The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

September is a month of clear skies and crisp air, the start of the school year.

This girl, who should have been a sophomore in college, stepping into a campus filled with maple leaves, was now being wheeled out of the operating room, her face pale.

What followed was yet another piece of bad news for Huang Jianjun.

"Drug resistance has increased further. Based on the current physical condition, enzyme replacement therapy needs to be performed three times a month to maintain vital signs."

In the ward, everyone remained silent.

Xu Nian pressed the girl's pale hand to her forehead, muttering incantations and silently praying.

Three hundred thousand a month—that's her passport to this beautiful life in this world.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

A student from Yunnan University suffered from vomiting and diarrhea after eating a takeout meal from Xiaoxi Canteen and was sent to the hospital for gastric lavage.

As a result of this incident, the school has implemented even stricter food control measures.

All food from outside the school is strictly prohibited from entering the school. In fact, during mealtimes, the school gates are closed, and students are prohibited from leaving the school.

Even the homemade meals brought by students' parents were ruthlessly thrown into the trash can by the security guards.

Xiaoxi Canteen was forced to withdraw from Yuncheng University.

As a result, businesses in the surrounding food street have posted signs asking for their prime locations to be rented.

This move quickly sparked a wave of protests, with students spontaneously organizing strikes to demand that the school withdraw the relevant regulations and restore students' right to choose their meals, but to no avail.

A few days later, the student who had been vomiting and having diarrhea received a generous scholarship.

Soon after, his books would mysteriously appear in the trash can, his bedding would always emit a foul stench, and occasionally some kind-looking classmates would gather at the entrance of his dormitory and warmly invite him out for a smoke.

Not long after, he voluntarily withdrew from school.

But the Little Creek Canteen is gone forever.

Losing the Yunda market caused Xiaoxi Canteen's revenue to be halved, and compared with the revenue generated by the school's construction, it was simply a drop in the ocean.

Furthermore, Xu Nian could no longer make money by running a restaurant.

......

Inside a chemical plant workshop, smoke filled the air and dust flew everywhere.

Cans of sealed lead, marked with biohazard symbols, were wide open, emitting a pungent stench.

Several workers stood in front of the lead container, holding stirring spoons. Their only protection was a thin mask.

"I can't take it anymore! I'm quitting! This job is inhuman!"

A worker slammed down the stirring spoon while cursing and vomited repeatedly into the nearby trash can.

"Just bear with it. Where will you find a job that pays 20,000 a month if you leave here?"

"Damn it! Working here for a month will shorten my life by ten years!"

"I just checked online, and this gas is toxic and can cause lung cancer!"

"No wonder that boss wouldn't give us employment contracts; he's just treating us like expendable resources!"

"That's terrifying? Forget it, I'm not doing it anymore!"

A large group of people left the workshop.

"Hey bro, aren't you leaving? Are you waiting to get yourself killed?"

A gaunt figure shook his head and continued working beside the lead canisters filled with dangerous gas.

"It seems like after we left, all the wages went to him."

"Forget it, let's go, let's go. You can't reason with a damn fool. He'd rather lose his life than his money."

Under the starry night, that thin figure walked out of the workshop, put on his helmet, got on his electric bike, and embarked on his food delivery journey.

Facing the wind, he took off his mask and took deep breaths of fresh air, trying to expel the nauseating gas from his lungs.

"Ugh...cough cough cough..."

After gagging a few times, he shook his head, then rallied his spirits and kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

The bright moonlight shone on the boy's weathered face.

It was Xu Nian.

The thought of the frail girl in the hospital bed, needing a constant flow of money to keep her alive from being taken away by the King of Hell, made him suddenly increase the speed of his bicycle.

If there weren't only 24 hours in a day, he would love to work four jobs at the same time.

When thirsty, they would turn on the taps on the street and gulp down water.

When I get hungry, I buy two rice balls to eat while cycling.

When I'm tired or sleepy, I slap myself twice and keep going.

Even if you push yourself to the brink of collapse, your income still can't keep up with the hospital's expenses.

The million-dollar savings, donated in just a few months, were squandered.

The only thing that kept him going was the European medical institution that Director Huang mentioned, which was able to develop a cure for his sister's illness before he completely collapsed.

Gradually, he began to reach out to online loans...

.......

On a hospital bed, a young woman dressed in white was working on her laptop while listening to the day's news on the hospital room's television.

"It is understood that the gene-editing project researched at the European Rhine Gene Research Center has achieved a major breakthrough. This mature technology will bring hope of recovery to countless patients with genetically related diseases!"

...

"According to our station, several multinational pharmaceutical companies have jointly condemned the Rhine Gene Research Center, stating that gene technology is not yet mature and only traditional drugs are a safe and effective way to solve diseases."

...

"Western powers announced a number of sanctions against the Rhineland. A spokesperson said that the Rhineland, under the guise of medical purposes, is developing genetic weapons at the Rhine Gene Research Center that could cause devastating damage to specific ethnic groups."

"In response, the spokesperson for the Rhineland Foreign Ministry stated at 7:00 AM local time that gene technology is only used to treat certain rare diseases. This practice by major Western powers is an attempt to eliminate competition for their national pharmaceutical companies' life-sustaining drugs, disregarding patients' lives, and is a perverse and retrograde action."

...

"It is understood that the Rhineland is affected by economic sanctions, and the inflation rate continues to rise. People gathered in its capital city to demonstrate and protest against the government's disregard for people's livelihood and demand the government's resignation."

...

At 3:00 PM local time, the Rhineland announced the cessation of funding to the Rhine Gene Research Center in an effort to persuade major Western powers to lift their economic blockade.

...

"According to our report, the Rhine Gene Research Center has been forced to cut some of its research projects due to funding issues, including gene-editing technology..."

.......

The girl turned off the TV, sighed softly, and turned to look out the window.

Just yesterday, golden leaves were still fluttering outside the window.

How come the place is already so desolate when I woke up?

On the street, there seemed to be a figure rushing through the crowd; it was her beloved boy, burning himself out so that she could see the green leaves of spring.

My head is spinning...

That feeling is back...

The girl gave a poignant smile, then everything went black as she collapsed onto the pillow, which was as white as her skin.

Immediately, the piercing alarm of the monitoring device blared throughout the entire floor.