The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu wasn’t so certain he could lift it either. He had only taken a glance at it. He also didn’t know where Wei-ah had run off to. There was only himself and Lu Xiaoru. What she had said wasn’t wrong; if the little girl didn’t receive critical care, it would be very dangerous. All of the medical card artisans were exceptionally busy, and none of the security card artisans had any leisure either. The scope had spread so far by that time that the rescuers were like a cup of water on a blazing fire.

But, that young girl’s situation couldn’t drag out any longer.

His state wasn’t bad that day, and what he’d clarified by his probe was that although there were piles of bricks and stones on the beam, it was actually hollow in the center. After some calculation, he chose the safest spot from where he could exert the most force. He didn’t need to completely lift the beam; he only needed to raise it a little bit. Lu Xiaoru could then pull the little girl out.

The situation was urgent, and there wasn’t any time for him to think about it.

“Ok.” Lu Xiaoru was half lying on the ground and holding the girl by one of her arms. She lifted her head to signal, though there was some hesitancy in her gaze at Chen Mu. It was hard to imagine who could move such a massive object using simply physical strength. But, her counterpart basically wasn’t giving her any right to question him, so she could only prepare herself.

Chen Mu’s hands were lightly on the bottom of the beam, and he started to modulate his breathing. He kept reviewing in his mind the pointers Wei-ah was always giving him about how to exert force. Tighten his waist, plant his legs firmly, straighten his back, and at the same time, use the strength of his calves and thighs, as well as the strength of his core…

Suddenly, as though he were in the raging pool with his whole body fighting the force of the massively powerful flowing water, his ears roared.

He glared with wide eyes as his two hands jerked, and in that instant, the muscles in his whole body were like wire rope as they tightened.

The beam made a creaking sound to sour the teeth, and all the bricks and stones rumbled down while the beam started to move up inch by inch.

Lu Xiaoru’s hand had a firm grasp on the little girl’s arm. She held her breath with her eyes open wide and ignored the bricks falling on her from above. She was aghast; the guy’s strength could extend so far that he really could move a beam! But, there wasn’t any room for wayward thoughts then, and she needed to wait until the beam was completely off of the little girl’s leg to pull her out.

The veins on Chen Mu’s neck protruded like winding worms, and he wore a hideous expression with all of the muscles on his body drum-tight. He looked like forged bronze and iron.

Chen Mu suddenly groaned with all of the power in his body having been taken to its limit in that instant. The beam had been lifted straight up to his waist.

As soon as Lu Xiaoru saw things clear in front of her, she didn’t dare to hesitate and immediately exerted force on the little girl’s arm she had grabbed. The little girl was pulled forward while countless chunks of brick and stone came rolling down the beam.

Lu Xiaoru rushed to seize the battered girl with her two hands as she bundled her, rolling backward. Quite a few chunks of brick hit her body while she did that, and she didn’t have an energy cloak to protect her. She was not much different from any ordinary person then. She let out a few groans.

Seeing that the little girl had been rescued, Chen Mu released his breath. He relaxed his hands, and the beam pounded down heavily with a boom. The pile of loose bricks on it immediately tumbled, sending a cloud of dust everywhere.

Chen Mu plopped down on the ground gasping for breath. His entire body was spent, and his legs were shaking. Although he hadn’t strained for more than two or three seconds, he’d used up all of his strength.

“Hello. Could you please leave her to me? She needs urgent care.” Chen Mu was brought back to his senses by the soft female voice of a stranger.

There was a female card artisan dressed in a medical uniform talking with Lu Xiaoru.

Lu Xiaoru looked like she had seen a savior as she rushed to place the girl on the ground and said earnestly, “Her leg has been crushed, and she’s lost a lot of blood. Her breathing is also very weak.”

“Don’t worry; she isn’t in mortal danger for now.” The female card artisan’s voice seemed to have some kind of calming power, and Chen Mu relaxed.

Her back was toward Chen Mu, and he had no way to watch all of her rescue means. He had never seen how a medical card artisan would treat someone who was unwell, and he was curious. He struggled up from the ground and walked over.

Medical card artisans were card artisans whose aim was medicine. They were more popular with the masses as compared to ordinary card artisans. There were all kinds of different cards, among which were those used for medical purposes. That was an important branch of cards. Those might include a special blood metering card for measuring blood or a card to enhance bone regeneration and so forth. Medical card artisans had some advantages compared to regular doctors. The sensitivity of their perception meant they could often detect extremely small changes in diseases. And, their therapeutic methods were quite a bit richer and more effective than ordinary doctors’.

But, there were strict limits on who might become a medical card artisan. The lowest level would need level three or above perceptual strength. Apart from that, they needed to go through a systematic study of medical knowledge. They also needed to be familiar with the usage of every sort of commonly used medical card. Lots of people would register with the association of medical card artisans every year, but the ones who could become medical card artisans didn’t even constitute two percent of those. Most among them would only become ordinary doctors or medical personnel.

After becoming a medical card artisan, not only would you earn a good position in society, you could earn a very high salary. Medical card artisans, especially high-grade ones, were truly scarce resources. There were a lot fewer of them than there were high-grade card artisans, and they were sought after by all of the powers. But, medical card artisans were now nearly 70 percent attached to the medical association. Most of those were employed at the various medical facilities and were treated very well.

It was amazing that the medical card artisans were mostly women.

However, if you were to ask a medical card artisan for a diagnosis—apart from some charitable non-profit organizations—the fees would generally be top-dollar. Chen Mu would never have had the money for a diagnosis from a medical card artisan. If he were to have ever gotten sick, he would absolutely not have gone to the hospital, never mind any medical card artisan.

As Chen Mu came into contact with more and more card artisans, his insights improved every day. He’d seen quite a few of every kind of card artisan, but he still had never seen a medical card artisan. He was curious about how they actually treated the sick.

Walking over to where the two were, he was immediately drawn by the ball of light in the medical card artisan’s hand.

He saw her lightly place her right hand on the girl’s wounded leg with intense concentration. The glowing ball on her hand was not conspicuous; it was extremely faint. But, Chen Mu’s perception was quite sharp, and he quickly detected it. She was using a special kind of probe card, which was utterly different from the ones he had seen before. It was extremely sensitive but had a pitifully small scope not even 50 centimeters in diameter.

In the eyes of a card artisan, such a probe card didn’t have any useful value. For medical card artisans, however, it would be their best companion. Chen Mu couldn’t help his admiration and wondered who had been the first to use such a probe card. It was doubtlessly someone full of wisdom.

Very soon, the female card artisan drew back her right hand and said reassuringly to Lu Xiaoru, “It’s a lot better than I’d thought. It shouldn’t amount to anything.”

After saying that, her expression returned to her previous look of concentration. She took another card from her card holster and re-inserted it into the card slot on her apparatus. There were nearly 20 or 30 different kinds of cards in her holster.

Chen Mu couldn’t help his surprise. He’d seen still more complicated ordinary card artisans who wouldn’t have so many cards on them. But, as he thought about it, he felt relieved. Medical card artisans would encounter symptoms that outnumbered the stars in the sky, and it could be assumed that those 20 or 30 cards only represented the most commonly seen cards.

Thinking of that, Chen Mu admired those medical card artisans still more. It was certainly a varied and complex subject. Just then, he was brought back to attention by an energy fluctuation nothing like the one just before.

Energy bodies! Probably several dozen very fine, needle-shaped energy bodies floated in front of the female card artisan’s chest. There were long ones and short ones, thin and thick ones, and some were even hollow or bent. The energy fluctuations emitted by those small energy bodies were extremely weak, but every needle-shaped energy body without exception was an extremely high-level materialization of energy. They looked like crystalline needles.

The medical card artisan had a dignified expression. Her whole body was covered in a plain white and light-blue striped medical card artisan uniform, which made her look very pure.

She separated one of the sharp energy needles from those floating there and plunged it firmly into the girl’s wounded leg. Then, she lightly cut open the girl’s wounded flesh.

The composition of her flesh was very clearly exposed in front of Lu Xiaoru and Chen Mu, and the wounded blood vessels and broken bone, as well as some black clots inside, looked perfectly awful. Neither Chen Mu nor Lu Xiaoru averted their eyes. They weren’t ordinary people; such scenes wouldn’t make them feel afraid.

Under the control of the medical card artisan, every shape and style of the energy needles flew toward the spot of the opened wound. There was then a dazzling operation that amazed Chen Mu. Those energy needles’ movements were incomparably accurate. Their every movement was precise at the level of a millimeter or finer. Compared to ordinary card artisans, when it came to accuracy, medical card artisans were much more precise.

Soon, the little girl’s right leg had been sewn up. The whole procedure took probably three minutes or less. The superb skill shown by the female card artisan really impressed Chen Mu and Lu Xiaoru. She raised her head and said to Lu Xiaoru with a smile, “That’s it; there’s nothing more wrong. You only have to take care that she doesn’t put any weight on her leg. She will have to be careful to recuperate, and she’ll be healed after about two months. Wait here, and a shuttle will come in a little while to take you to the hospital. Don’t worry; it’s free.”

After she spoke, she finally paid attention to the other person there as her gaze went to Chen Mu.

Only then did Chen Mu see the female card artisan’s face very clearly.