Chapter 500: Surgical Assistant
Finally, when all ten people were freed from their nightmares, the nightmare aura in the entire clinic had dwindled to a precarious state. In my estimation, it was like a bubble, ready to burst at the slightest touch.
When we emerged again, we saw the nightmares dissipating, the virus deflating, and surgical instruments falling apart. Those patients suffering from strange ailments were sprawled on the ground, black smoke billowing from their wounds, malformations, and cysts.
It’s important to note that these were not real patients. They were manifestations of their fear of illness, nightmares that had become corporeal. They were the embodiment of their imagined selves in a vegetative state, fundamentally the same as those two octopus-faced nurses.
When the nightmares could no longer be sustained, the real wards were revealed, containing the genuinely suffering patients writhing in their hospital beds, some even having fallen to the floor. We administered the medicine to them, and finally, the clinic’s nightmare completely vanished, returning it to its normal state. Samantha’s barrier could now be lifted.
The ocean in the skylight disappeared, and the silence that had pervaded the surroundings, like that of the deep sea, was broken. Instantly, the clamor of human voices flooded into the clinic, and only now did we truly return to Cando City.
“Doctor, how are you feeling?” Samantha asked Amelia, though we all knew she was actually inquiring about the divine gaze.
“It’s gone. That feeling seems to be gone. The God should no longer be watching me,” Amelia exclaimed with joyous laughter.
I breathed a sigh of relief. With our scheme and deception, we had finally managed to bring Amelia out of the God’s birdcage. With Amelia no longer the target, the Moon God would likely no longer blockade Robin Town. Whether He would set His sights on Amelia again, however, was unknown.
Personally, I believed it unlikely. Gods aren’t that idle, watching a little girl all day. Amelia wasn’t exceptionally special; what value did she possess to warrant a God’s attention? I strongly suspected that the Moon God had merely been momentarily curious, casually trapping Amelia in a bubble, and then, losing interest after a brief observation, moved on to other matters. He either forgot to remove the bubble or was too lazy to do so, resulting in all these people being affected. How truly unlucky.
I could only think this way, as it’s impossible to fathom the minds of Gods. I felt that if He had truly intended harm, He would have done so within those three months. After all, Amelia couldn’t resist anything a God wished to do; she wasn’t even as strong as Samantha.
As for what Samantha truly was, that was difficult to say. I had encountered some theories in the Monster Book, suggesting that among other races, there were beings with extremely high intelligence and civilization whose modes of existence were hard to comprehend. These included classifications like superior independent races, Kin, and Great Races.
It was said that their very existence differed from that of ordinary creatures, many exceeding the general definition of biological life. For instance, some were silicon-based life forms, some appeared as flowing streams of color, and some races were composed of intangible sound waves.
Unfortunately, the author’s experience was limited. He hadn’t witnessed them firsthand but had heard secondhand accounts or found mentions of these races in ancient texts. Therefore, although he included these classifications in the Monster Book, he only alluded to them without providing any detailed descriptions.
Samantha was likely one of them, but I didn’t know for sure. And as for Amelia’s relationship with her, and why a doctor would have such a powerful and mysterious young nurse, I couldn’t inquire further; it would be impolite.
Strangely, even though the nightmare had lifted, those two octopus-faced nurses still existed and were cleaning up behind Samantha. I looked at them with confusion.
“Ah, I found them quite useful, so I kept them. Other useful things were retained as well,” Samantha explained. What else could be done? Wouldn’t outsiders be terrified by the sight of two octopus-faced nurses?
In any case, the crisis at Amelia’s Clinic was finally resolved. Samantha said to me again, “Thanks to your help this time, we were able to resolve such a troublesome situation. I owe you a great debt.”
“No need for formalities. First, please help us with our own ailments,” I replied. Amelia then instructed Samantha to tidy up the chaotic clinic and led us to the operating room.
“After all that turmoil, I haven’t lost any surgical instruments; in fact, I have more now! I won’t need to buy scalpels for years,” Amelia said with a laugh.
After discussing the treatment plan with her, and considering Older Brother Jayad’s actual condition and his thoughts, we decided against amputation and transplantation for now. We opted to try removing the necrotic nerves first.
Amelia believed this method was thankless and exhausting, lacking challenge, and it wouldn’t allow for the transplantation of a stronger arm, carrying a lingering risk of failure. She strongly recommended transplanting a new arm for Jayad.
However, I insisted on attempting to remove the necrotic nerves first. If it wasn’t necessary, I still hoped Jayad could retain his original body as much as possible. This was a peculiar persistence, and undoubtedly, I also harbored some distrust of transplant surgery.
Amelia owed us a favor, so she had to proceed as I suggested. Jayad’s arm was then secured on a scaffold, anesthetized, and Amelia began the surgery as the chief surgeon, with me assisting beside her.
But this time, assisting was vastly different from before. Previously, I could only hand over instruments or ask endless questions. Now, I suddenly found I could understand what was happening.
Without Amelia needing to explain, when she requested a tool, I knew which one it was and handed it to her. I even anticipated what she needed before she asked, proactively picking it up and offering it.
“Hmm? Parul, you…” Amelia also noticed something unusual in my behavior. It was too seamless, something she had only experienced before when Samantha was beside her.
Amelia began to carefully cut open Jayad’s skin to allow leeches to draw out the clotted blood, and then, using very fine tweezers, to pick out the necrotic nerves. It was a meticulous task. Naturally, once the nerves were removed, a person’s hand would be rendered useless, unable to move. However, Amelia recommended an artificial nerve, reportedly purchased from a major hospital in Lisbon, which could replace Jayad’s necrotic nerves. But because implanting the nerve was too troublesome, she didn’t want to do it.
As the procedure reached a more difficult stage, even the skilled surgeon Amelia found her hands somewhat insufficient. At that moment, I stepped forward, picked up the tissue forceps and a puncture needle, and helped Amelia pick out a necrotic nerve. “Here, cut it. I will coordinate my movements with yours.”
