The operating room door opened, and two doctors walked out.
Sigh! Li Yuan immediately lifted his head, his eyes filled with anticipation.
Some in the distance were awake, some half-asleep, but at this moment, all of them were wide awake, rushing forward to surround the doctors in the center.
"Who's in charge here?" The lead doctor scanned the crowd, but didn't see Wan Qinghe.
In an instant, everyone turned to look at Li Yuan and Chen Hui.
So much time had passed.
Li Changzhou's friends had all come to understand the full details of today's events and knew that Li Yuan was no longer the person he used to be.
"Doctor, tell me, how's my uncle?" Li Yuan's voice was low.
"You must be Mr. Li Yuan." The doctor let out a sigh, "This poison is not a common one on Blue Star, but an Origin Power toxin. Your uncle arrived too late, and the toxicity has spread deeply throughout his body. I'm sorry, we've done all we could."
This sentence, like a bolt from the blue, made Li Yuan's heart turn instantly cold.
His aunt, Chen Hui, was already weeping inconsolably.
Li Qianqian and Li Muhua, the siblings, also turned a ghastly pale, understanding the gravity of the situation.
"Mr. Li Yuan, we will use special medication for half a day to slightly improve your uncle's condition and then bring him back to consciousness," another doctor hurriedly said. "But it's estimated that he can only maintain it for about half an hour."
"This wakefulness is probably his last."
"After that, he will fall into a deep sleep again, and it will be very hard for him to wake up."
"I think if there's anything you want to say, you should take the opportunity when the time comes."
The next day in the afternoon, after three o'clock.
In a high-level ward.
After surgery, Li Changzhou's body had been slightly cleaned up, covered with a blanket, and full of tubes.
His face was withered and pallid, but he had regained consciousness.
Li Yuan, Chen Hui, Li Muhua, and Li Qianqian, the whole family, fought back their tears, dressed in sterile gowns, gathered around the bed.
Li Changzhou's voice was very faint, his head slightly tilted, straining to lift his hand to touch Chen Hui's face: "In this life, the person I've wronged the most is you."
"Changzhou, don't say that." Chen Hui's eyes were red, her lips pressed together, trying hard not to let tears fall.
She looked at the man she had loved all her life, now withered and unrecognizable, and felt an extreme pain in her heart.
"The remaining money in my card, remember to take it out, you know the password. After I'm gone, talk to Old Wang, he can arrange for compensation from the company..." Li Changzhou rambled on with his advice.
Li Yuan stood to one side, unable to stop turning his head away as tears kept falling.
Li Qianqian and Li Muhua were already weeping heavily.
"Okay, okay, I know, I will definitely take good care of the kids." Chen Hui kept responding to her husband, pulling Li Yuan over at the same time: "Li Yuan! Come quickly!!"
"Changzhou, do you know? Li Yuan has signed with Kunlun Martial Arts University, and he will definitely attend Kunlun Martial University."
"He also signed an A-level contract with the Starfire Martial Hall." Chen Hui held Li Changzhou's hand, continuously talking to him.
She wanted to assure Li Changzhou so he could leave this world in peace.
"Really? That's great! Good!" Li Changzhou put great effort into lifting his head slightly, looking at Li Yuan, forcing a smile, "Xiaoyuan, you seem to have grown a lot taller."
"Uncle." Li Yuan's voice was trembling, and he crouched down to get close to his uncle, allowing his uncle to touch his head.
"You've grown up, and you've made achievements in the Martial Path. That eases my mind," Li Changzhou's voice was faint. "Your parents were over ten years older than me, they had you very late in life."
"Over the years, I've often thought of them."
"I always remember the last words your parents said to me, 'Run! Keep running forward! Run fast!'" Li Changzhou murmured, "Almost fifteen years have passed, and I've tried to keep running. Sometimes I'm so tired that I want to stop and look at you and your brother and sister, but I can't... When I see your aunt and uncle, I hope they won't blame me. I really did my best."
"Uncle!" Li Yuan could no longer hold back; he wanted to stay calm, but tears just kept streaming down from his eyes.
He could feel that his uncle's vitality was rapidly fading away.
"Muhua, Qian Qian," Li Changzhou's hand trembled as he lifted it.
"Muhua, Qian Qian, come here quickly," Chen Hui pulled Li Muhua closest to the bed.
Bringing them closer to their father.
"You should listen to your mother from now on," Li Changzhou strained to lift his hand, trying hard to stroke Li Qianqian's hair. "Your dad hasn't done anything great in his life, I don't have much to leave you. When I'm gone, listen to your older brother. He'll tell you what to do. Understood?"
"Dad." The two siblings were already crying their eyes out.
Their age and experience meant they didn't feel the profundity of life and death as deeply.
But they both knew that their most beloved father was about to leave them.
"Uncle, I will definitely take good care of Qian Qian, take good care of Muhua," Li Yuan said, struggling to hold back his tears, "You can rest assured."
Li Changzhou started to cough, his withered body trembling continuously.
But he still tried his best to speak with Li Yuan and Chen Hui.
In his eyes, there was a deep affection for and reluctance to leave this world.
Li Changzhou's voice was growing weaker, "Remember, do not bear grudges because of what happened to me."
"I don't want to leave you all."
"But, I have no regrets. Given another chance... I would still charge forward... cough cough!" Li Changzhou's consciousness gradually blurred.
Li Changzhou lay on the hospital bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, gradually unable to hear Li Yuan and Chen Hui calling out to him.
Li Changzhou vaguely felt that he was back in his youth, back to a sunny afternoon.
Spring was gorgeous, a breeze billowed into the room, and the ceiling fan made its rustling sound.
Outside the room, there was the sound of his parents cooking.
Inside the room, he lay lazily on the bed, half-asleep and half-awake.
His older brother, who was in high school, sat beside him, diligently doing his homework and occasionally stopping to reach out and tease him.
For decades thereafter,
Li Changzhou was always running hard, without a moment to rest, yet never again able to experience such an afternoon.
At five o'clock in the afternoon,
Li Changzhou completely slipped into unconsciousness.
Two doctors came in to check on Li Changzhou's condition again, shook their heads, and then left again.
Chen Hui clutched Li Changzhou's hand tightly, opened her mouth but couldn't say anything, with tears just flowing.
Li Yuan silently accompanied his aunt by her side.
They all knew that Li Changzhou's life had truly begun its final countdown.
In a few short hours or half a day at most, the flame of life would be completely extinguished.
More than ten minutes later.
"Clang~" The room's door suddenly opened, and a doctor rushed in urgently, saying anxiously, "Mr. Li Yuan, someone is looking for you, they say they have a way to save your uncle."
Li Yuan stood up immediately, hope igniting within him again, "Who is it?"
"What?" Chen Hui also heard and got up hurriedly to look at the doctor.
"The person only said they are a friend of Miss Lin," the doctor said. "They didn't specify who, but there are quite a few people, and one of them claims to be Lu Huai, saying you would know him."
Like two bolts of lightning, streaked through Li Yuan's mind.
"Take me there immediately," Li Yuan said, suppressing his excitement, "Aunt, you come with me."
"Okay," Chen Hui answered, quickly wiping the tears from her face.
From Li Yuan's demeanor, she realized that maybe, just maybe, there was hope for her husband.
Li Yuan and his aunt hurried to a small conference room outside the corridor, where over a dozen people were already waiting.
The doctors were there, and so was Xu Bo.
But what caught everyone's attention the most was the man in the black robe standing in the center of the crowd. He was tall and straight with a height of about one meter eighty, with a face that seemed to be around thirty years old and a pair of extremely sharp eyes.
His face gave Li Yuan a sense of familiarity.
Most importantly, the Hall Master of the Starry Sky Martial Hall's branch, 'Lu Huai', who was clearly much taller, stood beside the man in the black robe as if he was a subordinate.
Everyone looked towards Li Yuan.
"Hall Master Lu, Teacher," Li Yuan said, neither servile nor overbearing, his gaze falling on the man in the black robe, "May I know who my senior is?"
Lu Huai was about to introduce himself.
The man in the black robe raised his hand, stopping Lu Huai's intention, and said with a faint smile, "No need to call me senior, I am not much older than you. Just call me Brother Lin."
"Brother Lin?" Li Yuan was shocked inwardly, already having a guess in his mind, and said respectfully, "Brother Lin, do you have a way to save my uncle?"
Li Yuan didn't ask for an explanation; right now, that wasn't important.
The man in the black robe nodded, "I brought a special artifact called the 'Flame Tongue Spiritual Spring'. There's an eighty percent chance it can save your uncle's life, stopping the poison from acting up."
"But I've heard the situation from the doctors," he continued.
"The Flame Erosive Bone Poison has penetrated deeply into your uncle's whole body, even affecting his nerves. Even if he barely survives, he might not wake up," said the man in the black robe. "You should be prepared for this."
"There's a twenty percent chance that the Flame Tongue Spiritual Spring won't work, as the toxin has been in the body too long, and there is no absolute chance of success."
"Do we proceed? The decision is yours," the man in the black robe said, looking at Li Yuan.
"Do it," Li Yuan stated firmly.
"Do it," Chen Hui echoed, to do it was to hope for life; to not would mean certain death.
"You sign the paperwork, and my people will start the detoxification surgery," the man in the black robe nodded.
A contract was immediately handed over.
Li Yuan glanced over it; it was simply a 'disclaimer contract'. Without any hesitation, he signed it, and Chen Hui followed suit.
With a wave of his hand, seven or eight people beside the man in the black robe immediately rushed into the room with their boxes.
Four hours later, outside the ICU ward.
Li Yuan and his aunt Chen Hui, Li Qianqian, Li Muhua all stood by the window.
Looking at Li Changzhou inside the ward, whose life signs were gradually stabilizing, they could hardly contain their excitement and joy.
"Brother Lin, thank you!" Li Yuan said earnestly to the man in the black robe.
"There's no need to thank me."
"I'm just carrying out someone else's wish," said the man in the black robe with a smile. "The treatment was somewhat successful, but whether your uncle will wake up... that's not something I can decide."
"From here on, it's up to you all," he added.
"I'll be leaving now." The man in the black robe smiled faintly and left quickly with his group of more than a dozen subordinates.
Leaving Li Yuan's family behind.
"Xiaoyuan, who exactly is this Brother Lin?" Chen Hui couldn't help but ask.
"Who?" Li Yuan already had an answer in his heart and smiled, "The man who saved my uncle."
Li Changzhou had yet to awaken, but his life signs were growing more and more stable, slowly returning to health.
Chen Hui took a temporary leave from school.
She also sent Li Yuan back to school, "Are you going to keep watch until your uncle awakes? I'm here, you go and concentrate on preparing for the college entrance exam."
"When your uncle wakes up, he will be very happy if you manage to get into Kunlun Martial Arts University."
"Okay, Aunt! I will definitely get into Kunlun Martial Arts University," Li Yuan said.
Having returned to school, Li Yuan sought out Gu Qianghan immediately.
"Are you looking for my sister?"
"She left with her elder brother the day before yesterday," Gu Qianghan looked at Li Yuan puzzled, "Don't you know? Didn't she tell you?"
Clearly, Gu Qianghan was unaware of the events that had occurred in Li Yuan's family.
"Left with her elder brother?" Li Yuan was stunned for a moment.
"Where did she go? When will she be back?" Li Yuan asked urgently.
"She's gone to Feixing, and it seems like she's going for some kind of special training," Gu Qianghan said. "She probably won't be back until before the college entrance exams."
"Feixing?" Li Yuan's pupils constricted.
The most powerful among the Seven Great Planets of human civilization is 'Feixing'.
The headquarters of the three great Martial Halls are on Feixing.
The Seven Star Alliance's headquarters is on Feixing.
The first and second strongest humans, Dongfang Ji and Lant, are from Feixing.
Feixing has no countries, it's completely ruled by the three great Martial Halls.
"Will she be back before the college entrance exams?" Li Yuan murmured to himself.