Chapter 547: A whole new brain(buddy)

"Well we need something to make these bandages sterile," Zhen Tai pointed out.

"We got these bandages out of Zhen Xing’s stuff and they were coated in pollen and shit. I don’t know if this girl is allergic to flower pollen, especially one from an aether plant beast, but I’d rather not risk it."

"Why’d you have so many dried rose heads in your backpack anyways?," Zhen Feng asked.

"Father wanted me to prune the rose beasts and I placed the bits in my pack to dispose of later."

"For three days?"

"Oh you like you never forgot anything in your pockets!"

Shortly after Zhen Hai had fucked off to go and find help, the rest of the Zhen Clan scions had decided to try and least prepare sterile bandages to try and stem the poor girl’s bleeding for the time being.

It was a bit of a chaotic mess as they attempted to make use of one of Gao Ren’s cookware without knowing their inherent value in the process, leading to this whole debacle and debate.

Thankfully, Zhen Yue was used to coordinating people.

"All of you shut the fuck up," Zhen Yue commanded before turning her attention to Gao Ren. "If we can’t use that wok, are there any other pots in here we can use?"

"You can use that one over the onions, I guess," Gao Ren answered while getting caught up in the rhythm of things and Zhen Yue’s commanding tone.

"Wait, hang on, y’all seriously didn’t think to bring this girl to a doctor or a hospital?"

"No. Zhen Xing?"

"On it."

Under Zhen Yue’s orders, Zhen Xing immediately grabbed a decent sized iron pot that was hanging on a hook above a sack of onions and immediately prepped for sterilization purposes. In order to speed up the process though, he opted to make use of his own aether as the heat source.

The sound of water going from still to boiling occurred in a matter of seconds.

"Toss in those bandages whenever."

"On it."

"Then again, we didn’t expect the girl to still be bleeding an hour after we applied bandages," Zhen Yue elaborated, "I’m used to butchering aether beasts that have more blood than this girl, but the amount that was coming out was-"

"I-wait, what? A whole hour?," Gao Ren asked with an incredulous tone. However, if one was to take a closer look into the man’s eyes in this moment, they would see the light of familiarity and understanding mixed in.

"Yeah. We didn’t notice until we got here, but when Zhen Guo called it to attention, we found that her bandages were soaking with blood and that what part wasn’t bandaged and soaked with blood was incredibly bruised."

"How bruised?"

"Take a look for yourself."

Gao Ren hadn’t really paid attention to this unknown slave girl that his guests had brought in out of nowhere, focusing more on the fact that they were running around and making a mess of things in his kitchen. But, now that Zhen Yue had pointed out, he understood immediately as to why they couldn’t just bring her to a doctor or a hospital.

There wasn’t time.

"Oh...those are some really bad bruises...," Gao Ren muttered to himself as he stared at the discolored purple spots up and down the girl’s arms.

Zhen Yue didn’t say anything in response, merely nodding in agreement to the man’s assessment.

As the two stared, Zhen Xing had finished sterilizing the bandages, leaving Zhen Tai, Zhen Guo and Zhen Feng to try and re-apply the new ones.

"Oi be careful. She’s bruising like an apple over here."

"I was going to say banana."

"Is now really the time for joking?"

"Its either that or we deal with the horrible reality of this girl possibly dying before we can do anything."

"...fair enough."

_____________________________________________

’Logos, Pathos, real quick, are there any consequences to having a different kaijin possess someone who was possessed by another kaijin previously?’

<=Say what?=>

’Alright, elaborating. Zhen Hai was previously possessed by Hurricroak so that he could jumpstart Telana Corrada’s heart awhile back, and as a consequence, he can now use lightning aether with significantly more efficiency than before, right? I think his formula may have mutated too...’

=That is a correct observation, yes.=

’Okay, so...if I had say...Razorstella possess his ass, would that cause any additional changes to his aether abilities? Is he gonna suddenly develop the ability to use...sword qi? Will he be able to tap into...I guess star aether? Light aether?’

=No...?=

<Maybe?>

’Wow, okay, conflicting answers...why?’

=The first time anyone gets possessed by a kaijin is kind of...special. Whenever a kaijin possess and exits somebody, they leave a small imprint of themselves behind instinctually. This makes it easier for a particular kaijin to possess a particular person again. But on top of that, its also the reason why sometimes a person ends up developing little...quirks to their cultivation path.=

<Hence why your grandpappy suddenly looks a lot fucking younger and can use ice aether so well.>

’Alright, that makes sense...I think.’

=However, any subsequent possession by any kaijin that isn’t that first possessor will be very similar to how it works for you, milord. Namely that they’ll only be able to use other types of aether if they are actively possessed by the kaijin. Additionally, any possible breakthroughs that occur will be purely quantitative, not qualitative. =

<Kinda like how despite being possessed by everyone else so many times, your formula hasn’t fundamentally changed.>

’Wait, so that isn’t just due to my fucked up channels? Huh...’

=Anyways, milord, the only way a kaijin could affect another kaijin’s possession is if they somehow possess the same person at the same time, which is actually impossible.=

’It is?’

<Yup. Based on our previous lords, we have learned that the hard limit for any mortal vessel is about two souls, including the host’s. Anything pass that and shit gets...weird.>

’....how weird?’

<=Permanent fusion of the mortal and kaijin soul into a gestalt being that is simultaneously both and neither.=>

’Oh...why does that sound familiar...’

=...=

<You...wanna talk about it?>

’Later.’

[Director, it’s going to take me and the others about...another minute or so to get in range of you and the hotel. You may need to stall.]

’Good to hear, Razorstella. Archanidame, how are things going on your end?’

[Ready and waiting, young master. I am in the library’s lobby now, awaiting for the door.]

’Excellent.’

_____________________________________________

"Alright, we’re here," Zhen Hai declared as he and Zhen Liu arrived back to the door leading into the hotel’s kitchen.

From their current position, they could hear their cousins still running about in their, and even feel aether leaking out from between the doors.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that some of their cousins were trying to make use of their aether in a vain attempt to provide first aid. Whether or not it was effective was another thing entirely.

The two of them stood there for a couple seconds before Zhen Hai turned himself towards Zhen Liu, grabbing the latter’s shoulders in the process.

"Alright...now," Zhen Hai said as he closed his eyes and spread his arms open, "do the thing."

"...say what?," Zhen Liu asked while staring at his cousin’s T-posing. He knew what he meant, but he felt it was appropriate to tease him just a tiny bit before doing so...that and he needed to stall for time in order for the kaijin to show up.

Evidently, Zhen Liu had read the mood correctly since Zhen Hai dropped his arms and looked mildly bewildered, almost comedically so.

"You know the zappy thing. The one where you blast me in the face with some weird energy and I suddenly gain knowledge of how to do something?"

"Oh, that thing...," Zhen Liu nodded, "okay...what do you need to know?"

"Huh?"

"Well, from what you told me, this beaten slave girl probably needs something a bit more intense than just us using aether medicines, not that we could afford anything like that right now, and that requires some rather...in-depth knowledge. Namely the art of surgery and suturing."

"Surgery? Suturing?"

"Yes, the former is the art of using incredibly sharp knives to cut someone open delicately and perform medical procedures, while the latter is a medical procedure that is done after surgery using thread. Which is why I am asking," Zhen Liu repeated, "do you want to be the one to cut this girl open to do the surgical stuff, or do you want to be the one to patch up the damage that is probably gonna be done during and after all this over?"

"Uh..."

Surprisingly, Zhen Hai did not immediately provide an answer to Zhen Liu’s inquiry.

In fact, for the first time in a long time, Zhen Hai began to think about the consequences of such a decision.

Noticing his cousin’s indecision, Zhen Liu decided to give the man some space.

"So...before we do anything, I’m going to go use the restroom...be right back."