Chapter 144: Walk a Few Steps If You're Not Sick

Mr. Freeze understood absolutely nothing of the nonsense Ma Ma Zhaodi was spouting, but the man looked confident, had brought no assistants or weapons, and did not appear to be a madman.

So he decided to trust him this once and temporarily halted the operation of the freezing machine.

As the liquid freezing gas inside the chamber was pumped out, Nora lay quietly in the sleep pod that had been tilted flat, not waking up for a moment.

"I will ask one more time, are you sure?"

"Hurry up; if we delay any longer, night will fall, and then the nocturnal creatures will come out to hunt—you probably won't like that."

Mr. Freeze paused, did not answer, and simply opened the chamber door.

As the chamber door opened, the remaining cold air inside spilled out; white gas sank to the ground, and a layer of fine frost immediately formed on the floor.

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked at Nora lying inside the chamber; after opening the door, he could hear her heartbeat gradually rising and see her skin gradually regain color—it seemed Victor's cryotherapy was quite impressive, requiring almost no adaptation time from thawing to recovery.

A moment later, Nora's eyelids trembled slightly; Victor instinctively grabbed her hand, then loosened his grip a little.

Since waking from the ice, to building the armor and freeze gun, to rescuing Nora—who was about to be sold along with the project—from Gotham's hands, and even until now, he had not dared to thaw his wife.

Was it because he did not want to waste the little life she had left, or because he was not ready to face her?

Victor was not clear either; he just dully held his wife's hand, and ultimately his love for her prevailed, preventing him from retreating.

The Sleeping Beauty in the crystal coffin finally regained consciousness; she immediately felt a hand holding hers, but that hand had no warmth, so there was no real touch to speak of—if forced to describe it, the sensation was actually cold, as if someone wearing gloves had grabbed her hand.

Who is it? The grip is very gentle, but who is it?

With this question in mind, she opened her eyes and saw Victor standing beside her.

His skin was slightly bluish, unlike human skin; he wore unsettling red circular glasses, a strange suit of armor, and a helmet like a glass dome; the person before her was almost unrecognizable—if not for his familiar face, Nora would have immediately pulled her hand away.

"Victor, is it you?"

Nora called out to her beloved in disbelief; he had changed so, so much that she could hardly recognize him. He used to like wearing casual shirts, liked wearing black-rimmed glasses, standing by her bedside, coaxing her to sleep, and rambling on about progress in the cryotherapy project, about new miracle drugs he had heard of, about improvements in her medical reports, and about what their future would look like after she was cured.

How did he become like this now?

"Nora."

She heard the voice coming from inside the helmet; although somewhat muffled, it was indeed her husband's voice.

"Victor, how did you become like this?"

As she asked, she struggled to sit up but could exert no strength at all; long-term bedridden illness had affected her body to some degree; if she wanted to stand now, she would need time to readapt her muscles and bones.

"Nora, I... many things have happened recently; I will explain to you slowly."

Fries changed the subject; Nora could not read his thoughts, but Ma Ma Zhaodi on the side knew clearly, so he stepped forward two paces and attracted Nora's attention.

"Lady Nora Fries, I know you have just been thawed from the ice and have many things to say to Victor, but given your urgent situation—in short, let us treat the illness first?"

As Ma Ma Zhaodi spoke, he casually held out the white milk candy and red fruit candy in his hand before her: "Here, this one is milk-flavored, this one is strawberry-flavored."

Victor's gaze focused again on the candies in his hand; although Ma Ma Zhaodi had said beforehand that these two medicines would cure the illness, he could not at all believe that these two items looking exactly like candies would be the miracle drug for his wife's cancer, yet he truly intended to use these things to treat Nora.

Nora looked at the two candies before her; at this moment she was completely bewildered; she turned her head to look at Victor beside her, saw him nod at her, and then looked back at Ma Ma Zhaodi.

"Who are you? A doctor Victor hired for me?"

"You can understand it that way."

"With just these two milk candies?"

"Regardless of whether they can cure the illness, eating candy will at least make people happier."

That was actually true.

Nora did not understand the situation of this strange man, but she trusted Victor; even though he had become somewhat strange now, he was still the husband she deeply loved.

"Can I have the strawberry-flavored one? I don't really like milk."

Ma Ma Zhaodi smiled kindly at her: "No problem."

Then, while Nora opened her mouth, he tossed both candies in at once.

Do you think you're playing The Matrix? Picking one out?

"Lady Nora, do not spit; one cannot be picky when taking medicine."

With two candies stuffed in her mouth, Nora was about to protest when she suddenly felt a strange sensation arising within her body.

It was vitality, a healthy, life-filled, long-lost sense of power.

Victor beside her stared in shock as his wife swallowed the two candies; then her hands suddenly rose, braced against the sides of the freezing chamber, and with a slight exertion of force, she jumped straight out and stood on the ground.

Color fully returned to her face, her body was incredibly light, her previously weak voice and listless spirit were now completely restored to health; this made Victor, who had previously self-studied quite a lot about this cancer, once again doubt the knowledge in his mind.

"I know you are surprised, but do not be surprised yet." Ma Ma Zhaodi shook his head at this moment: "Lady Nora's physical condition is not as good as imagined; she has only regained vitality, but has not yet recovered her health."

The system panel did not show the gig completed; the current task still displayed as in progress; it seemed "cancer" or rather "Mr. Freeze's wife's cancer" could not be simply cured by the Horn of Plenty or MC milk.

"What should be done?" Victor grabbed Ma Ma Zhaodi's hand, his eyes blazing with a brilliance never seen before; at this very moment, he felt as if he had been reborn: "Anything goes, whatever you want, I will do it! At any cost!"

"Hmm, the cost might be slightly heavy..."

Ma Ma Zhaodi said a sentence, then walked to the front of Nora, found "Rapid Life Recovery" in the mall, and chose to use it.

【Notice: The target is somewhat special; Rapid Life Recovery requires increased point investment, otherwise it cannot fully cure.】

"How many asset points?"

【One hundred thousand points】

Ma Ma Zhaodi checked his status panel; during these days working in the prison, he was responsible for the prisoners' three meals and supervision; Wayne spent very generously, and these jobs combined had given him two hundred thousand US dollars; his asset points were probably still around two hundred and sixty thousand.

"Use it," he thought: "I hope this Cold Resistance enhancement is worth the price."

(End of Chapter)