Chapter 93: Elysium, Be My Meat Shield!

You stood there completely dumbfounded, feeling as though life had suddenly lost all meaning.

Frostnova was deathly pale, thoroughly terrified by this sudden turn of events. Beside her, Patriot’s face carried a heavy sense of relief mixed with a faint trace of lingering attachment, looking exactly like a man peacefully accepting his final moments.

Kal’tsit, on the other hand, instantly understood everything. She shot you a glare so intense and venomous that she looked ready to personally shove you back into your sarcophagus and nail the lid shut.

This wasn’t right. That was not how it was written in the biomedical textbooks! Oripathy was supposed to wither a patient away bit by bit over a long, agonizing period. Then, everyone would gather around the sickbed in disbelief, pointing fingers, until on some special day, a special doctor used special methods to confirm the condition was truly improving. That was supposed to unlock a special CG where everyone cheered and declared that Patriot’s iron will had created a medical miracle!

Which lazy programmer wrote the Originium decomposition code and just slapped the physics engine right on top of it?! Who was it?! The project’s supreme leader, the Prophet, wanted a word with him right now!

You went through all the trouble of sourcing bizarre-tasting milk and biscuits just so Patriot wouldn’t taste the blood hidden inside them!

But the most urgent issue right now wasn’t even Kal’tsit’s murderous gaze. It was the fact that Frostnova looked like she was about to shatter. She held her forehead with one hand, her rabbit ears pressed flat and tight against her scalp in sheer distress.

“I… I killed Father?” Frostnova futilely cupped a shattered Originium fragment in her trembling hands, desperately trying to piece Patriot’s pectoral muscle back together.

She had long expected that her only remaining relative in this world didn’t have much time left. But she never imagined that the final straw to break the camel’s back would be her own unmatched, out-of-character playfulness.

“I’m just a jinx. I’ll get everyone killed… If even Rhodes Island can’t save Father, what should I do…”

Hot tears began to well up rapidly in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Patriot calmly raised a massive hand. “Not, your fault. These past few days, chest, already, hurting more and more.”

It seemed that with the worsening of his Oripathy, he had become increasingly weak during their time in Kazimierz, to the point where even drawing a breath had become a monumental struggle.

Patriot gently wiped away the tears from the corners of Frostnova’s eyes. “Do not fear. This is a warrior’s, most peaceful, ending.”

The weakness in his movements is because the physical strength of a Sarkaz definitely can’t compare to raw Originium! The chest pain is because your newly regenerating Wendigo tissue is being jammed by the rigid Originium crust!

Your expression twisted into a knot. You desperately wanted to step forward and correct him, but you didn’t even know where to begin explaining the sheer absurdity of the situation.

At that critical moment, the ever-reliable Kal’tsit stepped forward, her face a mask of absolute professional detachment. She casually picked up a complex diagnostic device, scanned Patriot’s massive frame, and waited for the crisp beep.

“The surface area of Originium coverage on the body has decreased, and the concentration of Originium in the blood has dropped,” Kal’tsit announced smoothly. “Congratulations. The ‘Utopia-Alpha’reagent from Rhodes Island has a high genetic compatibility with you. The symptoms of your Oripathy have downgraded from’Critical’to’High Risk’.”

As she said the word “congratulations,” Kal’tsit specifically turned to glare fiercely at you once more.

“As for the chest pain… it is likely a bodily spatial conflict caused by the mismatch between the Wendigo’s tissue regeneration mechanism and the rate of Originium degradation. If you go to the Medical Department, specialized operators will be there to file down the redundant Originium structures for you.”

Wow, so impressive! She had effortlessly explained the preposterous condition of “having his newly grown flesh crushed by rocks” in such a scientific, high-end way!

Kal’tsit, is this how you managed to survive and thrive on this unforgiving land?

Frostnova broke into a radiant smile through her tears. She hugged one of Patriot’s massive hands tightly against her chest, rubbing her cheek against his palm like a young, affectionate bunny. “That’s great… that’s great! I almost thought…”

Patriot, who had already calmly accepted the reaper’s verdict, had not expected such a sudden reversal. The whiplash from hell back to heaven was too abrupt. For a moment, the ancient Wendigo simply didn’t know what to say.

Well, it seemed he could accompany these young people for a bit longer.

Kal’tsit silently but considerately moved aside, no longer disturbing the tender moment of the father and daughter embracing. She brushed past you, her voice dropping to a freezing whisper. “Go to my office and wait for me. Honestly. Otherwise…”

You sneakily turned your head, watching her walk straight toward the Central Control Zone. She looked completely calm on the surface, but her short lynx tail was hanging stiffly downward, bristling like a hedgehog in a state of high alert.

In feline body language, the severity of that posture was second only to an outright hiss.

Desperate and grasping at straws, you whipped out your terminal. ‘Are you there? Come out and coax the cat! Someone help, didn’t you promise this transmigration was going to be a fairy tale?!’

Whether it was a mere coincidence or not, the terminal you had stared at all the way on the vehicle to avoid talking to Kal’tsit finally gave out under the pressure. The screen flickered, went black, and shut down.

Hey, bro, you weren’t this power-hungry when you were forcefully shoving the Mass-Energy Equivalence Theorem into my brain!

You walked alone down the corridor toward Kal’tsit’s office, feeling like a young widow with a child who had suddenly encountered workplace harassment—weak, pitiful, and entirely helpless.

Theresa could not manifest, Priestess was out of reach, and even your past self had curled up into a string of dormant electrical signals, playing dead. Who else could possibly save you?

Suddenly, an energetic white-haired guy enthusiastically slung his arm around your shoulder. “Hey, Doctor! Where have you been having fun these past few days? Without you around, I’ve been acting as a translator for Grandma Matra for days. I’ve almost forgotten how to speak for myself!”

It was Elysium! How could you forget him?!

With lightning speed, you grabbed his arm in return, your eyes shining with manufactured tears of joy. “Oh, it’s been such a long time, you handsome guy from Iberia!”

That single sentence was enough to make Elysium want to lay down his life for you.

Look! He knew it! Why could this white-haired, hooded genius be the Doctor, while his dark-skinned sea urchin of a brother could only be a miserable Manufacturing Station researcher? This was the difference. The sheer difference in stature and vision!

His brother must have been a sea urchin fished out of the sea for sashimi in his past life, while the Doctor was at least a far-sighted preserver of a lost civilization. This kind of keen judgment, the leadership ability to assign tasks to the right people, the sharp eye to see through his essence as a peerless handsome guy, and the magnanimity to openly admit that handsomeness—

“Hahaha, is it really that obvious that I’m handsome?” Elysium beamed, scratching the back of his head.

“Of course! It’s that kind of memorable, sunny handsomeness! Ah, pardon my rudeness. A handsome guy like you must have been complimented by many people, right?”

“Uh… not really.” Elysium rubbed his chin. “Actually, many people have said I just talk too much.”

“They’re just jealous of you!” you insisted, patting his shoulder. “A handsome guy like you speaking is simply a feast for the eyes and ears!”

“Ah… ah? No way, no way, it’s not that exaggerated…”

If two people hit it off, it meant their souls might be compatible. If two people chatted like fire meeting dry tinder, to the point where the conversation alone made you linger and feel so good you forgot where you were, then there were only two possibilities:

Either he had laced the air with hallucinogens, or he was about to push you out to take the hit.

Just as Elysium was reaching the most climactic and thrilling part of his life story, you suddenly let out a heavy, mournful sigh. “Handsome guy, it’s been a true pleasure chatting with you, but we must part ways for now.”

Elysium stopped, so excited by the validation that his eyes were almost turning red. “What? You don’t want to listen anymore?”

You looked deeply troubled, casting your gaze toward the floor. “Of course I want to listen, but… Kal’tsit asked me to go to her office for a talk.”

Elysium watched his dear companion, superior, mentor, best friend, brother, soulmate, and future most important partner helplessly raise a hand to his forehead, revealing a rare moment of vulnerability.

“I’m so worried…” you whispered. “I don’t know how I provoked Kal’tsit again.”

Elysium quickly reflected on his own actions from the past two weeks, feeling incredibly relieved that he hadn’t caused any trouble for fourteen whole days. He gripped your hand tightly, his heart swelling with immense loyalty. “That’s outrageous! Don’t worry, Doctor. Although we haven’t known each other long, I’ve already taken you as a brother from the bottom of my heart. I’ll go with you!”

You looked up, full of surprise and touched awe. “What a loyal and righteous handsome guy!”

Elysium puffed out his chest, full of determination and fearlessness. “Good brother, don’t be afraid!”

“Mm-hmm, with you here, I’m not afraid anymore!”

A moment later, standing in front of Kal’tsit’s office door under Elysium’s encouraging gaze, you mustered your courage and stepped forward to knock.

A cold voice drifted from inside. “Doctor, you don’t need to knock to enter my office.”

You carefully pushed the door open. The very next moment, Elysium dived inside like a brave, suicidal seagull.

“Kal’tsit, I think the Doctor shouldn’t—” Elysium started, getting halfway through his sentence before he realized something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Kal’tsit’s office, originally decorated in a sterile blue-and-white tone, had been completely renovated into a heavy, sophisticated gray-and-white. The surgical tools that were often piled haphazardly in the corner had been cleared away entirely, replaced by an antique set of brass astrolabes.

More, Kal’tsit had taken off the Medical Department coat she almost never left behind. In its place, she wore a crisp, tailored black suit—an outfit Elysium had only ever seen her wear on the most formal of occasions. The standard desk facing the door had been replaced by an intimate, face-to-face tea table for two. A delicate vase sat in the center, holding a fresh bouquet of white flowers.

Kal’tsit was expressionlessly pouring tea into the cup opposite her. She slowly turned her head and saw… Elysium, with his pointed hair, chattering away loudly in the doorway.

“…Uh, Kal’tsit?”

For a fraction of a second, Kal’tsit was completely unable to manage her facial expression.

“Kal’tsit, I think you should listen to the Doctor’s opinion. Although I don’t know what his opinion is yet, you doing this…” Elysium realized the atmosphere was lethal, but he bit the bullet and kept talking out of sheer momentum.

Kal’tsit’s expression grew colder and colder, finally freezing over completely during Elysium’s incoherent rambling of, “The Doctor might be wrong, but aren’t you wrong too?”

“…Get. Out. Now!”

Under Elysium’s terrified gaze, Kal’tsit finally snapped. Unable to bear it a second longer, she pulled out a shrunken Mon3tr from behind her back and, exactly like a trainer throwing a Poké Ball, hurled it right at his handsome face!

“Hang him on the bridge for me!”

Mon3tr let out a cheerful screech. Snatching the Iberian by the collar like a puppy carrying a prized bone, the crystalline summon trotted away down the corridor, its heavy footsteps echoing into the distance. Thump-thump-thump.

Not until Mon3tr was completely gone, carrying away an Elysium who still had absolutely no clue what he had just ruined, did you carefully step into Kal’tsit’s office.

You’ve already hit him, so you’re not allowed to hit me, okay?

Kal’tsit’s anger hadn’t subsided in the slightest. She stopped pouring the tea, her pristine suit now slightly wrinkled from the throw. She let out a fierce scoff through her nose, signaling for you to sit down.

“Next time, I will not give you the opportunity to act alone and exercise that mouth of yours.”

There’s a next time? You sat down obediently, keeping your posture perfect, but your mind immediately started racing.

Kal’tsit glared across the table. “Hand!”

You honestly raised both hands high above your head in surrender.

“I told you to extend the arm you use for drawing blood!”

It’s over. She definitely knows.

You extended your right arm in utter despair, not forgetting to drag someone else down into the abyss with you. “Kal’tsit, please don’t hold Warfarin responsible! She just couldn’t resist the temptation when she refused to draw my blood!”

Kal’tsit revealed a slight, chilling smile. “So there’s also the matter of Warfarin.”

“How much you have remembered, I won’t pursue for now. Answer me first: for Patriot’s level of Oripathy to improve so quickly, how many tubes of blood did you draw?”

“Two tubes.” You didn’t blush or skip a beat.

“Then, adding the two Kazimierz people you insisted on bringing back, that’s six tubes in total.”

Kal’tsit seemed to have been fooled by your routines far too many times before. She was completely unswayed by your linguistic traps, instantly calculating the true cost.

“Doctor, you once told me that you are not good at biomedicine, nor do you like it.” Kal’tsit tilted her head, her slight smile remaining. “Then, how did you find the solution?”

You tried to pull your hood down with your free hand to block her piercing gaze, but Kal’tsit was prepared. She reached across the table and forcibly grabbed your wrist.

“Doctor. Answer me.”

Kal’tsit: (^～^)

You: (; ಥ; ω; ಥ;)

You had to think about this question very carefully to avoid stressing her out again. If she snapped, she might actually shove you back into the coffin regardless of the big picture.

“Uh… it’s just, seeing the scene brought back memories!” You started making things up on the fly, desperately trying to calculate where inserting a fake memory would seem the most reasonable. “It’s just, seeing the lab, I suddenly remembered a little bit. Just a tiny scene of drawing blood, and then I tried it myself…”

“——Doctor!” Kal’tsit suddenly interrupted you, her voice cracking like a whip.

You instinctively lowered your head, and just like that, you met her emerald eyes.

“What I care about right now is not how much you’ve remembered, or how much you’ve lied to me. I am solely concerned about how much blood you’ve drawn!”

Kal’tsit was genuinely angry. You could feel it radiating off her.

She suddenly rose from her seat, her grip tightening on your wrist as she pulled you slightly toward her across the table. “I thought you knew. I have walked alone on this land for ten thousand years. I have experienced so much betrayal and deception, and yet, I hate you above all others.”

You guiltily turned your gaze away, unable to meet her eyes, but her voice pressed on, heavy with an emotion you couldn’t quite name.

“So, without those deadly, calculating plans in your heart, are you truly the kind of person who would recklessly drain your own blood just to extend the lives of people you’ve only met once or twice?”

“In this regard, you are exactly the same as before. For the sake of your own goals, you will put absolutely anything on the scale.”

“You don’t love wealth, you don’t love yourself… you don’t even love anyone. What kind of grand plan is worthy of being pushed forward by someone like you?”

Hey, hey, hey, that is completely spreading rumors!

You struggled desperately against her grip. “Please, I still have a sense of proportion! And how do I not love anyone? I love everyone! MILFs, lolis, maidens, shotas, adult men, furries, canned knights—”

Kal’tsit sneered, reaching out to clamp her hand firmly over your mouth. “Make it up. Keep making it up.”

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]