Max Level Return—I'll Protect That Fragile One

Ye Mingluo returned to his place, took a shower, and changed his clothes. He lay down on the bed intending to take a nap. But as soon as he closed his eyes, the image of Huo Wen’an’s pitiful, half-dead face popped into his mind.

Unable to let go of Huo Wen’an, Ye Mingluo sprang out of bed again, slipped on his slippers, and drove his eco-friendly electric scooter to the hospital.

Ye Mingluo was munching on an ice cream when he walked into the hospital lobby and saw Zheng Lie and Zheng Qin talking together, both with bright smiles on their faces.

Zheng Qin was someone who loved to laugh, but Zheng Lie had always been a discreet and composed person.

Seeing Zheng Lie laughing along with Zheng Qin, with a mischievous glint in his eye, it was clear they were up to something. Ye Mingluo stopped them and asked, ”Laughing like a cat who’s caught a mouse, what happy thing did you encounter?”

Zheng Lie immediately put away his smile, and his fierce presence receded, making him seem almost invisible.

Zheng Qin, however, laughed so hard his shoulders shook, winking at Ye Mingluo and said, ”Our Young Madam, no wonder she’s a novelist. She can make up a story so lifelike.”

”Make up a story?” Ye Mingluo was puzzled, ”What trick is she up to this time?” He had just left for a moment and his master was up to something again?

Zheng Qin purposely played dumb with Ye Mingluo, ”This is a secret between Young Madam and us, you ask me, but I won’t say a word!” Even though Ye Mingluo was Huo Wen’an’s close friend, Zheng Qin still wouldn’t spill everything to him.

Loyalty to their master was imprinted in Zheng Qin and his colleagues’ hearts.

Seeing Zheng Lie and Zheng Qin unwilling to reveal the truth, Ye Mingluo didn’t press further.

He finished his ice cream and walked into the ward, finding Xu Xingguang playing games on the couch. As he walked over, he asked, ”Master, I just ran into Zheng Lie and the others. What did you tell them? They looked all shifty-eyed, up to no good.”

Xu Xingguang didn’t take her eyes off the mobile screen, nor did she lift her head, and replied, ”Just made up a little story for them to act out.”

”Who are you scheming against now?” Ye Mingluo preemptively shed tears of sympathy for the unlucky soul being schemed against by Xu Xingguang.

”You’ll know soon enough.” Xu Xingguang purposefully kept it a secret.

”So mysterious.” Seeing Xu Xingguang engrossed in the game, Ye Mingluo was curious about what game could capture Xu Xingguang’s attention.

Ye Mingluo went over to take a quick look and found Xu Xingguang playing a small game called ”Ten Thousand Medicine Library”.

”You play this too?”

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall had commissioned talented artists to illustrate thousands of herbs based on the documented sources from the ”Ancient Medicine Transmission”, in order to promote Chinese medicine to the world.

They then hired software developers to create an educational, scientifically informative, and challenging small game. If someone could learn all the herbal notes within the specified time, complete all levels, and receive the honorary title of ’Herb King’ from the system evaluation, they would receive a mysterious grand prize from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall.

But what the mysterious grand prize was, no one knew. Since the game’s release three years ago, no one had managed to complete it.

Ye Mingluo mainly studied Western medicine, although he had some knowledge in Chinese medicine, he wasn’t as deeply skilled as those in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall.

He had played the game for a few days before putting it aside, and seeing Xu Xingguang effortlessly breeze through the levels, Ye Mingluo felt deep admiration.

Pointing at the herbal illustrations on Xu Xingguang’s phone screen, Ye Mingluo joked, ”These herbs are drawn abstractly, all based on the descriptions from the ’Ancient Medicine Transmission’. You can recognize them?”

Without lifting her head, Xu Xingguang replied, ”Abstract doesn’t matter, as long as the drawings capture the obvious features of the herbs, they’re recognizable.”

”You’d need to be enormously familiar with all the herbs to achieve that.” One must be so familiar that they could randomly name a herb and immediately describe its appearance and medicinal properties.

Ye Mingluo gazed curiously at Xu Xingguang’s little head, saying something creepy, ”I really want to crack open your head and see how it’s made. We all have the same head, why do you know so much more?”

Throughout the first half of his life, Ye Mingluo prided himself as a super medical genius. Until he met Xu Xingguang, someone over a decade younger but possessing far more extensive knowledge in Chinese medicine, this made him realize that in the vast world of medicine, there were many more skilled than him.

His small amount of pride was completely shattered.

Xu Xingguang wasn’t intimidated by Ye Mingluo’s sinister words, she said, ”If you have the skills, go ahead and try, see which one of us can crack open the other’s head first.”