TLCBITAR Chapter 183
by Volare“Drip, drip, drip.”
Hearing this familiar sound, Zhou Zhou knew he had arrived in the future interstellar world again.
“Xiao Zhou, they finally agreed to let Mom come in and see you.” A suppressed female voice, filled with sobs, was close to his ear.
Zhou Zhou’s entire body shuddered as he struggled to wake up.
After so long, hearing his mother’s voice again, he couldn’t help but feel deeply moved.
The “drip, drip, drip” sound suddenly became sharp and urgent.
“Doctor! His hand moved!” The female voice was urgent and excited.
“Talk to him. As long as his desire to go home is strong enough, he will wake up soon.”
Zhou Zhou struggled again to move his fingers. The next moment, his hand was grasped by a warm, soft hand.
“Xiao Zhou, come back. Mom and Dad miss you so much.”
“You’ve been in the hospital for over two months, and Mom has been missing you for over two months. I know you want to go home and see Mom and Dad too. Child, just open your eyes and look at Mom…”
The intermittent sobs continued without end. Zhou Zhou only felt his heart ache, and his eyes grew hot as something trickled down.
“Xiao Zhou heard us, he’s crying…”
“Lao Zhou, come quickly, Xiao Zhou is responding!”
“Xiao Zhou, Dad’s here to see you. I even brought your favorite mechanical pet dog.” The familiar male voice was his father.
“Master, woof woof, wake up.” A sweet, electronic female voice entered his ears.
Zhou Zhou had already broken down. His eyes ached terribly, and tears streamed from the corners of his eyes.
“You all should wait outside for now. His condition needs to be tested and assessed before we can decide whether to implement a forced recall at this time.”
The woman’s crying gradually faded away as the door to the ward closed.
His eyelids were lifted, and Zhou Zhou looked at the blurry figures, moving his fingers again.
In the silver-white medical ward filled with several medical robots, five men in white coats surrounded the pure white hospital bed.
The old doctor with half-white hair said, “According to the brainwave scan, his emotional fluctuations are currently too large. If he is forced to wake up, it is very likely that the protection mechanism will be triggered.”
The young doctor didn’t quite understand and asked, “Director Yao, what are the consequences of triggering the protection mechanism?”
Director Yao said in a deep voice, “There is a high probability that he will lose all memory of that world.”
He frowned, his tone tinged with frustration, “What the institute wants is this memory. If the protection mechanism is triggered, he will have no research value.”
“Alas, the crazies at the institute have done so many human experiments. Once this boy enters the institute, his life will be worse than death.” The young doctor couldn’t help but sigh.
“We are just small doctors in a federal hospital. How can we have the ability to fight against the institute?” The old doctor mocked himself.
“If the person in Ward A1 knew about the institute’s crazy behavior over the past two months, he would be furious, wouldn’t he?”
“Now that he is also trapped inside, the institute is sure that he won’t be able to return, so they dare to be so reckless.”
“Doesn’t the Federation care?”
“A bunch of experts who are all talk and no action, how can they care?”
“Since that person had an accident, the space pirates have become increasingly rampant. In just two months, dozens of starships have been lost, about a hundred interstellar citizens have been harmed, and as many as fifty women have gone missing.”
“The mob army composed of remote interstellar forces has repeatedly created trouble around the neighboring planets. According to statistics, eight garbage stars have been occupied. If the General doesn’t come back, the Main Star will be in chaos.”
“The researchers at the institute, who treat human lives like dirt, don’t think so.”
…
Zhou Zhou listened to all their conversations, his mood becoming heavy.
He had heard of the institute. In the words of his good friend Xiao Hu, it was a hell with no return.
If he really entered the institute, he would most likely lose his life.
Thinking of the possibility of being dismembered and having all his organs dug out…
Stop, stop. Just thinking about such a tragic thing made his soul tremble.
According to what they said, the General was also trapped inside.
Who could it be?
On the other side, in a private hospital in Yucheng.
Pei Yanlie watched as Zhou Zhou was pushed into the emergency room again, his eyes bloodshot with fury. His heart felt as if it was being slowly tortured, torn apart, and bled. Every bone and muscle in his body was screaming in pain.
His fingernails were deeply embedded in his palms, piercing the skin, and bright red blood dripped continuously onto the floor.
“The patient cannot breathe on his own, put him on a ventilator!”
“Director, the patient’s heart rate is continuing to drop!”
Pei Yanlie pursed his lips tightly, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the electrocardiogram monitor, where the heart rate was faintly visible, having dropped to 20 and continuing to fall.
He called Zhou Zhou’s name over and over again in his mind.
“Drip, drip, drip—”
The rapid and short sound finally turned into a flat and drawn-out beep.
“Director, the patient has suffered cardiac arrest!”
“Plug in the power, use the AED!”
The doctors’ faces were tense, their moods highly strained, as they performed the resuscitation quickly and methodically.
As time passed, the boy on the bed remained lifeless, as if he would never wake up again.
Pei Yanlie’s pupils shrank, his breathing stopped instantly, and a strong sense of dizziness washed over him, his thoughts a blank. He almost lost his balance, his throat blocked, and he had lost his voice.
“The patient’s heart rate is showing an upward trend!”
As soon as the doctor finished speaking, a familiar voice entered Pei Yanlie’s mind.
[Pei Yanlie, I may not wake up.]
“Zhou Zhou!”
Pei Yanlie strode to the bedside and called out his name with difficulty.
[There’s not much time left. I’m sorry, I can’t accompany you to the end.]
Pei Yanlie held his cold hand tightly, his voice trembling: “Zhou Zhou, if you dare to leave, I will never let you go!”
[Pei Yanlie, I’ll be waiting for you in the future.]
“Xiao Zhou, don’t go, do you hear me!” Pei Yanlie squeezed out a sentence, enduring the severe pain in his throat.
Zhou Zhou really wanted to wake up, but his soul seemed to be pulled by something, gradually detaching him from this body.
Hearing Pei Yanlie’s hoarse voice, Zhou Zhou only felt his soul tremble in pain.
His heart suddenly tightened, and the pain spread throughout his body.
[I love you.]
[Goodbye.]
“Not good, the patient’s heart has stopped again!”
Pei Yanlie clenched his teeth, his eyes aching to the extreme. Hot tears ran across his tight jawline, dripping onto Zhou Zhou’s hand.
“President Pei, President Pei, please let go and wait aside.”
A sharp tinnitus rang in his ears, and Pei Yanlie could no longer hear anything from the outside world. The doctors pried open his hand, pulled him to the side, and resumed the emergency treatment.
Pei Yanlie only felt that his mind had completely lost its calm at that moment, his mind only circulating Zhou Zhou’s last words.
The pain in his chest had reached the extreme and was already numb. He didn’t know how long it had passed, as if a century had passed, when the doctor said with tension and regret: “President Pei… we did our best.”
Pei Yanlie walked over like a walking corpse. In his blurry vision, the person’s face was already pale and lifeless, no longer having the vitality of the past.
He took off his suit jacket, leaned down and covered it on Zhou Zhou, his trembling hands parted his bangs, lowered his head and gently kissed his cold, bloodless lips, saying with suppressed and gentle emotion, “Xiao Zhou, wait for me.”
At the same time, in the Federal Hospital on the Main Star in the future interstellar world.
The boy on bed B1 on the eleventh floor slowly opened his heavy eyelids, his slightly upturned phoenix eyes filled with tears, which slid across the reddened corners of his eyes and dripped onto the pure white pillow.