What should I do with this money...?
Could they possibly fill the entire Starry Sky Railway?
"Young man, were you looking for a charger? I have one here, but I'm not sure if the plug is right."
Bai Luan glanced at it and confirmed it was correct.
After a moment of silence, glancing at the red battery indicator on his phone, he finally took it.
Thanks.
This time, the thanks were much more sincere than the previous ones.
"Young man, you also have cancer?"
"yes."
"How did such a young person end up like this?"
"Just bad luck..."
The middle-aged woman was taken aback by such a self-deprecating response, paused for a moment, and then gave an awkward laugh.
Then the nurse arrived with the doctor.
The doctor, the one who informed Bai Luan of his cancer diagnosis, looked very serious as he described his terrible health condition.
Bai Luan listened indifferently, and finally said to the doctor:
"I'm not getting treatment anymore."
The doctor was stunned. Looking into his lifeless eyes, he finally let out a heavy, helpless sigh and left silently with the nurse.
"Young man, why did you give up on treatment? Think of your family..."
The woman couldn't help but speak again.
"They're all gone."
Bai Luan interrupted her, his voice as soft as a sigh, yet carrying the power to sever everything.
"They're all...gone."
He turned to the side, his back to her, like a stone statue refusing to communicate.
However, suppressed, intermittent sobs soon came from behind.
Bai Luan turned around and saw the woman who had been trying to comfort him just moments before now wiping away tears with the back of her rough hands, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Young man, I'm so sorry, the old lady was scared... Everyone says this disease is serious... I don't know if it can be cured..."
"...It can be cured, please don't give up."
Bai Luan was touched and offered a word of comfort.
Just then, a knock sounded on the door, accompanied by a child's voice:
"grandmother!"
"Mom! I brought Juanjuan to see you!"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman quickly composed herself and greeted her granddaughter with a smile.
"Grandma, get well soon!"
The middle-aged woman picked up her granddaughter, nuzzled her head against her, smiled kindly, and said:
"Grandma will get better soon."
The woman's son stood to the side and smiled at Bai Luan.
Bai Luan watched the battery level on her phone steadily increase.
He seemed to know where to spend the rest of the money.
Bai Luan got up to change her clothes, unplugged the charger, and handed it to the middle-aged woman.
"Thank you for your charger."
"But you just recharged it recently."
"That's enough."
Bai Luan's gaze swept over the battery level, which had turned from red to green, and a genuine, relieved smile appeared on his face.
"I'm being discharged from the hospital."
The little girl, Juanjuan, tilted her head back and asked innocently, "Brother, are you cured?"
Bai Luan crouched down, gently patted the little girl's head, and smiled warmly:
"Yes, it's all better now. Brother's illness... is cured."
Bai Luan looked at the old woman and said:
"So, your grandmother will get better soon too."
"Um!"
Bai Luan found the doctor who had been treating her and inquired about the condition of the other patients in the same ward.
"How's the lady in the next bed doing?"
"In the early stages, the chances were very good. It's just... our family's financial situation is really difficult, and the cost of subsequent treatment..."
"I still have over 100,000 yuan in my card. After settling my fees, I'll cover the rest for her."
The doctor was stunned: "You..."
"I'm doomed."
Bai Luan calmly pronounced his death sentence.
"But if this money were spent elsewhere, it wouldn't even make a splash. But if it's spent on her... at least someone can see the light."
He paused.
As for me?
He looked out the window at the gray sky, a fleeting smile playing on his lips:
"Let's see what fate has in store for us."
And so, Bai Luan's last savings, carrying the remaining warmth of his life, flowed into another river that yearned to live.
Bai Luan ignored the doctor's advice and was discharged from the hospital.
Before being discharged from the hospital, the doctor called out to Bai Luan.
"At least! At least let me do something for you, okay?"
Bai Luan turned around, looked at the tears in the doctor's eyes, thought for a moment, and then smiled as he told him the location of his family's old grave:
"If they overcome their illness, please sweep my family's graves for me every year."
After saying this, Bai Luan waved, turned around, walked out of the hospital, and slowly walked towards death.
It was evening, and the streets were bustling with people; no one paid him any attention.
Bai Luan walked down the street, looking up at the eye-catching black tower poster on the high-rise building.
If I were in that world, my illness would probably be cured easily, right?
Heh... what are you thinking about...?
Bai Luan shook his head.
"Grandpa and Grandma, Mom and Dad, I may not have made a name for myself, but... I haven't lived in vain."
A sharp pain shot through Bai Luan's liver, making her pale. She managed to walk a few steps before sitting down on a bench by the street.
He's figured it out now.
Why can't spending a fortune fill the emptiness in my heart?
Why can't a life of debauchery dispel the chill in one's soul?
What he wanted was never those fleeting sensory stimuli.
All he wanted was... to survive.
Like the aunt in the next bed who has a home to return to and a grandchild to hold, she has the right to be afraid, the right to fight, and the right to embrace that faint but real... hope of surviving!
Why... won't you give me even the slightest chance?
I'm not willing to die like this...
Life is slipping away, and my eyelids are gradually becoming heavy.
I...don't want to die...
...
Ring ring— Ring ring—
The alarm clock set on her phone went off, waking Bai Luan up.
The dream faded away with the sound, and Bai Luan opened her eyes in bed, the repressed past in the dream still vivid in her mind.
Bai Luan sat up in bed, feeling her healthy body.
It's all in the past...
"system?"
"What's wrong?"
"nothing,"
Bai Luan stretched lazily and contentedly, his bones making a slight cracking sound.
The sunlight fell on his face, carrying the warmth of new life.
A completely relaxed and genuine smile spread across his lips as he spoke to the void, and to the life he had regained:
"I just wanted to thank you again."
Chapter 16 is in trouble, we've been caught.
After getting out of bed, Bai Luan washed his face and looked at his incredibly handsome self in the mirror.
"Dude, you're incredibly handsome."
Bai Luan raised an eyebrow and answered his own question:
"I know."
"...nerve"
Ignoring the system's complaints about his erratic behavior, Bai Luan waved to Qianhe.
"Chizuru, come here."
Qianhe fluttered her wings and flew to Bai Luan's hand.
Bai Luan put it into his pocket.
"Wait until I take you to the botanical garden and call you to come out, then come out."
Chizuru nodded and then slipped into Shiro's pocket.
Bai Luan ran out of the house and started warming up in front of the door.
Yesterday we made a plan to go to the supplies depot to collect supplies.
Self-discipline leads to a better version of yourself!
With a smile on her face, Bai Luan began to jog slowly according to the map she remembered.
...
Bai Luan's smile vanished instantly. Looking at the supply robot in front of him, he said in despair:
What do you mean by "the supplies have already been delivered to the botanical garden"?
"Didn't you know? The purchased supplies will be delivered directly to their destination; you don't need to come here to pick them up yourself."You mean, all the sweat and youth I poured out this morning, running all the way from my house to here, was for nothing?"
The electronic eyes of the television-brain robot in front of me blinked, and it said:
"I don't understand what Mu Da means, but if it refers to wasted effort, then I think so."
Bai Luan's lips twitched, and she comforted herself:
"At least I got some exercise."
"This doesn't conflict with the fact that you made a wasted trip, and you didn't have to get up so early in the first place."
The allocation robot delivered two more vicious blows to Bai Luan's chest.
"Besides, you're going to run back now."
This is the third cut.
"You don't seem to have had breakfast yet?"
"Stop, stop, that's enough, why are you still chasing after me, robot, and hacking away..."
"Sir... I am a resource distribution robot, model DL-7. My core program does not include an 'emotional care' module."
When the TV-brain robot saw Bai Luan's angry expression, its electronic eyes turned into the emoticon "=.=".
"Is your intelligence level insufficient to give you even a basic level of 'emotional intelligence'?"
No, sir.
My sentiment analysis module received a B+ rating.
The robot's screen is flashing.
"But I cannot violate the core principle of logic—honesty. Of course, you can make excuses to save face, but I need to abide by the principle."
The white jasmine has turned red.
"Who said I was making up excuses!"
"Sir, I have the previous video recording. You claimed that you came here to pick up goods."
"...Do we really have to go this far and exterminate them all?"
→_→
Bai Luan could actually see helplessness on the mechanical face.
"The playback video has been cleared, sir. Have a pleasant morning exercise."
"..."
Bai Luan looked at the robot, remained silent for a moment, and then said with a serious expression:
"I'll come back tomorrow."
"Why?"
"I told you!"
Bai Luan was resolute.
"I am self-disciplined!"
"..."
The allocation robot watched Bai Luan's departing figure and muttered a complaint:
"How come humans these days are even more stubborn than me, a robot?"
The robot then simply ignored the matter and didn't even record it in its own system logs.
Its logic unit tells it that Bai Luan is just being stubborn and is unlikely to take any action.
Bai Luan was a little disappointed after making the trip for nothing, but when she arrived at the botanical garden and saw the bags of brand-new packages, her mood brightened up again.
Unboxing time!
Before entering the botanical garden, Bai Luan disinfected herself, then opened each of the express delivery boxes and took out magical little props that she would need later.
After all the items were disassembled, they were counted again to confirm that everything was correct.
He then began to fulfill his duties as a gardener, serving these plants.
The small figure of Bai Luan moves about in the botanical garden, fertilizing the oversized potato, carefully applying medicine to the depressed black rose, and removing the diseased buds from the flowers that are sprouting in their hearts...
The enormous black rose bent down and opened its petals toward Bai Luan. Bai Luan carefully removed the diseased leaves and then applied medicine to the black rose.
"Great, it will get better soon after the medicine is sprayed on."
The black rose closed its open petals, and the bud brushed against the white rosewood in gratitude.
Bai Luan touched the black rose.
"Once you get better, you'll become just like your companions."
This sentence made the depressed rose very happy.
The once jet-black flower color began to tinge with blue at the edges after that sentence.
I remember...
Blue roses represent a friendly sentiment.
Bai Luan nodded in satisfaction and walked out of the rose garden.
Life should be lived healthily.
Bai Luan squatted down and greeted Inspiration Mushroom, yesterday's MVP translator:
Good morning, Inspiration Mushroom.
Good morning, mushroom.
Could you repeat what you said yesterday?
"Inspiration Guli Guli Wacha Inspiration Mushroom~"
Inspiration for today!
This is ice, a must-have every day!
What strange noises should we teach Inspiration Mushroom to make today? Anyway, Inspiration Mushroom's voice sounds like an ethereal young girl, so no matter how strange the noise, it will sound nice when hummed.
Um...
Let's teach this today!
"Inspiration Mushroom, repeat after me, cluck cluck cluck~"
"Mushroom, gurgle, gurgle~"
"Can the last mushroom be removed?"
"I'll try the mushroom... cough cough..."
Inspiration Mushroom coughed twice, then called out:
"Mushroom, quack quack!"
Then the entire mushroom began to tremble, as if it were fighting against its underlying code with all its might.
"mushroom."
Inspiration Mushroom still lost; in the end, it couldn't hold back any longer.
I encountered incredibly powerful low-level code, as strong as a monster, and I couldn't defeat it no matter how hard I tried.
"I can't do it."
"Okay, I know you tried your best."
"Oh...I almost forgot."
Bai Luan took Qianhe out of his pocket.
Chizuru shook her head, looking curiously at her new surroundings, and then flapped her wings and took flight.
"What is that mushroom?"
"Hmm... it is a creation just like yours."
"Scientific creation, mushroom? I didn't know you were a scientist too."
"Whether it's scientific or not, I don't know, but it is indeed my creation."
Linggan Gu pondered Bai Luan's words for a moment, but ultimately found it incomprehensible.
Forget it.
We're just mushrooms, there's no need to think about some things so clearly, mushrooms.
Bai Luan looked at Qian He and said:
"You'll live here from now on."
Then Bai Luan muttered to himself again.
Do I need to prepare food for it?
If Chizuru's diet is relatively normal, then this botanical garden can basically meet its survival needs.
But Chizuru isn't a normal creature; it might not be able to eat what normal creatures can eat...
It can take care of itself.
"It's my creation after all, I can't just let it run wild."
"Freedom is the best gift you can give it, just like you and I. Just come and visit it often."
"Okay, you've convinced me."
Compared to the system forcing me to complete a bunch of tasks, this kind of free-range approach is much more comfortable.
Bai Luan glanced at Qianhe, who was flying happily.
Since the system says there's no problem, then there shouldn't be any problem.
Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to remind you of.
"If you see a beautiful gothic-style brown-haired doll wearing a beret with purple lilies, a collar around her neck, a purple-gray dress adorned with lace, and dressed as an ordinary origami crane, remember to pretend to be an ordinary origami crane."
Just as Bai Luan finished speaking, Qianhe suddenly froze in mid-air and fell down.
Huh?
Bai Luan hurriedly reached out and caught the falling Qianhe, looking at the paper crane in his hand with a puzzled expression.
"What's wrong with you?"
You were just talking about me, weren't you?
A familiar voice came from behind him. Bai Luan turned around stiffly and saw the Black Tower doll.
The Black Tower doll appeared behind Bai Luan at some point, her face expressionless, one slender arm elegantly placed on her hip.
Those deep, purple eyes, seemingly containing the secrets of the galaxy's movement, were calmly fixed on him.
"What's wrong with seeing me?"
Despite having the same expression as usual, Bai Luan felt a sense of oppression.
Oh no, we've been caught.
Let's take a look at Chapter 17.
How should I explain this?
Although I asked the Black Tower in the dark room yesterday and got the answer that I wouldn't be dissected, that was on the premise that I wouldn't cause any trouble.
The current situation is basically close-range combat.
I don't want to be studied by the Black Tower!
Although Bai Luan was somewhat flustered inside, he remained as calm as a rock on the surface.
"Uh... well..."