"Does the second-stage treatment plan need to be extended further?"
In the dimly lit laboratory, Schiller stood in front of the freezer, holding a notebook and writing while asking Victor.
Victor stood behind the freezing chamber and debugged the equipment. He said, "I think it's much better. Maybe we can go directly to the third stage of treatment."
"The drug plan for the second phase of treatment may need to be adjusted. Let's finish it off in another week." Schiller raised his eyes, wanting to see Victor, but saw Mrs. Frith's fingertips moving slightly in the freezer.
one time.
"Did I see it wrong? Her fingertips seem to be reacting?"
Schiller knelt down and looked into the freezing cabin. Victor also walked to the front and said: "It must not be an illusion. Last night, I saw Nora's eyelids move..."
"I have not adjusted the power of the cryo chamber, so this should not be her voluntary activity, but the brain-activating agent at work."
"Should we increase the dosage of the nerve repair medicine? After all..." Schiller turned to look at Victor. Under the cold light of the freezer, the man looked a little older.
"You've waited so long."
Victor shook his head and said, "Just because I have waited so long, I don't mind waiting longer."
"Schiller, I know you want to help me, but this is enough." Victor sighed, and a trace of white hair on his temples was reflected blue by the light of the freezer.
"There have been more changes recently than in the past many years combined. Nola's condition is no longer getting worse. The nerve healing medicine you provided has allowed her nervous system to gradually repair."
"After solving the problem of brain activity in a frozen state, many possible sequelae caused by long-term cryogenic dormancy have also been eliminated..."
He put one hand on the freezer and looked into the freezer with deep and focused eyes. Then he turned to Schiller and said: "It's getting late, Professor Schiller, you go back first, I'll put the freezer in
Let’s debug it again and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
Schiller raised his hand and glanced at his watch. It was already 1 o'clock in the morning. He said, "I have morning classes tomorrow. It's too late to go back to the manor now. Let's just stay here, just in time to chat."
Victor didn't say much, but the corners of his mouth pursed and the lines on his face seemed to hide all the moving emotions in his heart.
Schiller walked to the table on the other side and sat down. Then while sorting out his thesis materials, he asked: "How is it at the vocational education school? I heard that you went to extra classes last night?"
"To be honest, it's better than I thought." When talking about this topic, Victor sighed with some relief: "Although those little bastards are disobedient to discipline, they still learn things very quickly."
"When will those gang bosses find basic education teachers? We can't always let you, a university professor, teach a bunch of elementary school students, right?"
"Actually, it's nothing. I have experience in children's education."
"When Nora and I lived in Florida, Nora also worked as a substitute teacher in a middle school. At that time, before I became a professor, Nora and I took the children to activity classes and taught them how to condense water into ice.
The principle of..."
Victor's voice was full of nostalgia. If he had any problem with interpersonal communication, it was that no matter what topic he talked about, he could always recall his previous life with his wife.
But this is not offensive, because the stories he tells are always full of sincere emotions, and the little things in life can always make people feel the happiness of two people in those peaceful and beautiful days.
"At that time, I lifted the water pipe like this, and then I asked, 'Do any of you know how water condenses into ice?', you know, the kind of coaxing tone..."
"The water pressure in the water pipe connected to the fire hydrant is very high. As soon as I opened the valve, a child who ran past was knocked backwards."
"They didn't feel any danger at all and thought it was fun. They lined up and rushed to the water pipe. Nora was furious because her good class turned into a water fight. She complained about me for a week..."
Victor spoke in a brisk and gentle tone while debugging the equipment. Schiller sat at the table to complete his paper, but at this moment, a series of rapid ringtones interrupted the peaceful atmosphere in the laboratory. Victor picked up the
The phone said: "Hello? Oswald? What's wrong? What?...Okay, don't worry, I'll be there right away..."
Schiller turned to look at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You know that student from the Vocational Education College, right?" Victor put down his tools and stood up, then began to change clothes, as if he was getting ready to go out.
"That little Oswald, Oswald Cobblepot."
"What's up with him?"
"His mother committed suicide but failed. The situation should be urgent now, but he does not have enough ability to handle this matter. I have to go there..."
"I'll go too."
Schiller also put on his coat, and Victor went downstairs to drive. When the car drove onto the road, Schiller, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked: "You and Oswald seem to have a very good relationship. I only knew you were very good before."
Appreciate him."
Victor held the steering wheel and drove, and the light outside the window reflected on his face. He said: "Oswald is a rare good student. He is different from those little bastards whose parents are gangsters. He has a clear
The goal is easy to learn and I learn quickly.”
"I think he looks a bit like me when I was a kid."
Schiller looked at Victor and said, "I remember you said that you come from a middle-class family, and you have been a good student with excellent grades since you were a child."
"Yes, my father is engaged in shipping. The children of his business partners have been on ships with their parents at a young age and know their family business very well."
"But I have been a nerd since I was a child, addicted to various chemical experiments and have no interest in doing business."
"Oswald and I are the same. We are like lettuce mixed in the carrot field. Our ideas are completely different from those around us."
"Besides, I don't think his nature is bad."
Victor twisted the steering wheel, turned an intersection, and continued: "His father passed away too early, and his mother has no ability to take care of herself. It is already very hard for him to take care of himself, but he also has to take care of his mother. How can such a person do it?"
Gotham is lucky to be alive, no one can ask for more..."
"Or rather, he is one of the few normal people in Gotham." Schiller continued Victor's words: "Just like you."
"Me? Of course I'm a normal person! ...Well, actually, I know that you think it's a bit crazy for me to freeze my wife in a freezer, but I am very confident in my skills, and now I do
It's getting better, isn't it?"
"Those people you mentioned do not include me. I don't think there is anything crazy about this. Maybe in the future, this will become a very normal medical method and be popularized in thousands of households."
Victor turned his head, his eyes were filled with weathered weather and childlike hope. He said with some anticipation: "If that day comes, maybe I can take Nora back to my parents.
Actually I miss them very much, but..."
Victor's voice deepened, and Schiller looked at the scenery outside the window and said, "Actually, they understand you, but you don't want to go back, right?"
"I don't want my shocking behavior to cause them to become aliens and monsters in the eyes of their neighbors."
Victor is always good at expressing his emotions directly. He always uses words to describe his mood clearly. This is why Schiller and he get along well. Victor is that kind of person.
It is rare that when facing him, you will still be duplicitous and deceive yourself and others.
"They love me very much. In the early days of my research on cryogenic warehouses, my father sent me a lot of money, and my mother and sister also wrote to me. They hoped that I could go back, but I knew this would not work...
"
"It is impossible for me to move such a freezer and the living people frozen in it back to my home. Then my family will live in the eyes of others looking at monsters. I know how hurtful that kind of gaze is."
"But I can't give up Nora..." Victor's voice was a little sad: "Just like she didn't give up on me when I had an accident in my research and was dismissed from the school."
"It will get better soon." There was always a calm strength in Schiller's tone, and then he changed the topic.
"I remember you said before that you and your wife have never had a wedding. What's going on?"
"Oh, that's it." Victor said with a little guilt in his tone: "Didn't I tell you before that when I was just promoted to professor, an unexpected experimental accident caused me to lose my job?
At that time, Nora and I were already preparing for the wedding, but you know, there was no fixed job, no projects and no funds, so..."
"At that time, Nora was supporting me, and we really couldn't spare any extra money to hold a wedding."
"Afterwards, I was employed by a cryogenic laboratory in Los Angeles. After the situation improved, I originally wanted to prepare a surprise for her, but at this time, she was diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease..."
"Even if we have medical insurance, it can't offset the cost of traveling to various states to seek medical treatment. If it weren't for my father's funding, I might not even be able to build the initial freezer."
The car was driving slowly, and soon, it began to rain lightly in Gotham again, but the rain was not heavy and a little soft. When it hit the car window, it did not interrupt the atmosphere of the conversation in the car.
"Sometimes I think that I am really lucky. Whenever I encounter any difficulties, someone always comes to help me. When I lost my job, Nora was always by my side.
When Nora was ill, my father continued to support me, and when the research stalled again, you appeared again..."
"That's probably how people are." There was a warmth in Victor's voice.
"No matter how bad the situation is, as long as you see a little hope, you will feel very satisfied."
"The most important thing is this hope." Schiller also sighed: "Even if you are already in hell, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, you can still live as a human being, instead of degenerating into a devil in hell, or a complete evil spirit.
madman."
"I like to compare this hope to a campfire in the snowfield." Schiller adjusted his posture on the seat. He and Victor often talked about some literary and philosophical topics like this, and it did not feel stiff.
and embarrassment.
"A traveler who has been marching in the snowfield for a long time can see nothing but snow on the vast white land. Every snowflake here makes him feel colder..."
"But once there is a trace of fire in the distance, no matter how fierce the wind and snow are, it will not stop him from moving forward."
"When he walks next to the campfire, he will feel warm, as if the heavy snow in the sky is not scary, but he knows that this is because the previous traveler lit the campfire."
"So, before he left, he also took out the few firewood and threw it into the fire. No matter whether the next traveler arrived or not, the campfire would not be extinguished."
Victor controlled the car to slow down and said with a smile: "You can sum this up in one word, that is to provide help in times of need."
Schiller shook his head and said: "Sending help in times of need is inevitably accompanied by the pity of those who succeed. I always believe that the world does not need a savior, and Gotham does not need it."
"If possible, I prefer to be the traveler who left a campfire. No matter which direction they come from, latecomers can stay here. If they really want to thank someone, then thank them for not giving up on the long journey.
Just yourself."
With that said, Schiller opened the car door, got out of the car, and walked into the rainy night.
Victor was silent for a second on his seat, and once again calmed down his moved expression, then turned around, opened the car door, got out of the car, and walked into the cool rainy night.