"What? You can't detoxify the poison?"
Thump, thump, thump... Vincent Su staggered back, bumping straight into the wall, his eyes and mouth wide open in shock.
He couldn't accept Serena Feng's answer—Serena was their lifeline, their trump card. If she couldn't do it, what would happen to Lance?
Just wait to die?
The very thought made Vincent Su want to strangle Serena Feng.
No way, Serena couldn't possibly not know how to detoxify poison—she had to, because Lance was still waiting for her to save him.
Vincent's gentle features twisted with a hint of ferocity. Serena Feng, unfazed, calmly explained, "Yes, I can't detoxify the poison."
However, she could analyze the components of the poison. But traditional medicine was vast and profound—different quantities, different kinds mixed together, and the resulting effects or toxicity weren't as simple as one plus one equals two.
She could compound a corresponding antidote based on the ingredients, but whether it would work—she really couldn't say.
"Then what do we do? Is there anyone—anyone who's good at detoxifying poison?" Vincent's ferocity flashed and was gone, his voice low as he questioned Serena.
He did have some skilled medical people on hand, but since Serena Feng was here, he'd sent them away. Now...
Distant water can't put out a nearby fire—Lance couldn't wait.
"Why panic? Let's go check first." Serena had been startled too when she heard Lance Quinn was poisoned, but her instincts as a doctor—and her confidence—helped her regain her composure quickly.
It's just poisoning, right? She still had Hundred‑Poison Antidote Pills from the Master of Mystic Healer Valley; even if they didn't work, they could at least buy time. Besides, even if she couldn't detoxify him, with her skills she could still keep Lance alive until the Valley Master arrived. If even the Valley Master couldn't resolve it, then there was truly nothing more she could do.
"Right, right, let's go in and see first. Lance has a special constitution—he's been fed all kinds of poisons since childhood. Ordinary toxins can't hurt him. Even blood‑seal throat poisons can't kill him in a short time." Serena's glare miraculously calmed Vincent down.
He was just worried sick, that's all.
It couldn't be helped—Lance was their backbone. If anything happened to him, Vincent had no idea where they'd go from here.
What? A constitution immune to a hundred poisons? Then would her anesthetic even work on Lance?
Serena remembered the first time she saved Lance in the secret chamber... Uh, did she slip up back then?
It had been so long—Serena couldn't recall all the details. Plus, with Vincent chattering nonstop beside her, she couldn't calm down to think at all.
Forget it—whatever. Right now, she and Lance Quinn were friends. Even if Lance discovered something, he wouldn't say much; he had secrets of his own and should understand her situation.
At the door of the secret chamber, Serena saw Lance Quinn lying flat on a makeshift platform. She quickly shoved all her messy thoughts aside and hurried over to his side in just a few steps.
He was covered in blood—red and black—looking terrifying. But his chest still rose and fell, which meant he wasn't dead yet.
Serena grabbed Lance's left hand to check his pulse, but found the meridian in his left arm had been completely sealed off; the whole limb hung limp at his side.
She tried to check his pupils, but his mask blocked her. The other eye was exposed, but when she looked closer, she saw a special protective layer covering his pupil.
Fine... I'll move on.
She pressed her fingers to his neck, only to find a layer of something like fake skin—terrible texture...
Seriously, he was armored to the teeth.
Serena turned, opened her medicine chest, and took out medical scissors. Snip, snip—she quickly cut away Lance's clothes. Fortunately, the wounds weren't as bad as they looked; Lance knew how to protect his vital points.
Whew... Vincent Su let out a breath of relief. Seeing Serena poking around Lance's face, he worried she might use the chance to strip away Lance's disguise, but...
Serena was even smarter and more cautious than he'd imagined—not a trace of curiosity. This woman was truly shrewd.
Vincent had to admit, Lance had good taste—Serena was far more appealing than Bella Qin.
Serena activated her Smart Med‑Pack while leaning over Lance's heart. She expected him to be weak or unstable, but...
Thump, thump, thump... What Serena heard was a steady, orderly heartbeat.
"Is this really poisoning?" Serena's eyes flashed with confusion.
Even if she didn't know much about poisons, she knew that a poisoned person's vital signs would drop. Listening to Lance's heartbeat, it didn't sound like poisoning at all.
Weird.
Serena listened for another half minute, triple‑checking she hadn't made a mistake. Still baffled, she turned her back to Vincent, pressing her left hand to Lance's heart.
Beep beep beep... The Smart Med‑Pack quickly returned a result: moderate external trauma, excessive blood loss, nervous‑system abnormality.
Huh?
It was an abnormality, not poisoning—the injuries were just external trauma, no danger to life. Serena rubbed her eyes, double-checked, and confirmed Smart Med‑Pack hadn't detected any poisoning in Lance.
At this point, Serena was sure—unless Smart Med‑Pack bugged out or misdiagnosed, Lance definitely wasn't poisoned.
If it's not poisoning, then what is it?
Fake poisoning?
Her diagnosis: Lance's coma was entirely due to nervous-system abnormality and excessive blood loss—and she trusted her own judgment.
Serena withdrew her left hand, pulled down her sleeve to cover the Smart Med‑Pack, then took a test tube from the medicine chest, collecting a few drops of black blood. She handed it to Vincent Su: "Find a small animal to test it—see if there's any poison."
Lance wasn't poisoned at all. This black 'poison' wasn't real—just a special drug that turned blood black for a short time, faking the appearance of poisoning.
"Huh? This blood isn't poisonous?" It was black as ink—how could it not be? Vincent couldn't believe it.
Serena nodded. "Lance's heartbeat is perfectly normal. I suspect he's not poisoned." Sending Vincent out was also to get him out of the way so she could use the Smart Med‑Pack's equipment to run a blood dialysis.
"Not poisoned? That's great! I knew it—there's no poison in the world that could push Lance this far." If he wasn't poisoned, Lance would be fine. Vincent's worries vanished as he grabbed the test tube and ran out: "I'll go test it now!"
Inside the secret chamber, only Lance and Serena remained. Serena stuck to her principles, never curious enough to remove Lance's mask. He always wore it for a reason—if he wanted to share, he'd tell her. Why rush?
For now, she still couldn't confirm what was in Lance's blood, so she didn't dare treat him. If she used the wrong medicine, it would be a disaster.
Serena only gave Lance basic hemostasis, then took out an analyzer from the Smart Med‑Pack and crouched down to run blood dialysis.
Soon, the result popped out...
"Is this really military high‑tech?" Serena stared suspiciously at the analyzer, reluctant to look at the results—because the dialysis showed: unknown substance in the blood.
Unknown? Unknown my ass...
What kind of 'unknown substance' is this? How am I supposed to treat it?
Serena resisted the urge to stomp the analyzer to pieces, stuffing the useless thing away.
Forget it—high tech couldn't be trusted. Better to use the most primitive method and wait for Vincent's results.
Luckily, Vincent knew things were urgent and didn't keep Serena waiting long. Fifteen minutes later, he rushed back: "No poison! Lance's blood isn't poisonous. I tested it on a puppy—if it was, the dog wouldn't have survived, but after a quarter hour, it was still bouncing around."
Hearing the result, Vincent was so relieved he nearly clapped. He'd been scared to death tonight—if Lance had died of poisoning, he would have wanted to bash his own head in.
Whew... Serena relaxed too. Sometimes the most primitive methods worked better than high tech. Just thinking about the analyzer's 'unknown substance' result made her grind her teeth.
So useless—if you can't identify the substance, at least tell me if it's harmful to humans!
"No poison, good. That means we can treat him normally. Go pick a few people—Lance needs a transfusion." It wasn't the first time; Serena didn't bother hiding what she meant, and Vincent knew exactly what she was talking about.
They split up—Vincent went to fetch people, while Serena cleaned Lance's wounds. As for his nerve damage, she didn't dare medicate blindly; she just put him on an IV and nutrient solution to keep up his strength.
Ignoring the black blood, Serena quickly tidied up Lance's wounds and stitched each ugly gash closed.
She didn't need to do anything about the acupoints on his left arm; they released on their own after a while. Clearly, Lance knew that if the points were blocked too long, he'd lose the use of his arm—he'd left himself a backup when he sealed them.
When Vincent brought people into another secret chamber, Serena had already finished bandaging Lance's wounds. Still, Lance showed no sign of waking up.
Serena pointed at the IV bottle and told Vincent to keep an eye on it. When it was nearly empty, he should call her. Vincent nodded quickly and... stared at the drip, not moving a muscle.
Serena almost told him not to be so serious, but thought better of it. It was better for Vincent to have something to do than to keep worrying.
Even though she'd determined Lance wasn't poisoned, Serena still hadn't figured out what was in his blood, or if it was harmful. And the nervous system abnormality? She had no idea what it was, or if it would affect his health...
Who the hell came up with such a bizarre trick? If it hadn't been her, anyone else would have just assumed it was poisoning—Lance would have been doomed...