The Obligations of the Elderly - Chapter 21

When Gong Si and Qiu Xia finally finished shoveling snow and returned home, what greeted them was a house that looked completely unrecognizable.

The living room was filled with ice, thick layers of it, covering everything from the ceiling, the walls, to the floor. Everything before their eyes was encased in a layer of ice, making it look like the ice specimens they used to make as children.

The doors were all frozen shut. In the end, Gong Si had to kick a big hole in the door to get inside.

“Dong Chun! Ah Ji!” Gong Si immediately thought of the two little ones who had stayed behind. His heart went cold, and he quickly squeezed through the hole in the door.

The temperature in the living room was unbelievably low, even colder than outside. It felt just like being in an ice cellar.

“They’re by the table,” Qiu Xia’s voice came from behind him, having spotted his younger brother a step earlier. Qiu Xia called out to him.

Gong Si hurried in that direction.

Sure enough, Dong Chun was lying there, sprawled out on a block of ice. Dong Chun’s little face was flushed red, though it was unclear whether it was from fever or from the cold.

Ah Ji was crawling around next to him, bare-bottomed. When he saw Gong Si running over, the little one looked up, revealing the same rosy cheeks. He opened his mouth in a grin, and a glob of snot immediately slid down.

Gong Si scooped him up first, checked to make sure he was alright, and then immediately turned to Dong Chun-

Qiu Xia had just taken off his own coat and wrapped it around Dong Chun.

No matter how they patted him, Dong Chun wouldn’t wake up. His face was alarmingly red!

“To the hospital!” Gong Si pressed his lips together and said resolutely.

Each of them took charge of one little brother, and the two older brothers rushed off toward the bus stop without delay.

Their luck wasn’t great; they waited a long time, but no bus came. Just as they were about to leave the stop, a snowplow pulled up in front of them. The window rolled down, revealing a face covered by a thick mask.

“Are you waiting for the bus? Don’t bother. The snow’s too heavy today, the buses aren’t running,” the person called out loudly to them.

“Thank you for letting us know!” Gong Si shouted back.

Lowering his head, looking at the unnaturally flushed face of the brother in Qiu Xia’s arms, Gong Si’s mind raced through everyone he could ask for help.

Xi Liu’s name flashed through his mind, but quickly faded into the depths of his thoughts.

“Are you heading to the town center?” Unexpectedly, the person spoke to him again.

Looking up, Gong Si pointed at Dong Chun in Qiu Xia’s arms and said, “To the clinic in the town center. My brother has a fever, a high fever!”

The person glanced at Dong Chun’s red face, then beckoned to them, “Get in!”

“Huh?” Before Gong Si could react, the person had already pulled down the mask, revealing a face Gong Si recognized-the bus driver’s face.

“You’re in luck. The buses are suspended because of the heavy snow today. I was worried there might be people like you who hadn’t seen the town broadcast, so I decided to notify people along the way while driving the snowplow.”

“Uncle, you drive the snowplow too?” Squeezing over toward Qiu Xia, Gong Si finally managed to close the door.

“Yeah, if I can’t drive the bus, I might as well do something. At times like this, I drive the snowplow,” the man said, pulling his mask back up.

“Then… if you take us, what about the snowplowing?” Gong Si remembered there was only one snowplow in the town.

“Kids come first. If I can’t plow the snow, people will just have to bear with it for now. They won’t mind,” the man replied cheerfully.

“…Thank you.” Not knowing what else to say, Gong Si could only thank him again in a low voice.

The snowplow’s cab was small, barely enough for two adults. Now, with the four brothers squeezed in, they had to huddle together. Honestly, it wasn’t comfortable, but it was very warm.

The driver was a typical Lengshui Town local. After saying what needed to be said, he focused on driving and didn’t speak another word for the rest of the trip. The snow outside grew heavier, and the temperature dropped even further, but Gong Si’s heart gradually warmed.

Though it was much slower than usual, they still made it to the clinic in time.

“Here’s my phone number. If you still can’t catch a ride back, call this number and I’ll come pick you up with the snowplow,” the driver said, handing Gong Si a slip of paper before they parted.

“Um… thank you.” Clutching the paper tightly, Gong Si found himself annoyed at his own lack of words.

“I’ll plow the snow along the way anyway~” The man waved at him, then slowly turned the snowplow back the way he’d come.

There was no time to watch him leave. Gong Si and Qiu Xia rushed into the clinic.

It was the same clinic Qiu Xia had visited before. Half a year later, they found themselves here again.

This time, the emergency room entrance was empty except for the brothers. There was no one outside the ward next door.

The doctor who received Dong Chun was the same one as last time. This time, it took less than half an hour before he came out of the emergency room and walked straight toward Gong Si and Qiu Xia.
“Is my younger brother alright?” Gong Si couldn’t wait to ask about his brother’s condition. “It was just a regular cold before, and he was almost recovered. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly he developed a fever…”

The doctor took off his mask, glanced at Gong Si, then shifted his gaze to Qiu Xia standing beside him.

“You have no guesses at all?”

He said this while looking at Qiu Xia.

Gong Si abruptly turned to Qiu Xia, stunned for a moment. “Don’t tell me, Dong Chun is also…”

“When I saw Dong Chun at home, I suspected it, but I can’t be sure.” Qiu Xia replied softly, “Dong Chun and someone from our academy… seem similar.”

The key word was deliberately concealed by Qiu Xia. Frowning, Gong Si stared at his second brother. “Similar to what from your academy?”

“…Vessel,” Qiu Xia whispered.

Gong Si froze in place.

“That’s right, this child is a Vessel. Initial potential value: A-Class+, Water Type. Whether in terms of potential or type, he’s definitely a High-grade Vessel.” It was still the same room as last time, still the same woman who had tested Qiu Xia before. She cheerfully announced to Gong Si news that was no different from a death sentence.

Judging by their reactions, the result was clearly excellent-even the Dean was smiling and applauding Gong Si.

“Congratulations, congratulations~”

But Gong Si couldn’t figure out what there was to congratulate. He forced a smile, but couldn’t truly bring himself to smile.

Dong Chun, however, walked out of the testing room, came up to Gong Si, looked up, and asked in a small voice, “Eldest Brother, am I amazing? Everyone was clapping!”

Forcing a smile, Gong Si replied, “I’m not really sure, but I think you must be amazing.”

“That’s right, you are amazing.” The Dean, who had been accompanying Gong Si since their arrival, smiled and said to him.

“Just as Users are divided into different ranks, Vessels have their own ranking system, even more detailed than that of Users.”

Like a kindly Elder, the Dean bent down and explained to Dong Chun with a smile, “F, E, and D-Class potential values are entry-level, collectively called low-grade. C and D can be called mid-grade, while A-Class is high-grade. And you are A-Class+, which is extremely, extremely outstanding-just as outstanding as your second brother.”

Listening in a daze, Dong Chun nodded, then asked another question, “So am I the most amazing?”

Hearing this, the Dean was momentarily taken aback, then smiled and shook his head. “Unfortunately, there are even more amazing ones.”

“Above A-Class+, there are S and SS grades. These two levels are called Super Grade Vessels, but since there are so few people at these levels, A-Class+ is also called quasi-Super Grade.”

“Oh, so there are even more amazing ones!” Dong Chun wasn’t discouraged by the existence of higher grades. He nodded, looking pleased to have figured out another question.

He still didn’t know how much his life was about to change.

“Go find your second brother and ask him to get you a glass of water. I need to talk to this gentleman for a bit.” Gong Si gently instructed Dong Chun. Only after Dong Chun left did Gong Si finally muster the courage to ask the Dean about his concern: “Um… Dean, now that Dong Chun is like this, he won’t just go weak all over and kneel whenever he sees a User, will he?”

The scenes of those Vessels meeting Qiu Xia were deeply etched in his memory, impossible to forget. Before, he had only been relieved that Qiu Xia was a User. Now, discovering that Dong Chun was a Vessel, Gong Si’s worries resurfaced.

“No.” Seeing how much Gong Si cared, the Dean answered seriously, “I know what you’re worried about. Rest assured, Dong Chun won’t experience that for now.”

“Because there are very few Users who can pair with him.”

“Only Users at Qiu Xia’s level or above can trigger his ‘activation’ stage. Ordinary Users can’t affect him at all.”

Gong Si breathed a sigh of relief, but the next moment, the Dean’s words made him tense up again.

“So, if he encounters a high-level User, Dong Chun will become just like those Vessels… won’t he…” he murmured.

The Dean nodded. “That’s why he needs to attend a Specialized School-to learn how to control himself, to learn not to be easily activated by others. Before encountering a potential high-level activator, he must learn to put up a Shield. This Shield will protect him from being easily claimed by others.”

“It may sound cruel, but that’s the reality-Vessels are relatively passive in this regard.”

Lowering his head, Gong Si stared at his tightly clenched fists, silent for a long time.

“I told you last time: if a Vessel or User appears among brothers, then the rest of that generation all have the potential to become Vessels or Users, and their abilities will be similar.”
“Qiu Xia is an Ice Type User, and Dong Chun is a Water Type Vessel. This proves the point exactly.”

“But you were lucky to meet a good doctor this time, who helped Dong Chun stabilize his form in time. Otherwise, with his high potential value and being a Natural Type, it would have been very easy for him to decompose during his first Awakening. He might have gotten lost or even completely decomposed. Truly fortunate.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Gong Si finally lifted his head. “What do you mean? I have no idea. What does it mean to help Dong Chun stabilize his form? After we sent Dong Chun to the clinic, the doctor just gave him an IV. Did he do something else we don’t know about?”

“Wait, you said you were the ones who took Dong Chun to the clinic? It wasn’t that doctor who went to help Dong Chun take form and then brought him to the clinic?” the Dean asked him.

“Of course not, we were the ones who took Dong Chun there,” Gong Si replied as if it were obvious.

The Dean was stunned, his brow slowly furrowing.

“Is there something wrong…” Sensing that something might be off, Gong Si asked.

“There is… Tell me again what you saw when you got home that day,” the Dean urged.

Feeling uneasy, Gong Si still tried to objectively describe the situation he found at home.

“No, something’s definitely off. When you got home, the room was full of ice. Ice is formed when water freezes, which matches Dong Chun’s attribute. It proves Dong Chun had an explosive Awakening of his ability, but at that time, Dong Chun was already in human form…”

“But an A+ Level Natural Type Vessel basically can’t restore their form completely with their own Energy. Without anyone assisting, there’s an eighty percent chance of decomposing. He actually managed to recover on his own? That shouldn’t be possible…”

“Strange, really strange.”

The last few sentences were the Dean muttering to himself.

His gaze unconsciously fell on Gong Si, then slowly downward, landing on Ah Ji in Gong Si’s arms.

He met Ah Ji’s big eyes.

Suddenly thinking of a possibility, the Dean abruptly asked, “Gong Si, when you found Dong Chun, was he wearing clothes? And was Ah Ji naked?”

Perplexed by the question, Gong Si still answered, “Mm.”

He didn’t think anything was wrong. Ah Ji didn’t like wearing too many clothes; if he wore clothes, he wouldn’t crawl. To encourage him to crawl and learn to walk, Gong Si deliberately kept the house warm. Ah Ji often crawled around in just a diaper, and it wasn’t unusual for the diaper to fall off as he crawled.

After thinking for a moment with his finger on his lips, the Dean stood up and beckoned to Dong Chun, “Dong Chun, can you come here for a moment? Grandpa has a question for you.”

Dong Chun, who was chatting with Second Brother, ran over, confused.

He was quite robust, and after recovering from his fever, he was healthy again, running and jumping without issue.

“Let me ask you, Dong Chun, did anything happen when you and your little brother were home alone? How did you suddenly have your Awakening?” The Dean asked Dong Chun with a smile.

Gong Si and Qiu Xia exchanged glances, stunned.

That’s right. They had been so focused on taking Dong Chun to the clinic and then bringing him here for testing that they assumed what happened at home was just the inevitable result of Dong Chun’s ‘Awakening.’ They overlooked the cause that led to this result.

Because Qiu Xia had a ‘Natural Awakening,’ they naturally assumed Dong Chun’s was also a ‘Natural Awakening.’ But could there be another reason?

Gong Si and Qiu Xia both looked at Dong Chun-

Under the gaze of his two older brothers, Dong Chun first shrank his head, then slowly, slowly, he lifted his head, closed his eyes, and shouted, “Sorry, Brother! I shouldn’t have tried to boil water when I wasn’t feeling well!”

“I fell asleep while boiling water, and when I woke up, Ah Ji was reaching for the kettle. I couldn’t move and then I passed out!”

“So what exactly happened then?” Gong Si pressed him.

“I-I don’t know either ahhhhh!” Under the pressure of his brothers’ stares, Dong Chun shouted loudly.

When everyone fell silent, Ah Ji in Gong Si’s arms suddenly let out an “Ah!”

He grabbed his brother’s hand and called out “Ah” twice more.

Seeing that no one understood him, the little one reached out and grabbed at the air.

Then-

One drop… two drops…

A torrential rain poured down again.