Chapter 1235

Now that Zhai Tianlin was going to study under Lin Cheng, a slight reluctance stirred in his heart.

"Elder Zhai, what's wrong? Are you tired?"

Looking at Elder Zhai, Lin Cheng suddenly felt something strange, a sense of déjà vu as if the once energetic Elder Zhai had aged in an instant, and he couldn't help but ask about his health.

"Mm, I am indeed a little tired. During this afternoon's class I kept thinking about that patient, and my mind was never quite on the lesson." In Elder Zhai's heart, it was still as if a boulder hung suspended.

That patient was not only his patient, but also a close friend of many years; he sincerely hoped the man could survive.

But those who contracted the metal sickness almost always...

The Zhai family carriage soon arrived at the Zhai family clinic. Although Elder Zhai had devoted himself wholeheartedly to forging all these years, his son had no interest in forging at all, choosing instead to study medicine, and was a renowned physician throughout all of Boulder Bastion City.

It was precisely because of this that, after Elder Zhai had seen one close friend after another lose limbs and become crippled to magical beasts, the idea took root in his heart to forge mechanical limbs to replace the lost ones.

"Teacher, Grandfather, we've arrived at the clinic." Zhai Tianlin called out from outside the carriage.

Lin Cheng and Elder Zhai immediately stepped down from the carriage and rushed inside. Elder Zhai ran in while calling out to the people in the clinic: "How's Old Cheng doing?"

"Oh, it's Elder Zhai — you mean the patient with the metal sickness? He's shown a little improvement, but his condition is still very unstable..."

"Master Lin Cheng, let's go in quickly."

From Elder Zhai's earlier description, Lin Cheng gathered that the so-called metal sickness was likely a bacterial infection.

And the patient Elder Zhai called Old Cheng had been, in his early years, one of the very first experimental recipients of a mechanical prosthetic transplant.

However, Elder Zhai's skill was limited, and after years of use the mechanical leg inevitably underwent oxidation and rusted — and for the patient, this was fatal.

Unfortunately, the patient himself was unaware of this, so by the time something went wrong, the illness had already reached a critical, incurable stage.

Old Cheng was lucky in a way — he seemed to sense something was wrong with his body and came to Elder Zhai early, so under the careful treatment of Elder Zhai's son, he narrowly escaped with his life.

Entering the medical room, Lin Cheng at once saw the unconscious patient lying on the sickbed: his right leg amputated nearly its entire length, wrapped layer upon layer in bloodstained gauze, his face pale, his breathing rapid.

And just as the physician had said, there was a slight improvement, but the condition was still unstable.

"This is Old Cheng. Master Lin Cheng, I hope you can save him." Elder Zhai gazed at his old friend on the sickbed, his face full of guilt.

Once he had been far too overconfident, believing that forging a replaceable prosthetic would allow mass transplantation for those wounded and disabled.

But in reality, after a few years of use those prosthetics would cause the patients to develop metal sickness from metal poisoning.

Few lucky ones survived.

"I can't guarantee I'll save him — after all, I'm not a physician." Lin Cheng stepped closer to observe, laid the back of his hand on Old Cheng's forehead — high fever — then checked his pupils: deep coma, indeed a bacterial infection.

"No, Master Lin Cheng, I know the metal sickness was caused by that batch of mechanical prosthetics transplanted back then. I hope you can help me improve the mechanical limbs. My son will handle Old Cheng's injuries."

"This fellow's lucky — eight or nine times out of ten it's a bacterial infection at the wound site; I can't rule out metal poisoning too. If there is, then it's trouble. Did you use heavy metals when you forged the prosthetic back then?"

Heavy metals are four kinds of metals harmful to the human body. Because those four metals are not needed in life activities, excessive intake of them produces extremely serious consequences for the body. They are lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium.

"... What are heavy metals?" Elder Zhai still looked completely baffled.

"Forget it, I can't explain it clearly to you. Bring me the mechanical prosthetic you transplanted on him back then so I can have a look." Lin Cheng, relying on the system, could clearly distinguish which metal components were in it.

"Oh, oh."

Elder Zhai had just been about to go fetch it, but Zhai Tianlin had already pulled the mechanical prosthetic out from under the bed and handed it straight to Lin Cheng.

"Mm, Tianlin, give him this to drink — it should have some effect." Lin Cheng took the mechanical prosthetic in one hand and handed the Life Elixir to Tianlin with the other.

"Yes, Teacher."

Zhai Tianlin nodded (Zhao Zhao Zhao), took the elixir, and fed it directly to Old Cheng on the sickbed.

Before long, the elixir took effect. After Old Cheng coughed twice, his complexion visibly reddened and his condition improved, though he remained in a coma.

Lin Cheng, standing nearby, also did a preliminary examination of the mechanical prosthetic. In truth, Elder Zhai's forging of this prosthetic back then had been done with everything he had — it mimicked the human leg's squatting motion and the foot's normal walking force.

In terms of original design intent there was almost no problem, but the issue was that only the original design intent was fine — the problem lay in the forging skill itself.

A mechanical prosthetic is not like a human body's natural limb; every friction and every step inevitably causes wear. The human body is the same, let alone a mechanical one.