Chapter 911 Life, the Universe and Everything (Part 2)

silence.

A long silence.

Under the dazzling light, the straight spine of the outer building seemed to be broken.

Little by little, it bent down.

After a long time, a whining voice responded.

So, the cabin in the forest nodded happily and waved behind it. The black market doctor who had been waiting for a long time clicked his tongue in displeasure, turned and left.

A trip in vain, bad luck!

It wasn't until that hand finally left his head that Waitian finally breathed.

It was like being thrust into the deep sea and enduring a long period of suffocation.

Breathing every ounce of air greedily, tears and snot flowed out unsatisfactorily.

Howling.

"Okay, good boy."

The cabin in the forest reached out to untie him, squatted in front of him, picked up his hand with a smile, and shook it: "From today on, let us become good friends."

"Yeah." Waikou nodded dully, like a walking zombie.

The hut in the forest nodded, took out a mobile phone and handed it to him: "Remember to tell your friends not to rob the truck again - although we have got the medicine that was stolen - the hidden part should be given to him as soon as possible. I'll send it back. There are sixteen types of special medicines, targeting people with different animal transformation characteristics. If you hit them randomly, you will really die.

Of course, it is also necessary to persuade them to surrender and to reveal the source and instigator of the intelligence. "

"Um."

The foreigner nodded numbly.

"Finally, starting from today, learn to read the news... please change this bullshit behavior of you Yingzhou people as soon as possible."

The hut in the forest tilted his head, took off the cigarette from the corner of his mouth, stamped it out with his hand, and said disdainfully: "This thing was distributed for free in Damba yesterday. If you register, you will get two courses of treatment for free! If you don't register, a box of 5,000 Yingzhou coins will be given to you. , it’s damn near cheaper than cold medicine! Calculate for yourself how much you can exchange for the train you blew up..."

silence.

Long, long, long stretches of silence.

The foreigner raised his head with difficulty, dumbfounded, unable to understand the words he heard.

"ha?"

"Name?"

The staff member behind the window looked up.

"Standing stone."

The embarrassed middle-aged man sat on a chair, holding his wrinkled border passport: "Tateishi Shinya, thirty-one years old, this, this is my daughter, Tateishi Sonoko..."

He pulled the sluggish girl next to him over and shook her shoulders. The girl who seemed to be dozing off quickly raised her eyes, as if she had rehearsed, and smiled nervously behind the window.

"She is healthy, very healthy, and very capable." Tateishi explained nervously: "Although she is young, she is already seventeen years old. She can do more work than some adults. She can wash clothes and cook. , really, she, she..."

Under the scrutinizing look of the staff, the middle-aged man gradually became tired and said incoherently: "Please, she can really do the work... She can do it... So can I, I can do it More, I can do anything.”

"Hey, please hurry up!"

The people behind were urging, and the sound of children crying could be heard.

Tateishi's lips moved, unable to speak, and his face gradually turned pale.

In the hustle and bustle of the office lobby, a long queue has formed from the lobby to the square. Many people are lined up outside, preferring to be exposed to the scorching sun rather than go to the free drinking water station nearby to have air conditioning.

Afraid of being delayed for a while.

Behind the window, the scrutiny from the staff continued for a while, and soon, a calm voice came from the loudspeaker.

"Mr. Tateishi, I saw you wrote on your form that you have experience in performing musical instruments? Trumpet player?"

"...Yes, yes!" Tateishi nodded like he was amnesty, "Although I haven't practiced for many years, I can pick it up again, and it will be fast!"

"In this case, you can fill out a new application form for art practitioners after registration later, take the special recruitment route of Damba Music Hall, and go to the B2 window to register. They are currently short of manpower. , the salary will be much higher.”

The staff calmly took photos, stamped the form, handed it over, and finally reminded: “Each family has the residence qualifications for immediate family members including spouse, children, and parents. It is recommended that you go to the next one. Tell the truth behind the window.”

She withdrew her gaze from the confused girl and told the manager: "Danbo does not need a little girl under the age of twelve to do laundry."

Everything that happened next was like a dream.

But it's different from those nightmares.

It went as smoothly as those ridiculous fantasies we had on the train.

Tateishi held his daughter sluggishly, holding a thick form in one hand, and walked between the windows, and finally came to the front of the temporary medical room.

Standing in front of the counter, he swallowed.

"This... this is my household registration certificate..." He asked uneasily: "The injection... is the injection here? The special medicine, the free one, is it true?"

"One for adults and one for girls."

The busy nurse had no time to pay attention to his emotions, so she snatched the test sheets from his hand, flipped through them, stamped them again, and handed over the two sheets neatly: "Turn right inside, just line up, next person. "

Tateishi was pushed by the people behind him, but he mustered up the courage to ask again: "Is it really free?"

"It's not free, sir."

The nurse raised her head and looked over in surprise.

She said: "The injection fee of 200 yen per person has to be paid by yourself. Please go inside and line up to pay. The next person..."

Being pushed, urged, and yelled at.

Tateishi was like a duckweed, drifting with the current, dazzled by everything in front of him, but he didn't react to anything, and was finally pushed into the injection room, still as if he was sleepwalking.

The soul is out of control.

Looking at everything in front of him blankly.

Even during the injection, I didn't feel anything real, just a slight pain, like the pain that could be seen everywhere in life in the past.

"...Adults please make sure to eat enough within a week. If minors have cold symptoms, please go to the nearest designated hospital and go to the special window."

Next to him, the nurse who was giving instructions noticed his dazed look and frowned: "Sir, sir, are you listening?"

But Tateishi still stared blankly at his daughter in the injection room, his whole body pressed against the glass, not daring to let her leave his sight.

"It seems better than before. You see, I feel a lot more energetic..."

He murmured to himself, not knowing who he was talking to, and couldn't help but smile: "You don't look so sleepy anymore, right? Much better than before..."

"I just injected it and it hasn't taken effect yet, sir," the nurse reminded.

But Tateishi still looked at his daughter infatuatedly, and after a long time, he softly returned: "But it will get better, right?"

The nurse was stunned for a moment and nodded slowly.

"...Yes, it will be fine."

She smiled and replied: "It will be better than before, Mr. Tateishi."

Didi's call came, and she put the notice printed with precautions in her hand into the middle-aged man's hand, turned around and left.

Under the gentle sunshine outside the window, the thin paper rolled slightly in the wind, and the writing seemed to spread its wings and flew into the blue sky.

A hallucinatory shimmer of light fell from the sky like rain, illuminating the last part of it.

It's not printed in bold, but rather like someone grabbing a pen before leaving and writing a blessing for the travelers arriving from afar.

Tell everyone who comes here.

——Welcome to Damba.

.

"Name?"

Outside the emergency room, the chief surgeon held the medical record in his hand and followed the emergency team, checking the patient's information with the patient's family. But before entering the operating room, he paused and reminded with a solemn expression: "The patient is old. , sudden organ failure, this kind of major surgery is risky, I hope you are prepared."

"Please, please." The haggard man bowed repeatedly and begged expectantly: "Please."

"I...tried my best."

The doctor looked away, no longer looking at his expectant face.

Six hours later, emergency patient Yumi Nakamura died in the ward after surviving the surgery. Cause of death: postoperative myocardial infarction at the age of fifty-four.

Two minutes later, a baby's cry came from another operating room. It was a normal delivery and the mother and daughter were safe.

"Have you decided on a name?"

In the ward, the nurse solemnly reminded: "This is a big deal. Don't give your child a strange name. Mrs. Matsuda in front of me insisted on naming her for a long time. It seemed like it was an album by some band. She refused to listen to it no matter how hard I tried to persuade her. She was really anxious." People."

The pale wife leaned on the bed, holding her husband's hand, staring at the sleeping baby, and couldn't help but smile.

"future."

She thought for a moment and said seriously, "Her name is Future."

So, in the darkness, Huai Shi heard the name.

Couldn't help but laugh.

Applaud for it.

future.

.

"Name?"

Before the checkpoint, the nervous girl answered in jerky Yingzhou dialect: "Jin Zhaoyan."

"Name?"

During the interview, the young man mustered up the courage to raise his head and said, "Shizuki Xiaohori."

"Name?"

On the street, the busker playing the piano handed over his identity certificate: "Chen Cheng."

"Name?"

The very fashionable girl stuck out her tongue and said, "I hope..."

In the darkness, Huai Shi raised his head and heard the sounds from the distance emerging continuously, like countless tiny points of light, dancing in front of his eyes, illuminating the long and lonely road.

There were more voices.

More prayers, more thanks, more calls.

Guide him, step by step forward.

Until he opened his eyes from the drowsiness, countless broken souls reunited, followed those guidance, and stared at the countless lights passing by before his eyes.

Unconsciously, the darkness has been illuminated by the endless light.

The long lonely road is already full of pedestrians.

In the bustling crowd, hustle and bustle came and went.

As he passed by, those souls he had never met smiled gratefully at him, told him their names, and then returned to the sea of ​​people again.

One name after another overlapped, holding up his soul and guiding him upward, back from this cold and empty universe.

He was in the brightly lit streets, he was in the deserted alleys, he was listening to the cries in the ward, and staring at the sleeping face of the child under the warm light.

When Huai Shi raised his head, he saw the mighty light rain falling from the night and falling into the empty hands. Bit by bit, every ray of light carried the smiling faces of his friends.

It was like finally waking up from this long dream since parting.

"It's good to meet again, my friend."

Huai Shi stared at the light rain in the sky and smiled.

After a long while, he bowed to say goodbye, turned around and walked deeper into his dream.

I gritted my teeth and endured it. In order to update, I didn’t go to Night City for a whole day, so... I will... tomorrow