Dottore, You Experimented on a Child! You're Truly Inhuman!

"Collei's Eleazar suddenly worsened, thankfully you were there." Tighnari gently lifted two large green leaves that served as a doorway, looking at Ying and Paimon who were anxiously waiting at the entrance. "Collei is asleep now, she's alright for the time being. Let's go a little further away so we don't disturb her rest."

Paimon clenched his small hands, bowing his head with deep remorse. "Um... I'm sorry. Her sudden illness seems... to have a lot to do with us."

Paimon mustered his courage and told Tighnari everything that he had inadvertently revealed that Xingsu had joined the Fatui.

After hearing the whole story, Tighnari raised his hand to his chin, gently stroking it with his fingertips, and pondered quietly for a long time before letting out a heavy sigh.

"So she found out after all..." he muttered to himself, his tone complicated. "Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway."

"So, what exactly is Xingsu's relationship with you? Why did Collei react so strongly when she heard he joined the Fatui? And what about her illness...?"

Let me explain it to you from the beginning.

From a young age, Collei suffered from a condition called "Eleazar," named for the grayish-black scale-like tissue that appeared on the patient's body.

Initially, patients may only experience numbness in their skin, followed by weakness, loss of sensation in their limbs, and eventually, complete loss of mobility.

"Can this disease be cured?" Paimon's heart tightened upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but ask anxiously.

"Currently, the herbal remedies formulated by the Amurta can suppress the onset of Eleazar, but unfortunately, Eleazar cannot be cured at present."

Collei's mother, desperate to cure her daughter's incurable disease, readily believed rumors. Someone told her that the Fatui possessed a cure for the Eleazar. With nowhere else to turn, she entrusted young Collei to the Fatui.

"What?! The Fatui?!" Paimon's pupils shrank instantly, and he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, his face full of disbelief.

"That's right. The person who was entrusted to take care of Collei told me that young Collei was sent to the Fatui and under the Harbinger of the ' The Doctor ' to receive so-called 'special treatment'."

I don't know how he did it, but he definitely completely contained the Eleazar. However, the time he spent with the Fatui was definitely not a pleasant memory for Collei.

Later, she escaped from the clutches of the Fatui and wandered for a long time before being sent back to Sumeru.

This is where Xingsu comes in.

"Xingsu? Can he cure Eleazar?"

"That's right. Xingsu was a peerless genius that the Sumeru Akademiya had only seen once in a century. He was well-read and had knowledge of the six Darshans. He was exceptionally talented and was once a top scholar that all schools of thought vied to recruit."

After accidentally observing Collei's Eleazar, he used his own methods to create a completely new Eleazar Memory Theory.

He once effectively suppressed Collei's illness in front of the wise men of the Amurta, with results far exceeding those of conventional herbal treatments.

During that time, he frequently traveled back and forth to Gandharva Ville, patiently accompanying and caring for the young and sensitive Collei. Over time, besides me, he almost became Collei's second source of support, and could be considered her half-guardian.

"Unfortunately, his good fortune didn't last long. His subsequent research into the Wisdom Network Theory touched upon a taboo of the Akademiya and was strictly prohibited. In the end, he was completely convicted by the Akademiya and expelled from Sumeru. The deeper reasons behind this are too complex and sensitive to elaborate on."

After he left, his research became a hot potato. Research on Wisdom Network System was completely banned, and research on the Eleazar Memory Theory was abandoned with his departure.

"Actually, I expected this." Tighnari sighed softly. "That theory is too unique, too ahead of its time. In a sense... he's probably the only one in the world capable of putting it into practice."

"No wonder Collei reacted so strongly when he heard that Xingsu had joined the Fatui."

Ying suddenly realized, and turned to look helplessly at Paimon was hanging his head to the side.

Paimon looked remorseful, his little hands fidgeting nervously. "I... I really didn't mean it... I just said it offhand... I'm sorry,"

"Alright, stop blaming yourselves. It's getting late, and you've all had a long day. Go back and get some rest. I'll keep an eye on Collei; nothing will go wrong."

"Alright then... Tighnari, take care of yourself too."

"Yes, I'll take good care of myself."

Collei sat by the hospital bed, Xingsu squatted in front of her, gently stroking the top of her head with his palm.

"After I leave, listen carefully to Tighnari's advice. Don't try to handle all the complicated and delicate work alone; remember to team up with the other rangers. They are all kind-hearted people and will definitely help you."

"Okay, I'll be good," Collei replied softly.

"Alright, you're still sick, go back to sleep for a while." Xingsu gently helped Collei up and laid her flat on the bed. He sat by the bedside, quietly watching her. "I'll stay with you during this time."

"Um."

Collei then closed his eyes in relief.

She remembered how Xingsu would gently pat her back to comfort her when she was awakened by nightmares; she remembered how he would carefully chop fresh green vegetables into the rice porridge he had cooked when she woke up; she remembered how he would sit at the table when she woke up, studying her symptoms, and softly tell her, "Your illness will definitely get better."

But when Collei opened her eyes again, there was no one by the bed.

Collei sat up and noticed a thin red mark on her wrist, as if she had been strangled by something. The mark was fresh, but it didn't hurt.

She got out of bed and pushed open the door to the small room.

The entire Gandharva Ville was quiet; it seemed all the forest rangers were out on missions. She walked alone for a long time before finally catching a glimpse of a half-open door to a house, with a figure vaguely visible inside.

She gently pushed the door open.

Wearing a cold, hard metal mask, Xingsu sat behind a long table covered with manuscripts and glass medicine jars, his head bowed as he quickly jotted something down in his notebook.

Collei took a step closer and saw that what was spread out on the table was a portrait of her—no, not a portrait. It was an anatomical diagram.

The person in the picture has their eyes closed, and their chest cavity is open, filled with densely packed lines and text.

"Mr. Xingsu... why are you wearing a mask? And what is this...?"

Xingsu finally raised his head, his face still bearing the familiar faint smile that Collei knew so well. However, he was holding a syringe in his hand, with a drop of transparent liquid suspended at the tip, which gleamed sharply in the cold light of the room.

"Collei, you're awake," Xingsu said, her tone as gentle as ever. "Come, lie down over here. Today's dosage needs to be adjusted."

wrong...

Collei instinctively took a step back, her back slamming heavily against the metal shelf. She glanced back and saw a row of sealed glass jars neatly arranged on the shelf, each containing human tissue.

One of the patches of skin had grayish-black demonic scales attached to it, Collei recognized it at a glance—it was skin taken from her arm.

wrong...

"You're trembling." Xingsu's voice came from behind, growing closer. "Don't be afraid, it will be over soon."

The voice was devoid of any emotion, mechanically cold, like a machine without joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness, devoid of any warmth.

Just like... just like...

Deep in my memory, there was that person wearing a mask and holding a syringe...

No... no... no...

This shouldn't be happening, it's not right!

"No... no!"

Collei suddenly curled up in his sleep, his clothes soaked with cold sweat, his eyelashes trembling violently, and broken sobs escaping from his throat.

Yes, from beginning to end, it was just a nightmare.

After all, when Xingsu left Sumeru back then, they didn't even get to say a proper goodbye, and they didn't even get to see each other one last time.

Perhaps on an ordinary afternoon, neither of them could have imagined that it would be the last time they saw each other.

What did the scene look like at that time?

It should be like...

"You're awake, Collei. Are you feeling better?" A gentle voice came from beside her ear.

Just like now.