Chapter 17 Moon

Lin Xian walked into the hospital building, entered the elevator, and pressed the button for the 17th floor.

The elevator doors closed and slowly ascended...

He reminisced about the last time he visited Xu Yiyi's ward, which was December 29, 2022.

Because it was at the X celebration banquet and New Year's Eve party two days later that Professor Xu Yun was killed by the murderers at 00:42, dying tragically in the street.

After that, Lin Xian never came here again, focusing all his energy on finding the murderers.

However, after a few months, the gains were considerable.

In the long term, he found clues to the cosmic constant 42.

Although he doesn't know what 42 represents or what it's for, the death of Big Face Cat's father 600 years later undoubtedly confirms that there is a terrifying secret behind this mysterious number.

Moreover, the original author of *Introduction to Cosmic Constants* has also been found, and it is only a matter of time before the secret of 42 is completely understood.

Once he is in a safe situation, he can bring Liu Feng to Donghai, build a laboratory for him, and let him focus on studying the secret of the cosmic constant 42.

When that time comes... once he masters the power of 42, he will truly have the ability to fight the enemy.

In the short term, he has also figured out the identities of the murderers.

Zhou Duanyun, Ji Lin, and Ji Xinshui are definitely inseparable from Xu Yun's murder.

All he needs to do is find enough evidence of their crime... and he can bring them to justice!

Ding—

The elevator doors opened on the 17th floor, and Lin Xian walked directly to the door of Xu Yiyi's ward.

"Hmm?"

The door was ajar, allowing him to see clearly inside.

A strange man was standing in front of Xu Yiyi's bed.

The man was doing rehabilitation stretches for the sleeping Xu Yiyi, so Lin Xian could only see the man's back.

He wasn't tall, but he was very strong, looking like he did physical labor. His hair was medium length and neatly combed, and his chin was clean-shaven, but he could still see a slight blue stubble.

The man patiently and carefully lifted Xu Yiyi's thin legs, slowly bending, stretching, bending, stretching... his technique and movements were exactly the same as Xu Yun's.

Lin Xian watched quietly for a while.

He found that the man was doing the rehabilitation exercises for Xu Yiyi very seriously and meticulously. Lin Xian's first thought was... could this man be a caregiver hired by the hospital? But after thinking about it, it shouldn't be, this man didn't look like a caregiver at all.

After a while, the man finally finished the entire set of rehabilitation exercises, and then turned around and noticed Lin Xian standing at the door:

"Sir, who are you?"

He was very polite, speaking in somewhat broken Mandarin.

"I am a friend of Professor Xu Yun," Lin Xian said, pointing to the comatose Xu Yiyi on the bed.

"I'm here to see Xu Yiyi. You are..."

The man smiled, turned around, and nodded.

"My name is Zheng Chenghe, and I'm a family member from the next ward."

As he spoke, he pointed to the wall on the left.

"My sister has been in poor health since she was a child and has been hospitalized for many years. Because her ward is next to Xu Yiyi's, we usually receive a lot of care from Professor Xu Yun."

"Professor Xu Yun took good care of my sister and me, and helped us a lot... Some time ago, Professor Xu Yun had a lot of gifts here, and he gave almost all of them to us. My sister and I are very grateful to him."

With that, he turned his head to look at Xu Yiyi.

"Later... Professor Xu Yun had an accident. I was worried that Xu Yiyi would be lonely, so I often came with my sister to talk to her and do some rehabilitation exercises for her."

...

So that's how it is.

Lin Xian also nodded politely to the other party.

This "fellow patient" could be said to be in the same boat as Xu Yun, one with a sister who was hospitalized for a long time, and the other with a daughter in a vegetative state.

It seemed that Professor Xu Yun usually treated these siblings well, so this Zheng Chenghe often came to do rehabilitation exercises for Xu Yiyi, which could be considered as repaying his kindness.

He walked to Xu Yiyi's bedside and noticed that the man's left cheek was covered in scars!

Several of the scars even stretched directly from his neck to his ear, which was shocking. Even though the scars had healed for a long time, the hyperplasia and redness of these scars... were still a bit frightening.

In contrast, the skin on the man's right cheek was intact.

"What are these scars on your face..." Lin Xian asked his question.

"Oh, I was bitten by a dog when I was a kid," the man said with a smile, touching the scars on his left face.

"I was ignorant and didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth when I was a kid, so I was bitten by someone else's dog."

"That's a pretty serious bite."

"It was quite serious at the time, but it's okay, it's just a bit scary and ugly, but it's not a big deal."

"That's not true!" Suddenly, a childish shout came from the door.

Lin Xian turned his head to look at the door of the ward...

The newcomer was a little girl wearing a hospital gown, with skin as white as snow, the kind of white that didn't see sunlight, a somewhat weak and sickly white.

She had long hair, was very thin, and not very tall, looking like she was only thirteen or fourteen years old.

"Brother wasn't ignorant, he was protecting me! He's a hero!"

The little girl stubbornly grabbed the corner of Zheng Chenghe's clothes and looked up at Lin Xian.

Lin Xian smiled, squatted down, and looked at her.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Zheng Xiangyue," the little girl said in a voice as light as a bell.

"Zheng Xiangyue?" Lin Xian nodded in surprise.

"What a beautiful name."

Lin Xian looked up at Zheng Chenghe again.

"Actually, both of your names are very beautiful, one Chenghe, one Xiangyue, your parents must be very cultured people."

However...

Hearing Lin Xian's words, Zheng Xiangyue's eyes dimmed instantly.

Hmm?

Lin Xian realized... did he say something wrong?

"I haven't seen my mom and dad..." Zheng Xiangyue said aggrievedly.

"They were beaten to death when I was little."

Beaten to death?

Lin Xian frowned, what was going on?

"Xiangyue, don't talk nonsense, how have you not seen your mom and dad? You grew up in their arms... you just have a bad memory and forgot."

Zheng Chenghe smiled apologetically, pulled Zheng Xiangyue behind him, and looked at Lin Xian apologetically.

"Kids talk, don't take it too seriously. We do come from a bad background, our parents had a conflict with the villagers more than ten years ago and were accidentally beaten to death in the conflict... but that's all in the past, and those people were punished by law."

Seeing that Zheng Chenghe was unwilling to talk about the past in detail, Lin Xian didn't ask any further questions.

Everyone in this world has things they don't want to mention, and there's no need to force them to explain clearly, which would only embarrass them.

Including the scars on Zheng Chenghe's face...

Combining what Zheng Xiangyue said just now, it's not difficult to guess that those scars were probably not as understated as Zheng Chenghe said, but rather that someone released a dog to bully Zheng Xiangyue, and then Zheng Chenghe was bitten in the face to protect her.

As for whether this incident was related to the conflict between their parents and the villagers... Lin Xian thought it was highly likely.

Zheng Chenghe looked strong, but his words were very polite and humble, which was a contradictory point. Perhaps this was because he lost his parents at a young age and struggled to raise his sister.

The hardships of life smoothed out the edges of this man.

Zheng Chenghe looked to be in his thirties, and the age gap between the siblings was quite large. Slightly straightening out his thoughts...

Since Zheng Xiangyue didn't remember her parents' affairs very well, it meant that she was very young when her parents died, only two or three years old.

And Zheng Chenghe should have been around twenty years old at that time. The siblings were more than ten years apart in age.

Looking at the hospital gown on Zheng Xiangyue again...

What a pair of unfortunate people.

Lin Xian deeply realized a sentence he had read in a book before, which said that when you feel that life is not going well, go to the hospital and take a look, and you will find how lucky you are, at least you are not sick.

The scene before him was exactly like that.

The people living in this hospital building were all miserable people tortured by illness.

"What's wrong with Xiangyue's health?" Lin Xian asked Zheng Chenghe.

"I don't see anything major wrong? She looks pretty healthy."

Zheng Chenghe was expressionless, stroking his sister's smooth hair.

"Xiangyue has congenital heart disease, the very serious kind. When she was checked as a child, the doctors said she wouldn't grow up... and her blood type is very special, so we haven't been able to find a suitable heart for a transplant."

"But I believe that Xiangyue will definitely recover one day." Zheng Chenghe smiled and bent down to pick up the frail Zheng Xiangyue and placed her on his strong arms.

"After all, our Xiangyue is very strong! The doctors say every year that she won't live to see her next birthday... but Xiangyue has survived one birthday after another, right? So there's definitely no problem! Our Xiangyue is a good girl blessed by the gods."

"Speaking of which, Xiangyue, next month is your fourteenth birthday, what gift do you want? I'll buy it for you."

"Hehe, I don't want any gifts," Zheng Xiangyue smiled mischievously.

"I've only had that one wish since I was little, you just need to promise me! I've told you so many times, but you won't promise me."

Zheng Chenghe's expression became serious, and he shook his head.

"No, I can't promise you that wish, because your illness can definitely be cured."

"What if it can't be cured? Just promise me!"

"No, no, I can't promise you, I will definitely cure you, no matter how much effort it takes, I will definitely cure you."

...

The siblings were having a tug-of-war here, which made Lin Xian's curiosity itch. He couldn't help but look at Zheng Xiangyue and ask,

"What is your wish?"

Zheng Xiangyue looked at Lin Xian and smiled with anticipation in her eyes.

"I want to ask you, after I die... bury me on the moon!"

...

This...

Lin Xian was speechless for a moment.

Should he say that she was innocent and didn't know the weight of life and death?

No wonder Zheng Chenghe refused to promise her anything.

Any brother wouldn't agree to such a thing with his sister. As long as there was a glimmer of hope for curing the disease, he would work hard to the death.

Lin Xian took a deep breath...

And took Zheng Xiangyue's hand.

"I don't think you will get to go to the moon."

"Why!" Zheng Xiangyue widened her eyes in surprise.

"Because it's very likely that the first generation of hibernation pods will be put into use soon." Lin Xian smiled and explained to her,

"Do you know about hibernation pods? It's something that Xu Yiyi's father was researching, as long as you sleep inside... when you open your eyes, decades or hundreds of years will have passed."

"Although your illness can't be cured now, human science and technology and medical technology will develop rapidly in decades or hundreds of years. At that time, your little illness will be easily cured."

He turned his head and looked at the equally emaciated Xu Yiyi.

"Coincidentally, Professor Xu Yun originally planned to send Xu Yiyi to the future for treatment, so it would be great if you two went together, you can be good friends when you wake up."

"So, don't give up on yourself so easily, Xiangyue, don't talk about death so easily, it will make your brother sad."

However...

At this moment, Zheng Xiangyue's eyes suddenly became like an adult's, mature and sensible, which was heartbreaking.

She sighed softly and looked up at the moon hanging in the dark night outside the window.

"But... I really want to go to the moon..."

"Why do you want to go to the moon?" Lin Xian was very curious.

"Because my brother said that my mom and dad are there." Zheng Xiangyue pursed her lips and blinked her eyes.

"I really want to see them..."