"This is the everyday medical supplies section, offering special pharmaceuticals for various ailments. Would you prefer to look at the everyday medical supplies first, or the instance medical supplies?" The sales assistant, standing before a tall shelf, turned back to Gu Mian.

Gu Mian glanced at the shelf before him, then at the racks of instance-specific medication behind him. "Let's start with the instance ones."

At his words, the sales assistant walked over, reaching the shelf full of instance medical supplies in just a few quick strides.

"Our pharmaceuticals are categorized into four levels: A, B, C, and D. A-grade drugs are the most potent and expensive, but they can be life-saving in critical moments. B-grade drugs are next, and so on. D-grade drugs are the cheapest and have the weakest effects."

"A-grade drugs are on the top shelf, followed by B, C, and D. Right now, we're in front of the D-grade drugs."

While the sales assistant prattled on, Gu Mian had already focused on the shelf before him.

Although the sales assistant said D-grade drugs were the cheapest, their prices didn't seem that low.

Gu Mian was examining a small ten-milliliter vial of elixir. Since everything was labeled, he quickly identified the drug.

[Instance-Grade D-Blood Coagulant]

[Inject near a bleeding wound to cause blood to coagulate briefly. Effective duration: two minutes. The wound will not heal during coagulation.]

[Note: Effects can stack.]

This meant injecting one vial would last two minutes, and two vials would last four. One could even inject a hundred vials to stop bleeding for several hours, assuming one had the money.

This [Instance-Grade D-Blood Coagulant] cost 100 Game Coins, making it the cheapest drug available.

It wasn't very expensive for Gu Mian, but it might be for others. Besides, it only stopped bleeding for two minutes. After the effect wore off, the wound would bleed just as before...

Perhaps in a rare case, a player suffering a fatal wound might only have a few minutes before bleeding out completely.

All in all, it was a mediocre drug, truly deserving its D-grade, lowest-tier classification.

However, there was always an exception.

Gu Mian had another profession: "Doctor."

Although his inappropriate actions in instances had prevented him from using this profession much, he knew it would be useful later, especially with the current harsh environment and scarce resources.

Gu Mian could already picture lines of patients, hand in hand, stretching around the Earth, all waiting for his medical expertise.

As a Doctor, Gu Mian had a professional skill. He hadn't used it much before, but now it seemed it could finally be useful.

[Medical Mastery Lv. 4]

[Increases the efficacy of medical supplies by 400% when used.]

Not long ago, this skill was Level 3. Gu Mian had gained nine Attribute Points in the train instance. Unable to use them on physical fitness, he had dumped them all into this skill. After all, Attribute Points weren't edible.

This skill was a perfect match for the supermarket's medical supplies.

Take the [Instance-Grade D-Blood Coagulant], for example. Its effect was two minutes of coagulation. With Gu Mian's skill enhancing it by 400%, two minutes would be boosted by an additional eight, totaling ten minutes.

Gu Mian rubbed his hands, already scheming about who he could test this drug on to see how it worked with his skill.

"Sir?" The sales assistant gave Gu Mian a bewildered look.

The game had undergone a major update not long ago, right after the first event ended. For some unknown reason, the last event had caused dozens of instances to crash simultaneously.

Many resources were redirected to repairing these instances, leading to changes in the supermarket. Now, sales assistants could no longer see player information.

This left him unsure how to address the player before him, whose expression was inexplicably odd.

He chuckled awkwardly and said, "Since they're D-grade drugs, their effects aren't great. Actually, our items are much more effective when paired with the 'Doctor' profession. By the way, you know the profession instances have opened, right?"

Hearing this, Gu Mian felt a twinge of guilt but quickly feigned nonchalance and nodded. "I know."

The sales assistant looked a bit troubled. "Actually, the game's professions are quite lucrative, especially Doctor. Played well, it can earn a fortune. If there were more Doctors in the game, we wouldn't have to worry about sales..."

"But—"

Gu Mian knew that "but" always heralded a twist.

As expected, the sales assistant continued, recounting Gu Mian's exploits.

"The Doctor profession instance didn't open many times. It should have remained permanently available, until a certain player entered…"

Gu Mian already knew the rest.

He wasn't in the mood to hear someone else tell his story, so he looked up at the drugs on the higher shelves.

Gu Mian had good eyesight and immediately spotted the A-grade drugs on the top shelf.

The A-grade drugs had much fancier names than the lower-grade ones. After a quick scan, Gu Mian's eyes settled on one.

It was a bottle—or rather, a single pill.

Inside the thumb-sized glass vial, Gu Mian saw a single pill.

[Instance-Grade A-Sweeper]

[If taken on the brink of death, the player enters a catatonic state. All vital functions are suspended, and the death process is interrupted (effective only without external threats). Duration: ten minutes. After the effect wears off, the dying player will resume dying.]

[Note: Effects can stack. Maximum intake: ten pills within 24 hours.]

This was a powerful item, practically a temporary reprieve from death. Used tactically, it could allow a player to feign death until the instance ended.

Alternatively, one could use the borrowed time to treat the fatal injury. Time is life, as the saying goes—a concept Gu Mian understood well.

Of course, this item had a hefty price tag.

5,000 Game Coins.

Even for Gu Mian, who barely scraped by, this was an astounding sum.

He couldn't afford it.

Thinking about it, buying this A-grade drug seemed like a bad deal. There was no way to earn 5,000 Game Coins in a single instance. Wouldn't using it in an instance be a net loss? Besides, it didn't even guarantee survival.

Still, every drug had its purpose. Could there be instances where a player absolutely could not die?

If so, wouldn't he, as a Doctor, be in high demand?

Countless thoughts flashed through Gu Mian's mind. He had completely forgotten that his actions in instances had little to do with his profession, 'Doctor.'

While Gu Mian was still mulling this over, Fatty suddenly appeared out of nowhere, pushing a cart loaded with bedding and clothes.

"Doctor, are you done yet?"

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