Chapter Fifty-Five: Healing

When Zhong Shenxiu and Ivan re-entered the cluttered room, Anton Vanko was already asleep on the lounge chair. His breathing was steady, and there was a visible trace of joy at the corners of his eyes.

Ivan tiptoed to his father’s side, picked up an old examination report from the table, and handed it to Zhong Shenxiu as he spoke, “This is his check-up report from six months ago. It took a lot of persuading before he agreed to let me have it.”

Nodding, Zhong Shenxiu took the report and glanced over it. As expected, it matched his suspicions.

Cirrhosis of the liver, with collateral circulation already formed in the anal venous plexus and esophageal venous plexus.

In truth, most heavy drinkers end up with this problem. The liver is the only organ in the human body that can break down alcohol.

But everything takes time, including the liver’s breakdown of alcohol.

If one keeps drinking heavily without giving the liver cells time to metabolize the alcohol, the cells will begin to die. However, since the liver is the only organ in the abdomen capable of regenerating itself, it can handle a little cell death—as long as it’s given enough time, it can even regenerate to its original state.

But if drinking continues in excess during this repair period, and the liver is not given time to heal, the cells will be forced to work overtime, trying to repair as quickly as possible. And, as the saying goes, haste makes waste. When liver cells rush to repair themselves, mistakes are bound to happen.

The normal regeneration of liver lobules turns into pseudo-lobules, and regular cell regeneration becomes nodular regeneration, making the liver harden. This is the main cause of cirrhosis.

A little hardening isn’t a big problem for the liver—it can still manage to repair itself.

But if heavy drinking continues and the liver is still given no time to recover, the hardening worsens, spreading until the entire liver becomes hard. This is advanced cirrhosis.

The liver is essentially the main gateway for the veins of the limbs, but once the liver is completely hardened, blood can no longer flow through it.

At this point, the blood, like a river encountering a blockage, will split and find alternate routes, creating collateral circulation—essentially, the blood detours through smaller vessels.

The report showed that six months ago, Anton Vanko had already developed collateral circulation in the anal and esophageal venous plexuses, which meant he had been suffering from end-stage cirrhosis for at least half a year.

He had continued to drink heavily during that time. To be honest, surviving even six months was a miracle in itself.

After all, even with active post-operative treatment, the five-year survival rate for late-stage cirrhosis is only around twenty percent.

The mortality rate is extremely high.

And considering Anton Vanko’s advanced age, with his organs already far from their prime, even the world’s most skilled surgeons wouldn’t dare promise a cure with conventional methods.

But Zhong Shenxiu could.

For someone with healing magic, it was as easy as eating a meal.

After all, he was known as “Soul Chaser of the Underworld”—well... a nickname he gave himself.

“So? Can he be cured? Should we go to the hospital now?” Ivan, seeing Zhong Shenxiu fall silent after reading the report, worried something was wrong. He waited patiently for a while, but eventually couldn’t help asking.

Zhong Shenxiu snapped out of his trance, having been momentarily lost in the ocean of medical knowledge that had suddenly welled up in his mind.

This was one of the system’s flaws, he thought. Since the knowledge hadn’t been learned by himself, it was sometimes hard to prioritize. Still, when the time came, it could always be used, so compared to the benefits, this minor flaw hardly mattered.

“No need. Here will do,” Zhong Shenxiu replied, shaking his head as he moved toward Anton Vanko.

“Here?” Ivan looked astonished. Even though he’d been in prison for fifteen years, he knew something about his father’s illness.

Once cirrhosis reached the late stage, a liver transplant was basically the only option.

But in this rundown home, not to mention surgical instruments, they couldn’t even provide the most basic sterile environment for surgery.

Attempting such a major operation here would almost certainly end in a fatal infection...

“This... won’t work, will it?” Ivan asked again, seeing Zhong Shenxiu ignore him.

“This is enough. I’m not going to operate. Just watch quietly,” Zhong Shenxiu replied, glancing at Ivan as if he’d read his doubts.

Ivan opened his mouth as if to say more, but in the end, swallowed his words.

He remembered the strange abilities Zhong Shenxiu had displayed when leading him out of prison—things utterly beyond his comprehension. Especially that casual snap of the fingers that summoned a violent wind.

Despite his misgivings, Ivan chose to keep quiet and observe how Zhong Shenxiu would proceed.

If anything truly dangerous happened, I’ll step in immediately... Ivan told himself.

Meanwhile, Zhong Shenxiu had reached the side of the sleeping Anton Vanko. Anton’s abdomen was somewhat distended—a perfectly normal result of portal hypertension causing ascites.

Everything originated from the liver, so Zhong Shenxiu naturally chose to address the root cause: heal the liver first.

He placed his hand on Anton Vanko’s right upper abdomen, where the liver lay.

Then...

“Healing Spell.”

He whispered the words inwardly, and a beam of green light, more refined than ever before, appeared in his palm.

As with all skills, proficiency mattered. After more than a month of practice, Zhong Shenxiu’s mastery of the Healing Spell had grown far beyond its initial level.

At the same time, under the influence of the spell, he could sense the interior of Anton Vanko’s liver.

If a healthy person’s liver was like a sponge, Anton’s was like a block of hard stone—no elasticity, no luster.

But under the miraculous glow of his healing spell, Anton Vanko’s long-dead liver began to revive as if by a miracle, like withered wood meeting spring’s return...

One second, two seconds...

The liver gradually softened, its surface smoothing, its shape becoming round and full...

In just three seconds,

Zhong Shenxiu had restored half of Anton Vanko’s cirrhotic liver.

Venous blood began to flow rapidly once more; the long-parched vessels were nourished anew, and each liver cell cheered silently as it resumed its proper function!

[Ding—Passive Ability Acquired: Electrical Energy (Intermediate).]

At that moment, a system notification abruptly broke Zhong Shenxiu’s concentration. After more than a month without a single reward since leaving prison, he had just received one—after only three seconds!