Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Nurse’s Radiant Smile, Part Two

The matter was perfectly straightforward: he really had no medical insurance, and he could not afford it anyway.

Shi Tiexin scratched his head and asked honestly, “How much?”

The nurse tapped the display with a pale finger. “Didn’t you see?”

So this wasn’t some advanced verification method at all. It was just a bill. And, more importantly, it was way too much. Shi Tiexin stared at the display, then thought of his own account balance, and was instantly dumbfounded. “Th-This much?!”

“Not much. Emergency care, treatment, equipment, labor, procedure, and bed charges. It’s already a very favorable rate.” The nurse pointed at the display. “Look, here’s the itemization. We price everything openly and clearly.”

“Wait, bed charges?” Shi Tiexin was quick on the draw and pointed at the screen. “Just the bed alone costs 246 points? For this iron coffin?”

“If you think the conditions are poor, we have better ones. Private suites, suspended courtyards, even drifting pods. Want me to move you to a nicer one?”

She clapped her hands sharply, as if summoning underlings. “Someone! Send this young master to a drifting pod so he can enjoy himself!”

Crash. A crowd of broad-shouldered, brawny men immediately swarmed in from outside, rolling up their sleeves and charging forward with great enthusiasm.

“Wait, wait, don’t be serious, don’t be serious!” Shi Tiexin hurriedly held the nurse back. “Good sirs, please return. This one is just fine!”

The nurse waved a hand, and the burly men vanished at once.

“That’s more like it. If you don’t have insurance, don’t be picky. By the way, I recommend you stay another day for convalescence. We only gave you first-level treatment, but it’s best if you receive some second-level treatment.” She operated the display again, and a three-dimensional male body model appeared. “This was you when you first arrived.”

Dense patches of red and yellow instantly bloomed across the model, covering the head and neck, shoulders and back, both arms, and both legs. Looking at those red areas, Shi Tiexin’s gaze gradually turned cold as he remembered the beating he had taken.

“And this is your current condition.”

The yellow areas disappeared at once, but the red remained, only a little lighter in shade. Some were pale red, some deep yellow. Though far fewer than before, they were by no means trifling scratches.

The nurse looked at Shi Tiexin. “So, if you can manage it, I still recommend second-level treatment. One day, and you’ll be out of here lively and kicking.”

Rubbing his neck, which still hurt, Shi Tiexin asked, “How much is the treatment fee?”

“Please wait~~” The nurse smiled enchantingly once again, gripping the display with both hands and shaking it up and down like a darling little trinket. “I’ll do my best to shake out a discount for you!”

The numbers on the display rattled and spun about like a lottery machine. With a sharp chime, before the other digits had even settled, an eight popped up in the thousands place.

“All right, all right, no need to shake it.” Shi Tiexin seized the nurse’s arm again. “I’m being discharged. I’m leaving right now.”

“Then pay up.”

“I...” Shi Tiexin looked at his wristwatch. It was already a very old model, and could barely be used at all. After tapping it twice, a number appeared, and his expression instantly became awkward.

Two hundred ninety-eight points. That was all Shi Tiexin had to his name.

“Hmm?” The nurse caught his wrist, and though her fingers were slender as scallions, they held an irresistible force. His thick black-iron wrist could not resist in the slightest.

With a creak, Shi Tiexin’s wrist was twisted over and examined. Then the nurse looked up, and her smile vanished at once. An astonishing aura surged from her body; her nurse’s uniform fluttered without wind, and with a glare of her eyes, dazzling light burst forth, frightful beyond measure. “You don’t mean to pay, do you...?”

“I will pay, for sure!” Shi Tiexin said firmly. “You treated me, you showed me kindness. I’ll definitely pay. B-But right now I’m really a little short...”

“Then borrow money through Carrier Borrow!” The nurse offered a suggestion. “Borrow ten thousand or eight thousand first and cover the medical bill. You can pay it back slowly later.”

“My credit rating is too low. Carrier Borrow probably won’t lend to me.”

Borrow money? If it were that easy, then at least half of all the desperate crises he had ever faced could have been weathered with relative ease.

“Why is your rating low?” The nurse’s uniform fluttered up again, and her smile grew both beautiful and chilling. “Did you do something utterly outrageous?”

“No, but I’m still studying at an elementary school, and I have no fixed job or stable income.”

An elementary school was a beginner-level school, also called an initial academy. Those who studied there were just pupils; they had no proper qualifications and were not recognized by the various gangs, groups, or companies. Only after passing the lower rural examination and obtaining the status of a licentiate would one be considered to possess the minimum level of academic standing.

Starcraft Children’s School was an elementary school. Shi Tiexin had not even taken the lower rural examination, so of course he had no qualification at all.

As Shi Tiexin explained this, the nurse saw even more. She did not bother hiding it and asked directly, “You don’t have a guarantor for repayment?”

At Carrier Borrow, even a minor without academic standing could still borrow money. If one could not borrow a single point at all, that could only mean one thing: this person did not even have a guarantor.

And the natural guarantors for minors were their parents.

“Yes.” Shi Tiexin did not evade it either, admitting freely, “I’m from the Orphan Home in Pasture Plains District.”

“I see.” The nurse considered it for a moment, then nodded. “In that case—”

In that case what? Help me reduce it?

“In that case, I’ll help you apply for the medical loan promoted by the Central Hospital in the Upper City! Come, come, scan the code and register an account. Two simple steps and you can become a member. Participating in the medical loan program also lets you receive a small gift. It’s quite a bargain!”

Like a bank lobby manager pitching wealth-management products, the nurse curved her lips into a smile that showed eight teeth, a textbook angel of smiles. “Well? Want to set one up?”

Shi Tiexin raised a hand. “What’s the interest rate?”

“Two percent.”

“That low?!” Good heavens, annual interest at two percent was absurdly low. What a conscientious financial product!

“Per month.”

Damn it... Cold sweat was about to break out. That flesh-eating smile was enough to make one shudder.

The nurse put away her standardized, formulaic smile and finally showed a normal face. “Don’t resent the hospital’s interest rate. Even at that, I still have to take the risk of acting as your guarantor to get the application approved. You have no credit rating at all—how am I supposed to know whether you can pay it back? Besides, what if you run?”

“In any case, the medical bill must not go unpaid. If you’ve got the means to get money from somewhere else, then pay it yourself. But if you can’t come up with the money and still want to browbeat your way out of paying, then the only thing left is...” Her eyes flashed on and on like those of a machine, and the nurse’s pale hands seemed almost to glow.

With a snap, her fingers pinched together. An incomprehensible, blade-like sharpness swept past Shi Tiexin’s brows and lashes, so piercing that he could scarcely keep his eyes open.