New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live



Alex's eyes widened in realization. His eyes went from the photocopy in his hands to the many X-rays on the screen, and his jaw dropped.

The amount of fractured bones in these images was insane. It was to the point Alex wondered how he hadn't turned into a paste in whatever caused this.

The doctor laughed at his reaction.

"Impressive, I know. You shattered about one hundred and fifty bones in your body, of the two-hundred and six it contains. Not a record, but very close. And I assume the actual impact shattered more than that."

Alex couldn't believe how many broken bones were in his body. How wasn't he feeling like shit right now?

But then he got stuck on the last sentence the doctor said.

"What do you mean, more than this? Wouldn't every fracture show up on these?"

The doctor grinned at him.

"Usually, yes. But something amazing is happening inside your body that many doctors would kill to examine. Let me show you something."

The doctor pulled out another series of X-rays from his little folder, putting them side by side with the ones already on the screen. On those, a lot fewer fractures were apparent.

"This is you, an hour ago. You were asleep for about four hours, and we X-rayed you twice since you got here. This is the second one. On this pass, we counted a hundred and thirty-six fractures. You are already healing."

Alex's eyes widened. This rate of healing was far from normal, and usually, this many fractures would take months to heal, if not years.

The doctor kept talking, forcing Alex out of his stupor.

"And I believe if I were to X-ray you again, a lot of the ones on here would also be gone. That is why I said I think the first impact broke many more bones, that we didn't get to see, since they had already healed. The rescue team found you half-buried in a three-foot thick concrete wall, with rubble all around you."

Alex no longer wondered why everything had gone black after he charged the rat queen. Most likely, he had passed through her and bashed himself into the wall behind, causing himself all these injuries.

Of course, he would never tell a soul this resulted from his own actions. He wanted to keep a bit of his pride intact, after all.

But at least he was certain that his attack did its job.

"Doctor. I have a question."

The doctor nodded his head excitedly.

"Yes, pray tell."

"How many people have seen these X-rays?"

The doctor frowned at the question.

"Me and the nurse that was helping. Why ask?"

Alex looked at him deadpan.

"Burn them. No one should ever see them again. No one should ever hear about this, either. Soon enough, it won't matter, anyway."

The doctor looked at him with a sense of dread, anger slowly creeping up inside him.

"Why would I do that? Your case is a miracle. Anyone studying this and finds out how you are healing so fast could try to emulate it in other patients."

Alex's stare intensified. He pulled into the very little mana pool his body had re-accumulated and applied mental pressure on the doctor.

"You are going to burn them. Am I making myself clear?"

Alex understood what the doctor wanted to do, and he agreed it would be great for scientific advancements. But he also had a feeling if this got out, which it would, assuredly, he would become a target for people with much worse intentions.

There was no way he would put other people in danger, just for something that would be a common occurrence soon. If he believed David's claims, everyone playing New Eden would soon become much tougher and heal faster than ever before, in simple virtue of the mana that would lace their system.

There was no use putting himself and his loved ones at risk, for something which would soon be benign and common.

The doctor was feeling like someone had put a back of rocks on his shoulders, as the simple act of looking at Alexander made him sweat in angst. He nodded his head nervously.

"I will burn them. They are yours and the decision stays with you in the end."

Alex nodded his head, releasing the pressure he was exerting on the poor man, as he watched him gather all the X-rays, and bolting out of the room.

Alex suddenly felt even more tired from using the very little mana he had left, and closed his eyes to rest.

'Hopefully, when I wake up, I will be ready to leave this place,' he thought, as he drifted asleep.

Outside of the room, Jack, David, and Kary tried to fight their way out of a debate with the journalists, who were hungry to get more details about the service tunnel incident.

Already, many of them were receiving details of the investigation, which normally shouldn't have leaked from the police yet. But this was a common occurrence with news outlets and big scoops.

"Mr. Boudreau! Mr. Boudreau! How did you come to know these young people, and what is your attachment to them?!" one woman asked, her microphone shoved over the others.

"These young people are associates of mine, and in what manner of business that is, is of no concern of yours. Next question," Jack replied, keeping a stoic face.

Questions suffused through the ruckus, making them barely understandable. But one journalist asked his question louder than the others.

"Mr. Boudreau! What do you know of the events in the service tunnels? Is this something that has occurred before? Will it happen again?"

Jack looked at the man who asked this, a young and strapping fellow, his large stature making it easy for him to push to the front of the other; scrawny journalists.

"I know little about the incident, other than what the police have already shared. As for the question about priors, I don't believe there has been. If this will happen again in the future, only time itself knows."

The answer elicited many frowns from the crowd of journalists. Jack was used to interviews like these, and his ability to deflect was on par with many politicians.

When Jack saw the doctor rush out of the room, quickly being escorted by Jack's guards before the reporters could swarm him, his voice boomed over the crowd.

"Alright! This was enough for today. You can reconvene this interview in front of my private health center in four days, and we will have more answers by then. Gentlemen, please escort these people out of the hospital."

A row of suit-wearing gorillas stepped forward, arms outstretched, as they pushed away the journalists with relative ease. Soon enough, peace and quiet came back into the corridor.

But this was only the beginning of it.