NIP Chapter 90 A World Where Only Doctors Get Hurt
Chapter 90 A World Where Only Doctors Get Hurt
Three days after the Xijiao Reservoir incident, the sky over Changxiang City was exceptionally blue.
The official report stated that the water pollution was caused by a "seasonal algal bloom," and that the situation had been resolved after emergency treatment. As for those who experienced diarrhea after drinking the water, it was uniformly explained as "norovirus infection."
The reason was terrible, but everyone believed it.
After all, nobody wants to believe they've swallowed a bellyful of worms.
Renxin Pharmacy returned to its usual tranquility—if you ignored Li Siyuan, who was frantically scrubbing the floor with 84 disinfectant at the entrance.
"Master, this smell just won't go away!" Li Siyuan said in a muffled voice, wearing a gas mask. "Some of the fish manure from that bucket was spilled on the truck, and now our Wuling Hongguang smells like salted fish that's been dead for ten thousand years."
"Then let the car windows be open to let the sun shine." Wang Minyu sat behind the counter, holding a magnifying glass, observing a plant that had just been transplanted from the backyard into a pot.
It was a ginger plant.
Unlike the yellowish-brown ginger found in the market, this ginger has a strange purplish-red skin, serrated edges on its leaves, and when you get close to it, it doesn't smell like ginger at all, but rather like burnt chili peppers.
This is a mutated variety grown using "fish fertilizer" residue.
The system names it "Fiery Ginger," and its characteristics are extreme spiciness, the ability to instantly dilate capillaries, and a side effect that causes users to experience the illusion of "scalp on fire."
"Boss, help!"
A shrill voice shattered the morning's tranquility.
A man wearing a plaid shirt and carrying a backpack rushed in.
His hair was as sparse as an autumn meadow, with a perfect Mediterranean pattern in the middle that reflected the sunlight.
"Registration, one hundred." Wang Minyu said without looking up.
The man's hands trembled as he scanned the QR code: "Dr. Wang, I heard you specialize in treating difficult and complicated diseases. My hair... is there any hope?"
His name is Zhang Wei (not the doctor Zhang Wei, nor the lawyer Zhang Wei, there are just too many people named Zhang Wei), a senior architect at a major company, with an annual salary of one million, at the cost of sacrificing his hair follicles.
"I've seen Western doctors, who said it's androgenetic alopecia; I've seen traditional Chinese medicine doctors, who said it's kidney deficiency." Zhang Wei took off his glasses and wiped the oil off his face. "I've used minoxidil, taken finasteride, and even had two hair transplants. The transplanted hair looks like dandelions; it just falls apart in the wind. Now, the new interns at the company call me 'Light Bulb Bro.'"
Wang Minyu put down the magnifying glass and gestured for Zhang Wei to sit down.
"Stretch out your hand."
Zhang Wei stretched out his hand; his fingers were long and slender, but the tips were covered in calluses from typing on the keyboard.
Instead of taking Zhang Wei's pulse, Wang Minyu took out a thin silver needle from the drawer and gently pricked Zhang Wei's head.
"Ouch!" Zhang Wei shrank his neck.
"Your scalp is stiff as iron, and blood flow is poor." Wang Minyu pulled out the needle. There was no blood bead on the needle tip, but a little white oil. "Your scalp is full of this kind of solidified oil. The hair follicles are all suffocated. You have to loosen the soil before planting a tree. You're just planting a seedling directly on cement. No wonder it won't survive."
"Then...what should I do? Do I still need to take Chinese medicine? I have a bad stomach."
"No medicine." Wang Minyu pointed to the bowl of purplish-red ginger on the table. "For external application."
He turned to Li Siyuan, who was wiping the floor, and said, "Siyuan, stop wiping. Come here and crush this ginger to extract the juice."
Li Siyuan leaned closer, smelled the pot of ginger, and immediately sneezed, tears streaming down his face: "Master, this stuff stings my eyes! Can you put this on your head? It'll kill you!"
"He won't die, he'll just be overcooked," Wang Minyu said calmly. "This is called 'Heavy Fire Attack.' His scalp is already 'dead,' and his nerve endings are dulled. Ordinary ginger can't stimulate the hair follicles at all. We have to use this mutated, fiery ginger to forcibly blast open those blocked blood vessels."
Ten minutes later.
Screams like those of a pig being slaughtered echoed from Renxin Pharmacy.
Zhang Wei sat in the chair, his hands gripping the armrests tightly, veins bulging.
His head was covered with a layer of purplish-red ginger juice, which was still steaming.
"Hot! Hot, hot, hot!" Zhang Wei cried out. "Dr. Wang, I feel like my brain is boiling! Is it on fire? Quick, get a fire extinguisher!"
"Bear with it." Wang Minyu sat across from me, drinking tea and holding a copy of "A Guide to Cervical Spondylosis Rehabilitation." "This is ginger juice reacting with your oily layer. This is called 'breaking the ice.' Think about your year-end bonus, think about your stock options, think about that intern who called you a 'light bulb.'"
"I can't think about it! It hurts too much!"
"How about we talk about code?" Wang Minyu suddenly changed the subject. "What do you think of the new C++ standard?"
Zhang Wei was taken aback, but his professional instincts led him to subconsciously answer, "Well... actually, it significantly optimizes memory management, but the compilation speed..."
He started talking non-stop about technology.
Miraculously, as my brain worked at high speed, the burning sensation on my head seemed to turn into some kind of background noise.
Although it still hurts, it has reached a tolerable level.
Wang Minyu gave Zhao Na a look.
Zhao Na understood immediately, took out a pair of plum blossom needles, and began to rapidly tap and prick Zhang Wei's red scalp.
"This is called 'feinting to the east while attacking in the west'," Wang Minyu explained to Su Qing in a low voice. "Programmers' brains have a special shielding mechanism. As long as they enter a 'flow' state, physical pain will be downgraded. It's actually a kind of mental anesthesia."
Half an hour later, wash it off with ginger juice.
Zhang Wei looked in the mirror and was stunned.
The top of my head, which was originally shiny and pale, is now bright red, and it even feels warm to the touch, instead of the cold sensation I had felt before.
The most amazing thing is that, upon closer inspection, tiny black dots were actually seeping out of the pores.
"This is……"
"Fluff." Wang Minyu put away the plum blossom needle. "The hair follicles have been activated. But this is only the first step. For the next month, you need to come in for 'fire therapy' once a day. Also, stop ordering your takeout; Guanshan will send you a specially made 'hair growth meal' every day."
"Hair growth meal?"
"Hmm, black sesame seeds, he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum), and..." Wang Minyu glanced at the backyard, "...some kind of high-protein fish bone powder."
Zhang Wei paid the money with profuse thanks. Although his scalp was still throbbing, his eyes lit up.
After seeing Zhang Wei off, Li Siyuan slumped in his chair: "Master, why do I feel like this place is becoming less and less like a proper pharmacy? First they feed me fish soup, then they rub chili and ginger on me, and now they're even offering psychological counseling for programmers."
"Serious?" Wang Minyu moved the pot of fiery ginger back into the sunlight. "Can a serious doctor cure his hair loss? We call this 'precision medicine.' Alright, enough nonsense. Go check on Old Wu's tofu fermentation in the backyard. I have a feeling the next unlucky guy is on his way."