Chapter 189: Mutual Gain

"What does he mean by that?" Tina, startled by the sudden mention of patients, momentarily misinterpreted—Little Xiao Lingdang immediately spoke in her mind:

"You're dumb, didn't you just say you have healing abilities? He wants to test your worth! Do you really think all gods are as easygoing as me? If you want to be a divine favored one, you'd better prove you've got the guts!"

Hearing Little Xiao Lingdang's slightly resentful yet adorable tone, Tina silently apologized—but she didn't change her mind. She was a logistics officer; guiding the goddess's power meant less to her than the ability to heal her comrades.

Following Feng Xue down to the basement, she found it small—no more than thirty square meters at most. Patients lay like mummies on mattresses spread across the floor; narrow walkways between them held IV stands. Only at the entrance stood two empty hospital beds.

Seeing the dense sea of patients, Tina felt momentarily overwhelmed—but surprisingly, though the basement had no ventilation fan, the air was unexpectedly fresh, with not a trace of stuffiness.

"Don't look at me—I don't have enough beds. This basement was just hastily cleared out." Feng Xue spread his hands as if wronged, leaving Tina momentarily speechless before she shook her head:

"I'm not blaming you. I'm just observing the patients' conditions."

"Say what you want!" Feng Xue shrugged, pointing his finger. Tina felt a cool breeze brush past her—and then, to her shock, a patient in the corner, IV stand and all, floated up and landed gently on a hospital bed.

"This man is Sato. His injuries: fractured bones and cerebral hemorrhage, both already treated. He's the simplest case among them—now it's just about rest. But someone who broke a leg and ended up with a cerebral hemorrhage? I don't trust him recovering at home. You've got healing abilities, right? See if you can speed up his recovery. Saves a bed."

Feng Xue handed Tina the medical file that had floated up with the patient. Tina had reviewed these patients beforehand, but she still carefully read the file again before nodding.

As Tina's body began to glow with condensed votive power, Feng Xue quietly activated the Art of Observing Qi. Compared to the mature spell and divine technique systems of the Folklore World, human abilities in this world were crude indeed.

But Feng Xue would never underestimate them—or rather, precisely because they were crude, they held greater value—

The personal abilities humans here wielded, based on votive power, were essentially "natural" ritual frameworks born from the interaction between intense personal wills forged under extreme oppression and the "wish-fulfillment" system of votive power. One could call them miracles of nature.

If he fully recorded the casting process, Feng Xue effectively obtained a rough spell model. Later, by deconstructing and optimizing it through the Folklore World's "Zhai Zhan Ritual System," then reconstructing it using the Four Pillars of Spellcraft (Transformation, Transfer, Selection, Fixation), he could produce far superior, refined spells. In a sense, this was a form of "biomimicry."

If he did this alone, analyzing such a spell might take months—or even years—its cost-benefit ratio clearly worse than refining spells he'd already mastered. But with Little Xiao Lingdang's help, he only needed to provide broad concepts and key experimental data points to harvest results in bulk.

"Technology changes life—AI's advantage in brute-force enumeration is undeniable!" With Little Xiao Lingdang as his inside agent (inside god?), Feng Xue recorded Tina's entire casting process in full. Tina remained completely unaware—she simply focused her mind, refined her faith, and released it as always.

The force of faith hatched from subjective will, splitting into two streams that enveloped Sato's head and leg. Fractures and surface wounds began healing; the itching sensation of cell division and tissue regeneration seemed to stir the unconscious patient.

The process lasted roughly five minutes—then Sato suddenly opened his eyes:

"Inoue… Ah, Ms. Tina? This place—right! I'm saved! Xiao Lingdang Goddess… it's not a dream! Not… *sob*!"

Sato's mouth suddenly snapped shut, as if clamped shut. Tina's expression grew peculiar. She was about to ask—when Feng Xue sighed:

"I know it's not a dream. But don't shout. You'll wake the others! If you're done, get out."

Hearing this, Sato glanced at his comrades lying everywhere and immediately sat up obediently on the bed. Honestly, Tina really was skilled with external injuries—bones that should've taken weeks to heal were nearly fully mended!

Feng Xue returned the bed to its place and moved down the narrow aisle to change IV bags. This task should've gone to Liu Yunxi, but she was currently cultivating, and Feng Xue didn't want to disturb her—after all, the stronger she became, the higher his risk tolerance. Better to convert his accumulated lunar essence into demonic energy than waste her on chores—though cooking wasn't a chore.

He selected two more patients with promising recoveries for Tina to treat, until he'd fully recorded the ritual framework. Only then did he end the data collection and led them back to the pharmacy shop.

"Mr. Feng…" Tina hesitated, but the hopeful, exam-results-awaiting look in her eyes told him exactly what she wanted.

Too bad Tina, though white-haired and long-haired, had a mature face that clashed horribly with this pitiful expression. Without triggering any xp system, Feng Xue refused to indulge her. He simply sat beside the statue and said calmly:

"Your ability's good—but you're using it terribly clumsily. I don't understand why you'd treat such a high-precision ability like a crude healing spell."

"Clumsy?" Tina hadn't expected praise from this "divine doctor," but his answer still baffled her.

Her ability wasn't just healing—it included X-ray vision, analysis, and more. Combined with her medical knowledge, it was essentially a mobile hospital. She could precisely focus her power on affected areas with zero waste. How could this be called clumsy?

Seeing Tina's clearly defiant expression, Feng Xue sighed again, helplessly:

"You've got a power rooted in modern medicine—why are you using it like a basic healing spell?"

(End of Chapter)