Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

"This hospital definitely has a problem," Shiller said, voicing his suspicion. "Even during the outbreak of the Black Death in the Middle Ages, there were no rules preventing doctors from leaving the wards. But obviously, we can't leave."

"Moreover, normally, there's no reason for a normal hospital to completely separate the guidance room from the wards with metal corridors to transport patients. Not to mention the high construction costs, it's too easy to cause secondary injuries, completely unnecessary."

"Do you remember who the nurse said brought the patients in?" Strange asked.

"Wood. And it sounds like he's a wooden person." Shiller connected the previous clues, saying, "If the person guarding the guidance room above is a wooden person, then the blood stuck on the cloth thrown over by Mr. Raven couldn't possibly be Wood's. It must be either his own or someone else's."

"You previously speculated that Mr. Raven killed the gatekeeper, but if that Raven man was Mr. Raven that day, then the outcome is probably the exact opposite."

"But if that's the case, who delivered the newspapers to us? Wood?"

Strange walked over and sat by the fireplace, pondering, "I guess it might be like this—Mr. Raven wanted to break into the guidance room, but was stopped by Wood, even got injured by him, but during the struggle, he threw the cloth through the channel and then ran away."

"After we threw the copper coin into the channel, Wood might go to pick it up. Since Mr. Raven can control ravens to send us newspapers, he can naturally control such birds to watch Wood at the entrance of the guidance room."

"As soon as he sees Wood picking up the copper coin, he sends a raven to fly to the window to deliver the newspapers to us. Since the newspaper coming from the window doesn't have to go through Wood, he can send it anytime."

"Then Nova was sent over. He definitely wanted to save this woman, but it might be because Wood was guarding, his note didn't get through in time... And of course, it's also possible that we acted too quickly."

"To get the cloth that could save Nova through, Mr. Raven obviously clashed with Wood again. But in the end, he might have escaped again, only this time he was severely injured."

"Wood seems unwilling to endure Mr. Raven's provocation any longer, so he figured out a way to find him, brought him back to the guidance room, and then sent him through the channel."

After stating his hypothesis, Strange looked towards Shiller. After a moment of thought, Shiller said, "The biggest loophole in this hypothesis is that Mr. Raven who was sent here wasn't injured."

Strange frowned as well. But then Shiller continued, "I think, Wood and Mr. Raven might be in some kind of cooperative relationship. But if that's the case, it doesn't explain why Mr. Raven would throw in a cloth with blood."

"From the perspective of a cooperative relationship, one acts as the gatekeeper, and the other comes to sell newspapers—one can make a little extra money, and the other can successfully sell the newspapers. It's a mutually beneficial cooperation."

"As for the cloth, the blood on it might not necessarily be Mr. Raven's. It's possible that something happened in the guidance room."

This, however, seemed to inspire Strange, who said, "Our hospital is located in Magic Core Town, which recently experienced a severe plague outbreak. Like you said, if the ruler governing this area isn't foolish, he would first take measures to control the spread of the plague, at least by enclosing the entire town."

"Although this is beneficial for the surrounding areas, for the residents of the town, it is hell. So many types of plague breaking out simultaneously and the town being sealed, getting infected is only a matter of time."

"There definitely are people unwilling to wait here to die and are trying to find ways to resist. Could Nova be one of them? Was he actually trying to lead the workers to escape from here?"

"Are you suggesting that the army that sealed Magic Core Town is the enemy of this so-called 'mine area hero'? Then how did the great detective from Westchester manage to enter the sealed town, and why did he come looking for this woman?"

After thinking it over, Strange said, "Since it's to prevent the plague from spreading, the main concern is to prevent people inside the town from running out. For those who want to come in, they probably won't be so strict. Stark, playing the role of a noble, dressed up and carrying a lot of money, and able to conjure a revolver, might still find a way to get in."

"As for what he's doing here..." Strange shook his head.

But Shiller added, "I guess, he wanted to rescue Nova, to let the outside world know about the situation in Magic Core Town. Otherwise, why would he be wanted as soon as he arrived here?"

"I understand now," Strange said, his face showing sudden realization, "I guess, Westchester must be not far from here, and it might be the political and economic center of this region. People there are also afraid of the plague, so they ordered the town to be sealed."

"The role Stark is playing might have discovered some clues, thus he chose to delve deep alone, trying to expose everything, so that the people in the town could receive treatment."

"The people of Westchester saw through his intentions, fearing his success, so they simply framed a murder on him, making him a fugitive. Then no one would believe what he says."

Shiller also nodded, feeling this matched Stark's style of doing things.

"Whether his partner is Captain America or not, Stark truly is a hero. His innate sense of duty towards the weak makes it impossible for him to ignore such事情. If you add Steve Rogers, then the main theme of these two isn't solving cases, but punishing the wicked and eliminating evil."

"Mr. Raven wants to save Nova, so he must be on the side of the resistors. But as for Wood..." Shiller drew out his words, "Who would be happy about a massive outbreak of plague in their own region? The answer, of course, is the hospital boss. Of course, there are also those employees who aren't afraid of getting sick and can take this opportunity to extort money."

Strange's mind immediately flashed through the body characteristics of several patients he had seen before, especially some details of hands or faces, then he immediately said: "Except for Nova, it seems like none of the patients we've received are poor. There are no obvious signs of labor on their bodies. Even that werewolf does not have much wear on its claws."

"It seems so," Shiller said. "Wood is a wooden man; he seems immune to most plagues, or else he wouldn't have been assigned to the guidance room. And with the plague breaking out in the town and the lack of medical resources, if you want treatment, you have to find ways to pull strings and leverage relationships."

"Wood has the authority to decide who can enter the surgery room, so naturally, he is a target for people's flattery. Even just a town must have some wealthy people. He can make a fortune from it."

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"Perhaps previously, he had some cooperation with Mr. Raven who supported the resistance, mutually benefiting each other. But once Mr. Raven made his stance clear, wanting to resolve the plague issue completely, Wood wouldn't agree with him and might even try to get rid of him."

"So he sent Mr. Raven to us, how much does that show he distrusts our medical skills?"

"It's not necessarily distrust. After all, our surgery room has a mortality rate of 90%. It's normal for him to choose us."

Strange was about to object, but then he thought of something and said, "Do you think there are other surgery rooms?"

"There must be, otherwise how could there be so few patients with the whole town suffering from the plague," said Shiller. "Even though the corridor isn't open for exploration, there must be something there. Maybe that's where the other surgery rooms are."

The two rested briefly, then Shiller pulled the lever again. Another patient was delivered.

This time it looked like a male elf, but his height and body type were similar to a human's, only with sharper ears and a paler complexion.

However, his abnormal condition was visibly evident, with convulsions all over his body, drool at the corners of his mouth, and a continuous low growl from his throat.

Strange was just about to go over and check his condition when the elf convulsed and fell to the ground, then started flailing his arms wildly, trying to bite the edge of the surgical table with his teeth.

"Silver Moon Madness!" Shiller immediately recognized the symptoms of the disease and said, "You hold him off; I will prepare the medication!"

Strange picked up a stove hook from beside the fireplace and smashed it down on the elf's shoulder, causing him to stagger. But the elf persistently bit back. Strange held the stove hook in front of him, and the elf bit down on it, breaking several teeth.

With a splash, Shiller poured the contents of the test tube onto the elf. His body emitted a plume of white smoke and released a horrible scream.

"Ah!! Ahhh!!"

After struggling on the ground for a while, the elf finally calmed down. Together, they carried him back to the surgery table.

"This one can't be saved," Shiller said. "The symptoms of madness and delirium indicate his infection has reached the terminal stage, and he will completely lose his sanity in a few more hours; no medicine would work now."

Strange recalled the symptoms of the disease, then said, "This should meet your requirement, right? Should we preserve samples?"

"Of course, keep the blood and saliva." Shiller went to pick up the tooth fragments from the ground and said, "I wonder if elf teeth can be sold."

Strange collected some saliva and drew a tube of blood. Shiller took them to be preserved, then kindly put the remaining medicine from the test tube into a syringe and injected it.

The elf displayed great pain, screaming and thrashing, looking like he was close to death. But the medicine was evidently effective; less than 10 minutes after the injection, he regained some consciousness.

"Thank you, doctor, am I dying soon?"

"I'm afraid so," Shiller nodded and said. "The virus has invaded your brain; we can only alleviate but not cure. If you had come earlier, there might have been hope. But now... we are powerless."

The elf lay there somewhat dazed, saying, "I wanted to come earlier. When I felt a bit dizzy, I already came to the hospital, but... but they said I could still hold on..."

The elf's voice was somewhat youthful, although he looked like an adult male, his tone and demeanor still resembled a child.

"I injected you with red holy water, which can buy you at most six hours of life. But we..." Shiller paused as if he thought of something else and asked, "How much did Wood charge you?"

"One gold coin and twelve silver coins, all my money, originally for my sister's tuition, but she has already died of the disease..."

"What?! How much did he charge you???"