Chapter 257 256: Crush

When the attending physician saw Mu Lin holding a porcelain bottle in one hand and a clay pot in the other, his forehead broke out in a sweat.

'What in the world is going on? What is this man even doing here?'

He was completely dumbfounded.

'I've never seen anyone like this in an operating room before.'

Mu Lin asked a nurse for a funnel, then gently lifted Tang Zhi's head, placed the funnel in his mouth, and poured in the Detoxification Soup.

Mu Lin then took out a needle and inserted it into a point on Tang Zhi's head, enabling him to swallow the decoction.

Next, he took an Antitoxic Pill and fed it to Tang Zhi.

The pained expression on Tang Zhi's unconscious face slowly began to ease.

The readouts on the nearby monitors also stabilized considerably.

Everything was heading in the right direction.

"All set," Mu Lin said, putting down the clay pot and dusting off his hands.

Wu Henghai, however, kept his eyes fixed on Tang Zhi. After all, since he hadn't woken up yet, he couldn't be considered truly saved.

The attending physician was stunned. In all his years practicing medicine, he had never seen someone pour a medicinal concoction down a patient's throat in an emergency room.

"Young man, what exactly is in that pill? How is it so effective?"

Mu Lin laughed. "Once you clear out the toxins, they can no longer corrode his internal organs. He's a Martial Artist, after all; his powerful Qi and Blood are generated internally. Remove the inhibiting factor, and his Qi and Blood will naturally be replenished. He'll wake up before long."

The attending physician opened his mouth, then closed it. 'This is a field far beyond my own expertise,' he thought. All he could do was bow to Mu Lin.

"I've learned a valuable lesson!"

Wu Henghai was ecstatic; Mu Lin had said that Tang Zhi was completely out of danger.

Mu Lin said, "Captain Wu, we should head out. Let's leave the finishing touches to them—they've got to make a living, after all."

"Right, right!"

As they left the emergency room, Tang Shuang stared at Mu Lin, her eyes wide.

"Brother Mu, how is my brother?"

Mu Lin replied, "He's fine. He'll wake up in a little while."

Crying with joy, Tang Shuang threw her arms around Mu Lin.

Mu Lin felt a bit awkward. 'There's no good place to put my hands right now,' he thought. 'This could get complicated.'

'What if she uses this tiny bit of physical contact as an excuse to force me to be her boyfriend? That would be a massive headache.'

Mu Lin could only pat the back of her head. "It's alright. Everything's going to be safe from now on! I promise!"

Tang Shuang cried for a little while longer before finally letting go of Mu Lin.

A nurse walked over and said to Wu Henghai, "Captain Wu, Tang Zhi has been moved to an observation ward."

Mu Lin, Wu Henghai, and Tang Shuang went to the room together.

Mu Lin asked, "Captain Wu, you must have plenty of other matters to attend to. Why not go handle them? Tang Shuang and I are here to look after Tang Zhi."

Wu Henghai replied, "There's something you don't know, my young friend. Tang Zhi was injured protecting me. I must wait by his bedside until he wakes up."

'So that's how it is,' Mu Lin thought. 'Martial Artists really go to great lengths to avoid owing anyone a debt.'

A long time passed. Mu Lin and Wu Henghai even watched a sports game on TV. After it finished, Wu Henghai received a phone call and exchanged a few brief words.

Mu Lin looked at Wu Henghai curiously. "Captain Wu, who was that on the phone?"

"It was a call from Ling Qiao. She said she's finished the Antidote."

"Oh," Mu Lin said, glancing at the time. "Like I said, if we had waited for her, Tang Zhi would've been long dead."

The time difference was massive. It was like she only finished making the medicine right after the Grim Reaper had already walked away from the door.

Ling Qiao strode over, a kraft paper bag in her hand, and announced proudly, "Captain, the Antidote is fully prepared. As long as Tang Zhi takes it, he'll be completely fine."

Wu Henghai said, "Pharmacist Ling, thank you for your hard work. But Mu Xiaoyou already prepared the antidote—over three hours ago."

Ling Qiao froze, stunned. 'A three-hour difference... how terrifying is that?'

She came from a wealthy and influential family and was immensely proud of her pharmaceutical skills. Since the day she'd made her debut, no one had ever been able to best her.

And yet...

She had been defeated.

Her assistants and the other doctors behind her erupted into a quiet commotion.

Ling Qiao had actually lost, and so utterly at that.

But a wave of relief washed over Ling Qiao. At least Tang Zhi was alive.

The Eighth Team hadn't lost a single member.

She recalled his words and realized Mu Lin was probably right. If she had continued running comparisons aimlessly, it likely would have taken more than ten hours just to get a match. Add in the time to synthesize the drug, and the whole process would have easily taken twenty-four hours.

By then, Tang Zhi would have already taken up residence in the Underworld.

And for her, that would mean having a death on her record—something unacceptable for a person as proud as she was.

Ling Qiao pursed her lips, walked up to Mu Lin, and said, "I lost! I'm sorry!"

Mu Lin smiled slightly. "It's no big deal. All that matters is that he's saved. But for what it's worth, ten thousand different poisons can't faze me. When I was ten, I was already swimming in pools with over a hundred thousand types of venomous creatures."

Hearing this, Ling Qiao thought, 'There must be a grandmaster backing him.'

"Who is your master? Maybe he and my master even know each other!" she said, her eyes lighting up.

Mu Lin shook his head. "Sorry, my master forbids me from speaking his name."

Ling Qiao snorted coldly. 'Hmph, give him an inch and he takes a mile.'

"Fine, don't say it! See if I care!"

After a pause, she asked, "Mr. Mu, how did you identify the poison just by smelling it? Why can't I do that?"

"First, you haven't practiced enough," Mu Lin stated simply.

Ugh... Ling Qiao felt another surge of anger.

'Even my master calls me a genius. Since when does a genius need to practice?'

"Second, you know too little about medicinal ingredients."

Ling Qiao was about to explode with rage. How could he say that? She was the "Queen of Pharmacy," renowned throughout the entire Military Suppression Bureau.

'I know too little about medicinal ingredients?'

But with today's results laid out before her, she was rendered speechless.

"And one more thing," Mu Lin said slowly. "You know too little about poisons, and even less about how they change once they enter the human body."

"If you can master all of that, then you'll be able to do what I do."

Ling Qiao's mouth hung wide open. 'What the hell...'

'Honestly, it wasn't impossible to achieve such a thing, but it would require long-term training and a massive accumulation of knowledge.'

'To reach that level, you'd have to be at least seventy or eighty years old.'

'But the Mu Lin standing before her was so young. How could he possibly have achieved that?'

'Don't tell me he has some kind of "Memory Bread" he just ate?'

While Ling Qiao was still wrestling with these thoughts, Tang Zhi stirred in the hospital bed.

Wu Henghai rushed over, calling out, "Tang Zhi!"

Tang Zhi's consciousness was still hazy. He looked groggily at Wu Henghai and exclaimed, "Captain Wu! You're alright!"

"You crazy guy, you're still worried about me? If you hadn't taken that blow for me, I'd probably be dead already!"

Mu Lin smiled. "Brother Tang, how are you feeling? Do you need me to help you regulate your system a bit?"

Tang Zhi said, "I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. I'm hot, then I'm cold... and my whole body hurts."

Mu Lin said, "That's to be expected. It'll get better slowly. You were not only poisoned, but also hit with Immortal Drunk. When the effects of two drugs combine like that, this feeling is perfectly normal. You'll just have to endure it for a while."

Tang Zhi managed a smile. "Divine Doctor Mu, it was you who saved me, wasn't it?"

Ling Qiao was fuming when she heard that. 'Why couldn't it have been me?' But she was in no position to throw a fit, so she could only swallow her sense of grievance.

Tang Shuang leaned over her brother. "It was Brother Mu who saved you! Without his Antidote, you would've been a goner!"

She had been worried sick and had only just managed to get a little sleep. Now that her brother was awake, her spirits were restored.

Tang Zhi reached out and grabbed Mu Lin's hand. "Brother Mu, meeting you is truly a blessing!"

"If you're going to thank someone, thank Tang Shuang for calling me. I wouldn't have been able to rush over if I hadn't heard you were in trouble."

Tang Zhi looked at Tang Shuang and said with a smile, "Thank you, sis!"

A blush crept up Tang Shuang's cheeks. "We're family! What is there to thank me for?"

Tang Zhi then asked, "Captain, what happened to the culprit? Did he get away? Or..."

Wu Henghai let out a long sigh and said, "That's all been handled. Thanks to you blocking that fatal blow, I was able to counterattack immediately. The culprit was killed on the spot. We also managed to collect a full sample of the poison, which is how we were able to prepare your antidote so smoothly."

Mu Lin said cheerfully, "I think we should all head out now. Tang Zhi must be exhausted and needs to rest."

"Yes, of course!" Everyone filed out, leaving only Tang Shuang to stay by his side.