Colt endured a strong sense of dizziness as he left the basement. He needed a bed, or perhaps a sofa, but all he received was an angry Birdie attacking his face.
Colt was knocked to the ground by the bird. Watching his phone slide several meters away, he wriggled his upper body over to the carpet and reached out to stroke the little head of the bird rubbing against his chin. Before closing his eyes, he heard Birdie's terrified chirping.
Don't panic, I've already died once, I won't die again. Just a nap, a nap will make it better.
A time dilation of 1:1000 is no problem; the Quantum Superbrain still has plenty of computing power. Next time, there's no need to pause the Earth Simulator; keep the synchronized time within 24 hours.
Colt thought for a moment, his consciousness sank into darkness.
..
Colt's sleep was extremely restless, with fragmented scenes flashing through his dreams.
It was as if he were reading a comic book with its pages out of order.
One frame he is sitting in a high school classroom, the next he is at a kindergarten in Gotham. One moment he is strolling through an amusement park with eight-year-old Timothy, the next Red Robin has changed into a new uniform and is wielding a long staff..
In the chaotic images, there were some overlaps with the stories Dad told.
For example, spreading rumors like "wasting food will get you a knock on the window by Batman" or "Killer Croc likes eating children who waste food"..
There are also things Dad didn't say. For example, leading classmates to rebel against the principal and sending bad teachers to the GCPD. He was responsible for leading the charge, while Timothy was responsible for coming up with the plans.
This is a memory!
I knew Timothy when we were kids!
The dream vanished in an instant, Colt snapped his eyes open.
He was lying on a soft bed, covered by a quilt, within his field of vision was a furry black head.
Timothy sat on the floor with his back against the edge of the bed, looking down as he worked on his laptop. His bangs hung down, obscuring his eyes, leaving only his exquisite, delicate chin visible.
Colt was momentarily dazed, unable to distinguish between dreams and reality.
Timothy suddenly turned his head, saw the person wake up, let out a long breath. His tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly, the gravity in his ice-blue eyes eased.
"Awake? How are you feeling?" his voice was hoarse.
Colt felt quite good; sleep had allowed his mental strength to recover. Although he was still somewhat weak, his head no longer ached, full recovery was only a matter of time.
Timothy, on the other hand, was as pale as a vampire, with dark circles under his eyes as thick as smoky eye makeup. He looked half-dead, looking even more like a Ghost than Colt.
Timothy, looking even more like a ghost, moved the computer aside, propped his elbows on the edge of the bed to sit up, leaned forward to feel Colt's forehead.
Robin Bird was tapping out a distress signal in front of the study's surveillance camera, so I came over to take a look.
You have a fever.
Timothy received a distress call from Birdie at five in the morning and found Colt, who had fainted from a fever, at the entrance to the basement.
He couldn't take Colt to the hospital, so he gave Colt some fever-reducing medicine found in the home first-aid kit. Fortunately, the extremely high fever of 40.5 °C began to slowly subside. Since Colt's various indicators were within the optimal medical range according to a routine check, he decided not to notify Joseph.
Timothy's palms were cool and felt incredibly present.
Colt felt a bit dizzy, his heart pounding like a drum, an inexplicable heat rushed to his face. He stared at Timothy, who was right before his eyes, wondering if the aftereffects of this time were undergoing some kind of mutation.
Timothy watched Colt's face grow redder and redder, his beautiful Violet eyes becoming misty and moist, his whole being as vibrant as an apple covered in morning dew.
Beautiful, sweet.
But Timothy had no heart for appreciation; the abnormal temperature beneath his palm made him anxious. He switched to an electronic thermometer and measured Colt's forehead and ear temperatures in turn.
102 (38.9℃), persistent high fever. Do you need me to notify your father?
Chapter 25
Colt stared at Timothy's departing hand, shaking his head slightly.
Mental exhaustion always takes a few days to burn off; this is the body healing itself, it can even promote the growth of mental power.
Timothy took out a blister pack of Ibuprofen.
It's been more than six hours since the last dose. Take another pill and see how it goes; if that doesn't work, you'll have to get an IV drip.
Colt stared at the capsule in Timothy's hand.
Ordinary medicine cannot have any effect on mental power; since he gained his memories, he hasn't taken any medication. Every time he overexerts his mental power, he relies on sleep to recover. Joseph knows his situation and lets him be.
Timothy picked up the thermos from the bedside table, holding the medicine in one hand and the water in the other, speaking slowly and haltingly.
I think you're no longer eight years old; you can take your medicine yourself when you're awake, without needing me to feed it to you.
So, you gave me medicine?!
Colt swallowed hard, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth as he wondered how Timothy had administered the medicine to him.
"Do you need help getting up?" Timothy asked.
Colt shook his head and sat up; as the blanket slid down, he realized he was wearing a T-shirt, his heart instantly leaped into his throat.
He definitely wasn't wearing a cotton T-shirt before he fainted!
Who changed his clothes?
It definitely wasn't a bird!
The legs under the quilt rubbed together, feeling no barrier of fabric between them.
The pants had been changed too!
Colt controlled himself to prevent showing any expression of horror.
Red Robin is noble, he is as upright as they come; it's perfectly normal for friends to help each other change clothes!
Colt steadied his emotions, lowered his gaze to take the capsule, popped it into his mouth, took a large gulp of water.
Cough, cough, cough..
He drank too quickly and water went down the wrong pipe, making Colt cough until tears welled up in his eyes.
Timothy patted Colt's back, "Careful, Sleeping Beauty."
At such a close distance, with physical contact, all the mental strength he had just recovered surged toward Timothy, pulling him into the Ghost field. Colt didn't need a Hearing Aid to hear Timothy's muttering loud and clear!
What Sleeping Beauty?
Colt widened his eyes, staring at Timothy in disbelief, so startled that he forgot to cough!
Timothy gazed into those wide, staring Violet eyes; those expressive eyes were like magic capable of unsettling the mind. Combined with the fact that he hadn't closed his eyes in two days, his extremely exhausted brain already felt like half of it didn't belong to him.
Timothy blurted out, "I mean, you're lying in bed, eyes closed, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, your face is as flushed as a Kansas apple.."
The one with skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood is Snow White!
Colt protested with his eyes.
No! The point isn't whether it's Snow White or Sleeping Beauty! The point is..
Flap
Birdie fluttered in unsteadily, a lollipop in its beak. Seeing that Colt had woken up, it tossed the lollipop onto Timothy's head and dove into Colt's arms, chirping incessantly.
Colt held the bird and reached into the bedside drawer to put on his hearing aid. The noisy sounds of the outside world suddenly rushed into his ears, suppressing the strange sensation.
He rolled off the bed from the other side.
"Get back in bed, Princess Aurora, patients shouldn't engage in strenuous activity," Timothy continued to talk nonsense.
There is no princess here!
"You're the one who needs to be lying in bed resting!" a voice from the loudspeaker on the wall flowed out at 1.5x speed.
Colt glared at Timothy, shoved Birdie into his hands, darted into the bathroom faster than Batman could turn his head.
Thank goodness, I didn't change my underwear!
Colt breathed a sigh of relief, turned on the shower, used the warm water to physically lower his temperature.
Timothy knocked on the door every three minutes: "Are you asleep?"
Colt turned off the water to indicate that he was not asleep.
When Timothy knocked for the third time, Colt finally finished his personal hygiene and wrapped himself in a bath towel. Between opening the door and walking through the wall, he chose to walk through the door instead, sticking his head out and coming face-to-face with the person and the bird waiting at the door.
The sight of a human head emerging from the door was a bit terrifying, but the person and the bird were not frightened; instead, they both breathed a sigh of relief in unison.
Ghost's face was as red as a rose covered in water droplets after his shower.
Timothy suppressed the agitation in his heart, a look of disapproval appearing in his eyes. "Doctors usually don't recommend taking a bath when you have a high fever."
'I'm taking a hot bath.'
Colt shook his head, intentionally flicking droplets of water from his wet hair onto Timothy, then cheerfully pulled his head back and bypassed the wall to head toward the cloakroom.
Sometimes he would maintain the habits of an ordinary person, such as running with his feet firmly planted on the floor, pretending to be a normal human being. When Timothy looked at him and spoke to him, with the heart leaping beneath his chest and the blood rushing through his arteries, Colt felt like a living person without having to pretend.
The high fever seemed to have given Colt more energy; he carefully dried his hair, changed his clothes, returned only to find Timothy standing still, leaning against the wall with his head lowered.
Timothy's breathing grew heavy as he fell asleep while standing. In the Dream Station, the rustling sound of a progress bar climbing flowed through the air.
Colt reached out, wanting to touch the dark circles under Timothy's eyes, but his hand paused in mid-air, eventually only brushing against a strand of hair before stroking Birdie, who was curled up and sleeping soundly against Timothy's neck.
Colt exerted his mental strength, carefully enveloping both the person and the bird, placing Birdie back into its nest and moving Timothy onto the bed, before staring blankly at Timothy's sleeping face.
What would Timothy dream about?
Colt covered Timothy with a blanket and floated downstairs on tiptoe to find something to eat.
A treasure chest remained at the Dream Station. Colt opened it to find an automatic coffee machine and a jar of coffee beans, which was as large as the giant candy jar in the M&M's store.
'Maybe I can try running a self-service coffee shop.'
Colt thought optimistically about boiling eggs, corn, potatoes. While waiting for the food to cook, he would set to work installing the coffee machine.
The large jar of coffee beans couldn't fit in the cupboard, so it could only be placed on the countertop next to the coffee machine.
Colt, I've ordered Chinese takeout, it'll be here soon.
Timothy appeared at the restaurant entrance with a yawn, drifting toward the coffee machine like a Ghost.
“It looks great, can I use it?”
As he spoke, he reached for Red Robin's exclusive coffee cup.