It turned out that in order to treat his father’s illness, his mother had already exhausted all the family’s savings. Many things that had disappeared from the house weren’t given away, but had been sold off.

Suddenly realizing this, he burst into tears.

However, the speed of time’s reversal did not stop there—his thoughts continued to race uncontrollably back into the past, all the way to his mother’s womb. Strangely, as a single cell, he actually remembered his state in the amniotic fluid... And the final image was of a man and a woman in a computer room surrounded by electronic emission equipment, passionately making love...

Shortly after, there was nothing but darkness.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before David Carter’s consciousness returned to his body.

At first, David Carter couldn’t remember whether he was still standing in front of the computer screen at Sauron Capital, or if he had returned to his rented room. After a long while, he realized he was lying in bed. Then his nose caught the distinctive smell of Lysol in the hospital, and he heard the electric hum of machines by his ear. Next, he seemed to hear the faint breathing of two people by his bedside—while sensing all this, David Carter did not open his eyes.

At this moment, he heard Thor’s voice: “You’re awake? Good. Most people, after waking up, are busy opening their eyes to look around. It’s rare to keep your eyes closed and use your senses to observe your surroundings. Ha, this kind of habit can’t be achieved through training. Even the strongest-willed person can’t train it, because when a person first wakes up, they’re in an unconscious state.”

David Carter opened his eyes: “It’s just a habit... I probably lost track of time playing games, got too hungry, and fainted...”

As soon as he opened his eyes and saw the world around him, David Carter immediately felt bitter—this was a private hospital room, and the room was even bigger than the place he rented. The ward not only had furniture and all kinds of medical monitoring equipment... My god, there was even a fridge and a TV. A room like this... must be very expensive.

It’s over, it’s over. Even if I spend all the money I’ve earned this time, it won’t be enough. Poor me, a loser who even finds sunlight a luxury.

“It wasn’t hunger that made you faint,” the middle-aged Mr. Thor and the Chinese man beside him flipped through the thick medical records, continuing without looking up, “I forgot to tell you, Alfred has a medical license. He can read medical records. Although the equipment here is quite basic, he still noticed something... However, for further tests, we’ll need to return to my lab...”

David Carter struggled to get up from the hospital bed: “No need, no need, I know my own condition. It’s just prolonged nervous tension causing a brief blackout... Don’t worry, I’m getting paid for working for you. If I faint from overwork, it’s not your responsibility.”

“I’ve already paid your hospital bill,” Thor said, pointing at the medical records. “I’m afraid you don’t realize your physical condition. From the blood tests, your blood cells are very strange, seemingly overactive. Also, your cell membranes appear quite abnormal.

And the skin cell biopsy also shows your skin cells are a bit abnormal... In addition, your brain scan shows: your brain cells also seem very abnormal...”

Chapter 8 Standing at the Edge of the Cliff

If it were someone else, learning they had such a complicated illness, they would probably have a mental breakdown, fall into despair, panic, or curse their fate... But David Carter had a clarity and open-mindedness about illness and life and death that was unusual for his age.

It wasn’t because his nerves were especially thick or tough, but because his father’s illness had relapsed so many times. He had seen too much suffering in hospitals, too many struggles for life, too many desperate battles, even partings by death. In his short youth, in his boyhood, he had seen too much endurance and patience from patients’ families, too many struggles between huge medical bills and family bonds, too much despair from those who gave up treatment because they couldn’t afford it. So when such news came to him, he accepted it calmly, even with a hint of wishing for an early death and rebirth.

He had long believed that life and death were a matter of fate. The only thing he regretted was that he was still too young, a little unwilling. More importantly, his mother—his mother had always been forbearing and strong, but he didn’t know, after losing her husband in middle age, how she would go on if she lost her son in old age.

So, when he heard what Thor said, he didn’t show the slightest panic. Then, in an almost astonishingly calm tone, he asked, “So this is cancer, right? Skin cancer, leukemia... or do I also have a brain tumor?”

Thor nodded at the Chinese mixed-race man, who didn’t answer David Carter’s question. He leisurely withdrew from the conversation, strolled to the door, took out his phone, removed the battery, then took out a cigarette, opened the door, and looked around as if searching for a place to smoke. A nurse passing by saw his action and smiled, reminding him, “No smoking here.”

David Carter thought the Chinese man didn’t understand Chinese, but it was clear he did. He shrank back, closed the hospital room door again, continued to stand by the door, cigarette in his mouth unlit, just blocking the door, peering through the glass into the corridor.