Bone-Setting

With a crack from the bones.

The thin, middle-aged man wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up.

"Rongrong, come help me. Let's get this guy inside... Never mind, I'll do it."

"Go upstairs and get two bottles of medicinal wine."

Zhou Zhi looked at the burly man on the floor.

He wore a laborer's clothes, and his muscles were exceptionally solid, but his right arm looked slightly deformed.

He had already passed out completely.

"Got it."

Su Rongrong waved.

"Dad, Aunt Mei's here. Her flu's acting up... Make up two more doses of medicine for her."

The man called Dad pursed his lips. "She's sick and still running around outside..."

Afraid Aunt Mei might hear him, Dad kept his voice very low.

Then he looked at Zhou Zhi.

"A Plague Exterminator?"

"Interesting. Your hand with the scalpel is very steady, like that of an experienced Plague Exterminator who's been practicing for years."

Dad lifted his head, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he glanced at Su Rongrong's retreating figure, as if he'd thought of something. "You... what are you after?"

"If you dare set your sights on Rongrong, this old man will fight you to the death."

Zhou Zhi shook his head. "I'm here to stay at the inn. My destination is next door... The landlady should be there."

He explained calmly, his gaze passing over the burly man on the floor.

Information flowed.

[Strong Man].

[Pathogenization Index: 27.6 percent].

[Source of Pathogenization: Recurrent dislocation].

[As a cargo hauler, years of improper posture have caused deformities and misalignments in some of his bones. If left uncorrected, the pathogenization will grow more severe... Still, who gets everything they want in life?]

A dislocated bone was itself a kind of deformity.

Yet the sense of danger he'd felt from the man just now had given him an entirely new experience.

"Pleased to meet you, Plague Exterminator Su."

Zhou Zhi bowed slightly.

The man before him was a Plague Exterminator, an Official-level Plague Exterminator.

In fact, Zhou Zhi had already realized that even in Changdu, very few people had reached the Official-level.

This lean, gaunt man was one of them.

Generally speaking, they held quite high social status.

"You know me, Su Xing?" the man asked with a smile, stroking a beard that wasn't there.

"I don't, but that technique just now was impressive."

Zhou Zhi answered earnestly.

[Su Xing].

[Combat Level: Official-level Plague Exterminator].

[Pathogenization: 9.8 percent].

[Source of Pathogenization: Osteoporosis].

[Plague Extermination Arts: 1. Traction Reduction: Applying traction to the affected area by hand or with instruments to reset displaced fractures and dislocated joints].

[2. Secret Medicinal Patch: Used on bruises and blood stasis. It can invigorate blood circulation, remove blood stasis, restore capillaries, and reduce pathogenization].

[3. Bone-Setting Art: A certain secret art of bone-setting, never passed on to outsiders].

[????].

[The mysterious ancient dynasty of the Far East (Chengyun) possesses considerable knowledge of pharmacology and plague extermination, which runs counter to Xuanyuan's mainstream Plague Extermination Arts. This man may be hiding a secret—or he may not be].

Su Xing eyed the young man in front of him with suspicion, as if he might be coveting his precious daughter. He looked him over. "You recognize the technique I just used?"

"Some kind of bone-setting art... but I don't know which school it belongs to."

Zhou Zhi said, "It's different from Xuanyuan's current mainstream practices. It was novel, so I watched closely. I had no intention of secretly learning it."

Su Xing nodded.

"Fine. Not that you'd be able to learn it anyway."

"Since you're here, come in and sit for a while. Once Sister Mei's better, have her take you back. It's right next door."

Zhou Zhi didn't think Su Xing was old enough to call Aunt Mei "Sister Mei," but he kept that to himself.

After all, he was quite interested in this world's Plague Extermination Arts.

The greatest use of Plague Extermination Arts was to purge pathogenized monsters, but Zhou Zhi had rarely seen anyone use them to treat people who weren't yet pathogenized.

"Bone-Setting Art. He infused it with spiritual energy and used a special technique to reset the bones... Even so, his Pathogenization Index rose noticeably."

That contact with spiritual energy caused pathogenization was something Zhou Zhi already knew.

"Dad, I finished everything you asked me to do."

Su Rongrong bounced out from inside, then looked at Zhou Zhi with wide eyes. "Zhou Zhi... I can call you that, right? You're actually a Plague Exterminator?"

"You're so young. That's really rare."

"I'm still in school, and you're already a Plague Exterminator..."

From farther away came Su Rongrong's father's drawn-out voice: "An apprentice~ I just don't know where he got that blade. He looks like he comes from money."

"Old Su is right. I don't really count as a Plague Exterminator yet."

Zhou Zhi didn't mind.

Su Xing was busy fiddling with something at his medicine shop.

[Ephedra] [Cinnamon Twig] [Honeysuckle]...

Zhou Zhi lowered his eyes.

They weren't ordinary medicines. Su Xing was brewing them with his own spiritual energy.

"So that's how he treats the flu."

"Very interesting."

About half an hour later, Aunt Mei took the decoction, and her face looked a little rosier.

"That was quick. Her Pathogenization Index has dropped noticeably... As expected, I can't compare it with what I remember from my previous life."

Holding the Black Box, Zhou Zhi continued observing from the side.

But clearly, Su Xing was ready to show him the door.

He couldn't stand having someone his daughter's age—someone who looked so dangerous and worldly—hanging around his precious girl.

"You can leave now, right... Don't you have work tomorrow, uh... Zhou..."

Su Rongrong prompted him from the side. "Zhou Zhi."

"Right, Zhou Zhi."

Su Xing nodded knowingly and spoke loudly.

Zhou Zhi nodded. "Sorry to have troubled you."

"Doctor Su..."

Su Xing cut him off. "Even though we're in Xuanyuan, I still have to say this: in Chengyun, you'd call me a physician."

"Oh."

Zhou Zhi was easygoing. He turned slightly. "Doctor Su, your Bone-Setting Art was impressive. I'd dearly love to learn it."

"I'll probably be staying next door. Aunt Mei? That's next door, right... Oh, yes."

Aunt Mei finished her decoction and was catching her breath. "You're staying long-term?"

"If you stay for more than seven days, you have to register with Xuanyuan's civil affairs office. What do you do?"

Zhou Zhi stood still. "Oh, starting today, I'll be working at the Epidemic Prevention Center in Suhui District... In Chengyun, I suppose you'd call it... serving in an official post."

"Dad, you don't seem to like Zhou Zhi very much. He's young, and he's really capable."

In the room, Su Rongrong was helping the patient into the side room.

"These are troubled times."

After a long silence, Su Xing spoke. "I've heard that Strange Incidents have been on the rise around Changdu lately. Supposedly, there's been a lot more lockdown activity inside Changdu City, too. I don't know what's going on."

"And at a time like this, some young brat shows up in Suhui, and his family's probably quite well-off."

Su Rongrong looked up, curious. "Dad, how do you know?"

"Positions at the Epidemic Prevention Center are in high demand. Do you think just anyone could get some brat who never even attended the Medical Academy a place there?"

"And... I took a look at his Plague-Slaying Blade just now."

"Tsk, tsk."

"That blade's worth at least eighty thousand Xuanyuan Coins."

"Given everything going on lately, it's best not to get involved. You'd better make something of yourself, girl, pass the Medical Examination, and then we can move to the Inner City..."