Chapter 64: The Metamorphosis of an Independent Soul

Two stretcher bearers rushed into the master bedroom, pushing a folding stretcher.

They moved with precision, supporting Lin Xuan's shoulders and legs on either side.

They slid him flat onto the stretcher and fastened the safety straps.

The doctor stood up, his gaze sweeping the room.

He spotted Xiao Sizi standing at the foot of the bed, barefoot.

"Child, where are the adults?" the doctor frowned, looking around.

"I am the family," Xiao Sizi tilted her head back, staring into the doctor's eyes. "Take my brother to get treated; I have money."

She pointed at the Mobile Phone Lin Xuan had thrown on the bedside table.

The doctor froze for half a second; the emergency mission allowed him no time for questions.

"Take the phone and come with us."

The stretcher bearers pushed the stretcher out of the master bedroom.

Xiao Sizi snatched Lin Xuan's Mobile Phone, took off with her short legs, and followed tightly beside the stretcher.

The elevator descended, bursting out through the unit door.

Rain lashed against Xiao Sizi's face.

The stretcher was pushed into the ambulance cabin.

Xiao Sizi grabbed the edge of the cabin with both hands and climbed up, using her hands and feet.

The door slammed shut with a "Bang!"

The siren wailed loudly once more.

The ambulance tires crunched through the puddles, speeding all the way to the City Central Hospital.

Inside the cabin.

Instruments beeped and ticked.

The nurse cut open Lin Xuan's pajamas.

She attached the patches for the electrocardiogram monitor.

She hung up the saline and antibiotic IV drip.

Xiao Sizi huddled on the family seat in the corner of the cabin.

She watched the screens flashing with red and green numbers, watching the medicine in the transparent tube drip into Lin Xuan's veins.

She bit her lower lip tight, forcing down the fear in her heart.

She told herself these glowing iron boxes were just like that black jar that could make phone calls.

They were divine objects that saved lives.

Above the Sky Screen.

The ambulance speeding through the rainy night was clearly reflected on the dome of Jiuzhou.

Great Tang, Taiji Palace.

Sun Simiao, the divine physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau, stood behind the monarch, his voice hoarse:

"Your Majesty, less than half a stick of incense."

"From the onset of illness to the physician entering the home to provide aid, it took less than half a stick of incense."

The old man, who had practiced medicine all his life, was filled with shock and awe in his eyes.

"In Chang'an, if a high-ranking official suddenly fell critically ill late at night..."

"... the family servants would have to brave the wind and rain, knock on the ward gate, present the official credentials, and then knock on the great door of the Imperial Medical Bureau."

Sun Simiao let out a long sigh.

"After all that commotion, the fastest it could be done would take a full double-hour."

"If it were a critical emergency, the person would be long dead by then."

"Physicians in the later ages act at the sound of the call."

"This iron vehicle moves with extreme speed, ignoring the curfew."

"Inside the vehicle are even those divine Magic Artifacts that probe the pulse and heart."

Sun Simiao clasped his hands in a fist and bowed deeply toward the Sky Screen.

"This is a great blessing for all people under heaven."

"Such coordination and methods are even beyond the reach of the royal family!"

Li Shimin clenched both fists.

Sun Simiao was right.

The Great Tang Emperor has three thousand Imperial Physicians.

But if he were to go out incognito and collapse in the suburbs of Chang'an at this very moment...

... he would still have to wait.

Yet, more than a thousand years later...

... a commoner collapses in a house.

It only takes a four-and-a-half-year-old girl to shout at an object.

The nation's most elite emergency forces will cut through the wind and rain and break down the door.

This is the strongest, most equal foundation for survival that modern society grants to every citizen.

Zhangsun Huanghou leaned on a palace maid, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

"Er Lang... look at Sizi."

In the corner of the carriage.

Xiao Sizi stretched out a hand and tightly grasped Lin Xuan's finger hanging outside the stretcher.

Her eyes revealed a resilience belonging to no one of her age.

City Central Hospital.

Emergency Department Building.

The ambulance stopped steadily at the emergency lane.

The rear doors swung open.

The stretcher was pushed down, its wheels emitting a hurried scraping sound on the floor tiles.

"Acute abdomen! Prepare to enter Operating Room One!" the emergency doctor shouted while running.

Pedestrians on both sides of the corridor hurriedly made way.

Xiao Sizi, barefoot, stepped onto the hospital's cold porcelain tiles.

She ran in small steps, following closely beside the stretcher.

They pushed through the long corridor, arriving before two tightly closed metal doors.

The stretcher was pushed inside the doors.

"Family members wait outside!" a nurse stopped Xiao Sizi.

The metal doors slammed shut with a boom.

Above the door header.

Three glowing red characters lit up: "In Surgery".

The corridor fell silent.

Xiao Sizi stopped, looking down at her bare feet.

Then she looked at the Mobile Phone tightly clutched in her hand.

She walked to a row of blue plastic waiting chairs outside the metal doors.

She climbed onto a chair and sat properly.

Her legs dangled in the air.

The white fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor shone blindingly bright.

She remembered Lin Xuan teaching her to cross the road, teaching her to recognize traffic lights, teaching her to use electronic devices.

In this vast world filled with steel and wires.

Lin Xuan had always stood in front of her.

Tonight.

She used the rules Lin Xuan taught her to save Lin Xuan's life.

Xiao Sizi tightened her grip on the Mobile Phone.

She no longer feared the long, cold fluorescent tube above her head, nor the strangers in white coats coming and going around her.

She had understood the operating logic of this world.

Although the steel jungle is cold.

As long as one masters its rules, one can protect the person one wishes to protect.

The Sky Screen froze this quiet scene.

Before Taiji Palace.

"Long live!"

Cheng Yaojin suddenly raised the axe in his hand, unleashing a thunderous roar.

"The Princess remains calm in danger! Truly the backbone of the Great Tang!"

Wei Zheng stepped forward, raising his tablet with both hands.

"The Princess is only four years old, yet remains unperturbed by change."

"Understanding the methods of the future to save her benefactor's life; this is great wisdom and great courage!"

Civil and military officials knelt in unison on the rain-soaked stone slabs.

"Long live the Princess!"

Li Shimin, with his back to everyone, still stared fixedly at the Sky Screen.

Staring at the tiny figure sitting alone on the blue waiting chair.

His eyes were rimmed with deep bloodshot red.

A few drops of scalding liquid slid down his cheeks.

Indistinguishable whether rain or tears.

He had never been so proud.

He had always thought his daughter in that other world was merely an object to be fed and needing constant protection.

He was wrong.

His daughter was a true young eagle.

She had taken root in that world one thousand and four hundred years later.

She had learned to give back.

She had learned to survive independently under a completely unfamiliar system of rules.

"Good... good child."

The smell of disinfectant drilled into his nostrils.

Lin Xuan opened his eyes.

His vision, once blurry, gradually focused; the ceiling glowed with a cold, harsh white light.

A throbbing, stabbing pain surged from his lower right abdomen. He tried to shift his body; the moment his abdominal muscles tightened, searing pain slashed down like a knife.

"Don't move."

A faint child's voice sounded beside his ear.

Lin Xuan turned his head.

Xiao Sizi lay sprawled on the edge of the hospital bed.

Her small face was deathly pale, her eyes rimmed red from staying up all night.

A few stray strands of hair clung messily to her temples.

"The doctor said you had an abscess in your belly; he just cut away a piece of flesh with a knife."

Xiao Sizi straightened up, holding a medical cotton swab in her hand.

She dipped the swab into a cup of warm water on the bedside table, then brought it to Lin Xuan's lips.

Gently, she dabbed his chapped lips.

Lin Xuan's throat was parched; even swallowing a mouthful of saliva felt like a struggle.

"You've been guarding me all night?" Lin Xuan forced out a breathy whisper.

"Mm." Xiao Sizi nodded. "But I'm not sleepy."

The hospital room door pushed open.

A nurse carrying a treatment tray walked in.

Behind her followed a hospital social worker wearing a blue name badge.

The nurse walked to the foot of the bed and checked the name on the bedside card.

Her gaze swept over Lin Xuan's pale face, then settled on Xiao Sizi.

While recording the monitor's data, the nurse spoke: "Bed 32, Lin Xuan, right?"

"Today is the first day after your appendectomy for perforation."

"This little girl is very sensible; she's been guarding you for most of the night."

"Where are your adults? You just had surgery; how can you have no adult family member to accompany you?"

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