To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

There was no crowing from his sickly chicken; perhaps it had died. That meant there would be meat to eat at last.

Alive with sickness, dead and free of it; illness clings only to the living. The dead may look horrifying, but they’re actually quite delectable.

Ambling over to the chicken coop, Li leaned his hands on the fence, stepped on clumps of earth and, on tiptoe, peered with his one good eye into the coop, only to find the chicken sprawled on the ground, eerily staring back at him.

“Not dead, eh… Then why didn’t you crow?”

Eyeing the chicken with suspicion, Li noticed a large tumor hanging off its neck, a sign it had contracted a new illness.

To fall ill anew, it must still possess the vitality of life; it wouldn’t die anytime soon.

He sighed and returned to the courtyard to endure the hardship for yet another day.

His eldest son’s wife had been coughing all night, but now she was finally quiet for a while. That coughing through the night always made others’ throats itch as if they wanted to cough too.

His younger son had suffered an injury to his arm and with no place to seek treatment, he was now bearing with painful purple sores covering the limb. Illness seems to have a particular fondness for robust life; the young and strong are full of it, with every bump and bruise spawning a myriad of ailments.

But in old age, in decay, illness no longer seems so interested. To live to sixty, that’s when good days truly begin; to reach such an age is to triumph over life in these times.

Thus, when the older generation tends to the ailing young, they always say, “Endure a bit more, just endure a little longer. If you endure to my age, life will be easy.”

Sitting on a chair, Li felt like singing a few lines from an opera, some tunes from happier times long past, but it all felt strangely unreal to him.

It is said that long ago, people fell ill too, but not as gravely as nowadays.

Youth could bask in comfort, roam the mountains, swim the rivers, and lie close together in the sunlit meadows.

They were like the wind, the clouds, the rushing rivers, and the wild grass by the road; carefree and unconcerned, they’d be lively again the following day.

Li was willing to believe such good old days had existed, but his two sons and daughters-in-law did not.

They were young and naive, unaware that belief in something is essential for hope and survival.

Yawning, Li felt somewhat weary.

His body seemed light; his bones no longer ached, he wasn’t cold, and he was free from all ailments.

“Ha, so it’s my turn to die today.”

Closing his eyes, he wasn’t afraid but instead felt quite comfortable.

But gradually, he sensed that something was amiss.

The comfort in his body kept growing, to the point where he began to feel hungry.

When ill, one doesn’t feel hunger, but the elders would force them to eat something, else they would surely perish.

Most of the food had to be handed over to the City Lord, and the remainder was only fit to be mixed with black muck; it was dark, tasteless, neither satisfying nor particularly edible.

Only when an animal died could they sneak in an extra meal — that aroma, even a sick child in bed couldn’t help but come over for a taste.

In the past, eating was just a chore, but now there was something in his stomach crying out for him to find something to eat immediately.

Opening his eyes, he saw a man and a woman standing opposite him.

They had no tumors on their faces and their skin was delicate and smooth. The man was expressionless, the woman silent and reserved, yet both were extraordinarily attractive.

Noticing that he was awake, the man withdrew the purple light from his hands, lamenting, “Old man, did you know you were on the brink of death just now?”

Li looked at them in bewilderment and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you Black and White Impermanence? Have they become so good-looking these days?” “No,” the man quickly waved his hand, “lam Xiemen Waidao, and this is my companion, Mukuai 1234. My Mukuai doesn’t talk much but is very reliable.” “…I thought your name was strange enough, why is your companion’s even stranger?”

“That’s not important. We are from the ‘Ethical Mutual Aid Guild’, healers here to save the world and earn merit through our deeds. Do you know of any morally corrupt individuals nearby? We’re looking to experiment with something using them.”

Before Li could answer, violent coughing erupted from the adjacent room.

Hearing the cough, Xiemen Waidao’s body jolted. In just a few leaps, he dashed into the room, as swiftly as an agile wild dog, exuding an indescribable sense of joy.

Suddenly, the room filled with a burst of purple radiance, and even the airborne illness was jolted, creating a gap, which made Li’s heart race with shock.

What is this person’s background?

What had he done?

Rushing forward in panic, Li saw that his daughter-in-law on the bed had actually fallen asleep, a content smile on her face.

The grandchild in her arms also seemed unusually peaceful, no longer crying or fussing. Even the jaundice on the baby’s body had faded significantly.

“Alright, I’ve dispelled the illness from their bodies, but it will likely return after some time. I’ll write you a prescription, and you can take the medicine according to it every day.”

“You think they have money too?” sighed Mukuai 1234.

“Oh, right. Never mind, Mukuai A Dream, I want to exchange merit for money —help me exchange it!”

“Can you not waste your merit? And why can’t you just exchange it directly for the item?”

“We’ve just earned a good amount, and there’s plenty left from that large chunk we got earlier. After adding to it, there’ll be a substantial remainder.” Then, looking at his total merit with pleasure, he said, “Ten merits, just enough to open my Heavenly Vision… That’s like having a mini-map! ‘Healers’ is such a stingy game, system functions have to be unlocked by accumulating merit, but it’s such a big help. Oh, and now I can see the health bars too, well done! Twenty thousand merits to unlock the mini-map and health bars, I should share this in the group.”