Parents

Mmm…

So dark…

Everything before her was a chaotic blackness.

‘Mmm… What’s going on…? My eyelids are so heavy…’

Lan Ruobing felt her consciousness muddled, her head hazy and heavy.

Her entire body ached, and she couldn’t muster any strength.

‘Where is this…?’

With great effort, she pried open her eyes just a slit.

The moment she caught a glimpse of light, her eyelids, too heavy to bear, drooped shut again.

Mmm…

She tried to open her eyes once more, still managing only a narrow slit.

Through it, she saw herself seemingly lying in a bed, and beside the bed sat a… woman?

She wanted to strain harder to see clearly, but her eyelids were too heavy, forcing them shut again.

‘Damn it… Open up, quickly… You useless eyes…’

She struggled within her mind, repeatedly opening her eyes only for them to close again just as quickly.

Frustration mounted, making her curse her own eyes.

The woman she had just glimpsed felt incredibly familiar, and Lan Ruobing was desperate to see her clearly.

But her eyes refused to cooperate, driving her to exasperation.

Finally, after several desperate attempts, her eyes opened once more.

Though still only a slit, at least they remained open this time.

It was then that she finally managed to discern the woman by her bedside.

‘Mom…!’

Lan Ruobing’s pupils constricted, a flood of long-repressed memories threatening to breach the surface.

‘Strange? Why is Mom sitting by my bed?’

She realized she was in her old childhood bedroom.

Her mother was holding one of her hands, her eyes filled with worry, her face visibly haggard.

‘Mom, what’s wrong with you…?’

Seeing her mother’s weary appearance, she grew concerned.

She tried to open her mouth to ask, but found she couldn’t; no sound escaped her lips.

‘What’s happening? Why can’t I speak?’

A surge of anxiety hit her.

She tried desperately to open her mouth, but it wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard she strained.

To her alarm, she discovered she couldn’t move at all—her entire body was paralyzed.

Only her eyes could move, and even then, only a narrow slit.

‘What’s going on? What exactly happened? Why can’t I move? Mom, Mom! Please help me! See what’s wrong with me!’

She frantically pleaded with her mother for help within her mind, yet she could do nothing but blink her eyes as a signal.

However, the slit her eyes were open was already tiny, making the subtle movement of blinking nearly invisible.

Such a minute gesture went unnoticed.

Even if it were seen, her mother would probably just assume she was deep in sleep due to the slight flutter of her eyelashes.

Thus, blinking proved utterly useless.

‘How could this be… Could it be… sleep paralysis?’

Lan Ruobing’s expression shifted dramatically.

After much deliberation, this seemed to be the only plausible explanation.

Involuntarily, a wave of terror washed over her.

She had experienced sleep paralysis before.

That sensation of her entire body being fixed, with only her eyes able to move, was truly horrifying.

Not only could she do nothing, but she also felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Only her heart could beat, and the more anxious she became, the faster it pounded.

However, because she felt like she couldn’t breathe, her rapidly beating heart would lead to panic and a feeling of suffocation.

Once caught in its grip, one hovered at the brink of death, unable to call out for help.

Even if someone walked by, she couldn’t speak, and they wouldn’t notice her state, thinking she was merely sleeping peacefully.

Unless she broke free from the sleep paralysis, she felt as though she might just slip away.

To suffocate to death, unknown to anyone, and become a corpse.

The police would arrive and simply assume natural causes, followed by her family’s grief and a somber burial…

The thought alone was terrifying!

It felt as if a real ghost was pressing her down, intent on killing her!

The moment she realized she was experiencing sleep paralysis, Ruobing couldn’t help but inwardly lament her bad luck.

She then exerted every ounce of her will to force herself to calm down and control her heart rate.

The entire process was meticulously cautious, fearing she might accidentally panic herself to death.

Fortunately, she discovered she could breathe just fine.

Huff…

She let out a huge mental sigh of relief…

Being able to breathe was a blessing; at least she could slowly try to wake her body up.

Tap, tap, tap!

Footsteps echoed from outside the door.

Lan Ruobing looked over, and another familiar person appeared in her line of sight.

‘Dad!’

She watched as a mature man, dressed in a white lab coat just like her mother, entered the room with steady, swift strides.

He carried a secure medical box in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, his expression somewhat anxious.

However, upon seeing Ruobing and the elegant woman by the bed, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He walked steadily to the woman’s side, handed her the coffee, and said with profound concern, “You’ve worked hard.”

The woman took the coffee, looking at him with a mix of surprise and anticipation.

The man pulled up a chair and sat beside the woman, carefully placing the box on his lap.

He smiled faintly and said, “It’s instant, but it’ll have to do.”

Only then did the woman nod, taking a sip before placing the coffee on the bedside cabinet.

She smiled faintly. “You’ve worked hard too.”

They exchanged a knowing smile, then both looked at Lan Ruobing on the bed, their brows slightly furrowed.

“In half an hour, cancer will claim Xiao Nuo’s life,” the woman said first, her voice remarkably steady despite the horrifying words.

“Mhm. Don’t worry, Xiao Nuo will be fine,” the man said, taking one of her hands to comfort her.

“We’ve prepared for so long, rehearsed countless times. We’ve raised the success rate of curing Xiao Nuo to 99 percent. There’ll definitely be no problem.”

The woman pursed her lips into a small smile, seemingly reassured. “Thank you for your hard work. It must have been exhausting, bearing the final research and development alone.”

“Haven’t you barely slept these past two days either? You’ve been tirelessly looking after Xiao Nuo. With a wife as wonderful as you, I have no regrets in this life,” the man said, smiling as he looked into her eyes.

“Alright, alright, still flirting at a time like this? How did I end up marrying a husband like you?” the woman chided, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.

‘???’

‘What’s going on!?’

‘I wake up in a memory, and you tell me I have cancer? And I’m dying!?’

Lan Ruobing’s mind reeled with shock upon hearing their conversation.

But what left her even more speechless was that she supposedly had only thirty minutes left to live, yet her parents weren’t rushing at all.

Instead, they were flirting by her sickbed?

‘Should I say they’re truly my unshakeable father and my poised, charismatic mother?’

‘I only have thirty minutes left, and you two have time for a casual chat? Shouldn’t you be rushing to save me?’

‘A 99 percent success rate? What if, by some unlucky chance, I hit that 1 percent? And you still have time to flirt? Am I even your biological child?!’

“You prepared three doses of the serum?” the woman asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes, two doses of the Divine Dragon Serum and one generic antibiotic. The extra Divine Dragon Serum is for the company. If this dose doesn’t work, the antibiotic will help him last another six months,” the man explained.

He then sighed. “I hope we won’t need that 1 percent antibiotic.”

‘Hiss… As expected of my dashing father and my charming, mature mother. Even a 1 percent chance can grant me another six months of life.’

‘Not bad, not bad. It seems that 99 percent is a sure thing.’

Lan Ruobing nodded inwardly, her earlier existential doubts swept away.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing her husband’s words, the woman frowned, a hint of anger in her tone.

“Why are you giving that Divine Dragon Serum to the company? Those inhuman fraudsters, using human lives for research, raising monsters—are you really planning to sacrifice yourself for them?”

The words ‘sacrifice yourself’ were heavily emphasized, as if she were heartbroken by his perceived foolishness.

The man shook his head, explaining calmly, “Sacrifice myself? Those bastards don’t deserve it.”

“It’s just that our every move is under their surveillance. Although we promptly altered Xiao Nuo’s cancer diagnosis report, we can’t guarantee they won’t discover discrepancies.”

“Submitting the Divine Dragon Serum will, firstly, silence them if they discover Xiao Nuo’s cancer, protecting him from threats.”

“Secondly, it allows us to leverage this opportunity to claim credit and request a long leave, so we can properly spend time with Xiao Nuo.”

“If we hadn’t developed the Divine Dragon Serum this time, we would likely have regretted it for the rest of our lives.”

“Now, those bastards are close to mastering the use of exotic beasts. The future is increasingly uncertain, and I dare not gamble on how much longer we can live. Let’s make the most of this time to be with Xiao Nuo.”

The man let out a long sigh, his eyes shifting as if deep in thought, perhaps already planning their escape.

“Ah,” the woman sighed in response, patting his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I know you don’t want to give your research findings to those fraudsters, but we have no choice.”

“We’ve already fallen into their trap; Xiao Nuo cannot fall into their hands,” the man said, squeezing her hand, his expression sorrowful.

“Mhm.”

They both fell silent.

Lan Ruobing also grew quiet, a bitter taste in her mouth as the pieces of her fractured past began to align.

‘Wait… is this why they vanished in that horrific car crash on my twelfth birthday?’

‘Did they fake that accident to escape the company’s clutches? Or did the company find out they used the serum on me and orchestrate the crash to silence them?’

‘I never imagined my parents’ work was so dangerous. I knew nothing, spending my days only playing, and even complaining that they didn’t spend time with me, only working.’

‘I never thought they were forced into it… They must have worked so hard to protect me…’

Her heart ached, like it was being violently pricked by needles.

Her eyes welled up, but she couldn’t cry in this paralyzed state.

She felt profound sympathy for her parents, who, for her sake, were controlled by a sinister company, researching day and night without freedom.

Despite their immense hardship, they bore it together, eventually sacrificing their normal lives—and perhaps their actual lives—to ensure she survived.

Half of their lives seemed to have been dedicated to the company, but in reality, it was dedicated to her…