Chapter 24: The Ambitious Daoist, Eye of Purity!

Lin Tianhao was overwhelmed with emotion.

He had been reborn and returned, dreaming that he could change everything.

Yet now, he couldn't even save his own sister.

The doctor shook his head. "We've done everything we can. While we managed to drain a large amount of clotted blood, the blood that entered the cerebellum has already caused damage. At best, she'll remain in a vegetative state — and she could pass away at any moment."

Lin Tianhao felt his heart go ice cold. "Can I see my sister?"

"Go ahead. Try to keep your emotions in check," the doctor said with a sigh.

Lin Tianhao entered the operating room.

A few medical staff were still inside, wrapping up their work.

As he looked at his sister lying on the hospital bed, his fingers trembled slightly.

"Is there truly nothing I can change?"

Lin Tianhao clenched his teeth.

He refused to accept this outcome.

"My condolences."

One of the medical staff shook their head at Lin Tianhao.

Lin Tianhao forced himself to suppress his grief and walked to the bedside. In his previous life, he had faced countless brushes with death.

His resolve had long since been tempered into something unbreakable.

But today.

Seeing his sister on the verge of leaving him again, the despair and helplessness overwhelmed him. He could no longer hold back the sorrow in his heart, and tears streamed down his face.

"Why?!"

"Why does it have to be this way?!"

"Damn the heavens — why do you treat me like this?!"

Lin Tianhao clenched his fists. He was furious — furious at his own powerlessness.

"She may still be saved."

Just then, a young, clear voice rang out.

A young Daoist, dressed in a Daoist robe and looking no older than seventeen or eighteen, appeared at the doorway of the operating room.

Lin Tianhao was startled. He spun around to look.

"Save her — please, save my sister."

He turned around in a frenzy, as if grasping at the last lifeline available to him.

"I can't guarantee anything," the young Daoist said.

"What about your master? Can he?"

Lin Tianhao was agitated. Seeing how young the Daoist was, he assumed there must be a powerful figure from the Daoist tradition behind him.

"My master is dead."

The young Daoist shook his head.

Lin Tianhao gritted his teeth. "Alright. Please, I beg you — save my sister. If you can save her, I will repay your kindness no matter what it takes."

The young Daoist smiled. "Meeting is fate. Let me try."

The young Daoist walked to the bedside.

He looked at Lin Qingqing lying on the bed, and a silver-white radiance appeared in his palm.

Lin Tianhao's heart jolted. An inner energy master?!

The Dragon Nation had ancient martial artists.

Lin Tianhao had known this from his previous life.

What the young Daoist was displaying now closely resembled the legendary masters of inner energy.

The young Daoist raised his hand, and his palm, glowing with silver-white light, gently pressed against Lin Qingqing's forehead.

The radiance slowly seeped into Lin Qingqing's head, and her complexion gradually began to improve.

Lin Tianhao's heart surged with hope. After a moment, the young Daoist withdrew his hand.

He wiped the sweat from his brow. "Your sister is no longer in danger of dying. However, she will still remain in a vegetative state."

With that, the young Daoist let out a sigh. "I: Daoist humble tone's cultivation is still insufficient, after all."

"How should I address you, Daoist?" Lin Tianhao asked, deeply grateful.

Even a vegetative state was far better than what it had been before.

"I: Daoist humble tone am Zhang Ye. My Daoist title is Yexin — the Ambitious One."

Lin Tianhao's mouth twitched. "Daoist Zhang, thank you for saving my sister. I have one hundred thousand yuan in this card — it's all yours."

Zhang Ye shook his head. "That's too much. Give me ten thousand. That's enough to buy a Game Pod."

"A Game Pod? Daoist Zhang, you're going to play Ragnarok too?"

Zhang Ye nodded. "Indeed. I: Daoist humble tone have been observing the stars at night and discovered that Ragnarok holds a Fortuitous Encounter within it — one that may help me break through my shackles and reach that legendary realm."

Lin Tianhao was inwardly astonished. The fact that Zhang Ye could divine this through stargazing made him someone worth getting to know.

However, his current situation in the game was not something he could let too many people in the real world know about — that could easily lead to trouble.

In his previous life, there had been cases of skilled players being kidnapped or even killed offline.

Now that the game's attributes hadn't yet manifested in reality, he still needed to be cautious.

"Your kindness in saving my sister is worth far more than a hundred thousand. Please keep more money on you, Daoist Zhang — it'll make things easier for you going forward."

Lin Tianhao placed the bank card in Daoist Zhang's hand. "The PIN is 157988."

Zhang Ye smiled freely. "Very well. Many thanks."

After exchanging a few more words with Zhang Ye, Lin Tianhao left.

Although his sister was now out of immediate danger, she still needed to recuperate in the hospital for a few days in hopes of recovering as quickly as possible.

After making sure everything was arranged for his sister, Lin Tianhao returned to his rented apartment and logged back into the game.

This detour had cost him over three hours, slowing his in-game progress somewhat.

But Lin Tianhao didn't mind.

From here on, the confrontation between the Blacksmith Wang and the Old Village Chief was going to grow more intense.

The NPCs in the novice village were different from wild monsters — they didn't respawn after dying.

Lin Tianhao looked at his record of five bosses already slain and considered how to handle the Old Village Chief's follow-up quest.

If he continued hunting NPCs, his current strength was more than capable of it.

But Lin Tianhao had no intention of doing that. It was far too easy to play with fire and get burned — drawing the Old Village Chief's attention could prevent him from completing the follow-up quest normally.

At the same time, he was reluctant to give up on the Old Village Chief's quest entirely.

After much deliberation, Lin Tianhao ultimately decided to start from the Level 5 wild monsters and work his way up by hunting bosses.

From Level 5 to Level 9, there were five bosses. Hunting these five and submitting the quest might reduce the rewards slightly, but it was the safest approach.

No sooner thought than done.

Lin Tianhao began grinding through the Level 5 monster zones.

He pushed all the way to Level 9, slaying five novice village bosses along the way.

Combined with the bosses he had already killed before, Lin Tianhao had now slain a total of ten novice village bosses — enough to return to the Old Village Chief and submit the quest.

Novice Village — Village Chief's Courtyard.

When Lin Tianhao arrived, a number of players were already there submitting their exit-village quests.

At this point in time, ordinary players had mostly reached Level 10 one after another. If not for the fact that some were still grinding the Twisted Jungle, even more people would have gathered here.

After they left, Lin Tianhao approached the Old Village Chief.

"Old Village Chief, I've slain ten bosses."

Lin Tianhao submitted the quest.

The Old Village Chief nodded with a look of mild surprise. "Not bad, Snow Emperor. I knew I hadn't misjudged you."

Ding. "You have completed the Old Village Chief's quest."

"Quest Rewards: Gold Coins +20, Free Attribute Points +20, Luck +1, Eye of Purity x1."

[Eye of Purity: Special Equipment.]

[Equip Requirement: None.]

[Effect: Able to see through darkness, illusions, and maintain a greatly extended field of vision even within fog.]

[Durability: 100.]

Lin Tianhao's eyes lit up. This piece of equipment had no level listed — it was a Special Equipment.

With an effect like that, it was absolutely an essential divine item for any Archer.

At the moment, the game's nighttime still offered a reasonable degree of visibility.

But once the Great Calamity arrived, visibility would be drastically reduced — that would be true darkness.

Some inherently powerful adventurers had been killed in the night by monsters from the Alaite Star System, precisely because their night vision was insufficient.