"Exactly, just as I thought."
Xia Yu looked at Chen Huijie, who was still busy in her office, took a photo of her with her camera, and then brought out the packed food.
"Stop working and come eat!"
"Listen to that tone—you sound just like her older sister," Swire teased from the side, covering her mouth with a smile.
"Am I not her sister?" Xia Yu stood with hands on her hips upon hearing this. "Sister Tarnished and her sister are friends, and her sister asked Sister Tarnished to look after her. Sister Tarnished asked me, so rounding up, I'm her sister too!"
"You..." Chen Huijie sighed. How could she calculate it like that?
However, seeing that the other party had specifically brought her food, she ultimately couldn't say anything.
One must not offend the cook.
"By the way, where did you guys go today?" Chen Huijie asked casually as she opened the packed nutritious congee and various side dishes.
"I went to hold a free clinic," Xia Yu also took out her own portion and answered offhandedly. "I am a medical practitioner, after all."
"Oh, right. Take tomorrow off, and come with me to treat your illness while we're at it."
"Illness?" Chen Huijie failed to react for a moment. "What illness?"
Beside them, the piece of beast liver Swire was holding with her chopsticks dropped onto the table.
"What do you mean? Doctor Bailu?" she asked in disbelief. "Could it be that Rice Roll Dragon, she..."
Chen Huijie might not know, but how could Swire not? The girl had been treating Oripathy all day today! At a time like this, telling Chen Huijie to go get treated meant...
"What's with the big fuss?" Chen Huijie asked, puzzled.
"I'm making a fuss?" Swire slammed her chopsticks onto the table, glanced at the door, and then lowered her voice. "Chen Huijie, when did you contract Oripathy!"
"Oripathy?" An unnatural expression flickered across Chen Huijie's face. "There's no such thing, you're overthinking it..."
But Swire wouldn't have made it this far in the LGD if she were a pushover. She instantly caught that unnatural look on Chen Huijie's face.
"You!" She pointed a finger at Chen Huijie, at a loss for words.
"Are you questioning my medical skills?" Xia Yu put down her chopsticks. "So what if it's Oripathy? I can treat it."
Though she could only treat the symptoms; to cure the root cause, she would have to find Priestess.
"...How can Oripathy be treated?" Chen Huijie lowered her head.
"Shut up!" Swire glared at her fiercely. "I'll take over this case. You're going to get treated tomorrow, and that's final! There's no room for discussion!"
"This is my ca—" Chen Huijie wanted to argue, but Swire whipped out her phone.
"I recorded what was just said," she said with a cold face. "If you dare disobey Doctor Bailu, I'll make it public. I'll let all of Lungmen know that you're infected!"
"I'd like to see how you'll continue as a Superintendent then!"
"Those were just a few words, there's no evidence," Chen Huijie said, her voice losing confidence.
"Evidence? As long as someone suspects it, you'll be forced to prove your innocence," Swire wasn't falling for it. "Your brain is as rigid as ever."
"Fine, I don't want to discuss this with you anymore," she lowered her head to keep eating. "It's settled."
Chen Huijie had never seen Swire so determined; for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
"If you're sick, you need treatment," Xia Yu said leisurely. "Neglecting the illness and avoiding the doctor is never a good thing, Xiao Chen."
"Sigh, you sisters are all the same, a real piece of work! I heard from Sister Tarnished that Talulah, that piece of work, contracted Oripathy entirely on her own by scratching her hand with Originium just to resist Kaschey."
"And you, you're so devoted to the LGD. Heh, I probably don't need to explain how you got Oripathy; likely during some mission."
"Otherwise, as the Governor's successor, where would you have the chance to frequently come into contact with Originium?"
"My apologies, Doctor Bailu," Chen Huijie said, unsure of what to say. "But, can it really be treated?"
She still didn't know what had happened today.
"Don't worry, Doctor Bailu has god-like methods," Swire said sarcastically. "Treating a tiny Superintendent like you is child's play."
"She treated over a thousand infected today alone. At this rate, Lungmen won't have any infected left before long."
"No," Xia Yu shook her head. "I've only temporarily relieved their symptoms. I can't completely eradicate Oripathy. If they don't receive follow-up treatment, their physical condition will continue to deteriorate."
"Huh?" Swire was stunned. "But I saw the Originium shards on those infected falling off."
"Oripathy, while called a disease, is actually a very complex matter," Xia Yu shook her head. "Rather than a disease, it's more like an engineering accident. The root of the illness isn't even inside the patient's body, so even the most brilliant doctor can't cure it from the patient."
"Its cause involves the underlying logic of Originium. It cannot be cured in a short period of time."
"So the problem with Oripathy comes from Originium itself, right?" Swire was taken aback. Although this was already a mainstream hypothesis in academic circles, Swire, who didn't pay much attention to such things, wasn't very clear on it.
"Yes. As long as humans still rely on Originium, Oripathy cannot be eradicated," Xia Yu said as she slurped some plain congee. "Unless within the inner sea of Originium... forget it, there's no point telling you two."
"Wait, I feel like you're very knowledgeable about Originium, Doctor," Chen Huijie cast a suspicious look.
"I studied High-Energy Originium Physics," Xia Yu fabricated casually.
"Uh, what does that have to do with Oripathy?" Swire took the opportunity to ask.
"Because if you want to cure Oripathy, studying medicine is useless," Xia Yu replied. "You'd be better off studying Originium physics. Hmm, maybe add some linguistics to that."
"Huh? I can understand Originium physics, but what the hell does linguistics have to do with it?" Swire was completely lost.
"You don't need to know that much," Xia Yu rolled her eyes at them. "You're not doctors anyway. Knowing too much... is an easy way to get burned."
"So, Xiao Chen, remember to come and be my assistant tomorrow, understood!"
"Fine," Chen Huijie knew she couldn't escape.
"Alright then," Xia Yu rubbed her stomach after finishing. "Let's call it a day and head home!"
"Um, Doctor Bailu," Swire suddenly remembered what Lin Yühsia had said. She rubbed her hands together flatteringly. "Well, I have a patient here, could you see..."
"A patient?" Xia Yu glanced at her, then produced a small bottle that had long been filled with Jade Essence. "Here, your medicine."
"Uh, don't you need to see the patient?" Swire was stunned.
"No point," Xia Yu said offhandedly. "I'd still prescribe this even after seeing them."
Even if she truly possessed all of Bailu's medical skills, being asked to prescribe medicine to treat illnesses in this unfamiliar world was like being a clever housewife without rice.
So, she could only use the Jade Nectar as a panacea. Fortunately, the legendary celestial wine really was useful; it provided gentle nourishment, invigorated the spirit, and cleared the mind—truly worthy of being a special supply for the Heavenly Court.
Perhaps it couldn't cure major diseases, but it was excellent for sustaining life and nourishing the body.
As for other illnesses?
I'd suggest you go directly to a regular hospital, dear. We are doctors specializing in conquering Oripathy and don't provide basic medical services.
She had no choice but to do this. Otherwise, by the time she actually mastered the local pharmaceutical system, who knew how long it would take? Besides, she couldn't start over in every world she went to, right?
So, rather than medicine, this medical practitioner had already embraced the embrace of metaphysics. When in doubt, use Jade Nectar. If that still didn't work, go straight to surgery—cut out whatever was broken and then spam the Tarnished's Great Heal and Erdtree Blessing for free until it grew back.
Oh, and she didn't take cases involving brain diseases. Mainly because cutting into a brain was a bit too intense. Let's just say this doctor didn't specialize in psychiatry.
This set of tools was already enough to treat ninety percent of the world's ailments.
What? You're asking about the rest?
I can't do anything about incurable diseases either. We'll just have to make do. After all, doctors aren't omnipotent.
"But you haven't even heard what the patient's illness is," Swire still found it hard to accept.
"Isn't it just that your grandfather's time is almost up?" Xia Yu looked up at her. "Does your family have any other patients?"
"Uh, you knew, Doctor?" Swire was stunned.
"Do you think just anyone can follow me around doing chores?" Xia Yu gave her a look. "I can't fix his time being up, but a small sip of this wine every day can make his final stages of life a bit easier."
So that he could pass away with less pain.
"I see, I understand," Swire thought this was very reasonable. Doctor Bailu was a person of great power; she surely knew her identity.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have told her to go on a shopping spree right from the start.
"That's it then. Let's go, Xiao Chen," Xia Yu looked at Chen Huijie.
"Time to go home and sleep! You're leisurely sitting in the office, but I've been exhausted outside all day. Do you really want to make me pull an all-nighter with you?"
Faced with this, Chen Huijie had no choice but to reluctantly leave her files behind and depart with Xia Yu.
As for Swire, she gathered the sorted files, put them in her office, and after locking up, left the LGD building. She drove straight to the Swire family manor.
"Yo, isn't this Beatrix?"
Just as she walked into the luxurious villa at the center of the manor, Swire heard a very annoying voice. "What, shouldn't you be playing your little role-playing game at this time?"
"How do you have time to come home?"
"Cousin Lars, I don't have time for your nonsense," Swire couldn't be bothered to deal with him. "Please step aside gracefully, okay? I'm going to see Grandpa."
"The Young Lady sure is arrogant the moment she gets home," Lars raised an eyebrow. "I just wonder why you're back so late to disturb Grandpa. It couldn't be that you hit a wall at the LGD and came back to cry..."
"My apologies, Master Lars," at that moment, an old man dressed impeccably interrupted him. "The Master wishes to see the Young Lady."
"Ah, oh, Grandpa..." Lars instantly shrunk back, not daring to say another word.
Swire walked straight into the inner room without even glancing at him.
As a large family, the Swires naturally weren't lacking in petty drama. It was fine a few years ago when Grandpa was still healthy enough to keep things suppressed.
But after Grandpa fell ill, those people became increasingly restless.
Fortunately, Grandpa could still manage affairs, so she would only get mocked a bit upon returning home. After all, few could understand her choice to leave the grand family business to become a police officer...
She had no time to think about that as she pushed open the door to her grandfather's room.
"Beatrix is back," the kind grandfather in her memory beckoned to her. "You girl, busy every day until your feet don't touch the ground. You finally found time to come see this old man."
"Sorry, Grandpa," Swire lowered her head in embarrassment. She really didn't come back often, since there were always people making snide remarks when she did...
"Right, Grandpa, I got something for you from a doctor..."
"Is it that wine?" Old Swire managed to sit up straighter. Swire hurried to help him. "I heard about it from that old fellow Lin Gray. His daughter got it for him, and he treasures it like life itself. Wei Yenwu wanted a sip and couldn't even get that."
"So you already knew, Grandpa," Swire wasn't too surprised, since it was Lin Yühsia who had tipped her off.
"Let me see it. Let's see what kind of fine wine it is that made that old fellow brag for so long," Old Swire looked at the bag by her side.
Swire reached out and pulled out the plain-looking small bottle.
"Only one small sip, okay?" She carefully took a small cup from the side and poured out a tiny bit, roughly the size of a bottle cap. "This is a doctor's order."
"That's way too little," Old Swire looked at the amber liquid that barely covered the bottom of the cup his granddaughter handed over. "A little more, just a little!"
He could already smell the fragrance of the wine. No wonder that old fellow was so proud, specifically calling to show off. No, he had probably bragged to everyone he knew in Lungmen; now all their acquaintances in the city knew how filial his daughter was.
"No, doctor's orders must be followed," Swire stood her ground for once.
"Sigh, fine," Old Swire shook his head and lamented, "I'm old. I can't even have a drink when I want to."
Facing her grandfather's attempt to play for sympathy, Swire's expression remained unchanged.
"If you know your body isn't young anymore, you should exercise restraint," she said with a stern face. "Just this much, no discussion!"
"I will tell the butler that this doctor's order cannot be violated!"
"Fine, fine," looking at his granddaughter's determined look, Old Swire sighed. He picked up the cup, looked at the amber liquid at the bottom, gave it a light sniff, and then tossed it back in one go.
"Hoo..." As the smooth liquid flowed down his esophagus and into his stomach, he felt as if this withered body was gradually beginning to glow with vitality.
"This wine... is truly good stuff. No wonder that old fellow was so proud."