How The Little Medical Cultivator Saves the Furries – CH55

Chapter 55

The moment Yan Xinglan stepped into the activity room, he was greeted by a chorus of boos. Although no one actually said anything, to him, it was no different from a direct provocation.

His expression darkened as his sharp gaze swept toward Chen Limin, who was coming over to meet him.

Chen Limin, who had just been looking disappointed, immediately stiffened and hurriedly piled on a smile again.

“Hello, sir. Are you a patient’s family member?”

Other than medical staff, only patients’ family members could come to the activity room.

Chen Limin asked, “Who are you here for?”

He remained standing by the doorway as he spoke, while inside the activity room, the mental “group chat” became lively once again.

‘That’s Yan Xinglan, isn’t it? What’s he doing here?’ Someone recognized the rising star of the lion clan.

‘I heard he took first place in the clan competition. He’s basically guaranteed to be the next patriarch. How does he have time to come all the way to Medical Planet?’

‘Didn’t someone mention before that the old Lion King is recuperating on Medical Planet? He’s probably here to see him…’

Everyone gossiped away in their various “private channels,” but their gazes kept drifting, intentionally or not, toward the section occupied by the Imperial military—

More specifically, toward the lion cat Yan Wangshu.

Yan Wangshu was, of course, not a real cat. His adult form was a white lion.

More or less everyone had heard rumors about him.

After all, his life story was extraordinarily legendary and controversial—

Yan Wangshu was a lion raised among wolves.

As the eldest son of the current lion clan chief and the older brother of Yan Xinglan, the clan’s next patriarch, he had been born covered in white fur.

Among the lion clan, white fur symbolized weakness.

And sure enough, the newborn Yan Wangshu had indeed been frail and undersized, with low mental strength and a low concentration of beast blood.

To the Yan family at the time—when his father had yet to become clan chief and was wholly focused on restoring the family’s glory—this eldest son, on whom they had placed such hopes, was a humiliating disgrace.

As a result, Yan Wangshu had been despised by his family from childhood. Though he was the eldest son, he received none of the resources due to him, let alone any familial affection.

Then, when Yan Xinglan was born, his status fell even lower, dropping to absolute rock bottom.

So at the age of seven, the little white lion ran away from home.

Unexpectedly, he was picked up by the wolf clan.

Relations between wolves and lions were far from good, so when the wolves found the child, they only notified the lions to come claim him.

And the outrageous part was that only after the wolves informed them did the lion clan realize their eldest young master had gone missing.

Even so, no one from the Yan family came to take him back from the wolves.

At the time, his father was in the middle of vying for the position of clan chief, at a critical stage, and he showed complete indifference toward this eldest son, whom he regarded as a shameful stain.

Yan Wangshu’s running away not only failed to earn the Yan family’s attention, it only made his father dislike him more.

And then he made a decision that left everyone dumbfounded—

Not only did the Yan family fail to send anyone to bring the child back, they actually sent gifts to the white wolves and transferred money to them every year as living expenses.

No one knew how he had negotiated it, but in the end, the wolf clan agreed to raise Yan Wangshu.

And what was more, they placed him in the care of the Moon-Cang Wolf clan.

The Moon-Cang wolves were known for their white fur, which meant the little white lion had ended up growing up among a pack of white wolves.

At first, it had only been a minor oddity few people cared about. Even those who noticed it merely commented that the lion clan was cold-blooded.

That changed when Yan Wangshu turned eighteen.

At fifteen, Lu Nanzhou had ascended the throne and selected both Yan Wangshu and the wolf-blooded Jiang Yufei into the military corps he personally established.

It was like a stone thrown into still water, sending waves everywhere.

This plain, unremarkable white lion, Yan Wangshu, entered the public eye along with the young sovereign.

At the time, the war between humanity and the insect race had already begun. Faced with the invasion, Lu Nanzhou had resolutely led his corps to the battlefield.

And Yan Wangshu—the white lion who had been cast aside by his family for being weak—displayed astonishing talent in that war.

Again and again, he performed great feats, shutting up all doubters with sheer ability and proving the young emperor’s eye for talent right.

No one knew what exactly had happened to Yan Wangshu, how the wolves had raised him, or how he had grown into what he was.

But everyone loved a good spectacle.

After all, neither the lion clan nor the wolves had hidden the matter, and the tale of that white lion cub being adopted by wolves had once been a favorite topic of casual gossip.

As expected, the Yan family extended an olive branch toward the son they had once abandoned, only now seeing him rise against the odds.

But that cold, opportunistic father did not get what he wanted.

Yan Wangshu did return to the clan once—but only to sever the father-son relationship.

As for his mother, she had died of illness when he was very young. The current chief’s wife, the mother in the clan household now, was the stepmother of both him and Yan Xinglan.

The whole affair caused an uproar and made the lion clan lose all face.

Especially later, when Yan Xinglan turned eighteen and also reached the age to enlist, he was flatly rejected by the emperor himself.

Young and hot-blooded, Yan Xinglan naturally refused to accept that. He risked being sent before a military tribunal and went straight to Lu Nanzhou to recommend himself.

Lu Nanzhou did not punish him. He merely had the two brothers fight.

And after that, there was nothing more to say.

Yan Xinglan lost the gamble and accepted defeat. From then on, he gave up any thoughts of entering the Blade Squad.

For a time, he was mocked heavily over the matter. Even though he later earned brilliant military merit on other battlefields, people still teased him about it. Looking back now, had he entered the Blade Squad, he too would likely be one of those lying in a hospital bed. In that sense, perhaps it really was a case of “a blessing in disguise.”

And the relationship between the brothers could be imagined from there.

Now that Yan Xinglan had suddenly appeared in the activity room, he was obviously here for his brother, Yan Wangshu.

Driven by curiosity and love of gossip, the patients—who had only moments ago been listless—couldn’t help but perk up and begin watching the scene as if by accident.

Yan Xinglan, however, quickly dismissed Chen Limin and walked straight toward the area occupied by the Blade Squad.

The Blade Squad members were all watching him.

The little animals, whose gazes had originally been calm, now all carried a protective hostility, especially the little white dog in the bed next to the lion cat—Jiang Yufei.

He actually used his mental power to control his hospital bed and edge it closer to Yan Wangshu’s.

The two beds were now pressed close together, the little white dog shifted slightly forward, guarding the lion cat in a protective stance.

Even after regressing into a small dog and being grievously wounded, Jiang Yufei showed not the slightest fear.

He stared fixedly at Yan Xinglan, baring his little teeth in a vicious warning, as though the moment Yan Xinglan did anything at all, he would pounce and bite him.

Yan Wangshu himself, on the other hand, remained perfectly calm. With his little puppet hand, he gently patted the white dog’s head to soothe him.

Yan Xinglan stopped one step away from the bed.

He looked over the Blade fighters. Every single one lying there, he could identify by their presence and call by name.

These had once all been the figures he strove desperately to catch up to, but now they had fallen like stars from the sky.

And he, meanwhile, was rising steadily, blazing like the midday sun.

Yan Xinglan naturally disdained picking on a bunch of ailing little creatures. No matter what, they were all true heroes of the Empire.

His gaze swept past the little white dog and finally settled on the lion cat.

So this was what Yan Wangshu looked like in juvenile form…

Meeting Yan Wangshu’s calm blue-and-gold heterochromatic eyes, he said awkwardly, “Grandfather told me to come see you.”

“Mm.”

Yan Wangshu gave a soft response, with no particular reaction.

The old Lion King had many sons and daughters, and countless grandchildren. Besides, his relationship with his younger son hadn’t been especially good either, so when Yan Wangshu was still in the lion clan, that grandfather had never shown him any particular care.

‘Now that you’ve seen him, you can leave!’

The little white dog bared his teeth at Yan Xinglan and seemed ready to say more, only to be soothed once again by Yan Wangshu’s puppet hand gently patting his head.

The little dog grumbled unhappily but ultimately just lay back down, though his eyes remained fixed on Yan Xinglan.

At the same time, the puppet hand did not stop. It continued to stroke his head over and over, smoothing his fur.

Watching the two of them being so brotherly annoyed Yan Xinglan for no real reason.

Cats and dogs were not mortal enemies the way the legends claimed, but their relationship was far from harmonious either. The fact that Yan Wangshu and Jiang Yufei were known as the “Two Whites of Yaojin” was something Yan Xinglan had always found deeply irritating.

Yes, irritating. That was all.

With his arms folded across his chest, he said coolly, “You’ve probably heard by now, right? I took first place in the clan competition. The next lion clan chief can only be me.”

Yan Wangshu tilted his head slightly, clearly not understanding what he meant.

“Tch.” Yan Xinglan looked away and said with a kind of swagger, “Once I kick the old man off the throne, do you want to come back?”

The hostile little animals all froze.

Even the little white dog, who disliked Yan Xinglan the most, looked surprised. And the other patients secretly watching the drama couldn’t help glancing at one another.

Well, well. So this was the kind of thing they were hearing now?

It seemed the Yan family’s relationship with its younger son wasn’t exactly harmonious either. Meanwhile, Yan Xinglan and his older brother unexpectedly seemed… not too bad?

For the first time, ripples appeared in Yan Wangshu’s usually calm eyes—

Though suspicion and caution still outweighed everything else.

Seeing that he said nothing, Yan Xinglan frowned, then shrugged. “Forget it. It’s too early to say that kind of thing now anyway.”

Looking at Yan Wangshu, he asked, “Grandfather is being discharged soon. Are you going to see him off?”

Yan Wangshu raised a brow. ‘He’s here?’

“Yes. He’s being discharged tomorrow.”

That Doctor Ye was indeed impressive. Even though treatment had already stopped, his grandfather still seemed able to hang on a bit longer.

The old man didn’t want to go on wasting what time he had left in a hospital room and had asked Yan Xinglan to take him out for a while.

Yan Xinglan had agreed.

“If you don’t see him this time, there probably won’t be another chance,” he said.

Thinking of the old Lion King’s age, everyone caught the meaning in the words he left unsaid and couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

Still, the fact that the old Lion King had lived this long already made him luckier than most.

Thinking of their own conditions, many patients quietly looked away, no longer in the mood to watch, and slumped back down onto their beds.

Yan Wangshu did not answer right away.

Just then, the metal door that had been shut opened slowly once more.

By the time Ye Yumeng arrived at the activity room, he could already tell the atmosphere was a little off.

Very quickly, he noticed that besides Chen Limin and Mo Jingyun, there was another familiar figure in the room.

It was Old Mr. Yan’s grandson, Yan Xinglan.

That person seemed to notice him too and gave him a nod. His face looked a little sour, and Ye Yumeng had no idea who had offended him.

“Yezi!”

Mo Jingyun walked toward him, but when she saw the doctor’s uniform on Ye Yumeng, she paused and immediately corrected herself. “Doctor Ye?”

Ye Yumeng smiled at her. “You can still call me Yezi.”

Mo Jingyun instantly smiled again, resuming her usual warmth. “I can’t believe you really got promoted! Come over quickly, Director Chen’s been waiting for you forever.”

And Chen Limin, who had long since noticed the commotion, was already heading over with a grin.

The moment Ye Yumeng stepped inside, a robot orderly floated in after him.

“It’s lunchtime!”

Mo Jingyun hurried over to take over meal distribution.

Today’s food was a little different.

Besides the usual nutrient solution and liquid meals, there were several meal boxes.

Although the boxes were well sealed, the sharp-nosed little animals still caught the aroma.

Unlike the artificial scent of nutrient solution, this was the fragrance of actual food after proper cooking, the kind that made one’s mouth water.

The activity room, which had just grown quiet and heavy because of the news about the old Lion King, immediately became lively again.

‘Little Doctor Ye is here.’

The little bear cub swallowed hard as he remembered Ye Yumeng’s purpose for coming this time.

‘Does that mean I might finally get to eat meat?’

The little fox also looked at Ye Yumeng. Thinking back to the last time he had fallen asleep from having his head stroked, he felt a little embarrassed, but the longing in his eyes was unmistakable.

The little animals chatted excitedly through mental power, though the room itself remained perfectly quiet.

Ye Yumeng took the list from Chen Limin, skimmed the patients’ general conditions, and then checked the dishes the robot orderly had delivered.

At last, he nodded. “This is fine. So, are they going to eat right here in the activity room?”

Chen Limin hesitated.

Actually, he had hoped they could do it here, but he was worried that if the stimulate was too strong, these little ancestor might go berserk, and then things would be very hard to control.

There was a small side room inside the activity room, and Chen Limin led Ye Yumeng over to it. “Would it work in here?”

“That’s fine.”

At that moment, another man and woman in white coats arrived. These were the two doctors Chen Limin had mentioned earlier who would be coming to observe.

“Hello, Doctor Ye.”

They came over to greet Ye Yumeng. One was named Shang Baiqi, and the other Li Ke. Both were very interested in Ye Yumeng’s medical methods.

They looked him over curiously. This “underage” doctor had already become a hot topic among the medical staff.

It was because they had been drawn in by the auxiliary feeding method Huai Yebai had described.

If Huai Yebai hadn’t been tied up performing surgery today, he definitely would have come to watch in person too.

In his own words, methods this miraculous never got boring no matter how many times one watched them.

“Then I’ll begin,” Ye Yumeng said.

Because of hunger, some of the little animals had already started getting restless.

“Hanxiong, Hu Naonao…”

Ye Yumeng began calling names, and the robot orderly pushed the named patients into the small room one by one.

Yan Xinglan stood where he was with his arms folded, clearly displeased. He now fully understood why everyone had been booing him when he walked in.

So this Doctor Ye was the one they had been waiting for…

Thinking of how his grandfather was about to be discharged, he adjusted his expression and prepared to walk over to Ye Yumeng.

But just then, Ye Yumeng suddenly called out another name—

“Little Moon.”

And then Yan Xinglan watched, stunned, as the robot orderly floated over and wheeled his brother Yan Wangshu’s bed inside.

He stepped aside to make way, staring as the lion cat’s bed passed in front of him.

“What?”

A question mark practically popped over Yan Xinglan’s head.

The very same Yan Wangshu who had once beaten him so badly he spent a whole week in the hospital… was now called Little Moon?

He looked at the lion cat. Its body was larger than an ordinary kitten’s, but it still clearly looked like a cub.

At hearing that name, not only did the lion cat show no irritation, he actually lifted his head.

The tip of his tail stood up and twitched lightly, a clear sign that he was in a very good mood.

Yan Xinglan: “……”

Even though he had heard that when high-level beast-blood warriors regressed into juvenile form, their intelligence regressed too, he had never imagined it would be this bad!

“Jiang Taro Ball.”

Next came Jiang Yufei’s turn.

That silly dog looked even worse than the lion cat. His tail was wagging so hard it had turned into a blur, as if he could hardly wait.

Taro Ball…

Yan Xinglan remembered being sent flying by that white wolf back then—

Yes, besides challenging Yan Wangshu, he had challenged the other Blade fighters too, and had been utterly crushed.

“……”

What even was this?

He looked at the little white dog, wagging himself silly, and then at his brother’s retreating back.

In a forgotten corner of the room, Yan Xinglan quietly broke inside.

One by one, the patients Ye Yumeng had called by name were wheeled into the small room off the activity room, and then the door shut, cutting off everyone else’s view.

Although Chen Limin was very curious about what was happening inside, he knew he still had work to do.

“Alright, time for lunch.”

He clapped his hands, trying to draw all the patients’ attention back, but aside from a few scattered responses, almost no one paid him any mind.

Before long, the activity room once again descended into lively chaos.

Inside the small room—

Including Bai Shuo and Zhang Zhuyu, there were eight little animals in total, all swallowing hard.

Ye Yumeng first fed the little snow ferret and the flower-pattern silver mouse, which also served as a demonstration for the other “cubs.”

Watching Zhang Zhuyu eat through more than half of a meal box one bite after another, not only the little animals but even the two observing doctors felt their nerves tighten.

What was astonishing, however, was that after Ye Yumeng rubbed the silver mouse’s belly, he really did go right back to hopping around, completely fine.

“Really no problem at all?” Li Ke leaned in close to the little silver mouse, inspecting him carefully.

Shang Baiqi came closer too.

Because he had slept well for two days in a row, and because he had already been well-behaved by nature, the little silver mouse’s temper was gentler than ever.

Even being stared at from such close range by the two doctors didn’t upset him. He only seemed a bit embarrassed.

Ignoring their intense scrutiny, he busied himself pretending to be occupied, clutching a wet wipe and carefully washing his face and paws.

The two doctors clicked their tongues in amazement.

Meanwhile, Hanxiong and the little fox, still waiting their turns, looked on with undisguised envy, already beginning to imagine themselves eating that much in a little while.

Just thinking about it felt amazing.

But when it came time for the little snow ferret, he looked a bit dumbfounded.

Wasn’t something off here? Why had Bai Lele only taken two bites of meat before he was already getting the belly-rubbing treatment from Doctor Ye?

It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head.

No way… no way…

Among those who had signed up this time, besides the Blade Squad members, there was also a little owl and a little squirrel, both patients who had regressed into juvenile form.

They were close friends, which was why they had signed up together.

Now, as they looked at one another, though both of them were beginning to feel a bad premonition, they still resolved to stay optimistic.

Outside the room, however, the patients using mental power to observe the situation showed no such politeness—

Bai Lele had been bragging nonstop since yesterday, right up to just moments ago!

‘That’s all Bai Lele can eat?’

‘That’s it? He already can’t handle it?’

‘Please, everyone, type “Bai Lele is weak” into the public chat!’

‘Which public chat? The Activity Center group chat?’

Today only twenty or thirty patients had come to the activity room, and many hadn’t come at all. The group chat referred to an actual online group that included every patient who had ever visited the activity center.

If those words were really sent there, Bai Shuo would die socially on the spot.

Of course, everyone was only joking around.

Bai Shuo was lying there getting his belly rubbed by Ye Yumeng, and hearing them spread slander in the mental “group chat” instantly left him fuming.

‘You try it yourself and see who’s weak!’

Today he had already eaten one extra piece of meat compared to before. He thought that clearly counted as progress.

Besides, among the Blade Squad, his body had recovered the best. He could still run around and bounce all over the place—what right did those bedridden guys have to mock him?

Thinking of that, the little snow ferret wasn’t angry anymore.

‘Just you wait and see!’

When the treatment was over and Ye Yumeng habitually rubbed the little snow ferret’s head, Bai Shuo even affectionately nuzzled Doctor Ye’s hand, acting especially obedient.

That made his friends feel deeply uncomfortable.

‘Bai Lele, are you seriously treating yourself like a pet now?’
‘Have you no shame?’
‘Wait… besides getting his belly rubbed, he also gets head pats?’
‘Look how practiced Bai Lele is—he must get head pats all the time!’
‘……’

‘Enough, stop it. Lele’s cognitive regression is pretty severe, so acting like a child is normal.’

Unexpectedly, this time it was the little fox who spoke up to smooth things over, interrupting everyone’s teasing with mild irritation.

Usually the little bear cub was the peacemaker. He couldn’t help glancing at the little fox in surprise.

The little fox pretended not to notice the look.

At that moment, the little snow ferret jumped back in.

‘Doctor Ye likes it, so let him pat my head. It’s just head pats, what’s the big deal?’

‘Besides, Doctor Ye’s hands have some kind of special magic. It feels really good when he pats your head. Don’t you guys want it too?’

They did.

The little fox and the bear cub arrived at that thought at the exact same moment, and then both were startled by themselves.

They quickly looked around nervously, making sure they hadn’t leaked that thought into the mental chat. Only then did they relax a little.

“Alright, next is Hu Naonao.”

Ye Yumeng walked over to the little fox’s bed and picked him up.

This fox was one of the first cubs he had recorded in the case notebook. His burns were severe, and so much of his fur had fallen out that only a few patches of skin remained intact.

Because Ye Yumeng had taken over as his auxiliary healer, the attending physician had written down the major issues in his case for reference.

Judging from the records, his condition was much better than Little Rabbit’s.

The reason Little Rabbit’s illness kept relapsing was ultimately the fire power within his body, whereas these burned little animals were simply far too physically fragile from their severe injuries.

They were like porcelain vases shattered and then barely reassembled—every internal organ cracked and battered.

They should not have been able to survive, and yet some force had somehow held their organs together and allowed them to live on in a miracle.

That force was perhaps the merit-gold light on their bodies?—

Ye Yumeng had only just realized that all these burned little animals—the little fox, the bear cub, the little snow ferret—possessed merit-gold light no weaker than Mo Yin’s.

Some were even stronger.

Though none were as brilliant as Little Rabbit’s, it was still enough to surprise Ye Yumeng.

He supposed this was simply “birds of a feather flock together”—good people gathering around good people.

All these good people had sent their cubs to the same school, never expecting an insect-race attack to strike there. Thinking of it that way, it was truly pitiful.

Now that he understood the root cause, the treatment approach had to begin with repairing their organs.

It was similar to treating Little Rabbit: first repair the spleen and stomach, so they could digest and absorb energy properly. Only then would their bodies have enough strength to repair the other organs.

So besides the Digestion and Fluid-Birth Technique, they also needed the Liver-Soothing and Spleen-Strengthening Technique.

Fortunately, those two techniques did not consume much spiritual power, and unlike patients like the silver mouse, they did not need additional enhancement of digestive capacity.

“Whimper…”

Although Ye Yumeng was being as careful as possible, the little fox still let out a painful cry when he was lifted.

He was one of the seven little animals with the worst injuries. Even being moved caused him nearly unimaginable pain.

Ye Yumeng immediately noticed and infused his palms with a Minor Rejuvenation Technique.

Huh? Why didn’t it hurt anymore?

The little fox, who had been trembling all over, quickly relaxed. He opened his eyes in confusion and saw Ye Yumeng’s warm, smiling gaze looking down at him.

“Do you want to eat chicken?” Ye Yumeng asked softly.

The little fox swallowed hard.

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