Genius Playground

42!

That eerie number... it had appeared again.

Jiang Ran stared intently at the nameplate on the hospital room door. Seeing the number floating above Tian Xiaoli’s name, he instantly recalled what Qin Feng had said.

Don’t trust 42.

is correct.

Follow 42.

is you.

’Right now, what on earth is this 42 supposed to mean?’

Jiang Ran couldn’t be sure if this number—one that could reasonably appear in daily life but also seemed to haunt him at every turn—was a coincidence or truly held some meaning.

But even if it did have meaning, intent, or some kind of purpose...

’Should I believe it?’

’I don’t get it...’

’I can’t tell what’s real...’

’I can’t understand it...’

The convoluted mystery of 42 threw Jiang Ran’s thoughts into chaos, making it impossible for him to think straight.

”Xiaojiang?”

Old Tian, who was walking ahead, turned back and looked at Jiang Ran in confusion.

”What’s wrong? Is there something on the door?”

”...”

Jiang Ran fell silent and shook his head.

”No, I just... saw your daughter’s name.”

He temporarily put the matter of the mysterious number 42 out of his mind and followed Old Tian into the rehabilitation ward.

It was a very ordinary hospital room with two beds, one by the door and one by the window.

The bed by the door was unoccupied, which was why the paper nameplate only had Tian Xiaoli’s name on it.

The room was very quiet. Jiang Ran and Old Tian’s footsteps were clearly audible.

The two of them walked up to the bed by the window.

Old Tian couldn’t help but sniffle, wiping the tip of his nose.

”This is... my daughter...”

Jiang Ran looked toward the bed.

It was...

A state that was difficult to describe.

The girl on the bed was startlingly pale and frighteningly thin.

Her entire body was skin and bones, without a single trace of muscle. Her proportions were off, making her look strange, as if she had... *atrophied*.

The girl wore a clean, uncreased hospital gown, a clear sign of her complete lack of movement.

When he noticed this detail, Jiang Ran’s heart sank. An ominous premonition instantly washed over him.

Several wires extended from her cuffs and the gap at her chest, connecting to an array of instruments. The monitors displayed various data. The heart rate module, in particular, was as calm as still water, with almost no fluctuations, indicating an unnaturally stable heartbeat.

Jiang Ran already had a pretty good idea of what was going on...

No signs of movement in her clothes.

No muscle on the girl’s limbs.

Severe atrophy affecting her height.

A stable, unfluctuating heart rate.

It was obvious. Old Tian’s daughter—

—was in a persistent vegetative state.

Looking up at her face...

The girl’s face was gaunt and pale, her age impossible to discern. Some features looked ancient, like an old woman’s, while others remained as delicate as a young girl’s.

But from being bedridden for so long, the back of her head was noticeably flattened and misshapen... It was a pitiful sight.

A few days ago, when he’d talked with Old Tian about his daughter, Old Tian had simply said she was sick and recovering.

Jiang Ran hadn’t thought much of it at the time, just assuming it was some kind of chronic illness.

He never would have imagined...

That Old Tian’s daughter was in a vegetative state!

And from the looks of it, she had been this way for many years.

”Your daughter, she...”

Jiang Ran asked cautiously.

”How long... has she been like this?”

”Ten years.”

Old Tian’s eyes were red, his voice hoarse.

”Actually, my daughter’s older than you. She was beautiful, and taller than other girls her age. But look... look at her... now she’s...”

Old Tian’s arms trembled as he held his hands about a meter apart.

”Now she’s only... this big.”

Tears instantly streamed down his face.

Such is the heartbreaking love of a parent.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Jiang Ran would have found it hard to believe that a tough man from the Northeast like Old Tian could break down into choked sobs, his face wet with tears, in a matter of seconds.

Jiang Ran stepped forward and patted Old Tian on the shoulder, saying nothing.

Lately, across two world lines, he had directly and indirectly witnessed too many partings and deaths. He could now deeply empathize with Old Tian’s suffering.

”When I was young, ever since I was a kid, my family was dirt poor.”

Old Tian wiped his tears and continued speaking.

”Our family has always had bad luck. It was always one person getting sick, then another. It felt like we were holding a funeral every year.”

”My father was gone before I even started my own family. My mother passed away from an illness after my child was born. My only brother died of a heart attack. My wife had always been frail, and after my daughter fell from the roof... she developed a mental illness. In the end, she drank pesticide... drank...”

Old Tian’s voice trembled, and he couldn’t go on.

Jiang Ran put an arm around Old Tian’s shoulders.

”That’s enough. Don’t say any more.”

He urged Old Tian to stop. The story was painful enough to listen to, let alone forcing the man to reopen his own wounds.

”If only I’d been home that day.”

Old Tian wiped his face with his sleeve.

”My wife’s health was poor, so my daughter did a lot of the housework. That day, she went up to the roof to bring in the sauce we were sun-drying. Her foot slipped... and she fell headfirst.”

”I never should have left to find work! But if I didn’t make money, I couldn’t support my family. I couldn’t pay for my wife’s treatment or afford to send my daughter to school.”

”When I heard that my daughter had fallen, my mind just went blank. By the time I staggered back home in a daze... my daughter was already in the emergency room, and my wife was on the floor, a sobbing wreck.”

He took a deep breath.

And slowly exhaled.

”After that, Lili became like this—comatose, in a vegetative state. The shock was too much for my wife. She went mad... completely lost her mind. In the end, she couldn’t bear the regret. She ran far from home, drank a bottle of pesticide... and they couldn’t save her...”