Serena Feng isn’t just running a fever—she’s been poisoned. Lance Quinn knows how to detoxify her, but the method is, well... a little intimate.
"Serena, this is for your own good. I think you’ll understand." Lance Quinn, always more rational than emotional, steadied himself despite a flicker of awkwardness.
Lance Quinn reached out to undress Serena, but the moment his hands touched her clothes, he froze...
Lance Quinn was no playboy—this was his first time undressing a woman. He’d braced himself mentally, but now, faced with the real thing, he had no idea where to start.
Usually so composed, Lance Quinn betrayed nothing on his face, but his ears were turning red, his hands trembled, and his palms broke out in sweat.
"So hot..." Lance realized he might be poisoned too—his body burned up, and he wished he could grab a block of ice to cool himself down.
If he weren’t trying to save Serena, Lance would have pulled his hands back and bolted. He’d seen women’s bodies before, but those situations were nothing like this.
"Saving a life is harder than taking one." Lance muttered. Then he remembered Serena treating his wounds in that secret room—she hadn’t hesitated, just snipped away his clothes and touched him all over. He couldn’t possibly be less professional than her.
Thinking of that, Lance’s agitation slowly faded.
"Serena, don’t accuse me of taking advantage. If anything, this makes us even—you’ve undressed me and felt me up more than once." Lance shut his eyes, fingers trembling. He couldn’t just tear her clothes off, so it took ages to finally get her collar undone.
"So exhausting..." Lance didn’t dare open his eyes, fumbling blindly. By accident, his hand brushed the softness of Serena’s chest—he recoiled as if burned, but the feeling lingered on his fingertips.
"I swear I didn’t mean to." Lance groaned inwardly. He had no intention of taking advantage, but...
He had to undo all of Serena’s clothes—and not just that, he’d have to stick needles into her body.
Ahem, and it wasn’t just her top, either!
Lance’s hand hovered awkwardly in midair for ages. Desperate to save her, he reached out again, but after his earlier mishap, he was careful not to touch anything awkward. He’d have to look during the acupuncture anyway, and with a secret selfishness, he finally decided to open his eyes.
"Don’t look, don’t look!" he chanted to himself.
"What’s this?" Lance picked up Serena’s left hand, his callused fingers brushing over her forearm.
The Smart Med-Pack had gone dormant, looking just as it did when inactive—a perfect square, barely larger than a pastry, with a faint silver gleam. The edges protruded slightly from her skin, as if it had grown there rather than been branded on.
"Is this the mark of the Feng-Li Clan?" Lance didn’t linger, just laid Serena’s left hand flat. The distraction helped him relax a bit.
Lance pulled a small cloth roll from his sleeve, filled with dozens of silver needles. Don’t be fooled by his kit—he wasn’t a doctor, just a detox specialist.
Growing up surrounded by toxins, Lance was hypersensitive to poisons. His body was unusual—ordinary poisons couldn’t touch him, but that didn’t mean he ignored them. On the contrary, he was especially attuned to anything toxic.
Being wounded wasn’t necessarily fatal, but poisoning was far more likely to kill.
Lance produced a palm-sized object—jade-like but not jade. He called it the Not-Jade Detox Stone, his sacred tool for drawing out poison.
He picked up a silver needle and inserted it into the Not-Jade Detox Stone. Though the stone looked hard, it accepted the needle easily; up close, you could see its surface was riddled with tiny holes, each just big enough for a needle to fit.
Lance checked the timing, then cycled another needle through the stone, swapping out the previous one. Its tip glowed green and, in the candlelight, carried a faint scent of fresh grass.
He placed the Not-Jade Detox Stone beside Serena, held his breath, pressed a point half a finger’s width below her chest with his left hand, and with his right, drove the needle in—steady and precise.
As the needle entered, a bead of dark blood welled up along its shaft. Lance nodded with satisfaction, focusing all his attention on saving her.
Just as Serena once said: if you focus on saving someone, you won’t have any stray thoughts about their body—because you’re too busy.