Gunfire, Punk & Necromancers

Chapter 667 Chapter 663 At least good news
Safety Blue addiction, withdrawal symptoms.

Zhuang Xuteng held Liuxing's head in his arms, his lips trembling, tears moistening his eyes. He pitied Liuxing, he understood Liuxing, he could feel Liuxing's pain. A girl who had never left home by herself, with the fresh memory of her mother's suicide with explosives, trembling in fear in a warehouse with little reserves. She could only numb herself with the dream mist experience machine, and could only feel safe with the safety blue. She was addicted, she was trapped in the dream of the virtual world and couldn't extricate herself. She forced herself to be calm in fear, and Zhuang Xuteng cut off her only placebo.

"I'll take you to find help." Zhuang Xuteng covered Liuxing's eyes with a pillowcase, picked her up, and flew out of the hotel window. It was not yet dark, but the sky was overcast. It was estimated that the first heavy snow would fall today or tomorrow. The street lights and neon advertising lights had not yet increased their brightness. This dim environment was perfect for stealth operations.

Peicheng is full of companies' businesses, including every hospital, every implant maintenance store, and even every store that sells Safety Blue and Dream Mist Experience Machines. Zhuang Xuteng thought about it and decided that he couldn't go to a regular hospital. In such a big city, there might only be one corner where they could get help.

In the downtown area, the Hope Clinic. It was still in the original location, and in the snow, it looked even more dilapidated than before. Three of the neon tubes on the door frame were broken, and the "Hope Clinic" was gone, leaving only the word "Institute" flickering, as if it was taking its last breath. When Zhuang Xuteng fell from the sky holding Meteor, the director of the clinic, Sende Reese, just opened the door to take out the trash. He was holding a half-smoked cigarette, wearing a leather apron with his upper body naked, and wearing tattered slippers from different families on his bare feet under his shorts. Dr. Sen carried two large bulging black plastic bags and threw them into the trash can at the gate of the hospital, and then he saw Zhuang Xuteng and Meteor.

"Do you have money? This is not a charity. If you don't have money, I can't treat you."

"Yes!" Zhuang Xuteng nodded. With his ability, stealing some money is just a side job. Unless we enter a cashless society, tentacle thieves will lose their use.

"Then move in. Pay first and then see the doctor." Dr. Mori took out a lighter from his pants pocket, lit a cigarette, took a deep puff outside, and then threw the burning filter away. "You look familiar, have you been here before?"

"You just need to know the Euro and the patient, don't worry about the rest." Zhuang Xuteng put the meteor on the first relatively clean and ventilated bed at the door, then took out a handful of banknotes from his arms and slapped them on the table at the head of the bed. "She used Safe Blue and had a withdrawal reaction. I tried to make her sleep temporarily - is there any way to make the addiction go away?"

Dr. Mori pulled out a flashlight from the front pocket of his leather apron and lifted up Meteor's eyelids to look in. He was stunned for a moment, then reached out and touched Meteor's head, then pried open her mouth to look at her tongue and throat.

"She didn't fall asleep, she fainted. Her addiction is quite serious, and the treatment is extremely difficult, with a low success rate and very painful." Dr. Mori sighed and said, "If you care about her pain, I suggest you use Safe Blue for her. Safe Blue is not expensive. If you can get the money, you can support her for life."

"No." Zhuang Xuteng was very firm. "I have seen the final condition of people addicted to Safe Blue and Dream Mist Machine. Even if they have enough drugs, they are tortured to the point where they are no longer human. The priority choice is always treatment. There is no room for negotiation on this point."

"If we want to cure her, we must first completely isolate her from contact with Safe Blue. Nowadays, some of it is mixed into food to some extent. In the past, I could just buy some protein worms and add some seasonings to make it through. But recently, all seasonings, especially salt, have Safe Blue added to them. It is said that someone has also detected Safe Blue in tap water, but I don't know if this news is true or not. I want to ask, do you have a way to create an environment with zero Safe Blue for her?"

"Heal her."

"Okay, I can see you are very determined." Dr. Mori left the bed and walked straight to the desk at the end of the treatment room. He opened the drawer and took out a pen and paper to write. He wrote an address, a name and a phone number, and listed the names and dosages of thirteen drugs at the end.

Dr. Sen handed the paper to Zhuang Xuteng, and then said, "This is the address of a biochemical laboratory in Peicheng of the Sanliu Charity Foundation. This person owes me a favor. If you give him enough in return, maybe he will let your woman receive detoxification treatment. I have listed the names and dosages of the drugs. Remember them well in your brain, and then compare them with the drugs he gave your woman. If the dosage is exceeded, you must find a way to run away quickly, otherwise both of you will die in the laboratory."

"You know so much, but can't you treat it?" Zhuang Xuteng asked, "If you are short of money, I will give you money; if you are short of medicine, I will give you medicine. Or you can tell me the treatment method, and I will..."

"Okay, Nike, there is no cure for this addiction. The so-called treatment is just to remove the hallucinations and pain in the disease, but the price is the loss of imagination. Yes, I recognized you, and I am glad you are still alive, but you should not be wandering around with an intelligence officer."

"Is there something wrong with my makeup?" asked Zhuang Xuteng.

"You are a big shot introduced by Lucy, I will definitely pay more attention to you. Hehe, when you are anxious about the disease, you like to swing your right arm upwards, like this." Dr. Sen imitated Zhuang Xuteng's action and swung his arm, then found another cigarette, lit it, and put it in his mouth. "You came many times, first because of Lanqi disease, and then because of addiction... In this industry, the more you learn, the more anxious you will be, and you really care about every patient."

Zhuang Xuteng was silent for a moment, then he sighed, pointed at Liuxing and asked, "I want to hear your honest answer: What should she do?"

"Safety Blue and Dream Mist Experience Machines are used too much. Cases like this are too common. To be honest, there is nothing we can do." Dr. Mori pointed to the empty ward and said, "You must have noticed that there are no patients here."

"Can't afford it?"

"No, they are all dead." Dr. Mori took a puff of cigarette, coughed several times, and kept beating his chest with his fist. After a while, he wiped the corners of his eyes with the base of his palm, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and then said: "My patients all needed safety blue and dream fog machine, which can reduce pain and is better than painkiller injections. But their addiction is greatly increased, one hundred times, two hundred times faster than other people. There is no way, I tried all means, and there is no way to save them."

"Pathology? I know you, you must have had pathology done."

"Yes, I've done some research. The combination of Safety Blue and Dream Mist will subtly change a person's thoughts. I conducted a psychological analysis of the patients and found that they would gradually pay less attention to the outside world, and their thoughts would become more and more focused, until the world was left with only the Dream Mist Experience Machine, Safety Blue, and a specific thought. Some people think about their families, some think about money... In short, they are dreams that they cannot realize at ordinary times, or some nightmares that they cannot get rid of. Once they reach this stage, the situation becomes tricky."

Dr. Mori said, "There are two solutions. One is to block part of their brain functions, leaving them without dreams, hopes, happiness or pain. They will become like zombies, but their brains will have an extra chance to regenerate and recover. Theoretically, if they can persist for about three years, their brains can be restored... how should I put it, probably to factory settings. Their emotions will be like those of children, and as time goes by, they will slowly grow up and perhaps become adults."

Zhuang Xuteng scratched his head and asked, "Is her IQ the same as a child's?" "No, Safety Blue does not affect IQ. The treatment focuses on emotional intelligence, which is the emotional response to external stimuli. For example, if she can hold on and become a child, she will probably be scared to tears by farting, but adults will not be like this, you understand?"

"So, treatment and recovery are troublesome, but it is treatable?"

"It can be treated in theory, but how to implement it is something that only the company's medical institutions know. What specific medicine to use, how to change the frequency and dosage, how to maintain vital signs, and control complications... Naike, this kind of thing can only be figured out with a large number of experiments. I... I don't have enough samples here, and the few drug names and dosages I can give you are already the limit."

Zhuang Xuteng nodded and said, "Thank you. At least I know there is still hope. You said there are two ways. What is the other one?"

"You were once the most wanted criminal of the Big Four, so I don't mind telling you this." Dr. Mori said, "When I was treating patients, I found that the Dream Mist Experience Machine can actually be regarded as a medical device. It constantly and subtly inputs some information to the user. To put it mildly, it is called hypnosis, and to put it more seriously, it can also be called brainwashing. If you can figure out how it works, how to write a hypnosis program, and then vice versa, it is possible to eliminate psychological dependence and wake people up from the increasingly tight dreams."

"But you won't. I still have to find someone from the company, right?" Zhuang Xuteng sighed and said, "I can't show up, so can you take her to see a doctor?"

"Who is she? How can she show up? Those who are with you are probably wanted criminals, right?" Dr. Sen shook his head and said, "Besides, aren't you afraid that I will sell you out? I'm already broke. If I sell this woman out and report the news about you, I'll definitely make a fortune."

"That's right, you can indeed make a lot of money by betraying me."

"But I've heard rumors. You and Ge Gongdao visited an implant hospital and killed the doctor there, so I should end up the same way. Humph, a hospital with no patients, one more death in a corner of the city is not surprising. I have no family, and I've offended most of my friends. My neighbors won't care if they don't see me for ten days or half a month, so do it. Be quick and don't hurt me."

"You are not afraid of death?"

"Afraid, but not afraid. I've seen a lot of death, and it's useless to be afraid or not. No matter how much you want to live, you can't delay even a second when the time comes. I've figured it out a long time ago: I can only decide how to die, and the rest is up to fate. I heard that you fought with Anzu, so your movements should be very fast, right? Can you kill me in a way that I can't react at all?"

"Okay." Zhuang Xuteng nodded and said, "Do you... do you know anything about Dao Ge and the others?"

"That's part of it? Okay." Dr. Mori said, "I only know that Gogongdao disappeared and never showed up again. I don't know who you are familiar with, but I believe they are either dead or missing. Lucy committed suicide. It is said that she used a bomb to kill herself. The scene was very tragic."

"They are all missing, right..." Zhuang Xuteng sat down, holding his head in his hands, thinking for a moment. "Ask a question, do you know Bai Moji?"

"I know. I quite like her songs. She's such a beauty - what a pity." Dr. Mori dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled cigarette. It looked like he wanted to take one more puff before he died, but his trembling fingers prevented him from putting the cigarette into his mouth.

"Don't be nervous." Before the cigarette fell, Zhuang Xuteng caught it with his ghostly tentacles and stuffed it into the corner of Dr. Sen's mouth. "You said it was a pity for Bai Moji, why? Is she dead?"

"Don't you know? The plane crashed, she died. Well... not necessarily, because there is news that her body has not been found. She is barely missing. Can you help me by the way? My hands are not very good, and I can't rub the lighter anymore."

"Don't be nervous, I won't kill you now." Zhuang Xuteng said, "Take the money I give you, plus this platinum coin, clean yourself up, live a good life for a few days, and then forget about me!"

"You won't kill me? You..."

"Don't believe it? It's up to you. The people I know, including Bai Moji, who I have only met four or five times, have all been dealt with by the company. If the company finds out that we have met more times than Bai Moji, you can imagine what will happen to you." Zhuang Xuteng said, "Yes, you may take the risk. After all, the opportunity to make a lot of money is right in front of you. I am a mercenary, so I can understand. But I guarantee that you will definitely not end well if you report me. It's up to you whether you believe it or not."

"Whether those guys can catch me has nothing to do with whether you are a snitch. Also, thank you for the good news."

Just as Dr. Sen was about to ask what the news was, his eyes went dark and he lost consciousness. Zhuang Xuteng did nothing but patted him on the shoulder and supported him before he fell to the ground. After that, he moved the unconscious Dr. Sen to the bed and searched through his medicine cabinet.

A timed injection syringe, some anesthetics, some nutrients. Zhuang Xuteng is also "Dr. Sen". His skills are still there. It is just a matter of convenience to make a timed injection environment that makes the patient sleep for three consecutive days.

He left the money, locked the door from the outside, pretended that no one was inside, and then took over the place temporarily. He wanted to wait for Liuxing to wake up and see if she could get better before deciding what to do next.

At present, except for Lucy who has been confirmed dead, everyone else is just "missing". Although it is not necessarily a good thing to be missing at the hands of the company, at least there is hope. If Meteor recovers, maybe she can help me investigate. If not, then I will wait until the company is destroyed and then find a way to investigate on my own...