An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Jing Chunxi's slender index finger gently pried open Xu Zize's tightly closed teeth, and the crystal-clear space well water slid along her trembling fingertips and into Xu Zize's dry lips. She could feel his cold tongue unconsciously curling across her fingertips, and her Adam's apple rolled with difficulty.

Every drop of well water carries the refreshing fragrance of plants and trees, but it can only temporarily sustain his life like a candle in the wind.

Time condensed into water droplets on the damp rock wall, then slowly dripped into the pool of blood, making a heart-pounding "tick-tick" sound. Jing Chunxi knelt in the blood, his light gray clothes already soaked into a dark red.

She stared intently at the hideous wound on Xu Zize's abdomen—it stretched outward like a flared gill, and she could vaguely see his blue intestines moving with his weak breaths. Blood was still gushing out. She clutched the strip of cloth she had torn from her shirt, but the moment she pressed it, it soaked with warm blood. The sticky feeling between her fingers made her stomach cramp.

"If...if it really doesn't work..."

Suddenly, a crackling sound of dead branches snapped outside the cave. It was a gentle sound, like a venomous snake gliding through fallen leaves, yet it made Jing Chunxi's hairs stand on end. She heard the scrape of boots on gravel and the soft clang of metal weapons—this wasn't rescue; the vengeful demons had already arrived, smelling the scent of blood!

Despair washed over her like a tide, and she suddenly closed her eyes with a fierce determination. When she opened them again, her consciousness had sunk into a void. The pharmacy's sandalwood shelves were still neatly arranged, with two jade bottles of Bai Du Ling standing quietly at the forefront. The words "One pill a day" written in cinnabar on the bottles stung her eyes, causing them to sting.

Jing Chunxi's shadow shuttled frantically between the medicine shelves, her bare hands sweeping across countless porcelain bottles: "Where's the hemostatic powder? Where's the wound ointment?" Her fingertips pierced through the shadows and finally slammed heavily against the white wall at the end.

"boom!"

The violent tremor blinded her. When her vision returned, a small, transparent room, like a crystal palace, suddenly appeared before the previously empty wall. The bright light inside brought tears to her eyes—a pure white bed covered with soft white bedding. Silver instruments gleamed coldly under the unknown light. Even more eerie was the sudden appearance of cinnabar calligraphy on the wall. The words, as bright as blood, flashed and vanished in a flash: "Replacement of a sterile operating room for one hundred thousand taels of silver."

The sound of footsteps outside the cave was approaching. Jing Chunxi: "Exchange!" What good is more money? As long as I can save Brother Xiaokang's life, everything is worth it.

"The bloodstain stops here..."

"Cut the vines and see!"

A raspy male voice echoed, accompanied by the clang of unsheathed swords. Jing Chunxi, disregarding all else, lunged at the bloodied Xu Zize. His dark suit was already soaked in blood, and his cold body felt heavy as stone. As she wrapped her arms around his waist, sticky blood oozes from between her fingers. The warm liquid reminded her of the sesame dumplings she'd crushed on Lantern Festival that year.

"Come in!" She almost squeezed out the word from between her teeth.

The world spun, and the heavy stench of blood was suddenly replaced by a refreshing aroma. Jing Chunxi stumbled and knelt on the snow-white ground. Xu Zize in his arms suddenly floated up into the air and slowly landed on the bed that emitted a cold white light.

What horrified her even more was that the blood-stained clothes on his body dissipated like smoke and were replaced by a strange set of blue and white striped clothes - the fabric was so thin that she could see the faint rise and fall of his chest, but it was spotless.

She looked down at herself. Her bloodstained dress was now covered by a snow-white gown. The gown's cuffs were tightly gathered, and a strange belt was tied around the waist. Her inner garment had somehow transformed into a blue-green two-piece suit, a color like peacock feathers after rain, shimmering subtly in the glaring white light.

The most incredible thing was that the mutton-fat jade pendant she wore close to her body was still hanging intact around her neck, and the warm jade color formed an eerie contrast with the cold instruments around her.

"Ding!"

A crisp mechanical sound startled her. Suddenly, a line of floating ink characters appeared in mid-air, each stroke taking shape as if written by an invisible hand: "Operation time has expired. Please follow the video instructions to save the patient." The words lingered for three breaths before vanishing into thin air, as if they had never existed.

"Ding--"

When the second beep sounded, the entire transparent wall suddenly began to ripple like water. Jing Chunxi was horrified to see a dark square appear on the wall. The gradually brightening image within the frame nearly made her scream out—the room inside was exactly the same as the one she was in now! Even Xu Zize's lying position was exactly the same, the only difference being that his chest didn't rise or fall in the image.

"Xu Zize!" She rushed to the bedside, her trembling fingertips hovering over his nose. Feeling the faintest breath brush against her skin, tears finally burst forth. When she looked up again, the scene in the black frame had transformed into a pair of floating white hands. The gloves were dazzlingly white, and they were removing a gleaming silver curved needle from a tray suspended in the air. The end of the needle was strung with a nearly transparent thread, which shimmered like spider silk under the phantom light source.

The hand in the painting began to move. White-gloved fingertips precisely grasped the flesh at the edge of the wound, and the curved needle penetrated at an unimaginable angle. Jing Chunxi could see clearly that the stitches were as delicate as the most delicate needlework of an embroiderer, each one perfectly avoiding the wriggling internal organs. Even more amazingly, every time the hand in the painting completed a step, the corresponding instrument appeared out of thin air beside her hand—at this moment, a pair of tweezers slowly solidified into shape, the metal surface still shimmering with a hint of cold.

Suddenly, a violent crash erupted from outside the cave, punctuated by a faint roar of anger. "There's something strange about this vine!" Jing Chunxi wiped her face, blood and tears leaving faint red fingerprints on her snow-white coat. She took a deep breath and reached out toward the silver needle gradually taking shape in the air...

"Brother Xiaokang, Xier is here to save you." Jing Chunxi's mind was extremely firm and his hands stopped shaking.