Alcohol Disinfection, Boiling Water Sterilization

Now, Su Mu finally understood why Tang San's use of strong liquor to neutralize snake venom had caused such a sensation.

It turned out that the Douluo Continent simply had no relevant medical knowledge at all.

Su Mu looked at the wound that was still seeping blood and asked the people beside him, "Is there any strong liquor in the army?"

But after he asked that question, everyone around him turned solemn.

After all, alcohol was forbidden in the army. Anyone caught secretly drinking faced a capital offense.

General Wang stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Young friend, drinking is not permitted in the army, so you will not find a single drop of alcohol here."

"And if you drink in the military camp now, you will likewise be punished."

Su Mu waved a hand. "Alcohol is not always meant for drinking."

"High-proof liquor can be of great use in disinfecting wounds and preventing them from rotting or becoming diseased."

As he spoke, he took a brand-new small knife from the military physician's hand.

He held the knife over the candle flame at the side of the tent, heating it continuously until the entire blade was faintly red and gleaming.

Then, he used Soul Power to press on the injured man's arm nerves, numbing them.

Immediately afterward, he cut into the wound and scraped away all the rotten flesh.

As the sizzling sound of the scorching blade passing over flesh rang out, everyone in the main tent felt their souls leave their bodies.

This was practically a devil. He was not human!

That was a living person. How could he use a burning-hot knife to gouge out his flesh?

A military physician at the side could not help but speak up in accusation.

Su Mu looked toward the two soldiers on the other side who were using small knives to scrape the rotten flesh from their bodies and said:

"The knives you use to scrape away the decayed wounds of these injured men have not undergone professional treatment."

"This means that people whose bodies have not yet begun to rot or become diseased can easily develop lesions after being treated with those knives."

"That is why, once one person in the military camp develops a festering wound, it immediately spreads to others."

"Poor ventilation is one issue. Cross-infection is another."

"If you do not heat your knives over an open flame, boil them in water, or wash them with high-concentration liquor, the rotten matter left on them will remain stuck to the blades and be transferred to other patients."

Su Mu's words left everyone else stunned.

They had never considered such a problem before. They had only thought about the patients' nutrition and treatment from healing-type Soul Masters.

"Then according to you, the environment and the tools used can also affect a patient's recovery?"

Princess Vina could not help asking.

Su Mu nodded lightly.

"If there is anything I can teach, then aside from those basic procedures, it is mostly practical knowledge."

"A good knife can play a crucial role in treating the wounded, but a clean knife can save someone's life."

"And these surroundings are completely unsuitable for the injured to recuperate in."

"You can see for yourselves that the wounded crammed together on these communal beds will cross-infect one another at close range."

"Even lightly injured people can become severely ill through infection, greatly wasting treatment resources."

"And in the future, you can refine that Blood-Clotting Grass into medicinal liquids or pills for the injured to consume. Do not use it as a topical dressing anymore."

"That is very dangerous. Although external application may seem more effective, if the wound becomes infected because of those herbs, the loss outweighs the gain."

As Su Mu spoke, he continued working with his hands, scraping away strip after strip of rotten flesh.

"Can't you really find even a drop of alcohol in the army?"

Looking at the wound he had already cleaned, the soldier's arm had now been gouged into a hole. Any deeper, and the bone would be visible.

Su Mu turned to the people in the tent and asked again.

At that moment, General Zheng scratched his head awkwardly. "Yesterday, when I went home, my brother-in-law gave me two bottles of good liquor. I put them in my Soul Tool, but I returned to the army before I had the chance to drink them."

"I originally planned to put them back when I went home next time, but it seems they have another use now."

"Of course, I really did not intend to bring this bottle into the army to drink."

As General Zheng spoke, he took a dark red wine bottle from the Soul Tool in his clothes.

Su Mu immediately stepped forward to take it. When he opened the cap, a rich aroma of alcohol wafted out.

The proof was not high, perhaps only thirty or forty percent.

Su Mu sniffed it. The alcohol smell was not particularly strong, but perhaps this already counted as strong liquor on the Douluo Continent.

What a pity. Under the current conditions, distillation was impossible.

If he later used distillation to create a suitable distilling Soul Tool to purify alcohol, he might make a fortune.

But unfortunately, he could not count that as one of Wallace's individual products.

Su Mu shook his head, but he still dripped the liquor onto the scalpel.

He gently scraped the wound once more, thoroughly applying the alcohol to it.

The blood that seeped out at last had turned bright red, and the originally blackened clots had disappeared.

Su Mu sighed. "This is the most difficult part of cleaning an infected wound."

"If there is no good environment for treatment and the wound becomes infected again before it scabs over, then all the previous effort will have been wasted."

"Bring me gauze."

Su Mu spoke as he held out his hand.

The military physician beside him handed Su Mu a bundle of gauze wound into a ball.

The moment the gauze reached his hand, Su Mu could not help frowning. A faint fermented odor wafted from the bundle.

Obviously, this gauze had not been sterilized.

Damn it, I'm just a fried chicken seller. Why am I teaching people how to save lives now?

Su Mu looked at the bundle of gauze, tossed it back into the military physician's hands, and said, "Get a basin of water boiling and put this gauze in it to cook!"

"Your gauze already stinks, and you still dare use it on patients? Are you afraid they'll live too long?"

By the time all this was done, the sky had basically turned dark.

At that moment, Su Mu watched the military physicians around him as they treated the injured patients.

They removed the infected portions of the wounds again, disinfected them with alcohol, and then loosely and properly wrapped them with gauze that had been sterilized to kill fungi.

Afterward, they used healing-type Soul Masters to treat them slowly.

The whole process was rather slow, but fortunately, there were many doctors in the military camp now.

There were more than a dozen injured patients in total, and over forty doctors worked in groups of three, so it did not take much time.

"How is it? This treatment method of mine is a whole level above the methods you learned."

"It is no longer just watching a patient get hurt, slapping on some herbs, and waiting for him to recover on his own."

"If you want patients to heal faster, you must be attentive and use the right methods. You cannot rely on injured soldiers to tough it out. That is gambling with their lives."

"We have learned much."

Several doctors nodded in succession. After all, they had personally carried out the procedures just now.

Although there were no obvious results yet, these new methods and ideas still gave them quite a shock.

"Young friend, you must come from a renowned medical family. Who is your father? Why have I never heard of him?"

"Another day, I must pay him a proper visit. Oh, right, I'll treat you to a meal today. The Immortal-Viewing Tower in Heaven Dou City is quite good. Let's go now."

The old man waved his hand.

But Su Mu looked at the old man's expression with some confusion. "Aren't we in the military camp?

There is quite a distance between here and Heaven Dou City. Even if you carry me while flying, it would still take three or four hours, wouldn't it?"

Hearing that, the old man slapped his forehead. "I nearly forgot. We are on the outskirts now, not in the city."

"How about this? I'll add something extra to the army rations. I have quite a bit of Soul Beast meat in my Soul Tool."

"This old man was once exceptionally skilled at cooking as well. With a bowl of Golden Egg Fried Rice, I found the love of my life."

"Today, this old man will show you what I can do."

As he spoke, an iron wok suddenly appeared in the hands of the old man who had previously declared that he would eat a carriage.

Princess Vina looked at the relaxed atmosphere and let out a soft breath. She was very satisfied with today's outcome.

Then she said:

"If we're comparing cooking, I doubt anyone here can beat little boss Little Su Mu. After all, he's a chef."