Chapter 26 Reaction: She leaned forward, picked up the knife, then closed her eyes and turned her hand backward...
Catherine ignored their conversation. She walked to the bedside, glanced at Bart, and then turned to the others, saying, "You all get out."
Upon hearing this, the others exchanged glances, and finally obediently bowed and left the tent. Only when she and the unconscious Bart were inside did Catherine sit down and place her hand on his pulse.
While she was at the Vatican, she had to learn many things, including medicine. However, nuns are not real doctors and do not need to treat seriously ill patients; they only need to treat minor ailments such as colds and coughs.
Therefore, she herself was very unsure whether she could cure Bart.
The moment Catherine touched Bart's skin, she was chilled by his icy body temperature. His skin was covered in cold sweat, damp and sticky, and the wind made it even more frighteningly cold.
Catherine felt the pulse under her hand and found it much weaker than normal, but strangely faster. It seemed that in addition to bleeding, she had also been poisoned…
She thought of the monsters in the Devil's Forest, and the plants that had long since evolved to be full of toxins due to the harsh living environment, and she became increasingly convinced that her deduction might be the truth.
But even knowing Bart's condition, she currently has no way to cure him.
There were no medicines, no herbs, not even strips of cloth needed for bandaging in the Devil's Forest! Under such circumstances, she could only heal Bart if she were a god.
Catherine looked up; the shadows of people outside the tent were projected onto the curtain. Most of the people were outside, waiting for the results. She could faintly hear a few hushed voices.
Can the witch cure Bart?
"That's a witch!"
"…………"
Catherine bent down and gently lifted the thin blanket covering Bart.
His wounds had clearly been treated simply, not as badly torn as she had imagined, but one could still vaguely glimpse how dangerous the situation had been. There were several deep holes in his chest and upper arms, as if the teeth of some giant beast had bitten into those places, and a large chunk of flesh was missing from his side, with blood still flowing uncontrollably.
For Bart to recover, the bleeding from these wounds must first be stopped, and the wound on his side needs to be stitched up. But given Bart's current weakness, even with sufficient medical equipment, he could very well die from his injuries during the treatment.
Ideally, his wounds would heal instantly, like Tarasco's self-healing ability...
Catherine suddenly thought of something, and her eyes lit up.
She remembered that at midnight, the witch cut open her back and stuffed something strange into her body. When the wound finally healed, the witch did not chant any spells.
In other words, the wound on her back likely healed on its own!
Catherine scanned the tent until she spotted a knife on a nearby table. She reached over, picked it up, closed her eyes, and slashed it with her backhand...
Instantly, a burning pain shot through her palm, and a bloody gash appeared. A moment later, blood gushed out, and Catherine quickly moved her hand to Bart's mouth.
Blood dripped down, and Bart unconsciously swallowed, gulping down the blood that dripped onto his mouth.
Catherine pursed her lips. She was doing this as a last resort... Unless a god descended, Bart should have died today, at this very moment. At least she was giving him a chance to survive.
If, as she suspected, the thing the witch placed inside her body allowed her to heal on her own.
So, less than half a day has passed since then. That substance has only recently fused with her blood, and it's very likely that it hasn't been fully absorbed by her body yet. Her blood should still have some "medicinal" properties.
Seeing that the wound was almost scabbed over, Catherine's face scrunched up. But she didn't dare to delay, raising the knife in her hand and quickly making another cut.
The incision stung terribly, but she had to keep squeezing out the blood to prevent it from drying and scabbing over. Bart's pale lips were stained bright red by the constantly dripping blood, which actually made his complexion look much better.
Catherine lowered her eyes and looked at the largest wound on his side.
Slowly, tiny buds of flesh sprouted from the torn flesh, then gradually grew outwards and intertwined... Catherine exhaled.
Fortunately, this method actually works.
The wound on Bart's palm healed and was cut open again, then cut open and healed again, over and over again, until Catherine became numb to the pain, and Bart's wound finally healed to the point where it stopped bleeding.
Catherine found a clean cloth and wiped the blood from her palms. Although Bart's injuries were still quite serious, he was no longer in mortal danger and would survive as long as he avoided infection.
That's enough.
From the very beginning, she never intended to fully heal his wounds—in fact, given the speed at which his wounds were healing, it would be impossible for him to fully recover unless all her blood was drained.
The fact that she has recovered from such terrible injuries is already a "miracle." And that is her goal.
She wiped the blood from her palms, and the knife wound had long since healed, leaving no scar. Catherine walked to the door, lifted the curtain, and everyone outside looked over anxiously.
Catherine turned to the side, gesturing for them to come in and see.
The people waiting outside immediately rushed in. The elderly woman who had been kneeling by Bart's bedside came to his side first. With trembling hands, she lifted the thin blanket, looked at the wound that had stopped bleeding, and couldn't help but cover her mouth and cry out in pain.
"Thank you, Lady Witch! Thank you, Lady Witch..."
The woman kept muttering to herself. The tension that had gripped her ever since Bart was brought back finally eased at this moment. The tears of worry and fear that had been building before finally flowed.
The others were a few steps behind when they saw Bart's condition. The obvious reduction in his injuries clearly told everyone that this was a miracle created by the witch.
Everyone was shocked and looked at Bart's injuries again and again.
This was the first time they had directly faced the witch's immense power. They had all witnessed the severity of Bart's injuries. He was so badly injured! Yet the witch had managed to snatch him back from the clutches of death. This only deepened their respect and fear for Catherine.
Benson entered the tent at this moment, standing not far from the doorway, gazing at Bart lying on the bed. Looking at the people gathered around, some sitting, some standing, Benson understood that Catherine had successfully revived Bart.
"He's out of danger now, it's up to you."
Catherine casually uttered these words and left the tent, completely unconcerned about how the others would react.
After she left, someone in the corner quietly approached Benson and whispered in his ear, "She saved Bart from such serious injuries, that's enough to prove her identity! So, should we continue with our plan...?"
Benson remained silent for a long while.
As the man hesitated whether to speak again, Benson's eyes hardened: "Everything as usual, the plan continues."
The man shrugged: "Okay, if you insist."
-
Before we knew it, it was lunchtime.
Although the hunting party suffered heavy casualties in the morning, they also caught more game than usual. Half a piece of meat was enough to fill the entire pot.
A gentle woman knelt beside the fire, watching the food in the pot to make sure it was cooked, and poking at the fire to keep it from going out. After half an hour, the water in the pot began to bubble, and the aroma of meat broth filled the entire camp.
Erica came over with a plate, and the woman used a metal spoon to scoop up the two largest pieces of meat and put them in a bowl, then ladled in two spoonfuls of soup.
"Send it to the witch."
Erica swallowed a few times, her mouth watering at the enticing aroma, but she still obediently nodded.
She dared not steal the food meant for the witch, so she could only hurry to deliver the meal so she could return as soon as possible to eat her share.
The woman clearly noticed Erica's expression, and she smiled and said, "Be careful not to spill it. I'll save you a bigger piece of meat when we get back."
“Okay!” Erica was still young, and upon hearing this, she immediately responded childishly, and then hurriedly walked towards the witch’s tent.
Inside the tent, Catherine pressed hard on her wrist, her face looking rather pale.
Under my hand, her pulse, though through her skin, seemed ready to leap out of her body at any moment.
Not long after returning from Bart's place, her blood began to flow faster. At first, she only felt a strange palpitation, but now she was even having difficulty breathing.
Catherine wasn't sure if it was because of the bloodletting treatment she had given Bart earlier, but she guessed that it was probably somewhat related.
She instinctively pressed her wrist, trying to slow the damn pulse, but it was no use. The blood in her body was still surging like giant waves at sea, violently impacting every part of her body.
Catherine felt her heart pounding so hard that she had to breathe more forcefully to catch her breath.
She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but the movement caused double vision. Catherine raised her hand and pressed it against her eye socket, but something blunt and hard at her joint poked into it first.
Her eyes were suddenly and forcefully poked, sending a rush of tingling and numbness through her, and tears instantly streamed down half her face. But this misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise; the intense tingling and numbness pulled at her consciousness, making her feel slightly better.
Catherine looked at her hands and noticed that, at some point, a short, thin, barb-like bone had emerged from the first joint of each finger. The once clean and smooth skin on the inside of her fingers was now covered with a dense layer of translucent white down.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Aaaaaaah, my team won!!! I'm adding an extra chapter to celebrate, hehehe (double update on the night of the 2nd too~)
——————————————————
Although it was unbelievable, Ah Xiang searched it up on Baidu and found that doctors in ancient Western times also took pulses.
However, it is quite different from pulse diagnosis in ancient China! For example, "Ancient Greek doctors focused more on the muscles of the body and explored the purpose of human organs; while ancient Chinese physicians reflected inner feelings and intentions by observing facial expressions, explored changes in skin color, and pondered the deeper meaning contained therein."
The content in quotation marks is from information found on Xiaodigua (a Chinese online forum).
And looking at ancient European doctors, they even knew how to set bones, identify herbs, use cupping, and so on... It feels like I'm seeing a vision of ancient my country, hehe.
To be honest, when I looked at information about European emperors' treatments before, I thought they only knew violent methods, hahaha (the subject of the information was poor Charles II [oh oh oh][oh oh oh]).
It's said that this is their ultimate move! They don't use it lightly.
Perhaps it was because Charles II was the emperor that he was able to experience so many powerful moves (…which makes him even more pitiful [helpless]).
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com