Chapter 31: Making the Cut

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[Blood Riot]!

Activate!

Xia Shou’s five fingers closed around empty air, as though gripping something invisible.

In his vision, the hospital corridor’s lights turned dark red. It was as if he had awakened a sixth sense, one that allowed him to perceive blood in an entirely different way—the blood within his own body, the blood within Su Weiyu beside him, and... the blood within the dangerous anomalous patient!

Xia Shou clenched his hand and yanked to the side. The skin on the anomalous patient’s arms and legs immediately swelled. His yellow skin rapidly flushed dark red. Then it split open, his muscles bursting apart, his limbs exploding like water balloons. Great swathes of fresh blood sprayed across the corridor floor like crimson paint.

Xia Shou’s will was like an invisible hand, wielding an unseen force of traction and attraction. It manipulated the blood inside the other man’s body and tore his limbs apart completely.

The tremendous pulling force not only crippled the patient’s limbs, but also dragged the anomalous entity backward. With a heavy thud, it collapsed onto the corridor floor.

With all four limbs utterly ruined, the anomalous patient had completely lost the ability to move quickly. It writhed across the ground like a maggot, able to crawl toward Xia Shou only at an agonizingly slow pace. It could no longer be considered a threat.

Wang Long stood nearby in stunned silence. He remembered that Xia Shou’s file had identified him only as a first-rank Transcendent. It had never mentioned that he possessed a supernatural ability—and that a first-rank ability of his could actually affect an anomalous entity!

Could it be that the anomalies in this domain were only first-rank?

Wang Long’s attention drifted for an instant. When he came back to himself and saw Xia Shou’s skin turning yellow, he immediately shouted, “Quick! Come with me to the intensive care unit!”

Damn it!

Even Xia Shou had been infected.

Fortunately, Xia Shou had not killed the anomalous entity, which meant that the illness afflicting him could still be transferred. As long as someone else could act as a substitute and bear the disease in his place, he would be fine.

“No. I’m not going there,” Xia Shou refused flatly.

Su Weiyu cried out in shock, “You’re already like this—why won’t you go? The hospital’s power supply definitely can’t last for twenty-four hours. You saw it yourself just now: the walls and furniture in the wards aged rapidly within a short time. The hospital’s electrical systems must be the same!

“Once the power fails, those people won’t survive anyway. Rather than letting them die for nothing, they might as well make some contribution! Even for everyone else’s sake, you have to stay alive! Your value is far greater than the lives of those patients!”

As Su Weiyu spoke, Wang Long said much the same thing beside her.

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Xia Shou glanced at them expressionlessly and said calmly, “I have my own solution. Whether it works or not, I have to try it first. Where is the hospital blood bank? Bring me as much blood as possible of the same type as mine.”

Wang Long frowned. “What are you planning to do?”

“That anomalous entity appeared to suffer from liver and lung disease. The edema it developed later suggests that it also had kidney disease. In other words, I may now be carrying three organ diseases...” Xia Shou coughed as he continued, “So I want to replace those three organs with new ones. Cough, cough!”

Wang Long stared at him in disbelief. “You want surgery? How is that possible? Who would dare operate on you now? And where would we find organs compatible with you? Your plan simply can’t be carried out!”

“My ability can consume blood and regenerate organs that cannot naturally regenerate. Someone else will perform the operation. You only need to guide the critical steps of the surgery. Leave everything else to me.” Xia Shou issued the command in a tone that allowed no argument.

“The risk is far too great. You’d be better off transferring the disease directly to—”

“Do as I say! This is essential research! Cough, cough!” Xia Shou snapped angrily.

Wang Long had been about to argue further, but then he suddenly remembered that, under these circumstances, the ranks of administrative personnel were automatically downgraded. He should now be considered Xia Shou’s subordinate. In a situation like this, following the arrangements of a professional was the strategy most likely to ensure survival.

“All right! ... I’ll find someone to arrange it immediately. Little Liu, Little Zhang! Open the door and go get the blood!”

Wang Long turned at once, knocked open the tightly shut ward door, and pulled out several nurses and doctors. He ordered them to hurry to the blood bank and bring back every unit of Type O blood.

Meanwhile, Xia Shou moved a chair into the middle of the corridor, sat down, and quietly waited for the surgery to begin.

He was not taking this risk out of mercy. He was thinking farther ahead.

If he merely transferred the disease to a patient in the intensive care unit this time, what would happen the next time?

How many critically ill patients in the intensive care unit could be sacrificed in his place? And he was not the only person infected. At a moment when life and death hung in the balance, people were capable of doing anything—no matter how devoid of principle—to survive.

Elsewhere, all the ordinary people who had been infected must already be in an uproar. They would certainly have realized that intensive-care patients and immobile individuals in persistent vegetative states could be made to die in their place. Once those people started rioting, the hospital’s security guards would never be able to contain them.

It was even possible that the guards themselves would be among the rioters.

If he imagined the worst, the people in the intensive care unit might already be nearly dead.

The telephone at the service desk rang again. Wang Long, drenched in sweat, immediately picked it up.

“Hello? What? Those people stormed into the intensive care unit? Why didn’t you stop them?”

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“...Damn it. That may indeed be the best solution. Fine.”

Wang Long spoke only a few brief words before hanging up. He cradled his forehead in despair, his mind already at the very limit of collapse.

In such a desperate situation, one must never overestimate human nature.

Before long, blood bags and the necessary surgical instruments were brought over. Xia Shou immediately stripped off his clothes and called Wang Long over.

“Now tell me how to cut out the liver.”

“Wait. Aren’t you going to the operating table?” Wang Long’s expression convulsed in shock.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll perform the surgery here. My surgery is different from everyone else’s. You can see the spirit behind me, can’t you? Alice is the one who will perform the operation. You only need to tell her the correct way to make the incisions. Leave everything else to me. Cough, cough! Hurry—we’re running out of time!”

As he spoke, two semitransparent hands suddenly appeared behind Xia Shou. They firmly picked up two sharp scalpels. More hands emerged, clinging to Xia Shou’s arms and thighs and pinning him securely in place.

Wang Long pushed up his glasses, so nervous that he nearly fainted.

Seeing him in such a state, Xia Shou actually smiled. “Don’t worry. Alice’s hands are very steady. I guarantee this will be the cleanest, most efficient surgery you’ve ever seen.”

Xia Shou had no absolute certainty that this would work, but he had sound reasons for attempting it.

When he had seen the disease transfer between anomalous entities, he had thought of Liu Guangyao’s rotten arm. Liu Guangyao had been killed in a dream, and his normal arm had gradually become corpse-like during the process. That bore certain similarities to the transfer of disease in anomalous patients.

Moreover, Liu Guangyao’s dream had been connected to the Blood God. After devouring the Blood God, Xia Shou had gained an ability that happened to be capable of regenerating flesh.

He believed that none of this was a coincidence.

“Tell me,” Xia Shou asked calmly, “where should I make the first incision?”

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