The two of them stood in the darkness, and suddenly everything fell silent. The dim yellow light from the roadside lamps stretched their dark shadows, making it difficult to discern their original shapes on the distant road.
Bohemia brushed her wind-blown hair behind her ears and couldn't help but glance at Lin Sanjiu in the distance.
At that mont, Lin Sanjiu had just sat down beside the motionless Puppeteer. She rubbed her pants and then gently placed her hand on his forehead for a few seconds. She then raised her other hand and touched her own forehead. Since the dead person wouldn't have a fever, Lin Sanjiu was satisfied and lowered her hand, looking in the direction of Bohemia and Dr. Hu.
Bohemia quickly averted her gaze. Sohow, she couldn't et Lin Sanjiu's eyes.
"Before we ca to this world..." Bohemia pretended to search for sothing while speaking softly to Dr. Hu, "she just found out that a friend had died. I'm not sure about the specifics, but it seems that he was the first friend she made after entering the apocalyptic world, and his death was hard for her to accept."
"Did it affect her greatly?" Dr. Hu asked, furrowing its brow and pondering for a mont.
"She... was very agitated and filled with grief. She desperately wanted to kill the person responsible for her friend's death and seek revenge. Later, that person died," Bohemia didn't know that Lyanna had ultimately been killed by another personality, so she didn't know if Lin Sanjiu had successfully avenged her friend, "Afterward, we were transported to this world by the Great Deluge... Oh, I'll explain what the Great Deluge is later. After arriving here, she seed normal and never ntioned Luther, her deceased friend, again."
Dr. Hu fell silent for a mont. "Were there any other traumatic events?"
"Yes. Magus seed to be her friend too," Bohemia thought and felt a chill in her heart, "Magus is trapped, and we can't help her until we find a place to settle. Lin Sanjiu originally planned to find her as soon as we arrived in this new world, but one thing led to another, and we haven't had the opportunity to do so."
"Is she worried?"
Bohemia thought for a mont and shook her head. Then, as if explaining, she said in a low voice, "I think she should be worried, but she has never shown it—maybe it's because we've been preoccupied these past few days."
More details surfaced in Bohemia's mind. She rembered that Lin Sanjiu had acted strangely toward a certain communication device she had in her hands. Sotis she took it out, and other tis she put it back, looking restless and at a loss—she seed both afraid of receiving a communication from soone and afraid of not receiving one. But she never said anything about it. When they set off again, she seed resolute as if she had no worries at all.
Could that also be a crisis involving a friend? If that were the case, there would be four people involved...
Dr. Hu let out a low sigh. "When things accumulate too much, the more you press down on the lid, the more likely it is to explode. It would be better if she could share everything... I'm worried that her ntal instability is the result of a series of traumas that have built up and burst out."
"Are you sure... that Puppeteer is really dead?"
"There's no room for error," Dr. Hu shook its head, "While most doctors might need to check the pupils, pulse, and skin, I have a unique ability to discern life and death. Just one glance is enough for to know if soone is close to death or has already died."
"Truly worthy of a doctor. What should we do now?"
Bohemia also started to feel distressed—she had completely forgotten that a few years ago, if Lin Sanjiu had suffered a ntal breakdown, it would have been good news for her rather than bad news. After all, faced with a defenseless person, she could have used any ans to recover her losses.
"Let's assess the situation first."
With a plan to take things step by step, they returned to Lin Sanjiu's side. She sat cross-legged by the side of the road, her short hair ssily tied up behind her head. In the dim light of the moon and the street lamps, her honey-colored skin faintly glistened with sweat. It seed that even she found it difficult to carry a person all the way here.
When she saw the two of them return, she flicked her hand and a card appeared in her palm. "I don't know if you'll need it, but I have so disinfectant in my card inventory."
"Put it in my bag," Dr. Hu said, taking its ti to pull out a miniature stethoscope that was custom-made for it. It took nearly ten minutes for it to put on the white coat. Dr. Hu used this ti to drag out the conversation, while Bohemia asked indirect questions.
"Has he always been in this half-dead state?"
Lin Sanjiu waved her hand dismissively, acting as if she had already grown accustod to it. "I've noticed that as long as a person has a slight will to live, their vitality is incredibly tenacious. Look at how I've been carrying him around, and there haven't been any tears or bloodshed. In my opinion, his condition has already stabilized."
"Huh?"
In a sense, it had indeed stabilized.
"Um, he hasn't deteriorated further, but," Lin Sanjiu suddenly turned to owie Hu and asked with a hint of hesitation, "His condition actually requires surgery, but without the necessary conditions, I'm worried that sothing might go wrong. I entrust you to continue to stabilize his condition. Let know what you need, and I'll find a way."
Even if one isn't a doctor, carrying a dead body all the way should have raised suspicions. However, it was clear that Lin Sanjiu hadn't realized at all that the person lying by the roadside was already dead.
Cats don't cough much, but owie Hu still made an effort to cough twice.
Bohemia opened her mouth but found herself completely speechless. She exchanged a glance with the cat, and both of them wore expressions of wanting to say sothing but hesitated, afraid of accidentally saying sothing that might further disturb her. Unable to discuss in front of Lin Sanjiu and lacking an excuse to walk away again, they both fell into an awkward silence.
Lin Sanjiu's gaze shifted, and she started to feel puzzled. "Dr. Hu?"
"Ah, um." owie Hu couldn't pretend to not understand human speech anymore. It scratched its head with its hind leg for a while and stuttered, "I—I'll think about it. Maybe, maybe not."
Bohemia lowered her head and stared at the road for a while. Suddenly, an idea ca to her. She quietly stretched out her tiptoe and pressed hard on the white line on the ground. True to her expectations, it shook its head and wagged its tail in pain, causing a buzzing sound in the minds of everyone present. Seizing the opportunity while Lin Sanjiu was massaging her temples, Bohemia used her Higher Consciousness to grab hold of the white line and forcefully pulled it off the ground, turning it into a chaotic ss. When it floated in the air, it looked as if soone had sared the scenery.
"What are you making a fuss about?" Bohemia pretended to be angry and turned her back to Lin Sanjiu, scolding the line, "Shut up!"
The chaos indeed fell silent—not because of the command, but because Bohemia used her consciousness to wrap her voice and quietly sent it into the chaotic ss.
"Since your voice can directly resonate in people's minds, can you transmit your voice only to specific individuals, making others unable to hear it?"
The colors of the blurry chaos undulated for a mont, and then Bohemia heard its reply, "Yes, it's possible, but it's a bit difficult."
With a quick sidelong glance, she noticed that Dr. Hu and Lin Sanjiu hadn't heard those words.
"That's great," she said, half threatening and half enticing, "I have a plan. If you help well, I'll let you go."
Bohemia's plan was simple.
Their biggest problem at the mont was that they couldn't directly tell Lin Sanjiu that Puppeteer was dead, fearing that it would greatly impact her ntal state. If they could stage an "ergency surgery that ultimately fails to save him," perhaps this process would help her gradually accept reality. Moreover, she wouldn't have to face the news of Puppeteer's death alone this ti as she had Bohemia and Dr. Hu by her side.
Although this approach carried risks, it seed they had no other choice.
owie Hu wasn't a psychiatrist, and it felt as helpless as Bohemia regarding Lin Sanjiu's ntal state. After hearing the recap from the chaotic ss, owie Hu thought for a mont and nodded subtly at Bohemia—evidently, it also intended to try saving a lost cause.
Under Lin Sanjiu's eager gaze, the little cat stood beside the corpse, pretending to examine it for a while.
"He's in critical condition and needs imdiate surgery," owie Hu said while extending its claw tips, even carefully disinfecting them one by one, "You need to be ntally prepared as the surgery might not succeed."
Upon hearing this, Lin Sanjiu grew nervous, took two steps back, and took a deep breath. She lowered her head, firmly staring at the road, seemingly afraid to witness the surgical process.
Bohemia also turned her head to the side, unwilling to witness the scene of guts and bloodshed. The chaotic ss, bound by her consciousness, floated up and down in the air, unusually quiet, seemingly sensing the heavy atmosphere.
The once terrifying Puppeteer, who had inspired fear in the hearts of many, now lay silently dead on an unknown road, like a weary stray dog that had reached the end of its journey... Even though Bohemia had no personal connection to Puppeteer, a wave of inexplicable sorrow washed over her from the depths of her heart.
When the surgical scissors "snipped" and cut through the skin, the sound that made one's flesh crawl seed to scratch deep into their bones. In the dim light of the moon on the desolate and lonely night road, Bohemia couldn't help but shiver.
"I'm sorry," after what seed like a long ti, Dr. Hu finally spoke, each word filled with extre caution, "It's my lack of dical expertise... You, you have my condolences."
Even though they had planned to say that, Bohemia's heart still trembled slightly. She raised her eyes and found that Lin Sanjiu's figure seed frozen—rigid and stiff, as if she could shatter with a single touch.
For a long ti, she didn't say a word, and even held her breath.
"Is... is that so," when she spoke again, it seed as if she hadn't spoken in a long ti. Lin Sanjiu's throat was dry, and she had to clear it before she could continue, "I won't bla you. He... he was already in critical condition. Can I see him?"
As she spoke, she took a step closer to the figure by the roadside.
"Yes, I've stitched him up," Dr. Hu lowered its head, took two steps back, circumvented the corpse, and stood face to face with Bohemia, who had just approached. Lin Sanjiu "thumped" and knelt down, staring blankly at the body. For a while, no one said anything, and only the chaotic ss continued to float in Bohemia's consciousness, gently undulating.
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