Hearing her words, Hua Xian’s chest felt heavy. Half of Chi Meng’s cries and lamentations were caused by her.
If Chi Xiaohai was the instigator, then she was the one who had plunged the knife deep.
It was hard to say who was more hateful, but neither was innocent.
Chi Meng felt herself sinking deep into a mire. The surroundings were pitch black, and there was nothing she could use to help herself. Her body was sinking into the mud inch by inch, but she could not save herself. She could not even make a sound.
“I should never have given birth to you! You ruined my life!”
Her mother’s cold voice echoed in her ear. Chi Meng looked up and saw her mother standing on the bank, watching with cold indifference. She had no intention of reaching out to help. Or rather, she was happy to see this outcome, as her mother had never liked her.
Chi Meng shifted her gaze and saw her father not far away. He was embracing that woman, and a child stood before them. The family of three was joyful, and none of them were willing to spare her a glance.
Chi Meng’s struggles gradually weakened. She thought, actually, this is quite good.
Her existence was merely redundant to them. Perhaps vanishing from this world would be a universally happy ending.
I can be free.
Chi Meng forced a faint, cynical smile. The moment she closed her eyes, she saw her Grandmother.
“Child, come to Grandmother.”
She grasped the hand her Grandmother held out, smiling through her tears.
“Grandmother, take me away. Everyone bullies me after you left.”
Chi Meng’s tears poured down more fiercely than the rain outside the window. Hua Xian could not wipe them away no matter how hard she tried. Enduring the strong physical discomfort, she kept trying to soothe Chi Meng, but with little effect.
She could feel Chi Meng’s intense world-weariness. The negative energy was almost solidifying, becoming a sharp blade pointed right at her.
“Mengmeng! Mengmeng! Wake up! You cannot sleep!”
Hua Xian was consumed by anxiety, losing her usual composure. She had thought Chi Meng’s mood would improve after a sleep, but she never expected the woman intended to sleep and never wake up.
Hua Xian reached out on the bedside, grabbed Chi Meng’s phone, and called 120. In her current physical condition, she could no longer get Chi Meng to the hospital herself.
After hanging up, she found Xiao Ran’s number. It rang once, and the other person immediately answered.
“Miss Chi, is something wrong?”
“This is Hua Xian. Chi Meng’s condition is very bad right now. Can you come over?”
Upon hearing it was Hua Xian, Xiao Ran’s voice instantly turned cold: “How bad is ‘very bad’? Can it be worse than when you emotionally abused and betrayed her?”
Hua Xian: “… Dr. Xiao, there is no need to be so prickly. I do not know how bad she was then, but now… she has a slight fever from the rain, she is constantly crying and talking in her sleep, and I cannot wake her up no matter what I do.”
Xiao Ran paused for a few seconds, then her voice sharply increased in volume: “Then why are you not rushing her to the hospital?! I am a psychiatrist! I cannot treat physical injuries!”
Hua Xian was nearly stunned by the shout. She was also at the end of her tether. She simply said that she had called 120 and then hung up. Her phone dropped to the floor, and she did not even have the strength to pick it up.
Her body was utterly exhausted, but she forced herself to stay conscious. In her daze, she heard the doorbell ring. 120 had not arrived, but Xiao Ran came first.
The moment Xiao Ran saw Hua Xian, she thought Hua Xian was the one who was sick. She scrutinized her with a complicated look, then walked straight upstairs.
She did not care about Hua Xian; she only cared about Chi Meng.
Chi Meng’s cheeks were flushed with fever. Even with her eyes closed, it was clear her eyes were swollen. Xiao Ran was just about to interrogate Hua Xian when she saw the woman collapse onto the floor with a sigh of relief.
“…” Are they all made of water to be so weak?! No, Hua Xian is made of mud, and the foul-smelling kind!
Hua Xian’s soul drifted into the void. In the midst of the chaos, she saw a glowing sphere emitting a gentle light. She reached out and touched it. The sphere wrapped around her arm and instantly disappeared into her body.
【Congratulations, Master, on completing your talent upgrade. Your current talent has been upgraded to the highest level. While purity has increased, you can also defend against a portion of dark matter attacks. The negative energy from ordinary people, aside from the target of the strategy, will have its impact on you reduced to the greatest extent.】
It seems like an upgrade, and yet it doesn’t.
That phrase, “aside from the target of the strategy,” was quite telling.
This upgrade was utterly useless to Hua Xian. The negative energy of ordinary people hardly affected her in the first place, so what was the point of defending against it?
It seemed those old geezers in the Administration Bureau still did not want her to have an easy time.
Whether her thoughts were somehow perceived by them or not, Hua Xian felt a sharp pain in her skull, and then her consciousness cleared.
Her eyes met a glaring white, and the smell of disinfectant filled her nostrils. Looks like I’m in a hospital.
Thinking back to her previous state, Hua Xian internally thanked Xiao Ran. Although the woman disliked her, she had at least sent her to the ambulance as well.
One fee for two people, not a loss.
She turned her head, but the other bed was not occupied by Chi Meng, but by an elderly woman. The old woman’s eyes lit up when she saw her.
“Are you that… that… Chi Meng, right?! My granddaughter loves you very much. Could you sign an autograph for me?”
Hua Xian felt that her body was mostly fine. She propped herself up and nodded to the old woman.
“Of course.”
The old woman smiled, her face a map of wrinkles, but she could not find a suitable place for a signature. She took a white short-sleeved T-shirt from the nearby accompanying bed.
“This is my granddaughter’s shirt. Please sign right here.”
“Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”
“It is fine. If she knows her favorite celebrity signed it for her, she will be absolutely thrilled!”
The old woman was highly enthusiastic, so Hua Xian decided to go along with it, imitating Chi Meng’s handwriting to sign the white T-shirt.
After signing, the old woman wanted to keep chatting with Hua Xian, but Hua Xian was worried about Chi Meng. She told the woman she had an urgent matter, then pulled out the IV drip in her arm and left the ward on her own.
She asked a nurse and found out that Chi Meng was in a high-level VIP ward, not even in the same building as her.
Hua Xian: … That is something Xiao Ran would do.
She took the connecting corridor between the two buildings, rode the elevator to Chi Meng’s floor, and was about to push open the door of the ward when she suddenly heard her own name. Her footsteps paused, and her hand hesitated on the door.
“You cannot be with her anymore, or your illness will never get better!”
Xiao Ran rarely sounded this assertive. It seems she really dislikes me, Hua Xian thought.
“It has nothing to do with her. My mind is just not strong enough.” Chi Meng’s voice was slightly hoarse and still sounded very weak.
After a brief silence, Xiao Ran’s voice resumed, returning to her usual composure, as if the person who had spoken just before was not her.
“This is my professional advice as a doctor. The person who brings you pain, the further you stay away from them, the better. This will benefit your condition.”
Xiao Ran practically had “I have no ulterior motives” carved onto her forehead, but Hua Xian did not believe her. She tapped lightly on the door, then pushed it open.
The two women simultaneously turned their attention to her. Hua Xian walked directly to the bed, embraced Chi Meng, gently rubbed her chin against the top of her head, and placed a hand on her back, lightly patting her to soothe her, just as before.
“You are not allowed to run off alone again. Whatever you want to do, let me be with you, okay?”
Chi Meng’s gaze momentarily froze, but she could not resist Hua Xian’s embrace. She buried her face in Hua Xian’s chest and whispered, “Okay.”
Hua Xian glanced sideways at Xiao Ran, raising an eyebrow slightly. You want to sow discord between Mengmeng and me? Dream on!