A Vegetative

At about 9 PM, Lu Lu finally dragged her worn-out body back to the office. She was startled to see Cheryl around still.

The secretary was surprised to see the young assistant as well. "I thought you would have gone home straight away…"

Lu Lu walked back to her seat, flopped down on the desk, and muttered lifelessly, "Big traffic jam… That Miss Shen said she would arrive at the set at 6 PM and told me to get there at that time. I got a colleague from the maintenance department to drive me over. We started at 5 PM and only managed to reach the production base at 7.30 PM… Totally didn't expect that…"

The other assistant could not help rolling her eyes at her. "The peak hours are around 5-6 PM. Of course, you'd be caught in a massive jam. Besides, the production base is especially far from the city center. You should have left the office earlier."

Lu Lu cried out woefully, "I didn't expect the jam to be so bad…"

"Alright, alright, as long as you complete the task. How about Ruan Ruan? Have you brought her back?"

The young woman banged her head against the desk twice. "Don't talk about it, I didn't even get to see Shen Xinran…"

Cheryl looked at her, stunned. "You made a wasted trip?!"

"After I reached the production base, I was turned away by security because I didn't have a visitor pass. I called Shen Xinran's assistant who told me that she had gone home as she had completed her shoot! She even lectured me about being punctual because time was precious to the actress…"

Slumping on the table with resignation, she waved her hand and said, "I have to make another trip tomorrow."

Dumbfounded, the secretary raised a question. "You… have you informed President Chen yet?"

Lu Lu turned her head slowly to face her with a look of shock. "D*mn!… I forgot to do that…"

The other assistant could only prop her chin and stare at her.

"Do you think it'll be too late to send a message now?" The young assistant switched on her laptop hastily. "Let me send… send him an email! At least it won't be as bad as getting a verbal thrashing on the phone if he's to scold me for making a wasted trip…"

"Then how are you going to explain the situation in the email?" The other lady reminded her. "Are you going to inform him that you didn't get to meet Shen Xinran? How about the next meeting place? Note down everything clearly in the message or you'll get a scolding…"

The girl nodded her head in earnest agreement, and could only blame her poor luck for this incident!

…

Inside Block B of RK Twin Towers, Gu Anbao tried to return to her former sickbay in the hospital, based on her memory.

Looking at the door that was tightly shut, she paced up and down outside the room hesitating, wondering if she should enter.

Some family members of other patients passed by and were rather startled to see the cat ears on her head. But just as quickly, they took her as a cosplayer and walked away…

The girl smoothed her hair and clothes uneasily as she tried to conceal the switch at the nape of her neck, as well as the circular connecting structures on her wrists, knees and other joints.

Plucking up her courage, she reached out for the door handle, gave a twist and opened the door…

Ah…?

Ahhhhhh!

It's empty… empty?!

There was nothing… on the bed…

She was struck dumb on the spot.

Where was her body?!

Don't tell me… it has been cremated?!

No way!!

"Who are you looking for?"

A female voice rang from behind her. She turned around to see her sister standing there!

It was her older sister!

"Sis…" Gu Anbao forcefully swallowed back the word, before it unknowingly tumbled out of her mouth.

Gu Anqi looked at the girl quizzically.

"… I'm… I'm looking for Gu Anbao," she replied with a reserved smile.

She was unable to tell the truth… that she had found herself looking like this after the operation… more than that… she was now a robot…

There was no way she was able to explain all these unimaginable happenings…

Her sister looked at her kindly after knowing her intention. "Are you Anbao's friend? Sorry, I've never heard her mention her friends before… May I know who are you?"

"Yes, we are friends… very good friends." She tried her best to cook up a story as she went along. "We… we knew each other on the Internet. I heard that she's sick, that's why I'm here to visit her."

Breath… Excellent. This sounds like a plausible reason. She heaved a silent sigh of relief.

"Oh…" Her sister sized her up as she pondered her words.

The girl thought that her sister might be questioning her cat ears. Just as she was about to explain these as a hair accessory, she suddenly noticed the dark stain on the frock at her chest area.

It was the red wine… that time.

Her gaze went lower to see her skirt… tethered at a few places… Her stockings were ripped without a clue, too…

The round tips of her little leather shoes were covered with dirt and mud.

How dirty…

And embarrassing…

"I got into a minor accident while on the way here in a car… I… accidentally slipped and fell after getting out of the car… and got into this mess… The present I got for her was forgotten and left in the car, too…"

"Were you hurt?" Gu Anqi asked kindly. "Do you need to see a doctor downstairs?"

"I'm fine!" The girl hurriedly waved her hand to dismiss the notion. How would she dare to have a doctor to examine her!

"Ehh… It's good to know that you're fine." The older girl did not press further and, instead, walked into the hospital room to start tidying up her sister's stuff in the bedside cabinet.

She found her 'sister's friend' rather strange. However, moved by the thought that the girl had come all the way to visit her sister despite the messy get-up, she continued the conversation as she packed away the stuff. "I know Anbao has released some comics on the Internet, and she has come to know some good friends as well. But, being terribly shy, she simply refused to tell me the name of the comics she drew. And she has hidden away the illustrations as well… Did you know her through her drawings?"

The girl nodded her head vigorously. "Eh, yes!"

"Oh? Then, can you tell me the name of the comics she drew?" Gu Anqi stopped what she was doing and looked at her with anticipation. "I have always wanted to have a look."

"It's called 'The Everyday Life of Dame Goldfish'…" Somehow, she was feeling oddly guilty…

Sis, I didn't mean to keep it from you… I just felt… rather embarrassed about my work…

"Dame Goldfish? No wonder…" Her sister stared blankly at the floor, seemingly lost in her memories. After some time, she looked up with a smile. "She loved to rear goldfish since she was a kid. The house was filled with all kinds of goldfish."

Her younger sister almost… burst into tears as she observed the crestfallen expression on her face.

Gu Anqi finally packed up the stuff, walked out of the room and signaled to the young lady waiting outside. "Let's go. I'll take you to see her."

"… Eh! Okay!" The girl quickened her steps to catch up with the lady.

After leaving the VIP suite, Gu Anqi took Gu Anbao to the intensive care unit. Separated by a long and broad glass window, the latter finally saw her physical self…

Her body was lying quietly on the bed inside the pastel green room as if she had been cast into a deep slumber…

"Sorry, as this is a germ-free room… so we can't let you in to see her…" Her sister told her apologetically.

Gu Anbao stared dumbly at her physical self, her mind drew a blank at that very moment, let alone pay attention to what the older girl had just said to her! No words could describe the shock and disbelief she was experiencing at this point!

What happened?

The first thought that flashed through her mind was: What happened?!

Why was she standing here whereas her body was lying lifeless before her eyes?! What happened?!

"I… I just want to check… check on her…"

Her lips spouted mindlessly as she stood, frozen to the spot. Her eyes fixated on the body that was hers on the opposite side of the glass panel.

"It was supposed to be a success… but the body suddenly developed muscular resistance halfway through the operation… the transplanted heart was an 87% biological match with her so we didn't think there'd be any issues… We didn't think that it would turn out this way…" She looked listlessly at her sister lying on the bed and continued, "It was not easy finding a suitable heart for her… but the operation failed in the end."

"What to do… what can we do…" The girl looked at her own body and muttered, "… what can be done… to wake up…"

"We don't know," her sister shook her head gently as her gaze never left her body in the room. "The doctor said that she might wake up tomorrow… or perhaps… never…"