Chapter 243: [My Mother] Making an Unreasonable Scene
Mother Han could offer no answer, and Bai Cha refrained from pressing further.
Slowly adapting to her body’s physical distress, she set about contemplating her path to clearing this instance.
By rights, so long as she eliminated Mother Han and shut down this instance, clearance would follow as a matter of course.
Brute-forcing the NPC wasn’t out of the question either.
Yet the other party had aided her in the past, after all.
Thus, that option remained a measure of absolute last resort.
Taking her personal circumstances into account, however, she felt somewhat uncertain as to whether her body could endure the power residing within Mother Han.
Power harvested by the Dodder Vines versus power voluntarily offered by Mother Han might not necessarily bear much difference.
Which implied she would be forced to suffer excruciating pain simultaneously.
Attempting it might fail to kill Mother Han anyway—unless she abandoned the Dodder Vines to execute a direct kill—yet Mother Han was currently split into ten distinct fragments.
Consequently, she had to give proper thought to the standard clearance route as well.
The game had provided no explicit duration for this instance, stating merely that achieving the objective would unlock clearance.
Yet if she failed to achieve the objective, wouldn’t she be trapped here indefinitely?
Furthermore, the objective itself proved exceedingly vague.
Truthfully speaking, what truly constituted a “good child”?
Particularly in Mother Han’s eyes, what kind of child did she crave?
Back in the “Passing with Flying Colors” instance, she wished for her child to gain admission to a prestigious university and refrain from becoming a person like herself.
If that served as the objective, a clear direction existed at the very least.
In her current state within this instance, however, Mother Han focused far more on caring for her child personally—hoping the child wouldn’t fall ill, wouldn’t suffer injuries, with schooling rendered unimportant and nothing taking priority over the child remaining healthy and safe.
If that was all, she clearly couldn’t pull it off.
And when would such an expectation ever draw to a close?
Achieving health and safety meant growing up next, and what lay beyond growing up?
Getting married, having children, and living the life Mother Han deemed blissful in her eyes?
Would that count as a perfect child in her book?
Mother Han achieving her own life value through her child would bring the objective to a close.
Yet that timeline was far too long.
And far too difficult.
At its core, this remained Mother Han’s personal obsession.
While she was pondering how to leverage her physical illness, the doctor walked over and summoned Mother Han outside.
“Mom…” Bai Cha called out to her as well.
Please, was there any conversation she couldn’t be allowed to hear?
She looked at Mother Han pitifully.
“Can you please not leave? It hurts so much…”
Mother Han hesitated briefly, turning to the doctor: “Say whatever it is right here.”
The doctor looked at Bai Cha on the bed, then turned his gaze onto Mother Han, letting out a soft sigh.
“Alright. It’s like this: the test results have come back. There is no match between you and your child. Furthermore, we discovered you suffer from severe anemia; under these circumstances, even if a match existed, you would be unable to donate bone marrow to her.”
Fruck like a thunderbolt, Mother Han’s body reeled, swaying unsteadily.
“How could that be? How could there be no match? I am her mother!”
“This is completely normal. In many cases, failures to match among parents and siblings are quite common. For now, we can only wait for a match from the general public.”
“Rather than the match, you ought to pay attention to your own body while caring for the child. Your current anemia is truly severe.”
Mother Han couldn’t take in a single word of what followed, holding Bai Cha’s hand in utter breakdown as she buried her face in the hospital bed and broke into loud, uncontrollable sobs.
The doctor let out a sigh, shaking his head as he set a stack of test forms on the bedside table before taking his leave.
Watching Mother Han’s frail, near skin-and-bones frame, feeling her tears trace across her hand, Bai Cha remained silent for a long time.
Once Mother Han’s crying subsided slightly, Bai Cha pulled her hand free and squeezed her hand in reverse.
“Mom, take me out of the hospital.”
Mother Han raised her head, appearing not to have heard clearly.
“What did you say?”
“I said take me out of the hospital. I don’t want to stay in the hospital; I want to go out and play with Mom.”
It was Mother Han’s turn to fall into silence.
Mother Han fixated her gaze on Bai Cha, her expression carrying an agonized, silent endurance.
“Once you get better, Mom will take you out of the hospital,” she uttered softly in the end.
Bai Cha looked at her, then abruptly yanked off her oxygen tube and pulled out the IV needle inserted into her hand.
Her movements were so fast that Mother Han lacked the time to react completely.
“What are you doing?!”
“Mom is sick too! If Mom doesn’t stay in the hospital, I won’t stay in the hospital either! If Mom doesn’t get treated, I won’t get treated either!”
Bai Cha had already scrambled up from the bed; attempting to step down, her body throbbed with such intense pain that she ultimately tumbled right off.
“Ying-ying!”
Mother Han rushed forward in a frantic panic.
Nurses came sprinting over at the sound.
“What happened? What are you doing?!”
Ignoring the nurse, Bai Cha grabbed Mother Han’s clothes, her eyes rimmed red as fat tears spilled down her cheeks in large drops.
“Mom, I want to go home! I only want to be with Mom! If Mom isn’t doing well, I won’t be doing well either!”
Mother Han shook her head in sheer agony, pulling her into a tight hug.
“Ying-ying, stop throwing a fit! Get your illness cured first—once your illness is cured, Mom’s illness will get better too, alright?”
“You’re lying!”
Exerting every ounce of strength in her body, Bai Cha pushed Mother Han away.
“You never take care of yourself! Once I get better, you’ll collapse, and then I won’t have a mom anymore!”
Mother Han opened her mouth several times, yet failed to produce a sound.
Choking up, she uttered in the end: “Mom… is fine… Mom won’t have any problems at all. Mom has special powers…”
“You’re lying!!”
Turning into a young child meant one’s voice naturally sounded sharp.
Bai Cha rarely put on a performance of throwing tantrums; after all, throwing a fit as an adult often yielded counterproductive results.
A child was different.
Though naturally, moderation was key.
A young child might fail to grasp the boundaries, but she was a mature adult, after all!
Bai Cha fixated a furious, aggrieved stare onto Mother Han; following her earlier sharp outburst, her voice softened abruptly in a single moment.
“I want Mom to get better…”
“Mom can never be without Ying-ying, but Ying-ying can’t be without Mom either…”
Mother Han broke down into tears, yet found herself unable to make a sound; her throat felt stifled and miserable, her chest throbbing with a tight, suffocating pain, forcing her to pound her chest repeatedly.
Witnessing this scene, the doctor who rushed over could only let out another sigh.
“Little girl, why don’t you get back onto the hospital bed first? Your mom is simply far too worried about you. Let’s cure your illness first, alright?”
“I won’t!” Bai Cha fixated a stubborn, unyielding stare onto Mother Han.
“If Mom doesn’t take care of herself, I won’t either!”
The doctor had no choice but to turn to Mother Han.
“Family member, you see it yourself—the child is simply feeling distressed over your condition. How about this: there are still open beds in this ward room, and your condition requires medical treatment to begin with. You might as well stay here to accompany the child for a period, undergo proper treatment, and set a good example for the child, alright?”
Mother Han raised her head, rendered incapable of speaking, yet shaking her head out of pure instinct.
Bai Cha’s tears surged out violently in an instant, and she wiped them away harshly with her sleeve.
A nurse nearby rushed over to hold her with deep heartache.
“It’s like this: children generally mimic their parents. If a parent engages in self-harming behavior, the child will often exhibit similar behavior upon growing up. You see, your child feels distressed for you right now, refusing to take care of herself or cooperate with treatment.”
The doctor delivered a patient persuasion.
“Family member, if you truly want what’s best for your child, set a proper example for her.”
Mother Han looked toward Bai Cha with helpless, agonizing distress.
