"It's me."
Su Yi stepped forward and continued the previous topic. "Then this 'Doctor' sounds pretty impressive."
"Extremely impressive. Shame I joined Rhodes Island too late—I never got to meet him." Gavial found a device shaped like a bracelet—an angiography screening band—and fastened it onto Su Yi's wrist. "Here. Give me your hand."
Ever since angiography technology emerged in the 1040s, it had become the mainstream method for clearly determining whether a patient had Oripathy.
After decades of development, equipment that once filled an entire room had been condensed into a tiny wristband.
Some Infected even wore it like jewelry—around the wrist, ankle, or the base of the tail—long-term.
"Please sit over there and wait a moment."
Gavial pointed at a chair. After Su Yi and the other two sat down, she brought over four cups of hot tea.
"By the way… how did you get Oripathy?"
Normally, as a doctor, it was best not to bring up a patient's terminal illness in front of them.
But Su Yi looked so relaxed that Gavial figured it was fine and chatted casually.
"A punk slashed me with an Originium shard. Look." Su Yi unwrapped the bandage on his left hand, revealing a wound that was nearly healed.
"That's… unfortunate." Gavial said. "But your resistance to Originium is pretty strong. Usually, if an active Originium fragment cuts you, crystals start forming in the wound the very same day."
"Then I guess I can live a few more years." Su Yi spread his elbows wide. "Exusiai, Texas—good news!"
"Good news, my ass." Texas snapped.
"Later, could you issue a test report for me? I need it to resign with my boss." Su Yi made a small request.
"If you clock in and out on time, your boss will fire you anyway," Gavial said, delivering a pitch-black joke.
She hadn't been stationed in Lungmen for long, but she already understood Lungmen's overtime culture.
Rhodes Island wasn't much different.
Su Yi just smiled without answering.
In his previous life, maybe he could've done that. But after transmigrating, he'd run into a genuinely good boss.
He had a feeling that even if he slapped an Oripathy diagnosis letter in front of that emperor penguin, the guy still wouldn't let him go.
But whatever. If he wanted to leave, the road would be under his feet.
In a desolate valley the cold wind blows; spring and autumn cicadas sing as the young return…
"You don't have Oripathy," Gavial blurted, seeing the wristband flash green.
Su Yi: ???
Exusiai: ???
Texas: ???
Seeing their disbelief, Gavial forced herself to confirm: "Are you sure you were cut by an Originium shard?"
"I'm completely sure."
To verify it, Su Yi had even tied the culprit up in an abandoned warehouse. Aside from the Originium knife that cut him, there had been nothing else "ingested."
"I'll try another band."
Gavial removed the green-lit (safe) screening band from his wrist and replaced it with a brand-new one.
A moment later, the new band also lit up green.
"Does that mean… Su Yi didn't get infected?!" Exusiai hugged his arm, her eyes blazing with something called hope.
"Based on the preliminary results—yes." Gavial scratched her head. "But… how about we do a blood test too?"
"Do it," Texas said.
She seized Su Yi's other hand and offered it over.
Gavial stared.
Seriously—you three…
Lungmen really was a megacity. You could run into any kind of "combo" here.
Gavial felt a sour pang.
She felt like a stray dog on the roadside—walking along just fine—then someone kicked her for no reason and stuffed her mouth full of dog food.
If it were a playboy or some rich brute throwing money around, fine.
But in a situation where they genuinely believed he might have Oripathy, two people still came with him…
That was real love, no doubt about it.
"Give me your left hand."
Gavial disinfected with iodine, pricked Su Yi's left ring finger with a lancet, collected a blood sample, then handed him a cotton ball to press on the spot himself.
Time crawled forward, second by second, in an atmosphere of extreme tension.
Gavial focused fully on measuring the Originium crystal density in his blood. Because blood tests took longer, she suggested they go outside for some air and come back later.
"If it really turns out you don't have Oripathy, you should publish a paper and become a big-shot academic," Su Yi encouraged her.
"From your lips to Terra's ears," Gavial replied with a smile.
They stepped out of the office. A cold wind swept across their faces.
Su Yi walked to the vehicle, adjusted the rearview mirror, pressed his palms together, and bowed to his own reflection.
"What is Su Yi doing?" Exusiai asked.
"Praying," Texas answered. "There are no atheists in a shell crater."
Praying? Exusiai knew that one.
Back in Laterano, she'd even been a nun for a time!
Without hesitation, she clasped her hands at her chest and prayed devoutly for Su Yi:
"Lord, please bless this young man…"
Texas wanted to pray too, but she didn't really know how. So she copied Su Yi, bowed toward the vague emptiness of the divine.
And after doing it, her heart truly felt calmer.
The truth was, many people were neither strong nor wise enough to face this cruel world head-on—so they invented things to believe in, to protect their fragile hearts.
In modern terms—
An emotional trash can.
But Su Yi clearly wasn't that kind of person.
A god, huh? It's been a long time since anyone called my cheat that.
[Irresistible Overwhelming Luck]—time to work.
Half an hour later.
Gavial came out to call them in. "The report's ready."
"How is it?"
"Was Su Yi diagnosed with Oripathy?"
"Just say it. I can handle it."
Gavial opened the report, swallowed, and read it out in an absurd tone:
"Angiography shows clear organ contours with no abnormal shadows. No abnormal Originium particulate detection within the circulatory system. No evidence of Oripathy infection. At this stage, the subject can be confirmed as non-Infected."
"Thank goodness!" Exusiai grabbed Su Yi's hand, overjoyed.
Texas also smiled sincerely—as if an iceberg had melted and winter had finally given way to spring.
Su Yi was happy too. Not getting sick was obviously better than getting sick.
He just hadn't expected that after Louis XVI had already lost his head, someone would tell him it could still be put back on.
"We're not done," Gavial continued. "Somatic cell–Originium fusion rate: 0%. Blood Originium crystal density: 0.00 u/L…"
"I know what you want to say—maybe the machine's broken, or I messed up during the procedure."
"But I guarantee you: the equipment is fine."
"This gentleman is immune to Originium infection."
....
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