Chapter 912: Treatment

Heimu straightened his back from the wall, brushed off the dust on his shoulders, and walked over slowly.

Her black low-heeled boots stepped on the gravel in the alley, making a fine crisp sound, and her ash-gray low ponytail swayed lightly behind her.

She walked up to Kaluoer and stopped, her dark purple eyes scanning Kaluoer from head to toe.

Kaluoer felt a bit creeped out by the sudden approach of the beautiful woman, her warm gold eyes unconsciously drifting toward Hua, as if seeking some kind of safety cue.

But after her gaze lingered on Heimu's face for two seconds, an uncontrolled thought popped into her mind: She's so beautiful.

That indescribable beauty that makes one's eyes stick to her face and unable to look away.

Ash-gray long hair, dark purple eyes, the lazy, half-smile curve at the corner of her mouth, and a well-fitted black teacher's uniform.

Kaluoer quickly formed a definition in her mind: This must be the legendary charm of a mature woman.

"... Um, hello."

Kaluoer's voice suddenly became several degrees more formal than when she had been speaking with Hua.

Heimu did not respond to her greeting.

She directly reached out and naturally took hold of Kaluoer's injured arm.

Her fingers, through the glove, lightly pressed on the skin around the wound, the force not strong but the position extremely precise, exactly three millimeters from the wound's edge.

Kaluoer was startled by the sudden move, her arm instinctively pulling back a bit, but Heimu held firm, not letting her withdraw.

Heimu tilted her head, looked at the wound, then lightly touched the skin at the wound's edge with her finger.

Then she withdrew her finger, rubbed her chin, glanced at Hua, and finally nodded.

"It's nothing serious."

The alley fell silent for a full two seconds.

Hua and Kaluoer almost spoke at the same time, their tones carrying the same confusion and the same "Are you sure?" question.

"Teacher, her arm wound is still bleeding."

Hua's voice remained steady in stating the facts, but her brows furrowed slightly.

"Yeah, beautiful teacher—no, uh, teacher—"

Kaluoer glanced down at the wound still oozing blood on her arm, then looked up at Heimu's calm face, her warm gold eyes full of confusion: "I'm not doubting your expertise, but the blood is still flowing, and honestly it still hurts—"

Heimu kept her smile, silently calling up the System Panel in her mind and finding Kaluoer's Data Body parameters in the translucent interface.

After Hua's father was reset to zero, he couldn't be repaired, but Kaluoer only had a superficial injury, her data integrity was high, and the permission requirements were low.

She changed the wound parameter from "existent" to "repaired," then lightly flicked a finger in her mind.

This operation was as simple as toggling a switch from on to off on a phone, consuming about as much energy as a blink.

Kaluoer blinked.

She then lowered her head to look at her arm again.

The wound that had been oozing blood just moments ago vanished without warning.

The sleeve of her clothing was still torn, the fabric still stained with blood, and her skin still bore dried blood marks, but the wound itself had disappeared out of nowhere!

She poked the spot where the wound had been with her finger.

The skin was smooth and intact, not even a scar.

"I... uh?"

Kaluoer turned her arm over and over, she looked up at Hua, then down at her arm, then up at Heimu, her warm gold eyes shifting from confusion to shock.

"It's healed?! Really healed! Hua, look! Really healed! Just now it was still bleeding, and now there isn't even a mark! Teacher, how did you do this? Do you know qigong? Or is this some miraculous traditional Chinese medicine technique? I've heard there's a massage that invigorates blood and resolves stasis, but can it even erase a wound? This isn't scientific!"

Heimu patted nonexistent dust off her glove, keeping her smile at a mysterious level.

"I learned a bit from elders at home when I was young. Just basic techniques."

Her tone was casual, as if she had just brushed dust off Kaluoer's sleeve, "You didn't hurt your bones or muscles, just a superficial scrape; it looks like a lot of blood but it's actually shallow. No need to go to the hospital."

Hua stared at Kaluoer's now-unharmed arm, her brows still slightly furrowed.

She examined it for a few seconds, then glanced up at Heimu, a fleeting thought flashing in her ice-blue eyes.

But she did not pursue the question.

A seventeen-year-old Martial Arts Hall girl, having personally seen a teacher make a bleeding wound disappear with a few finger presses, her first reaction should have been suspicion and confusion.

But Hua simply straightened up and nodded at Heimu.

"Thank you, teacher."

Heimu nodded. "All right. Since the wound is taken care of, let's continue on."

She slipped her hands back into her pockets, tilted her head toward the alley mouth, and her tone returned to that lazy, casual drawl: "It's getting late; if you dawdle any longer, your father will be getting impatient." When she uttered the two words "father," there was no change in her tone, but her dark purple eyes flickered swiftly in Hua's blind spot.

Hua nodded, "Okay."

Then she turned to Kaluoer, preparing to say goodbye.

But Kaluoer had no intention of leaving at all.

She jumped up from the ground, brushed off the dust on her shorts, retied the knot of the jacket around her waist, then pressed her palms together and bowed to Hua, her warm gold eyes shining brightly enough to almost show stars.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Savior, what's your name? I'm Kaluoer! Ka-luo-er! I'm sixteen, a martial arts enthusiast, currently in the excited state of having been attacked by a monster for the first time in my life and then rescued by a super-capable older sister!"

Having said that in one breath, she turned to Heimu, her palms still pressed together, "And you, beautiful teacher! Although I don't really understand what you just did to my arm, that's not important—what matters is you seem to be about to handle some important matter; can I come along? To repay the lifesaving grace, I'll go with you; if we run into any more monsters on the road, I may not be able to fight them, but I can at least shout for help."

Hua hesitated a moment.

She glanced at Heimu, and in her ice-blue eyes appeared the thought: This is the teacher's home visit; bringing a stranger along is inappropriate.

But she probably isn't good at refusing people, especially when faced with a girl who had just been surrounded by Collapse Beasts; refusing would be too difficult.

Heimu looked at Kaluoer's energetic face, then at Hua's hesitant expression, and sighed inwardly.

Three minutes ago she had still been planning an efficient, straightforward home visit—teacher, student, and parents, a three-way talk, to resolve the issue and complete the task.

Now this three-person team inexplicably gained an extra fighting girl who had been rescued during a Collapse Beast encounter.

But it didn't really matter.

Anyway she has already endured seven or eight rollbacks and countless failures, and now an extra Variable might actually change something.

"Alright. Let's go together."

She nodded toward Kaluoer, then turned first toward the alley entrance.

The three stepped out of the alley, and the afternoon sun splashed onto them again, warm and gentle.

Kaluoer walked on Hua's right, already asking Hua, "How do you normally train that technique that can smash a monster's shell with a single punch?" and "Is your school still taking students? Could I transfer?"

Hua walked in the middle, answering Kaluoer's questions with concise sentences while keeping a peripheral eye on the road ahead.

Heimu walked on the far left; her ash‑gray low ponytail swayed lightly behind her shoulders, and she looked up at the street corner not far away.

A plain black sedan was parked beneath a phoenix tree across the street.

The car's body was that dark hue that disappears instantly when left in a parking lot, and the windshield reflected the afternoon sun, obscuring the interior.

But Heimu could see the person in the driver's seat: an icy‑blue shoulder guard reflected a small patch of cold, hard metallic sheen behind the window, and in the back seat sat a blue‑colored figure holding an open sketchbook, its cover faintly showing a green‑haired girl in a swimsuit illustration.

Heimu gave a slight nod in that direction.

The sedan's headlights flashed once, then the engine started quietly.