Chapter 105: Do You Know Me?

Hua Hongwen’s voice sounded frantic. "Professor Gu, this is an emergency! Please, you must get here as soon as possible!"

Gu Xiangnan had no time to ponder. He rushed out of the university and jumped into a taxi. Soon, Hua sent him a location pin: Jiangning City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep—"

As soon as he stepped onto the second floor, he heard the piercing sound of an alarm blaring from one of the patient rooms. Nurses were scurrying through the hallway in a panic. Clearly, the patient’s condition was critical.

Gu Xiangnan strode up to the door of the room. It was crowded with people, all of them focused intently on the hospital bed. Lying there was an old man, roughly sixty years of age. His eyes were tightly shut, his skin was a dark, bruised purple, and his breathing was barely perceptible. Even his lips were a ghastly shade of blue. He had fallen into a deep coma. The various medical instruments hooked up to him were emitting a constant, jarring alarm.

Gu Xiangnan cast a single glance from afar, his brow furrowing deeply. Poisoned! And it was a highly unique, virtually undetectable neurotoxin. Even the most advanced medical equipment would struggle to identify it.

His second master, the Gentle Mercy Medicine Immortal, was renowned for her ability to cure a hundred poisons. When he was on the mountain, she would often have Gu Xiangnan help her concoct various toxins, only to then develop the corresponding antidotes. They had created a vast array of poisons, covering nearly every common toxin in the world—over five thousand types in total, all-encompassing. Because of this, Gu Xiangnan saw through the cause of the old man’s illness at a glance.

Hua Hongwen was pacing back and forth in the room, his eyebrows tightly knitted. Looking up, he spotted Gu Xiangnan at the door and his expression instantly brightened. "It is so good that you could come!" Hua said hurriedly.

The doctors had been trying their best, but they could not determine the cause of the illness. That was why Hua Hongwen had strongly recommended calling in the "Divine Doctor Gu." Many of the young resident doctors at the hospital, having heard that a legendary divine doctor was coming, had been waiting in the room early on. They assumed that anyone so highly esteemed by Hua—the head of the three great divine doctors of Jiangning City—must be a venerable, elderly master of traditional Chinese medicine. They hoped to witness and learn from the前辈's superlative medical skills.

When all the medical staff and the old man’s family members in the room turned to look, they were all stunned. They had not expected a young man to walk in.

Gu Xiangnan walked straight toward the bed, yet everyone continued to peer toward the doorway. They secretly guessed that this young man was perhaps merely the divine doctor’s assistant or apprentice. The real divine doctor must still be on his way.

To their shock, Hua Hongwen grabbed the young man’s hand and said excitedly, "Professor Gu, please, save him!"

The crowd immediately cast skeptical glances at Hua Hongwen. One physician questioned, "Divine Doctor Hua, is this young man the divine doctor you spoke of?"

"He is!"

"I don't mean to doubt you, but the patient is at death's door. To entrust a human life to someone who hasn't even grown a beard yet, I think..."

Hua Hongwen retorted, "We judge by medical skill, not by age. I have witnessed Professor Gu’s medical skills with my own eyes."

The physician snorted, "Fine, then let us see who is better." When he graduated and became a doctor, this brat was still wearing split-crotch pants! He refused to believe he wasn't more capable than this youth. "I'll go first!" he declared, cutting in. "The patient’s vital energy and blood are depleted; his body is weak and needs nourishment. He should be given some tonics."

Gu Xiangnan sneered inwardly. This was a physician? He couldn't even tell the patient was poisoned?

Hua Hongwen immediately shook his head. "That won't do. His body is too weak; he cannot handle such tonics. It would only place an extra burden on his kidneys."

Hearing this, the physician’s temple throbbed. He checked the pulse again, more cautiously this time. Beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. Suddenly, his expression shifted. "The patient is poisoned!"

The family members turned pale. "What? Poisoned?"

Gu Xiangnan was slightly surprised. The man had some skill after all—he had actually realized it.

Hua Hongwen nodded slightly and pressed him, "Then tell me, what kind of poison is it?"

Hua Hongwen, being called a divine doctor, was truly skilled. He had also diagnosed that the patient was poisoned, but he lacked deep expertise in toxins, and the hospital could not identify it, which was why he had called in Gu Xiangnan as his ace.

The physician narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "It must be 'Five Yin Poison,' which specifically erodes the internal organs. It is a chronic toxin."

The family was terrified. The name alone sounded ominous. "Doctor, please, help him detoxify immediately!" the family begged, burning with anxiety.

The physician cast a smug glance at Gu Xiangnan and said, "I will do my best."

"Thank you, Doctor! Please, save him!"

The physician took silver needles from a small table by the bed and was about to pierce the patient.

"Your diagnosis is wrong! This is not Five Yin Poison! If you pierce him like that, he will die instantly!" Gu Xiangnan said calmly.

Everyone turned to look at him. The physician’s hand froze, and his face fell. He snapped, "Absurd! On what grounds do you question me?"

Hua Hongwen immediately retorted, "On the grounds that I am the one who recommended him!"

The physician wilted instantly. In terms of status in the world of traditional Chinese medicine, he was certainly no match for the esteemed Hua.

Hua Hongwen turned to Gu Xiangnan and said, "Professor Gu, please, take over the treatment! I believe in you."

Gu Xiangnan shrugged indifferently. "Divine Doctor Hua, it’s no use if you believe in me. The patient’s family needs to believe in me."

The family held the divine doctor in high regard, and they all nodded repeatedly, indicating their trust in Gu Xiangnan. Since the other party had provided an opening, Gu Xiangnan agreed.

"Alright then. Step aside."

The crowd cleared a path for him. Gu Xiangnan walked to the bedside and explained, "The patient is indeed poisoned, but it is not Five Yin Poison; it is a neurotoxin."

He pulled out his own silver needles and quickly inserted them into various points on the patient's body. With a flick of his fingers, he channeled his internal energy into the needles, and a golden beam of light traveled down the needles into the patient’s body. As his hand gestures changed, the golden light darted rapidly between the acupoints.

The people in the room didn't dare to breathe. Everyone stared in shock. Hua Hongwen was exceptionally excited; he was witnessing "the manipulation of needles through energy" once again.

"Cough, cough—"

The comatose patient began to cough. Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide, and a large amount of black blood spewed out. The physician was caught off guard and was sprayed head-to-toe in the black blood, which carried a foul, fishy stench. Everyone backed away from him.

"Ah!" The physician scrambled out of the room as if fleeing for his life to disinfect his face.

The family, however, was overjoyed. They rushed to the bedside. The patient on the bed opened his eyes and stared straight at Gu Xiangnan. The expression on his face was highly complex—a mix of confusion, shock, and relief.

Hua Hongwen was filled with doubt. Why such an expression? Had his mental faculties been damaged?

The patient opened his mouth and spoke a single sentence. It was not addressed to his relatives, but to Gu Xiangnan:

"Is your surname Gu?"

His family was stunned, and Gu Xiangnan was caught off guard as well.

"Do you know me?"