Medical Malpractice

"Water temperature calibration complete!"

"Third trial, begin!"

Tenjirō Kirinji looked on with a constipated expression as Lin Nan waddled slowly to the edge of the hot spring and gingerly extended a foot toward the surface.

"Hey! Can you hurry it up!"

Lin Nan stared at the steam-billowing hot spring before him, steeled his heart, and accelerated the speed at which his foot approached the water.

At that moment, Kirinji suddenly flashed behind him and gave him a sharp shove with his foot: "Don't you dare dawdle!"

Splash!

"Waaaaah!~~~~~~~"

Wrapped in a bath towel, Lin Nan reflexively vaulted out of the pale pink water, sending up a spray of steaming droplets over a man's height.

He had only been in the water for a split second, yet his exposed skin was already flushed a faint red.

"Kirinji! Are you trying to kill me? I treat you like a friend, and this is how you treat me!" Lin Nan ran to a nearby bucket, scooped up a large ladle of cold water, and doused himself.

"Idiot! The water is infused with high-density reishi meant to repair injuries and spiritual pressure, so of course it feels a bit hot! If you can't handle the heat, how are you supposed to soak? You'll never be healed at this rate!" Kirinji walked over to a small stool, sat down, and pursed his lips in dissatisfaction.

"Kazuo! Kazuhiro! You two, get him into the spring. You must make sure he stays in for at least sixty seconds!"

"Yes!"

Following two crisp, synchronized responses, the two muscular giants wearing comical little round glasses stepped out from behind Kirinji.

"You have to soak through to the core for a hot spring to be comfortable! Let them help you steady yourself and enjoy it!"

The two giants approached slowly. Lin Nan took a closer look and realized their physiques were large enough to fit him inside. Without hesitation, he turned and bolted.

"Enjoy my foot! If you can't calibrate the temperature, stop running a business under the guise of a hot spring! This is the third trial and you still haven't figured it out? Watch out or someone will sue you for false advertising!"

Kirinji raised an eyebrow in confusion: "False advertising? What a strange way of putting it."

Kazuo and Kazuhiro chased closely behind Lin Nan, shouting as they ran: "Lord Lin Nan, please stop running! Big Brother Kirinji is right; you must learn to endure the temperature of the hot spring to experience its wonders!"

"Wonders my foot! Look for yourselves! The water is bubbling, for crying out loud; it's practically boiling! Soak in it yourself if you love it so much!" Lin Nan didn't stop, clutching his towel tight as he circled the pool with the two muscular men.

Though his injuries hadn't fully healed, his speed was no slower than the robust duo. They circled the pool several times, but Lin Nan managed to stay out of their reach.

As Lin Nan continued his protest, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye: Tenjirō Kirinji, who had been sitting on the stool just a moment ago, was gone.

Bang! Lin Nan was grabbed by the arm by the hulking Kirinji and handed over to the two assistants who had followed close behind.

"I told you that's just a phenomenon caused by reishi enrichment, you coward. Take him to the pool, and remember—submerge his whole body!"

Kazuo and Kazuhiro each grabbed one of Lin Nan's arms, nodded, and marched toward the steaming water.

"Who's the idiot?! It's obviously too hot! Do you have no scientific spirit at all?! Glub, glub..." Lin Nan was still protesting, but his voice was quickly swallowed by the water.

This was an experimental pool, small in size, so Kazuo and Kazuhiro had to stand outside the edge, pressing down hard on Lin Nan's shoulders to keep him submerged.

Lin Nan thrashed his limbs underwater, but lying on the bottom with no leverage, he found it impossible to break free from their restraint.

Seeing that Lin Nan was finally "safely" soaking in the pool, Tenjirō Kirinji tilted his head back and smoothed his pompadour with satisfaction: "That's more like it. Only by submerging the whole body can you achieve the therapeutic effect..."

"Hm? Waaah!~~~~ Big Brother Kirinji! Big Brother!!"

Before Kirinji could finish his sentence, he heard the panicked screams of Kazuo and Kazuhiro.

"What's wrong with you two? So jumpy..." Kirinji followed the sound with his gaze, but the words of reproach died in his throat.

Kazuo and Kazuhiro stood on opposite sides of the pool, holding their arms up in a panic, looking helplessly at Kirinji—

On their forearms, all the skin and muscle had completely vanished. Only tattered tendons remained, hanging lonely from the bone!

"This... how could this happen!" Kirinji's pupils constricted, and then, realizing something, he urgently ordered: "Damn it! Get that brat out of there!"

He realized too late that the hands of Kazuo and his partner were already ruined. He used Shunpo to reach the side of the pool in an instant and pulled the motionless Lin Nan from the bottom of the pool with lightning speed.

Lin Nan's eyes were tightly shut, his breathing ragged, and his entire body was as crimson as a demon's.

Tenjirō Kirinji looked at the three people before him, and the straw he was chewing fell from his mouth: "This is trouble..."

Kazuo and Kazuhiro held up their skeletal forearms, seemingly accustomed to their own horrific appearance, and turned to ask calmly: "Big Brother, what now?"

Kirinji rubbed his chin: "You two can't help right now. I'll use Kaidō on Lin Nan to stabilize his injuries first, then I'll deal with you."

The two nodded and stepped aside, waiting quietly for Kirinji to finish his work.

Kirinji approached the unconscious Lin Nan and clicked his tongue in confusion: "Strange, how did it end up like this..."

The light vanished abruptly, and the dim corridor appeared before Lin Nan once again.

"...Here again? Wasn't I just soaking in the bath at Kirinji's place?" He scratched his head, looking at his surroundings with some confusion.

"Sure enough, it seems the experiment went wrong again." Lin Nan thought for a moment, realized the cause, and couldn't help but sigh. "I had a feeling he was unreliable; I wasn't wrong about him."

As he spoke, he scanned the corridor once more: "That said, I've lost consciousness again. It seems the trigger to arrive here is losing consciousness or falling asleep? I wonder if I'll be able to enter and exit this place at will while conscious in the future?"

The peculiar display flickered to life. Lin Nan skillfully observed the text on the screen; none of his skills showed any significant growth.

"After so many fights, these attribute points haven't changed. It seems this isn't experience points, but rather something akin to proficiency. It's a pity I didn't have much time to play games before; I'm not quite sure how to level this up..." Lin Nan nodded imperceptibly. "Otherwise, logically speaking, that fight with Iwamoto should have raised it at least a little, right?"

He opened the video playback with practiced ease and began to review the recorded footage.

"The video of Tenjirō Kirinji kicking and grabbing me is actually here? This..."

Do I have no dignity? As a system, where are your manners?

Despite his complaints, Lin Nan began to study Tenjirō Kirinji's Shunpo footage with great focus, comparing it to the Shunpo he had previously learned from Iwamoto.

"The title of Thunder Swift Tenjirō is truly well-deserved. Even in slow motion, it's obvious that he is not only faster than Iwamoto, but his movements are far more fluid."

Tenjirō Kirinji's "video tutorial" was naturally incomparable to a player of Iwamoto's caliber. Lin Nan had only studied the two short clips, totaling barely a dozen seconds, seven or eight times before he received a notification that his Shunpo proficiency had increased.

Shunpo: Novice;
Shunpo Proficiency: +1;
Total Shunpo Points: 2.

"Huh? This..." Lin Nan was just about to complain about how inexplicable this point gain was, but the lines that followed made him swallow his words immediately.

External Reishi replenishment detected...
Adjusting Reishi absorption rate...
Activating additional attribute: Reiryoku Affinity (Affinity for all types of Reiryoku increased, learning efficiency increased by 200%, Rei-Pressure growth efficiency increased by 200%)...
Shunpo proficiency reached 2 points, activating Shunpo skill [Shadow Step Stealth]: Leaves behind afterimages for a short duration when using Shunpo to confuse opponents;
Rei-Power level increasing...
"Reiryoku Affinity" attribute bonus applied, Rei-Power level increasing...
Current Rei-Power level: Fourteen...
Rei-Pressure Shell repair complete...
Rei-Pressure Shell activated;
Rei-Pressure Concealment function activated...

Lin Nan could hardly believe his eyes: "How did all these random things suddenly pop up..."

Tenjirō Kirinji spent a sleepless night. As the east began to pale with dawn, he wiped away his sweat, straightened his back, and let out a vigorous stretch.

He had already set up two layers of Kaidō barriers around Lin Nan's bed to maintain his bodily functions at all times and prevent any abnormal changes. There was also another layer of Kaidō constantly repairing the minor lacerations that appeared on Lin Nan's skin from time to time.

"This brat's vitality is truly tenacious."

After more than ten hours of treatment, Lin Nan was now out of danger; his breathing was steady, and the crimson flush covering his body had faded away.

"However, why are his symptoms different from those of Kazuo and the other one?" Tenjirō Kirinji narrowed his long, slender eyes as he looked at the sleeping Lin Nan on the bed, muttering to himself.

Lin Nan remained in a deep slumber on the bed, while the skin all over his body continued to crack and split with a rhythmic, snapping sound, much like a snake shedding its skin.