Help You

The bright moon hung high overhead. Stars filled the cloudless night sky, and a gentle breeze came from afar, rolling across the grassland in waves as it softly brushed over the boy's dark eyes. He lay on the grass, quietly gazing up at the bright moon amid the sea of stars. Its silver radiance was imprisoned in those deep-set eyes. No one knew what world lay within them, and no one could enter his thoughts.

Whenever he had free time at night, he would always stare at the moon, which was just like Earth's, as though he could see the smiling faces of his loved ones in its uneven surface.

The night breeze was exceptionally gentle. The lunchbox wrapped in a small floral cloth sat quietly beside him. No matter how effective its insulation was, after several hours, the dishes inside should have gone cold.

Just then, the faint sound of something heavy trampling through the grass came from nearby. Ye Zi's eyes instinctively narrowed, then slowly relaxed. This place, right in the middle of the main army, should not have been dangerous. More importantly, from the leisurely sound of those footsteps, he knew who had come.

"Why aren't you eating?"

Under the pure white moonlight, the girl's crisp voice, clear as jade beads falling onto a plate, drifted into Ye Zi's ears with the night breeze. Her silver eyes held a scrutinizing look, yet her voice was as quiet as a windless lake, making it impossible to tell that she was a little angry.

Ye Zi's eyes held only the bright moon. He did not notice the anger in the girl's gaze. He did not understand what the food in the lunchbox represented, but as its maker, the girl understood better than anyone—even better than that exalted adult in the field of medicine. So when she saw that the bow on the lunchbox had not been touched after several hours, she became a little angry.

Ye Zi said calmly, "My injuries have already healed, and I don't feel that my vitality is lacking anymore, so..."

The girl's delicate willow brows slowly curved. Her eyes, as gentle as the night breeze, swept over Ye Zi on the grass before gradually lifting toward the silver moon in the cloudless night sky. She had eyes as beautiful as the moon. At that moment, the silver moonlight could not conceal eyes of the same color, and hesitation and worry surfaced within them.

She said, "That isn't for replenishing blood."

Ye Zi froze for a moment, not knowing how to respond. He actually wanted to say, If a box of food like this has no benefit to the body, then with this amount, it wouldn't even be enough to pick one's teeth with. But that was merely his one-sided guess.

"Then, why... did you prepare all this for me?" He did not know the girl's name and had never thought to ask. If possible, he would not even want to accept these things. However, when he might end up on someone else's operating table at any time, he could not casually disregard another person's goodwill.

The girl did not answer. Instead, she asked, "May I sit down?"

Ye Zi answered readily, "Of course."

The girl moved over and gently sat beside Ye Zi. She wrapped both arms around her bent legs and lowered her head, resting her delicate chin on her knees. The night breeze mischievously lifted the two strands of silver hair hanging beside her temples.

Ye Zi caught a faint, pleasant fragrance, like the scent of ginger orchids covered in dewdrops at dawn. Following the fragrance, he looked toward the girl beside him and saw the silver strands hanging from her temples amid her full head of black hair, exceptionally conspicuous. When his gaze shifted, he could see only half of her face, concealed by her long hair.

The girl watched the tips of the grass swaying gently in the night breeze and said softly, "Do you know that the cells in your body are abnormally active?"

Ye Zi was slightly taken aback. After a moment of silence, he said calmly, "I know a little."

The girl said, "This isn't a good thing. The number of times a person's cells can divide in their lifetime is limited. Judging from your current rate of division, you won't live past thirty."

Ye Zi's expression remained very calm. He said, "And?"

"So I want to suppress the rate at which your cells divide."

Ye Zi suddenly looked at the lunchbox beside him and said blandly, "Is that what these are for?"

The girl nodded.

Ye Zi looked at her profile, a faint chill in his eyes. He said, "Wouldn't using medicine be more direct? It would even be more effective."

Meeting Ye Zi's cold gaze, the girl answered frankly, "I don't dare."

"Don't dare?" Ye Zi let out a baffling cold laugh, then said indifferently, "I'm grateful for the treatment you've given me several times, but I don't need your self-righteous help."

The girl's concealed approach had already crossed his bottom line.

The girl was silent for a moment, then said very seriously, "In less than a year, the dosage of anesthetic required has gone from twice the normal amount to five times the normal amount, and even that no longer works. This means the rate at which the cells in your body divide is continuing to accelerate. The basis for my judgment that you may not live past thirty lies in the rate of cell division. If it can't be effectively suppressed, your body may rapidly age one day. Even so, don't you care?"

Was this grave-sounding statement actually true?

He would not live past thirty?

Would his body rapidly age one day?

Would his bodily functions deteriorate prematurely?

This was indeed serious. Yet until now, all he had felt were the benefits brought by his body. If not for this, perhaps he would have been unable to hold on long ago. If not for this, perhaps he would have died already.

Ye Zi suddenly raised his upper body and said coldly, "In this era, where I could die at any moment, why should I suppress it? So what if I won't live past thirty? So what if my body rapidly ages one day? If this can let me accomplish what I want to do sooner, then everything will be worth it."

Even if one day he had to drag his aged body back there in a state of barely clinging to life, he would still retain a little insignificant Chakra to serve as the first ray of dawn after daybreak.

Only by returning to that world would there be hope...

The resolve in his voice let the girl feel its weight. She did not know what Ye Zi wanted to do, but she could easily tell that it must be an extremely difficult and important matter—something important enough for him to cast aside even his life. For some reason, she suddenly felt an urge to do something for Ye Zi, just as she had begun preparing food to suppress his rate of cell division back then. Only now, that feeling was clearer and more definite.

She still remembered what Ye Zi had looked like when he was first sent to the operating table. His entire body was drenched in blood, and his breathing was so weak it seemed as if it might stop the next second. His tightly furrowed brows and eyes held an unyielding refusal that could not be dispelled. She immediately understood how fiercely the boy on the operating table did not want to die, so she had done everything in her power to save him. Until the moment he opened his eyes, she had deeply remembered him. It had lasted only a few seconds. When those dark eyes opened, they first held extreme fear and unwillingness. But when he sensed the oxygen being delivered through the breathing mask, the fear and unwillingness receded at lightning speed, replaced by bewilderment, and then calm. It was a strange calm that came from knowing he had survived—not relief, much less wild joy, but a calm utterly at odds with his earlier, intense will to live.

She had never seen a boy like him before. That was why she had deeply remembered him that time.

Even now, she wanted to do something for him. That feeling was especially strong—at least at this moment, it was.

"I want to help you. I have to help you. You must let me help!"

For the normally quiet girl, it was the first time in her life she had ever been forceful.