The Frenzied Savior - Chapter 42

Luo Tianqi left to handle work-related matters, but Luo Mingyuan remained outside Fu Qingya’s ward. Once Fu Qingya was transferred to a regular room, Luo Mingyuan thoughtfully had a housekeeper deliver patient-appropriate meals and brought them inside.

“What do you feel like eating?”

Luo Mingyuan meticulously adjusted the hospital bed and set up the small over-bed table. He then took a wide variety of dishes out of the thermal containers and arranged them nearby.

Wanting to ensure Fu Qingya ate well, Luo Mingyuan hadn’t just asked his own housekeeper to prepare her signature light dishes, he had even called the family estate to have their cook send over additional options.

The table in the private ward was large, but it was still packed to the brim with food.

Fu Qingya stared for a moment. “Why are you still here?”

She then frowned slightly. “I can manage on my own. I don’t need you to look after me.”

Fu Qingya felt that her interactions with Luo Mingyuan had been limited. Their relationship hadn’t reached the point where she would naturally expect him to care for her during an illness.

Reading the intent in her eyes, Luo Mingyuan gritted his teeth almost imperceptibly. This little ingrate—after all they had been through together, she still didn’t consider him a friend?

Luo Mingyuan laughed out of sheer frustration. “You’re the Head of State’s favorite, you know. As a lowly staff member, of course I have to take good care of you, if only to stop you from treating your body like a joke. If you keep this up, you’re going to waste yourself away one day.”

“And if that happens, I won’t be able to escape the blame.”

Luo Mingyuan leaned in, half-supporting her as he tucked a soft pillow behind her back. “Pick something, quickly.”

“Otherwise, it’ll all go to waste.”

Having spent some time with Fu Qingya, Luo Mingyuan had noticed that she deeply cherished food. Despite her significant wealth, she never wasted a single bite.

Fu Qingya’s frown remained as she looked at him with slight disapproval. “There’s so much here. Even if I eat, I won’t make a dent in it.”

“It will still end up being wasted.”

“Don’t worry, I have a massive appetite. I promise to finish every last scrap after you’re done.”

Considering that Fu Qingya had just come out of surgery, her appetite was bound to be poor, so Luo Mingyuan had asked for small portions. Given his heavy daily training and the mental and physical toll of his work, finishing the leftovers wouldn’t be an issue at all, he’d just need a digestive tablet afterward.

Fu Qingya gave him several skeptical looks but ultimately chose to believe him. Since he had gone to all this trouble and phrased it that way, she wouldn’t be stubborn enough to refuse.

“Just the plain congee is fine.”

Not long ago in the operating room, she had been simultaneously controlling her physical body to relax her muscles while frantically pushing her mental energy to merge the mutant genes. The process had left her mentally exhausted and with very little appetite.

For her, filling her stomach just enough to avoid hunger was sufficient, she had no need for flavor or texture. Plain congee was the most efficient choice.

Luo Mingyuan seemed to sense her dismissiveness. After bringing her the congee, he placed several side dishes onto a small plate. “A balanced meal is better for your recovery.”

Knowing that Fu Qingya lived by the creeds of efficiency and utility, Luo Mingyuan cut off her objections before she could speak. Recalling the nutritional theories of balancing proteins and vegetables, Fu Qingya prepared to accept the plate, even if she found it a bit bothersome.

This wasn’t the first time she had been pressured into eating and resting by people sent by the Head of State because of her neglect of daily needs. Despite the hardships everyone faced, they refused to let Fu Qingya live like an ascetic.

Situations like this, where someone added variety to her “dismissive” choices to improve taste and efficacy, happened often. She was used to it.

Luo Mingyuan, however, let out a quiet sigh of relief. This stubbornest of stubborn souls was finally listening to reason for once.

He found Fu Qingya’s personality completely at odds with her life history. Aside from a lack of parental affection, her life had been relatively smooth, safe, and affluent. Yet, every word and gesture of hers carried the weight of someone who had suffered immensely.

It was as if she had lived through famine, torture, despair, and death.

She seemed broken, but in a way that was heartbreaking, sparking an uncontrollable urge in Luo Mingyuan to figure her out.

What exactly had turned her into this?

Perhaps once he was closer to her, he would finally get an answer.

Luo Mingyuan bypassed her hand as she reached for the spoon and carefully fed a mouthful of congee to her lips.

Fu Qingya’s gaze held a moment of blank confusion before shifting to realization.

Does Luo Mingyuan view me as a junior to be coddled, just like the Head of State does?

He looked so young, yet he possessed such a parental air. It genuinely surprised her.

But since she was accustomed to being pampered like a junior, she was quick to adapt. After that brief moment of surprise, she accepted his kindness.

She didn’t eat much. Perhaps it was because her gene chain had been shattered and reorganized, but even with a small amount of food, she could feel her physiological needs being rapidly met as the congee entered her system.

It felt as though her body was extracting and absorbing one hundred percent of the energy from the food. As efficiency rose, the required volume naturally decreased.

Or perhaps her gene chain, influenced by that strange foreign cluster, was acting like a plant, spontaneously absorbing energy from the environment.

Fu Qingya’s mental energy circled the special gene cluster several times before she noticed a few clues in the subtle genetic shifts.

She intentionally quickened her breathing. Sure enough, she saw the surface of her skin absorbing the light energy hidden in the sunlight at a faster rate, driving it into her body. As the energy integrated, her sense of fullness increased.

Genetic sequences were truly incredible things.

Fu Qingya marveled silently.

Shortly after, she declined further feeding from Luo Mingyuan.

“My six-month-old kitten eats more than you.”

Luo Mingyuan stared at the more than half-full bowl of congee, his brow furrowed. This wouldn’t even sustain a toddler, let alone provide the nutrients needed for Fu Qingya’s severely depleted body.

“Just a little more?”

Luo Mingyuan pressed the spoon against the corner of her lips. “If you eat too little, your bones might stop growing at this height. You wouldn’t want to end up shorter than me, right?”

“My physical data tells me that further ingestion is unnecessary at this time.”

Fu Qingya withdrew her mental energy and refused again. She wanted to experiment and see how long this body could last purely on environmental energy driven by the special gene cluster.

Where exactly was the limit?

She was intensely curious.

“In the operating room, your body temperature dropped below 34°C. Even after surgery and leaving the ICU, your temperature has stayed at a low 35°C. Your skin is pale and clammy, and your lips are purple.

Under these conditions, if you don’t rest properly, your temperature will keep falling. For every degree it drops, your cell death rate increases by 17%.

I’m telling you, don’t be reckless. I don’t want to end up performing your autopsy in the lab myself.”

“Do you really think a person so depleted that their body temperature mimics a fresh corpse can recover by eating just a few bites of congee?”

Having watched her neglect herself for so long, his bottled-up anger finally exploded. The “venom” began to pour from Luo Mingyuan’s mouth in waves.

Fu Qingya thought about it seriously. “I am not like them anymore.”

“I will not die from hypothermia.”

Luo Mingyuan grit his teeth. The “venomous” lecture continued, but Fu Qingya remained steadfast.

Luo Mingyuan was so frustrated he leaned over, his palm hitting the side of her bed with a loud thud.

“Fu Qingya!”

“Wait, don’t move.”

Before Luo Mingyuan could finish his sentence, Fu Qingya suddenly held him back, her gaze fixed intently on the area outside the ward.

There, a young man in standard hospital pajamas was in a standoff with a doctor.

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