Chapter 251

"Does the second stage of the treatment plan need to be extended again?"

In the laboratory where the faint light flickered, Schiller stood in front of the cryo-chamber, holding a notebook, asking Victor while writing.

Victor stood behind the cryo-chamber debugging the equipment, and he said: "I think it's much better, perhaps we can directly enter the third stage of treatment."

"The drug plan for the second stage of the course of treatment may still need to be adjusted. Let's have another week as a wrap-up." Schiller raised his eyes, intending to look at Victor, but saw that in the cryo-chamber, Mrs. Fries's fingertips moved slightly.

"Did I see it wrong? Her fingertips seem to have a reaction?"

Schiller squatted down and looked into the cryo-chamber. Victor also walked to the front and said: "It shouldn't be an illusion. Last night, I saw Nora's eyelids move..."

"I haven't adjusted the power of the cryo-chamber, so this shouldn't be her autonomous activity, but the brain activity drug is taking effect."

"Do you want to increase the dosage of the nerve repair drug? After all..." Schiller turned to look at Victor. Under the cold light of the cryo-chamber, this man appeared somewhat old.

"You have waited for so long."

Victor shook his head and said: "It is precisely because I have waited for so long that I don't mind waiting longer."

"Schiller, I know you want to help me, but this is enough." Victor sighed, a strand of white hair on his temples reflected into blue by the light of the cryo-chamber.

"The recent changes have been more than all the past many years combined. Nora's condition is no longer worsening, and the nerve healing drug you provided has allowed her nervous system to begin to gradually repair."

"After solving the brain activity problem in the frozen state, many sequelae that might be caused by long-term low-temperature dormancy have also been eliminated..."

He pressed one hand on the cryo-chamber, looking at the gaze in the cryo-chamber affectionately and intently, and then he turned to Schiller and said: "It's getting late, Professor Schiller, you go back first, I will debug the cryo-chamber again, see you tomorrow."

Schiller raised his hand to look at his watch. It was already 1:00 AM. He said: "I have an early class tomorrow, it's too late to go back to the manor now. Let's stay here, it's just right to chat."

Victor did not say much, but the corners of his mouth pursed, driving the lines on his face, seemingly hiding all the moving emotions in his heart.

Schiller walked to the table on the other side and sat down, then while organizing his thesis materials, asked: "How is the vocational education school? I heard that you went to add a class last night?"

"To tell the truth, it's better than I imagined." Speaking of this topic, Victor sighed somewhat gratifiedly: "Those little bastards, although they don't obey discipline, they learn things quite fast."

"When can those gang bosses find teachers for basic education? You can't always let you, a university professor, go to teach a bunch of elementary school students, right?"

"Actually, it's nothing, I have experience in children's education."

"When Nora and I lived in Florida, Nora also used to substitute in middle school. At that time, I hadn't become a professor yet, and I took those children to activity classes with Nora, teaching them the principle of water condensing into ice..."

Victor's voice was full of nostalgia. If there was any problem with his interpersonal communication, it was that no matter what topic he talked about, he could always recall the life with his wife before.

But this was not annoying, because the stories he told were always full of sincere emotions, and those little things in life could always make people feel the happiness of the two in that peaceful and beautiful days.

"At that time, I lifted the water pipe like this, and then I asked 'Who of you knows how water condenses into ice?', you know, it's that kind of tone to coax children..."

"The water pressure of that kind of water pipe connected to the fire hydrant was very high. I just opened the valve, and a child who ran over was washed over."

"They didn't feel dangerous at all, and even thought it was fun, lining up to rush toward the water pipe. Nora was angry, because her good class turned into a water fight, and she complained about me for a week..."

Victor spoke while debugging the equipment, his tone light and gentle. Schiller sat by the table to complete his thesis, but just at this moment, a series of urgent ringing interrupted the peaceful atmosphere in the laboratory. Victor picked up the phone and said: "Hello? Oswald? What's wrong? What?... Alright, don't be anxious, I'll be there right away..."

Schiller turned to look at him and asked: "What's wrong?"

"You know that student of the vocational education college, right?" Victor put down the tools and stood up, then began to change clothes, looking like he was preparing to go out.

"That's the short Oswald, Oswald Cobblepot."

"What happened to him?"

"His mother committed suicide, but failed. The situation should be very urgent now, but he doesn't have enough ability to handle this matter, I have to go there..."

"I'll go too."

Schiller also put on his coat. Victor went downstairs to drive. After the car drove onto the road, Schiller, sitting in the passenger seat, asked: "Your relationship with Oswald looks very good. Before, I only knew you appreciated him."

Victor drove while holding the steering wheel. The light outside the car window shone on his face. He said: "Oswald is a rare good student. He is different from those little bastards whose parents are all gangsters. He has clear goals and loves to learn, and learns very fast."

"I think he is a bit like me when I was young."

Schiller looked at Victor and said: "I remember you said you came from a middle-class family, and you were an excellent student with good grades since you were young."

"Yes, my father was engaged in shipping work. The children of his business partners followed their parents on ships at a young age and knew their family business very well."

"But I was a bookworm since I was young, addicted to various chemical experiments, and had no interest in doing business."

"Oswald is the same as me. We two are like lettuce mixed into the carrot field. Our ideas are completely different from the people around us."

"And, I think his nature is not bad."

Victor turned the steering wheel, turned a corner, and continued: "His father died too early, and his mother had no self-care ability. It was already very difficult for him to take care of himself, but he still had to take care of his mother. It is already a blessing for such a person to survive in Cat Getan. No one can ask more of him..."

"Or rather, he is one of the few normal people in Cat Getan." Schiller continued Victor's words: "Just like you."

"Me? Of course I am a normal person!... Alright, actually I know, you all feel a bit crazy about me freezing my wife with a cryo-chamber, but I have confidence in my technology, and now it is indeed improving, isn't it?"

"Those people you mentioned don't include me. I don't feel this is crazy at all. Perhaps in the future, this will also become a very normal medical means, popularizing into thousands of households."

Victor turned over, his eyes having both the vicissitudes of life and the hope of a child. He said somewhat expectantly: "If there really is such a day, perhaps I can also take Nora back to my parents. Actually, I miss them very much, but..."

Victor's voice lowered. Schiller looked at the scenery outside the window and said: "Actually, they understand you, it's just that you don't want to go back, right?"

"I don't want my shocking behavior to make them become aliens and monsters in the mouths of neighbors."

Victor was always very good at expressing his emotions straightforwardly. He always used words to describe his state of mind very clearly. This was also the reason why Schiller could chat with him very well. Victor was the kind of rare person who would not be hypocritical or self-deceiving when facing him.

"They love me very much. In the early days of my research on the cryo-chamber, my father sent me quite a bit of money, and my mother and sister also wrote to me. They hoped I could go back, but I knew this wouldn't work..."

"I couldn't move such a cryo-chamber and a living person frozen inside back to my home. That way my family would all live in the eyes of others looking at monsters. How hurtful that kind of gaze is, I know very well."

"But I can't give up Nora..." Victor's voice carried a bit of sadness: "Just like she didn't give up on me when my research had an accident and I was fired by the school."

"Control Guard Here"

"It will get better soon." There was always a calm power in Schiller's tone, and then he changed the topic.

"I remember you said before that you and your wife didn't have a wedding. What's going on?"

"Oh, this matter." Victor's tone carried a bit of guilt. He said: "Didn't I say it before? When I was just promoted to professor, an accidental experimental accident caused me to lose my job. At that time, Nora and I were already preparing for the wedding, but you know, without a fixed job, and without projects and funding, so..."

"At that time, Nora was supporting me. We really couldn't come up with extra money to hold a wedding."

"Afterward, I was employed by a low-temperature laboratory in Los Angeles. After the situation improved, I originally wanted to prepare a surprise for her, but just at this time, she was diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease..."

"Even with medical insurance, it could not offset the expenses of us moving around states to seek medical treatment. If it weren't for those few grants from my father, I am afraid I couldn't even make the initial cryo-chamber."

The car drove slowly. Soon, Cat Getan rained again with fine drizzle, but the rain was not heavy, somewhat gentle. When it hit the car window glass, it did not interrupt the atmosphere of conversation in the car.

"Sometimes I think, I am really lucky. Every time I encounter any difficulties, there is always someone to help me. When I lost my job, Nora was always by my side, and when Nora was sick, my father always funded me, and when the research stalled again, you appeared..."

"People might be like this." Victor's voice carried a kind of warmth.

"No matter how bad the situation is, as long as you see a little hope, you will feel very satisfied."

"The important thing is this hope." Schiller also sighed: "Even if you are already in hell, as long as there is still a glimmer of hope, you can still live as a human being, instead of falling into a devil in hell, or a complete lunatic."

"I like to compare this hope to a campfire in the snow." Schiller adjusted his posture sitting on the seat. He and Victor often chatted about some literary and philosophical topics like this, and would not feel stiff and awkward.

"A traveler who has been advancing in the snow for a long time, on the vast white land, can see nothing but snow. Every snowflake here makes him feel colder..."

"But once a glimmer of fire appears in the distance, no matter how fierce the wind and snow are, they cannot stop his footsteps."

"When he walks to this campfire, he will feel warm, as if the sky full of snow is not scary. But he knows, this is because the previous traveler lit this campfire."

"So, before he leaves, he also takes out the few firewood and throws it into the fire. No matter if the next traveler arrives or not, the campfire will not go out."

Victor controlled the car to slow down, smiled and said: "You can summarize this into a word, that is, sending charcoal in the snow."

Schiller shook his head and said: "Sending charcoal in the snow inevitably carries the pity of the successful from high above. I have always believed that this world does not need a savior, and Cat Getan needs it even less."

"If possible, I prefer to be the traveler who leaves the campfire. No matter which direction the later comers come from, they can stay here. If they really want to thank someone, then thank themselves for traveling long distances and not giving up."

As he spoke, Schiller pushed open the car door and got off, walking into the rainy night.

Victor was silent for a second in the seat, once again restrained that moving expression, then turned, pushed open the car door and got off, walking into the cool rainy night.