'A prehistoric human stone statue!?'
At this point, Shen Feng's sensitivity to the words "stone statue" had reached its peak. He instantly remembered that the Stone Statue Virus from the Stone Statue Apocalypse was discovered beneath the Arctic Icefield!
This was all too much of a coincidence!
'I hope it's just an ordinary prehistoric ruin. I hope I'm wrong…'
Shen Feng immediately pulled the phone he'd just bought from his pocket and started checking the morning news.
He found the news about the Ice Dragon Expedition Team, tapped on the video, and a newscaster's voice immediately came through, accompanied by footage of the Ice Dragon Expedition Team's work in the Arctic.
On the vast icefield, a massive drilling rig and a crane stood tall. A group of men and women in the expedition team's protective suits were shouting excitedly.
Something was being slowly hoisted up from a circular hole about a meter in diameter.
The camera zoomed in, bringing the hoisted object into sharp focus.
It was a life-sized stone statue of an old man. Though its surface had become mottled over an unknown period, the overall carving was remarkably lifelike.
The details were especially fine; the hair and the wrinkles on the hands were rendered with perfect clarity.
As Shen Feng stared at the statue, an overwhelming sense of familiarity washed over him.
'No doubt about it!'
This is a human stone statue, a victim of the Petrification Disease!
The statue, suspended in mid-air, slowly turned to reveal its face.
The moment he saw the statue's face, a tremor ran through Shen Feng. He felt every hair on his body stand on end, as if he himself were standing on the sub-zero Arctic Icefield.
That face… it was somehow familiar!
He had seen it before, but in the Stone Statue Apocalypse!
It was… the director of the research lab at the Huicheng Epidemic Prevention Center!
The resemblance was uncanny!
'What in the world is going on!?'
'Could this statue really be from the world of the Stone Statue Apocalypse?'
'Why has it appeared in his world?'
'Or could it be…'
Shen Feng shuddered as another, utterly incredible possibility struck him. 'Could the Earth he's on and the Earth of the Stone Statue Apocalypse be one and the same? Not a Parallel Cosmos, but simply a different time?'
'Is the Stone Statue Apocalypse he visited actually Earth from a previous epoch?'
Then, Shen Feng shook his head violently. 'No, if that were the case, how could he explain the songs?'
Many of the songs he'd heard and things he'd seen in the Stone Statue Apocalypse also exist in the current world. It couldn't possibly be the same Earth at a different time…
'Or perhaps, the Stone Statue Apocalypse he visited is the future of this world?'
'Did he see a vision of a future doomsday?'
'That's not right either… The names of the cities and other details in the Stone Statue Apocalypse are different from this world…'
Shen Feng's mind was a tangled mess. Just then, the news report continued:
"The statue from beneath the Arctic Icefield is roughly life-sized, crafted with supernatural and lifelike skill. It is currently impossible to determine what kind of tools were used to carve it. According to carbon-14 dating, it is at least five hundred thousand years old."
"Additionally, according to Captain Sun of the Ice Dragon Expedition Team, there are more objects and even structures beneath this thousand-meter-thick icefield. This could very well be a prehistoric ruin!"
"If all goes well, this could even unlock the global picture of ancient humans before Homo sapiens dominated the Earth, becoming one of the most significant discoveries of the century!"
"..."
Kneeling to the side, Li Chang watched as the young man before him periodically furrowed his brow, even clutching his head and rapping his temples, looking utterly frantic. He couldn't help but worry.
'Did we run into some nutcase with bipolar disorder?'
'I heard those types can get away with murder. How are you supposed to reason with a sick person?'
'I'm done with this gangster life!'
He immediately put on a concerned expression and spoke cautiously:
"Brother Feng, Brother Feng, are you not feeling well? Should we take you to the school clinic? It's too hot, it'd be bad if you got heatstroke. We're in the dog days of summer, you gotta watch out for the heat…"
Shen Feng took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and, without bothering to answer them, turned and walked toward the school.
'No matter what's happening right now, the priority is to get my own affairs in order. If the Petrification Disease is really going to break out in this world, I at least need to be able to control my own power and then disseminate the research data on the disease.'
Li Chang was right—he did need to go to a hospital, just not the school clinic.
Seeing Shen Feng just walk away, Li Chang grew anxious and shouted from a distance:
"Brother Feng, what about us? Can we go? Or should we keep kneeling…"
...
After going to his classroom to ask his homeroom teacher, Old Li, for a leave of absence, Shen Feng hailed a cab to the city's central hospital.
Because Shen Feng rarely asked for leave and looked pale, Old Li insisted on going with him, but Shen Feng managed to decline after much persuasion.
Still, the gesture warmed Shen Feng's heart.
Once at the hospital, Shen Feng barely had to say much. He just mentioned a headache, and the doctor immediately wrote him an order for a brain CT scan. He then requested a full-body examination as well.
Fortunately, since it was early and there weren't many patients, Shen Feng only had to wait two or three hours after his scans to get the results.
To be precise, his scans went directly into the hands of the chief neurosurgeon, who personally invited him into his office.
The scans lay on the desk of Liu Peihong, the Director of Neurosurgery at Central Hospital. Upon seeing Shen Feng, a look of pity crossed his face.
"Young man, you... are Shen Feng?"
Shen Feng nodded. "Hello, Doctor. Yes, I'm Shen Feng."
Liu Peihong continued, "Where is your family? Why isn't anyone with you?"
Shen Feng smiled faintly. "I'm an orphan. Whatever the situation is, you can just tell me. I can handle it."
'This Director Liu seems quite responsible.'
Hearing Shen Feng's words, Liu Peihong felt even more regretful. He sighed and said:
"Shen Feng, I've looked at your scans. To be honest, it's... not good."
He struggled to find the right words, then continued:
"I've never seen a case like yours before. It's truly... truly..."
Shen Feng's expression turned serious. "Director Liu, please just tell me straight. I can take it."
Liu Peihong was taken aback by the young man's determined gaze. A flicker of shock went through him, and he realized he couldn't treat him like a child. He took a deep breath and said gravely:
"The internal structure of your brain shows numerous cavities and filamentous structures, somewhat similar to the brain spongification caused by the Prion Virus in mad cow disease. Frankly, the fact that you can stand here and talk to me normally is already a miracle…"
"Additionally, your chest CT shows two tumors inside your thoracic cavity, right where your lungs are... Your bones also show signs of disease, with clear evidence of osteoporosis and internal cavities..."
Shen Feng asked, "Is that all?"
Liu Peihong was stunned. 'Wasn't that enough?' A normal person would be finished with just one of those conditions.
However, he wondered if the young man was just numb from the shock. He sighed and continued:
"With this degree of pathology, to be honest, modern medicine is essentially helpless... Even with chemotherapy and major, invasive surgery, it would likely just cause you more pain and be a waste of money..."
The boy was still so young; he couldn't bear to say more. He lowered his voice and added:
"If you have any unfulfilled wishes, you should fulfill them soon. Go home, eat and drink well, and don't overthink things. Being happy is what's most important. Don't leave any regrets."
Shen Feng nodded. "Thank you, Director Liu. I'll take the scans with me. Perhaps we'll meet again... By the way, can you tell me how much time I have left?"
With a pained expression, Liu Peihong held up two fingers. "Two months..."
After taking the CT scans home, Shen Feng began to examine them carefully himself.
He, of course, understood that the changes in his body weren't diseases, but modifications caused by the various viruses and drugs.
'But the changes in his brain and bones were understandable. What was the deal with the tumors in his chest?'
Looking at the scans, he saw two large shadows in his chest, making it look almost as if he had four lungs.
'But there was no way to investigate further for now. It wasn't like he could just get open-chest surgery, right?'
What he most wanted to test now was how to use his silicon-based brain.
Opening his old, beat-up laptop, Shen Feng held his breath and focused, trying to establish a connection and transfer information between his brain and the computer.
He took a deep breath, pictured himself as a computer, and began to visualize the process of information transfer in his mind.
This time, he wanted to transfer information from the computer back into his own brain.
But after waiting for a long time, no matter if he imagined himself as a flash drive, a media player, or even a keyboard, nothing happened. He was beginning to suspect he was just delusional.
Rubbing his throbbing temples, Shen Feng sighed and opened the music player on his computer, planning to listen to a song to relax.
The moment he hit the play button, powerful music immediately blared out:
"...I know, I know I've let you down..."
Shen Feng jumped in shock, shot to his feet, and pressed both hands to his chest.
The vibrations of a subwoofer were emanating from his chest cavity. It had turned into a speaker!