Inside a crude tent, a woman with a dull, ashen face lay on the ground, her breathing slow and labored.
The sound was almost like a sigh. Her breaths were faint as she exhaled, but heavy as she inhaled.
Every breath she drew made it painfully clear how hard she struggled to breathe.
It reminded Chu Mu of Luwan.
Like Luwan in that hospital room, the woman in the tent was nearing the end of her life.
The little boy wiped his tears away and choked out:
"Mom's been lying there for two days. Yesterday, last night, she got up once and made me dinner. She ate a little too, and she held me and told me stories. I, I thought she was getting better..."
Natasha gently stroked the boy's head and said softly:
"I understand. Don't cry. I'm here."
With that, she crouched beside the woman and checked her heartbeat with a stethoscope.
Her heartbeat was irregular, her breathing unsteady.
As a doctor, Natasha knew this meant the patient's heart and lungs were beginning to fail.
Before death, a person could experience a final rally. This happened because the cerebral cortex released a signal of impending death. Upon receiving that signal, the adrenal glands secreted hormones that caused the body's various organs and systems to become active again.
But it was only an illusion. Once negative feedback inhibited further hormone secretion, the body's organs began to shut down, and death truly came.
The woman was clearly at that final stage.
With the medical means available to her, Natasha could not save her.
Nor did her Path power have the ability to bring back the dead.
The woman had been ill for a long time. Several of her organs had already suffered pathological changes.
Looking at the woman's gaunt face,