Chapter 218: Chapter 199: Qiao Dingwu’s Choice
More than half a year ago
In an advanced care ward of a hospital in the real world, a middle-aged man in his forties and several hospital specialists in white lab coats were gathered around a hospital bed discussing something.
At that moment, a stunning woman with delicate features lay on the bed, her face serene, a slight smile adorning her lips.
She resembled Sleeping Beauty waiting for her prince to awaken her, appearing so calm and peaceful.
Just then, an expert over the age of sixty slowly said:
"This is the general situation, whether she can wake up or when she will wake up, none of us knows."
Among this group of people, the only middle-aged man dressed in casual clothes said in disbelief:
"You mean to say, she’s already in a vegetative state now?"
Although none of the doctors said yes, their attitudes made everything clear.
Looking at the woman on the bed, Qiao Dingwu was stunned for a moment before reacting:
"Isn’t there any other way to wake her up?"
A younger doctor said:
"Through examination, her physical condition is now no different from a normal person, only her consciousness hasn’t recovered."
"At this level, our medical field currently has no effective way to help a person regain consciousness."
Then the doctor looked at the man and suggested:
"Perhaps you can often talk to her, say anything, this would greatly aid in helping her regain consciousness."
At this moment, an old expert suddenly asked:
"Are you planning to take her back or leave her in our hospital for further observation?"
Qiao Dingwu looked at the serene woman lying on the bed, after some internal weighing, he finally couldn’t resist the pangs of conscience and said:
"Leave her here for further observation."
Upon hearing this, the old expert’s eyes showed a trace of approval and he said:
"Thankfully, she met you, otherwise... sigh."
The old expert didn’t say what otherwise, and then left the ward.
Seeing the old expert leave, the other doctors also said their goodbyes.
Only a slightly younger doctor was left in the room with Qiao Dingwu, and he said:
"Our hospital is already aware of your situation."
"After research and decision by the hospital, we will also help cover a portion of her care costs going forward."
"You can go down and handle the follow-up procedures when you have time."
Qiao Dingwu nodded in understanding and said:
"Thank you."
"No need, this is what we should do."
With the departure of this doctor, only Qiao Dingwu and the unconscious woman on the bed remained in the room.
Qiao Dingwu moved a chair to sit in front of the bed, staring blankly at the woman on the bed.
In fact, Qiao Dingwu had no connection to this woman; he was here entirely out of kindness. He saw her faint at the intersection, then brought her to the hospital for treatment.
What he didn’t expect was that his action would lead to such an unexpected development.
Since no information about her identity was found on her, all the expenses during the treatment were paid in advance by Qiao Dingwu.
Qiao Dingwu initially didn’t expect to get back the money he had advanced.
He just wanted to do a good deed, and once she recovered, he would leave.
However, what Qiao Dingwu didn’t anticipate was that after three days of treatment, the outcome would be unexpectedly and utterly bewildering.
Fortunately, Qiao Dingwu still had some savings, and as a single person, he had no worries of his own.
Otherwise, with such trouble cropping up, it’s unlikely anyone would readily accept it.
In the days that followed, to better care for this strange woman, the hospital sent a professional caregiver to regularly bathe her and perform necessary physical activities.
Meanwhile, with nothing else pressing, Qiao Dingwu came over from time to time to talk about anything and everything at her bedside, also checking her recovery status.
This continued for about half a year, until the public test of "Glory of the Gods" arrived.
As Qiao Dingwu’s primary source of income, there was no way he could miss such a monumental game release.
However, to conveniently check on the woman’s condition, Qiao Dingwu spent most of his time in the rest room next to her ward.
After the first day of playing, Qiao Dingwu came to the bedside and told the unfamiliar woman about all the shocking events in the game.
Seeing the unchanged visage of the woman on the bed from the beginning till now, Qiao Dingwu’s initial hopefulness gradually turned into acceptance of whatever would be.
Meanwhile, Qiao Dingwu mentally prepared himself for the worst.
At worst, he would take her home, hiring someone to look after her.
Anyway, for Qiao Dingwu’s income, an extra person wouldn’t be any burden to him.
Yet everything changed when, during one of his stories about the strange and fascinating occurrences in the game...
That day, as usual, after playing the game, Qiao Dingwu came to the bedside to recount some fascinating encounters he experienced in the game.
When Qiao Dingwu picked up his tablet to look through some popular game topics on the forum, and began discussing the game’s power rankings...
The equipment that had been silent and unchanged for over half a year suddenly showed some slight fluctuations.
Noticing this scene, Qiao Dingwu was overjoyed, and hurriedly called in the experts for a consultation.
However, the consultation results yet again left Qiao Dingwu disappointed.
During that time, the old expert asked Qiao Dingwu for a detailed recount of what just happened.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, Qiao Dingwu sat back at the bedside and started recounting everything he had just said.
When he mentioned a certain individual’s profession from the leaderboard, the slight changes on the equipment reappeared.
At this, the experts understood the key to the situation.
In a series of observations that followed, Qiao Dingwu gradually discovered.
When he recounted particular experiences of a person, it seemed to elicit some subtle reactions in her subconscious.
Although both Qiao Dingwu and the experts found it incredibly strange and couldn’t explain why this happened,
to help her recover as soon as possible, Qiao Dingwu made it a point to learn everything about that person in the game.
During the process of learning, Qiao Dingwu gradually found himself liking the person, or rather, appreciating him.
Not only for his skills, but more so for his character.
For this, Qiao Dingwu didn’t hesitate to offend his patrons and go against his principles, offering help to this person in the game on multiple occasions.
And the person did not disappoint him; all the efforts were rewarded as deserved, even more so.
Of course, a significant part of the reason was to narrate everything about him in the game at her bedside after the game ended.
She seemed more responsive to his actions of helping this person in the game.
This only strengthened Qiao Dingwu’s resolve in his choice.
Time passed day by day...
Until one day, after recounting the individual’s heroic feats from recent days, a soft murmur shook Qiao Dingwu’s heart.
Upon raising his head and seeing those lively eyes, Qiao Dingwu was overjoyed:
"You’re awake."
Possibly concerned that she just woke up and her body was still weak, Qiao Dingwu didn’t dare move too much.
After notifying the hospital’s experts, Qiao Dingwu stood by the bed and softly asked:
"Don’t worry, I’ve called the experts over, you’ll be fine soon."
Perhaps it was due to not speaking for a long time; the woman opened her mouth, but Qiao Dingwu couldn’t make out a word.
Qiao Dingwu walked over to the bedside, leaned closer, and asked:
"What do you want, speak slowly."
After finally making out her words, Qiao Dingwu was utterly surprised and said:
"You said you want to play ’Glory of the Gods’ too?"
......
Today’s update is finished.