Cui Zuojing slowly got up from the bed.
The baby next to him was still sleeping heavily, while the woman sat quietly on the side of the bed, watching over them. When Cui Zuojing woke up, she placed her index finger over her lips and whispered, “Is it over?”
Cui Zuojing answered, “Yes, it’s over. Thank you.”
The woman gently picked the child up and whispered, “You’re welcome.”
She didn’t know what happened to the teenager. An hour ago, he asked her if he could sleep next to her child. Perhaps because the boy’s attitude was too sincere, and even though he looked to be only sixteen years old, his eyes carried great determination, which shocked her.
To her surprise, she agreed. So the boy slept next to her child in his day clothes. After an hour, he woke up and his eyes showed only hope.
She didn’t know why the change came, but she was happy for it.
After saying goodbye to the woman, Cui Zuojing walked out of the community. It was early summer. Trees lined both sides of the road, casting thick shades. People came and went, and traffic was ongoing. Cui Zuojing stopped for a moment under the shade of a tree before walking toward the station.
A baby’s dream was the closest place to another world. Babies had not yet opened their eyes to the knowledge of the world, and no one knew what was in their dreams. So Cui Zuojing used this method to smuggle into the Pure White Realm.
He’d spent three years and six months in the Pure White Realm. But in reality, he was gone for no more than four hours. Cui Zuojing looked at the crowds around him and at the constant flow of vehicles. Even the architecture was a world away.
Fortunately, everything was over.
He took a bus, arrived at the high-speed rail station, sat for a while, and then took the high-speed rail home. Cui Zuojing still clearly remembered holding Victor and saying goodbye to his family three years ago. Now, he was eager to see them.
The train gradually sped up. No one knew what this young man had experienced. No one knew he was an immortal legend in another world. He was like all ordinary people, sitting by himself, quietly looking at the scenery outside the window.
After a long time, Cui Zuojing closed his eyes. These past 1305 days were so clear before him, quietly entwining him.
Everything was similar to that day when he was riding on an endless train back to the Pure White Realm. But now, everything had changed. A new world order was established, no one would die, and no one was imprisoned, including himself.
It was just… a warm and fluffy cat was missing from his arms.
Cui Zuojing rubbed his head on the seat and found a more comfortable position. The sky casted a faint light on his face, illuminating the corners of his slightly raised lips.
When he got on the train three years ago, he didn’t know what fate would bring him. But now, the train was heading towards a promising future and a new beginning.
————
The machines in the intensive care unit made regular beeping noises. Lying on the bed was a young man of 27 or 28. His eyes were firmly closed and his head was wrapped in bandages. It was clear that he’d suffered a serious head injury. His fractured chest was also wrapped in bandages. On the bed next to him lay his half-brother, who was also covered in bandages. But compared to his brother, the boy’s head wasn’t injured.
This was the fourth day that the Dong brothers were in a coma. Four days ago, they had a very serious car accident. Once they came out of the rescue room, they were immediately pushed into the ICU. Even now, they still showed no signs of waking up. The Dong family spent considerable financial resources to allow the two brothers to stay in the ICU in the best hospital in the city. But although they tried everything they could, they couldn’t wake them up.
Their two children had an accident at the same time. Dong Yi and Su Daijun were on the brink of defeat. They stayed in the hospital almost every day, hoping their children would quickly wake up. But as time passed, hope gradually morphed into unbearable suffering. Even the best brain experts couldn’t tell them when their children would wake up.
Thinking about how Dong Yi and Su Daijun’s faces had seemed to quickly age after just four days, the ICU nurse sighed. She had seen this happened many times. Among the countless many prayers to the gods, only the rare few were answered.
She recorded their data onto her form. But when she turned her head, she noticed that the man on the hospital bed had quietly opened his eyes at some point in time. Those dark eyes stared at the ceiling for a while and then shifted over to look at her. The look in those eyes were…gratification?
On the hospital bed next to him, the teenager under the blanket groaned and muttered weakly, “Where am I…?”
Three hours later, Dong Zheng and Dong Linhai, both of whom had woken up together, were transferred from the ICU into an ordinary ward. Although these two patients who had been in a coma for many days were unable to stand up, they miraculously spoke without any problems during their tests.
When they heard the news, Dong Yi and Su Daijun hurried to the hospital and rushed into their ward. The moment Su Daijun sat down on the side of Dong Linhai’s bed, she gripped his hand, sobbing. Seeing this, Dong Zheng didn’t have much resentment in his heart. After all, Dong Linhai was her biological child.
“Mom, why are you crying? I’m not dead.” Dong Linhai had already recovered his energy. The only thing that made him uncomfortable was the painful wounds on his body and his aching back from lying in bed for too long.
“Don’t speak nonsense!” Su Daijun glared at him. But tears continued to flow from her eyes. She choked out, “With you like this, mother really doesn’t know what to do…”
Dong Yi sat next to Dong Zheng’s bed. Compared to the movement of the mother and son on the next bed, he was very quiet. Except, the rims of his eyes were red, and many white hairs suddenly graced his temples. His complexion was very bad. It was clear that, during all this time, he hadn’t been sleeping well. He looked at Dong Zheng, raised his hand to touch his face very lightly, as if Dong Zheng would lose consciousness again if he applied more than light pressure. His mouth opened and he kept repeating the words, “You’re okay, you’re okay.”
“Father.” Dong Zheng looked at him and said softly, “I saw mother.”
Dong Yi was taken aback for a moment. Then, the 54-year-old man suddenly burst into tears. He trembled all over, tightly covering his face with his hands, crying uncontrollably.
His weeping was full of grief, like an inconsolable child.
At this moment, Dong Zheng suddenly realized that so many years had passed but his father had never forgotten his dead mother.
The speed of the brother’s recovery exceeded everyone’s expectations. Even the doctors could not explain why their injuries began to recover so quickly after waking up.
Dong Linhai was uncomfortable laying down and tried to walk, but Sui Daijun forced him back onto the bed and poured him a bowl of fish soup. As he drank, his face wrinkled up and became pale. Dong Zheng held his own thermos cup and looked on happily. Then he bowed his head and drank the fragrant fish soup.
Neither of them mentioned the adventures they’d experienced when they were in a coma.
This was a secret that they kept to themselves.
The CT of Dong Zheng’s brain displayed a shadow. The doctor said that it was the result of the car accident, but only Dong Zheng knew that it was, in fact, his shrunken kernel.
After leaving the Pure White Realm, he’d lost all the abilities he’d obtained, but his kernel had not completely disappeared. Dong Zheng could clearly feel that his brain was better than it was before the accident. Of course, it couldn’t be compared to when he was in the Pure White Realm.
Although there seemed to be no problems, Dong Zheng and Dong Linhai were asked to remain hospitalized for a few more days. The life of recuperating from an injury was indeed quite boring. Dong Zheng often thought of what had happened in the Pure White Realm and wondered where his teammates were now that they were back to reality.
What were they doing now?
On the ninth day after waking up, Dong Zheng received a letter.
The little nurse handed the white envelope to him. “A gentleman downstairs gave it to me.”
A gentleman? Dong Zheng’s heart immediately quickened and a long-silent thought suddenly filled his mind. He held the envelope tightly and asked, “What is he like?”
“He’s very young. Not yet twenty years old,” the nurse recalled. “He wears black sportswear and carries a bag, as if coming from a long distance, smiling and looking very cheerful.”
In the next bed, Dong Linhai’s ears perked up, his face exposing an understanding expression.
The figure appeared in Dong Zheng’s heart, becoming clearer and clearer. Dong Zheng took a deep breath. With shaking hands, he tried several times before he was finally able to tear the envelope open.
A small plant fell onto the bedcover that covered Dong Zheng’s legs. It had a slender stem covered with clusters of small, white flowers. The goose-yellow stamens were wrapped in white petals. It wasn’t very impressive and could be seen everywhere in the flower beds around the hospital, but it was very special to Dong Zheng.
This was an Arabidopsis Thaliana.
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My eyes are sweating so hard rn.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa