353: Chapter 353 Pills (Part 1)

9:17 AM the following day.

The First Affiliated Hospital of the provincial capital, 12th floor of the inpatient department.

The entire floor had been cleared.

Originally, this floor was a general ward for the oncology department, with forty-eight beds.

Starting at 11:00 PM last night, all hospitalized patients were diverted to other departments and hospitals. The clearing work continued until 4:00 AM this morning when it was completed.

At 4:05 AM, an engineering team entered.

They brought a set of equipment that did not belong to this hospital, nor this city, and was not even on this country's normal import catalog. The equipment's casing was matte gray, with no brand logo or model number, only a small line of numbers stamped on the side: G-S-07.

This equipment was installed in the wall cavity of Room 1207—the room where Su Mingyuan's father was—and then the cavity was resealed. From the outside, the room looked no different than yesterday.

At 7:00 AM, the security for the entire floor was replaced.

The original hospital security guards were all withdrawn. The new arrivals wore the same uniforms as the hospital cleaning staff, holding mops and trash cans, but their eyes and gait told anyone with experience that these people were not cleaners.

At the end of the hallway, the elevator entrance, the stairwell, the ventilation shaft, and the fire exit, two "cleaners" stood at every point.

At 8:50 AM, a black SUV pulled up to the hospital's logistics entrance.

Three people got out of the car.

The first was Security Chief Zhao Ming.

The second was Sun Liang.

An Alchemist from Yaowu World, the most formidable in Cang City.

The third person was the leader of the medical team sent by Tao Zhe, a young female doctor wearing glasses, carrying two sealed metal cases.

The three walked into the logistics passage and boarded a specially modified private elevator.

When the elevator doors closed, all buttons on the control panel except for floor "12" were grayed out.

The elevator rose to the twelfth floor.

The door opened.

Su Mingyuan stood at the end of the hallway.

He was still wearing the same black jacket as yesterday. His eyes were red—he had barely slept last night.

Sun Liang walked over and glanced at him.

"Group Leader Su."

"Master Sun," Su Mingyuan said, "sorry to trouble you with this trip."

"Don't mention it." Sun Liang shifted the backpack on his back forward. "I've brought the items. Let's find a place first, and I'll explain things to you."

Su Mingyuan nodded and led them to a temporarily arranged conference room in the middle of the hallway.

The conference room contained only a long table and a few chairs.

In the center of the table sat an encrypted video terminal, with Tao Zhe's face on the screen—he was at the Command Center in Dawn City, and rows of glowing monitors could be seen in the background.

Sun Liang placed the backpack on the table and unzipped it.

He took out two palm-sized jade bottles.

One bottle was cyan, with tiny patterns carved on its surface, looking like the veins of some plant.

The other bottle was white, with a smooth surface and no patterns, but upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a faint glimmer of light inside.

Sun Liang pushed the cyan bottle toward Su Mingyuan.

"This one is called a Rejuvenation Pill."

His tone was flat as he spoke, as if introducing an ordinary object.

"It was found in the Storage Pouch belonging to Perfected Lord Yushou. There are twelve in total. I cross-referenced it with the formula on the Jade Slip—the herbs mostly match, but there are three ingredients in the formula that I don't recognize, likely things that only exist in Perfected Lord Yushou's world. So, I'm not sure what level these twelve pills are or if their medicinal potency is sufficient."

"In our terms, this Medicinal Pill is for strengthening the body, nourishing the origin, and repairing flesh wounds."

Su Mingyuan looked at the cyan porcelain bottle.

Sun Liang pushed the white bottle over as well.

"This one is called a Soul-Condensing Pill."

"It's also from Perfected Lord Yushou's Storage Pouch. There are seven in total. This thing is more precious than the Rejuvenation Pill."

"According to the records left by Perfected Lord Yushou and Perfected Lord Yuling, the Soul-Condensing Pill is only used after a Cultivator suffers from Qi Deviation and damage to their Divine Soul. For a small Sect, it would be a blessing to refine two in a year."

"The effect of the Soul-Condensing Pill, corresponding to your terminology—"

Sun Liang glanced at Tao Zhe on the screen.

Tao Zhe continued:

"It is primarily used for the nervous System. Based on our experimental data, it has a direct improvement effect on nerve tissue damage, disorders in signal transmission between neurons, and cerebral microcirculation. Group Leader Su, using the Soul-Condensing Pill for your mother is the correct treatment."

Su Mingyuan picked up the white porcelain bottle.

The bottle was very light, with almost no perceptible weight.

"How is it used?"

"Oral administration," Sun Liang said. "The Medicinal Pill dissolves upon contact with the mouth. For your father, half a pill at a time, one pill every six hours, for three consecutive days. Your mother's condition is more severe; one pill at a time. But since she is currently unconscious and her swallowing reflex is weak, it must be administered via a nasogastric tube and then flushed down with warm water."

Sun Liang added another sentence.

"Group Leader Su."

"Yes."

"I must make this clear to you," Sun Liang said. "These two types of Medicinal Pills were found in Perfected Lord Yushou's Storage Pouch. We haven't fully figured out what world Perfected Lord Yushou is from. There were twenty-three bottles of Medicinal Pills in the Storage Pouch, and we have only identified nine types so far. The remaining fourteen don't even match the records on the Jade Slips."

"The Rejuvenation Pill and the Soul-Condensing Pill are the two we have identified most clearly. However—"

He paused.

"However, I have no idea if these two types of Medicinal Pills will be effective for the people of Daxia."

"There are some differences in Physique between us Cultivators and the people of Daxia. Because the world where Cultivators reside has abundant Spiritual Qi, we have been immersed in it since childhood, so our physical foundations are different. Daxia is much weaker in this regard."

"I have made an assessment based on the formulas on the Jade Slips and our decades of experience in the alchemy room. The conclusion is that it should theoretically be effective for the people of Daxia, but I don't know how severe the side effects might be."

"I must tell you these things upfront."

Sun Liang looked at Su Mingyuan, sighed, and then pushed the two porcelain bottles forward half an inch.

"Whether to use the Medicinal Pills or not, it's all up to you."

Su Mingyuan looked at the two bottles on the table.

The conference room was silent for a long time.

Tao Zhe on the screen did not urge him.

Neither did Sun Liang. The female doctor stood behind Sun Liang, her hand resting on the sealed metal case, also remaining silent.

After about half a minute.

Su Mingyuan reached out and picked up the cyan porcelain bottle.

"Let's use it. Let's use it for my father first."

He looked up.

"My father's situation is clear—terminal pancreatic cancer, with many metastases. Modern medicine has no more cards to play; if we wait another month, he will be gone. Even if the Rejuvenation Pill can only help him hold on for one more month, it will be worth it."