Chương 301: Chapter 289

Soon after the sun finally set, Lucy had to leave as the visiting hours – even in a private hospital such as this – were not endless. She hugged him tightly as the slightly smiling, but visibly waiting nurse watched them and promised to return the moment the hospital opened its door. The nurse let out a small cough, and Lucy gave him one more rib-squeezing hug before leaving the room in a hurry. Then it was time for the nurse and other health professionals to descend upon him.

He was beset from all sides, put through several rigorous tests now that he was cognizant and able to form proper sentences. According to his attending, there was a small period where he would have fever dreams, causing him to mutter nonsense, mixing the real-world happenings with the game world. As they were taking another blood sample, the chuckling nurse told him that they were mightily concerned when he began to mutter about killing people and leaving towns empty.

"At least you weren't one of those people who got too absorbed in the game and couldn't differentiate the real world from the game world," she told him while patting his hand.

"Got a lot of those here?" he asked curiously, trying not to think about the needle in his arm. Even with future tech, the most efficient way (and cheapest) was using needles. She shrugged.

"Not here, obviously. But I've heard cases all around the world. It mostly affects people who are logged in twenty-four-seven, according to the articles I've read." Sam nodded and frowned.

'Gold Fever already started? Bummer…' Gold Fever, getting its ironic name from the Gold Rush of the past, however, here it was all about the loss of gold and valuables that caused the psychosis. Thanks to the game permeating everyday life, a lot of people around the world derived their income from the game. Some people – most people – could handle it as a nine-to-five job and then 'go home'. However, there was a small subset of people who got immersed way too deep.

They started to think that their game job, occupation, and tasks were real, and the real world became a small break from their life. And when things went wrong – losing their gold, getting ganked, their projects being destroyed, guild disbanded – they also went off-kilter. Symptoms varied. Some people just shut down, staring with empty eyes, refusing to respond to any stimuli. Numbers on those were largely unknown as they stayed hidden, or were mistaken as something else.

Other people went in the opposite direction, crashing out with maximum effort. That included anything from committing suicide to going on rampages. All of them included delusions of the game bleeding into their view of the world. On sites hidden over the internet with little or no regulation, the other Sam watched a few shaky videos of people fashioning familiar weapons out of varied materials and trying to kill people with attacks from the game.

Naturally, in the future, Future Unknown, came out with all sorts of advisory messages, upgrades to the pods, medical sensors, and even to the detection the system used, but with the inherent chaotic nature of humanity, even with that, they weren't able to catch all of them. However, after the initial peak, the number of people with the condition – Golden Fever – plummeted to a low number, becoming an urban legend whispered around in the seedy part of the internet.

Though the other Sam, and even he, believed it wasn't because the numbers really decreased much, but because the company, and other influential people, did their best to suppress news about it.

"Sounds dangerous. Maybe some kind of shock from the game caused some kind of hallucination? Heard that shock can do a lot of things to people…" he mumbled, trying to sound casual. Granted, he didn't believe for one moment that the nurse working around him had the power to do anything about the situation; instead, it was about planting seeds. She stopped for a short moment, appeared to think about it, before nodding.

"You're pretty smart, aren't you?" she asked with a small smile.

"Shock can indeed do things like that. Interesting theory, however…" Sam looked back and began to converse with her about the situation. At least it was better than staring at the walls while the tests were in progress. No matter what timeline, dimension, or universe, hospitals were a bore…

BAMMM The door to his room slammed open, causing several indistinct yells from the corridor that he couldn't make out, before his attention was taken up by the energetic figure of Katie, clad in a summer dress, hair flowing freely, sunglasses on the top of her head, arms touching the door frame, as if she was single-handedly preventing the two parts slamming together. It looked very anime-like…

The scene stayed like for a long moment, Sam sitting in the bed, staring at her, and the people lining up behind her, Katie staring back, her eyes roaming over his body, looking for anything out of place, before she let go of the frame and swept into the room. Sam had a brief moment to see Isabella, Lucy, Tim, Dan, and Lara following her before he was pulled into a hug that would have needed a jaw of life to get out of.

"Oh, my gosh! I was so worried! Really! You need to take better care of yourself! Have you thought what would have happened to us if you croaked? So inconsiderate…" While Sam was unable to form sentences, as he was currently being smothered by Katie's breast, Lucy was gallant enough to warn the other young woman.

"I get that you were worried, Katie, but if you don't let up, you get to finish the job…" she warned her with a small laugh in her voice. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Katie froze, then jumped backward, almost tossing Sam away from her. This allowed Sam to finally breathe properly, but also sent his head rocketing backwards, straight at the headboard of his hospital desk. There was a small clang as everybody froze.

"Guh…ugh…" Sam moaned while at the same time as he tried to take deep breaths. Shaking himself a little, he looked up at Katie, who was looking rather worried, and smiled at her.

"Hey!" he greeted her with a small wave. The young woman stared at him for a fraction of a second before she let out a rather wet laugh, and he was once again enveloped in a far gentler hug. Lara and Dan were holding hands, and while Dan was looking awkwardly at the scene, Lara was smiling. Tim was picking at the window and looking outside, as if looking at entry points and safety issues. Isabella was walking after Katie, seemingly unable to decide whether to join her or to pull her off Sam.

Meanwhile, Lucy was doing her best to placate the angry-looking nurse at the door. Meanwhile, Katie tightened a hug and began to whisper.

"Please don't do this again…" she said with enough emotion that Sam felt a lump growing in his throat. He reached over and patted her back.

"I survived, didn't I?" he asked gently while sending a pleading look at Isabella. She nodded, stepped forward, and gently pried the smaller girl off Sam.

"I'm glad you're better, Sam," she said while pulling Katie into a half-hug, leaving her arm around the other girl. They both ignored how Katie wiped at her eyes.

"Did they find any permanent damage?" she asked worriedly, which caused the others to perk up too. Sam shook his head, to their relief.

"Most of it already healed, but according to the doc I talked to, they are confident that I could leave within a few days. They even worked with the devs to update the pods and system to prevent it from happening to others." There was a muted celebration in the room, the nurse glaring at them through the small glass window on the door.

"And the game? Are you coming back?"

"Yeah. They did some brainwave tests and cleared me to return with some check-ups in the future," he told them with a smile, omitting the fact that it took some cajoling to get the doctor to do the tests.

"Hell yeah!" Katie exclaimed, jumping in the air and pumping her fist.

"We're so going to destroy everybody!" Curious, Sam turned to Katie.

"What is happening at the tower?" In response, she grinned, leaned closer, as if sharing a great secret.

"As you're logged out, the…NPC has focused all their attention on me. We're having such fun! Can't wait to show you how it's done!" Sam nodded as he processed the information. Thankfully, Katie kept in mind operational security and didn't say anything important that people who were probably listening in could use against them. Probably.

'Was it really paranoia if they were out to get you?' he mused to himself.

"Make sure to use a hundred percent."

"Don't worry, boss! I'm on the case!" she exclaimed once again, with a giant grin on her face, legs apart and hand held out in thumbs-up position. He chuckled before turning to the others.

"And you guys? How is life?" Lara just glared at him.

"Most people already know what happened to you. They don't know exactly how it happened, but they're ready to make use of your absence…" Before Sam could respond, Tim cut in.

"Don't worry about it. I set up several auctions around the continent with a few things from the vault. They'll be too preoccupied to do anything to us."

"The shiny-shiny or the unga-bunga?" Sam asked curiously, and honestly, a little morbidly, using their code word for several sets of items. Most of them were odds and ends that they had picked up, and Sam had them put away as they were too dangerous or disadvantageous to use, even if they looked cool or awesome. Like Black Blood… Tim just smirked.

"I used Santa's Sack." Lucy froze, Dan looked oddly at the other man, Lara frowned, trying to figure out which one Tim was talking about, and Katie gasped in surprise. Isabella looked at her 'friend'.

"You know what they're talking about?"

"No, I just thought a gasp would be nice to set the mood!" came the cheerful reply, causing Isabella to slap her forehead.

"Seriously, Katie…why do you do this to me?" Sam chuckled a little, then returned his attention to Tim.

"Are you sure? Those can be…odd."

"Odd is what we need."

"Hmm…" Sam hummed as he went over the collection named Santa's Sack in his head. All items that contained other items. Most of them had 'unknown' content, but naturally, Sam knew about most of them, as they were rather famous in the future. Auction and gambling at the same time? Yeah, those idiots wouldn't be able to resist the temptation…

"Makes sense. Good decision." Tim relaxed slightly, and Lucy looked ready to bash her head into the wall. She probably suspected that those auctions would mean just more work for her. Then Katie grabbed a chair and plopped down next to the bed, the others following her, which found them in a minute sitting around Sam's hospital bed, chatting away happily. Sam simply looked around and couldn't help but smile.

"Now, Mr. Lawrence. Let's talk about feelings," said the older gentleman in a lab coat as he sat across from Sam in his room. He was finally able to leave his bed, and they were sitting in a corner where a small tea table and comfy chairs were set up. The hospital mandated that he should have a session with a resident psychologist after the traumatic experience; thus, he was trying to answer the question. Knowing that therapy was useful and trying to express himself were two very different things.

"You needn't worry, young man. Just say what you have on your mind. There are no wrong or right answers here," came the reassuring words from the older man. Sam turned away slightly, looking out of the window.

"I feel…frustrated."

"Hmm…why?"

"I was in the middle of something when… it happened." The man nodded, made some notes on his tablet.

"And just to clarify, what were you doing at the moment it happened?"

"This is another one of those memory things?"

"Answer the question, please."

"I was playing the game, Magic Unbound," he replied dutifully.

"And?"

"And doing some quests with my friend."

"And this caused your…episode, correct?"

"Yes, sir." The man made some other notes, thought a little, before continuing.

"This game is rather new, so its effects are unknown on the psyche. Already, many different psychoses have surfaced. Would you mind sharing what exactly you were doing at the time of the incident? Maybe that could shed some further light on the issue," he explained, eyeing Sam. Sam thought about it.

"You think there are psychological reasons for my stroke?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. The man shrugged.

"Even after more than centuries of studies, the human brain remains a mystery to us. Sometimes, the oddest thing could affect it and cause issues." He grinned.

"And sometimes it's just an overload of the brain due to new technology used in ways it wasn't intended. So, give me some details, let me see if it was the wetwork or the hardware that was the issue!"

"Fair enough, doc," Sam replied, then he looked toward the door.

"Mind if I take a biobreak first? I was about to go when you arrived, and I'm afraid while the spirit is willing, the body is very much ready to fire." The man stared at him oddly before letting out a chuckle.

"Of course, young man. Go take care of it!" Sam nodded, stood up, and with careful steps went to the door. The moment the door closed behind him and he was out of sight, his steps returned to normal, and he began to amble toward the nurse's station.

'Really? It's a private room, why would I need to leave for the toilet?' he mused mirthfully.

'Plus, wearing a lab coat without the hospital's logo? Way to sell it, man…"

"Excuse me?" he called out to the way-too-pretty-to-work-in-a-hospital nurse.

"Do you mind if I ask a question?" The nurse looked up, her attention instantly on him, scanning for any issues.

"Yes, Mr. Lawrence? Are you feeling well?"

"I'm doing good. Nothing unusual, but I was going to ask about the psychologist…" The nurse's eyes narrowed.

"What psychologist?" Upon Sam's answer, there was a lot of yelling and rushing about.