Chapter 252: The Fainted Little Howard - The Devil Chuck!!!
Little Howard's bedroom.
"We're coming in~"
Ross pushed open the door with a low, ominous laugh.
"Holy crap!"
Joey exclaimed, looking at the shape of the blanket covering him, and gave a thumbs up: "No wonder you had the guts to choose that username! Impressive!"
"Now let's witness the brave Earth boy using his cousin as bait to capture the alien robot hand!"
Naturally, Chandler's teasing and mockery were indispensable in this situation.
"Help me."
Little Howard cried out awkwardly and helplessly.
He finally understood that Little Sheldon was indeed Little Sheldon. Although he was an annoying and infuriating person, his intelligence was undeniable. He saw through the Devil Chuck's true nature at a glance.
Chuck could have just called his cousin Ross to help him. Why call so many people to watch the show?
This was clearly making fun of him.
At least he didn't call any women.
Otherwise, he would never be able to hold his head up again.
"Are you guys ready?"
A burst of laughter came from outside. "Can we come in now?"
"No!"
Little Howard was stunned, shouting desperately.
He recognized Phoebe's voice.
"I heard that when a guy says no, he means yes."
The quirky Phoebe naturally adapted a famous line from romantic comedies and pushed the door open amidst the laughter.
"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
Rachel followed behind Phoebe, saying this, but as soon as she entered, she bypassed Phoebe and peeked in with a gossipy, amused expression.
"What's inappropriate?"
Monica followed in, her face stern. "It's better to be embarrassed in front of us than in front of the whole world."
"Oh, no!"
Even someone as perverted as Little Howard couldn't bear being surrounded and teased by his six old friends in this manner. He finally showed a sense of shame he had almost never experienced in his life and covered his face with his hands.
"Oh, no!"
Chandler mimicked Howard's tone, jokingly saying, "Don't tell us it's happening right now!"
"Don't be disgusting!"
Monica said with a look of disgust.
She might have enjoyed the spectacle with anyone else,
but this was her cousin, and she felt embarrassed too—at least she felt very embarrassed.
"Hurry up and figure out a solution."
"Pretty smart design, huh?"
Chandler walked over, observed for a moment, and found it was still controlled by a computer. He teased, "Can't you just restart it?"
"No!"
Howard, seeing Chandler examining the computer controlling the Hugging machine and reaching for the restart button, forgot about playing dead and screamed to interrupt.
"You absolutely can't restart it! My program might interpret restarting as twisting, and twisting it to the extreme."
"I see."
Chandler nodded, saying seriously, "It seems your design was flawed, causing this situation."
"Right."
Howard, seeing someone speak up for him and try to ease the awkward atmosphere with an academic perspective, quickly nodded in agreement.
"I'm also a computer guy, and I have an academic question about this. Could you help me answer it?"
Chandler looked at the mechanical arm on the bed.
"What academic question?"
Although Howard was too preoccupied with escaping to discuss this, he forced a smile and emphasized the word "academic" since someone was finally trying to lighten the awkwardness.
"Why 'it'? And not 'she'?"
Chandler suppressed a laugh. "Even 'he' is better than 'it'!"
"Hahaha."
Cousin Ross couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Yeah, dude."
Joey patted Howard on the shoulder. "It's not cool to use 'it'!"
"Are you guys going to help or not?"
Howard couldn't take it anymore and cried out in frustration.
"Yes, yes!"
Joey slightly lifted the blanket and peeked inside. His eyes lit up, and drawing on his own life experience, he offered his solution.
"How about this? Go get some ice from the fridge, and then get some candles. Thermal expansion and contraction..."
He flashed his classic confident smile, giving himself a thumbs-up: "Trust me, I'm Dr. Drake Ramoray!"
"No!!!"
Howard exclaimed in horror, "It won't work! I already used that principle..."
He was afraid the others would actually believe it and ruin his clever plan to use Chuck to scare himself out of this predicament.
What kind of nonsense is Dr. Drake Ramoray!
You're just a fake doctor playing a doctor in a soap opera, and you dare give him medical advice that affects his entire life!
How dare you!
"Chuck has already calmed me down to the extreme..."
"Wow! You're so smart!"
Joey gave Howard a genuine thumbs up: "My carefully devised plan, while very effective and satisfying... is actually a bit dangerous, especially in your situation.
Who would have thought you not only came up with it immediately but also managed to modify it into something safe, funny, and without side effects? You're brilliant!"
"Let's take him to the hospital!"
Monica said with a stern face: "Even if the doctors can't do anything, Chuck is there, he'll find a way."
The three women went out first.
Chandler held the control computer, Joey held the main body of the robotic arm, Ross supported Howard and helped hold up the blanket covering him so it wouldn't fall off, while Howard clung tightly to the blanket with one hand, moving out with a crab-like gait.
For a moment, a thought flashed through his mind: "Did I misunderstand Chuck? Now that I think about it, it seems like just my cousin Ross wouldn't be enough."
But then his unusually calm mind told him not to overthink it; there were three women in the corridor watching the spectacle.
Monica stalled Mrs. Wolowitz, allowing everyone to smoothly move little Howard into the car, which then drove to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
In the ER lobby,
a night shift nurse was standing there writing something when she heard the call for help. Looking up, she saw a group of people walking toward them in a strange manner.
A hospital security guard accompanied her, his expression serious.
"What happened?"
the nurse asked in surprise.
"This young man needs medical attention, but he can't get through the hospital security scanner. Given the special circumstances and out of humanitarian concern, I made an exception and let him in, but I must accompany him the entire time and fulfill my duty!"
the guard said righteously.
"You've got some talent, buddy, making even watching the drama sound so professional,"
Chandler couldn't help but tease, "Not only are your words polished and your expressions vivid, even your body language is spot-on.
Especially after saying that, you touched your security baton—a double entendre, truly a stroke of genius!"
"Hahaha."
Joey, Ross, and the others couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter.
Even the previously serious guard couldn't hold back and grinned.
"I knew it,"
the nurse said, relieved.
She knew there was something fishy about the guard's dutiful performance, and sure enough!
Then she walked around the nurses' station and reached out to lift the blanket covering him to peek inside.
"No!"
Even after being teased and mocked by his six old friends, and being treated like a joke by the 'witty and dutiful' security guard at the hospital entrance, Howard was now somewhat defiant, but he still instinctively clung tightly to the blanket, not wanting the nurse to see him.
"I definitely have to see, otherwise I can't assign you a doctor based on your emergency type,"
the nurse laughed. "Don't worry, I've seen it all..."
Before she could finish speaking, she pulled back the blanket, her eyes widening in shock. After a moment of stunned silence, she exclaimed, "Oh my God, oh my God, what's going on?"
Even this well-informed emergency room nurse, who claimed to have seen it all, had never witnessed such a bizarre situation.
She'd truly never seen anything like it!
Then she put down the blanket, walked back to the nurses' station, and picked up the PA system: "There's a young man being held captive by an alien robot hand."
"...You could have spoken louder!!!"
Little Howard, hearing the loud announcement echoing through the ER and seeing everyone drawn by the commotion, complained indignantly.
Although it was nighttime and the ER shouldn't have been crowded, Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital was one of the top hospitals in New Jersey, and ambulances would bring in patients for any emergencies at night, so there were still quite a few people there.
Hearing this bizarre case, anyone with a sense of curiosity couldn't help but look over, and some inconsiderate people even crowded around to watch.
"I'm sorry, your situation is unique even for the ER. We don't have a special code for you,"
the nurse shrugged without any apology.
In hospitals, to protect patient privacy and avoid embarrassment, various illnesses are given codes. When these codes are announced, those unaware of the situation wouldn't be able to tell what condition someone has.
But that requires someone else to have had it before, been treated at a hospital, and have their condition recorded with a medical code.
Clearly, Howard's situation is unprecedented, not just at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, but worldwide.
There's no way around it!
Howard is highly intelligent, talented, and comes from a well-off family. The intelligent robotic hand he's using is extremely rare at this point in time, not only among ordinary people but even among researchers in related fields—it's cutting-edge, sophisticated technology.
If they hadn't come in this manner, they would likely have been praised with awe and admiration, "A young genius!"
But now, this seemingly brilliant person has come in this manner, leaving people bewildered and only able to say, "What a waste of talent!"
Then, they might sigh inwardly, "Kids these days."
"..."
Little Howard was speechless, only able to look at his cousin, whose face was stern with anger, and plead, "Monica, why don't you call Chuck and have him send me the best doctor directly, without going through all this?"
"I've already contacted him,"
Monica said expressionlessly.
"What did he say?"
Little Howard looked on expectantly.
"He said everything is arranged,"
Monica said expressionlessly, "The best doctor will see you."
"That's good, that's good... Why don't you call again and tell them we've arrived?"
Little Howard breathed a sigh of relief, but seeing more and more people no longer content with just observing from afar and moving toward them, he could only smile apologetically and urge her again.
"Okay."
Monica picked up the phone and called Chuck again.
Unlike her brother Ross, who was just watching the show, she genuinely felt ashamed, not only in front of strangers but especially in front of Chuck.
Chuck had so many female friends and family members, and everything was fine, but she had to have her brother Ross, with whom she constantly clashed and competed.
Now, she had this extremely perverted, well, perhaps even the king of perverts, younger cousin.
This made her subconsciously uneasy. Her perfectionism and competitive nature were off the charts, and she was extremely dissatisfied with her brother Ross and cousin Howard, who were practically dragging her down. And to make matters worse, her cousin didn't seem to realize his mistake, immediately going to Chuck after this happened—it was so embarrassing!
"Nurse, who's on duty tonight? Could you please call them?"
Howard, sensing his cousin's suppressed anger, didn't dare urge her further and instead turned to the nurse, acting like someone merely curious about watching the whole thing unfold.
"No need, they're here."
The nurse was about to say something when Chandler's teasing voice rang out.
Howard's heart skipped a beat. Although they hadn't met that many times, he knew Chandler's personality all too well; this was definitely not good news.
Because he was small and short, and had to crouch to maintain his position relative to the mechanical hand, he was even shorter, especially with so many people surrounding him.
So when Chandler finished speaking and everyone turned to look, he couldn't see what they were seeing at all.
He could only hear footsteps, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over him. He couldn't resist any longer and reached out to pat Joey, Ross, and the others' legs, finally peeking through the gaps between them.
His first impression was of pure white.
Then, upon closer inspection, his mind went blank, and he screamed inwardly, "What the hell?!?!"
At the end of the corridor, a scruffy man in a suit with a light beard and a wicked smile playing on his lips limped toward them, leaning on an IV pole.
A man in a white coat lagged slightly behind, his expression resigned.
Behind him followed two men and a woman in white coats, their expressions ranging from playful to blank to intrigued.
Behind these three doctors was a group of an indistinguishable number of people in white coats, following the limping man with perfect posture, step by step, creating a powerful visual impact.
This was striking enough for an ordinary person,
but for the 'patient,' and especially the 'special patient,' young Howard, it was an unprecedented shock.
"The Devil Chuck!!!"
The mechanical genius, the shameless one, the king of perverts, the eternal Mr. Howard Wolowitz, screamed, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
In this timeline, young Howard didn't first meet the student council member and cheerleader—the one he begged for two years to go on a date with, who tricked him into sitting naked in his mother's car, attracting a whole team of football players to watch and laugh at him, a memory that still makes him cry years later.
Instead, he met Chuck first. One wonders which of these parallel universes' lives he would have chosen to keep if he had the chance to compare them...
(End of Chapter)
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