She peered into the girl’s body, examining her with senses that went beyond human dical understanding. The organs, the blood flow, the energy ridians that doctors didn’t even know existed, she catalogued them all with ancient knowledge.
And then she saw it.
"Cold poison," she whispered, genuine surprise coloring her voice for the first ti.
The girl’s body was saturated with it, an insidious poison that existed only in the deepest parts of the ocean, created by certain species of jellyfish that lived in eternal darkness. It worked slowly, freezing the body’s natural energies from the inside out, putting victims into a state of suspended animation that mimicked death.
But this was impossible. This poison existed only in her world, in the rmaid realm. How could a human girl on the surface have been exposed to such cold poison?
Unless...
Shuyin’s mind raced through possibilities. Had soone from her world survived in the human world? Had humans sohow obtained samples during their research? Or was there sothing about this girl that she didn’t yet understand?
Questions had to wait for later. Right now, the girl needed treatnt.
Shuyin took a deep breath and felt the familiar sensation of tears building behind her eyes, but these weren’t tears of sadness. They were sothing far more precious.
She let them fall freely.
Two tears, three, four, each one solidifying before it hit the ground, transforming into perfect pearls that glowed with soft jade light. Each pearl contained concentrated healing essence, the most potent dicine her kind could produce. They were ford from her own life force, her own power, crystallized into physical form.
She collected them carefully and moved to the girl’s bedside. Gently, she opened the unconscious girl’s mouth and placed the pearls on her tongue, one by one.
"Dissolve," she whispered, infusing the command with her power.
The pearls lted instantly, the healing essence flowing down the girl’s throat and spreading through her system like warm light chasing away cold darkness.
But it wasn’t enough. The poison had been present for months, had worked its way too deep. The pearls would counteract it, but the girl’s own energy was too depleted to complete the healing.
Shuyin placed both hands on the girl’s chest, directly over her heart, and closed her eyes.
She let her power flow, not violently, not all at once, but in a steady, controlled stream. Energy from her own essence, flowing into the dying girl’s body, rekindled the spark of life that had been slowly fading.
Seconds passed. Then minutes.
Shuyin’s jade eye blazed brighter, illuminating the entire room with eerie green light. The dical monitors began going haywire, alarms blaring as they detected changes they weren’t programd to understand.
Outside, Lu Yuze tensed at the sounds and wanted to barge in, but Ah-Ling grabbed his arm. "She said not to disturb her. Trust the process, Master."
If she would survive, they were in luck, and if she wouldn’t, then... It was her fate....
Inside, the girl’s body began to change. Color returned to her pale cheeks. Her breathing, which had been shallow and chanical, deepened naturally. The frost that had occasionally ford on her skin lted away. Her temperature stabilized, no longer fluctuating between extres.
The cold poison was being purged, driven out by the combined force of the dicinal pearls and Shuyin’s own energy.
And then, after what felt like an eternity but was really only minutes...
Her eyes suddenly snapped open.
Electric blue, exactly like her father’s, bright, alert, and utterly confused.
"Wh... where..." the girl’s voice was hoarse from months of disuse, but it was there. Alive and real.
She was awake.
Shuyin stepped back, swaying slightly from the exertion, and allowed herself a small, satisfied smile.
The girl’s eyes focused on her with difficulty, taking in the glowing jade eye, the strange woman standing beside her bed.
"Who... who are you?" she whispered.
"Tsk... Stop asking questions," Shuyin said, her voice carrying that familiar coldness even as exhaustion pulled at her. "And don’t make sudden movents. Your body is still adjusting."
She moved closer to the bed, her jade eye studying the girl with clinical interest. The healing had worked, but Yuyan would need ti to fully recover her strength.
"Now," Shuyin continued, her tone almost playful despite its underlying firmness, "call mother."
Lu Yuyan blinked in confusion, her electric blue eyes trying to focus on this strange woman with the glowing reptilian gaze. "What? But I don’t..."
Before she could finish, the door burst open.
Lu Yuze rushed in with Ah-Ling close behind, both n having heard that precious, impossible sound, Yuyan’s voice, hoarse but unmistakably alive.
"Yuyan!" Lu Yuze crossed the room in three strides and gathered his daughter into his arms without ceremony, holding her as if she might disappear if he let go. His composure, that iron control he maintained in every business eting and dangerous negotiation, was shattered completely. He held her and trembled.
"Father?" Yuyan’s voice was small, confused, her arms coming up instinctively to return the embrace even though she didn’t understand what was happening. "What... what happened? Where am I?"
Lu Yuze pulled back just enough to see her face, his hands cupping her cheeks as if to confirm she was real. His eyes were wet, tears streaming down his face without sha or restraint.
"I was called to your school," he said, his voice breaking. "You collapsed during your piano recital. Just... fell unconscious all of a sudden. We rushed you here to the hospital imdiately, but you..." He had to stop, swallowing hard. "You’ve been unconscious for the past six months, Yuyan. Six months. The doctors couldn’t wake you. No one could tell what was wrong. I thought... I thought I was going to lose you."
His voice cracked completely on the last words, and he pulled her close again, burying his face in her silver hair.
"Don’t ever scare your father like that again," he whispered fiercely. "Please. I can’t... I can’t survive losing you too."
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