NOVEL WEB Chapter 63 Awakening in the Hospital
"Drip... Drip... Drip..."
The hospital equipment followed the changes of the indicator lights and made a regular beeping sound, while the data now displayed on the screen slowly scrolled by, indicating that the patient's current condition was stable.
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A wave of soreness surged from all directions, awakening Valke from his sleep. He opened his eyes to see the pale blue ceiling above and then tried to sit up, but the pain in his waist and abdomen made him abandon the idea for the time being.
"Stay down for now, don't try to force yourself." A somewhat young voice came from the side, and Valke turned his gaze to look beside him.
A young-looking male physician was standing by his side, intently observing the data on the equipment and holding an electronic clipboard to record some key information.
After observing and recording, he put away the clipboard and approached to ask.
"This is the hospital section of Edith Academy. How do you feel now?" He revealed a silver sage nameplate on his white coat.
Nameplate: Patrick Frankati, Radiant Feather Sequence 6, High Rank Healing Attending Physician
As one of the best physicians in Edith Academy, even though he was responsible for many students' physical examinations, this student Valke had an unusually robust physique.
"My whole body is sore, especially around the waist and belly," Valke honestly expressed.
"That's to be expected. A young man like you, who took a light saber stab head-on, I've never seen before," Patrick said with an amused look on his face.
"Remember, when you see weapons like light sabers, stay far away, and it's best to take them down from a distance."
"So, are there no ways to counter light sabers up close?" Valke asked, puzzled.
"Of course, there are plenty, but they are not recommended."
"The most common way is to wear high-intensity armor, but generally, armor two levels higher than a light saber is needed to effectively withstand the most powerful of thrusts."
"For instance, Radiant Gold Level light sabers equipped by some firm members require military-grade Colored Crystal Mecha to completely ignore their damage."
"Those conditions are unachievable for most people, and more commonly, reliance on evasion and similar confrontations is what is actually used."
"At the end of the day, it's a person holding the light saber. There will be flaws in their moves, their speed, their angles, and so on."
"Besides, a light saber is a rather brute force weapon with immense energy consumption. Even a Transcendent of Sequence 5 cannot battle for more than a few minutes using a stream-type light saber. Their Magic Power spent on this front means weaknesses elsewhere. If you can find a flaw or compensate with other advantages, you can also easily defeat your opponent."
"Lastly, it's about confrontation with the same tools. If the opponent has a light saber, there's no reason we shouldn't use one too, right? As long as you're better with it, of course you can completely crush the opponent."
"These are the three common counter-strategies. The best strategy is to use excellent armor to resist, the middle strategy relies on skill to attack their weaknesses, and the last resort is confrontation with the same tool, with life and death decided by the light saber."
"I get it, thank you, teacher," Valke said thoughtfully, as if he really took the advice to heart.
Seeing him still eager to learn at this moment, Patrick shook his head, not sure whether to praise him for his attitude or just his mentality.
"You should focus on your recovery for now. There's no rush on learning. By the way, what would you like for lunch? I'll order it for you."
"Isn't that usually prescribed by the doctor?" Valke replied, a bit surprised, as he had been in and out of hospitals often, and it was always the doctor who instructed him on what to eat and what not to.
"That's what a mediocre doctor would do, just to save trouble and avoid complications by giving patients a fixed meal plan."
"But with me, I think eating something you like to keep a good mood is more conducive to healing, as long as it's not too excessive, I think it's all okay,"
"Got it, then get me a honey chicken leg combo, please."
"Oh, that's pretty common. Honey and meat are gentle, good for replenishing the body. You seem quite experienced." The physician swiftly ordered the meal on his personal terminal and set it aside.
"While we're waiting for lunch to arrive, could you tell me about what happened that day? Although I'm now acting as a doctor, I am also a teacher at the Academy, and I'd like to understand the specific causes and details."
"It went like this..." Valke began to recount the events of that day, as many buried memories also resurfaced.
...
Ten years ago, outside the northern District 9, in the black strontium outskirts.
Amidst the cold howling winds, he was awakened, with flakes of snow falling, the sky perpetually overcast and grey.
Throwing off the old blanket on him, Valke looked around and discovered he was in an abandoned dump. Barely standing up, he glanced at his hands, red and swollen from the cold, feeling somewhat lost and sad.
'Abandoned again...'
This wasn't the first time. He had never seen his father, and after his mother took care of him for a while, she grew tired of him being a drag and left with another man.
Who then took him in? Probably his grandfather, the old man with the bent back who fed him meager meals and somehow kept him alive.
But his grandfather also lived a difficult life and couldn't always provide him with enough food; hunger was always a part of life.
He followed the old man, curling up in a small house on the outskirts where the elderly man scavenged through trash for a living. After a few years of taking care of him, the old man's body grew frail with age, and he entrusted Valke to a nephew before ultimately passing away in his home.
After the old man's death, this 'nephew' in his forties and his family could no longer tolerate the child who looked as foreign as a wild beast. One winter night, they drugged him with a sleeping potion and dumped him tens of kilometers away in the outskirts.
Valke, who had long sensed the family's dislike, wasn't surprised, just pondering what he might find to eat that day.
Wrapped in the old blanket, he stood up and began to wander the outskirts, searching, flipping through various snow-covered ruins for anything useful. As time went on, he acquired more and more things to wear, which made him heavier, but at least he wasn't as cold.
After aimlessly walking along the road for a long time, he came upon a red pavilion by the roadside. The pavilion stood alone in the wilderness, inside were intact network terminals and communication equipment.
He tried to open the pavilion, only to be met with rejection.
[Identity check failed. No resident identity chip detected. Please enter your Federal resident code for verification...]
[Input error, data format does not match. Please re-enter.]
[Input error, data format does not match. Please re-enter.]
[Input error, data format does not match. Please re-enter.]
...
After several attempts, he walked away disheartened,, but occasionally he would look back at the intact pavilion on the wasteland.
Many years later, he would learn that just by passing the identity check, he could have entered the pavilion to seek warmth, avoid the cold wind, get basic emergency starch and protein food, and even contact an automated hovering car to travel to cities where humans were gathered.
But all of this was out of reach for him at the time; he could only continue to drift in the wilderness.
...
After an indeterminate amount of walking, he finally found a small human settlement, a town with an estimated fifty households, small shops, and supermarkets.
He tried to approach but was quickly detected by the town's surrounding surveillance and chased away by an Autonomous Unit.
These Sequence 6 Autonomous Units, although lacking enforcement authority and the ability to use violence against humans, emitted strong alarm sounds that attracted the attention of town residents, often forcing him to flee in a panic.
It was only two days later that he found a blind spot in the town's surveillance and sneaked in at night to find some food.
He survived, and the joy of eating those half-spoilt foods was so great that the experience remained unforgettable to him.
He lurked in the town for two days, still in hiding, until the townspeople found him. Fortunately, they only chased him away without taking him to the security institution, probably considering it too much of a hassle.
Leaving the town, he resumed his wanderings, continuing on until one day, he finally collapsed in the wilderness, his body gradually growing cold as his thoughts slowly ceased.