Leo was confined to his bed, and he grit his teeth through the pain. Time did not seem to pass, every second was so agonizing for him that it felt like a day for him.
It was evening when Leo sensed some relief, his limbs and the rest of the body was no longer feeling as if it was under a sledge hammer. The door of the room was pushed open and he saw Snow coming in, and she was followed by Lily.
The young lady saw him gathering his senses, and found him covered in sweat as she said, "I will clean you, just one minute."
Snow was going inside the washroom to grab a pail and sponge, when Leo turned his head to the side properly and asked, "Lily, did you miss Baba?"
As soon as he said this, Snow froze, and Lily jumped with excitement and exclaimed, "Ma, Baba called Lily! Baba talked to Lily!"
Snow also forgot about the sponge, she rushed to the side of the bed and asked hurriedly, "Leo, say it again, can you, please."
She did not realize that her words were all jumbled up. Leo smiled softly and said, "It has been hard for you, right, love."
Snow covered her mouth and tears began to drip from her eyes. Lily climbed the bed and asked, "Baba, can you talk to Lily more?"
Leo smiled and said, "Yes, what should we talk about? How about the things Lily learned in school today? Will you tell me?"
Lily nodded happily and began to tell him about what she learned. Leo's was still a bit raspy, but Snow could spend the rest of her life listening to him. The young lady watched the father and daughter talk for half an hour, before she realized that Leo was still covered in dry sweat. She said, "Lily, you go and take a bath, Ma will clean Baba."
Lily looked at her in protest but Leo said, "Lily, Baba will talk to you after you have bathed. This is not a dream."
Lily was very reluctant and Snow said, "Baby, Baba needs to clean up, see he has so much sweat on him."
Lily sighed and then left the room. The house was a modest two bedroom unit, and Snow shared room with Lily. The young lady looked at Leo and then grabbed the sponge quickly to clean him. She had a vibrant smile on her face the entire time.
She could sense Leo showing some strength in his movements, and after she was done cleaning, the young man asked, "Snow, where is this place?"
Snow smiled and replied, "The Angor city."
Leo frowned and asked, "Did they trouble you?"
Snow shook her head and replied, "No, they cannot be bothered with me. Although life has been hard, I can still hold a good position in the school. My interaction with them is non existent."
Leo nodded and then he took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. Snow patted his hand and said softly, "Do not think much, they will reap what they sowed."
Leo opened his eyes, and Snow was surprised to see them red. The young man said, "They will pay for what they did. Lily deserves to be the successor of the legacy that her grandparents left behind. I will get it back for her, and I will settle all the accounts with them when I get better."
Snow heard the resolve in his voice, and she knew that Leo would not give up even if she wanted him to live a normal life. Leo calmed down and he looked at her as he said, "Do not worry, I will not put you and Lily in trouble."
Snow smiled and shook her head. She said, "Your condition is like this because of me, so it does not matter what you do, I will support you."
Leo nodded gently. A few minutes later, Lily came over with a book in her hand. She wanted to talk a lot with Leo, the young man also smiled and accommodated her. Lily lay next to him and gave the book to Snow as she said, "Ma, you read us this book, I got it from Wayne."
Leo asked with a raised brow, "Who is wayne?"
Lily turned around and said, "Wayne is my friend, Baba. He is blonde and so handsome."
Leo frowned and said, "Baba is also handsome, you know. Just wait, in a few days, you will be charmed."
Lily and Leo began to bicker, and Snow had an amused expression on her face. She did not expect her husband to have such a strong possessive feeling for their daughter, and she was happy because of this.
She opened the book, and began to read the story. Leo was surprised that this book was about cultivation, and then he looked at Snow with a doubtful gaze. Snow sensed his eyes and blushed, and she was about to say something when Lily said, "Baba, you should be like Shi Lang, strong and smart. Ma loves him."
That said, she turned over, and put her arm over him as she fell asleep.
Shi Lang was the protagonist of this story and he was a very strong cultivator. Leo looked at his wife and found her hiding her face behind the book. He couldn't help but smile and said, "It's okay, I also like Amelia."
Snow was surprised but when she looked at Leo's face, she understood that he was messing with her. She snorted and said, "I am going to cook."
Leo was being fed on IV bags, and he was still not able to move around so he did not ask for food. Snow put the book on the side, and was about to lift Lily when Leo asked, "Can you let her stay here for some more time?"
Snow was surprised but then she realized that Leo loved Lily and this was the first time she has been this close to him. All her life, Lily has only seen her father from a distance, and just recently Snow allowed her to touch Leo.
She nodded and left the room, Leo turned his gaze to the side and found Lily sleeping with her mouth slightly open, 'Ping: Your daughter wished for you to be strong, generating an attribute panel. All the attributes can be increased by working on them.'
Leo saw a holographic panel appear in his vision.
Name : Leo Cardinal
Age : 24
Level : Beginner Father
Strength : -1
Stamina : -1
Intelligence : 5
Speed : -5
Skills : None
Talent : You are a waste of space.
Items : None
After reading the last three attributes, Leo almost coughed up a mouthful of blood. Then he closed his eyes to sleep.
…
Life during the last week was a roller coaster. Leo was now able to move his limbs but he was still too weak to do things like walking or sitting. He had a catheter attached to his genitals so he had to wait for Kaya to come and remove it.
Soon, it was the end of the week, Kaya came over and when she entered the room to check Leo. She was shocked, "This is a miracle!"
She exclaimed as soon as she saw Leo moving his head. With an excited smile, she held his hands and feet to check for movement and she was elated. After calming down, she said, "Leo, we can go to the hospital and you can get checked, I swear that after the data has been collected, you will not be held back as a medical subject."
Leo looked at her and said, "I agree, but instead of the Hope Garden hospital, can you do these tests in the People's first hospital?"
Kaya was stunned but then she nodded and said, "Good, I will arrange it and we can get it done in the morning tomorrow."
Leo nodded, he did not want to go to the big hospitals because of his history. His history was not simple to begin with.
The next day he went through tests and the results were all comparable to that of a normal human. Only his muscles were degraded. Kaya told him to undergo physiotherapy and so they did. Leo knew that his wife did not earn that much and it was putting a strain on her. So the first thing he did after coming home was, he told her a secret, "Snow, come here, I want to talk to you about something."
Snow sat next to him and asked, "What is it, honey?"
Leo looked at her and said, "My dad used to give me a bulky pocket money, and I used to put half of it away in a secret account that was not under the knowledge of my family. After all that happened, I am sure that my accounts must have been frozen, but can you try and login to this one account and see if it is still working?"
Snow nodded and was about to grab her laptop when Leo said, "No, go to the internet cafe, and check from there. If the account has been discovered and closed, your log in might ping them."
The lady got worried but she still nodded and left the house. Lily asked, "Where is Ma going?"
Leo smiled and said, "Ma is going to check something, how about Lily playing that word game with Daddy?"
"Yay!" Lily cheered and the game began.
Leo was also enjoying the game, but his stage was bigger than the small word game, he was going to play a game where he will change the world for his daughter.