Chapter 9 Deciding to Act _1

Huang An took the initiative to bring up this matter, which was unforeseen by Zhao Yan. When her younger sister first told her, she thought it was a scheme of Huang An, intending to gain quick access to the family through this issue.

But it turned out to be true.

Zhao Yan lightly furrowed her brows, her beautiful eyes scanned Huang An from head to toe, and she thought to herself:

"He seems clean. Let's just let him check it out to ease our minds. It's just that these injuries, which even Doctor Xue couldn't cure, sigh..."

"Then come in."

The two, one in front and one behind, entered the room and quickly arrived at the bedside.

"Senior Brother, please make room and let Junior Brother have a look."

Pang Han, who was standing guard, saw Huang An walk in and immediately became furious. He wanted to criticize him, but when he saw Zhao Yan's grave expression, he stifled his indignation.

He made room, gave Huang An a cold glance, snorted coldly, without saying a word, then sat down, sulking on a nearby stool.

Huang An's brows knitted slightly. Why was this man so petty?

Looking at his features, he didn't seem like such a petty person.

Could it be said that one cannot judge a book by its cover, and he had mistaken his character?

However, now was not the time to dwell on this issue. Huang An approached the head of the bed, bent slightly, and saw the unconscious Master Zhao.

Master Zhao was still in a coma, his eyebrows tightly knitted like an ink painting. He did not know whether he was suffering, or hearing the noise in his dream, or perhaps both.

Huang An carefully observed the current state of Master Zhao.

He was lying fully on the bed, the lower half of his body covered with bedding, his upper body naked with numerous wounds. It was quite gruesome to look at, but if one looked closely, one could find an eerie beauty in it.

However, the beauty was now broken—a long line of greenish-yellow blood stained with herbal medicine appeared before Huang An's eyes.

The bloodstain was long, making Huang An took a sharp intake of breath, wondering who had done such a thing.

It was such a ruthless attack, looking at its position, it seemed to be an ambush.

He casually glanced at the wound and moved his gaze to Master Zhao's head.

Due to the prolonged coma and severe infection, Master Zhao's entire body had turned waxen yellow, as if painted.

If a modern person who didn't know any better saw this, they might think he was a deliberately dyed yellow plastic model in a clothing store.

His wounds were more serious than expected.

Master Zhao had long hair; between the strands of black were streaks of white. Huang An pushed aside the hair obstructing his vision, then observed Master Zhao's complexion.

Zhao Yan and her sister exchanged glances, surprise in their eyes. They initially thought Huang An was just posturing, but looking at his methods, they realized he knew what he was doing. His actions were almost identical to those of Doctor Xue.

The sisters began to have a sliver of confidence in Huang An.

Master Zhao's head was turned to the side, with his face toward the inside of the bed, making it difficult to get a good viewing angle.

Huang An slightly bent his body, leaning his upper body on the bed, propping himself up with one hand while carefully observing Master Zhao's complexion.

He seemed to have been unconscious for some time, his lips pale and cracked, his complexion withered yellow with a hint of whiteness.

Upon lifting his eyelid, they saw the sclera was turning yellow.

A chill ran through Huang An's heart, and he felt a sudden pain in his waist, causing him to step back abruptly.

His professional movements had aroused the curiosity of the three people in the room. Even Pang Han, who was sulking in the corner earlier, unknowingly had moved closer to Huang An to observe.

The sudden retreat of Huang An left the three of them exchanging confused glances.

Zhao Yan felt a sudden chill in her heart. Could it be that he, too, was helpless?

Although she didn't have much confidence in this junior brother who was about to be accepted into the family, the shattering of even this small hope made her feel desperate.

As for Huang An, his retreat was not due to fear, but rather the surprise, followed by a sudden twinge in his waist causing the pain.

Huang An felt inexplicably that his waist pain must have been from the collision earlier, and it still hadn't healed; he couldn't keep bending over for long.

After all, his body was weak.

Huang An gave the others a reassuring look, stayed silent, and took two steps forward. He squatted down and put his hand on Master Zhao's forehead.

Hiss!

It was so hot!

After careful observation, Huang An determined that these symptoms were due to a severe wound infection.

However, he hadn't looked at the wound closely yet and couldn't jump to conclusions.

Therefore, after taking a brief rest to alleviate his waist aches, Huang An decided to further investigate the actual infection condition inside the wound.

But his waist was not in a good state...

So, Huang An turned his head, glanced at the three despondent individuals, his gaze swept over them, and ultimately he requested Zhao Le, who was on the verge of tears:

"Bring a stool over here, also get a basin of warm boiling water."

Zhao Le did not understand his intentions but obediently wiped her tears and brought over a small stool to put beside the bed.

Then, she quickly fetched a basin of lukewarm boiled water.

Huang An carefully washed his hands, had Zhao Le place the basin of water to one side, and instructed her to fetch the clean white cloth that was drying in the courtyard outside the door, then meticulously dried his hands.

Hope began to stir in the hearts of the three, but when they saw Huang An pulling the stool to the bedside and sitting down, their faces stiffened again.

Pang Han clenched his teeth so tight they chattered, and his fists were clenched into balls. That sick pretender was enjoying himself now.

If it weren't for their master, he would want to beat up this sick pretender who had ruined his opportunity.

Zhao Yan frowned, her mind racing.

Zhao Le pouted, her heart filled with grievance, murmured to herself:

"This junior brother is not only old and sick, but his waist is not good either. Can he really learn martial arts?"

Huang An was oblivious to their thoughts. He did need to sit down since he couldn't stand any longer. Besides, he was in the midst of treating a patient, sitting down to relax for a while didn't seem inappropriate.

From the external examination, Master Zhao's injuries were very severe and couldn't be delayed.

He hadn't checked the interior of the wound yet, but he estimated it to be serious. Huang An had to figure it out before it was too late and the patient died before he even had the chance to act.

He certainly did not want his mentor to die, even before he could start his training.

He decided to examine the wound first, then determine whether or not he should intervene.

He couldn't let his potential mentor die right here, right now.

After all, Huang An, though not a professional doctor, had excellent observation skills and experience with injuries.

He was sure the wound had become infected—a severe infection-based wound that one could hardly imagine.

After cleaning himself up, Huang An proceeded to carefully examine the wound. He took a good look and memorized every detail, then gently pressed the wound.

He was assessing the condition of the wound. The touch was quite good, soft. If he pressed the swollen edge of the wound for about three seconds, it would bounce back.

The feel was indeed good.

But Huang An judged that the state of the wound was very bad, the infection was serious, and there was a large amount of pus. He even determined that the rot in the wound's depth had spread to the outer edge.

Otherwise, a slight press would not depress at least half a month old wound edge skin.

Smacking his lips, Huang An turned his head to look at the three people behind him and said in a low voice:

"I need to pry open the wound to take a look!"

Faced with Huang An's calm face and tone, the three were momentarily stunned.

Even Pang Han, who resented Huang An, did not object.

The three hesitated. The Zhao sisters whispered to each other, then consulted Pang Han. Finally, Zhao Yan nodded her consent, but warned:

"Please be gentle, brother."

Huang An nodded, then reached out with both hands, gently prying open the stuck parts of the wound.

As soon as he did, a stench unique to rotting flesh hit him. Huang An dry-heaved but held it back.

It was that smell, like the stench of a corpse, unforgettable.

Huang An, suppressing his revulsion and nausea, closely examined the rotten flesh on both sides of the wound.

It looked like a piece of spoiled beef with poor knife work, smeared with yellow tomato sauce.

The sheen of the pus mixed with the gloss of human fat was so disturbing that Huang An's face froze for a second, his throat convulsing.

However, he quickly suppressed the urge to vomit and close his eyes.

His willpower and endurance surpassed even his own expectations.

Suddenly.

"Hurrgh!"

"Hurrgh!"

The sounds of retching from behind almost made Huang An lose control. His face turned paler, but he managed to hold it in.

"Open the door. If you can't stand it, you can step outside to breathe."

At Huang An's words, Pang Han found an excuse to leave. After a slight hesitation, he finally ran out, clutching his stomach and covering his mouth.

Although he had been practicing martial arts for many years, he had not yet graduated, nor had he seen blood. It was hard for him to stomach this sight.

As for the two pale-faced sisters, they stayed in the room, even moving a bit closer.

Watching their father's wound, Zhao Le whimpered:

"Doctor Xue just treated the wound yesterday. How did it become like this?"

She didn't understand.

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional.

Huang An was shocked. The wound was cleaned yesterday?

If it was glued together today and there was so much pus, the infection deep in the wound must be terrifying.

Huang An was frightened. Luckily, he had stumbled upon the place today. Otherwise, Master Zhao would be ready for the coffin this evening.

His path to survival through martial arts would inevitably be fraught with many complications.

Steadying his mind, Huang An pried the wound open a little further, then carefully observed the pus and the flesh on the sides of the wound, shaking his head. It was too serious, and even in a modern society with advanced medical technology, this would require major surgery.

Even if the hospital equipment was a little off, he feared it might not be survivable.

It took Huang An about twenty minutes to finish examining the main wound area.

The severity of the deterioration exceeded his expectations. Huang An's face turned dark.

This kind of injury, on an ordinary person, would have been deadly long ago.

It was astonishing that Master Zhao had held on this long without dying and was only in a coma. Huang An couldn't help but be amazed.

No wonder Doctor Xue suggested that he come to the Zhao Family's martial arts hall to learn martial arts and prolong his life. Master Zhao's robust vitality meant that even if Huang An learned a fraction of his skills, he could resist the constant deterioration of cancer.

Prolonging his life for several years would undoubtedly be possible. If he was lucky, he might even be able to recover fully.

The miracle on Master Zhao strengthened Huang An's determination to learn martial arts.

However, the immediate priority was to ensure Master Zhao didn't die.

If he couldn't halt the deterioration of the wound now, Master Zhao wouldn't make it through tonight.

Huang An felt a bit exasperated. He didn't have time or opportunity to go to Earth to find related drugs and surgical equipment.

Moreover, even if there was an opportunity, Huang An wouldn't go to Earth right now, as it would expose his identity.

Huang An knew what his opportunity meant. Once revealed, his chances of dying would be high, and if he survived, his life would be worse than death.

Between the two, Huang An chose the former.

However, there were still ways.

Although Huang An was not confident he could cure Master Zhao, he was 90% certain he could alleviate the worsening condition immediately.

In this way, Master Zhao could hold on for a few more days, and he could prepare for the disguise while he was still alive.

Once he had made up his mind, Huang An, a man of action, immediately set out to work.