There Has to Be a Way

"It was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as ALS."

Uncle Lin pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket. Seeing that this was a hospital room, he paused, snapped the cigarette in half, crumpled it, and tossed it into the trash can beside him. "A terminal illness. It can't be cured."

The air in the ward seemed to freeze all at once.

Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin fell silent, as though they had already accepted the unfairness of fate.

It truly was.

Deeply unfair.

The hand Uncle Lin held the cigarette pack with gradually tightened, crushing the entire pack out of shape... He had only just lost his daughter! That bright, graceful daughter of his! The slump in his career was one thing, but now that damned heavens wanted to take his beloved wife from him too? Uncle Lin lowered his head, his face beginning to twist as blood slowly filled his eyes.

He hated it.

But there was nothing he could do.

Amid the silence, Li Yao suddenly said, "We still have time. There has to be a way."

Uncle Lin gave a bleak smile. "It's terminal. There's no cure."

Li Yao did not explain. He had not said that to Uncle Lin, but to himself—and to Lin Xiaowei, far away in another world. He was gradually moving beyond the ranks of ordinary people now. Something that was a terminal illness to human society... Well, he had no solution for it yet. After all, he was still a rookie.

But he believed Lin Xiaowei could solve this problem!

Uncle Lin, you did not need to lament fate's unfairness.

In fact...

Heaven had been incredibly kind to you.

You had an eldest daughter who had traveled to another world and become extraordinary, as well as a younger daughter whose luck was absurdly, explosively good.

If my parents knew about this, they'd definitely be so jealous their faces would twist beyond recognition and their cells would rupture.

Li Yao's confidence made him appear remarkably calm. Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin looked at him strangely, silently exchanging glances. Da Yao... seemed a little strange.

Why was he so calm?

Or was he just that thick-skinned? Before long, Lin Xiaoxi returned after washing her face.

She had even touched up her makeup.

Heh, kids born in the 2000s were really something. She had only just become an adult, yet her makeup was already quite refined! Lin Xiaoxi was also carefree enough to accept every lie her family had told her. Returning to the ward, she declared grandly, "Dad, move Mom to a VIP Ward. I have money now! More than eight million!"

Lin Xiaoxi's parents: "What?"

Lin Xiaoxi took out her phone and displayed a long string of numbers. "Look!"

Father Lin and Aunt Lin: "!!!"

Where had she gotten so much money? Lin Xiaoxi: ()! Amazing, right?

Her parents' faces immediately darkened. Was this the time for her to be proud?

Father Lin said seriously, "Xiaoxi, you... what did you do? How did you make so much money after one trip to Macau? There's nothing wrong with it, right? Da Yao... hurry up and explain!"

Lin Xiaoxi was completely immersed in her self-satisfied I'm so awesome! haze and could no longer be reasoned with, so Uncle Lin turned to Li Yao instead. Li Yao replied unhurriedly, "Mm, it's all clean money. Xiaoxi earned it herself."

As he spoke, he took out his own phone and showed them a long bank balance. "I made some too."

Father Lin and Aunt Lin: "???"

Was money that easy to make now?

They went on a trip and each came back with more than eight million? I'm worrying about a midlife crisis here, and you've suddenly made me the father of a rich, beautiful girl? Uncle Lin was deeply melancholy. He felt as if his status in the family had automatically dropped by one level.

Uncle Lin said, "You two, stop messing around. What exactly happened?"

Li Yao smiled. "We got lucky and won a little at the casino. Don't worry, we won't play that big next time."

So there would be a next time! Uncle Lin's face hardened as he tried to suppress this unhealthy trend with the authority of a parent.

Li Yao merely smiled without speaking.

If there was a next time—if, he meant—then they definitely would not play that big... They would play even bigger! Of course, he would not say that to Uncle Lin, and he would not bring Lin Xiaoxi along next time.

As for whether he was afraid his lively parents would find out?

Heh, if they knew, their smiles would probably split their faces.

His parents were exactly the sort of people who could comfortably become the parents of a first-generation rich man.

After chatting for a while longer, Uncle Lin was afraid the illness would be discovered, so he urged Lin Xiaoxi to go home and wait while he stayed at the hospital to care for his wife. Before leaving, Lin Xiaoxi transferred one million to Uncle Lin as medical expenses.

At once, their formerly tight medical funds became far more plentiful.

The pressure did not seem so overwhelming anymore. Hah, having money was nice.

Looking at the bank balance notification on his phone, Uncle Lin felt a complicated mix of emotions.

On the way back, Lin Xiaoxi lost the liveliness she had shown at the hospital and asked in a low voice, "Brother Li Yao, my mom..."

Li Yao said, "It's fine. It can be solved."

Lin Xiaoxi said, "Mm."

For some reason, she believed Li Yao. The panic in her heart seemed to ease.

After returning home, Li Yao, unwilling to face a barrage of questions from his parents, immediately ducked into his room and sent Lin Xiaowei a message. "You there?"

After quite a while, he received a voice message. He tapped it open, and a deep, magnetic male voice came from the speaker. "She's asleep."

Li Yao's face instantly darkened.

You're in another world! Where the hell did you get a lover who could send me a voice message in Chinese??? Were you having fun teasing me with an old voice clip you'd saved??? Li Yao replied, "Heh. I was going to tell you something important about your family, but since you're asleep, forget it."

Lin Xiaowei replied, "...Dad, I was wrong."

She had absolutely no principles! Li Yao rolled his eyes. "Aunt Lin is sick."

Lin Xiaowei said, "...Is it serious?"

Li Yao said, "ALS."

Then there was a long silence from her end.

Lin Xiaowei knew what ALS was. There had once been a huge trend on Weibo and Twitter—the Ice Bucket Challenge. It had initially been started by a former baseball player from Boston College. After completing the Ice Bucket Challenge, participants could nominate others to take part, and anyone who refused had to donate one hundred dollars. Later, many major figures in technology and the Internet joined in as well, lending their names to promote the cause.

The charitable results had been quite good at first, with donations exceeding one hundred million dollars.

But after it reached China, all sorts of online influencers and celebrities, big and small, began using it to chase publicity. Some even used wet-shirt seduction to draw attention...

A perfectly good charity campaign had somehow been completely ruined.

Li Yao and Lin Xiaowei had complained about it together at the time.

Yet in the blink of an eye, her own mother had developed this rare illness.

Lin Xiaowei, far away in another world, was dazed for a while. She shook her head and replied, "Send me detailed information on this ALS, along with my mom's full examination reports. Everything!"

Li Yao replied, "Okay."

Lin Xiaowei said, "Take care of my family for me. My little sister doesn't know, does she?"

Li Yao replied, "She may have guessed, but I told her there would be a way."

Lin Xiaowei said, "That's right. There has to be a way."

A terminal illness that Earth can't cure—

I'll cure it!