Lami Remembered the White Door

When did you see your father?

Luo squatted down next to the wheelchair and first lowered Lami's oxygen flow rate by one notch.

The blockage in the pipeline hadn't been cleared yet, and turning it on too high would have made her choke.

I don't remember which time I woke up.

Which ward?

"Here."

"This is the God Valley Ward."

It wasn't like this before.

Wa Tie'er raised his hand from the bed.

Don't let her think about it.

Luo turned to look at him.

"Why?"

"A child's memory can mix up different wards; she may have seen the White Door in Flevance, and she might have seen it at the Transfer Station as well."

"I'm not mistaken," Lami said.

You've been asleep for sixteen years.

I've woken up nine times too.

"It's never long."

"Enough for me to remember the door."

Luo did not answer on behalf of either side.

He unfolded the old mine tunnel map and placed it on his sister's lap.

"Point out the location."

Lami looked at it for a while, then moved his finger along the oxygen supply tube on the diagram, finally stopping at the innermost part of the ward.

There were no rooms there, only a section of abandoned drainage ditch.

"The door is here."

How can you be so sure?

"I can hear water."

Luo unfolds the room.

There is indeed water flowing behind the stone wall.

The wall is over three meters thick, and there are no door hinges or locks inside.

Vegapunk said, "I only detected the drainpipe; Lami probably remembers another identical structure."

"They only appear during shift changes," Lami said.

The door won't disappear on its own.

"Meeting."

How did it disappear?

"Someone deleted the route."

Wa Tie'er turned his face toward the wall.

That's enough.

Luo stood up.

"You know about White Door."

"Have no idea."

"You just looked there."

"The ward is only this big."

"You even knew the route would be deleted."

"The Throne keeps changing its course."

Who can change it?

"On-duty doctor."

Have you changed your ways?

Wa Tie'er removed his breathing mask, and the blood he coughed up fell onto the white cloth.

He folded the white cloth over and covered the red piece.

"I'm not letting you in for your own good."

I've heard that phrase too many times.

"Your father said that too."

So he died.

Lami grabbed Luo's sleeve.

"Elder brother."

"How?"

"Don't make a sound, he can't breathe."

Wa Tie'er put his breathing mask back on, but his hand failed to grip the side strap.

I tried twice, but the plastic buckle still slipped off my fingers.

Lami pushed the wheelchair forward.

Luo held the wheel.

You stay here.

I'll deduct it for him.

"Drake will help."

Drake went over and fastened the clip.

Wa Tie'er closed his eyes and waited until his breathing returned to normal before saying, "The person you're looking for isn't behind the White Door."

What am I looking for?

Your parents.

How do you know they're not here?

I watched them leave.

Which way?

Wa Tie'er fell silent.

Luo folded up the mine tunnel map.

"Lami, let's go."

Where to?

"Find the door."

Chopper immediately objected. "She can't leave the ward. The lack of oxygen just now has affected her heart rate. You should at least let her rest for half an hour."

"I can walk," Lami said.

You can't.

I use a wheelchair.

"It gets tiring to be in a wheelchair."

"Then I won't say anything."

You coughed just now.

"The pipe is blocked."

"Why is the pipe blocked? Because your breathing hasn't adjusted yet!"

Lami shut his mouth.

Chopper waited for a while.

Why did you stop talking?

She pointed to herself and then waved her hand.

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the communicator.

I'm not telling you to really not say a word.

"You get tired from talking."

"You can say so if necessary."

Is leading the way necessary?

Chopper was stumped.

Vegapunk chuckled beside him, then quickly turned off the line again.

Chopper said, "Okay, but stop every five minutes. If your oxygen level drops below the line I drew, come back immediately."

"Good."

"Luo, did you hear me?"

"I heard you."

"Say it again."

"Stop every five minutes; if it falls below the line, bring it back up."

"Also, we can't let her push her own wheelchair."

Drake gripped the handle at the back of the wheelchair.

"I'll do it."

Luo walked to the front, and the room extended to both sides along the drainpipe.

The group left the ward following the sound of water, but Dragon called out to them from behind.

"There are guards inside the White Door."

Luo turned around.

"Who?"

"Child."

"Alive?"

"I have no idea."

"You've been inside?"

"When I was little."

What's inside?

"Medicine."

Wa Tie'er suddenly said, "There's no medicine."

Dragon looked at him.

You've never been inside.

"I'm in charge of delivering medicine to that room."

"For whom?"

"Doctor."

Which doctor?

You don't know him.

Dragon braced himself against the bed frame, trying to sit up, and the heart rate monitor immediately alerted him.

"It's Doctor Trafalgar."

Wa Tie'er did not deny it.

Luo stood at the door.

My father?

"Older than your father," Dragon said.

Luo looked at Wa Tie'er.

It's you.

I've never been a goalkeeper.

Who is that?

Keep going forward, and you will see it.

Wa Tie'er raised his hand and touched the control lever on the wall.

Luo's ROOM had already changed the lines inside the club.

The man grabbed at empty air.

"You want to delete the route?"

The area behind the door is abandoned.

"Get out of the way."

"You'll get Lami killed."

The girl in the wheelchair turned her head to look at him.

I don't want my brother to go in alone.

He's a doctor.

"Doctors can make mistakes too."

What could you possibly do there?

Tell him where he went wrong.

Luo didn't urge her.

Wa Tie'er stared at Lami for a moment, then moved his hand away.

"At the third corner of the drain pipe, knock down the wall."

"How many times?" Luo asked.

"Seventeenth grade."

"So you knew all along."

"The door won't stay open forever. Once you're inside, don't look back the way you came."

"Why?"

"The Throne will erase the paths you have walked."

Drake pushed the wheelchair and followed Luo.

The drain was narrower than the stairs, and water seeped constantly from the walls on both sides. When you stepped on the old wooden planks on the floor, bubbles would rise to the surface.

At the third corner, Lami raised his hand.

"Stop."

Luo knocked seventeen times.

The stone wall remained unchanged.

"Wrong?" Drake asked.

"Don't knock here," Lami said.

Where should we knock?

"Water pipe."

She pointed to a rusty pipe overhead.

Luo struck the first note with the scabbard.

The sound traveled along the pipe wall, and a few seconds later, it echoed back from a distance.

He continued knocking.

On the sixteenth beat, the Echo appeared earlier than expected.

Before the seventeenth strike had even landed, Lami said, "There's someone inside."

Luo grasped the Kikoku.

Drake pulled the wheelchair behind him.

"Should we open it?"

"Since we're already here..."

The final blow struck the pipe wall.

The sound of old gears turning came from inside the wall.

The stone wall in front of us shifted to the side by half a foot, revealing a door panel painted white, though much of the paint had chipped off the edges.

There are two handprints on the door.

One that belongs to adults.

The other one is only the size of a child.

Lami raised his hand and pressed it onto the smaller palm print.

An inquiry came from inside the door.

Patient's name.

Trafalgar Lami.

"Attending physician."

"Dr. Chopper."

Luo glanced at her.

"Not me?"

"You're the older brother."

The device behind the door asked again.

"Identity of the accompanying personnel."

"My brother, and Drake."

The third doctor was not registered.

Luo pressed another palm print onto the ground.

"Trafalgar Law, Doctor."

The White Door opens inward.

There was no smell of medicine in the air, only the dampness from water left out for a long time.

There was no medicine cabinet inside.

There are seventeen small chairs against the wall, each with a name engraved on its back.

Lami looked over and recognized several of them.

They sat here.

Chopper asked, "What are you doing?"

"Wait for the doctor to call your name."

Has anyone come back?

"I don't know, I always fall asleep when I get to the front of the line."

An old Den Den Mushi) sat in the center of the room.

Its shell had cracked open, and several folded pieces of paper were stuffed into the crack.

Luo walked over, Den Den Mushi didn't wake up.

"Out of power?" Drake asked.

It's waiting for someone.

"Waiting for whom?"

Luo pulled the first piece of paper out of the shell.

The above is my father's handwriting.

[After the third doctor arrives, ask the patient to answer first.]

Luo handed the paper to Lami.

"What do you want to ask you?"

She turned over to her back.

There was only one sentence written there.

Would you like your brother to know what you've done for him?

After reading it, Lami folded the paper back up.

Luo reached out his hand.

"Give me."

"Nothing."

What's written on it?

"My dad asked me."

"What do you want to ask?"

Lami clutched the paper to his lap.

"Turn on the Den Den Mushi first."

"You don't want to tell me?"

"We'll talk about it later."

"When?"

"When you're not angry anymore."

I'm not angry now.

Drake coughed from behind.

Luo turned his head.

"You have a problem with that?"

"No."

"Then keep quiet."

Lami stuffed the paper into his coat pocket.

See? You can't listen to this now.

Luo was about to ask another question when a tremor came from outside the door.

Dust fell from above.

The Medical Department began damaging the drainage system.

Drake held the White Door shut.

"They've found this place."

"Wake up the Den Den Mushi first," Law said.

How do I call it?

Lami reached for the old Button and tapped it four times lightly by the door.

The Den Den Mushi opened its eyes.

A recording came from its mouth.

"If Lami wakes up, it means the Throne has found a third doctor."

Luo recognized his father's voice.

The recording also includes sounds of tables and chairs being dragged and papers being turned over.

After a while, the father spoke again.

"Luo, if it's you who comes, don't let your sister sign anything yet. She's already signed for you once."

Lami lowered his head.

Luo glanced at the paper in her pocket.

What have you signed?

"I forgot."

"You still remember the White Door?"

Not everything is remembered.

The recording continues playing.

A child started crying in the distance.

It's not Lami.

The crying only lasted a moment, then someone comforted them, "Don't be afraid, the doctor will be back soon."

Luo's father approached the Den Den Mushi).

"If you can still hear the second child's voice, don't finish the shift handover; he hasn't been taken away."