Gao Yue's eyes, covered by Moya's hand, suddenly widened.
Her eyes were being covered?
Even when she was a kid getting shots, she'd never gotten this kind of treatment. Now she suddenly felt like she was being coaxed like a child, and it left her feeling a bit awkward.
Moya's gesture did have some effect on Gao Yue. A small portion of her attention was diverted to the person behind her, and with her eyes covered, she did feel a bit safer.
She could feel the Medical Priest working on her arm with a Bone Knife, but she didn't know what he was doing.
Gradually, she couldn't help herself anymore. She stuck out two fingers and gently pried open a small gap between Moya's ring finger and middle finger.
Through the gap, she saw the old man working meticulously, as if piecing together porcelain shards—dab a bit of ointment, press a piece into place, attach a small fragment of bone, dab a bit more ointment, then press another fragment into place.
The red was her flesh and blood, the white was her bone, the crisscrossing lines were her blood vessels, and the yellow was her fat.
As she watched, Gao Yue's pupils gradually lost focus, her vision blurred, her body went limp, and she fell backward.
She'd fainted.
Moya caught Gao Yue and exchanged a glance with the Medical Priest. Both saw the shock and speechlessness in the other's eyes.
She'd fainted... just from one look?
The Medical Priest chuckled: "This female has quite a small liver."
Moya thought back on what had happened before and nodded with a faint smile. Indeed, timid as a grasshopper, and yet the more scared she was, the more she wanted to look.
The females of the tribe had pampered, willful tempers. If they suffered such an injury, they'd throw a fit and grow furious, but they were used to the sight of blood and would absolutely never faint.
Whereas Gao Yue was gentle-tempered and very polite, yet she'd fainted at a single glance.
The Medical Priest clicked his tongue: "She won't be easy to raise in the future."
Moya glanced at him: "That's something for her future male to worry about."
The Medical Priest chuckled and didn't argue, continuing to work: "Which tribe is this female from?"
Moya: "I don't know."
Medical Priest: "Then where did you find her?"
Moya: "In the forest outside the tribe. She was alone."
The Medical Priest asked a few more questions, and Moya answered every one with "I don't know," until the Medical Priest was at a loss: "Forget it, forget it. I'll ask her myself when she wakes up. Go pick some Yuyu Flowers—this little one's other wounds need treating too."
……
Gao Yue was only out for a little while, about three or four minutes.
By the time she woke up, the Medical Priest had just finished treating her arm.
She looked it over—the incision was small, and the stitches were done beautifully. The result of this procedure looked even better than modern medicine.
She'd once watched videos of people getting orthopedic surgery, where the bruising around the wound afterward would swell up and distort the skin, turning it into a horrifying mass of blue-purple swelling. But this wound looked like nothing had changed at all—just a fresh new scar, nothing more.
She thanked the Medical Priest happily, then looked around—only to find Moya nowhere in sight. Her heart lurched.
"Grandpa, where did he go?"
"What, afraid he'll abandon you?" the Medical Priest teased. But seeing Gao Yue staring at him intently, he thought of her timid nature and decided not to tease her further. "Don't worry, he'll be back soon."
Gao Yue let out a breath of relief.
As the Medical Priest set up a wooden splint frame, he asked her, "What tribe are you from?"
Gao Yue: "Uh, I come from a very distant tribe called Huaxia."
The Medical Priest made a surprised sound: "Huaxia? I've never heard of it. Where is that?"
Where indeed. On Earth.
Gao Yue sighed: "It's very, very far away. Extremely far. It's normal that you haven't heard of it."
Medical Priest: "Then how did you end up here?"
Gao Yue was silent for a moment, then said, "I was out and accidentally got caught in a flood. I was swept away, and before I knew it, I ended up here."
This explanation had plenty of holes if examined closely, but the Medical Priest didn't press further, letting it go easily—it didn't matter which tribe a female came from; what mattered was that she was a precious female.
He asked again: "What race are you, I wonder?"
Oh no, this question was even harder to answer. Gao Yue laughed bitterly inside while keeping her expression composed outside: "Why don't you guess?"
The Medical Priest shook his head: "I can't guess. Your scent is very faint, so your talent must be quite good. What tier is your talent?"
What on earth was talent supposed to be?
Gao Yue forced herself to keep a straight face: "...Why don't you guess again?"
Medical Priest: "..."
After a moment, he asked, "Do you have a Beast Husband?"
Gao Yue was stunned: "No."
The Medical Priest placed his hand on her wrist. Instantly, Gao Yue felt a cool, thread-like force enter her wrist and flow through her whole body.
The Medical Priest withdrew his hand: "Mm, not lying. Really none."
Gao Yue: "..."
You could even check that?
The Medical Priest said with a smile, "Since it's a tribe even I've never heard of, then it truly must be far from here. There's no way a lone female like you could make it back—why not just stay here?"
Gao Yue fell silent.
If she could, she'd still want to go back. On Earth, she had a career she'd fought hard to build—she'd worked her heart out to gather over nine hundred thousand followers, and things were only getting better. How could she bear to give that up?
But she could no longer go back. This was another world, after all. What power did she have to cross time and space back home? That whirlpool back then...
Wait, that whirlpool!
Would the Holy Lake of the Youpython Tribe produce another whirlpool someday? Could she return to Earth through a whirlpool here?
At the thought, Gao Yue's spirits lifted, her drooping eyes brightening. She made up her mind to stay here—maybe someday this lake would form a whirlpool too, and send her home.
She nodded solemnly: "I want to stay here."
"Good."
The Medical Priest's smile deepened.
"Your constitution is poor, and your blood and organs aren't very healthy. You'll need a Beast Crystal to nourish yourself, or you'll easily fall ill. You should find a Beast Husband as soon as possible—preferably a strong one," he said.
Gao Yue thought to herself that this man was truly amazing.
She really did have a lot of health issues—fatty liver, prediabetes, high blood pressure, cervical spondylosis. But nourishing with a Beast Crystal—did that mean that gem-like object was beneficial to the human body? That really was a good thing.
As for the latter half of the Medical Priest's suggestion about finding a Beast Husband, she chose to selectively ignore it.
She was going back to Earth—how could she start a family here?
Besides, the handsome men here probably wouldn't even look twice at her. Not that she was putting herself down, but she was a bit on the heavier side. So if she wanted to gain a foothold here, she'd rather find her own way to earn Beast Crystals.
But had this old man noticed she wasn't a Cub?
Gao Yue secretly glanced at the old man.
The Medical Priest was busy tidying up the various jars and bottles he'd used during her surgery, seeming not to notice her gaze.
Just then, Moya returned with a big handful of Yuyu Flowers.
The Medical Priest handed Moya a jar of ointment, instructing him to crush the Yuyu Flowers and apply them together with the ointment on the female's wound once a day—it would help the wound scab over quickly.
Moya looked at the wound on Gao Yue's arm, his long lashes lowering slightly, his voice light but solemn: "I'm sorry. I won't let you keep a scar."
Gao Yue hurriedly waved her hands: "Don't take it to heart. This isn't your fault—it's just that my bones are too fragile!"
It was because she drank too much soda. Back during a hospital checkup, the doctor had warned her that her bone density was very low and that if she didn't manage it, she'd easily suffer fractures in the future—she'd just forgotten all about it.
Gao Yue felt it would be shameless to push the blame onto Moya. She was the one who'd chosen to climb the tree, and she'd never told him her bones were fragile—how could a native who was naturally strong and healthy have ever guessed that?
"This really isn't your fault. Besides, such a small scar, not even on my face—what does it matter?"
She meant it sincerely. It was only about half a finger's length, and it was on her arm—truly nothing.
She had plenty of scars on her body already. Several on her knees from falls. One on the back of her hand from getting burned by steam from a rice cooker. One on her finger from accidentally cutting herself with a fruit knife.
Besides, during the flood she'd been scraped by so many branches that some of those cuts were bound to leave scars too, being so deep.
Moya gazed at her deeply.
The females of the tribe all had terrible tempers—there was even one female who, after her Beast Husband failed to clear the ground properly and she tripped, had cut off one of his legs with a knife on the spot.
This strange female was timid, yet so gentle.
He could tell she truly didn't blame him—not because he was a Tier 5 powerhouse and she was just putting on a show.
In that moment, he seemed to see past Gao Yue's plump exterior, glimpsing the gentle soul within.
So there really were females like this in the world...
Under his gaze, Gao Yue grew more and more uncomfortable, her smile stiffening further.
It wasn't until the Medical Priest beside them cleared his throat lightly that Moya's gaze was broken. He said to Moya:
"While I was treating her earlier, I found that her bones really are quite fragile. Be careful when taking care of her—don't let her fall. Her bones are so brittle that even a single fall could fracture something."
Moya nodded seriously, indicating he'd noted it.
Gao Yue asked the Medical Priest: "Is there anything I need to watch out for after having my bone set?"
Medical Priest: "Nothing much to watch out for—just make sure not to move your arm for three days."
As he spoke, he fitted a splint onto her arm. "You can remove it after three days. If you want to carry anything heavy, you'll need another three days of recovery after that."
No way—could you really move around again just three days after fracture surgery?
"Really, just three days? Shouldn't it be a few more days?"
The Medical Priest laughed, his smile teasing yet kind: "If you want a few more days, that's fine too."
He said to Moya: "I asked her earlier—she said she won't be returning to her old tribe. Since it was you who broke her arm, then she's yours to take care of now."
Moya made a low sound of acknowledgment. He'd already planned to be responsible for nursing her wound anyway. He asked the Medical Priest for a Beast Skin Bag, packed the Yuyu Flowers and ointment into it, then went to fetch Gao Yue's dirty clothes from the corner.
But Gao Yue suddenly darted forward like an arrow, snatching them up first.
"I'll just carry this myself."
Moya looked at her strangely, the corners of his long, narrow eyes tilting slightly, but he said nothing. He picked up the Beast Skin Bag, scooped up Gao Yue, bid farewell to the Medical Priest, and carried her away.
✦✦✦