Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

In the evening, having successfully completed their tasks for the day, the three busied themselves again. Shiller was by the operating table, manipulating a mold, while Strange and Wanda first cleaned up the operating table, wiping clean the bloodstains on the floor, and then tidied up the portrait, removing the filled flask and replacing it with an empty one.

Wanda went to deal with the herbs. While stirring the pot, she said, "I think today's base mixture can still be improved. What do you think about adding Vinegar Herb directly into it?"

"I think that's fine," Strange nodded and said, "we could also add some salt, or some fragrant herbs to cut through the greasiness."

Wanda seemed to have a new idea, as she started flipping through the Magic Book, occasionally tossing herbs into the pot, filling the room with the aroma of hot pot base.

Strange was reading a different book, but before long, he began to feel sleepy. It was at this moment that he remembered something new he had seen in his dream—he said, "They cut open the girl's arm and let out a lot of blood, seemingly wanting to use the blood for something."

Shiller also recalled his own experiences in the dream and recounted what he had seen. Wanda said incredulously, "Are you saying you saw Dr. Foster? But isn't he a role model for all doctors? Could he be a bad person?"

"It's quite obvious now," Shiller sighed and said, "the Foster I saw in the dream was much younger. Clearly, he gained his later reputation through some evil experiments."

"You mentioned he drew your blood too, Strange," Shiller put down his book and looked at Strange, "could there be a connection?"

"I am certain that the time period I was in was not the Middle Ages," Shiller said, "I saw suit cuffs, it should be around the 17th or 18th century."

"I didn't notice any significant era-specific features, but I feel like my era might be even earlier," Strange said, "the attire of those people, they looked a bit like villagers from the Middle Ages."

"So, the boy and the girl are not from the same era," Wanda concluded, "but they've been treated similarly."

"That's right," said Shiller after a moment of thought, "after the upgrade of the operating room, there are more books. Maybe we can find some clues from them."

"You go search first," Strange stood up and said, "I'm a bit tired, I'll go sleep for a while."

He returned to the rest room. As he passed the full-length mirror, he faintly saw that the reflection in the mirror twisted for a moment, as if two more arms had sprouted from his back.

But Strange thought he was seeing things and didn't pay attention to it. When he lay down on the bed, he only saw the mirror flash, as if something was fluttering inside it.

Strange turned over, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. But perhaps because he slept too often, he did not have dreams this time.

In the darkness of the rest room, One Hand slowly reached out from the mirror, followed by an arm, half a body, and then a whole person.

A naked man, almost identical to Strange, stepped out from the mirror. He walked barefoot to the wardrobe, took out a robe and put it on, and adorned himself with a Cross and glasses. Except for a slightly darker skin tone, he was now indistinguishable from Strange.

The loose robe neatly concealed the two extra arms on his back. In this manner, he slowly opened the door to the rest room and entered the operating room.

The operating room was not quiet either. Shiller, who had been working on a mold, looked up and remembered that he hadn't written today's report. He gasped, put down the clay, ran to the operating table, grabbed paper and pen, and began writing furiously.

As he wrote, he grumbled, "It's like there's only one doctor around here. Steven finishes an operation and then doesn't care about anything; that's the attitude of surgeons..."

Just as he finished speaking, he saw someone push the door open and exit the rest room. Shiller immediately cleared his throat and said, "At least you have some conscience. Stop talking and hurry up, the nurse is coming in an hour, get to writing."

Shiller pointed to the space next to him, pushed half of his paper towards it, and threw over a pen.

Seeing that Strange didn't move, Shiller said without looking up: "It's not that I particularly need your help, but it is indeed late. I surely can't finish by myself. You don't want the nurse barging in, do you?"

Not hearing a response from Strange, Shiller looked over curiously. He saw Strange flashing a creepy smile at him, then slowly extending two more arms from behind.

This should have been a very shocking scene, but Shiller's first reaction was: "Damn, God has given you another pair of hands?!"

Then he realized that this might not be the real Strange. He quickly stood up from the chair. The other party, perhaps thinking he was going to attack, posed defensively.

Shiller simply vacated the chair, pointing at it, and said to him, "Given that you have four hands, you should be able to finish the report at double speed. Who else but you for this task? Come on."

Wanda, who was scrubbing the pot, turned her head and got quite a fright seeing Strange with four arms. She rushed over and said to the fake Strange, "Who are you?! What have you done with the real Steven?"

"Hey, don't be so tense, lady, we don't need the real Steven anymore, this guy has two pairs of Hands of God," Shiller said with shining eyes. "He can operate on two tables at the same time, and fill out reports for two people at once. He's the perfect doctor."

"Really?" Wanda was somewhat skeptical. She said, "Will this guy really help us with work? Why do I feel like he looks a bit menacing?"

"He'd better help us with work," Shiller narrowed his eyes and said, "or else he'll be the reason I can't finish the report. Let him go and apologize to the nurses himself."

No sooner had he spoken, Shiller unexpectedly picked up a hardened piece of clay and hurled it at the fake Strange's face. With a bang, the impostor was knocked back. Wanda immediately followed through, smashing her pot directly onto his chest, knocking him to the ground.

Strange was startled awake by the noise and also jumped at the sight of the person lying on the ground. Shiller simply tied the man up with a rope and, before the nurse arrived, threw him out the door.

Soon, the footsteps of the nurse grew closer and closer. Wanda slightly opened the door and used magic to untie the rope.

Instantly, there were screams and growls from outside, followed by a cacophony of crashing and banging...

Shiller yelled at the observation window, "Sorry, ma'am, I didn't finish the report today. But there's a reason for that..."

After a while, the eyes of a nurse covered in blood suddenly appeared at the observation window. Just as she seemed to say something, the door was violently slammed open.

The nurse, who was pressed against the door looking in, was knocked to the ground, and then something hard smacked her. When she stood up again, she found a full-body mirror lying next to her.

"Here you go, ma'am, no need to thank me."

Having said that, Shiller slammed the door shut.

Having witnessed all this, Wanda said, "She's definitely going to want to kill you, absolutely."

"It won't be any more than when she finds out I didn't finish the report," Shiller spread his hands and said, "Even just in this Game World, there are plenty who want me dead. Let her take a number and get in line."

Sure enough, the corridor echoed with frantic screams, and the nurse began violently banging on the door. But at that moment, the full-body mirror on the side began to take action.

When Shiller threw it out, the mirror just happened to reflect the nurse's image. The image in the mirror began to transform. By the time the nurse started to bang on the door, a pale arm reached out from the mirror and grabbed her ankle.

The nurse turned her head in confusion, only to see another version of herself crawling out of the mirror, and this doppelgänger had two heads.

And there was Shiller, still gleefully watching the commotion from the observation window. He said with schadenfreude, "I think this lady might be more competent, given she has an extra mouth to scold those doctors who don't finish their reports. Maybe you should consider handing over your position to her?"

The nurse was obviously not in the mood to listen to him, and the real and fake nurses started fighting each other, chasing each other further down the corridor.

Once the nurse had left, Shiller opened the door to retrieve the mirror and also took a look at Fake Strange's body. He discovered that there was no tongue in the corpse's mouth, not that it was missing, but it had been cut off cleanly at the base.

Shiller had some speculations in mind, but Wanda looked at the mirror worriedly and said, "This thing seems able to replicate people. Do we really want to keep it in the room?"

"Of course, it can be very useful at critical moments," Shiller said with a smile, clearly having some ideas.

After night fell, the hospital quieted down, as it seemed nothing moved at night. Shaken by the mirror's incident, Strange couldn't sleep. Shiller was contemplating the content of a dream, and chose not to sleep as well. Wanda, having slept earlier, wasn't tired, so they all stayed up through the night.

Just as they thought the night would pass peacefully, there was a disturbance at the window. A large raven with shiny feathers landed on the window frame, preening its feathers and occasionally lifting its head to look at them.

Shiller walked under the window, looked up blankly at the raven, and the raven looked back at him. The two of them had a stare-down.

"I have a habit of eating breakfast," Shiller suddenly said, "How about roast chicken?"

Wanda put down the pillowcase she was folding and joined him, looking up at the raven and suggesting, "Should I knock it down for you?"

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"No, young lady. You cannot attack me," the raven spoke.

"We have a talking roast chicken," Shiller commented, still staring at the raven.

Not to be outdone, Wanda's wand whooshed out from her hand but halted inches from the raven.

"Stop your little tricks, Witch. You cannot possibly hurt me," the raven said disdainfully.

The wand fell with a clang. Shiller raised one eyebrow and said to Wanda, "I believe even birds should take care of their appearance. What do you think, ma'am?"

With another gesture, Wanda opened the door of the rest room. The mirror whooshed over, directly aimed at the raven.

But the reflection in the mirror wasn't that of a bird, but a humanoid with a raven's head, identical to the birdman they saw before.

"Take that cursed object away from me!" the raven roared.

Just then, the bell for the start of the workday rang, and the two disinterestedly went about their business, putting on gloves, ready for work. No one paid any attention to the raven anymore.

Strange pulled a lever, and a shadow fell from the corridor. The raven, perched on the window frame, was about to speak when all three let out a simultaneous gasp of surprise.

Stark, lying in the hospital bed, slowly opened his eyes—Shiller and Strange weren't wearing their masks.