Oops, I’ve Been Exposed

Kevin was shocked that Woody dared to make such an outrageous claim. He had been working as a doctor for years. Kevin was deemed the most trusted expert, and he received endless praise from his colleagues and his patients’ families. Still, he would never say something like that.

“It’s not a big deal that you’ve resuscitated the patient. Your skills are worthy if and only if you can cure his illness. Clearly, you’re still far from achieving that!”

Kevin continued scornfully, “I’ll ask you this. Have you figured out what poison is in the patient’s system?”

Without waiting for Woody’s reply, Kevin said confidently, “You wouldn’t know that, of course! You’re just going to try every method you know and see which works.

“The chances of you curing his illness are definitely lower than us winning a lottery. Luck won’t always be on your side, young man.

“I’ll spell my name backward if you succeed in curing the patient with your hit-or-miss attempts!”

Helen was totally disappointed with Kevin, and she found him repulsive. ” Someone who couldn’t keep a promise shouldn’t be making them either. Otherwise, they’ll only make a fool of themselves.”

Kevin’s face was flushed. He snapped back immediately, “He was just lucky earlier. That doesn’t count, and I won’t admit it either!”

Woody inserted another needle carefully and said, “I’ll just have to make you admit my skills, then.”

“Ha! Like that’s ever going to happen!” Kevin was in firm denial.

Woody said flatly, “The poison in the patient’s system is caused by a parasite.

The parasite hid in one of the veins near the patient’s heart to feed on nutritious blood. Consequently, the supply of blood to the brain was reduced, and it caused the patient to slip into a coma.”

Kevin refuted, “That’s a load of nonsense! He must have made up this bizarre parasite story. These wild stories of deadly parasites are just urban legends that have been further developed and illustrated by novel writers! We can’t possibly trust these made-up stories!

“Do you see it now? He’s just using these fabricated stories to deceive you all. He’s a swindler!”

Helen said firmly, “Mr. Henderson, I trust you. I know my father will be in good hands since you’re handling his treatment.”

Helen clearly dismissed Kevin’s arguments by saying those words.

Kevin was fuming. “You’d rather trust the words of a swindler than us experts, who graduated from prestigious schools and have years of clinical experience. This is truly saddening!”

Woody was pleased by Helen’s stance and attitude. He continued with the acupuncture treatment.

Soon enough, numerous needles were stuck on Mason’s chest.

The needles appeared to be placed all over Mason’s chest in a disorderly manner. Yet, curiously enough, a mysterious formation seemed to slowly form from those needles.

Suddenly, a tiny form of around half- inch thick appeared to be wriggling and moving under the skin of Mason’s chest. It looked like a small worm.

The form moved quickly under Mason’s skin as if trying to escape. However, all of its escape routes seemed to be blocked by the gold needles.

“Found you!” A faint smile hung on Woody’s lips.

Kevin snorted. “That’s just a trick all of you swindlers pull to fool others.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Woody took the Prunus Needle from his deerskin needle bag. Then, he swiftly stuck the needle on Mason’s neck.

“You’re not getting away under my watch!”

The Prunus Needle was used for bloodletting. In traditional medicine, bloodletting was one of the common methods used during acupuncture treatments.

Strangely, no blood came out of the Prunus Needle even though Woody had set it in place.

Kevin burst out laughing. “Did you see that, Dwayne? That’s the person who’s mastered those lost techniques you’ve talked about!

“He doesn’t even know how to use the needle correctly! Not even a drop of blood came out… What a joke! Hahaha!

Kevin fell silent the next instant.

At that moment, a triangle-shaped head peered out of the small hole found on the Prunus Needle. Everyone was shocked by the sight of that.

That thing appeared to be a miniature snake whose body was less than one inch in diameter. It was fully covered in tiny gold scales from head to tail.