A True Healing Touch

When Tom and Uncle Wei arrived at the door dedicated to boiling medicine, Little Tian was squatting in front of the clay pot, fanning the fire. Tom stopped Uncle Wei from disturbing him, pulling him to the side to quietly observe.

After a while, Little Tian uncovered the lid, fanned it with his hand, sniffed the aroma of the medicinal soup, nodded, and then carefully poured the medicine into a nearby bowl.

"Look!"

Uncle Wei's eyes widened in astonishment as he saw a faint blue glow emanating from Little Tian's hands as he poured the medicine. The color was faint, and Little Tian himself didn't notice it because he was so focused on pouring the medicine.

"What does this mean? Is Tian Zai using his ability?" Uncle Wei stared at his beloved grandson in amazement.

"I gave him a sapphire to carry with him, just to see if he could discover his ability in daily life. It seems he was too focused and unintentionally triggered his ability. Go check the medicine; there must be a problem."

"A problem?" Uncle Wei's face changed.

"Um... not as you're worried about. Come on!" Tom stepped out and waved to Tian Zai. "Hey, Little Tian!"

Tian Zai turned back upon hearing, "Ah, Uncle An, Grandpa. Uncle An, the medicine is ready. You can drink it while it's hot."

Uncle Wei walked over, carefully picked up the medicine, and despite it being hot from just being poured, quickly dipped his fingers into it, tasted a bit, then closed his eyes to savor it.

This startled Tian Zai, who grew worried. "Grandpa, did I boil the medicine for too long?"

Tom chuckled, putting an arm around Tian Zai's shoulder. "It's okay, Tian Zai, you did great."

Uncle Wei opened his eyes. "The dosage is too strong, at least three times more than I estimated."

"What?" Tian Zai was dumbfounded, suddenly panicking. "I've been following your instructions, Uncle An. Are you okay? Too much medicine can harm you, Uncle An, I..."

Tears welled up in Tian Zai's eyes as he spoke.

Tom crouched down, wiping away his tears. "Don't cry, Tian Zai, it's not your fault." Then he said to Uncle Wei, "I remember there's a patient in the camp with enteritis, right?"

Uncle Wei nodded. "Yes, Chang Maode, 52 years old, weak spleen and stomach."

"His medicine isn't ready yet, right?"

"I had someone else boil it."

"Pour it out, and let's make a new batch. Let Tian Zai boil it."

Looking at Tian Zai and then at Tom, Uncle Wei nodded solemnly.

So Uncle Wei had someone fetch the herbs from the medicine cabinet again, then handed them to Tian Zai to boil, while he and Tom watched.

As expected, during the soaking process, Tian Zai recited the prescription and effects taught to him by Uncle Wei, and when he picked up the pot, his hands faintly glowed blue.

After soaking the herbs for half an hour, Tian Zai began boiling them over the stove. Once again, his hands emitted a blue glow. And when he poured out the medicine from the pot, the glow appeared once more.

Uncle Wei picked up the medicine, tasting a bit. "I adjusted the dosage this time, reducing it by two-thirds. It's not as strong now."

Tom waved his hand. "Give it to the patient."

So Tian Zai took it to Uncle Chang Maode, who was lying in the cardboard hospital box, groaning in pain.

After drinking the medicine that Tian Zai's ability had "processed," Uncle Chang Maode stopped groaning and clutched his stomach, saying it didn't hurt anymore.

Uncle Wei took his pulse, then furrowed his brow. "This isn't possible. He's only had it twice, how could his pulse be steady and the pain gone?"

Confirming his suspicions, Tom clasped his hands and bowed to Uncle Wei. "Congratulations, Uncle Wei. Your grandson's ability is a true healing touch. Perhaps, the medicinal effect will be enhanced by being processed through his hands."

Uncle Wei looked at his confused grandson, not knowing how to describe it. "This..."

"How much traditional Chinese medicine did you teach him?"

"Since he was young and left by his parents, in order to develop his intelligence, I've been teaching him about pharmacology and pathology. He's remembered quite a few prescriptions. It's been over four years since he recited his first prescription."

Tom couldn't believe that Tian Zai, at such a young age, remembered so much. So he walked over, crouched down, and said to Tian Zai, "Congratulations, Tian Zai. Your ability can be very helpful in the camp."

Tian Zai blinked happily. "Really? What is it? How can I help?"

"When people in the camp get sick or injured, as long as they take the medicine you boil, they'll get better quickly. Look, Uncle Chang Maode just had your medicine once, and he's already better."

"Really? That's great! Haha, from now on, leave all the medicine boiling to me, Grandpa, Grandpa, I'll help you cure Grandma, Grandpa, uncles, and aunts' illnesses." 

Uncle Wei heard his grandson's declaration with great relief. He had been a doctor for decades and placed great importance on healing others, which had earned him praise from the folks on the old street. That's why he sought refuge here immediately after shrinking, and everyone trusted him. He also valued this heavy trust.

Now that his grandson had awakened his ability and was aligned with the direction he had taught, how could he not be happy? He immediately hugged his grandson, softly saying, "Tian Zai, you've done very well. Grandpa is very pleased. In the future, you should use your ability to help Grandpa and everyone in the camp, okay?"

After confirming his ability, Tian Zai looked at the gathering crowd and nodded heavily, "Hmm!"

This prompted everyone to cheer loudly.

After Tian Zai's ability was confirmed, the camp was filled with cheers. Being shrunk, falling ill, or getting injured was the biggest fear for everyone because they used to rely on hospitals. Now, the only medical expertise they could depend on was Uncle Wei's. So, whether it was Uncle Qi in power or later Zeng Thirteen who seized control, they didn't dare to go too far with Uncle Wei because his medical skills could really save lives at critical moments.

But what about serious injuries and illnesses? It's not that they didn't trust Uncle Wei's medical skills, but after all, he was an old Chinese doctor, and some problems were better treated in hospitals. Relying solely on Uncle Wei's limited herbs, some urgent and severe cases were quite precarious.

Now, with the news that Uncle Wei's grandson Tian Zai's ability could enhance the therapeutic effects of medicine, it meant that as long as there was the right medicine, even serious illnesses and injuries had a chance of being cured. Naturally, everyone was ecstatic.

However, Tom's happiness was different from theirs. He returned to the cardboard laboratory, holding a piece of iron and sinking into thought.

It seemed that the differences in abilities were indeed related to a person's skills and habits.

Starting with Liu Lian, according to his own words, he was very good at sound positioning. During gaming, with good hardware, he could distinguish many sound details. His ability was an extension of this skill, enabling him to hear a wider range of sounds, even those from a distance. Although it wasn't always effective, it seemed to be a matter of proficiency.

Little Mei's humanoid light bulb... the application direction was still unclear, so let's not mention it for now.

Bo Zai had spent a lot of time fighting and exercising, especially in long-distance and sprinting sports. Therefore, his awakened abilities were related to strengthening strength and leg explosiveness.

Rong Shu, Zhou Guangrong, was a veteran who used to be in the army's kitchen. After retiring, he became a professional chef. He had worked in several restaurants. Later, after losing money in gambling, he opened a small intestines noodle shop with his wife in Lao Pu Street. The kitchen industry was the most frequent in contact with fire, so his awakened ability was fire manipulation. This couldn't be said to have no connection with his profession.

Looking at Skinny Wang Sanli, he used to be a habitual thief, according to Bo Zai. Climbing ten floors at night to steal something was a piece of cake for him. Compared to his agility, Skinny was more adept at hiding in various corners to steal things. Even in an environment full of surveillance cameras, he could still easily avoid them and steal. Now, his awakened ability was directly related to stealth, a skill called "sneak," which allowed him to conceal himself so well that even an ant colony couldn't detect him.

Thinking back to himself, Tom felt that his frequent fights with others during childhood and his resulting robust physique were the reasons he could awaken enhanced arm and leg strength. And his love for assembling models and various cutting tools unexpectedly led him to the same path as Iron Scraps, a professional engineer, and both gained the ability to shape metal. As for invisibility, that was an unexpected byproduct. As for communicating with animals? That's something he couldn't quite figure out.

But no matter what, based on the awakened individuals he currently knew, most people's abilities were related to their lives, which also indicated that the awakening of abilities was possible for many people.

Tian Zai's ability was good news for the camp, greatly inspiring the survivors' hopes for the future. At least, everyone no longer had so much fear of injuries and illnesses.

But for Tom, the resources around the camp were always limited, and could over a hundred people survive by just huddling in a small place? There had to be some development and new technological upgrades.

Thinking back to those two men in black, they probably wouldn't let the survivors live a comfortable life.

Tom planned to lead everyone to move to a better place, gain more resources, and stronger means of self-defense.

If they didn't want to leave, Tom thought, at least after giving them better means of self-defense, he would choose to leave on his own.

For now, it was better to finish building Lao Jie One.

So, Tom returned to the monotonous drawing board, sculpting parts with Iron Scraps, discussing modifications, drawing again, and then repeating the process of producing parts.

With the experience of making Lao Jie Zero, the time spent on making Lao Jie One was greatly reduced, and many detours were avoided. And during the production process, Tom had new ideas about the locking buttons on the armor. After multiple improvements with Iron Scraps, they finally made a hard button that wearers could unlock by themselves. This meant that even in the complex armor of Lao Jie Zero, the wearer could now free themselves without needing anyone else's help.

One day, when most of Lao Jie One's components were completed, Tom was contemplating how to improve the new hard button on Lao Jie Zero when Skinny ran over panting.

"Tom, hurry to the gate, that... that Beetle... is attacking! And... it's gotten so big..."