Chapter 354: The Mystery Inside the Intestines

"What’s the child’s name?"

"Little Larry."

"How old is he?"

"Eight... he’ll be nine next month!"

"Where does it hurt?"

"When did the pain start today?"

"Is it constant pain, or does it come in waves?"

"Have you had a bowel movement?... What color is the stool? Diarrhea? Any vomiting?"

"When did this start?"

Garrett inquired while furiously taking notes. The only medical mage in the trade caravan, Mage Simond, took a keen interest and sat beside him, watching him record each detail and casually asking:

"What do you think it might be?"

"I can’t be certain yet." Garrett had a suspicion in his mind but preferred not to voice his judgment before a definitive diagnosis. Importantly, during the previous auscultation, he noticed the bowel sounds were faint, which was not a good sign. Time might be running out for them.

He pondered for a moment, then requested a small bed for the child to lie on. Digging through his spatial bag, he pulled out a bottle of glycerin, carefully applied it over the child’s abdomen, and conducted a palpation examination. Then, he concentrated and quietly activated an ultrasound magic spell.

"Emmmm…"

Barbarians don’t have an extra intestine compared to humans. Garrett focused his attention on the abnormal area, and his meditative vision quickly displayed images. He strained his spatial imagination to deconstruct the information he saw:

Dots, lines, surfaces, arcs, circles, cylindrical shapes...

Concentric circles!

Concentric circles!

Intussusception!

Abdominal ultrasound examinations, at the transverse section of the intussusception, show a "target sign" or "concentric ring" mass image, and a longitudinal scan shows a "pseudo-kidney sign"!

Damn!

I knew the decreased bowel sounds weren’t a good sign!

"How’s Little Larry doing?"

The innkeeper had been hovering nearby, immediately asking anxiously when Garrett released his hand. Towering over Garrett, and standing, he had to bend nearly ninety degrees to speak. Garrett shook his head:

"Not good. Let’s put it this way, have you ever made sausage?"

"I have! Do you want some sausage?" Borlu immediately gestured to the side. Garrett quickly stopped him:

"No, no, I’m just saying, if you know what intestines look like, it’ll be easier to explain. You see, the intestinal tube is long, and now a part of it has telescoped into an adjacent segment..."

Demonstrating with his hands, he brought his fingers together into a cone shape, the tips touching. He slightly opened his left hand, and the right hand’s fingertips dove between the left hand’s fingers, indicating the telescoping action. Borlu pondered for a moment, then another, twisting his eyebrows into knots without understanding. Turning his head, he dashed off.

Garrett called out a couple of times but couldn’t bring him back. By the third shout, someone loudly said from the other side:

"How do you know that?"

Memorized from textbooks. Garrett didn’t lift his gaze from the child, casually pointing at his abdomen:

"You could ask an ethereal being to take a look."

Joking, he wasn’t about to start explaining ultrasound principles and imaging characteristics to them!

"……"

"……"

Behind him, a few people chuckled. The priests of the Lord of Radiance, not playing with ethereal beings, at least not publicly...

However, Archmage Serrano and Mage Simond brazenly took out magical instruments. The two exchanged a glance, gestured to each other, and took turns in action. Quickly, they started exchanging "ahs" and "ohs," "tsks," and "tsks," discussing excitedly:

"It’s right here!"

"They’re stacked together!"

"The stacked part is about this long..."

Their back-and-forth discussion was enthusiastic. Observing their reactions, the priests of the Lord of Radiance could tell Garrett was probably right, their faces gradually darkening.

Yet, without any reason to accuse this "desecrator of our Lord’s glory," they could only internally note their grievances.

Borlu returned as swiftly as he had left. Soon after, he came running back with a string of sausages, placing them all in front of Garrett.

Garrett: "……"

Why bother? Why trouble? Bringing this over, I’d have to dismantle the inside meat to demonstrate to you. These sausages are stuffed so tightly, I can’t even dismantle them... Ah, I was too slow in reacting; I should have used a mage’s trick to create a model!

Garrett’s hands fluttered quickly, creating a soft section of the intestine to show Borlu. The barbarian blinked, finally understanding, and dragged Garrett aside to

ask:

"So, how do we treat it?"

"Yeah, how do we treat it?"

Mage Simond frowned in contemplation at the side.

Going through all the medical-direction magical models one by one, none seemed applicable. If an ethereal creature could physically manipulate objects and push the intestines open, that would be ideal, alas...

"Can a healing spell work?"

A question whispered into the ear. Garrett looked up to see old Martin leaning forward, concernedly looking at the child. Garrett thought about the principles of healing spells and silently shook his head.

It might not necessarily work. Healing spells are excellent at healing intestinal bleeding or perforations, but can they stimulate intestinal movement, can they reposition the intestines?

If it were the bald bishop from Hartland City, perhaps it could work. After all, Garrett had seen him perform a healing spell that treated pneumothorax, healed lungs, pulled muscles, and straightened ribs. As for himself, he doubted he had such capability.

Not being able to reposition was one thing, but please, don’t make it worse!

As he hesitated whether to explain, a beam of light descended from the sky. A thick beam of light, directly falling on Little Larry’s abdomen, illuminating his entire face brightly.

Garrett’s gaze jumped, slightly turning his head, only to see the young man in a white robe beside the red-robed priest retracting his hand, a hint of light lingering on his fingertips. Seeing Garrett looking over, he huffed and raised his chin high.

Garrett had no time to argue with him, bending down quickly to perform another magic ultrasound. The ultrasound waves scanned back and forth until the telescoped section was no longer visible, then he finally let out a long sigh and released his fingers:

"It’s okay now, nothing to worry about."

"Of course, it’s okay." The young man proudly tilted his head:

"With the Lord of Radiance’s light shining upon us, wherever it reaches, of course, it can remove all pain and disease!"

I do hope it really could. Garrett mused silently. He didn’t retort, instead asking for a warm towel, smiling as he handed it to Little Larry:

"Here, wipe your face, see how dirty you are..."

The boy vigorously wiped his face twice, then blew his nose into it. Jumping off the bed, he bowed to Garrett, ready to run out and play. Garrett quickly grabbed him:

"Wipe it clean! Look, your mouth is still black!"

The boy struggled hard. An eight-year-old barbarian boy, already over 1.4 meters tall, managed to shake Garrett off instantly. Fortunately, Borlu grabbed his son:

"That’s always been the case with his mouth, just like his mother. It’s okay, it’s not dirty!"

Garrett’s expression became serious. He folded the towel, using the clean side to carefully wipe Little Larry’s face and clean his hands. While wiping, he noticed black spots on the boy’s face, lips, and palms. The edges were clear, not blending, not fading under pressure, not raised above the skin...

The black spots on the lips weren’t noticeable at first glance, resembling bruises from biting in pain. Now, cleaned and compared with those on the face and palms—

There was no doubt, what he glimpsed when the boy ran past was indeed this!

"I’m afraid his abdominal pain will frequently recur," Garrett slowly said. Before the young man opposite could refute, Garrett turned to Borlu, rapidly firing questions:

"Uncle, Little Larry’s mother, did she also have many black spots on her palms and toes?"

"Ah, yes, exactly like him." Borlu was slightly startled, looking down at his son. Palms were one thing, but his son’s feet were so dirty, he couldn’t see the black spots. How did this young priest notice?

"Did she also often have stomach pains, unable to eat much? In severe cases, did she experience abdominal pain, vomiting, bloody stools, or prolonged constipation?"

"Exactly..."

"Did it often get better only to recur? Over time, did the episodes of stomach pain become more frequent?"

"Exactly, exactly! Before his mother died, she was always in pain!—Priest sir, Mage sir, do you know what’s wrong with him? Do you know how to treat it?!"

The barbarian was trembling all over, lunging forward, hands reaching out to grab Garrett’s shoulders. Fortunately, Bernard quickly stepped in, his arm blocking in front, immediately being grasped tightly. Had it been Garrett... my shoulders would’ve been crushed!

Garrett internally shivered. He quickly ducked behind Bernard, not forgetting the last step of the diagnosis:

"Archmage Serrano, Mage Simond, could either of you send an ethereal being into the intestines to look? Just the section that was telescoped... up and down, are there any polyps with stalks attached inside the intestines

?"

Halfway through his explanation, Archmage Serrano had already taken out a gemstone box. Once bitten, twice shy, the ethereal being re-entered with even more familiarity. A cool breeze swept by, and Archmage Serrano, with his eyes half-closed, seemed to communicate with the ethereal being for a moment, nodding:

"Indeed, there are."

Garrett sighed deeply. As he had guessed, but—

This condition is quite troublesome!

"Uncle, your son often experiences abdominal pain because of these polyps in his intestines." Garrett’s hands shimmered with light, and the 【Silent Phantom】 slowly appeared, molding a translucent shape of the intestines:

"These polyps, if they were merely attached to the intestines, that’d still be manageable. The problem is, as they grow longer, they eventually develop stalks—"

The 【Silent Phantom】 constantly transformed. On the surface of the intestines, a polyp gradually emerged, from a semi-sphere to a complete sphere, to a stalked polyp, and the stalk grew longer:

"If several polyps grow in one area and entangle, the entire intestine can be blocked. Then, the stomach starts to hurt, and in the worst case, the entire intestine can rot."

Borlu’s face grew paler and paler. The tall figure, towering over Garrett, slowly bent down until he crouched on the ground, hugging his head, trembling, nearly in tears:

"So, what do we do? Do we have to open the stomach and cut these things out?"

"If there’s no other way, we must cut." The young man who brought the Raven Flag squatted down beside Borlu, softly persuading him:

"With so many healers here, opening up the stomach shouldn’t be a problem. Hey, a few days ago, even the chief’s head was drilled open by this gentleman, and isn’t he fine now?"

Borlu shook all over. Looking at his son, then at Garrett, and then at the person persuading him, he couldn’t make up his mind. The magicians maintained their silence, and on the other side, the priests of the Lord of Radiance were also quiet. Even the young man who had been making sarcastic comments turned his loud retorts into low murmurs:

"You say there are polyps just because you say so?—Others can’t see them!"

Garrett focused on Little Larry, frowning in thought, paying no mind to the rest. Archmage Serrano, however, had been observing that side all along, and at some point, had exchanged glances with someone nearby. The young man’s murmur was somehow amplified dozens of times in volume, reverberating throughout the hall.

Even Garrett’s attention was drawn back. He thought for a moment, looked towards the other side, and confidently smiled:

"Seeing the polyps doesn’t necessarily mean opening up the stomach. I have another way."

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