I am the only one who practices magic: I practice magic in the city

Chapter 548: The Road to Redemption
Shen Lijun's consciousness suddenly left her body, as if her soul had left her body, and she looked at her younger self, disheveled and crying, screaming.

Why! ?

Why! ?

This time, she had already blocked all of Shu Jianfeng's channels for making friends, so why did it still end like this?

I'm not convinced! ! !
Her consciousness roared through the thick fog.

In the fourth cycle, the light reappeared.

She got pregnant immediately and then asked Shu Jianfeng to quit his job to take care of the child, hoping to tie him down with the child. She worked outside and called home every hour to check up on him.

Then one day, Shu Jianfeng disappeared with his child.

However, one day at noon, she couldn't get through to her phone. She rushed home and found no one there.

Shu Jianfeng disappeared with the child, leaving not even a note behind.

She knelt in the empty living room, her fingernails digging into the floor, her eyes bloodshot, like a skinned beast.

Four failures drove Shen Lijun even more insane. She believed that it was all Shu Jianfeng's fault, that Shu Jianfeng's entire soul was dirty, and that was why he was ungrateful and treacherous.

This kind of man needs to be reformed!
So, in the fifth cycle, she showed no mercy and decided to completely transform Shu Jianfeng's emotions.

He was forced to write a gratitude journal every day, and if he didn't meet the standard, his food and water would be turned cold, and he would be made to kneel outside the door in the cold wind.

At first, Shu Jianfeng did as instructed, but later he began to tremble, stare blankly, and remain silent.

He would tremble and hide in a corner whenever he saw her.

In the third winter, she poured boiling water on Shu Jianfeng because he forgot to write the four words "Thank you, Lijun".

Shu Jianfeng stood up, his eyes like those of a wild dog, and suddenly pressed her down, his eyes bloodshot, choking her until her body completely lost consciousness in her dream.

In her sixth reincarnation, she began to instill in her daughter Shen Shuyao the idea that "her father is a demon."

When my daughter was four years old, she learned to report her father's whereabouts to her mother every day.

Shu Jianfeng completely lost trust in the mother and daughter.

One day, Shen Lijun instructed her daughter, "If your father wants to run away, report him to the police saying he raped you."

Shu Jianfeng completely broke down and committed suicide by cutting his wrists. When he died, he was still holding the hair clip he had bought for his daughter.

The daughter saw her father's corpse with her own eyes and was so frightened that she went insane.

Her consciousness floated in mid-air, looking at the blood everywhere, and she wailed loudly.

In the seventh cycle, she was completely disillusioned with Shu Jianfeng. After her daughter was born, she directly expelled Shu Jianfeng, leaving the child behind and abandoning the father. She focused all her attention on her daughter.

Grades, diet, friends, college applications, clothing, weight, makeup... everything is decided by her.

She forbids her daughter from dating, checks her diary, tears up envelopes, and changes her phone's lock screen.

My daughter committed suicide by jumping off a building the day before her college entrance exam in her senior year of high school.

All that was left was a note that read "I hate you".

Shen Lijun's emotions completely collapsed.

Why? Why? Why are all the people I meet like this?
The husband is like this, and the daughter is the same!

Why is my life so miserable?
In the thick fog, Shen Lijun no longer had the strength to throw a tantrum.

"The path to redemption is right beneath your feet."

The calm voice rang out again, repeating the same two sentences.

"Save your mother's life! Let me die! Let me die!"

Shen Lijun lost control of her mind in an instant; she never imagined that she would one day be able to say such vulgar words.

No matter how hysterical she became, the familiar white light enveloped her once again.

The eighth cycle.
-
"Director Han, it's been nine days already, and my parents still haven't woken up. Could it be..."

Inside the ward, Shen Shuyao stood beside Shu Jianfeng and Shen Lijun's beds, looking worried, with dark circles under her eyes.

She spent almost all of those nine days in the hospital. Even though the VIP ward was no different from a regular apartment, with professional caregivers and nurses to handle everything, her parents were both lying there, their fates unknown. It was clear that Shen Shuyao couldn't get any rest.

Fang Yu has been coming over every day these days, and even spent two nights with Shen Shuyao, but he usually has too many things to do to be here all day.

Shu Jianfeng and Shen Lijun had bruises all over their arms and hands from the injections they had received recently.

In addition to 24-hour heart rate monitoring, both of them had numerous electrode patches on their heads. On the EEG machine at Neon Optoelectronics in the ward, a green curve was constantly jumping.

Director Han, wearing a white coat, pushed up his glasses, his brows furrowed.

In his more than 20 years in the industry, he had never seen anything so strange.

Carbon monoxide poisoning can indeed cause cerebral edema or brain nerve damage. In severe cases, it can indeed lead to coma for several days or even a vegetative state.

However, no cerebral edema was detected in the two individuals' cranial CT scans, and the MRI results also showed clear distribution of gray and white matter, with no suspicious signals in the hippocampus and thalamus.

What's even stranger is that their brainwaves are more active than those of normal people!

EEG showed that the two individuals' brainwaves even occasionally exhibited high-frequency gamma-wave activity.

These are brainwave characteristics that only appear in a highly conscious state and are extremely unusual in comatose patients.

Based on his brainwave signals, he once determined that these two patients were very likely suffering from locked-in syndrome caused by damage to the pons or brainstem.

This condition manifests as the patient regaining consciousness, but being unable to control their body.

However, after testing, the two individuals' brainwaves showed no response to external stimuli such as speaking, touching, or stabbing.

The test results directly refuted his guess.

Patients with locked-in syndrome have only lost the ability to control their bodies, but their brain waves still respond to external stimuli.

The two individuals did exhibit changes in their brainwaves, but these changes were almost entirely unrelated to external stimuli and instead showed a clear periodicity on a daily basis.

This bizarre brainwave phenomenon is something he's never seen before, and probably no neurosurgeon in the world has ever encountered a similar case.

If one person is in this state, it may be an isolated phenomenon, but if two people are in this state, it may be an isolated phenomenon!

And he was in a coma for eight days!

After leaving the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, the two remained unconscious.

It is true that there are many unknown areas in neurosurgery, but this situation can no longer be explained by the phrase "unknown areas".

Seeing Director Han's expression, Shen Shuyao couldn't help but feel nervous.

"The current situation is indeed... rather unusual."

Director Han adjusted his glasses and softened his tone.

"But you don't need to worry too much. Judging from the current EEG, they should still be conscious, but they haven't regained their voluntary responses yet."

“A few days ago, we packaged the images and EEG data and sent them to Professor Wang at Tiantan Hospital and Professor Li at Huashan Hospital. They both replied that although they couldn’t quite explain it, they judged it to be a ‘non-deteriorating stable state’.”

Director Han paused for a moment, then added, "At least in the short term, there is no obvious risk of pathological degeneration."

"We will continue to observe and perform another functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan in a short while."

Hearing Director Han's words of comfort, Shen Shuyao's eyes showed even deeper worry.

It would be better not to offer any comfort.

Someone as intelligent as her naturally understood what Director Han meant. To put it bluntly, they didn't know why she had fallen into a coma, when she would regain consciousness, or whether there would be any long-term effects.

Shen Shuyao bit her lip, looked sadly at her parents on the hospital bed, and her eyes were slightly red.

Even though she usually had many grievances against Shen Lijun and Shu Jianfeng, at this moment, seeing the two of them lying on the hospital bed, their fates unknown, Shen Shuyao still couldn't hold back her emotions.

What if... what if something really happens to them, then I won't have a mom and dad anymore.

“Director Han…” Shen Shuyao cleared her throat, about to speak, when she seemed to see out of the corner of her eye that Shu Jianfeng’s right little finger twitched.

"Director Han, my dad... it seems like his fingers moved just now."

Shen Shuyao hesitated for a moment before speaking to Director Han.

Director Han was taken aback. He quickly bent down and carefully examined Shu Jianfeng. He noticed that Shu Jianfeng's eyelids were slightly bulging, and his eyeballs seemed to be moving.

Director Han hurriedly took out a small flashlight from his pocket, intending to pry open Shu Jianfeng's eyelids to check his pupil reaction, when he saw Shu Jianfeng slowly open his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

"Dad! You're awake!"

Shen Shuyao squatted by Shu Jianfeng's bedside, tears streaming down her face.

"NanNan..."

Shu Jianfeng's eyes regained focus. He moved his fingers and gently stroked the back of his daughter's hand, his voice weak: "I'm sorry..."

Shen Shuyao shook her head, tears streaming down her face: "You only have me as your daughter. If I don't take care of her after something like this happens, who will?"

Shu Jianfeng shook his head slightly, his weak voice filled with remorse and apology: "Dad is saying... I'm not a good father, Shu Yao. You've suffered so much these years. I'm so useless, so irresponsible, and I haven't protected you. I don't deserve to be a father."

Shen Shuyao froze, staring at Shu Jianfeng in disbelief.

Although Shu Jianfeng is gentle by nature, his tendency to avoid problems largely stems from his inability to face his own mistakes.

This was the first time in all these years that Shen Shuyao had heard Shu Jianfeng admit that he lacked a sense of responsibility.

Seeing this, Director Han immediately pulled Shen Shuyao up: "Ms. Shen, Mr. Shu has just woken up. We still need to give him a full examination. In addition, we need to give him some water and nutrition. He has been relying on intravenous nutrition for the past nine days. It is best to keep the patient from getting too excited."

Two nurses quickly stepped forward to draw blood and add nutrient solution to the IV drip.

Another nurse brought a bottle of water with a straw inserted, and asked Shu Jianfeng to take small sips to moisten his mouth and throat.

"I'm fine." Shu Jianfeng struggled to sit up, supporting himself on the hospital bed, and two nurses quickly stepped forward to help him.

"You just said it's been nine days?" Shu Jianfeng took a couple of breaths and looked around. "Where is this?"

"This is the First Hospital, Mr. Shu. My surname is Han, and I am a neurosurgeon at the First Hospital. Yes, you have been in a coma for nine days. Miss Shen has been taking care of you and your husband these past few days. She is very filial."

Seeing that Shu Jianfeng had regained consciousness, Director Han breathed a sigh of relief.

However, it is still necessary to conduct examinations first. Some cases show that some people who fall into a coma due to carbon monoxide poisoning experience a rapid deterioration after regaining consciousness, so we cannot take it lightly.

"Nine days... I thought it was nine lifetimes..." Shu Jianfeng looked out the window, his eyes seeming as if he had lived through another world.

"How is your mother...?" Shu Jianfeng's gaze shifted to Shen Lijun on the hospital bed next to him. "Is she still not awake?"

Shen Shuyao's expression darkened, and she shook her head.

Shu Jianfeng sighed, his eyes flickering: "The path to redemption is right at her feet. Whether she can wake up or not ultimately depends on herself."

Shen Shuyao was stunned. What? The path to redemption was right under her feet?
Why is Dad acting so strangely?
Could it be that his brain was damaged while he was in a coma?
"Dad, are you alright?" Shen Shuyao touched Shu Jianfeng's forehead with concern.

Shu Jianfeng forced a smile and said, "It's nothing, just a dream."

"A dream?" Shen Shuyao was slightly taken aback.

"Yes, a dream, a very, very long dream."

Shu Jianfeng let out a long breath, looked at the ceiling, and his eyes showed a determination he had never seen before.
-
Both of them have psychological issues. Although the main responsibility for the problems between them lies with Shen Lijun, Shu Jianfeng is not entirely innocent either.

To some extent, it was his personality that fueled Shen Lijun's control, making her paranoid personality disorder even more severe.

Since he had already cast the "Ten Reincarnations" spell on Shen Lijun, Fang Yu naturally couldn't be biased towards her, so he found an opportunity the next day to cast it on his father-in-law as well.

Their dreams are separate; each of them has their own.

However, if Shu Jianfeng still cannot escape the shackles of "character determines destiny" after ten reincarnations, Fang Yu will pull him out of the dream.

After all, he hadn't made any major mistakes; he was just cowardly.

As it turns out, Shu Jianfeng's problems were indeed quite serious.

It took him eight cycles of reincarnation to completely overcome his cowardice and escapism, firmly shoulder the responsibilities of his family, and decisively end his relationship with Shen Lijun.

For the first time, he realized that he did not love Shen Lijun. The reason he dated and married Shen Lijun was only because he felt that only Shen Lijun truly loved him and was willing to give everything for him.

This was the first time he realized that Shen Lijun didn't actually love him; it was just a distorted desire for control.

His fear and obedience to Shen Lijun were essentially forms of escapism—escaping the pressure of making his own decisions.

The moment he first said "Let's get a divorce" to Shen Lijun in his dream and resolutely left home with his daughter, he successfully escaped the dream.

The calm voice that occasionally appeared said, "Congratulations on finding the path to salvation," and his consciousness seemed to travel through time and space, returning to his body from the dream of more than ten years ago.

"I believe in your mother; she will definitely get through this too."
-
In the eighth cycle, Shen Lijun's consciousness was like that of a walking corpse, no longer exerting any influence on her younger self.

She watched helplessly as her younger self repeated her own tragedy step by step.

Falling in love, getting married, having children, countless arguments, divorce, and constantly badmouthing her ex-husband in front of her daughter like a resentful woman... Finally, after her daughter told her that she was in a relationship, she went to find her ex-husband, but he kept avoiding her. Finally, she cornered him at his workplace, but he just watched as the security guard treated her like a madwoman and used a riot fork to fork her out.

So she went to her ex-husband's current address, used ether she had prepared beforehand to drug him, and then turned on the gas, intending to die together with him.

What am I doing?
Only now is she truly seeing her actions from a third-person perspective for the first time.

Is this me?

Am I really like this?
Shen Lijun suddenly felt a little scary.

The ninth cycle began the instant they were both drugged.

Shen Lijun was reborn as a sophomore in college. At that time, Shu Jianfeng had just entered the junior college program of the teachers' college. She was an undergraduate student, one year ahead of Shu Jianfeng, and they were not dating yet.

This time, she didn't try to pursue Shu Jianfeng again. She just watched this man who had been entangled with her for several lifetimes from afar, occasionally helping him with tasks that he was not capable of completing. Otherwise, she was like a nobody on campus.

After graduation, the two had no further contact.

Years later, she was still all alone.

In the last few years of her life, she suddenly saw an elderly Shu Jianfeng in a park.

He was getting old too. When he saw her, he hesitated for a moment, then walked towards her.

Are you Shen Lijun?

Shu Jianfeng, leaning on his cane, stared intently at her with his cloudy eyes.

"I am Shu Jianfeng. Do you remember me? We went to the same school."

"Over the years, I've always wanted to thank you. Thank you for helping me so much back then."

Shen Lijun's eyes shone with an unprecedented brilliance.

he knows!
At that very moment, the white light struck again.

The tenth cycle has begun.

(End of this chapter)