The nurse left anyway. Strange finally finished vomiting. Some bug slime still clung to him, and Schiller dipped a towel into the water canister and helped wipe him off.
"You finally did something an assistant should do." Strange walked over to check on the patient after saying that.
"Stone dead." Strange sighed. "Burn him."
Less than five minutes later, the two were squatting by the fireplace again. Strange reflected, "Once I knew there was a time limit, I got too anxious. If I'd just made a small incision and slowly let the bugs out, there should have been enough time."
"I don't know why you suddenly decided to cut him open either. You knew that thing would scurry everywhere." As he crushed sulfur, Schiller said, "Our supply of Datura and sulfur is limited. We don't know if we can replenish it, so we need to use it sparingly."
"The next one will definitely be fine," Strange said. "I swear I'll recite the Hippocratic Oath first."
"So will I."
"Then recite it now."
"I solemnly swear, uh... I... whatever, uphold the oath, remain ever loyal... Schiller Rodriguez hereby makes this honorable pledge."
Strange rolled his eyes. "How did you manage to forget every substantive part and remember only the formalities?"
"Because those are the only things I can pledge." Schiller spread his hands. "I promise I am deeply solemn, loyal, and devout."
"To the patient?"
"To God."
"You want God to bless them?"
"I want God to bless me," Schiller said. "I know God won't bless them."
"How do you know?"
"If God had blessed them, they wouldn't have run into me."
Strange could not help applauding him, then said, "When God gets his own hands back someday, I'll relay that to him exactly."
After that, the two stood up again,