Chapter 58: A Noisy Night in the Ward

Wang Tianming lay bored on the hospital bed. Despite the late hour, he felt not the slightest bit of drowsiness.

Having just endured a seven-day journey of dragon-slaying, he still felt a profound tension, and a dull ache lingered throughout his body.

These combined sensations made sleep utterly impossible.

Yet, the pain seemed to have somewhat abated.

Wang Tianming mused that this couldn’t merely be his imagination; he had just transformed into an angel, and the “Angel’s Seed” still resided within him.

Surely, some degree of its healing effect must be manifesting.

Perhaps it was a placebo effect, or perhaps it truly was working.

Unable to move and certainly no doctor himself, Wang Tianming could only console himself with such thoughts.

Lying there, bored, why shouldn’t he let his mind run wild with chaotic thoughts?

Just as Wang Tianming found himself utterly listless, a noisy commotion erupted from the doorway of the ward.

It not only shattered his meandering thoughts but also roused the other patients and their families from their sleep.

“Hey, make way up front! Old Zhang, where’s an empty bed?”

Nurse Xiao Li’s voice cut through the air, sounding urgent.

“Room 04 still has a vacant bed, and all the patients there are male,” Caregiver Old Zhang promptly replied.

Room 04, as it happened, was Wang Tianming’s ward.

“Good. Open the door and bring the patient in,” Nurse Xiao Li decided without hesitation.

Immediately, Wang Tianming heard the ward door being pushed open, followed by a cacophony of human voices and the rhythmic “gudugudu” (TL Note: an onomatopoeia for a rumbling or rattling sound) of a gurney’s wheels.

Though he couldn’t move his head, Wang Tianming surmised that another patient had arrived, likely another victim of a car accident.

“Brother Zhang, hold on! Don’t let anything happen to you!”

A young man shouted loudly, instantly drawing angry glares from everyone present.

“Please lower your voice. Patients are sleeping at night; do not disturb their rest!” Nurse Xiao Li immediately interjected, trying to quell the noise.

“Damn it, you brat! I was just grazed by a car; I’m not dead yet, so why are you wailing as if I am?!”

Another young man’s voice softly reprimanded the earlier young man.

This, it seemed, was Brother Zhang.

“The patient can rest here for now; the doctor will be over shortly, so please wait a moment,” Nurse Xiao Li instructed carefully.

“Only one person needs to stay and look after him; too many people will disturb the others. Could someone please come and register the patient first?”

“I, I, I’ll go!” the young man who had been “wailing” earlier quickly exclaimed again.

Once more, everyone glared at him in exasperation.

“Shhh! Keep your voice down, everyone else is resting!” Nurse Xiao Li warned once more.

The young man immediately lowered his voice and apologized, “Sorry, sorry, I’ll be more careful next time!”

The young man likely followed Nurse Xiao Li out to complete the registration, while the others remained in the ward to look after Brother Zhang.

Just as Nurse Xiao Li had predicted, with more people present, the noise level inevitably rose.

Even mere breathing from so many lively young men could generate a significant amount of sound, let alone their inevitable conversations.

“Alright, alright, all of you quiet down! This is a hospital; didn’t you hear what the nurse just said? How can anyone rest with all your ‘buzzing’ (TL Note: an onomatopoeia for a buzzing or humming sound, here referring to annoying chatter) around?”

Facing this situation, Brother Zhang decisively spoke up.

“It’s already very late; all of you go back and rest. I just have a few scrapes; it’s nothing serious, I’m not going to die! When Qi’er gets back later, just have them help look after me!”

Wang Tianming was certain that Brother Zhang hadn’t sustained any truly serious injuries; it was likely just superficial scrapes, as he claimed.

After all, when he himself had been hit by a car, he had immediately lost consciousness and couldn’t recall the impact at all.

The fact that Brother Zhang could still bark orders indicated his injuries were undoubtedly minor.

None of this, however, concerned Wang Tianming.

As long as Brother Zhang and his companions weren’t so loud as to disrupt his thoughts, it made no difference to him.

Whether Brother Zhang’s injuries were minor or severe was even less consequential.

‘Am I, Wang Tianming, expected to concern myself with every patient in this hospital?’ he thought.

Thus, adopting an attitude of ‘what does not concern me, I shall not bother with’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom meaning to remain indifferent to matters that do not directly affect oneself), Wang Tianming finally drifted into slumber.

Although the time in the game world and the real world were not synchronized, Wang Tianming’s spirit remained singular.

After the initial euphoria of completing his mission had subsided, the accumulated tension of seven continuous days finally dissipated, making Wang Tianming’s descent into sleep entirely natural.