Chapter 246 Campfire on a Snowy Night (I)

"Does the second phase of the treatment plan need to be extended?"

In the dimly lit laboratory, Schiller stood in front of the cryostat, holding a notebook, writing and asking Victor.

Victor stood behind the cryostat to debug the equipment. He said, "I think it's much better now. Maybe I can go directly to the third phase of treatment."

"The second phase of the treatment drug plan may need to be adjusted. Let's finish it in another week." Schiller raised his eyes and wanted to look at Victor, but saw Mrs. Freese's fingertips move slightly in the cryostat.

"Am I seeing it wrong? Her fingertips seem to react?"

Schiller squatted down and looked into the cryostat. Victor also walked to the front and said, "It shouldn't be an illusion. Last night, I saw Nora's eyelids move..."

"I haven't adjusted the power of the cryostat, so this should not be her autonomous activity, but the brain active agent is working."

"Should I increase the dose of the nerve repair agent? After all..." Schiller turned his head to look at Victor. Under the cold light of the cryostat, the man looked a little old.

"You've waited so long."

Victor shook his head and said, "It's because I've waited so long that I don't mind waiting longer."

"Schiller, I know you want to help me, but this is enough." Victor sighed, and a strand of white hair on his temples was reflected in blue by the light of the freezer.

"The recent changes are more than those in the past many years combined. Nora's condition is no longer worsening. The nerve healing agent you provided has gradually repaired her nervous system."

"After solving the problem of brain activity in the frozen state, many sequelae that may be caused by long-term low-temperature hibernation have also been eliminated..."

He put one hand on the cryostat, looking at the cryostat with deep affection and concentration, then he turned to Schiller and said, "It's getting late, Professor Schiller, you go back first, I'll adjust the cryostat again, and we'll see you tomorrow."

Schiller raised his hand and glanced at his watch. It was already 1 a.m. He said, "I have an early class tomorrow, and it's too late to go back to the manor now. Let's stay here and chat."

Victor didn't say much, but the corners of his pursed mouth moved the lines on his face, as if he had hidden all the moving emotions in his heart.

Schiller walked to the table on the other side and sat down. Then, while organizing his paper materials, he asked, "How is the vocational education school going? I heard that you took extra classes last night?"

"To be honest, it's better than I thought." Speaking of this topic, Victor sighed with some relief: "Although those little bastards are undisciplined, they learn things very quickly."

"When will those gang leaders find teachers for basic education? You can't always let a university professor teach a bunch of elementary school students?"

"It's nothing, I have experience in children's education."

"When Nora and I lived in Florida, Nora also substituted for classes in middle schools. At that time, I was not a professor yet. Nora and I took those children to activity classes and taught them the principle of water condensing into ice..."

Victor's voice was full of nostalgia. If he had any problems in 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 those little things in life can always make people feel the happiness of two people in that peaceful and beautiful day.

"At that time, I lifted the water pipe like this, and then I asked, 'Does anyone know how water freezes into ice?' You know, the tone of coaxing a child..."

"The water pressure of the water pipe connected to the fire hydrant is very high. As soon as I opened the valve, a child who ran over was washed away."

"They didn't feel the danger at all, and they 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 was debugging the equipment while talking, his tone was light and gentle. Schiller was sitting at the table to finish his thesis, but at this moment, a series of rapid rings interrupted the peaceful atmosphere in the laboratory. Victor picked up the phone and said, "Hello? Oswald? What's wrong? What?... Okay, don't worry, I'll be there soon..."

Schiller turned his head and looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You know that student from the Vocational Education College?" Victor put down his tools and stood up, then began to change his clothes, as if he was ready to go out.

"That's the short Oswald, Oswald Cobblepot."

"What happened to him?"

"His mother committed suicide but failed. The situation should be urgent now, but he doesn't have enough ability to deal with it. 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 good relationship. Before, I only knew that you admired him."

Victor drove while holding the steering wheel. The light outside the car 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 goal and is very studious and learns very quickly."

"I think he is a bit like me when I was a child."

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 were the same. We were like lettuce mixed in with the carrots. Our ideas were 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. In this way, he can live in Gotham." He is already lucky to have survived, no one can ask for more from him..."

"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!...Okay, actually, I know that you think it's a bit crazy that I used a freezing chamber to freeze my wife, 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 treatment 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 state of mind clearly. This is why Schiller and he get along very well. Victor is that kind of person. It's rare to find someone who won't still be duplicitous and self-deceptive when facing him.

"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 look 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."

"The Point Guard Is Here"

"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 never had a wedding. What's going on?"

"Oh, that's it." Victor said with a little guilt in his tone: "Didn't I say 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..."

"Nora was supporting me at that time, and we really couldn't spare any extra money to hold a wedding."

"After that, 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 financial support, 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 glass, 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 satisfied."

"The most important thing is this hope." Schiller also sighed: "Even if you are already in hell, as long as there is still 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 walked to the campfire, he felt warm, as if the heavy snow was not scary, but he knew that it was because the previous traveler had lit the campfire."

"So, before he left, he also took out a few firewood and threw it into the fire. Whether the next traveler came or not, the campfire would not go out."

Victor controlled the car to slow down, smiled and said: "You can summarize this in one word, that is, sending charcoal in the snow."

Schiller shook his head and said: "Sending charcoal in the snow inevitably carries the pity of the successful people. I always think that this world does not need a savior, and Gotham does not need it even more."

"If possible, I prefer to be the traveler who leaves the campfire. No matter which direction the latecomers come from, they can stay here. If they really want to thank someone, then thank themselves for not giving up after a long journey."

Schiller opened the car door and got out of the car, walking into the rainy night.

Victor was silent in his seat for a second, and then restrained his moving expression again, then turned around, opened the car door and got out of the car, walking into the slightly cool rainy night.