As if the nurses around Ernest were mothers spotting a discount sign at a grocery store, his bed was pushed from one room to another for a series of medical examinations, much like a shopping cart being filled.
They drew blood samples, scanned the inside of his body with something akin to an MRI machine, and performed various tests using other medical equipment.
The entire examination process took an entire day.
Eventually, when it was all over, Ernest was wheeled back to his wardroom.
"You can rest here for now. Once your test results are ready, we'll inform you," Olivia said, standing near Ernest's bed while jotting something down on a piece of paper.
As if she suddenly remembered something, Olivia closed the file she was holding and hesitated before asking, "Uh…"
"If you have a question, just ask," Ernest encouraged.
"Well, do you have any family members we could contact as a guardian?"
"...."
Olivia explained that Circle of Hope Hospital had tried to locate a guardian for Ernest but failed to find anyone who could take that role.
"I don't think so," Ernest replied with a forced smile. "Did anyone even try to visit me in the past two years?"
"...No."
After answering, Olivia bit her lower lip as if she felt guilty.
Judging from Olivia's furrowed brows and narrowing eyes, Ernest imagined what might be going through her mind. 'Is he a criminal?' That was the expression Ernest interpreted, though it was purely his assumption.
"Don't worry; I'm not a criminal or an international fugitive," he said preemptively.
"..."
Olivia was rendered speechless. Her eyes widened, and her head tilted slightly to the side, causing her long hair to cascade down like a fountain.
She wondered why Ernest would conclude that she suspected him of being a criminal when, in reality, she was merely curious because no one had ever visited him.
For the entire two years, she had cared for Ernest, and she had always pitied his situation.
Biting her lower lip harder, Olivia decided to swallow the words she was about to say.
She wanted to ask about Ernest's background, but despite his constant smile, the aura he emitted made it clear he wouldn't share his past with someone he had just met.
Knowing that prying into a patient's personal history unrelated to their medical condition was inappropriate, Olivia chose to adhere strictly to her professional ethics.
Leaving Ernest's room, Olivia resolved to focus solely on treating her patients.
***
Ernest, alone in his ward room, began to organize the tangled mess of thoughts in his mind.
During his trip through various examination rooms, he had glimpsed inside other patients' rooms. Unlike him, almost everyone was surrounded by people who seemed to be the family of each of them.
Ernest was an orphan—a war orphan—but he had a foster family. For a fleeting moment, he wished someone would have found and visited him.
'At least Old Yang Jian… Ah, what am I thinking?'
Ernest regretted the thought immediately.
After all, he had no right to wish for such things. Two years ago, he had decided to leave his foster family out of shame and inferiority.
Those feelings stemmed from his physical condition, which had plagued him since childhood, or rather since he was taken in by his foster family.
He called his condition Pain Cursed.
From the moment he woke up from his vegetative state, Ernest had felt the pain that had been absent for two years. Even now, that pain continued to gnaw at every pain receptor in his body.
It wasn't just pain—it was debilitating. At its worst, it hindered him from performing daily activities.
He couldn't think deeply because it felt like his head would explode.
He couldn't exert himself physically because it felt as if his body were being mutilated.
If he pushed himself too hard mentally or physically, he would collapse, even if he somehow endured the agony.
Without a body and mind he could rely on, Ernest became a useless person—someone incapable of Awakening or even holding a regular job to earn money.
Two years ago, he decided to run away from his foster family in China.
At the time, his only thoughts were about escaping reality. Escaping the mental anguish caused by constant pain, ridicule from peers, and disdain from his foster family members was his priority. In his youthful immaturity, he couldn't consider how his disappearance would affect those who cared for him.
A wise person once said that every problem has a solution. However, blindly following foolish thoughts won't always lead to the right answer—just like in Ernest's case.
His solution back then was to steal money from Yang Jian, the only kind-hearted person who had taken the initiative to adopt him and use it to flee to the United States. In hindsight, he had been an ungrateful, disgraceful foster son. It was absurd for him to hope someone might find and visit him now.
Even then, his misdeeds didn't stop. Upon arriving in the United States, he borrowed money from underground organizations in Orlando, only to squander it in Miami on gambling and drinking.
Earlier, he had asked Olivia if anyone had searched for him. The question wasn't just out of hope for a visitor—it was also out of fear that the organization he owed money to might break in to confront him.
That fear was also why, in his previous life, he had fled the hospital as soon as he woke up. He was terrified they had found him and were waiting to ambush him.
His only goal back then was to seek a bit of fleeting happiness before committing suicide. But before he could muster the courage to do so, a truck hit him.
And that was how he ended up here.
Sitting on the hospital bed, he gazed at the night sky, pondering his next steps.
'Since it's still 2026, there's about ten years left before another catastrophe strikes Earth. I still have plenty of time to change the tragic fate awaiting me.'