A scorching heat filled Ethan’s body but couldn’t be released through sweat, and a suffocating sensation blocked him from within, as if a heavy weight was pressing on his chest.
Ethan, lying on the bed, had his eyes tightly shut, but the discomfort on his face was evident.
He had a fever!
In this state between sleep and wakefulness, Ethan, with his blurred consciousness, only felt an old pair of hands caressing his head, and during this process, these hands kept tapping his forehead.
At this moment, Ethan wanted to do something, but his body seemed to have lost control, and his soul was imprisoned within it, completely unable to move.
This feeling was very uncomfortable, making him feel like he had returned to the time when he first transmigrated and became a baby.
His thoughts were already mature, but limited by the baby’s weak body, let alone moving, even thinking was a huge burden.
Every day, he could only eat and sleep, vaguely passing that initial period.
Ethan’s consciousness could only struggle desperately, wanting to regain control of his body, and with his effort, he finally managed to open his eyelids with difficulty.
In the dim, blurry vision, Ethan first saw a shiny…
bald old man.
He was dressed in a suit, pressing on Ethan’s chest, stroking Ethan’s head with his old but fair large hand, and tapping it from time to time.
Ethan wanted to see his face clearly, but it was so blurry he could only make out a general shape.
When Ethan opened his eyes, this old man with the blurry face seemed to notice it, so the bald old man slightly lowered his head and showed Ethan a strange smile!
“Ah!!” Ethan shouted as he opened his eyes.
“Child, what’s wrong?” At this moment, a gentle woman’s voice came, and a pair of warm hands gently grasped Ethan, trying to comfort him.
The bald old man in his vision had disappeared, and in front of Ethan was a blonde woman.
She looked about fifty years old, and careful maintenance could barely hide the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, but even with her aging beauty, one could still see her youthful charm.
“Ms.
Emma, so it’s you.” Seeing it was the blonde woman, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief, then said apologetically.
“Sorry, I had a nightmare.” “It’s alright, child.” Ms.
Emma shook her head, her gentle smile still as it always was.
This was a gentle and kind lady.
As the Dean of the Howard Welfare Institute, she treated every child who came there with equal gentleness, caring for them like a mother.
Even for children like Morpheus, who was almost eighteen and still hadn’t been adopted, she never withheld her tenderness and love.
“Ethan, could you tell me about the dream you just had?” Ms.
Emma asked, holding Ethan’s hand.
“There’s nothing much to say, really, I just dreamed of a strange…
bald man,” Ethan said casually.
“A bald man?
What kind of bald man?” Ms.
Emma continued to press.
“It’s just…
um, I remember it was…” Ethan scratched his head, seeming to have forgotten, or perhaps finding it difficult to express.
“Is it like this?” Under Morpheus’s gaze, Ms.
Emma suddenly pulled off her long blonde hair, revealing a strange smile just like the bald old man’s.
“Ah, a bald man!” Ethan shouted, sitting up from the bed.
At the same time, a girl’s startled voice came.
Ethan turned his head to look.
It was a girl wearing dark blue jeans and a black leather jacket.
She looked about fifteen or sixteen, with long dark brown hair, and although her body hadn’t fully developed, her curves were already very noticeable.
“It’s Katie, why are you here, cough cough cough…” Ethan said, coughing.
Memories flooded back into his brain, but the feverish heat and chest tightness from the dream hadn’t improved at all, because he really had a fever.
“Ms.
Emma told me to watch you, and she also instructed me to give you this fever reducer once you woke up.” The girl named Katie had calmed down by now, and handed a glass of Water and a few pills to Ethan.
“Oh, thank you!” “You’re welcome, we’re friends.” Watching Ethan take the Water glass and the medicine, Katie had already turned and sat back at the table, expressionlessly typing on the keyboard.
“Your room’s Wi-Fi is indeed the best in the entire Welfare Institute, truly enviable.” Ethan: “…” He somewhat suspected that the reason this girl was patiently watching him wasn’t because of Ms.
Emma’s request or their years of friendship in the Welfare Institute, but purely to use his Wi-Fi.
“Had a nightmare?” The sound of the keyboard suddenly stopped, and the girl turned her head slightly to ask.
“Yeah, and it was a two hundred percent terrifying double dream, cough cough!” Ethan said, coughing and gritting his teeth.
“What did you dream about?
You kept talking in your sleep just now, mumbling ‘Bald man, such a scary bald man!'” Katie looked at Ethan, and although her expression hadn’t changed much, the curiosity in her eyes was hard to hide.
“If you don’t mention bald men in front of me, we’re still friends.” Ethan said, somewhat annoyed.
He didn’t know what was wrong these past few days; he kept having nightmares, and they were all about bald men.
Damn it, am I possessed by a bald ghost?
If you have the guts, show me your true form!
I’ll go to the church and buy ten or eight pounds of crucifixes, even if I can’t exorcise this bastard, I’ll smash him to death…
Hmm, the church pastor sells them too expensively, I’d better go to the grocery store.
“Do you want to see a Doctor?
You’ve been having a fever for days now.” Katie asked.
“Forget it, it’s too much trouble.” Ethan shook his head.
“There’s only that one private clinic nearby.
If it’s not an acute illness, just making an appointment will push it back two or three days.” “It’s fine, I just hacked that clinic’s computer.
If you want to go, you can definitely be first in the appointments.” Katie said with an unchanging expression.
Ethan was well aware of Katie’s hacking skills, but after thinking about it, Ethan still refused.
“Let’s just forget it.
I only have a low-grade fever, not even 39 degrees.
Taking some medicine and enduring it will be fine, and…” Ethan paused, then suddenly sighed, revealing a bitter smile.
“You should know, in half a month, I’ll be an adult.
If I weren’t sick, I’d already have left the Welfare Institute.
The money I have once I leave the Welfare Institute isn’t really enough, so I should save what I can.
A consultation costs ten U.S.
dollars, and even with health insurance, it’s not completely free.” “Whatever you say.” After hearing Ethan’s words, Katie turned her head and focused on the computer, no longer paying attention to Ethan.
The tapping of the keyboard sounded like a lullaby to Ethan.
It seemed the medicine was taking effect.
He hoped that after this sleep, the fever would completely subside.
And also…
please don’t let me dream of bald men again, I hate bald men.
Ten minutes later, Katie stopped her movements and frowned, looking at Ethan on the bed.
Ethan was mumbling in his dream: “Bald man…
dead bald man, so many dead bald men!” …
Meanwhile, in the basement of a seemingly ordinary school in New York, inside a huge spherical metal room, a bald old man in a suit, sitting in a wheelchair, removed an instrument helmet from his head.
“Professor, did you find the awakened child?” Behind him, a man wearing glasses like a scanner walked over and asked with concern.
“I found him, and I didn’t find him.” The bald old man rubbed his brow wearily.
With his mental power, using Cerebro once would definitely not make him so tired, but this child was different.
“He is very special.
He can block my power.
My mental power cannot enter his mind to complete a conversation with him, and even due to the interference of his ability, my localization distance for him is somewhat blurry.” “So you mean this child’s ability is psychic.” The man said thoughtfully, listening to the bald old man’s words.
“No.” The bald Professor shook his head.
“Although I don’t know what his specific ability is, based on my experience, his ability should be unrelated to psychic powers.
We should find him as soon as possible.
His ability has not fully awakened and is very unstable.
I can feel that this child is very anxious and uneasy right now.
I tried to comfort him, but it didn’t seem to have much effect, so I can only try my best to locate him and talk to him in person.” Although a bit tired, the bald Professor still picked up the helmet again.
“Professor, you should rest.
You’ve been overusing your mental power for several days in a row to find this child.” Seeing his teacher pick up the helmet again, the man finally couldn’t help but speak.
“Professor, I don’t understand.
There are many Mutants in this World, and while our goal is to help those Mutants in need, there are still many Mutants who don’t require our help; they can survive among ordinary people just fine.
Why are you so persistent about a Mutant child whose ability hasn’t fully awakened?
Perhaps he doesn’t urgently need our help.” “Scott.” The bald Professor looked at his most outstanding student in front of him.
“Whether this child needs our help or not, we must find him, because as I just said, he is very special.” After a moment of silence, the bald Professor continued to explain; “Through Cerebro, I can vaguely feel the immense power of this child, far surpassing even myself and my old friend.” Scott gasped upon hearing this, and said with an incredulous voice.
“Professor, you mean…” “That’s right, this child is very likely a Level 5 Mutant.” The bald Professor said, then put the helmet back on.
“We must find this child as soon as possible, at least before my old friend Magneto finds him.”