Chapter 56 - The Clinic Outside the City

Heikou (Black Dragon Mouth)

Heicheng (Black Dragon City)

Censorate (Supervisory Court)

Yuling City (Jade City)

Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)

...

The Demon King was about to embark on a long journey, but this time, he wasn't going alone. He brought along the flying machine, a few demon citizens, a large portion of the glass from the glass factory, and a box of paper.

Their mission this time was to exchange these items for food, animal hides, and any available parts needed to manufacture buses.

Yin Jixue personally saw them off. Before leaving, the Demon King awkwardly told her to take care of herself, then jumped onto the flying machine without looking back, as if afraid someone might chase after him.

Yin Jixue found it both amusing and exasperating. The Demon King was too easy to tease, even more innocent than a middle schooler.

After the Demon King and his group left, Yin Jixue turned her attention to the long-haired rabbits.

The temperature was starting to rise, and the long-haired rabbits were probably annoyed by the fur covering their eyes. She decided to lend them a helping hand.

Long-haired rabbits: 'Are you serious?'

Of course, Yin Jixue wasn't going to do it herself. She wasn't even sure if she could handle the rabbits, so she left it to the professionals.

Teng She and Gou Chen seemed to compete, each grabbing a rabbit by the neck, pinning it down, and shaving off its fur.

The once fluffy rabbits were now completely bald.

Yin Jixue couldn't bear to watch. She had only intended to trim their fur to a shorter length, similar to that of a regular rabbit. But Teng She and the others had gone overboard, leaving the fierce long-haired rabbits whimpering and huddling together for warmth. Being bald was worse than losing their companions!

If these demons humiliated them like this and let them live, they would surely return with their kin for revenge!

Although they were rabbits, seeing a bunch of hairless rabbits was still an eyesore.

Yin Jixue ordered the rabbits to be moved indoors, with stoves lit to keep the area warm. She didn't want the rabbits to freeze to death.

After all, the Demon King had gifted them to her. If he returned to find all his rabbits dead, he might throw a tantrum.

Yin Jixue wasn't entirely sure about the uses of the rabbits' fur, but since it resembled wool, she wanted to see if it could be spun into yarn.

She approached the old demon and asked him to help build a water-powered mechanical spinning wheel. The human world had spinning wheels, but they were hand-cranked and might not handle the slightly tougher rabbit fur.

The old demon peeked around cautiously: "Has he left?"

Yin Jixue didn't understand why the old demon was so afraid of the Demon King: "Yes, he should be at Black Dragon Mouth by now."

With the flying machine, the round trip to the Xuanwu Clan's territory would only take seven days.

The flying machine could easily cover thousands of miles in a day.

The old demon took the blueprint: "Let me study this first. I'll let you know when I have some ideas."

Yin Jixue couldn't help but ask: "Why are you so afraid of him?"

The old demon puffed out his chest: "Who's afraid of him? He's just a kid. I'm letting him off easy!"

Yin Jixue was taken aback: "A kid?"

The old demon mumbled: "Well, not exactly a kid, but he's not an adult yet. He's still a child."

Yin Jixue was shocked. No wonder the Demon King was so easy to tease—he was a middle schooler?!

Had she been flirting with a middle schooler?!

A wave of guilt washed over her.

No, no, this was getting too disturbing.

The old demon looked puzzled: "What's with that reaction? Even if he's a kid, by human standards, he's already in his twenties. You didn't think he was…"

Yin Jixue quickly interrupted: "No! I was just thinking about something else! You go ahead, I have other things to do."

With that, she made a quick escape.

She had never felt so embarrassed since arriving in the demon realm.

Thankfully, the Demon King was an adult. Twenty years old meant he was just going through his rebellious phase, which was still better than being a middle schooler.

Back at the palace, Yin Jixue couldn't stop thinking about the time she had grabbed the Demon King by the collar and teased him. What if she had gotten closer and he suddenly turned into a middle schooler? No, she couldn't keep imagining this. It was too terrifying. She needed to focus on her tasks.

Just then, she received news that the hunting team had returned.

The hunting team had been away for half a month. They had some success, but one of the members was injured.

Due to the severity of the injury, he had been taken to the clinic outside the city.

Paji's clinic rarely had patients. Demons didn't get sick often, and only children occasionally came in with minor ailments.

The injured demon was named Litu, the captain of the hunting team.

According to reports, they had accidentally let one of the second-level beasts escape while capturing others. The beast's kin had held a grudge and ambushed them as they were leaving. Litu had reacted quickly and pulled a teammate out of harm's way, but half of his body had been torn apart.

The scene was gruesome, but the ambushing beast had been captured alive. It was the only live creature they brought back, and they were determined to avenge Litu.

Demons were resilient, and Litu had clung to life long enough to be brought to the clinic. Buckets of hot water were carried in, and buckets of blood were carried out. Fortunately, his life was saved.

Yin Jixue understood the value of demon lives and personally went outside the city with her maids to visit the injured.

Litu was now asleep, and his complexion had improved.

Paji stood humbly to the side.

Yin Jixue remembered her first visit outside the city, back when she had just arrived in Black Dragon City. She had asked a few demons to help her with farming, and Paji had been among them—an ordinary middle-aged demon.

She hadn't expected his medical skills to be so impressive.

Performing surgery without any medical equipment and succeeding was no small feat. This was far beyond basic medical knowledge.

She stopped in front of Paji: "You've done well. What reward would you like?"

Paji looked up in surprise. He had thought that treating a city demon without permission would earn him punishment. He had even imagined being banned from practicing medicine or worse, his son being implicated.

He had already prepared his defense in his mind. He would accept any punishment from the Queen, but he hoped it wouldn't affect Pa Rou Rou.

Feng Xiu coldly interjected: "How dare you space out when Her Majesty is speaking to you?"

Paji quickly explained: "No, no! I was just wondering why Her Majesty would reward me. Shouldn't I be punished?"

Yin Jixue was confused: "Why would you think you'd be punished?"

Paji spoke softly: "I treated a city demon without permission… and I'm just an outsider…"

Yin Jixue looked at Feng Xiu, still not understanding, and waited for her to explain.

"Your Majesty, he means that his status as an outsider makes him unworthy of treating city demons."

Yin Jixue had thought the concept of lower-class demons had faded. Was this still how demons outside the city thought?

She sighed softly: "You've done nothing wrong. A healer's heart is compassionate. How could saving a life be punishable?"

Paji breathed a sigh of relief.

Yin Jixue glanced at the patient. The room was clean, the bed was covered with washed animal hides, a crack was left in the window for ventilation, and a small stove warmed the room.

Given the lack of medical facilities, this level of care was quite thoughtful.

She instructed Feng Xiu to reward Paji upon their return. Paji's child had also won an award in the school's hunting competition, so they would be rewarded as well. Their deeds would be posted on the bulletin board.

Thinking about it, there was still some glass left at the factory. The school had already been fitted with glass windows, and now the clinic would get them too. Small lamps and other basic infrastructure would also be provided to the clinic, despite the lack of advanced medical equipment.

Yin Jixue rummaged through her system inventory and realized that the system had previously rewarded her with medical supplies.