Chapter 495: Don’t Save Me! I’d Rather Die Than Go Bankrupt!

The process of expelling the gases took quite some time.

Garrett carefully controlled the flow rate of the gases, trying his best not to let the internal pressure drop too quickly. With bated breath, he occasionally checked the electrocardiogram and blood pressure monitor, fearing a life-threatening situation—

Cerebral air embolism, pulmonary embolism, coronary artery embolism...

Master Novak stood behind Garrett, occasionally helping with a healing spell as requested:

"It’s likely a gastric perforation, and there could be ischemia in the intestines, and even the heart rate might become abnormal. Although it’s not yet time for surgery, casting a healing spell now would be good for everyone."

The Thunder Lord found a spot in the corner of the operating room and sat on a floating disc, silently. His monocle’s display constantly flickered with text, seemingly engrossed in his usual research.

Master Baylbo had quietly left at some point. After a while, he returned with a face full of anger:

"These kids have done this sort of thing more than once! I just asked them; they said they’ve been drinking liquid nitrogen directly before, several times, but it never caused an issue until now!"

"He swallowed it this time, right?" Garrett replied without turning his head:

"A small amount of liquid nitrogen entering the mouth can rapidly evaporate and escape through the mouth and nose. But once swallowed, when the epiglottis closes, the evaporating gas has nowhere to escape and can only expand within the stomach..."

He made a gesture:

"Boom!"

"In any case, these kids are just idle. I’ve already doubled their reference materials and assigned each one a paper due next week. Let’s see if they dare to risk their lives again!"

It’s indeed risking their lives. Garrett nodded silently. Liquid nitrogen is extremely dangerous; minus 200 degrees Celsius, perhaps?

Clinically used to freeze warts and corns, even a slight touch leaves a big black spot, freezing skin and flesh alike. These people, I don’t know what they were thinking, daring to put it in their mouths!

"This guy, just treat him casually." Master Baylbo, still furious, glanced at Mike lying unconscious on the bed and snorted:

"Even if he recovers, I don’t want him. Just kick him out. Hmm, this kid, if he stays in the Tower of Heaven, who knows what trouble he’ll cause next!"

"Ah, senior brother, he’s caused such a big mess, he should learn his lesson," Garrett said playfully, trying to persuade:

"Besides, once I heal him, he still has to write a paper, about this case. By then, he’ll at least be the second author. If you kick him out now, it would be awkward for me—"

"This also needs a paper?"

Master Baylbo’s eyes nearly popped out. Garrett nodded earnestly, as if it were only natural:

"Of course! It’s so interesting! Drinking liquid nitrogen! I haven’t treated such a patient before... Mr. Novak, have you?"

The development of medicine is supported by one case after another. For common cases, write a summary analysis; for special cases, write a case report.

No two people are the same, no two organs, nerve paths, blood vessel angles, vital signs, or recovery abilities are exactly alike...

Case reports always have value. The pitfalls encountered by predecessors, the special circumstances they encountered, the special methods they used.

The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, and every other high-end or low-end journal always need special case reports.

"I haven’t either." Not only had he not treated such cases, but liquid nitrogen itself was only recently created, wasn’t it? Novak was excited:

"Include me when you write it?"

As their conversation reached this point, even Master Baylbo could not stubbornly hold onto his view to kick this disciple out. Alas, otherwise, sideline him, or perhaps, send him to work for Garrett for a few years?

Unfortunately, Carlisle acted too quickly, sending him to Garrett seemed not like a punishment but rather a reward...

Garrett patiently waited for the nitrogen gas to be expelled. Watching the patient’s swollen abdomen gradually relax back to its normal size, he sighed with relief and pulled a few seeds out of his pocket:

"Alright, now let’s see what the digestive tract looks like..."

With one hand pulling out a ring, triggering the Arcane Eye, and the other hand inserting vines. Mr. Novak curiously moved a few steps aside:

"Hey, the intestines aren’t frozen solid! I thought this cup of liquid nitrogen would turn all the organs, every internal part, into stone!"

"Cough, that’s not likely." Garrett wiped his brow. A few dozen milliliters of liquid nitrogen would vaporize

in the stomach; it couldn’t flow into the intestines. As long as it doesn’t directly contact liquid nitrogen, it won’t turn to stone through the stomach wall...

The vines in the abdominal cavity kept rotating, carefully probing. Mr. Novak sensed the position of the Arcane Eye, and whenever he saw pale, swollen, or bleeding sections of the intestines, he’d cast a healing spell.

Due to the accuracy of the positioning, there was no need for high-level healing spells. Even the most basic Light Healing and Minor Healing were enough to handle the situation.

"This method of yours isn’t bad." The Archmage commented admiringly:

"Vines combined with the Arcane Eye to inspect internal conditions, followed by low-level healing spells, is much better than blindly casting healing spells. Sometimes you cast several healing spells, and you still don’t know what’s wrong internally, which is really annoying..."

During the conversation, the intestines had been thoroughly inspected, repaired, and patched up. The Arcane Eye was withdrawn, and Garrett then flew out two Mage Hands, prying open the patient’s mouth, and extended the Arcane Eye down the throat.

At that moment, Mr. Novak, who had been intently watching the screen, once again let out a low exclamation.

"Huh? There’s no frostbite inside?"

"Normal." Garrett, manipulating the Arcane Eye with the vines, carefully observed the esophagus in all directions, and stated plainly:

"When liquid nitrogen first enters the esophagus, it is rapidly evaporating, and the evaporating gas insulates the esophagus from the liquid nitrogen."

Protected by the vapor, the upper part of the esophagus remained undamaged. But the middle and lower parts might not be so lucky—

"No, I must publish a paper on this." Mr. Novak began fumbling around on himself:

"Alas, I didn’t bring a recording crystal. —Baylbo, do you have one? Can I borrow it?"

"Let the Tower Spirit record it." The Thunder Lord, seemingly engrossed in reading and indifferent to everything, suddenly spoke softly. He casually pointed, and immediately a section of the operating room’s ceiling disappeared. A gentle breeze blew through, tapping softly at the top of the lab:

"Mr. Hermunculus?"

"Salutations, Lord of Thunder." The familiar voice of the Tower Spirit immediately floated out:

"What do you command?"

"Record the images on this screen." The Thunder Lord casually instructed. "As for the fees, let’s charge it to—Baylbo, does this young man have research funding?"

"Yes, teacher. He has 23 units of unused funding for this year. Mr. Hermunculus, record the fees, and I’ll settle with you later."

From that moment, the gastroscopy images were recorded in their entirety by the Tower Spirit:

In the middle section of the esophagus, frostbite began to appear. Healing spells were cast, and the esophagus quickly returned to health;

In the lower section of the esophagus, extensive frostbite occurred. Fortunately, Mr. Novak’s healing spells kept up in time, watching this section of the tube wall change from cyan-black to pink, regaining vitality and life, and both men breathed a sigh of relief;

The vines passed through the cardiac orifice and entered the stomach. Under the light of an Illumination Spell, Mr. Novak saw clearly, large areas of the stomach wall were cyan-black, and there were more than a few obvious ruptures. Garrett, while inspecting, clicked his tongue:

"Sure enough, there’s a perforation here... Oh, and here’s another one—frostbitten stomach walls are especially fragile, getting blasted like this, is really asking for death..."

Indeed asking for death. Mr. Novak silently nodded, while Master Baylbo at the side sneered, calculating the spells they had used:

One Light Healing, then another Light Healing, and a Moderate Healing...

The hole in the stomach wall was where Garrett used the vines to pull it together, Mr. Novak cast a Moderate Healing, forcibly healing it...

Another Moderate Healing, repairing the frostbitten stomach wall... Managing the vines to do so much, how many second-tier divine spells does that count as? Two enough? Or three?

Or should it be counted as one third-tier divine spell?

The Arcane Eye was triggered using a magical device, which according to the Council’s general rules, could be counted at half-price, but the Arcane Eye itself was a fourth-tier spell...

And this Sanctuary, personally released by the teacher, though the teacher didn’t care much about the money, it wouldn’t be proper to act as if it didn’t happen... That’s another third-tier spell’s fee.

Garrett meticulously controlled the Arcane Eye, scanning over and under the stomach wall, ensuring no corner was missed. He even checked the duodenum once.

Then, withdrawing through the mouth

, he checked outside the stomach wall again. Rinsing, suctioning, closing the abdomen layer by layer, and incidentally dealt with a subcutaneous emphysema on the neck, using a hollow needle to release the trapped air, then casting another healing spell. Master Baylbo at the side recorded: one, another, and another...

Once the Calming Spell was lifted, Mike Wooster jumped down from the floating disc, completely clean, without a trace of pain or trauma, as if in a dream.

"What happened? I remember I seemed to have passed out... Ah, Lord of Thunder!"

He hurriedly paid his respects to the big boss. Turning his head, he saw his own teacher with a dark face, slapping a bill in front of him:

"Kid, to save your life, so much money was spent in one go... You pay it yourself! Before you’ve paid it off, don’t enter my lab!"

Mike held the bill in both hands, lowered his head to look at the string of digits. One zero, two zeros, three zeros... in front of a single-digit, double-digit...

He let out a heartfelt scream:

"I don’t want this!!!"

Rather than letting me go bankrupt, I’d rather be dead!

Garrett crouched nearby, laughing non-stop. Just this buddy, if he were to be transported to some country in his past life, he probably would’ve also shouted just before passing out:

"Don’t call an ambulance!"

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