Chapter 6

This is where it all began for Su Xiaofan, the first time he truly understood what it meant to be in excruciating pain.

The moment his back collided with the electrical box, it felt as if countless ants had burrowed into his body, the electric shock piercing through to his soul. In that instant, Su Xiaofan felt such intense pain that he wished his soul could escape his body. The pain was indescribable, and if his sense of pain had remained, he was sure he would have died from it.

Compared to this, the car accident he had before felt like a blessing. If pain had levels, that one was at most a three or four, while this one was at least a thirteen or fourteen.

However, Su Xiaofan was still lucky. Just as he was pondering whether his soul could transcend, his consciousness slipped away. The scene in the night sky, with lightning and thunder like a deity's tribulation, was something Su Xiaofan did not see. In simpler terms, he had fainted.

If Wu Chuanbao and the others had stayed a bit longer, they would have noticed that Su Xiaofan, who they thought was dead, was now convulsing, with electric sparks flashing over his body. His clothes had turned to ashes, but a bright light shone from his chest, and the electric sparks around him converged into it.

The pendant, seemingly made of meteorite, suddenly shattered and merged into Su Xiaofan's skin. The eighty percent of his body that had been burned by the lightning began to heal, with new skin slowly growing over the charred flesh, which was washed away by the rain.

...

"Where am I?"

Su Xiaofan felt his eyelids were heavy. He tried to open them but couldn't. He could only hear someone shouting, a voice that seemed distant, like someone calling his name or shouting "brother." However, Su Xiaofan felt so tired that he drifted back to sleep after listening for a while.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but when he woke up again, he could open his eyes. All he saw was white: white walls, a white ceiling, and a white blanket on his body.

"Hospital?" It took Su Xiaofan a few minutes to regain his consciousness. He realized he was lying on his side on the hospital bed, which made him uncomfortable. He tried to move, and fortunately, he could. He laid flat on his back.

"Ouch!" As soon as he lay flat, Su Xiaofan felt a sharp pain in his back, almost causing his consciousness to scatter. The pain was like being pricked by needles, and he wished he could faint again.

"Brother, brother, you're awake?" Su Xiaoxiao's voice came from the side of the bed. She had been dozing in a chair and, upon hearing her brother's voice, opened her eyes to find that he was indeed awake.

"Flip... flip..." Su Xiaofan had no strength left in his body. He moved his lips, trying to ask his sister to turn him over.

"Food? Are you hungry, brother?" Su Xiaoxiao said with surprise. "I was on a diet tonight and have half a bowl of porridge left. I'll feed it to you."

"Who cares about food." Su Xiaofan cursed in his mind, almost fainting from frustration. He gritted his teeth and said, "Doctor!"

"Oh, right, you need to call the doctor when you wake up. Brother, wait a moment." Su Xiaoxiao quickly pressed the call button on the wall.

It took over half an hour for the doctor to arrive, turn Su Xiaofan over, and check his heart rate and level of consciousness. Before leaving, the doctor instructed Su Xiaoxiao that Su Xiaofan could try to eat some liquid food to boost his resistance.

Hearing the doctor's words, Su Xiaofan suddenly felt very hungry. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious or how he ended up in the hospital. He only remembered the moment he made contact with the electrical box, and then his consciousness faded... no, he fainted.

"Damn, do I have a knack for attracting trouble?" Su Xiaofan felt extremely frustrated. A few years ago, he had a car accident, and now he had been electrocuted. What other misfortune could be waiting for him?

After drinking the half bowl of porridge left by his sister, Su Xiaofan felt a bit stronger, at least his throat wasn't as dry. However, he still couldn't control his body, only managing to lift his arm.

"Phone," Su Xiaofan said to his sister.

"Brother, rest well. Why do you need a phone?" Su Xiaoxiao shook her head. "The doctor said you shouldn't be tired. You need to rest and recover."

"What... is today's date?" Su Xiaofan struggled to ask, wanting to know how long he had been unconscious.

"It's June 10th, and the college entrance exam just finished," Su Xiaoxiao said. "Brother, you were unconscious for twenty-six days. I... I couldn't find Dad, and you... you scared me to death."

Su Xiaoxiao had been busy and hadn't had time to be sad. Now, in the quiet, she felt afraid. Although she usually acted carefree, the past twenty-six days had been extremely stressful for her, watching her brother remain unconscious. She couldn't help but cry by the bedside.

"Don't... don't cry. How... did I get to the... hospital?" Su Xiaofan touched his sister's hair. He knew she was usually carefree, and her sadness wouldn't last more than three minutes. As long as he could distract her, everything would be fine.

"Brother, let me tell you, it was all thanks to Uncle Niu. If it weren't for Uncle Niu, you might have been dead by the time you got to the hospital." As expected, Su Xiaofan's words shifted Su Xiaoxiao's attention. She wiped her tears and began to speak.

It turned out that Uncle Niu, who ran a supermarket, noticed something was wrong outside his store. After the rain stopped, he went to the neighborhood with a flashlight. By some miracle, he saw Su Xiaofan lying on the ground, despite the entire neighborhood being without power. Uncle Niu quickly called Su Xiaoxiao and the police, and an ambulance was sent to take Su Xiaofan to the hospital.

According to the doctors, when Su Xiaofan arrived at the hospital, his heartbeat was extremely weak, and he was at risk of cardiac arrest. His back had large areas of burns, covering seventy percent of it. If not treated promptly, the complications from the burns alone could have been fatal.

The doctors had issued a critical condition notice for Su Xiaofan, and he stayed in the ICU for a week until his vital signs stabilized. However, the doctors' prognosis was not good. They said that the electric shock might have damaged his brainstem, and if he woke up, he would be fine, but if he didn't, he might remain in a vegetative state for life.

"Money!"

Su Xiaofan uttered a single word. Despite his inability to move, his mind was clear. Hearing about the ICU, he thought about medical expenses. When his grandfather was critically ill, he had also been in the ICU, and the daily cost was around ten to twenty thousand yuan. Su Xiaofan had been in the ICU for a week, and his savings were nowhere near enough.

"Brother, the money was all thanks to Brother Zheng."

Su Xiaoxiao understood her brother's concern. "When you were taken to the hospital, I called Brother Zheng. He brought ten thousand yuan overnight. Without that money, the ICU might not have accepted you. But I've already paid Brother Zheng back..."

"Hmm? Did you... contact Dad?" If there was anyone Su Xiaofan could rely on, it was his father, Su Weixuan.

"Dad? He's probably fishing sharks in some ocean." Su Xiaoxiao pouted. She had seen her father only a few times since she was a child. If it weren't for the gifts and treats he brought back each time, she might not even recognize him as her father.

"It was still Brother Zheng who helped. He went to the power company the next day..." Su Xiaoxiao continued.

Hearing his sister's words, Su Xiaofan understood. It turned out that the medical expenses were all covered by the power company, and there were two people to thank: Uncle Niu and Brother Zheng.

On the night of the incident, Uncle Niu not only called the ambulance but also reported the incident to the police. The police determined that the accident was caused by the electrical box leaking electricity, which conducted through the rain, leading to Su Xiaofan's "unforeseen disaster."

With the police report, Zheng Dagang led a group to the power company the next day. The electrical box was old and in disrepair, and Zheng Dagang's group was not easy to deal with. They didn't fight or break anything; instead, each person took a thermos and sat in the leaders' offices. Even if the police were called, they couldn't do much.

As the saying goes, a crying child gets the candy. The power company first paid twenty thousand yuan to cover the hospital expenses and then gave thirty thousand yuan in cash to Su Xiaoxiao, promising to cover Su Xiaofan's subsequent medical expenses.

The initial twenty thousand yuan had already been spent, so Zheng Dagang led the group again and got another twenty thousand yuan. According to Zheng Dagang, the power company had plenty of money, and they shouldn't get off easy.

"So that's what happened."

After hearing his sister's explanation, Su Xiaofan closed his eyes and felt relieved. He wouldn't say that he had slipped and hit the electrical box; the police had already determined that the accident was caused by the electrical box leaking electricity, which conducted through the rain. This explanation was reasonable and perfect, and Su Xiaofan felt there was nothing to add.

As for Wu Chuanbao and the others, Su Xiaofan wouldn't mention them. In the past, after the car accident, he had been too honest and admitted full responsibility, leading to the driver only paying five thousand yuan for hospital expenses and some nutritional supplements. Later, Su Xiaofan learned that the driver's car was insured, and the insurance could have covered the tens of thousands of yuan he had spent.

"College entrance exam? Xiaoxiao... you didn't take it?" Su Xiaofan suddenly remembered something and opened his eyes to look at his sister. He had missed the exam due to the car accident and felt some regret, but he didn't want his sister to miss it because of him.

"Brother, are you crazy? I was already specially recruited, so why would I take the exam?" Su Xiaoxiao stuck out her tongue. "When you were hospitalized, I didn't go to school. They were still fighting for the last twenty days, but I slept here every day. It was so comfortable."

"Thank you for your hard work." Su Xiaofan reached out to touch his sister's head, knowing that despite her carefree words, she must have been very worried during his unconsciousness.

"Alright, Xiaoxiao, go to sleep." Su Xiaofan's speech was smoother now. He needed some quiet time to think about what the doctor had said. According to the doctor, he had only avoided becoming a vegetative state, but whether his body functions would recover depended on the tests the next day.

"Surviving an electric shock?" Su Xiaofan felt incredibly lucky. When he hit the electrical box, he could even smell the burning of his skin. According to the doctor and his sister, he only had burns on his back. Was his sense of smell impaired at the time?

"Hmm? What's this?"

As Su Xiaofan thought about his back injuries, a line of text suddenly appeared in his mind.

[Repair Value: 30 points!]