Qi Zhimu sneezed several times in a row.
“What’s wrong, Mr.
Qi?
Do you have a cold, or is someone thinking about you?” Clarisse asked with concern.
“No one would be thinking of me.
It’s probably just the sudden drop in temperature.” Qi Zhimu rubbed his nose.
They had been talking for quite a while, and it was already late at night.
“Then why not put on more clothes?” “There are two reasons.
First, it’s probably a habit from my childhood…
though I don’t remember it very clearly.” Qi Zhimu searched his memory.
His tone gradually turned a little heavy as he spoke.
“When I was young, a world war broke out in my homeland.
Many destructive weapons polluted the land, the sky, and the sea.” “The air carried a foul smell all day.
War spread across the entire planet, and countless people were displaced.” “Biochemical weapons were widely used, giving rise to many deadly viruses.
No one who was infected survived.” “I was lying among a pile of corpses, waiting to die, when my teacher found me.
She was a scientist studying life.
She picked me up and gave me a chance to live.” It was the first time Qi Zhimu had spoken about his past.
Clarisse listened quietly, fully focused.
“Perhaps I had a strong constitution.
My teacher said I carried over a dozen viral strains in my body.
Some of them suppressed each other, which was how I survived until she arrived.” “After that, I became her experimental subject.
To stay alive, I had to remain in a cultivation pod for two full years.” “If I had left it, the viruses might have broken out.” “Even after I could come out, I still needed constant examinations to monitor the activity and mutation of those viruses.” “Wearing too many layers was inconvenient, so I usually just put on whatever clean clothes I had.
My memory is a bit hazy, but that’s roughly how it was.” “And the second reason?” Clarisse asked softly.
Qi Zhimu fell silent for a moment before answering calmly.
“Although the viruses in my body are gone, they left some aftereffects.
Sometimes I lose parts of my physical perception.” “Physical perception?” Clarisse tilted her head.
“Things like touch, smell, pressure, temperature, and pain.
For example, there are times when I can’t taste food or feel changes in the weather.
It’s not too serious.” “In the past, my constitution was strong, so it didn’t affect me much.
But now, perhaps because I’m getting older, I’ve become more sensitive to the cold.” “Mr.
Qi, you don’t seem like an old person at all.” He said it lightly, but Clarisse did not fully believe him.
From what she had seen over the years, she understood more than he realized.
When people feel cold, they put on more clothes.
When they feel hot, they dress lightly.
But Mr.
Qi’s case did not seem so simple.
He might not be losing his senses occasionally.
It could be that he barely sensed the weather most of the time, relying instead on instruments to tell him when to dress warmer.
And taste…
Clarisse suddenly remembered something.
The last time she brought him red-blue crystal fruits, he said they were very sweet.
But those fruits were always sweet and sour.
No matter how ripe they were, the sourness never disappeared.
At the time, she thought it was just a matter of personal taste.
Now, thinking back…
Her heart tightened.
Had he already lost his sense of taste without realizing it?
But if that were true, how could he still make such delicious pastries and wine?
Unless his condition had only started recently.
“Can’t your teacher cure it?” Clarisse asked, her voice filled with concern.
“If it could be cured, it wouldn’t be called an aftereffect.” Qi Zhimu smiled gently, though inwardly he felt a trace of guilt.
That was only half the truth.
These symptoms had only appeared in recent years.
They were not caused by the viruses, but by the natural decline of his body.
He belonged to a short-lived species.
His original lifespan was just over a hundred years.
The only reason he had lived this long was because Ruan Mei had extended his life back then.
But he had no intention of telling her any of this.
A dying person should carry such burdens alone, rather than leaving them behind in someone else’s memories.
Qi Zhimu understood one thing very clearly.
To Clarisse, he was only a passerby in her life.
A doctor who had cured her mother’s amnesia.
Nothing more.
Clarisse, unaware of his thoughts, let out a soft sigh.
“Why the sudden sigh?” “My heart aches for you, Mr.
Qi.
Fate has been too unfair to you.” “Heh…
it has never been fair.
I understood that long ago.
It’s simply part of life.” Qi Zhimu smiled gently.
“If you can live the way you want, then the unfairness of fate becomes less important.
You can simply ignore it.” “Then…
have you lived the way you wanted?” Clarisse asked.
“I suppose so.” “That doesn’t sound very certain.” Qi Zhimu’s smile remained calm.
“There’s no definite answer to that question.
It’s like pi.
You can never calculate it to the end.” “Fate left me homeless and made me suffer, but it also allowed me to meet my teacher and be saved.” “In that sense, fate has been quite kind to me.” Hearing this, Clarisse felt that he was not a pessimist at all.
If anything, he seemed like an optimist.
Perhaps people who had faced life and death at a young age simply saw things more clearly.
She thought about her own homeland.
There were no open wars, but conflict still existed beneath the surface.
Even within her country, political struggles never ceased.
Yet compared to what Mr.
Qi had experienced, her life had been peaceful.
Being ostracized or isolated seemed insignificant in comparison.
Maybe that was why she could not fully understand his calmness.
“Mr.
Qi, you must really respect your teacher.” “Of course.
Without her, I wouldn’t exist today.
And without me, neither would you nor Mrs.
Durand.” “A teacher who raised someone as gentle as you must be very gentle as well.” “Yes.
My teacher is the gentlest person in the world.” Qi Zhimu answered without hesitation.
His expression softened even more as he spoke.
“She always said she was only using me as an experimental subject to study how to eliminate the viruses in my body.
But for that, she worked tirelessly for six years.” “During those six years, she stayed awake for days at a time, just to find even the slightest hope for my survival.” “After curing me, when she saw I had nowhere to go, she took me in as her student and taught me everything she knew.” “From the most basic knowledge to the most advanced research, she guided me step by step.”