MMORPG: Crowd Control

The moment Lei Zhen finished saying that the patient was stuck in the virtual world, unable to come back to the real world, the entire room's atmosphere became tense.

Especially the patient's parents that were practically begging Doctor Cain to save their son.

Doctor Cain had to pacify the parents that they are going to equip the MagnoPod with a new batch of Nutrient Solution and monitor the heartbeat of the patient through a special technology.

Right now, the problem is that they are unable to forcefully crack the MagnoPod open to retrieve the patient, mainly because it would damage their brain nerve completely.

Not to mention, there is no guarantee that the patient would wake up after being forcefully disconnected.

"I've never seen such a patient condition like this before." Doctor Cain muttered gravely, clearly not knowing what to do in such a situation.

The same goes for Lei Zhen as he had never heard of an incident of a player being trapped in the MagnoPod.

After all, if such an incident had occurred in the past, then it would have made headlines in the media already. It would simply be too big to be covered up by anyone.

"Please, Doctor Cain, he's my only son, and have been playing the Magnolia game to earn an income in hopes of bettering our future lives. We already told him not to overwork himself because we can't afford to lose him." The female parent started begging Doctor Cain, almost going as far as going to her knees.

From her eyes, it was clear that she was desperate and helpless to see her son in such a condition.

"Please be assured. We are going to try our best to save your son." Doctor Cain said formally. He wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of scene since almost all of the parents would be emotionally unstable when their beloved child is hospitalized.

Shortly after, the female parent was finally able to calm down after the support of her husband and they subsequently left the room to get something to eat, much to the displeasure of the female parent.

However, she knew that if she stayed and bothered Doctor Cain, then it might have delayed their treatment of her son. Hence, she left in reluctance and could only place her hopes on Doctor Cain.

Once the parents left the room, leaving only Doctor Cain and Lei Zhen, they were filled with confusion.

"Although I don't play Magnolia, I've heard about it before from colleagues. The people have their consciousness transported into the virtual world, essentially allowing them to live in a second world. Yet never once had one been stuck in the MagnoPod for over 3 weeks without coming out." Doctor Cain said in disbelief, turning his head to Lei Zhen.

Lei Zhen nodded his head.

"The MagnoPod itself would issue a warning to the player directly if their Nutrient Solution is running low or if they exceeded a certain amount of playing hours that their body can retain. Hence, it's almost impossible to grind in the MagnoPod for three weeks straight." He then explained to Doctor Cain.

Before actually entering MagnoPod for the first time, he had done some research about it. Hence, he knew more than Doctor Cain who seemed to be uninterested in playing a virtual reality game.

"Is that so?" Doctor Cain rubbed his chin, seemingly in deep thought.

"No wonder why the parents are extremely concerned and sought help here to get the patient out of the MagnoPod instead of the Tundra Company itself."

"Indeed, something must have happened within the Magnolia virtual world itself- something that prevented the patient from being able to come back to the real world." Lei Zhen added.

"Then what can we even do, Lei Zhen?"

"I think the only plausible solution is to find the patient within the Magnolia world itself. However, the Magnolia world is simply too big to be able to spot one person."

And just when Doctor Cain was feeling a headache in this situation, a nurse came in with a grave expression.

"Doctor Cain, this is bad." The nurse said anxiously.

"What can be worse than this?" Doctor Cain replied in an annoyed tone.

"Two more similar patients stuck in their MagnoPod have been transported to our hospital."

"Okay, that is bad…" Doctor Cain said exhaustively when he realized two more of the same condition patients had arrived at their hospital.

He then turned to Lei Zhen and ordered him to relay this information to Samantha. Now that things have turned for the worst, he could only have Samantha personally come over to diagnose the problems.

He might not be capable of solving these complicated matters, but if it was Samantha, then at least Doctor Cain can trust her.

Lei Zhen quickly nodded his head and returned back to Samantha's office.

Returning to the office, Lei Zhen was about to speak when Samantha raised her hand to stop him.

"You're talking about the patients stuck in MagnoPod, right?" Samantha asked.

"Yes, we already received three different patients of the same case." Lei Zhen responded but then raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"But how did you know about this?" He asked. The patients had just been brought into the hospital, and not much news about it was spread aside from a few nurses.

"A reporter had gotten wind of the news and asked me about it. Nevertheless, the media are now being suppressed by multiple conglomerates, clearly to nullify the damages the news could have dealt to their business. Though, the maximum time they could suppress it for is about 3 weeks with 1-month max." Samantha explained.

Just like Lei Zhen had thought, players being trapped in the MagnoPod was not some small-scale news that one could use the money to cover it.

The world now practically had at least more than half of the population playing the game, Magnolia. Sooner or later, this news would spread and when it does, all hell would run loose.

"So what should we do now, Doctor Samantha?" Lei Zhen asked, seemingly expecting that she would have a solution.

Alas, even Samantha shook her head as she was helpless in this matter as well. The MagnoPod itself was like a well-secured room that could not be forcefully opened from the outside. And even if they could, the patients would receive damages beyond their comprehension.

While she was thinking, Samantha suddenly recalled the previous incident that she had encountered.

"Lei Zhen, do you remember when I told you I was ambushed while doing an adventure quest?" She asked him.

"Yeah, you told me that some ugly-looking players ambushed you and were hiding for quite a while."

"Mhmm, and they did say something about capturing me, not robbing me. Do you think this incident can be correlated to this one?" She then asked, making a very bold claim.

After all, there is zero evidence that the players ambushing her was related to this matter. Not to mention, it could be that the players ambushing her were merely using the wrong vocabulary from the start.

Meanwhile, Lei Zhen rubbed his chin slightly as he went into deep thinking.

'If those players are indeed related to the incident, then why did they target Samantha? Wait a minute, Samantha's game class is Necromancer- something that has not appeared in Magnolia. Could that be the reason?' Lei Zhen thought to himself.

"I'm going to head out for a moment, Doctor Samantha." Lei Zhen then said, rushing out of the office to go to the cafeteria area, hoping that the first patient's parents were still there.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen arrived at the cafeteria area and scanned the surroundings for a few seconds.

After glancing back and forth, Lei Zhen finally noticed the parents as he made his way toward there.

"Hello, I'm not sure if you remember me-"

"You were the one in the room alongside Doctor Cain, right? Is there something wrong with my son?"

Luckily, the mother of the patient recognized Lei Zhen's appearance, making it easier for him to save the introduction.

"No- Nothing happened to your son. I just wanted to enquire about some stuff in Magnolia."

"Magnolia stuff?"

"Yes, did your son have some Unique Class?"

The patient's mother tilted her head, clearly unable to comprehend the terms Lei Zhen was using. It was to be expected though since she doesn't seem to be the type to play Magnolia.

Thus, Lei Zhen needed to be creative with his words to get the information that he wanted to extract.

"I mean like- has your son ever bragged to you about being quite unique or different from other players that allowed him to earn a good income in the game?" He asked in a roundabout way.

When Lei Zhen finished his words, the patient's mother instantly showed a horrified expression.

"M-My son did mention being quite special in the game and allowed him to do some unimaginable achievements that others couldn't do. Is that why my son is in this condition now?" She was starting to panic and was having difficulty breathing, prompting her husband to take out an asthma breathing tool to assist her,

"Apologies, but my wife would have an asthma attack whenever she gets panicked and anxious." The husband explained.

"No worries, and Madam, please rest assured. I'm just asking out of curiosity, so don't be anxious." Lei Zhen shook his head and said, leaving stealthily in the process while her husband took care of her.

At the same time, Lei Zhen's eyes were cold as he finally got a clue to this crime that was happening.

'If the other two patients that arrived at the hospital also have a Unique Class as well, then something must be happening in the Magnolia world.' He exclaimed inwardly.