Since Xia Xuanfeng had already extended the invitation, Yue Shi was not one to be polite.
He walked straight into the living room, looking around as if he were in his own home.
The sofa, coffee table, TV cabinet, figurines, air conditioner, and large refrigerator all pointed to a very ordinary household environment.
He peeked into the kitchen; the stove was clean, and several school uniforms were hanging on the balcony.
Returning to the living room, Yue Shi opened a cabinet door next to the TV stand.
The cabinet had three shelves. The top shelf was filled with snacks. The middle shelf held several machetes, their blades still bearing uncleaned black stains. The bottom shelf contained a handgun with several boxes of ammunition scattered beside it.
Yue Shi crouched before the cabinet. “Does a proper high schooler keep a gun at home?”
“Why not?” Xia Xuanfeng countered.
Yue Shi stood up and crossed his arms. “You’d better tell me your goal directly. My patience is limited.”
The status of 'lifesaver' carried no weight with Yue Shi.
First, he would simply deny the debt; he would have been fine even without Xia Xuanfeng’s help. Second, to avoid any moral burden, Yue Shi was quite likely to simply kill his so-called benefactor and then forget the incident entirely.
After all, he was a genuine villain, not one of those pseudo-villains who used violence to fight evil.
Standing by the sofa, the sunny openness on Xia Xuanfeng’s face faded slightly, replaced by a touch of unease.
He opened his mouth, then closed it, clearly struggling. Seeing Yue Shi’s expression grow increasingly menacing, he gritted his teeth, walked over to the computer desk, and pressed the power button.
“Come here. Look at this first.”
Yue Shi walked over as the computer screen lit up. Xia Xuanfeng opened a browser and clicked a link from his favorites.
The page redirected to a video site. He entered an account and password, navigated to a playback page, and clicked on a show.
The title appeared on the screen: 《Heartbeat ER》.
Yue Shi’s jaw nearly dropped. He turned to stare at Xia Xuanfeng, his eyes full of disbelief. “You actually watch melodramatic idol dramas? I didn’t realize your willpower was so strong that you could withstand the toxicity of such a show!”
Xia Xuanfeng rolled his eyes. “Watch it before you talk.”
Yue Shi turned back to the screen and immediately hit the playback speed button, cranking it up to twelve times normal speed.
The images flew by at a dizzying pace, but Yue Shi’s eyes didn’t blink once; he had no trouble processing the information at that speed.
The plot of 《Heartbeat ER》 took place in a hospital.
The male lead was a genius surgeon—young, handsome, and highly skilled—adored by every nurse and female doctor in the hospital.
The female lead was a new nurse—kind and innocent, but incredibly clumsy. She made frequent mistakes but was always forgiven by the male lead.
They met in a hallway, colliding and sending medical records flying everywhere. They shared a smile, and the sparks of love ignited amidst the scent of disinfectant.
Then, the plot became increasingly unhinged. To go on a date with the female lead, the male lead postponed a surgery for which the patient had already been anesthetized.
The patient lay on the operating table, left there for forty minutes after the injection.
While the anesthesia was wearing off, the male lead was on the roof watching the sunset with the female lead.
He held her hand and said that a surgery could wait, but some romances, if missed, were missed for a lifetime.
Forty minutes later, he returned to the operating room. The surgery was a success and the patient didn't die, but the anesthesiologist’s face was livid, the scrub nurse’s hands were shaking, and the male lead just smiled and said, “I have confidence in my skills.”
Yue Shi’s eyes widened. It was so insane, he loved it!
In another episode, the male lead was in a bad mood because of a fight with the female lead. He got distracted during surgery and left a piece of gauze inside the patient.
Fortunately, the deputy chief physician discovered the problem in time and performed a second laparotomy to remove the gauze. The patient’s life was saved, but they had to suffer through an extra procedure.
The male lead faced no consequences because his father and grandfather were high-ranking officials, the hospital director was his mentor, and he was the hospital’s star attraction.
The female lead hugged him and said, “I know you didn’t mean it. You’re already blaming yourself so much.”
The deputy chief physician who reported the male lead was reassigned to the night shift in the ER, and people even started badmouthing him, saying he was just jealous of the male lead.
Yue Shi’s breathing grew heavy.
In yet another episode, the hospital’s blood bank was running low, and the male lead’s patient needed a transfusion. The male lead rolled up his sleeves and said, “I’ll donate. Take mine.”
The female lead stood by with tearful eyes and said, “No, you can’t. Take mine.”
The two of them competed to donate blood at the entrance of the blood bank as if they were vying for a medal of honor. The head nurse coldly informed them that their blood types didn't match, and the blood was eventually brought in from the central blood station anyway.
However, the male lead and female lead confirmed their feelings for each other during the incident and proceeded to have a passionate make-out session right there at the blood bank entrance, oblivious to everyone around them.
Yue Shi clenched his fists. For some reason, he felt a sudden urge to hit someone.
One more episode. A patient of the male lead died, and he hid the fact from the family to harvest the patient’s organs for donation.
The family caused a scene, holding up banners at the hospital entrance.
The male lead was feeling down, so the female lead accompanied him to the rooftop to drink. She said, “You just wanted the patient’s life to continue in another way. The family just doesn’t understand your good intentions.”
The male lead leaned on her shoulder and said, “Why? Every deceased person is a potential donor. Since they’re already dead, why won’t they contribute a bit more to the living?”
The camera panned out, showing the city’s night view spread out beneath them.
A stream of bullet screen comments floated across the screen—
【The male lead is so gentle.】
【I’m shipping them so hard.】
【Am I the only one who thinks what the male lead did was a bit unethical?】
【Don’t be so picky! As long as the male lead is handsome and the female lead is pretty, that’s enough for an idol drama!!!】
Yue Shi’s mouth twitched.
He pushed through to the latest episode.
In the most recent episode, the male lead fainted on the operating table due to over-exhaustion after 'seven times in one night.'
The female lead ignored all warnings and rushed into the active operating room, kneeling by his side and crying out his name.
The entire hospital staff gathered around; someone pinched his pressure points, someone brought water, and someone called emergency services.
The patient was still lying on the operating table, their open abdominal cavity gradually being exposed to the non-sterile environment, but no one cared. Everyone’s attention was on the male lead.
Yue Shi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He turned off the high-speed playback, and the screen returned to normal speed.
On the screen, the male lead had regained consciousness and was leaning in the female lead’s arms, smiling weakly. He said, “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
The female lead cried, “You’re always so dedicated, never thinking of your own health.”
The bullet screen was flooded with people shipping their sweet love to death.
Yue Shi remained silent for a long time. He felt he might have discovered a universal truth.
Whether it was the original world in the book, the Deep Red Continent, or this world—after traveling so many times, everything changed except for the tropes of bizarre, melodramatic romance dramas. They were eternal.
This had to be some kind of fundamental law of the universe!
He turned to look at Xia Xuanfeng. “You’d better have a damn good reason for making me watch this brain rot, or else...”
Rate on N.U.
