Ruan Chen slept very restlessly, tossing and turning, one dream after another sinking into an abyss.
Ruan Chen couldn't remember what her last dream was. She suddenly sat up from her suffocating state, her hair soaked with sweat and plastered to her cheeks, her ears filled with the sound of her own violent and chaotic heartbeat.
Her heart was pounding so hard she felt nauseous, and she was shaking uncontrollably as she got out of bed.
Then Ruan Chen realized that she was still having difficulty breathing. Her fair fingers ran through her thick, black hair, and she shakily untied the headphones wrapped around her neck. She walked to the bedside and pulled back the curtains.
It was completely dark outside, and the neon lights shone hazily in the heavily polluted air, giving it an unreal feel.
Ruan Chen looked down and saw the bustling traffic on the street, like ethereal ribbons of light stretching into the endless distance.
A profound sense of unreality and detachment from the world overwhelmed her, and she suddenly began to doubt whether the world she was in was real.
The timeline is a long river that never branches or turns back. Parallel universes were proven to be impossible hundreds of years ago, yet I have truly felt the entanglement between the two worlds and even traveled between them.
Ruan Chen looked up at the endless void. The perennial smog in Jingzhou made it impossible for her to see even a single star in the sky. The end of the endless was still endless, and the end of nothingness was nothingness.
A ridiculous thought suddenly popped into her head: could it be that her world was under the rule of a higher-dimensional civilization, and that her life was just a string of code at the bottom layer of a huge computer system, and that her own string of code had a bug in its execution?
She discussed this issue with Lin Shengfu—Lin Fengzi. At that time, she had not yet seen another world, but she suffered from severe insomnia and had frequent dreams. After waking up, it would take her a long time to realize where she was.
She went to Lin Fengzi to get her medicine and took the opportunity to talk to him about this issue. Lin Fengzi just kept his head down writing the prescription and used one hand to pat her head, saying, "Are all teenage girls this sensitive and prone to overthinking?"
Ruan Chen couldn't explain it to him, so she could only remain silent.
At that moment, Lin Fengzi slowly spoke again, "I think your sense of detachment from the world must have its source. Perhaps, as you're guessing, our world is a program, and you and I are just a string of code. But from a doctor's perspective, I want to say that immersing yourself in this kind of thinking will only exacerbate your current problems."
"As someone who almost failed computer science, I want to say that if a piece of code has a problem, the programmer will definitely delete it—if you really think of yourself as a program, then don't let yourself cause problems," Lin Fengzi shrugged. "It's good to live a simple, silly life."
Thinking of this, Ruan Chen let go of her hand, allowing the curtain to fall and block out the night.
She turned on all the lights and opened all the doors in each room, then sat down on the living room sofa and took out her phone.
"Cheng Lu, how is she?"
Cheng Lu was probably eating, as there were chewing sounds. "Yan Qian sat on the willow embankment all afternoon, and I stayed with her in the cold wind all afternoon. I came here to get something to eat, and my brother is keeping an eye on me."
Ruan Chen hummed in agreement. "How are you feeling?"
"I was just spacing out and throwing stones into the water—oh right, I also ordered takeout from a convenience store, which was all potato chips."
Ruan Chen smiled. If Yan Qian could still eat potato chips, it seemed she was doing well, and he didn't need to worry too much.
Then she remembered that she probably needed to eat something too, since she had only eaten one meal all day.
She went downstairs to visit Bo Nian and grab a bite to eat on the way.
She didn't even dare to get too close to the ward, just watching from a distance.
Bo Nian's father, Bo Jinghui, a haggard and exhausted middle-aged man, was asleep on a small stool in the corner of the ward. His eyes were red and swollen, and there were bloodstains on the back of his hands, face, and neck.
Bo Nian was sleeping at the moment, while Lingzhi stared intently at her son, her eyes fixed on him. She carefully placed one arm on her son's body, gently restraining his hand.
"How are you now?" A soft and magnetic voice sounded from behind Ruan Chen.
Ruan Chen shuddered in fright, then realized it was Lin Fengzi. She patted her chest and said, "I'm alright, I slept all afternoon. I definitely won't be able to sleep tonight. What are you doing here?"
“Come and see. I’m a medical student, and your friend’s condition is a rare case,” Lin Fengzi said. “I talked to him this afternoon, met with his attending physician, and slightly modified the details of the treatment plan. He’s much better now.”
When asked about medical matters, Ruan Chen did not offer any comment, simply saying, "Thank you."
“Go back when you’ve seen enough,” Lin Fengzi said, putting her arm around her shoulder. “Go back and take a shower, and then tomorrow—have you been neglecting your classes these past two days? I know you’re a top student, but you’ve already paid your tuition, so why don’t you go to class?”
"You really think of me as your brother?"
"You know what, before Ruan Luo joined the crew, he told me to make sure I took good care of his dear sister, to ask her how she was doing and to make sure she was warm and well-fed," Lin Fengzi joked with Ruan Chen in a silly way. "Let's go, little sister, I'll take you home."
Just then, Ruan Chen received a message on her phone. She glanced at it and saw that it was from Cheng An.
"The person you were supposed to keep an eye on has been taken away by the research institute of the First Academy, so it's not convenient for us to follow them."
Ruan Chen replied, "It's nothing, thanks."
Cheng An sent another message: "Is there anything else we can do for you? I'm asking on behalf of my sister, not because I want to do anything for you."
He's all talk and no action.
After all, Ruan Chen had given them a lot and had a very good attitude. He had never bossed them around. Cheng An was even hoping that Ruan Chen would stop mentioning the contract from that year. Things were fine as they were now.
"No, not at the moment. You and Cheng Lu should go back and rest. Thank you."
After Ruan Chen finished sending the message, Lin Fengzi urged, "You really should go back. The mess at Shengling Technology is waiting for you to clean up. The last model collapsed again when it ran for the 1229th time. Jiaojiao and I have been calculating it for the past few days, but we haven't made a breakthrough. It still depends on you."
"One thousand two hundred and twenty-nine times?" Ruan Chen felt that the number seemed somewhat familiar.
"Go check on R right away. Our team will fall apart without you. Do you know how many days Jiaojiao, Xiangrong, and Lao Song haven't had a proper rest? Aren't you having trouble sleeping tonight? You can go and fix the technical problem."
After finally managing to coax Ruan Chen away, Lin Fengzi turned around and went back to the doctor's office.
He just came out of the office.
His carefree smile vanished, and he said in a deep voice, "Doctor, let's stick to what we agreed on before. I'll give it a try."
"Don't worry, I can bear all the consequences. I did it voluntarily."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com