The nurse sighed.
Then other patients who needed help called her away.
The boy sitting alone beside the flower bed seemed to have found something interesting in his book, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"This is simply... such a beautiful sight!"
A little ant followed its path onto the book in Liang Chen's hands.
The harsh sunlight reflected off the pages.
The plump nurse had once told him that reading in the sun was bad for his eyes.
But the sunlight stabbing into his eyes, the brief faintness it caused, that dizzy sensation of the entire world becoming weightless...
It really was wonderful.
Perhaps death would feel like that, too.
At the thought, Liang Chen snapped the book shut in excitement.
The little ant, which had been waving its antennae and looking around, was trapped between the pages.
When he opened the book again, all that remained was a shriveled corpse.
Liang Chen hurriedly apologized. "I didn't see you just now! I'm so sorry!"
He raised the book until it was level with his large, watery eyes.
The way he kept apologizing looked quite comical.
The plump nurse happened to pass by after finishing her work. Seeing this, she couldn't help stroking Liang Chen's fluffy hair.
"Everyone has their allotted fate. Ants do, too."
She said it with a cheerful smile, then went back to work.
Liang Chen kept his gaze fixed on the ant's shriveled corpse.
He wondered whether, with enough pressure, the organs inside would be flattened as well.
Just like this ant...
No, perhaps the ant's shell was too hard.
A human body being crushed should be more like a watermelon.
That bursting, juice-filled image.
That night, after Liang Chen returned to his room, the plump nurse called him outside.
Her eyes were full of concern. "A