Plague Doctor

Chapter 312: RFL Surgery

Translator: Lonelytree

Midnight consultation, a young girl with erythema and she was diagnosed with skin allergy. There were plenty of patients that fitted the first two criteria but to fit all three, Tian Yi was the only one. Her consultation was one week ago and her first symptom appeared one day before that. That day was also the day Phecda took over Afterlife Cult’s 16 communication bases and Gu Jun’s team brought down a red worm. Looking back, perhaps the mission did not stop the ritual but rather it had initiated a new one. The still living 6 cultists were being heavily interrogated but their mind was too broken to provide any useful information.

The tragedy began with Tian Yi, the 18-year-old girl who started her livestreaming career less than 1 week ago. When Gu Jun looked through her files, he felt a weight in his heart, this was just a young girl trying her best to fight for a better life for herself. And now she had disappeared and no one could tell when did that happen.

The investigation result showed that the last person to have seen her was Doctor Liang. At the time, he injected her with a shot of Carulon, prescribed her a week’s worth of medicine and charged her 200 RMB, which was honestly quite expensive. Doctor Liang was not briefed about the Mutated Skin Disease. When he was questioned about that night, he said with confusion, “There was nothing too special about it. She had skin allergy so I gave her a shot, some medicine and she left… Oh, the dogs outside were barking constantly even after she left. I remember I have trouble sleeping that night because of it.”

What were the dogs barking out? Was there someone or something else who came along with Tian Yi that night? Tian Yi did not show up for work the next morning, she called for a sick leave, which proved that she was still alive. But she still did not show up for work the day after. She stopped livestreaming and basically went off the grid. Something must have happened to her…

After 3 days of absence, her supervisor called her but there was no answer. Her friends did not think much about her absence, believing she merely stayed at home because of her skin allergy. Unless it was the day for rental payment, her landlord would not visit her and her neighbours minded their own business. The village street did have cameras but they were just for show. They had been broken for months already.

Tian Yi’s parents divorced years ago and she grew up at an orphanage. She had no contact with her parents since she was young. No one would have cared about someone like Tian Yi if not for the uniqueness of her case. It was why her disappearance was shrouded in so much mystery. Regardless, Phecda sent out investigators to find clues. After all, a girl could not just disappear into thin air. Eventually the clues would surface. The only silver lining from the news was that the illness appeared not to be contagious because the village did not record any other patients. Gu Jun shared the files with Deng Ximei. The girl shook her head, she did not feel anything.

In any case, Xie Yiman’s surgery had to continue. Gu Jun went through decontamination, scrubbing and so on. When Gu Jun’s team entered the surgical room, the patient was lying on the operation table. Her body was strapped in. The Ancient Seal stone was placed in the room. The c-arm x-ray was placed next to the patient’s head. Various devices beeped in the background. Naturally there were cameras monitoring the situation in the room as well.

“How do you feel?” Uncle Dan asked since he noticed Gu Jun take a deep breath.

“It’s just that I have not been in a surgical room for so long.” Gu Jun explained.

“But Tycoon Jun, you have been out there saving lives just the same.” Cai Zixuan comforted. Gu Jun nodded silently. They better prepared themselves for the battle ahead.

Wu Siyu, Deng Ximei and the members from the Ancient Seal Department stood to the side while the medical members walked towards the surgical table. Xie Yiman looked at them nervously. Even though she had been given pre-op consultation, and was told about the surgical procedures, it was impossible for her not to be worried.

“Just relax.” Gu Jun said consolingly. “Anaesthesia is normally not required for this kind of non-invasive surgery, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Si Kouxian concurred, indeed this was not a big surgery. Gu Jun accepted the skin marker from the nurse. Comparing the facial EEG done on Xie Yiman earlier, he drew out the surgical lines on her face, so that the main surgeon would know where to input the electrodes.

Xie Yiman started to sob. She felt like a pig waiting to be slaughtered. After Gu Jun was done, Zhang Jingsong operated the LNG30-1 frequency monitor to triangulate her forame novale. The surgery would have the surgeon input the electrode through the forame novale to reach the trigeminus and destroy its nerves endings. The surgery would start with her right side before moving to the left. After the x-ray from the frequency monitor was fixed, the x-ray imaging screen soon showed the patient’s forame novale. Si Kouxian took out a long electrode, its edge shining with a cold glint. Over at the headquarters, the other experts watched with bated breath as the first RFL surgery attempted to treat Mutated Scale Disease.

Gu Jun applied disinfectant on Xie Yiman’s corrupted skin and then placed a towel over her face. The patient instantly screamed, “No, no! Let me see, please!” Gu Jun had the nurse change it for a smaller towel. It covered only her cheeks, without blocking her sight.

“It’s going to be fine.” He consoled, “It’s just a minor surgery.”

Holding the electrode, Si Kouxian leaned towards the surgical area. With the aid of the X-ray, he pushed the electrode into the bottom edge of her zygomatic upper jaw… The angle of the suturing was calculated via trigonometry. The trajectory had to be followed minutely to reach the nerve clusters.

The needle head punctured through Xie Yiman’s mutated skin. With Si Kouxian’s expert manoeuvring, the small electrode slowly disappeared into Xie Yiman’s face. When the electrode stuck into the forame novale, Si Kouxian could feel clearly the needle being sucked into place by the facial muscles. The suturing was successful. At the same time, Xie Yiman felt an overwhelming pain in her face, it caused her to yelp, “Ah!”

“Does it feel similar to electric shock?” Gu Jun asked urgently, that was a normal reaction.

“I don’t know, but it’s so painful…” She groaned. Despite the lack of clarity, at least she was speaking. The rationality assessment stone around her wrist did not glow so Gu Jun nodded at Si Kouxian to continue.

“The electrode is in place.” Zhang Jingsong studied the x-ray images. There was now an additional dark line on screen, it was the electrode.

“You hear that? The first step is successful!” Gu Jun encouraged Xie Yiman loudly, “Hang in there, it’ll be over soon.”

The other experts applied for an electrical stimulus triangulation, the patient responded in kind so the position of the electrode was definitely correct. The nurse adjusted the temperature and time on the RFL machine. The temperature of the electrode would rise to 80 degree and last for 90 seconds. For now, they decided to repeat this process 3 times. All the electrical wires were connected. Gu Jun stood beside the machine, watching the start button. Once the button was pressed, the trigeminus on Xie Yiman’s right face would be destroyed.

“Yiman, hang in there, brace yourself.” He said as he pressed the button.

“Ah…” Xie Yiman screamed in pain. If not for the straps on her body, she would be rolling in pain. The temperature rose and so did the pain she experienced. Something scorched inside her face…

The worms scattered from the fire. They crawled and rolled. They burned in fury…

…