The air in hospitals is always saturated with the pungent sting of disinfectant and the heavy dullness of silence.
However, since the "Descent of Miracles", that dullness has been replaced by a nearly frenzied hope.
Tian Shuangxin stood guard by her mother's sickbed, her fingertips gently stroking the rough back of her mother's hand.
Shortly after she had turned off the livestream this morning, she received a call from the hospital—it turned out that the silver light which had blanketed the entire Blue Planet had significantly improved her mother's condition.
The moment she heard the news, she was so excited she wanted to teleport directly to the ward. In her frantic rush, she had tripped over her own feet, scraping her elbow raw without even noticing the pain.
She had been so flustered she nearly forgot her phone; if not for the nurse on the other end of the line repeatedly reminding her, she might have run out empty-handed and soul-shaken.
All the way to the hospital, her heart fluttered with a mix of anxiety and anticipation. When she arrived, she saw with her own eyes that her mother's formerly ashen face now held a faint rosy hue, and the nearly flat EKG curve on the monitor was beginning to rise and fall with newfound strength. In that moment, she finally felt the staggering exhaustion of someone who had narrowly escaped a dead end.
"Dr. Meng, my mom she..." TianShuangxin's voice trembled.
Dr. Meng, the rounding physician, adjusted his glasses. His eyes held a complex mix of professional rigor and fanatical reverence. "Miss Tian, your mother's condition has indeed improved."
He paused, his expression shifting to one of slight regret. "However... if she had received that 'Orange Orb', she might have regained full consciousness by now."
He pointed to the empty bed next to them. "Take Mr. Zhang next door, for example. He was awake during Qinghong's livestream. Without hesitation, he chose to stand on the 'right' side and received direct empowerment from the Orange Orb. It was like a total reconstruction of his life essence. Just moments ago, he walked out and discharged himself."
The doctor's sigh felt like a dull knife carving into Tian Shuangxin's heart.
"Your mother was in a deep coma at the time and couldn't personally answer the questions posed by the streamer, Qinghong. Although the Orange Orb hovered above the ward for a while, it eventually dissipated because it received no response from her," Nurse Fu added from the side, her tone full of pity. "If she had that orb, she could open her eyes and call your name right now."
As the medical team responsible for Mother Tian over the long term, they knew exactly how difficult Tian Shuangxin's life had been.
Nurse Fu sighed softly: "It's a pity. I even tried to give her my own orb, but it was useless. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you."
Tian Shuangxin lowered her head, tears splashing onto the white bedsheets. Like a drowning person grabbing a final piece of driftwood, she looked up and urgently plucked the orb that had been hovering above her own head—at this point, the skin on her hands was as smooth as new, though she hadn't noticed.
She carefully moved the orb toward her mother. "What about mine? Let me try mine! Maybe mine will work?"
However, the orb only pulsed with a gentle light, showing no reaction. She loathed this feeling of helplessness; it was the same when Zhizhi met his fate, and it was the same now while her mother suffered.
"Miss Tian, don't be too sad," Nurse Fu comforted her, unable to watch her break down. "Haven't you already cleared all the follow-up medical fees? The treatment process will be very smooth. Your mother has improved significantly; her waking up is only a matter of time."
Tian Shuangxin wiped her tears and bowed gratefully to the two of them. "Dr. Meng, Nurse Fu, thank you." Her movement was so sudden it startled them into stopping her.
"Please, don't do that! You'll shorten our lifespans," Nurse Fu said as she helped her up and patted her shoulder. "Don't ever do that again."
Dr. Meng smiled, signaling she needn't be so formal. "We have other patients to see, so we'll be going now."
The ward fell back into silence. Outside the window, a small bird flew by, emitting a crisp chirping sound that seemed to celebrate the rebirth of the world.
Tian Shuangxin took her mother's hand and whispered softly, "Mom, you have to get better quickly. Both Zhizhi and I miss you so much."
She paused, her tone carrying a hint of nervous, humble pleading: "But Mom, when you wake up, you mustn't be afraid of Zhizhi. He just... changed his appearance. On the inside, he's still that same little Zhizhi who loves to act spoiled and eat strawberry cookies. He hasn't changed at all."
As she spoke, her voice suddenly dropped, thick with a heavy nasal tone. "It's my fault for not taking good care of him, which is why he became like that..." She sniffled, forcing a smile. "Let's not talk about sad things anymore. Let me tell you about something else..."
What she didn't know was that while she was whispering in self-reproach, Zhizhi—trapped in Sato's shell—was sitting restlessly in a speeding business car, racing toward the hospital.
Except for the Guardians beside him, no one knew what he was muttering, though his words made them want to roll their eyes at every turn.
"It's okay, it's okay. Grandma hasn't woken up yet! She doesn't know I look like this now."
—If you know she isn't awake, what are you worried about? the Guardian thought, suppressed an urge to sigh.
"But, thinking like that... isn't that wishing Grandma doesn't wake up? I can't think like that, I can't."
—At least you're self-aware!
"But I really want to see her awake. I want to climb onto her shoulder and act spoiled. She always gives me treats when I do that."
—Are you sure you won't crush the poor lady in that body?
"I nee—" Before he could finish, the car slammed on its brakes. The sudden momentum nearly sent Zhizhi headfirst into the seat in front of him.
Simultaneously, ten thousand meters in the air, two encrypted signals crossing international borders collided violently.
"Chief, our patience is limited." The face of the Bald Eagle Nation President appeared on the screen, dark and distorted. "A-0001 is the key to unlocking the Divine Code. Since the Long Nation refuses to hand him over despite our requests, don't blame us for taking extreme measures. We are, after all, considering the continuation of all BluePlanet civilizations."
The Long Nation Chief sat behind a simple rosewood desk, his eyes as steady as deep water. "Mr. President, he is not a resource. He is an innocent life that rescued by the BeastGod during the liquidation. Since he is now a 'human', we must protect his rights as one."
"Heh." The President let out a cold laugh. Bang! The connection was cut unilaterally.
"Chief, emergency! 'Sato' is in danger," the intelligence team reported. The Chief immediately ordered: "Dispatch rescue teams. I hope we're in time."
The tires of the business car shrieked against the asphalt, sending up plumes of acrid blue smoke.
"Target intercepted! Action!" The command in the earpieces was bone-chilling. Four black Hummers, disguised as logistics vehicles, swerved out from an intersection, forming a steel cage that pinned the car in the center.
Inside, Zhizhi's thought—I need to do some mental preparation—was slammed back into his throat.
The two Guardians beside him reacted with non-human speed, the eerie green light at their necks surging. This was the power of the Code, exploding only when danger was sensed—not for themselves, but for the mission.
The attackers were well-prepared. Pop—! Specialized high-frequency shock grenades shattered the car's bulletproof glass, and milky-white sedative gas flooded in instantly.
"Zhizhi, get down!" A Guardian pressed Zhizhi down with his heavy black uniform while shoving the door open with his free hand.
He didn't use firearms; instead, using arms reinforced by divine power to a near-metallic density, he tore through the hood of the Hummer blocking the side.
"Attention! Do not look into their eyes! Activate visual interference!" the CIA team leader barked. These elite agents wore the latest "Medusa" AR helmets, filtering the world into cold wireframe models to bypass the Guardians' aura—an aura capable of overwhelming the human psyche.
An agent leaped from a rooftop, casting an electromagnetic capture net like a lethal spiderweb toward Zhizhi.
Zzzzt—! The ghostly green light clashed violently with blue electric currents. The two Guardians stood like silent black towers, enduring the electromagnetic pulse to form a physical wall. They didn't strike back, but their mechanical defensive logic made them incredibly difficult to handle.
"Damn it! These guys don't feel pain!" The leader's tactical knife slashed a Guardian's shoulder, but the man didn't even flinch. He simply raised a hand and tossed the agent five meters away like a falling leaf.
Just as the battle reached a stalemate, an irrational force intervened. Inside the hospital room, Tian Shuangxin's pupils contracted. She felt it—Zhizhi's crumbling terror.
"Zhizhi... don't be afraid, Mama is here!" She stood up instinctively to run outside. She would not let tragedy strike twice.
Her powerful will triggered a brilliant RedThread that pierced through the dimensions of reality. The vivid thread erupted from her fingertips, passing through layers of buildings to wind precisely around Zhizhi's waist in the middle of the chaotic street.
Simultaneously, the golden heart mark on Zhizhi's chest burned like a wildfire. That sluggish, nauseating "Sato shell" began to violently collapse.
"What's happening? He's shrinking!" Under the terrified gaze of the agents, the tall man instantly collapsed into a ball of light. Whoosh! The golden light vanished—Sato was gone.
A tiny, snow-white fancy rat crawled out from the pile of oversized suit clothes.
Before it could even process what was happening, instinct drove it to follow the pull of the RedThread. It carved a high-speed arc through the air, leaping from the car and scurrying toward a nearby drainage pipe.
"Don't just stand there! It's the rat! Catch it!" The agents swiveled their muzzles, firing a dense hail of tranquilizer needles.
But Zhizhi had regained the elite neural reaction speed of a rodent; he kicked off a stone pillar to dodge the needles, using his lithe body to zig-zag through narrow gaps. "Squeak!" (Faster, faster!)
Bald Eagle Nation, Level 7 Strategic Room. The President watched the white dot moving at high speed on the infrared monitor and the footage of Long Nation SWAT teams swarming in from all directions. He knew conventional methods had failed completely.
"The Long Nation wants to play 'Silent Escort'? Then we'll make this land silent forever." He slammed his finger onto the highest authorization code. "Rods from God, de-orbit."
Ten thousand meters above, beyond the atmosphere, a multi-ton rod made of pure tungsten detached from the mothership amidst the roar of thrusters. It required no explosives; relying solely on its terrifying mass and gravitational acceleration exceeding Mach 10, its impact would equal that of a small nuclear bomb.
The meteor fell.
In the southwestern mountain skyline, a bright spot suddenly appeared, more dazzling than the sun.
Carrying a scream that tore through the atmosphere, it aimed directly at the block where Zhizhi was—the very hospital where Tian Shuangxin resided.
"What is that..." Zhizhi stopped in his tracks. He sensed the strange sound and tilted his tiny head, feeling a crushing pressure capable of turning the earth into molten lava.
Every Guardian in the district stopped at once. They removed the nameplates from their uniforms, knelt on the ground, and looked up at the sky. For the first time, the ghostly green collars around their necks emitted a piercing, resonant hum.
In the Divine Realm, the Beast God sat in silence while the Nightmare Beast lay prostrate beside Her. They had no intention of intervening; after all, "They" were still down in the mortal world.