American Medicine: I survived the death knell thanks to the devil.

Kashi closed the carriage door.

"That cigar—"

"Um."

"Did you just get it during the day?"

"Um."

"One hundred and thirty yuan per tube. You said you didn't need to pay the seven hundred yuan, plus this, you've paid a total of eight hundred and thirty!"

Lynn closed the box and put it back in his pocket.

"This kind of person is useful."

Cassie looked at him.

Lynn squatted on the ground wiping the equipment, her face devoid of any compassion.

She nodded.

After spending a long time in that ambulance, she began to get used to Lynn's logic: every expenditure was an investment, and every concession would bring a return.

The score remains the same, 64 points.

Cassie rolled up the money and stuffed it into the hidden compartment.

The hidden compartment is welded to the wall of the carriage, behind the fire extinguisher, and cannot be seen without lifting the cover.

Lynn noticed that there were already several volumes inside.

"You seem to have quite a few places to store your money."

"Not entirely. There are three other places."

She said it very naturally.

People who grow up in the South Bronx don't put all their eggs in one basket.

Cassie pressed the cover of the hidden compartment back down and remained squatting there without moving.

Then he reached under the driver's seat and pulled out a cardboard box about the size of a shoebox.

Inside the cardboard box was a twelve-inch CRT television.

The outer casing is yellowed, and one of the knobs on the left is missing, replaced by a piece of pencil stub.

She placed the television steadily on the medicine cabinet, and then took out a gray-white host from the storage compartment under the stretcher.

NES.

In Japan it's called FC. In the years before China's economy took off, most people played knock-off consoles like the Subor.

Lynn stared at the machine for two seconds.

The casing had a crack, which was glued with epoxy resin, and the card slot was wrapped with a layer of medical tape.

The D-pad on the controller is worn so badly that the raised directional arrows are no longer visible, but it still feels very sensitive to the touch. Someone has replaced the rubber pads inside.

This machine has been repaired many times, and each time it has been repaired very carefully.

"You have this?"

"It's always been there." Cassie plugged the AV cable into the TV.

Cassie worked quickly and efficiently, connecting wires, adjusting signals, and inserting the cassette tape.

She glanced at Lynn sideways.

Lynn has been busy since this morning.

During the day, I make rounds at the hospital, write medical orders, and deal with colleagues who have suddenly become very attentive. At night, I have to do my own side jobs.

Perhaps... I should relax a bit?

"What? Why won't you turn it on?"

"Wait a minute, the signal is not very good."

Cassie looked down and adjusted the TV knobs, telling a lie that she herself found stupid to cover up her lapse in concentration.

Press the power button.

The screen flashed twice, and a short, chubby plumber in red popped up.

Super Mario Bros.

Cassie sat cross-legged on the floor and pressed the start button.

Game begins...

1-1.

They run incredibly fast.

Mushrooms, coins, hidden blocks—her route across each platform was fixed, and the timing of her jumps was so precise it was like muscle memory.

Lynn found it amusing, like watching a speedrun video online, and didn't interrupt her.

Cassie would steal glances at Lynn every now and then.

It's like a child bringing home a perfect score on a test, pretending to casually place it on the table, but secretly watching the adults' reactions.

But Lynn's attention was indeed drawn to it.

Cassie smirked slightly, then lowered her head and continued hitting.

4-1.

"Where did this machine come from?"

"I found it."

"Um?"

"Nine years old. Found at a junkyard near Hunter's Point."

Without stopping, Mario leaped over a row of hammer turtles, landing with perfect accuracy.

"When I got it back, it wouldn't turn on. I took it apart and found that a capacitor on the motherboard was burnt out, and the controller cable was also broken."

"You were nine years old and you could take apart a motherboard?"

"No. It would break if you took it apart."

She spoke very casually, as if she were talking about someone else's story.

"Later, I spent another week at the recycling center and found a board of the same model with good capacitors. I took it off and soldered it back on."

"What did you use to weld it?"

"My mom's lighter and a paperclip."

Lynn paused for a moment.

Nine years old, lighter, paperclip.

He imagined the scene:

A little girl squatted on the ground, holding a paperclip against the solder joint with her left hand and pressing a lighter with her right. The flame made her fingers hot, and she squinted her head close to the flame, afraid of getting burned but not daring to move away.

It's probably been burned more than once.

"And then?"

"Then it was able to turn on. The controller's cable is connected to the table lamp's power cord."

She pushed aside the hidden bricks, and a mushroom popped out.

"That's when I started taking things apart. Uncle Tony's VCR upstairs, the coin-operated machine in the billiard hall next door, and later, refurbished laptops. I'd charge twenty dollars for anything I could fix. Anything I couldn't fix..."

"What's wrong?"

"Disassemble and sell the parts."

Finally, Bowser fell into the lava, and the game ended.

She played with this card for over ten years.

She went from being a nine-year-old girl to a resident doctor living in an ambulance.

Cassie put down the controller and stretched.

The moment she passed through the checkpoint, she glanced at Lynn one last time.

This is different from the previous sneaky glances.

This time, her eyes were filled with "I'm amazing, aren't I! Praise me!"

They made no attempt to hide it.

Lynn leaned against the carriage wall and nodded.

"You had a good time."

It only has four simple words.

But Cassie's eyes narrowed into slits as she laughed.

After she finished laughing, she cleared her throat and pulled out another cassette tape from under the cardboard box.

On the faded cover, two muscular men are holding assault rifles.

Contra.

"This can be used for doubles."

Cassie pushed another handle over; this one was newer.

She thought Lynn had never played this kind of old game before.

But Lynn was a little tyrant in her childhood.

When he picked up the controller, his fingers naturally rested on the D-pad and AB buttons.

The first challenge: the jungle.

Lynn's aim was pretty good when he jumped up and took down the first sniper.

In the third second, a bullet flew down from above at an angle, and his little blue pants figure fell to the ground.

The second stage: the base.

The moment the indoor perspective switched, Lynn was instantly killed by the turret.

"You only have one life left. Don't even think about borrowing it from me if you die again."

"I didn't say I wanted to borrow it."

"You just glanced at my fate."

"I don't!"

The third stage.

After losing two lives, Lynn regained the rhythm in his fingers from over a decade ago.

When the two little figures simultaneously opened fire in front of the waterfall and wiped out a row of soldiers, their coordination was surprisingly good.

"Not bad," Cassie said.

This was the first time she had praised him in the game.

The fourth level.

Lynn found the S-Bomb, and the firepower suppression instantly reached a new level.

"How did you know there was an S-bomb in that spot?" Cassie turned her head. "Judging from your expression, it doesn't seem like you're a first-timer."

I played a few rounds when I was a kid.

"Just a few?" Cassie repeated, somewhat doubtful.

Starting from the fifth level, Cassie also found it difficult to relax.

The enemy density in the snowy pass doubled, and the two started shouting at each other.

"Up there! There are people up there!"

"Crouch down! You're blocking my line of fire!"

"Jump! Why aren't you jumping!"

"I pressed it!"

The boss of the seventh level, Lynn, only has one life left.

In the second phase, a bullet flew from the edge of the screen.

died.

game over.

Cassie held on for a while longer, then died too.

"So close!" she said.

The carriage was silent for two seconds.

"One more round!" they both shouted at the same time.