redvbooks Chapter 74 The Caged Beast and the Yellow Man
Chapter 74 The Caged Beast and the Yellow Man
The host nearly dropped his microphone.
He has hosted countless high-level medical forums, and he has seen people who pretend to be profound and those who flaunt their knowledge, but he has never seen anyone who starts by asking about mealtimes.
"Um... Dr. Wang, according to procedure, we need the expert team to introduce the case first..."
"What's with the introduction?" Wang Minyu interrupted him, pointing to the iron cage covered by a black cloth. "That thing in there has a heart rate of 180, rapid breathing with wheezing sounds, and I can smell hydrogen sulfide even through the cloth. If you don't open it up to let in some fresh air, he'll either die from the fumes or from the illness."
On the judges' panel, Liu Jianbang's face darkened.
Hydrogen sulfide? Doesn't that smell like rotten eggs?
"Since Dr. Wang is so confident, let's begin." Liu Jianbang waved to the staff.
The black cloth was suddenly ripped off.
"Whoosh—"
A collective gasp filled the room, and several timid female reporters in the front row screamed.
Inside the iron cage, a boy who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old was huddled up.
But he can hardly be called a "human" anymore.
His entire body was covered with a thick, dark gray hard shell, like crocodile skin or charred tree bark.
Yellowish-green pus oozed from the cracks in the skin, emitting a nauseating stench.
His hair was thinning, and his scalp was covered with large and small tumors.
The most terrifying thing was his mouth; his lips were ulcerated and missing, revealing a set of uneven, blackened teeth, which hissed menacingly at the crowd of onlookers.
His hands and feet were bound with specially made leather straps, but he was still struggling frantically, his long, curly fingernails scratching at the iron bars, leaving white marks.
"Is this... a zombie?" Zhao Na was so frightened that she hid behind Guan Shan.
"This is an 'illness'." Su Qing pushed up her glasses, her gaze fixed on the boy's neck. "His carotid artery is pulsating abnormally strongly; he's enduring extreme pain."
Liu Jianbang picked up the microphone, his voice heavy with sorrow: "The patient is a 16-year-old male. Three years ago, he suddenly developed a strange illness, including skin keratosis, mania, hemorrhage, and photophobia. We conducted a full set of genetic tests and suspect it is an extremely rare 'variant porcupine skin disease' complicated by rabies-like mental disorder. Currently, the medical community... has no solution."
When he mentioned the word "unsolvable," he glanced at Wang Minyu.
"No solution?" Wang Minyu scoffed, picked up a tea leaf from his teacup and chewed it. "You call this no solution? In my hometown, this is called 'being full of yourself'."
The entire audience erupted in uproar.
Is this guy crazy? This kid is in such bad shape, and he says it's because he ate too much?
"Wang Minyu! This is a serious medical competition!" Jiang Yue stood up and shouted angrily, "If you're not capable of treating him, then get off the stage and stop insulting patients!"
Wang Minyu ignored her and beckoned to Guan Shan: "Big guy, open the cage."
"Dr. Wang! Danger!" The security guard at the scene exclaimed in alarm. "This child is aggressive; he bit off a nurse's finger before!"
"Open it." Wang Minyu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.
Guan Shan stepped forward, ignoring the security guard's obstruction, and grabbed the padlock with one hand. With a "crack," the thumb-thick padlock was deformed by his grip.
He opened the cage door, lifted the screaming boy out like a chick, and pressed him onto the makeshift operating table that had been prepared beforehand.
The boy struggled frantically, opening his mouth to bite Guan Shan's arm.
"Snapped!"
Wang Minyu raised his hand and slapped her hard across the face, the sound crisp and loud.
The entire room fell silent.
Hitting a patient? This is absolutely a medical malpractice incident! The live stream chat exploded with comments condemning Wang Minyu for being inhumane.
But surprisingly, the boy was stunned after that slap.
He stared intently at Wang Minyu with his cloudy, yellowish eyes, and the low growl in his throat turned into a sob.
"Does it hurt?" Wang Minyu asked.
The boy didn't speak, but just shrank back slightly.
"It's good that it hurts. It means you're still a human being, not an animal." Wang Minyu took out a 50-cent bag of spicy strips from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and held it under the boy's nose.
The cheap, overpowering scent of artificial fragrance instantly overpowered the smell of disinfectant on site.
The boy's nostrils flared violently, and a primal desire suddenly erupted in his cloudy eyes.
He opened his rotten mouth, wanting to bite into the spicy strip.
"Want some?" Wang Minyu moved the spicy strip a little further away. "If you want some, open your mouth and let me see your tongue."
The boy hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth and stuck out a purplish-black tongue covered in cracks.
Wang Minyu glanced at it once, then turned around and gave the judges the middle finger.
"quack."
"What did you say?!" Liu Jianbang slammed his hand on the table and stood up.
"I'm telling you, you're all quacks," Wang Minyu said, pointing at the boy. "What genetic mutation, what porcupine skin disease? This child is poisoned! Heavy metal poisoning complicated by a parasitic infection! You have multi-million dollar equipment, and you can't even detect this?"
"Impossible!" Liu Jianbang retorted. "We conducted toxicology screenings. Although the heavy metal levels were high, they were definitely not at a level that could cause birth defects!"
"That's because you're looking in the wrong place," Wang Minyu sneered. "You're examining the blood, I'm looking at the 'spirit.' This child's tongue has a thick, greasy coating like accumulated powder, and the tongue itself is dark purple with ecchymosis—this is a classic case of 'heat toxin entering the marrow.' Moreover..."
He suddenly pulled a rusty razor from Guan Shan's snakeskin bag.
"To cure an illness, you must first 'peel off the skin'."
Before anyone could react, Wang Minyu had already pressed down on the boy's head.
The razor in his hand danced like a dragon across the boy's scalp, which was covered in tumors.
Black stubble mixed with pus and blood fell down in a steady stream.
"Su Qing, prepare 'Human Yellow'," Wang Minyu shouted without turning his head.
"Human venom?!" Li Siyuan almost vomited.
That's a herb in traditional Chinese medicine; to put it bluntly, it's... licorice root that's been soaked in a cesspool.
"Master, this is a convention center, where did this latrine come from?"
"Who said it had to be a real latrine?" Wang Minyu pressed down on the shaved boy's head. "Take that yellow jar out of the snakeskin bag. That's my special 'Human Ginger' that I fermented for forty-nine days with 'mutated mint' and 'bone-setting herb'. Even if this kid is poisoned, a zombie would vomit blood after drinking it!"
Guan Shan took a sealed ceramic jar out of the bag.
As soon as the mud seal was lifted, an indescribable, strange smell, both minty and extremely tangy, instantly swept through the entire venue.
Jiang Yue, sitting in the front row, covered her mouth and gagged.
"Pour it down!" Wang Minyu ordered.
Guan Shan pried open the boy's mouth, and Su Qing expressionlessly poured the jar of dark yellow paste into it.