196. Treatment for Oripathy
Inside the Medical Department.
"Amiya, how are you feeling?" Kal'tsit's expression softened slightly. Perhaps only when facing this little girl could her tense demeanor ease.
In response to Kal'tsit's question, Amiya smiled and shook her head.
"Dr. Kal'tsit, I'm fine."
Looking at the smiling girl before her, Kal'tsit couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
So young, yet already bearing the heavy burden of that departed princess… What's the use of dwelling on it now? She gently shook her head.
Everything… is in the past.
Standing before Kal'tsit, Amiya clearly felt that fleeting moment—though brief, quickly concealed by her master—a trace of vulnerability that crossed Kal'tsit's face. She empathized, yet didn't know how to comfort her.
"If the Doctor were here…" Amiya thought silently, "he could surely cheer Dr. Kal'tsit up, just like always."
After all, only when the Doctor was around did Dr. Kal'tsit seem never to show such vulnerability.
"I wonder if the Doctor worked well today…" Amiya's ears twitched almost imperceptibly as her thoughts drifted to this thought.
She had come for her routine check-up today, deliberately without telling the Doctor.
She didn't want him waiting outside. Every time she entered the medical department, the Doctor always exuded a heavy emotion that she found intimidating—an anger towards the cruel times of the present, mixed with a deep…self-loathing.
"Alright, Amiya, the check-up is fine. But you still need to take good care of yourself lately. If you feel anything is wrong, tell me immediately," Kal'tsit said earnestly, composed herself.
"I understand, Dr. Kal'tsit. I will definitely be careful," Amiya nodded in agreement.
As the two stepped out of the examination room side by side, a familiar voice, brimming with undisguised pride, greeted them:
"This is one of the heart of Rhodes Island—the Medical Department!"
The Doctor was leading the way, enthusiastically introducing the facility to Xiling and Lemuen:
"Here, we not only treat countless Oripathy patients, but we also work day and night on research, all to completely eradicate the threat of Oripathy!"
The Doctor's voice grew even more impassioned, "Although a complete cure is still under investigation, in the process, we have accumulated rich experience and developed many highly effective drugs for Oripathy. Most importantly," He paused deliberately, emphasizing, "we consistently maintain prices below cost for these highly effective drugs, prioritizing them for those infected who need help the most."
"You two must have heard of Rhodes Island's achievements, right?"
"Indeed, we have," Lemuen nodded in agreement.
Rhodes Island's provision of effective drugs to the infected at low prices is no secret among the various organizations; a little investigation would reveal this, not to mention the existing cooperative relationships between them.
Hearing Lemuen's approval, the Doctor's spirits lifted, and he was about to continue speaking when his gaze suddenly caught sight of Amiya emerging from a room, followed by Kal'tsit.
Almost instantly, the Doctor understood why Amiya was there.
This realization was like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing his newly risen excitement, leaving him choked with emotion.
Amiya clearly hadn't expected to run into the Doctor and his group at this moment. She waved somewhat awkwardly, "Good...good morning, Doctor."
The Doctor's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice slightly muffled, "...Good morning, Amiya."
After the brief greeting, both fell into a brief silence, unable to find a suitable topic to continue. The air seemed to freeze.
Meanwhile, Xiling and Lemuen silently observed Amiya.
Lemuen even activated her Eye of the Stars.
"That child's condition is really bad."
"Aside from those on the verge of death, I've never seen anyone with such a high rate of fusion with Originium." Lemuen conveyed this message mentally; of course, she didn't know how to communicate telepathically, but someone else could.
Soon, Xiling's voice rang in her mind.
"I don't really have a concept of this, but so many parts of her body are made of stone, it's indeed quite serious."
"Oh no... we've been caught again." Amiya sobbed inwardly in frustration.
She could clearly feel that the Doctor's high spirits from a moment ago had been abruptly replaced by heavy negative emotions the instant he saw her.
"I have to change the subject quickly!" Amiya's gaze quickly swept over the two unfamiliar visitors behind the Doctor, immediately changing to a curious expression, breaking the silence:
"Doctor, may I ask who these two people behind you are?"
Knowing that the other party was changing the subject, the Doctor sighed.
He forced a smile and turned to reveal the two people behind him fully.
"This is Cardinal Lemuen from Laterano," the Doctor introduced. Lemuen gave a slight nod in greeting.
The Doctor pointed to Xiling, paused briefly as if searching for the right words, and finally spoke with a mischievous smile:
"This one... is Xiling, the boss of a certain mysterious organization."
After their brief interaction, the Doctor had a general understanding of Xiling's personality and felt that a well-placed joke would help bridge the gap.
"Huh? What kind of introduction is that?" Xiling raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just repeating your own opening lines verbatim, my friend," the Doctor said, spreading his hands, his face beaming, as if the momentary gloom from before had been an illusion.
Xiling: "...Tsk, what's with this sense of déjà vu?"
Just as Kal'tsit frowned, about to tell the group to stop chatting in the medical ward corridor—
"Aaaaaah—!!!!"
A heart-wrenching, agonizing scream suddenly erupted from a room deep within the medical ward!
Almost reflexively, Kal'tsit, Amiya, and the Doctor's expressions changed drastically. Without hesitation, they immediately strode off in the direction of the sound!
Xiling and Lemuen exchanged a glance and followed without hesitation.
Exusiai lagged behind, subconsciously scratching the back of her head:
"Uh...we probably wouldn't be able to help much with this, would we?"
After all, they weren't doctors. Even so, she started walking, quickly catching up with the group.
--------
Oripathy.
A persistent disease spreading across this land, an incurable illness that continues to breed endless tragedies.
It's everyone's nightmare.
Once infected, except in extremely rare cases, your once ordinary life will be completely overturned, plunging you into an abyss.
Milati, a Filin girl, was only fourteen years old. Not long ago, she lived in a warm family in Victoria, with loving parents and a sister who always tolerated her.
However, a sudden explosion shattered all of this happiness.
Her parents, to protect her and her sister, fell forever.
And a few days ago, her last remaining relative—her sister—also died on a cold operating table.
The source of all this tragedy was the Infected! These Infected people had taken everything from her!
"Die! Die! Die! Why don't the infected people just die—!!!"
Miranti screamed wildly, her eyes bloodshot, her entire being engulfed in a hysterical frenzy.
The girl's contorted struggle aggravated the Originium crystals, exacerbating her already crumbling condition.
The Perfumer frantically tried to soothe her: "Miranti, calm down! Please calm down! This violent struggle will only hasten the worsening of Oripathy!"
The grotesque black Originium crystals were clearly visible on the girl's exposed skin; her condition was critical.
But how could mere words soothe a heart utterly shattered? The moment her sister stopped breathing, her sanity vanished along with her loved ones.
The cruel, corrosive effects of Oripathy on her body, coupled with the immense mental pressure of losing her loved ones one after another, pushed her to the brink of madness.
The Doctor, Amiya, and Kal'tsit, who rushed to the scene, understood immediately upon witnessing the tragedy.
Such tragedies were not uncommon on Rhodes Island, which housed countless Oripathy patients.
Amiya could clearly feel the overwhelming, tangible pain emanating from the girl.
She stepped forward, her voice gentle yet urgent:
"Miss Miranti, I understand your pain, I truly do! But your family wouldn't want to see you hurting yourself like this… Please calm down and get treatment first, okay?"
"Treatment? What's the use of it?!" Amiya's words of comfort only added fuel to the fire.
"Oripathy is incurable! It's all in vain! In vain—!" Miranti's screams grew even more piercing.
Seeing this, the Doctor remained silent for a moment before speaking softly.
"Kal'tsit."
Kal'tsit stepped forward expressionlessly, intending to knock the other woman unconscious first.
However, at that moment, a calm voice broke the chaos:
"Let me try."
Both the Doctor and Kal'tsit were startled, turning around to see that Xiling had approached. Kal'tsit frowned, instinctively about to stop him.
But the Doctor raised his hand to stop her. Kal'tsit looked at him with confusion, while the Doctor simply shook his head slightly, his eyes filled with an indescribable certainty.
A strong premonition lingered in his heart: what was about to happen would be extraordinary.
The next second, Xiling's figure passed Kal'tsit, passed the Perfumer who was still trying to calm her down, and passed the worried Amiya.
Under the scrutinizing gazes of the crowd, he went straight to the completely out-of-control Miranti.
What was even more shocking was that the girl who had been roaring like a wounded beast just moments before had inexplicably calmed down.
Her rapid breathing became even, and the frenzied rage in her eyes receded like a receding tide.
Miranti stared blankly at the gentle-faced older brother before her, the raging anger and violent emotions churning within her inexplicably subsiding and calming down.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Xiling," Xiling introduced himself gently with a smile.
"...Miranti." The girl's voice was slightly hoarse and dazed.
"A very beautiful name." Xiling's smile deepened.
"This... Sis, brother-in-law, how did he do that?!" Exusiai blinked in surprise, leaning close to her sister and asking in a low voice.
Lemuen gazed at the figure that seemed to possess a strange power, a knowing smile playing on her lips, and gave a meaningful answer:
"Probably... a pure sense of security."
The conversation ahead continued.
"Miranti, your condition looks serious. You need treatment. Please get down from the table, okay?" Xiling reached out her hand to the girl curled up on the table.
After a brief moment of calm, pent-up resentment, anxiety, and immense pain overwhelmed Miranti.
Tears finally welled up and streamed down her pale cheeks.
"What's the use? I…I'm beyond saving, aren't I?" The girl's trembling fingers pointed to the unsettling black lesions protruding from her skin.
"Can you see that, Xiling? I feel so bad…so bad…I want to live…but…" Her words were interrupted by violent coughing and sobs.
The girl's Oripathy had undoubtedly entered a late, severe stage.
As she herself had said, even if Rhodes Island did everything in its power to provide palliative care and barely prolong her life, the pain of being eroded by Oripathy day and night would be her constant companion until the final, inevitable outbreak or collapse.
Listening to the girl's heartbroken sobs, Amiya turned her head away, unable to bear it.
But this was reality.
Rhodes Island wouldn't abandon any patient, yet they couldn't save everyone.
Just as the Perfumer took a deep breath, preparing to step forward and guide Miranti to the medical room for soothing treatment, Xiling spoke again.
"Then, let me cast a little spell for you."
"A... spell that will temporarily ease your discomfort."
Xiling paused, her tone gentle and reassuring:
"But before that, could you please close your eyes?"
"If you don't, the surprise will disappear."
"Here it comes!" A strong premonition surged through the Doctor's heart once more.
Miranti didn't know what Xiling was going to do, but she chose to trust—the sense of security she had felt from the other person upon their first meeting, like the warm winter sun, made her obediently close her eyes.
"What does he want?!" Kal'tsit's brows furrowed.
What she didn't want to see was giving false hope to the desperate.
Once hope is shattered, the ensuing blow can utterly destroy a person.
However, something happened that left everyone present dumbfounded.
Xiling slowly raised his hand.
The moment his hand was raised, a miracle occurred.
The hard, terrifying Originium crystals on the girl's exposed skin began to recede, disintegrate, and disappear at a visible speed! In just a few breaths, the Originium on her skin had completely vanished without a trace! As if it had never existed.
And Miranti, as if a tremendous burden had been lifted, closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep, her breathing steady and long, in pure exhaustion and an unprecedented sense of ease.
Having done all this, Xiling simply turned around calmly, with a gentle smile on his face, without even glancing at the petrified crowd behind him, and walked straight past the Doctor, Amiya, and Kal'tsit, who stood frozen in place.
"Let's go, Doctor," he said with light steps, his tone as natural as if he were merely brushing away a speck of dust.
"Didn't you have other places to show us?"
The Doctor's body stiffened like a stone. He turned his head extremely slowly, his gaze fixed on Xiling's smiling, expectant face:
"…"
----
In the end, the Doctor asked nothing and led Xiling and the others to other places.
Leaving behind the bewildered group examining the girl, Kal'tsit bit her nails, her expression extremely grave.
Manipulating Originium, or treating Oripathy? She couldn't tell, she really couldn't tell.
What exactly had the other party done? She couldn't see it at all.
"Dr. Kal'tsit, this…this…" The Perfumer was both surprised and delighted; she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Oripathy…Oipathy has been cured!"
This was the first case of Oripathy being cured in Terra's history.
The door was flung open, and a group of doctors from the medical department, having received the news, rushed over from different locations.
"Hey, Kal'tsit, you're not kidding, are you?!" Warfarin squeezed through the crowd.
She had graduated from Bridge University and rushed here immediately after receiving the message.
Kal'tsit silently handed over a report, which Warfarin immediately took. Together with the other doctors, they quickly began to read it. A look of surprise appeared on the faces of every doctor in the medical department.
"How did you do this, Kal'tsit! What method did you use?!" Warfarin asked eagerly. As a doctor, she desperately wanted the results.
Facing the expectant gazes of the group, Kal'tsit shook her head.
"I… don't know."
Meanwhile, the perfumer, standing nearby, excitedly recounted the entire process of treating Oripathy.
The group exchanged bewildered glances.
"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and catch him… I mean, hurry up and bring him here!" Gavial said urgently.
"He's...with the Doctor right now." Probably on the deck of Rhodes Island.
Watching the medic team rush out in a swarm, Kal'tsit covered her face with her hands.
Unlike their joyful mood.
Knowing too much, she only felt...confusion.
She longed for a solution to Oripathy, but not this kind of solution whose underlying mechanisms were unclear to her.
This solution filled her with...fear.
"Who exactly are you, Xiling?" This question frantically grew in her mind.
"Dr. Kal'tsit? Are you...alright?" Amiya's concerned voice rang in her ears, pulling her back from her chaotic thoughts.
Kal'tsit released her hands from her face and looked at the worried girl beside her.
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
Finally, she simply shook her head and turned to the perfumer, who was still watching over Miranti's bedside, saying, "She's in your care."
The perfumer nodded solemnly.
Kal'tsit's gaze returned to Amiya, her voice regaining its usual calm:
"Let's go, Amiya."