Genshin Impact Simulation: Starting with Melsin's Friend

Chapter 136 Sisters (Part 2)

"Alright, Dolly, it's time for you to go to sleep."

Duo Ling, leaning against the headboard, looked up at the low window. The bright moonlight shone into the slightly dim earthen house, leaving a silvery halo on the uneven ground.

Night had fallen, and the bustling city of Sumeru, which had been so lively during the day, was now fast asleep, waiting for the morning light to awaken it.

"Hmm...no, I want to hear my sister's story."

Wearing her pajamas, little Dolly clung to Doling's slender arm, her soft cheek gently rubbing against her shoulder, snuggling on the narrow bed and acting coquettishly.

"It's already late, let's continue tomorrow."

The little girl pouted, still somewhat unwilling, but she picked up her blanket and pushed open the door, looking back every few steps.

"Let's continue tomorrow, sister."

As soon as she closed the door, Dolly poked her little head into the room again, still worried. Only after seeing Doreen smile and nod at her did she leave with peace of mind.

"Click."

The door is closed.

Phew... finally... gone...?

The footsteps faded into the distance, and the girl's expression, which had been strained, turned deathly pale the moment she breathed a sigh of relief. Her body, which had been half-sitting on the bed, slumped against the headboard.

Through the rolled-up sleeves of her pajamas, the gray-black scales that stretched down to her wrists were strikingly visible under the moonlight.

Overwhelmed by dizziness and weakness, Duoling curled up into a small ball under the sheets, biting her lower lip, trying to keep herself awake with blood and pain.

I'm going to tell my little sister a story tomorrow.

She was afraid that if she fell asleep, she would never wake up again.

The girl's trembling little hand reached into the patched pillow and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the yellowed cotton wadding, a paper that had been read countless times.

She silently recited the list of herbs on the receipt, word by word, over and over again, just as she did every night when she couldn't sleep because of the pain.

That was her hope for survival.

Little Dori's eyes gradually brightened, and she seemed to see herself getting better after drinking the medicine, traveling all over Teyvat with her sister, telling many, many stories, and eating all kinds of candy.

"elder sister……"

"younger sister……"

In a daze, she thought she heard Dolly calling her. She murmured to herself, looked up with joy, and saw that the house was bare.

The girl's slender fingers clenched the note tightly, then released it weakly.

Beautiful fantasies fade away from the beach like the receding tide, revealing the grotesque rocks called reality.

The prescription contains various rare medicinal herbs, many of which are even private collections of wealthy merchants and nobles. To prepare this life-saving prescription, it would cost at least tens of millions of Mora.

Tens of millions of Mora! That's more money than their family could earn in several lifetimes.

She only dared to watch her body weaken day by day in the dead of night, when no one was around, accompanied by excruciating pain, and fantasize about the unattainable hope of "surviving".

She didn't want to die. She dragged her battered body and fought bravely against her illness, pretending to be nonchalant in her attempt to achieve that one in a million chance of a miracle.

She hasn't yet fulfilled her promise to travel with her sister.

She hadn't finished telling the story she'd been planning for a long time.

She hasn't yet given her parents, who have worked hard all their lives, a stable home, at least a place to shelter them from the wind and rain.

However, she has been a burden to them for a long time.

For her illness, her mother sold everything in the house that could be sold, and her father went to a distant place and sent all his wages home every month to exchange for that small dose of medicine.

Although the medicine may have been better than nothing, merely pausing her journey towards death, it had already drained the entire lifeblood of an impoverished family.

What's more terrifying than death is waiting to die.

However, a year ago, a mysterious organization emerged, distributing a cure for the ailment in the name of the Little Lucky Grass King.

She was fortunate enough to receive one, and the moment she took the medicine, she felt a long-lost sense of ease and warmth.

At that moment, she seemed to see hope again.

The hope of survival.

But the good times didn't last long. The Order of the Church, which claimed the drug was illegal, launched a crackdown, causing this suddenly appearing mysterious organization to slowly disappear.

The medicines, which were originally in ample supply and distributed free of charge, were gradually monopolized by merchants and were once again driven up to exorbitant prices.

Although the price of a single bottle of medicine is not as astronomical as the tens of millions of Mora on the prescription, it is enough to shatter the nascent hope that a little girl has just begun to have.

Hope was finally shattered, leaving only a faint light in the distance and sharp shards of glass on the road.

Looking at the mirage called "Hope," they wait to die.

day after day.

The burning pain in her chest made it almost impossible for her to breathe.

Little Duoling reached out with difficulty, trying to grab a painkiller, but ultimately found nothing.

She then remembered that she had used the money meant for painkillers to buy her sister's favorite candy.

The girl covered her head with a thin blanket, trying to suppress her low moans of unbearable pain. The prescription was unconsciously crumpled into a ball. The murky air and the intense pain in her chest kept tearing away her senses.

Are you going to die...?

Her vision blurred, but the pain seemed to lessen. She felt her body float up, like a light feather, drifting towards an unknown distance.

I'm sorry, sister.

The story... is endless.

……

"The patient's condition is very dangerous. Once a patient with scaly disease falls into a coma, they often cannot survive more than five days."

"Doctor...please...is there really no way...she's only nine years old..."

"Alas... without the medicinal herbs, there is nothing we can do."

"Please accept my condolences. The patient is currently in a coma, but at least he passed away without much pain..."

Dolly stood blankly outside the room, watching helplessly as her mother and a group of unfamiliar adults crowded into her sister's room, talking about something with sorrowful expressions.

She kept hearing words like "danger" and "leave".

My sister...didn't she just have a minor illness...?

Why did things change like this overnight?

Dolly couldn't understand the obscure terms, but she vaguely understood that if she did nothing, her sister would soon leave her forever.

She doesn't want that.

The conversation gradually subsided, and the doctors from the health center shook their heads and sighed as they left, leaving the mother, who was weeping with her face covered, to collapse helplessly on the floor of the room.

Strangers walked past Dolly one after another. A female doctor knelt down and patted her head, but finally sighed and turned to join the group.

Then, the sound of rustling conversations drifted over from afar.

"Oh, poor child..."

"That's right. Some of the medicines on the prescription are not even in stock in our own academy."

"Although I hate to admit it, that organization called Seed Gate is indeed a genius. They can make medicines with similar effects using only some medicinal herbs that are not exactly unique."

"Hush...be careful what you say."

"Hey... I was just saying, but it's going to be hard to find that kind of potion now."

"I heard that a potion will be sold at an auction in Omosport soon. Would you be interested in taking a look?"

"Come on, those are toys for the rich. With your salary, you could never afford one in eight lifetimes."

"Hey, can't I just go and observe and learn a bit...?"

The doctors walked away, their voices carried away by the wind. Dolly quietly entered the room and stared blankly at her distraught mother and her sister lying quietly on the bed.

Mora... it's Mora again...

If there were lots and lots of Mora, would my sister not have to go through all this...?

She took her sister's hand; the pale little hand was cold and light, like a phantom formed from condensed air.

Suddenly, a crumpled piece of paper fell from her tightly clenched fingers. Dolly picked up the paper, which had been examined many times, and it said that the medicine was worth tens of millions of Mora.

Does my sister fall asleep every night looking at this prescription that seems so unattainable?

If there were lots and lots of Mora...

There are so many Mora...

So many Mora...

Dolly quietly went back to her bedroom and carefully hid the prescription close to her body.

She put on the dress her sister had picked out for her during the day, and quietly bypassed her weeping mother, leaving home.

Sister... wait for me.

……