SSS-Ranked Surgeon In Another World: The Healer Is Actually OP! - Chapter 208 - 5th day

Chapter 208: 5th day

James pushed himself upright despite the lingering weakness, eyes burning as he looked at Bruce.

“Let me end it,” he said.

His voice shook, not with fear, but with rage barely held in check. “Let me be the one to end them,” James continued, fists clenching at his sides. “Since they want me dead so badly, it’s only right they die by my hands.”

Bruce studied him for a moment. Not judging. Measuring. Then he nodded once.

“Do it quickly,” he said. “And don’t hesitate.”

James didn’t reply. He reached for the fallen blade, fingers tightening around the hilt as the room fell silent. When it was over, there were no screams, no struggle, only stillness. Bruce stood nearby, watching without interference, waiting, making sure it ended cleanly. When James finally let the blade slip from his hand, his shoulders sagged and his breath shuddered as the weight of it all settled in.

“It’s done,” Bruce said calmly.

James didn’t look at him right away, but he nodded. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The room smelled faintly of blood and crushed herbs, lamplight casting long, wavering shadows across the floor. James stood there, shoulders slightly hunched, eyes unfocused, as though his mind lagged behind what his hands had just done. Bruce didn’t rush him. Some things required silence.

Eventually, James exhaled and sat back down, the tension finally draining away. His hands trembled, not violently, but enough that he clenched them together to steady himself. “I didn’t think…” he began, then stopped, swallowing hard. “I didn’t think it would feel like this.”

“Most people don’t,” Bruce replied.

James let out a hollow laugh. “They were right there with me. Talking to me. Helping me walk.” His jaw tightened. “And all that time…” He didn’t finish the sentence. Bruce didn’t ask him to.

“Rest,” Bruce said instead. “Your body and your mind both need it.”

James nodded and lay back down, exhaustion finally overwhelming everything else. This time, when he closed his eyes, sleep came quickly, heavy and dreamless. Bruce remained nearby, checking his condition periodically, monitoring his pulse, adjusting the bandages when necessary. As the hours passed, the signs of poison continued to fade. Color returned to James’s skin, his breathing evened out, and his body recovered steadily, just as Bruce had predicted.

[Congratulations! You’ve healed James Weaver heart and gained 10 points]

When James woke again, he could move without pain. He sat up slowly, testing himself, then looked at Bruce with clear eyes. “I’m healed.”

“Yes,” Bruce replied. “Enough.”

James reached into the small pouch tied at his belt and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle. When he opened it, a cluster of white cowries spilled into his palm, clean, polished, carefully kept. He held them out. “It’s not much,” he said. “But it’s everything I have.”

Bruce accepted them without ceremony. “It’s fine.”

James bowed his head slightly. “Thank you. For saving my life.” His gaze drifted toward the wrapped bodies nearby, his expression hardening, not with anger, but with resolve. He gathered the corpses and wrapped them properly, working in silence, methodical and careful, as if this was the last kindness he could offer. When he was done, he paused at the doorway. “I’m sorry,” he said without turning around. “Once again, that you had to experience that.”

Bruce said nothing.

James nodded to himself and left quietly, disappearing into the night. Bruce watched his departing figure until it was gone. Only then did he sigh. He had no desire to entangle himself deeply in the affairs of this world. That was why he hadn’t killed the assailants himself, why he hadn’t pressed James for explanations. Some matters were better left to those who belonged to them.

He turned back toward his worktable. There were still things to understand, and the world, he knew, wouldn’t stop being cruel just because one man had survived it.

The rest of the day passed without incident. More patients arrived as the hours went by, but none carried the weight James had. Minor injuries followed, shallow cuts, sprains, burns, fractures that hadn’t set properly. The quiet damage life in the wild carved into people over time. Bruce handled them all with the same calm efficiency. Clean hands. Clean tools. Clean results. To the villagers, it almost looked effortless, as though wounds simply yielded to his touch.

By nightfall, the room was quiet again. Then the next day came. And the one after that. Time blurred. The third day passed, then the fourth, then the fifth. With each sunrise, more people arrived. At first it was those with visible injuries, hunters nursing torn muscles, guards with cracked ribs, women with burns from cooking accidents or infected cuts ignored for too long. Bruce treated them without judgment or questions. Then word spread further.

People came with ailments they had carried for years. Chronic joint pain. Old wounds that never healed properly. Lingering numbness, weakness in the legs, stiffness that made simple movement a chore. Bruce didn’t promise miracles or exaggerate results. He simply told them to lie down and did what he could. More often than not, it worked.

By the fourth day, the room barely stayed empty. From morning until dusk, Bruce saw no fewer than twenty-five patients a day. Sometimes more. They lined up outside, sitting quietly, whispering to one another, watching the door like it led somewhere sacred. He never raised his voice or showed impatience. Even when his hands grew tired, his focus didn’t waver. He adjusted techniques, conserved energy, used herbs where healing wasn’t necessary and precision where it was.

People left walking straighter than they arrived. Some cried quietly. Some bowed. Some simply stared at their hands like they were seeing them for the first time. Bruce didn’t linger for thanks. He moved on.

By the fifth day, his name had become a constant presence in the village, not shouted, not praised loudly, simply spoken with certainty. If he can’t fix it, no one can.

And through it all, Bruce kept count. Every stabilized life. Every body restored enough to function again. By the end of the fifth day, the number stood at 515.

Not enough. But no longer insignificant.

That night, after the last patient had gone, Bruce stood alone washing his hands as the lamps burned low. Outside, the village lay quiet, exhaustion settling over it like a blanket. He exhaled softly.