It was supposed to be a casual game, but the Long March dungeon brought tears to everyone's eye

A face peeked out from the crack in the door.

His face was like withered tree bark, and his hair was white and disheveled.

A pair of cloudy but wary old eyes stared intently at Ruan Ruan, who was sitting on the ground.

He was still tightly clutching a large, rusty pair of scissors, the tips of which were pointing outwards.

Ruan Ruan heard the noise, but did not turn around immediately, nor did she get up.

She simply raised her hands slowly, palms outstretched, to show them to the people behind her.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not robbing anything, I don't have a gun."

The old woman's gaze lingered for a few seconds on her soft, empty palm before she looked around at the deserted surroundings.

Finally, her gaze fell on the small glass bottle inside the threshold and the bundle of herbs.

That's real medicine.

For this impoverished village, which had been ravaged by soldiers and bandits countless times, this small bottle of salt water and herbs was more valuable than gold bars.

"Come in... please..."

The old woman's voice was hoarse, carrying a cautious, tentative tone.

Ruan Ruan then turned around, slowly stood up, and patted the dirt off her bottom.

She made a concealed gesture towards the haystack in the distance, signaling Li Luoluo to continue hiding.

Then a person with their head down walked into the dimly lit room.

The room was extremely dark, and the smell of mildew mixed with the stench of blood and pus was unusually strong.

Ruan Ruan spotted the child lying on the earthen bed at a glance.

He was probably only five or six years old, skin and bones, his face was burning red, and he was twitching unconsciously.

On his calf, there was a bloody hole the size of a thumb, as if it had been pierced by a sharp wooden stake.

The area around the wound was red, swollen, and shiny, oozing yellowish-white pus.

"What a terrible thing to do..."

The old woman, still clutching the scissors in her hand, huddled in the corner, wiping away her tears.

"I got these marks when I went up the mountain to escape the war. There was no medicine, and no doctor..."

Without saying a word, Ruan Ruan quickly walked to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Auntie, could you do me a favor later?" Ruan Ruan reminded her.

The first aid knowledge she had crammed for this game in real life finally came in handy.

Lacking a scalpel, she pulled out a small dagger that came with the system from her leg wraps and heated it over a fire.

"Bear with it."

She muttered something softly, not caring whether the child could hear her or not.

She deftly pried open the abscess, cleaned the wound, and squeezed out the pus and blood.

The child jerked back in pain, letting out a piercing scream.

"Hold him down!" Ruan Ruan shouted without turning her head.

The old woman rushed forward, trembling, and held her grandson down.

Ruanruan gritted her teeth, rinsed the wound with the precious saline solution, then chewed the herbs in her mouth and smeared them on the hideous blood hole.

Finally, he tore off a relatively clean strip of fabric from his inner lining and skillfully wrapped and knotted it.

The entire process was smooth and fluid, without a single unnecessary movement.

Only after doing all this did Ruan Ruan collapse onto the ground, panting heavily, her forehead covered in sweat.

The chat room was already exploding with comments.

"Holy crap! Is this still Ruan Ruan? Her wound cleaning technique is even more efficient than mine, a trainee nurse!"

"She used to cry for ages if she even got a cut on her finger! Now she's chewing herbal medicine without batting an eye?"

"That look in his eyes just now killed me! So cool! Is this the kind of soldier our old sergeant trained?!"

The child on the kang (a heated brick bed) stopped convulsing, and although his breathing was still rapid, it was noticeably more stable.

The old woman stared blankly at the scene, and the scissors in her hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".

She looked at her grandson's bandaged leg, then at Ruan Ruan sitting on the ground with her hands covered in blood.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, the old woman turned around abruptly and lunged towards the muddy corner of the wall.

She frantically dug with her withered hands, her fingernails filled with black mud, and finally unearthed a dark, grimy pottery jar.

"Splash—"

A dozen or so copper coins, smelling of earth and even covered in green mold, along with two silver coins that had been sitting for an unknown amount of time, were dumped on the ground.

The old woman, holding the money, was about to kneel down before Ruan Ruan, her hands trembling.

"Sir... this is our family's lifeline... take it all... take it all..."

that moment.

Li Luoluo, who had quietly followed and was peeking from outside the door, covered her mouth.

She had played so many holographic online games and was used to NPCs issuing quests and giving rewards.

But I've never seen anything like this before.

An NPC dug up his savings for his funeral and knelt down, begging a player to take it, just so his whole family could survive.

That kind of fear, so humble it felt like dust, left Li Luoluo, a player who spent real money, somewhat bewildered.

She used to be afraid to watch Ruan Ruan's live streams because some of the game's visuals were just too realistic.

It was so real that she couldn't understand it. Was this what ordinary people were like back then?

In their minds, it seems that if a soldier treats a patient, they have to pay money—or even pay with their life.

however.

Just as the old woman's knees were about to touch the ground.

A pair of hands, stained with blood and mud, suddenly caught her.

The soft force wasn't great, but it lifted her very steadily.

"Auntie! What are you doing!"

Ruan Ruan was even more anxious than the old woman when she heard the words "Military Lord".

She grabbed the copper coins and silver coins, not caring whether they were dirty or not, and shoved them back into the old woman's hand.

"Put it away! Put it away quickly!"

The old woman was stunned, her cloudy eyes filled with disbelief.

"Sir...you think it's too little?"

"I don't mind if it's not enough! No! I can't accept it!"

Ruan Ruan was somewhat incoherent, but looking at the old woman's terrified face, she straightened her back.

"Auntie, look carefully."

Ruan Ruan pointed to her old but still neat hat, which had a red five-pointed star on it.

"We are the Red Legion."

"We have discipline."

Ruan Ruan spoke with a firm and resounding voice, as if she wanted to carve the words that followed into every beam of the room.

"We will not take a single needle or thread from the people!"

"This is our rule, and it's an order that must be obeyed!"

The old woman, her toothless mouth agape, held the recovered copper coin in her hands, completely frozen in place.

Not even a needle or thread?

Having lived most of my life, I've seen people in yellow and black leather coats, and every single one of them, when they enter a house, rummages through drawers and cupboards. Every single one of them takes advantage of me and leaves nothing behind.

You get cured and it's free?

Has the world changed?

"The child needs water, I'm leaving now."

Ruanruan was afraid that the old lady would pester her again, so she didn't dare to stay any longer. She turned around, grabbed her empty bag, and ran out.

It wasn't until she ran outside and was hit by the cold wind that Ruan Ruan realized her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

"Oh my god..."

Li Luoluo stopped hiding and jumped out, looking at Ruan Ruan with an expression as if she were looking at an alien.

"Ruanruan, are you alright? That's money!"

"I don't know if it will work in this game, but it's money!"

Although Li Luoluo said this, her tone didn't contain much greed; instead, it was full of shock.

That's "not taking a single needle or thread!"

Ruan Ruan glared at her, wiping the blood on her hands onto the hem of her clothes while muttering under her breath.

"If I took that, the old squad leader would break my legs when I got back... and..."

Ruan Ruan glanced back at the door.

The old woman was leaning against the door frame, staring blankly at their departing figures. Her originally hunched back seemed to straighten up a little.

"And," Ruan Ruan smiled, a faint smile, but more beautiful than any she had ever shown in her live streams before, "this feeling is much better than receiving gifts."

Li Luoluo didn't say anything.

She just silently looked at Ruan Ruan, and then at the dilapidated village.

As a super-rich woman, she was penniless in this game because there was no way to recharge.

But at this moment, she suddenly felt...

This impoverished Crimson Legion, which even had to be frugal with its medicine, seemed to be "richer" than any other guild she had ever seen.

Li Luoluo was silent for a while, then suddenly looked at Ruan Ruan and smiled.

"Hey! Ruan Ruan, do you think if I sold my limited edition sports car, I could buy that 'not taking a single needle or thread' title from that old scoundrel Luo?"

"roll!"

"Okay!"