheng Shuili was speechless, but Su Rui kindly answered the question.
It wasn't just that they couldn't squeeze in; the fire lizards couldn't squeeze out either.
The soil in the basement was being frantically overturned by the bear-race beastmen, and dust flew as the shovels swung.
The fire lizards' once-peaceful underground nest had been turned upside down. They scurried around in panic, their small bodies nimbly weaving between the legs of the giant bears like flickering sparks.
Cheng Shuili noticed an exceptionally sturdy fire lizard squeeze out from between the legs of a bear-race beastman. It clawed desperately at the ground, its tail whipping rapidly as if cheering itself on.
This effort was not in vain; with a roll, it finally squeezed out from between the legs of two bear-race beastmen.
As soon as it looked up, it collided with Cheng Shuili's gaze.
The fire lizard's small eyes instantly lit up as if it had found a savior. It was that human who hadn't hurt them!!
It immediately pushed off with its hind legs, stood upright, and waved its two front paws exaggeratedly, making urgent "zhi-zhi" sounds.
But Cheng Shuili couldn't understand at all, and naturally, she didn't react.
As for the other fire lizards, as if they had heard the sound, they also rushed out of the bear-race beastmen's encirclement one after another. Their short legs ran fast, their tails wagging left and right from the haste. When they stood up, they looked like a group of drunken little fire dragons.
They rushed to Cheng Shuili's feet in a swarm. Some hugged her boots, their small claws clutching her shoelaces tightly in a "die but never let go" stance.
Others simply crawled onto the tops of her feet, trying to use their actions to beg for Cheng Shuili's help.
However...
These bear-race beastmen were the ones Cheng Shuili had called.
Cheng Shuili didn't know why she had become a good person in the eyes of these fire lizards, but that didn't stop her from putting on a show of soothing them.
The sturdy fire lizard seemed to think victory was in sight and went straight into drama-queen mode, flopping down in front of Cheng Shuili with its four paws in the air, revealing its soft belly, its tail twitching as if it were playing dead.
Seeing this, the other fire lizards immediately followed suit, all lying down in a patch, their small eyes secretly peeking at Cheng Shuili's reaction.
Cheng Shuili looked down at the group of drama queens at her feet, and her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
She was the culprit...
These guys were really something; how could they find the wrong person to beg for help?
Cheng Shuili squatted down and poked the belly of the sturdy fire lizard with her finger. The creature immediately flipped over with a "zhi," grabbed her finger with its small claws, and blinked its eyes with an innocent look.
Very good; this group of guys could not only play pitiful, but they could also act cute.
Cheng Shuili sighed, but their nest definitely had to be demolished.
Rate on N.U.
