Brainstorming

On the streets of Xiangfan City, Bai Ge was walking along when he inexplicably collapsed.

When he was taken to the hospital, the doctor discovered that he was not unconscious from shock or anything similar. He was simply asleep.

At that moment, Bai Ge felt a massive amount of information pour into his consciousness. It was a sensation that made his scalp tingle and his brain cells explode.

His consciousness drifted through a vast universe. The starry sky was dark, and the countless stars shone brilliantly as they followed their own paths.

His field of vision had never been so broad, as though he were observing an entire universe with his tiny mortal body.

The sensation was indescribably wonderful.

However, Bai Ge assumed he was merely dreaming, because everything was too much like a dream. With a single thought, he could alter the movement of the stars, erase an entire galaxy from existence, or cause new matter to appear out of nowhere in an empty region.

It was like a lucid dream. He was the master of everything, and all things could be kneaded and shaped according to his thoughts. He could even create something from nothing and set things up however he pleased.

To put it simply, in a dream, human thought was everything. Imagination was reality. No matter how unreasonable, absurd, or ridiculous something was, if one imagined it, it became truth!

Everyone had bizarre dreams. It was just that Bai Ge had never felt a dream be so real.

Rather than being startled, he was delighted. After all, lucid dreams were hard to come by. Although he knew in his heart that everything was fake, what could be better than being able to do whatever he pleased?

For a moment, Bai Ge's imagination ran wild, and countless wild ideas surged into his mind.

In this "dream," he was not merely the master of the universe. More accurately, he was the master of its settings.

Bai Ge himself was definition.

The universe was a universe only because Bai Ge thought it was...

If he did not think so, the universe could be anything. There might not even be a universe at all. Everything could be a stone or an animal. It was nothing more than the depth of human fantasy and the free rein of the imagination.

"This is interesting. I heard about lucid dreams long ago, but I didn't know they could be this real. This feels pretty great..."

Bai Ge acted as he pleased. Based on his fantasies and the fictional works he had watched in television shows, movies, anime, and elsewhere, combined with certain aspects of reality, he tried to create a rich and colorful multiverse.

One bizarre world after another was constructed. There were countless Earths alone.

There were ancient Earths, future Earths, supernatural Earths, and even inexplicable Earth-like worlds. They came in all sorts of forms, strange and wonderful.

He was like a creator god playing an ultra-realistic, holographic sandbox creation game.

The functionality and freedom were at MAX. Not only could visible things be changed—even invisible things could be changed as well.

For example, the laws of nature.

The default laws of nature in the entire imagination universe came from Bai Ge's own worldview.

At that moment, he only had to make a slight adjustment. For example, if the speed of light became infinite, the entire universe would instantly turn pure white, no longer resembling its former dark backdrop.

With the speed of light infinite, darkness was completely dispelled, and the vast scale of space was no longer an obstacle.

"There wouldn't be a starry sky anymore. The original looked better..." Bai Ge adjusted the law he had randomly changed back. It was only a matter of thought.

Since even something like that was possible, Bai Ge could naturally design fantastical worlds that were impossible in reality but could exist here. For a time, all kinds of bizarre worlds took shape.

Immersed in this strange stimulation, where a sense of reality overlapped with unreality, Bai Ge never forgot that he was "dreaming."

Gradually, he felt that he had been dreaming for too long, and suddenly reminded himself, "It feels like a long time has passed. Should I wake up?"

As soon as the thought arose, he vaguely felt someone calling to him. "Bai Ge, can you hear me?"

The voice was extremely familiar. Bai Ge smiled, thinking about waking himself up, and his vision soon changed.

The universe and stars, the palaces in the highest heavens, the rampant monsters, and the fierce battlefields all vanished. He found himself in a hospital room, with the childhood friend he had grown up playing with standing guard beside him.

Seeing the grave expression on his friend's face, Bai Ge immediately suppressed the carefree smile he had worn while indulging himself.

"What happened? I'm in the hospital?"

Bai Ge asked while looking around. He instantly understood his condition, then recalled that he had gone out to take care of something and suddenly collapsed while walking down the street.

He had simply forgotten about it because the lucid dream afterward had been too stimulating.

"You collapsed on the road and someone sent you here in an ambulance. You're at the Third Hospital now. You'd just finished your examination when you woke up," his friend said.

After hearing that, Bai Ge rubbed his earlobe and asked, "Shao Yuan, you paid for me, didn't you?"

As he spoke, he took out his phone. The first entry in his contacts was "Veterinarian," which was the nickname the group of close friends had given Shao Yuan.

After checking the call time, it was obvious that the hospital staff had called someone to notify his family and pay the bill. They had simply dialed the number he had contacted most recently and gotten Shao Yuan.

"It wasn't much. You had some examinations done, so it was only two thousand yuan. You still need to stay in the hospital for more tests, and there'll be more expenses later..." Before Shao Yuan could finish, Bai Ge suddenly leaped off the bed.

"Two thousand yuan? Tch! Don't say another word. I'm being discharged." Bai Ge looked pained as he began putting on his clothes.

He was not a wealthy man. He rarely got sick, and even when he did, taking some medicine usually solved the problem. He truly could not bear to spend money on hospitalization.

Shao Yuan hurriedly grabbed him. "I know you're stingy, but this money really has to be spent! You don't have to rush to pay me back. I still have some savings..."

Listening to Shao Yuan speak so seriously, Bai Ge was not an idiot. He realized that things were not simple.

"Hold on! What exactly is wrong with me? Why did I suddenly collapse?"

Seeing that Shao Yuan's eyes were red, Bai Ge figured that he must have some extremely troublesome illness. Yet he had always been in excellent health, and he felt fine at the moment. What serious disease could he have?

Shao Yuan gave a bitter smile. "It should be an intracranial tumor."

Bai Ge froze and touched his head. "A tumor?"

"Yes... We're brothers, so I won't hide it from you. It may be brain cancer... and it has already spread severely."

Shao Yuan took several forms from the side. They were the MRI results, showing the condition inside Bai Ge's skull.

On the images was what looked like a "skull." A huge shadow could clearly be seen in the brain region.

It was like a pitch-black hole inside his skull, overlapping with the brain tissue.

"It's that big? I have a terminal illness?" Bai Ge stared blankly at the image.

"It hasn't been confirmed yet... After all, doctors have never seen a tumor like yours. The MRI can't even make it out clearly... We still need to run a full battery of tumor tests, check the indicators, and confirm it." Shao Yuan's voice was low. "But I'm a medical student too, haha... To be honest, even a random passerby could tell how serious this image looks. The shadow inside your skull is already large enough to be compressing eighty percent of your brain tissue. Even if it isn't a tumor, you..."

"How long do I have left?" Bai Ge's face turned pale.

Shao Yuan knew that Bai Ge was extremely strong-willed and good at reading people's expressions. Naturally, he did not lie to him and answered honestly, "Optimistically, a few months."

Bai Ge's face stiffened. "And pessimistically?"

"One day..."

Bai Ge felt incredibly bewildered. Even with his strong mental fortitude, he could not remain calm at a time like this.

"One day? You mean I'm going to die today? I felt perfectly fine when I got up this morning! How am I about to die without a single warning?"

Shao Yuan also found it very strange. "It might not be brain cancer. You didn't have any warning signs, and it suddenly became this severe. I'm puzzled too. You'd better continue with the examinations and stay here for a while so they can confirm it by observing your clinical response."

The moment he heard that he would have to stay in the hospital for more tests, Bai Ge instinctively resisted.

"How long would I have to stay? How would you confirm it? And how would you treat it?" Bai Ge asked.

Shao Yuan himself had graduated from medical school. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's hard to say. Brain cancer itself is difficult to confirm, and yours is probably atypical. We can only run some tests and see the results... As for the treatment plan, we'll have to wait until it's confirmed..."

Bai Ge gave a helpless laugh and waved his hand. "Forget it. There's no need for more tests. Just treat it as a terminal illness."

It was not that he valued money over his life. The MRI results were simply too horrifying. He knew nothing about medicine, yet even he had been frightened by the image.

What normal person had such a huge "black hole" inside their brain? An MRI was not a CT scan. Shadows would not appear because of some obstruction. It would capture the conditions inside the skull clearly.

That enormous black ball had hidden his brain completely... The fact that he was still alive was a miracle.

Even if it was not a tumor, it was probably some strange disease. Continuing the examinations might not even lead to a diagnosis, and even if it was diagnosed, it probably could not be treated. After that, there would likely be endless trouble.

Since it was a terminal illness either way, and he knew he did not have much time left, he did not want to waste his time and money in a hospital.

"Shao Yuan, I want to be discharged." Bai Ge spoke very calmly.

Shao Yuan frowned. He knew that once Bai Ge made up his mind, no one could stop him, but he still wanted to persuade him as much as possible. "Don't worry about the money for now. Don't you have insurance? Besides, I can..."

"One million! Do you have that much?" Bai Ge cut him off directly.

Shao Yuan froze. Of course he did not.

"What would you need one million for?"

"My younger sister is studying in the United States. It costs more than three hundred thousand yuan a year, and she still has at least three years left..." Bai Ge said. "If I weren't sick, I could keep working hard to make money. But if I'm really going to die, I need to prepare at least one million for her before I die..."

"You... I..." Shao Yuan was stunned and could not say a word.

He knew Bai Ge's situation. After coming back to himself, he gave a bitter smile. "Old Bai, why do you have to push yourself so hard?"

"Don't say anything. My body is perfectly fine. Forget it..." Bai Ge shook his head.

"I have to go take care of something..."