CHAPTER 1787: CHAPTER 8: THE YELLOW FLOWERED CAT VISITING THE SICK

"All pain will pass, only death is free."

When Zheng Qing was suffocating in the sea of blood to the point of fainting, this sentence flashed through his mind, awakening him suddenly.

Upon waking, the soft chanting of the female demons from deep within the sea of blood still echoed in his mind, and his nostrils could still faintly smell the seemingly endless resentment and stench rolling within the waves of blood.

He closed his eyes, suppressing his frantically beating heart, resisting the urge to breathe heavily.

This is the hospital where any abnormal reaction from patients will be detected by monitoring spell formulas and reported to the therapists. Zheng Qing didn’t want to be force-fed another stomachful of the nightmare-expelling magic potion by the sprites.

The strong, bitter taste mixed with stench was something he never wanted to experience again in this lifetime, after just one try. In comparison, he’d rather wake up from nightmares daily.

It gave him a secret comfort of atonement.

"The more you try to forget, the deeper the memory," was a saying from Sky City. Zheng Qing couldn’t remember when he had read it, but it was deeply impressed on him.

This sentence concisely summed up his current situation.

Some events that occurred in the Black Prison were both an accident and a mishap. Zheng Qing, through certain private channels, had already understood the school’s stance, and it was likely they would not pursue responsibility from him.

But that doesn’t mean he can face his mistakes with peace of mind.

The more he tries to forget his mistakes, the more the harm they caused deeply reflects in his dreams; the more he tries to ignore the accident, the more vividly and repeatedly the incident replays in his mind.

This was yet another time Zheng Qing woke up from a nightmare related to that incident.

Compared to several other times, today’s nightmare added new elements—the pervasive singing of the sea demons throughout the dream, that theme song of Sky City—Zheng Qing guessed it might relate to that phrase deeply imprinted in his heart.

His frantic heartbeat slowly calmed.

Zheng Qing still kept his eyes closed, soothing his tense mood.

During the summer season, it gets bright early, so although the light had already seeped through his eyelids onto the boy’s retinas, with the slightly chilly light, Zheng Qing could still determine that the sun hadn’t fully risen yet.

Or rather, the sun hadn’t reached the height of his window yet.

It’s not time for him to get up yet.

Summer vacation had already begun, friends and classmates had left school early, and even many therapists and nurses in the school hospital were on vacation, making Zheng Qing’s days more boring than he had expected.

The most conservative and safest treatment for magic power depletion backlash was rest—in the literal sense of ’rest’—according to the initial advice of a therapist named Ma, Zheng Qing was best off lying in bed 24 hours a day, completely still, sustaining life with fasting-type magic potions, to achieve the best recovery.

For Zheng Qing, who was conscious, that was nothing short of torture. He’s not a puppet, nor has he lost his ability to move, how can he possibly lie in bed all day without moving?

So the therapists finally chose to compromise, maintaining a ’rest’ regimen but granting the patient higher freedom, allowing him limited activity near the hospital to keep himself mentally and physically content.

Correspondingly, the recovery time was extended, nearly doubling from the shortest of twenty days.

This meant that Zheng Qing would basically have to stay in the school hospital for the whole summer vacation. The young wizard was highly suspicious that he might have broken some record at Jiuyou Academy, such as the longest hospital stay for a first-year student.

While Zheng Qing was resting with closed eyes.

Crack, crack.

Strange rustling sounds came to his ears.

Zheng Qing opened his eyes, glanced sideways, and just saw the Yellow Flowered Cat tearing open a gift box’s wrapping, pulling out a small golden fish treat, gnawing it contentedly, grease dripping from its mouth.

"What are you looking at, kid!"

Noticing the boy’s gaze, the Flower Cat immediately widened its eyes, glaring fiercely over, and said with little confidence, "The fish treats were placed here for people... and cats to eat, weren’t they? Did the fish treats have your name on them?"

The boy blinked.

Something seemed to want to pour out from his dry eyes, feeling somewhat scorching, but his thin yet tough eyelids held onto that heat tightly.

His supine position also significantly helped his eyelids.

The boy paused for a moment before coming to his senses, realizing what the Yellow Flowered Cat was saying.

"Indeed not."

He answered softly, paused, then seemed to realize something, muttering to himself as he added, "In fact, fish treats are meant for people... or cats to eat."

The Flower Cat probably hadn’t expected the boy to be so easygoing.

The cat holding the fish treat was stunned for a few seconds, even forgetting to chew the fish treat already softened by saliva.

"You look a bit down?" It pricked its ears, smacked its lips, lowered its head, and continued chewing.

It’s more than just being down.

Zheng Qing’s mind immediately flashed with the image of the slowly collapsing, slender Red Sky Pillar on the Black Prison Battlefield, recalling the crumbling inner fort walls and the figures of wizards roaring and struggling during the retreat.

The suffocating feeling deep in the sea of blood had long since faded, but the singing of the sea demons still lingered in his ears.

The patient slowly closed his eyes.

"I made some mistakes in the Black Prison." The young wizard felt the need to say something, even if the other party was just a cat: "Serious, significant mistakes... it makes me feel terrible."

"That’s normal, everyone goes through that when they’re young... it’s understandable, you’ve already done your best."

The Yellow Flowered Cat, holding the fish treat, naturally needed to express some concern. So it casually waved its greasy paw, offering a vague comfort, but its comfort was quickly interrupted by the boy’s rude outburst.

"I don’t need comfort!"

The young wizard turned his head, staring straight at the Flower Cat, speaking at a rapid pace: "I know, I know what you want to say... Everyone has been young, who doesn’t make a few mistakes when they’re young? Just like Professor Yao, he made mistakes in his youth, becoming a demon, but that doesn’t stop him from being an excellent professor... learning, growing, progressing, that’s what young people should focus on."

"But these are different, I’m not Professor Yao, the mistakes I made are way more serious than his."

The Flower Cat craned its neck, laboriously swallowed a mouthful of fish meat, then stuck its head into Zheng Qing’s water cup, taking a few licks, finally catching its breath.

"No difference."

The Flower Cat perked up its ears and tail, straightened its body, widened its bright yellow eyes, and said loudly looking at Zheng Qing: "Even if what’s done can’t be undone, we can find a way to tow this boat to shore, turn it into a theme park, use it as a temporary shelter, or even dismantle it for reuse. We are wizards, we wield magic, and magic is about turning the impossible into possible; it always achieves those incredible things."