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Chapter 418 The Mechanical God Has No Heart 41

“After that, I didn’t pay much attention because I was really busy with work. Xiaoxi knew this, so she felt she could bear it for the next few days and just kept putting it off without telling me.”

"I noticed something was clearly wrong with her, so I took her to the hospital at some point."

"I should have cared about her sooner..." Lin Huanming fell silent again at this point, as if he were stuck in a quagmire and unable to get out.

Lu Renkui had guessed it by now, but she didn't rush to answer and waited for Lin Huanming to say it himself.

Lin Huanming sat at his desk for a long time, then took out a brown paper bag from the first drawer and stood it upright on the desk.

Lu Renkui didn't know how long Lin Huanming had maintained that posture—20 minutes? 30 minutes? Or an hour, two hours… Anyway, a long time passed before Lin Huanming spoke again and opened the brown paper bag.

“After going to the hospital and having tests done, the doctor told me that my daughter and her father had the same illness.” Lin Huanming was finally prepared. Her tone sounded calm, but Lu Renkui keenly sensed the slight tremor hidden beneath the calm.

"Is this disease... incurable?" Lu Renkui asked cautiously.

"It's incurable, it's a terminal illness." Lin Huanming loosened his grip, and the leather bag, which had been standing upright, fell to the ground with a soft thud as it collided with the desk.

“I should have expected this. Her father died from this disease, which has a certain degree of heritability. So, as his child, my daughter has a high probability of getting the disease.”

"After that came endless treatments. I tried my best to spend some time with her every day, but she seemed to be getting more and more unhappy."

"Unhappy." Lu Renkui repeated the last few words, thinking to himself: It's probably because he's often confined to his hospital bed and can't go out. Or perhaps there are other reasons?

“Yes, she’s unhappy. She said she doesn’t want to stay in the ward all the time; it’s too stuffy.” Lin Huanming’s words were similar to some of Lu Renkui’s guesses.

"So one day, I was at work and bought her a gift that she liked, wanting to give it to her to make her happy."

"Then I received a message from the housekeeping robot saying that Xiaoxi was missing."

“It was quite late then, and it was raining on the street. I had just come out of the lab when I received the news about the robot, so I was definitely startled.” Lin Huanming said, then fell silent again.

Then, as if he had finally waded through a deep puddle, Lin Huanming took a deep breath, exhaled, and continued to tell Lu Renkui his story.

“I immediately called the police and went to look for Xiaoxi myself. I finally found her by the lake.”

"She was sitting by the lake looking at the scenery. Besides a hospital gown, she was also wearing a trench coat that I had left in the ward."

"At that time, I thought she must have been bored in the ward, so she sneaked out."

"So I called her back and told her that if she wanted to go out to play later, she should tell the nurses first instead of running away without saying a word."

"As usual, she smiled after hearing my rebuke."

"Then we walked back to the hospital, and on the way back we had to cross a road."

"We wait for the red light to turn green, cross the zebra crossing, and then..."

"I heard a snoring sound."

"That's the sound of a car starting up."

“That driver was drunk and driving without his headlights on. He didn’t see the two of us walking on the zebra crossing at all, nor did he see the red light at the intersection. He just drove straight at us.”

"I originally wanted to grab Xiaoxi and run over quickly, but then I felt Xiaoxi break free of my hand and push me away."

"I fell to the ground, and she fell to the ground too."