Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

Chapter 161: Placebo Effect

Liu Xing anxiously watched Yin En, fearing that Yin En might trigger a state of unconsciousness.

When a player loses more than half of their HP at once, it triggers a coma judgment. In simple terms, it's a willpower judgment. If the willpower judgment is not passed, the player will fall into a state of unconsciousness.

Yin En, 77/80, success.

Fortunately, Yin En's profession as an international mercenary endowed him with sufficient willpower to pass the coma judgment. Otherwise, he would have been knocked out by Ze Tian Yinyin's punch.

However, even though he passed the coma judgment, Yin En couldn't continue the fight. He had just taken a whopping 8 points of damage to his abdomen. Although it didn't cause fractures, Yin En's organs suffered severe damage. According to the martial arts novels, Yin En had internal injuries and had lost the ability to continue fighting.

Nevertheless, this was considered a stroke of luck because if he had suffered fractures, it would have been almost game over. In this martial arts module, battles are inevitable, and surviving with a broken bone is exceptionally challenging. Most judgments require difficult tests with a success rate reduced by half. Of course, there's also the possibility of being deemed unfit due to severe fractures, requiring hospitalization for recovery.

Internal injuries, on the other hand, are a mysterious thing. After reliable treatment, they should temporarily recover, with only a slight decrease in attribute and skill values. However, internal injuries are sometimes more challenging to heal than fractures. If mending broken bones takes a hundred days, internal injuries might persist for a hundred years, akin to a player carrying a debuff indefinitely.

Liu Xing sighed, preparing to administer First Aid to Yin En. However, when he approached, he saw Yin En lying under Ze Tian Yinyin's short skirt. Suddenly, Yin En opened his eyes, catching a glimpse of Ze Tian Yinyin's panties.

Then, KP Li Shunchan laughed and said, "Congratulations to player Yin En for triggering the Easter egg of this module — 'What's Under the Girl's Skirt.' Yin En, who witnessed the miracle, can now recover 1d3 HP. As for the principle, please refer to the placebo effect."

Liu Xing raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect that this could restore HP, and it even involved the placebo effect. It seemed a bit absurd.

As a doctor, Liu Xing naturally knew what a placebo was.

A placebo refers to a preparation or form that contains no active pharmacological ingredients, resembling real medicine, such as distilled water, starch tablets, or capsules. Its main function is to stabilize the patient's emotions. Generally, patients seek medication to achieve certain therapeutic goals. The stronger the desire, the better the placebo's effect. On the other hand, if the administering person has authority and experience, the higher their reputation and the more experienced they are, the better the placebo's effect.

Of course, another function of the placebo is its use in double-blind experiments. In drug trials, using placebos in a double-blind manner for both subjects and doctors can eliminate the influence of psychological effects on the objective evaluation of drug effectiveness, truly assessing the drug's impact on human experimentation.

Therefore, the placebo effect, in simple terms, involves using ineffective treatment methods to make patients believe that these methods are effective, thereby improving the patient's psychological state and, in turn, changing their physiological state.

It may seem unreliable, but in many cases, the placebo effect does exist and can have a certain "therapeutic effect" on various conditions. Liu Xing had encountered such a patient during his internship.

This patient, due to mental stress, believed that they had severe gastrointestinal issues and refrained from eating any stimulating foods. After a diagnosis, Liu Xing's mentor found that the patient's gastrointestinal system was perfectly normal, with occasional symptoms of gastritis. They prescribed some gastrointestinal-regulating medicine and, using their authority, assured the patient that taking the medicine would guarantee a complete recovery. Indeed, shortly afterward, the patient felt that the symptoms had disappeared.

Now, Liu Xing speculated that after seeing the ** of the girl, Yin En felt that his soul had been baptized, temporarily alleviating the discomfort in his abdomen and transforming the originally painful sensation into a hint of pleasure...

In summary, the concept of gaining health by just looking at ** might not be scientific, but Liu Xing could only say it was very Cthulhu!

At this moment, Yin En's HP recovery judgment began.

Yin En, HP recovered, 1d3=2.

With 2 HP recovered, Ian's expression instantly calmed, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Meanwhile, Ze Tian Yinyin realized she had gone too far. She took out a small bottle from her pocket, poured out a black pill, and squatted down, saying to Yin En, "Hey, don't play dead here. Take this pill; it can at least ensure you won't suffer internal injuries. Uh, why do you have that expression? You look like a hentai."

Ze Tian Yinyin looked at Yin En disdainfully, directly stuffing the pill into his mouth.

"Okay, because you've taken the ancestral pill from the Ze Tian family, Yin En can now recover 1d5 HP, and for the next few days, he can recover 1 HP every day until he fully recovers," KP Li Shunchan said.

Yin En, HP recovered, 1d5=4.

Lucky.

Yin En's total HP recovery from the two instances reached 6 points, equivalent to Ze Tian Yinyin's attack causing him only a 2-point HP loss. Moreover, with two days of rest, he would fully recover.

Suddenly, two men appeared outside the gym door. Judging by their attire, Liu Xing knew they were hotel staff.

"Dear guests, I am the duty manager of the hotel. I just received a complaint call from other guests, saying that most of you are making a lot of noise late at night. So, I came over to understand the situation," the duty manager said earnestly.

At this point, Ze Tian Yinyin waved at the duty manager and smiled, "There's nothing happening here; you can leave."

Glancing toward Ze Tian Yinyin, the duty manager's expression changed, and he sighed helplessly, nodding, "Since that's the case, I'll leave. I hope you all can rest early later. Oh, Otonashi, stay here to take care of the guests. If they need anything, try to satisfy them as much as possible. Call me if there's any issue."

The server called Otonashi, looking puzzled, glanced at the hotel manager and asked, "Uh, manager, shouldn't we just send them back to their rooms to sleep? Why are we allowing them to continue making noise here?"

The duty manager looked at Ze Tian Yinyin, then whispered something to Otonashi.

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