Midnight.
At Clinic No. 9, the floor-standing antique clock, older than Lu Jiu himself, chimed twelve times on the dot.
The sound was dull, echoing through the empty clinic.
Lu Jiu, seated cross-legged on a cushion, ended his day of meditation.
He opened his eyes; his pupils were distinct black and white, appearing exceptionally clear and bright in the gloom. His skin was fair, his features delicate, and he wore a white lab coat. He looked barely twenty, but his eyes held a stillness that didn't belong to one so young.
The smell of something charred wafted into his nostrils.
Mixed within that smell was a scorching, desperate aura, rushing straight from the end of the street towards the clinic.
Someone was coming.
Lu Jiu frowned slightly and let out a soft sigh as he stood up.
Another troublesome patient like this.
Resigned, he picked up the fire hose from the corner and turned the valve. Water gushed out noisily.
He lifted the hose and began drenching the clinic floor from the doorway, soaking it thoroughly. The water's surface reflected the lone light bulb on the ceiling, making the clinic look as if it had just been ravaged by a downpour.
After finishing this task, he walked to the door and stood waiting quietly.
A tall man was stumbling and staggering as he ran frantically down the street.
The man appeared to be in his thirties, with a burly build and features that should have been masculine but were now twisted in extreme agony. His skin showed an unnatural reddish hue; sweat barely had time to seep from his pores before it was vaporized into steam by the intense heat.
The cement ground he ran over was left with faintly charred, steaming footprints.
"Save me…"
The man repeated the words hoarsely, his voice filled with the terror of one facing death.
He spotted the shop at the street corner with the plaque reading "Clinic No. 9"—his last hope.
Summoning all his strength, he reached out to push the somewhat aged wooden door.
His palm was mere centimeters from the brass handle.
*Sizzle—*
A sharp, sizzling sound.
The brass door handle turned red-hot as if scorched by an invisible flame, quickly emitting wisps of smoke.
Then, under the man's horrified gaze, it began to melt like wax, distorting and dripping globs of molten metal.
This bizarre sight drained the last of the man's strength.
The door was pulled open from the inside.
A wave of scorching heat rushed out, causing Lu Jiu's bangs to curl slightly.
His face expressionless, Lu Jiu looked at the man who was nearly collapsing on the doorstep. His eyes swept over the puddle of cooling brass on the ground, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Come in."
Lu Jiu stepped aside, then added,
"Door handle, brass. Twelve hundred. Damaged flooring calculated separately."
The man, Zhang Yan, rushed into the clinic. The moment his feet touched the floor, a series of *sizzle sizzle* sounds erupted, and large clouds of steam billowed up, instantly filling the clinic with mist, making it resemble a sauna.
The stainless steel stethoscopes hanging on the wall began to glow red. A glass jar on the medicine cabinet containing dried herbs cracked silently.
Zhang Yan looked down in agony at his own hands. Beneath his skin, a red light flowed like molten rock.
He fell to his knees, pleading desperately, "Doctor, please, I beg you…"
Lu Jiu handed him a glass cup, its outside coated with a layer of white frost, containing half a cup of salt water.
Lu Jiu's voice held no discernible emotion.
"Drink this first. It'll buy you another quarter of an hour."
"Don't touch anything. Especially that medicine cabinet. You can't afford to break it."
Zhang Yan snatched the cup, ignoring its icy exterior, and downed the contents in one gulp.
The cool salt water soothed his burning insides for a brief moment.
The temperature on his body surface dropped slightly, allowing him to finally catch his breath.
Seizing the opportunity, Lu Jiu asked quickly, "Have you been anywhere unusual recently? Or come into contact with anything strange?"
Zhang Yan, leaning against the drenched counter and panting heavily, recalled with a dazed look, "No… I'm just a firefighter… I've been training at the station recently…"
"Wait, last week, there was a fire at an abandoned construction site in the south city. We handled it. After the fire was out, I was in a pit underground and… I think I saw a glowing red stone…"
"A stone?" Lu Jiu pressed.
But Zhang Yan couldn't answer anymore.
In less than a minute, the scorching heat that threatened to burn him from the inside out surged back.
Even more violently than before.
He stared in horror at his own palms.
A faint smoke was beginning to rise from his palms.
"Doctor!"
Zhang Yan's voice broke, laced with sobs, completely collapse.
"Save me… I feel like I'm going to burn up! I'm really going to burn up!"
Lu Jiu pointed to a large metal bucket in the corner. It looked like a trash can, but its surface was brand new, so smooth it reflected light.
"If you feel hot, get in. That's for you."
Zhang Yan was stunned. What kind of treatment was this?
But he couldn't afford to hesitate now. Instinct for survival made him scramble into the bucket without a second thought.
The inside of the iron bucket was icy cold. Zhang Yan let out a long, relieved sigh as soon as he entered.
But the next moment, his expression changed.
*Click.*
Lu Jiu, who had walked over unnoticed, wordlessly put the lid on the bucket.
Darkness instantly enveloped Zhang Yan.
"Doctor? What are you doing?!"
Zhang Yan panicked, beginning to pound forcefully on the bucket walls.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Lu Jiu ignored him, instead leisurely taking a pack of silver needles from the medicine cabinet and picking up a nearby iron canister labeled "Industrial Refrigerant."
"Stop knocking," Lu Jiu said to the bucket. "This bucket is custom-made. Three thousand. If you break it, it's added to the bill."
The pounding from inside the bucket stopped abruptly. Zhang Yan cried out, "Doctor, I was wrong! I won't knock! Please, let me out! It's so dark in here! I can't breathe!"
Lu Jiu opened the valve on the refrigerant. A burst of stark white, frigid air shot out, aimed directly at a small hole in the bucket lid.
*Sssss—*
The cold air poured in. A thick layer of white frost quickly formed on the outer surface of the bucket.
The cries from inside the bucket ceased abruptly, replaced by the violent chattering of teeth.
"C-c-cold… S-so cold… Doctor… I'm f-freezing to d-death…" Zhang Yan's voice trembled uncontrollably.
After filling it for about ten seconds, Lu Jiu turned off the valve, then tapped the lid with his finger.
"Still hot?"
There was a moment of silence inside the bucket before Zhang Yan's shivering voice emerged.
"N-n-not hot… Doctor… I f-feel like I'm losing all sensation…"
"Mm, that's right."
Lu Jiu said calmly. "For an illness like yours, when the heat reaches its extreme, it must be suppressed with the most Yin and cold substances. This is just a temporary suppression. If you want to live, behave."
He lifted the lid.
A mix of white cold air and heat wafted out.
Inside, Zhang Yan was curled up at the bottom of the bucket, his body covered in a thin layer of ice, his hair and eyebrows frosted, his lips purple. He looked up at Lu Jiu, shivering, his eyes filled with the confusion and fear of someone who had just narrowly escaped death.
Lu Jiu looked at him, his face calm, and extended his hand.
"Give me your hand."
His voice brooked no argument.
"Now, let me see what exactly is hiding inside your body."