Xia Lian crouched in front of the first male patient who seemed to be around forty years old. He had a wary look in his eyes while he started to move backward as if to avoid her.
Xia Lian didn't move any further and spoke with a gentle voice " Calm down, please. I will not hurt you. I am here to free you from this endless suffering and cure your illness."
The frail man visibly relaxed, one could ever see a glimmer of hope in his eyes, that felt lifeless before. After giving him some time to adapt to the new situation, she spoke up again, "I am a doctor, let me examine your body carefully. Nothing will happen to you or me. I give you my word!"
He remained silent and taking his silence as confirmation Xia Lian started observing his eyes and his body. Due to being highly serious while examining, the little girl didn't notice the blatant confusion of the patient.
Why would such an elegant and delicate young boy waste any time to treat someone useless like him? The cruelty of this world long robbed him of any kind of charity, but what use was staying vigilant anyways. He would just be freed of his suffering a few days faster. The decision was made rather quickly, let's just pray for the last time.
Meanwhile, the little doctor examined a character closely which has been carved deep into his body. The man noticed her gaze and patiently explained the circumstances, " They place a different marking on everyone, it is a way of removing the last hope of us and states that we cannot be used as an ordinary slaves anymore and we basically belong to them. We are just waiting to die here. This marking seals or fate in this place." Xia Lian was infuriated inside but calmly nodded in understanding.
The best way to gain the trust of these hopeless people was to stay as emotionless as possible. No one in this cage would believe you if you turned angry for their sake. It would seem like playing an act in front of them and receive nothing but additional distrust.
Afterwards, she made her way towards the table where a book and an inkstone were present. While grinding the ink slowly she made mental notes about the condition and the possible treatment methods for the first patient. It had to be extraordinarily successful, for future patients to gain trust in her. After grinding for a while with great difficulty, she started to note down her first patient's condition according to her practice from the modern world. Not many people would truly understand her notes. It could be considered an additional safeguard for all the information about her future loyal followers.
The character on his shoulder served as a primary identification name. It was definitely the easiest way of identifying them because she didn't know their names, or if they even possessed one in this hell. A list of her observations, containing all sorts of illnesses like broken ribs, fractured hands and many more minor injuries, was finished after writing for a few minutes.
Since the examination of her first patient was finished successfully Xia Lian proceeded to her next patient and again, she ended up sitting at the table while noting down her observations. This seemingly endless process continued for a long time, without anyone disturbing her at all.
After nearly losing track of time, the repetition of steps was finally interrupted by a familiar melody.
" Master, can I do anything? I've finished my work already." Bao Su reported to her with a hint of pride contained in his voice, which prompted Xia Lian to chuckle slightly.
After contemplating for a while the little girl expectantly looked up to him," Yes, there's indeed something I need you to do, and the faster the better."
" What is it, master? Your loyal subordinate will obey!"
" I need you to assemble those who are familiar with medicine. I can't possibly treat all of them by myself. The sheer amount of work is simply too much for me. Nursing someone back to health doesn't require my personal time. Therefore, go around the city and request any qualified doctor to help us. Tell them that there are lot of injured people here. For the time being, don't promise them any big reward."
Actually, Xia Lian had another purpose. It was indeed true, she needed help, but what she also wanted to know the attitude of doctors in the Dark City. Would anyone come to help, simply because they possessed the heart of a doctor, or turn a blind eye to this matter? Well, she had to wait and see for the time being. Xia Lian resumed her work after Bao Su took his leave.
It took almost three hours for Xia Lian to make a detailed analysis for all the people there. There were young and old, men and women and overall, people of many different groups were present. The youngest being ten and the oldest being about sixty. So many different injuries and treatment methods would require a lot of work. But when thinking about the smiles of the people, formerly despairing in hell, and possibly gaining the complete loyalty of all of them, she deemed her actions well worth it.
The patients were divided into various groups. It was not possible to completely unify the different illnesses, but at least a general differentiation was possible.
" Fan Ling!" Xia Lian called out loudly, resulting in a certain girl throwing away everything in her path and rush towards her master.
" Master..." she was greeted by a paper and a person too busy to even look up to her, "Divide them into groups, exactly like I mentioned in this paper. Allot a separate room for each group. Don't make any mistakes, the health of our people is at stake."
Fan Ling nodded seriously and started to move them as per the instructions given to her.
Subsequently, Xia Lian made her way to the room where all her herbs and equipment were located.
She looked around the room and rolled up her sleeves, mentally preparing herself for a long working session.
Meanwhile in the Dark City streets,
" I told you already, we won't be treating those filthy and sick people. We don't want to get their diseases by staying too close to them."
Bao Su forced a polite smile and left from the place at the very first chance. Otherwise, he was truly afraid that he would squash all those noisy flies. How dare they turn down his master's request!
Additionally, this is not the first hospital which straight-up rejected their request. Many of them shut the doors on his face without even giving him a chance to speak. Some had the basic courtesy to listen first and then turn him down, mostly not very polite anymore.
This doctor hunt is turning out to be more difficult than expected. The shadow guard sighed while he observed his surroundings helplessly. He almost went through every street and was pretty afraid that there were no longer any doctors left to ask.
A short collection of ideas granted him with a new stroke of inspiration: 'Why not simply ask the common people, if there is any doctor around the Dark City that is treating the poor?'
" Mister, do you know of any doctors who are willing to treat the poor?" Bao Su asked a man in the tea shop.
" Oh! That's easy to tell. There is only one man living within the Dark City, who is willing to treat everyone, no matter how much money you can afford. He's such a good soul!" the man didn't think twice before answering him passionately.
" Really! Then tell me who is he and where does he live?"