Chapter 4341 - 3436 Divine Doctor with Wonderful Hands (43)
Batman and Stark finally managed to complete the task on the last day of the work period. They made most of the equipment that Shiller needed and simplified the operations as much as possible, reducing the learning cost, which is convenient for those doctors who are not very professional.
As planned, Shiller allocated an upgraded operating room as a laboratory and also set up a general internal medicine department. The current medical process is now very close to that of a modern hospital.
Patients first go to the triage desk to briefly describe their symptoms, which is similar to registering in current hospitals. Diseases with more apparent characteristics can directly enter the operating room, while those more complex may need to go to internal medicine or the laboratory for further diagnosis.
After the examination, they can proceed to surgery, and after surgery, they are admitted to the hospital ward. Once the major wounds are sufficiently healed, they can go home and come back later for infusion if needed.
Under Shiller's management, the hospital's earnings are very optimistic. Although the dividends given to doctors are not much, Shiller has invested most of the money into the hospital's infrastructure, and now almost all operating rooms have been upgraded. Doctors have obtained better medical and rest conditions.
The trouble now is, the hospital still lacks a pharmacy. Some people's diseases aren't severe enough to require surgery or infusion, or they have other commitments and do not want to stay in the hospital; they simply want to take some medicine home to ingest.
Shiller doesn't know if there is a witch's apothecary in the town. However, as he understands, the residents usually go to buy potions when they are sick. There are specialized potion merchants who come to sell their potions every week, and many people stock up on these potions at home.
After the outbreak of the plague, although many people were infected, many were cautious and did not catch severe diseases. Hearing about this hospital from those who fell ill, some people also chose to come here for minor illnesses.
Potions are the best solution for these people's problems. However, currently in the entire hospital, the only witch who knows the complete process of potion refining is Wanda.
The other two helpers are still apprentices, although they have inherited some potion recipes from their elders, they have never made potions themselves. And it goes without saying for Natasha, she's a Combat Witch. That thick book of Witch's secrets she has is full of poisons, and she simply doesn't have the patience for brewing herbal potions.
Shiller plans to expand a small room at the end of the lobby for the witches to brew and sell potions. This arrangement could definitely earn additional income. But if he assigns Wanda to supervise the pharmacy, Strange would then be without an assistant.
At this point, Shiller can't help but set his sights on Henry. Isn't this guy supposed to have a great talent for medicine? He has been learning from Strange for nearly a week now; though not immediately becoming another Hand of God, acting as an assistant shouldn't be a problem, right?
It turns out, Shiller overestimated Henry and underestimated Strange. If it were so easy to become another Hand of God, then God is likely a Thousand-Armed Kannon.
When Shiller saw this brash kid again in the operating room, he had completely lost his previous smug expression, looking entirely lose of color, as if his soul had faded.
Strange, while wiping his hands, scolded him: "I never knew ghosts could have trembling hands. You don't even have muscles, yet you manage to miss every incision point precisely. Your way of nicking nerves makes me think there's an excavator in the operating room. How did you manage that?"
Shiller considers that among them, the most likely to compete with arrogance would be Strange in surgery.
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As Shiller approached, Strange put down his cloth, looked up, and said, "Why did you think of getting such a young kid to be my intern?"
"He's not that young. Although he looks like a child, he's actually over 60 years old."
"Then it might as well be a child." Strange lightly scoffed, "You must have seen the ultimate goal, right? Once we uncover the truth about the plague, we can just leave?"
"Almost. He only asked us to make a choice, not solve the issue. But I've decided to stay a bit longer to stabilize the situation in the hospital. What do you think?"
"Alright. Do you have any clues about the truth?"
"The key lies in the Mining Area, but I don't plan to go there. It's probably a man-made plot; as long as they don't achieve their goals, they will naturally come to us. Therefore, your healing rate is crucial."
"It's not bad here," Strange glanced at the operating table, "The patients sent in have been well prepared in advance; I just need to do the critical part. The efficiency seems okay."
"I came to discuss something with you." Shiller spoke about moving Wanda, and Strange's brow furrowed tightly, obviously displeased. Shiller glanced at the surgical scalpel beside him and decided to put it more diplomatically.
"Although you might find it hard to understand, I must tell you, my effort to make money is not entirely because I love money, after all, this money can't be taken out with us."
"Then what do you want to do?"
"Since this is a society with order, the power of money is unlimited. Although our task is simple and won't take long to complete, others still have many tasks that need money to solve."
Shiller began pacing in front of the operating table, sharing his idea: "The hospital is our stronghold, and so far, Manny only listens to me. All the revenue of the hospital is mine, clearly the fastest way to make money among us all."
"They need money to complete their tasks. Eventually, they will have to find a way to ask us for it. Then we can totally sell the in-game money to them in exchange for some real-world benefits."
"Moreover, this hospital is also quite valuable. If I manage it well, the person who takes over later won't have much trouble and will have a stable channel for making money. It can also be used to win people's favor or as a recovery base. I believe there will be people who need it."
"Even though money and resources in the game can't be taken out, there will always be people willing to trade some real-world resources for these things. Otherwise, why would there be so many profitable online games, right?"
"My idea is to maintain a good foundation, make some money as much as possible, and then use our game's simple exit advantage to trade all these things for real-world gold and silver."
"Are you sure someone will buy it?" Strange asked.
"Of course. On one hand, I'm not asking for much; spending a little to enhance their gaming experience is worth it. On the other hand, if I'm not mistaken, the free duo instances should all be of a similar type. A large map can accommodate many teams adventuring, and the number of teams has not yet reached the limit."
"Hasn't reached the limit?"
"This map might still have newcomers joining." Shiller rubbed his fingers, "Even right now, there could be people just starting the game, accepting missions, and beginning their adventures."
Shiller introduced the worldview he heard from Loki, then said, "Westchester is just a duchy, and there are two major empires nearby. Such a large map wouldn't just contain a few players; that would be a waste."
"You suspect that all free instances are on the same large map?"
Shiller nodded and continued, "Although you can choose the theme, whether it's a hospital, school, horror or not, technology or magic, it can all be realized within the worldview of this map. The likelihood of having only this one map is very high."
"If we leave the game and queue up again, we should be able to confirm whether it's like this," Strange said, "But I have work tomorrow, you'll have to find someone else."
"I wasn't planning to queue up for a second time anyway. With this time, I'd rather visit someone else's cosmos," Shiller yawned, "If things are as we speculate, then for those who want to grind repeatedly, the assets in this universe are valuable and should sell for a good price."
"That said, you should be keen on speculating on properties here," Strange said.
"Fun is equally important to me. Grinding in online games makes money, but it's indeed too boring. If it weren't for the theme this time being a hospital, which is quite interesting to manage, I might have just speedrun and then quit."
"Either way, this guy can't be my assistant," Strange glanced at Henry, "He has no surgical talent, is hot-tempered, with poor control and focus, and even lacks the efficiency of Wanda. You can't take away my only assistant."
Shiller was in a quandary. He knew that if he sent Wanda to the pharmacy, Strange would be left with no one, but the pharmacy was really important too, and no one besides Wanda knew how to do alchemy.
"Let's ask Wanda herself. If she prefers to stay here as an assistant, then let someone else do the alchemy," Shiller said.
Shiller found Wanda in the adjacent lounge and shared his thoughts, and as expected, Wanda did not want to do alchemy because she felt she could learn a lot from Strange, which would be helpful for her future nursing studies.
Shiller chose to respect her decision. He returned to the lobby and found Jarvis, then said, "Don't you think the efficiency of manual alchemy is a bit low?"
"Of course, Doctor. I thought Wanda looked tired doing alchemy, and many steps could be replaced by machines. I'm actually doing research on assembly line alchemy," Jarvis replied.
Shiller patted his shoulder, very satisfied with Jarvis's understanding: "Truly worthy of being advanced AI, your emotional intelligence is much higher than Stark's."
The expanded room was handed over to Jarvis, but setting up an assembly line required metal smelting. The flames composed of Onryo didn't need special treatment to be used for smelting, but the quantity of minerals was a big problem.
Batman and Stark had used up most of the brass they mined underground. Stark was building mechas, and Batman was creating a series of devices, and he also wanted to build the Batmobile and Batplane. The amount of minerals used by the two was astronomical.
If Jarvis were added, the current mining capacity would definitely be insufficient. Thus, Stark and Batman created more professional drills, planning to mine deeper.
Because they needed to perform surgeries and office work by day, the large drills were only operated at night. Although it was somewhat noisy, running for just a few hours a day was barely acceptable.
But on the night three days later, Shiller, who was asleep, suddenly heard a booming sound, and the entire hospital violently shook.
Hearing the panicked voices outside, Shiller knew he was not dreaming; something must have happened.
"She has emerged."
The ethereal voice of Manny sounded in Shiller's ear. He turned his head and saw the ghost of the little girl floating near the door, looking outside with a somewhat worried gaze.