CHAPTER 271: DEBUFF.

To Dante, waking up in hospital beds has been a frequent occurrence in the last few years. He had long since lost count of how much he spent on medical expenses, but since most of his earnings went to it, he was still conscious of the damage it left on his wallet.

The last thing Dante wanted was to get used to things ending this way. Nevertheless, it kept happening again and again, and this time, it turned out to be especially painful.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck..."

[You are up.] A calm voice spoke in his head.

’I wish I weren’t.’ Dante replied.

Though he was feeling pain from all over his body, his limbs refused to move, causing an inexplicable sense of horror to creep up in his mind. His dry, aching throat made it difficult to raise his voice, so he couldn’t even scream or call anyone. It didn’t help that he had an oxygen tube stuck to his nose, adding to the discomfort.

’How... how long was I asleep?’ He asked internally

[On hundred forty-three hours, fifty minutes and thirty-five seconds.]

’Does it look like I can do math right now? Days motherfucker! How many days!!!?’

[Almost six days.] Volcan replied. [You woke up much earlier than expected.]

’Six... days...?’

Spending six days in a coma was no small matter, and to make it worse, it didn’t appear like his body was anywhere near being healed.

[Dante,] Volcan spoke, his tone sounding much more serious than usual. [I need to inform you that your condition is much worse than we expected.]

’I... don’t even know what we expected.’

It wasn’t like he could tell what was wrong with it by feeling alone. Figuring that out was the doctor’s job, and until he saw one, there was no way to know for sure. And speaking of doctors.

"Guess the pain suppressants ran out." A shadow fell on Dante, drawing his gaze to the left. "Hey kid, are you there?"

For a moment there, Dante didn’t recognize his doctor. Larry looked even more haggard than usual. His hair was in a mess, and it looked like it had been a while since he last shaved. His cheeks had sunk further, too, making him look lankier than usual.

"You... you look like... shit..." Dante forced out.

"Look who’s talking." The underground doctor grabbed a pen from the breast pocket of his white coat. "What’s the last thing you remember?"

As he asked the question, Larry reached down and forced Dante’s left eye open with his finger then pointed the pen at it and pressed a button, causing the bottom to light up. He moved what turned out to be a flashlight left and right then did the same with the right eye before backing away.

"Up till... I reached The... Clinic." Dante replied.

"Guess your brain is completely fine."

"Can’t..."

As talking became more and more difficult, Dante gave up and opened a messenger app.

[

Dante: Shouldn’t you have checked that day ago?

And why does it hurt like hell?

Don’t tell me you’re waiting to see if I can pay before you fix me up.

]

The lanky doctor seemed to space out for a moment before letting out a long sigh.

"How much of a moron do you have to be?" He shook his head. "I will give it to you straight, kid. You aren’t looking too good."

Dante tried gritting his teeth but didn’t find the strength.

"No... shit."

"I don’t think you get it," Larry said. "Dante, your body is collapsing. You lost both kidneys, and one of your lungs is gone. I tried to salvage what I could, but..."

A bucket of cold water. That’s what the underground doctor had just spilled. Dante let the info settle in, his eyes slightly widening, his sickly pale skin growing paler.

[Dante: Both kidneys?]

"And a lung."

’No wonder I’m struggling to...’ Pausing the thought, Dante closed his eyes and tried taking a breath. Strangely enough, he wasn’t having any trouble with that, although he still felt some pain.

"People can live with one lung, but..." Grimacing, Larry averted his gaze. "Since the one you still have doesn’t look like it would last, I went ahead and implanted a replacement. "

"Wha-"

In his shock, Dante tried to speak but ended up in a coughing fit.

[Dante: You WHAT!!?]

"Implanted a new respiratory system and some blood filtration implants," Larry said nonchalantly. "Don’t worry, I know you are particular about quality, so I chose ones that are on the higher end."

[Dante: Hold on! We never discussed any of this!]

"Of course we didn’t. You were too busy dying." Clicking his tongue, Larry turned away. "Seriously, how in the world did you end up like this? Did you go to the moon without a suit or something?"

Dante had no argument. Instead, he turned to the corner of his vision and focused on the icon with the large S, summoning his status window.

[

Name: Dante

Species: Human

Threat Level: 1

Baseline Retention: Intermediate (82%)

Stats:

Strength: 6 (-6)

Durability: 21 (-5)

Agility: 6 (-6)

Dexterity: 4 (-4)

Computing Power: 7 (-3)

Energy: 0

Implants:

Neural Interface Module (C)

Optic Augmentation Module (C)

Diamond Fist (D)

Kinetic Absorption Protective Sub-Layer Generation 15 (C)

RespiraCore Series V (D)

NephroCore Series X (D)

]

’Wha... is that a debuff?’

Funnily enough, his stats reflected his complete lack of strength in his current condition, as well as his ability to move. His mind doesn’t seem to be in its best state either.

[The additional numbers reflect the temporary increase or decrease in your stats.] Volcan said.

’I already guessed as much.’

He felt a little disappointed seeing the new implants and realizing that they were both only of the D grade. Neither were upgraded, and from the looks of it, the materials needed to do so were going to cost a hefty sum.

After a moment of thought, Dante accepted the fact that there was nothing he could do about what happened. He trusted Larry enough to let him handle his implant, so he was sure the underground doctor wouldn’t screw him for no reason. Not to mention, his plan has always been to go full cyborg, though he had to admit that getting bionic lungs and kidneys wasn’t too high on his priority list.

[

Dante: Let’ talk money another time.

I don’t think I can handle it now.

]

"Don’t worry too much about it," Larry said. "We can always discuss my expenses once you have covered."

Though he spoke with a calm, reassuring tone, Dante felt that it was having the opposite effect. All of a sudden, he found himself wondering if his cut from the heist would survive another one of Larry’s treatments.

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