NCCnovel Chapter 267 On the Shortness of Life
Chapter 267 On the Shortness of Life
Pure white.
This was the first color that Satsuki noticed after waking up.
After a long period of dispersion, the focus of vision slowly refocuses towards the center.
Several blurry, pure white blocks gradually pieced together in the center of the field of vision, eventually forming a smooth ceiling without any texture.
The light was not harsh; it was deliberately adjusted to an extremely soft, warm tone.
Satsuki lay quietly on her back.
Deep inside the eardrum, a faint buzzing sound, similar to that of an old-fashioned CRT television when it loses signal, still lingered.
This irritating background noise was gradually being covered by another sound as consciousness returned.
"drop--"
"drop--"
Monotonous, mechanical, constant. The tapping against the earlobe, again and again.
The nasal mucosa caught a wisp of cool air. This air lacked the earthy or plant-like scents of nature; it was so pure it was almost faintly sweet, slowly flowing down the dry respiratory tract, gradually filling the alveoli that had shrunk from long periods of dormancy.
A sharp, aching pressure shot through the skin beneath the back of my left hand. A cool liquid was being forcibly pushed into my bloodstream along the veins.
She tried to move the fingers of her right hand.
But it felt as if my limbs and bones had been filled with cooled molten lead, and my muscles had completely lost the tension to contract and relax. My body became incredibly heavy, sinking deep into the soft mattress, and I was completely deprived of even the strength to twitch a fingertip.
Is it... a side effect of deep sleep?
She eventually fainted.
The last image that came to mind was the row of alternating flashing server indicator lights in the underground strategy room, and the large black patch that suddenly exploded at the edge of my field of vision.
The dizziness I felt was extremely intense, and my entire body was sending out sharp warnings.
But at that moment, she felt...
Very comfortable.
The plan has already been laid out. There's no need to think about it anymore.
Go to sleep peacefully.
That's what she was thinking back then, so carefree.
It was a crucial matter that determined the flow of trillions of dollars and even concerned the lifeline of the nation, yet she felt no worry whatsoever.
Satsuki tried to move her eyeballs slightly.
Successful.
At the edge of my field of vision, several blurry white figures could be vaguely seen moving about.
I'm no longer the "pawn" I was in my past life, needing to do everything myself, am I? Shuichi, Endo, and Franky are all trustworthy.
Presumably... they've handled it very well...
A wave of fatigue washed over me again, flowing through my slightly cool blood. My consciousness, which had just begun to gather, was gradually enveloped by those comforting dark spots.
so tired.
Let's stop thinking about those things...
Then, I'll sleep a little longer.
She withdrew the last bit of resistance, her eyelids drooped slightly, and she contentedly sank back into that comfortable darkness.
……
I don't know how much time passed.
The main house of Saionji Temple has three basement levels.
Shuichi Saionji, dressed in a dark gray custom-made suit, walked hurriedly on the anti-static carpet in the corridor.
He had just seen off Mitsubishi's Iwasaki on the surface. These old geezers have been coming to his door one after another lately, saying they want to buy this and that. He's never seen them this eager before.
Did they find out about Satsuki's coma?
Shuichi shook his head. They had absolutely no clues; at most, they were still in the "suspicion" stage.
Moreover, just five minutes ago, Dr. Takeda informed us that Satsuki had woken up.
As long as Satsuki wakes up, even if she can't manage affairs for the time being, it will be enough to intimidate everyone.
Shuichi walked to the door of the sterile area at the end of the corridor.
At the end of the corridor, Dr. Takeda stood quietly beside a medical-grade stainless steel airtight door, holding an electronic recorder with real-time data.
Hearing footsteps, Takeda turned around and bowed slightly.
"Master of the family."
Shuichi stopped in his tracks. His gaze passed over Takeda and landed on the negative pressure indicator light above the door.
"How is the situation?" Shuichi asked softly. "May I go in to visit now?"
"Please rest assured, the young lady's vital signs are now completely stable." Takeda lowered his voice. "The medication for artificial hibernation has been metabolized completely. She woke up once an hour ago and then naturally fell asleep again. This indicates that her brain is undergoing normal self-protection and repair. Furthermore, her blood oxygen and heart rate are maintained at excellent levels."
Takeda closed the record board.
"You may go in to visit her. However, the young lady is still extremely weak, so please try to keep your visit short to avoid exhausting her energy."
Xiu Yi nodded slightly.
He stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, stepped forward, and extended his right hand, hovering his palm in front of the contactless infrared sensor panel on the side of the wall.
"Sizzle—"
Accompanied by the faint hiss of airflow as the internal airlock depressurized, the heavy, silver-gray metal door smoothly slid open to one side along a silent track.
The air in the intensive care unit was somewhat humid. Unlike the thick, humid air of Tokyo during the rainy season outside, the air here was gentle.
The back of the hospital bed has been tilted at a 30-degree angle by the medical staff.
Satsuki leaned against the pile of soft cushions.
The ceiling light, simulating the natural spectrum, cast a soft glow, slanting across her profile.
She was too quiet.
His delicate face was deathly pale, devoid of the imposing presence he usually exuded when seated at the head of the long rosewood table.
Her slender neck sank slightly into the white cotton pillow. Her wrists, draped over the edge of the blanket, revealed bluish veins clearly visible beneath her thin skin.
Xiuichi slowed his pace and stepped closer.
Looking at Satsuki lying in the large hospital bed, Shuichi suddenly realized that his daughter was actually so tiny.
He stopped at the bedside. His hands unconsciously flared slightly at his sides.
The past seventy-two hours have been an agonizing ordeal for him, one that has almost torn his sanity apart.
Whenever the night is still and quiet, he stands alone outside the metal door of the basement, listening to the sounds of life support equipment running inside, and a sense of helplessness overwhelms him like a tidal wave.
The Saionji family's territory is now so vast that it terrifies the entire nation. They possess the power to mobilize hundreds of billions of yen and can arbitrarily decide the life or death of a listed company.
However, when his daughter fainted, all that astronomical wealth couldn't even wake her up a second earlier.
This absurd disparity caused him to feel a rare and unusual sense of cowardice when facing his awakened daughter.
An extremely strong urge welled up in his chest. He wanted to hold his extremely weak daughter tightly in his arms.
But his gaze fell on Satsuki's pale skin and the medical tape on the back of her hand, which had been there because of the long IV drip.
His slightly outstretched hands froze in mid-air.
He was afraid that his rough hands or even the slightest movement would hurt her.
Satsuki now looks like a piece of exquisite porcelain that has undergone extreme high temperatures in a kiln and would crack if touched with even the slightest force.
We can only watch from afar.
But if I don't hold her tightly, will I lose her?
Looking at Satsuki's serene profile, that sense of fear surged back into her heart like a tide.
But... that won't do. What if Satsuki worries about me because I'm such a cowardly father?
In the end, all emotions were forcibly suppressed deep inside.
Xiuyi pulled over a leather armchair placed to the side. He sat down quietly, about half a meter from the edge of the bed.
Inside the ward, the humidifier emitted a soft, lingering sound of steam.
Satsuki did not immediately turn to look at Shuichi, who was sitting down.
Her gaze remained quietly fixed on a physical book resting on her abdomen.
It was an extremely thin paperback volume.
A work by the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca.
On the brevity of life.
Satsuki leaned against the soft pillows. She slowly raised her right hand.
Pale fingertips trembled slightly as they gently pressed against the edge of the book's pages. The fingertips traced the grain of the paper, smoothing it out bit by bit.
Her gaze lingered on the line of lead type on the yellowed page.
"People always consider the vast majority of their lives..."
Her voice was extremely soft. Accompanied by a faint hoarseness from recovering from a serious illness, it slowly dissipated in the quiet hospital room.
He paused for a long time in the middle. He swallowed slightly before continuing with the second half of the sentence.
"...consumed in endless preparations for the future."
After reading this line of printed text.
Satsuki pressed the edge of the book with her fingertips and slowly closed it.
She turned her head and her gaze fell on Xiu Yi, who was sitting upright to the side.
"Father..."
Shuichi looked into his daughter's eyes, which had lost their former sharpness but appeared exceptionally clear. He leaned forward slightly.
"Are you feeling better?" Shuichi asked softly.
Gaoyue glanced at Xiu's eyes, noticing the dense red veins and the slight scragginess at the collar of his suit.
I'm sorry to have worried you.
She placed the closed paperback on the white quilt. Her hands were folded and rested on the book's cover.
The air flowed quietly in the ward.
Neither the father nor the daughter discussed work.
"These past few days lying here, my mind has been empty, and I've actually had more time."
Satsuki's voice was very soft. She spoke much slower than usual.
"I've discovered that there's always an invisible stopwatch in my head."
She lowered her eyes slightly, looking at the back of her pale hand.
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock."
"Every second that ticks represents an upcoming historical juncture. It represents a bunch of chips that must be fought for in advance."
She raised her eyes, a hint of confusion in her gaze.
"Because I know when the storm is coming. I know where the safe haven is, and where the gold is scattered."
"That's why I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I slow down even a little, or close my eyes at any point, those destined treasures will be taken by someone else. And the Saionji family will one day fall into an abyss of no return."
She reflected on her state of mind over the past few years.
"I pushed myself too hard. Like a hungry ghost picking up gold coins on the beach."
"I greedily felt, 'Those things are all mine.'"
A slight, self-deprecating smile appeared on Satsuki's lips.
"I was terrified that the rising tide would sweep away the remaining gold coins. I poured all my energy, time, and even sleep into that bottomless pit. I always felt that as long as I earned enough and prepared enough, the Saionji family would be absolutely safe in the storms to come."
She took a deep breath.
"Deep down... I've always been driven by an extreme sense of hunger."
"For the past five years, I have not dared to get sick, not dared to rest, and not even dared to spend a single minute to actually look at the cherry blossoms in the yard."
Satsuki turned her head, and her gaze met Shuichi's again.
"But... what if this body completely collapses before the harvest season arrives?"
"The numbers in the account. The power at Xiaguan Pass. The map spanning the entire country."
Satsuki looked at Shuichi.
"If the person is gone, what meaning do all those things have?"
Shuichi listened quietly.
His fingers unconsciously tightened on his knee.
As he listened to his daughter describe the "invisible stopwatch" in his mind, his breath hitched.
For the past five years, he had been amazed by his daughter's almost prophetic foresight. He had grown accustomed to her planning the perfect course of events, and all he needed to do was carry out her orders unconditionally, bearing the seal of the head of the family.
He reveled in the exhilarating feeling of his family's rapid expansion and the crushing of major conglomerates. He basked in the awe-inspiring gazes of the outside world.
However, they completely overlooked the fact that this sophisticated commercial machine, which was running rampant, was kept running by draining all of a young girl's energy, sleep, and even life force.
She forced herself to pick up every single gold coin, turning herself into an emotionless cog in the machine. This was because she subconsciously lacked a sense of absolute security.
Satsuki...is filled with fear.
She was afraid of something.
But he couldn't give her a sense of security.
This sense of security needed in the storm should have been provided by him, the father.
But he relentlessly exploited her wisdom, letting her dance day and night on the edge of the cliff.
This can't go on any longer.
What the Saionji family needs is definitely not a money-printing machine that could break down at any moment.
What he needs is a daughter who can live a good life.
He himself must remove this heavy shackle from her.
"Satsuki".
Shuichi's tone was calm and steady.
"In the early stages of capital accumulation, a kind of desperate hunger is indeed required. You have done very well, far better than any previous head of the Saionji family."
He leaned forward slightly, his gaze falling on the yellowed copy of "On the Shortness of Life".
People often think that accumulating huge numbers is to protect against future risks, but they often overlook the time that passes along the way.
"When wealth crosses the threshold of survival and reaches a scale that can influence the direction of a nation, it ceases to be the whip that drives people to run day and night."
"Its true utility is to grant its owner a privilege."
Shuichi looked into her eyes, his gaze gentle.
"The privilege of stopping at any time and sitting in the courtyard to listen to the rain."
"The Saionji family's current foundation is enough to allow you to squander your time with a clear conscience. There are always gold coins to be picked up on the beach. Even if you miss a few, the Saionji family will still be that unshakeable towering tree."
"You no longer need to race against the stopwatch in your head. Satsuki, you have the right to walk slowly in this world."
The ward fell completely silent.
The humidifier spews out fine white mist, and the water vapor slowly tumbles and dissipates under the light.
Gaoyue looked at her father.
Actually, she understood everything that Shuichi was saying.
From the moment she first shorted the dollar, the Saionji family had the capital to squander for her entire life.
I've known this intellectually for a long time. But I just can't get over that hurdle psychologically.
Her past life experiences made her accustomed to seizing every possible profit.
However, in this life, she has far too many opportunities to seize.
The Plaza Accord's currency benefits, Black Monday's leverage, policy loopholes in the Ministry of Finance, and even geopolitical conflicts yet to erupt.
Every timeline, every historical milestone precise to the day, was clearly marked with coordinates in her mind. Because she knew what the future would hold, those astronomical figures scattered along the tracks of time transformed into gleaming mountains of gold.
This caused her to be subconsciously always on edge.
She feared that if she moved too slowly, or if she closed her eyes even slightly at some point, the predetermined benefits would be snatched away by others.
She forced herself to personally verify the meshing of every gear and to calculate the flow of every cross-border fund. She forcibly transformed this mortal body, which was prone to illness and fatigue, into a central processing unit that operated around the clock.
Subconsciously, she simply couldn't forgive herself for wanting to stop and catch her breath.
Until this point.
As Shuichi spoke, the morbid anxiety that had long lingered deep within her soul, forcing her to run frantically day and night, emitted a faint cracking sound.
After five years of tension, my nerves finally relaxed completely.
She finally truly accepted this mortal body that could tire, collapse, and had physical limitations.
To control capital, one doesn't need to personally handle every single gold brick.
After letting go of the invisible stopwatch in her mind, her thoughts leaped into an extremely clear and entirely new dimension.
The hunger that was ingrained in my bones hadn't dissipated. It had simply faded from the frantic scramble for food on the beach, transforming into a deeper, more patient desire for control.
She turned her head slightly and rested her cheek against the soft cotton pillow.
My gaze passed over the hospital bed and landed on the huge electronic display window on the wall that simulated natural sunlight.
Inside the window, the azure sky was cloudless. A few realistic white clouds were drifting slowly eastward.
"Father."
Satsuki's gaze lingered on the azure horizon.
"Well... let's go get a hamburger after we're discharged from the hospital."
"...Why a hamburger?"