The news also piqued Tong Shuxue’s interest. She followed Mo Shen into the cave hall.
The door of the medical bay was open. Zhao Jingyuan was half-reclining on the hospital bed, while Nurse An was attaching electrode pads to his arm.
“I heard you have good news?” Tong Shuxue stopped by the bedside and asked with a smile.
Zhao Jingyuan turned his head to look at her. His complexion was still pale, but there was light in his eyes.
“Just now, when Nurse An touched my finger, I felt it.”
He lifted his right hand. His wrist was still wrapped in bandages.
Tong Shuxue looked at it. “Which finger?”
Zhao Jingyuan said: “The index finger. It’s very faint, like touching through a thick layer of cloth, but I definitely felt it.”
Tong Shuxue looked toward Nurse An. Nurse An pulled up the monitoring data, and the holographic screen displayed waveforms of neural electrical signals.
“From the first spontaneous signal at 3 a.m. until now, the signal strength has increased by thirty-seven percent. Although it is still far below normal levels, the growth trend is very stable.”
Tong Shuxue said sincerely: “Good. At this rate, you’ll be able to try moving your fingers in less than three months.”
Zhao Jingyuan fell silent for a moment, then slowly said: “Thank you.”
Those two words were spoken very softly, but they carried great weight.
Tong Shuxue waved her hand. “This is only the beginning. The real challenge is the rehabilitation ahead. You’ll suffer then.”
As she spoke, she took a simple water purifier out of her dimensional space. It looked like a small bucket with a hand-crank on top. She handed it to Mo Shen.
“This is for you. The water in the valley is clean, but drinking it directly can still cause stomach issues. Filter it with this. Just turn the handle and you’ll get water. It can filter fifty liters a day, enough for all of you.”
Mo Shen took the strange device and examined it from every angle, looking confused.
“How… how do you use this?”
Tong Shuxue pressed a hand to her forehead. “Where is Gao Fei? Call that kid over. He learns quickly; I’ll teach him.”
Gao Fei was quickly called over.
The young man was indeed clever. After Tong Shuxue demonstrated it only twice, he mastered the use of the purifier.
Watching the murky pond water turn into clear drinking water through the small bucket, Gao Fei’s eyes widened.
“Is this also a magical artifact from Miss Tong’s immortal realm?”
Tong Shuxue was too lazy to explain. “Yes. Everything this immortal maiden takes out is naturally a divine artifact. But boil the filtered water before drinking. Don’t break this; I only have one.”
“Yes! I will take good care of it!”
Gao Fei hugged the purifier as though it were a priceless treasure. His cautious expression amused Tong Shuxue.
Inside the medical bay, Zhao Jingyuan watched the scene with a complicated expression.
From the surgery until now, Tong Shuxue’s methods had repeatedly challenged his understanding.
Those miraculous devices, her ability to retrieve objects out of thin air, and her handling of the hunters—all of it gave him a completely new understanding of this mysterious woman.
“Miss Tong.”
Tong Shuxue turned around and saw Zhao Jingyuan looking at her as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.
“What is it?”
“Why didn’t you kill those hunters just now? With your abilities, making them disappear silently should not have been difficult.”
Tong Shuxue looked at him without answering immediately.
She moved her wheelchair to the bedside.
“Why should I kill them?”
Zhao Jingyuan froze.
“They are just ordinary hunters. They enter the mountains to make a living by hunting. They did nothing wrong. My enemies are those who want to kill me, not innocent civilians.
Power struggles, struggles for the throne—those are matters for people in high positions like you. They have nothing to do with ordinary people.”
She spoke calmly, but her words struck Zhao Jingyuan deeply.
Tong Shuxue smiled slightly. “In this world, human lives may be cheap, but where I come from, every life is precious. Unless absolutely necessary, I will not kill at will. That is my principle.”
Zhao Jingyuan fell silent.
He had been born in the royal family and raised in the military. He had seen too much life and death.
On the battlefield, swords and arrows had no eyes. In the court, conspiracies were everywhere. In his eyes, human lives were sometimes just numbers.
In truth, he somewhat agreed with Tong Shuxue. It was just that, for the sake of the greater picture, sacrificing a few people was often unavoidable.
“You are right. Our enemy is power, not the common people.”
Tong Shuxue nodded. “Exactly. The Emperor wants to kill you because you threaten his power. The Feiyu Army and Tieying Guard want to kill you because they are loyal to the Emperor. But what about the hunters? They just want to hunt something to sell for money to support their families. What did they do wrong?”
She paused and looked at Zhao Jingyuan. “If you ever have the chance to take everything back, remember what you said today. A ruler who treats the people like weeds will not sit firmly on his throne for long.”
These words were blunt, even somewhat treasonous, but Zhao Jingyuan did not become angry. Instead, he fell into deep thought.
After a long while, he raised his head and said solemnly: “I have learned.”
Tong Shuxue curled her lips slightly. “Rest well. Rehabilitation officially begins tomorrow. Doctor Jian will design your training plan. Take it step by step. Don’t rush.”
Zhao Jingyuan watched her figure disappear beyond the door for a long time, unable to look away.
In the following days, a new order gradually formed in the valley.
Zhao Jingyuan’s rehabilitation plan officially began, with electrical stimulation therapy twice a day, morning and evening, combined with medicinal penetration.
Although his limbs still could not move, Doctor Jian instructed him to try controlling his fingers and toes with his mind every day. Even if there was no physical response, this neural training would accelerate recovery.
Tong Shuxue also recovered quickly. The fracture in her ribs had basically healed, and her left leg bone graft only needed to avoid strenuous activity.
Most of her time was spent in the valley, either organizing supplies in her dimensional space or reviewing intelligence transmitted by Ling San Ling Xi from the Imperial Capital.
Ling San Ling Xi had successfully infiltrated the Imperial Capital. Through the robot’s secret communication network, encrypted intelligence was transmitted daily.
In the afternoon, Tong Shuxue sat on a rock by the water pool, holding a tablet as she read the latest report.
The lockdown of the Imperial Capital was still ongoing, and it was becoming increasingly strict.
The Emperor seemed convinced that Zhao Jingyuan’s people were hiding near the Imperial Capital. Not only were city gate inspections intensified, but large-scale searches were also being conducted inside the city.
Many officials’ residences were secretly monitored, and even ordinary wealthy households were not spared.
But what caught Tong Shuxue’s attention most was another piece of news.
The Cheng’en Marquis House, the maternal family of the Wise Prince, had been raided three days earlier by order of the Emperor on charges of embezzlement. Three estates outside the Imperial Capital were confiscated.
The Marquis remained secluded, claiming illness and refusing visitors, but Ling San intercepted conversations from the household steward indicating that the Marquis had secretly transferred part of his gold and account books to a hidden stronghold outside the city.
She raised her head and looked toward Zhao Jingyuan, who was resting in the distance under the sun.
Mo Shen was pushing the wheelchair. Zhao Jingyuan sat with his eyes closed, facing the sunlight, as if enjoying a long-lost moment of peace.
Tong Shuxue hesitated briefly, then decided to tell him.
“There is news from the Imperial Capital.”