When He Zhiran heard that she could remove the gu worms from Mo Chuhan's body, Mo Jiuye was overjoyed, eagerly wishing it could be nightfall soon so he could treat Eighth Brother sooner.
To be safe, He Zhiran returned to her space and injected Mo Chuhan with a tranquilizer to keep him asleep for now.
Finally, after everyone else had returned to their tents to rest for the night, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye impatiently entered her space.
Mo Chuhan was still fast asleep.
Using her mind, He Zhiran sent him to the operating room.
When Mo Jiuye heard she was going to perform surgery to remove the gu worms from Eighth Brother, the first thing that came to mind was that Eighth Brother might also be stripped naked like he had been.
Thinking of this, Mo Jiuye hurriedly pushed He Zhiran towards the exit of the operating room.
"I'll take off Eighth Brother's clothes. Call me when you're ready."
He Zhiran frowned.
"The gu worm is in his arm. He doesn't need to be fully undressed."
Mo Jiuye suddenly realized his mistake and didn't continue pushing her out.
However, he still took the initiative to remove Mo Chuhan's shirt himself.
Seeing how emaciated Eighth Brother had become, nothing but skin and bones, Mo Jiuye felt a stabbing pain in his heart.
Eighth Brother was the strongest martial artist in the family and had also been the burliest. Who knows what he had experienced over these years to become so wasted away.
There was no time to think more about it. Removing the gu worm was most urgent.
After taking off Mo Chuhan's shirt, Mo Jiuye voluntarily stood in a corner out of the way.
Seeing Mo Jiuye dumbly standing in the corner, He Zhiran called him over to put on sterile surgical gowns together. She then handed him a sealed glass bottle.
"Hold this tightly. As soon as the gu worm pokes its head out, quickly capture it in here. Don't let it get away."
Mo Jiuye took the glass bottle solemnly and nodded.
To prevent Mo Chuhan from waking due to pain, He Zhiran first administered some local anesthetic.
She then prepared a tray of surgical instruments at her side and began operating in earnest.
Mo Jiuye watched as a silver scalpel sliced open Eighth Brother's arm, blood flowing from the incision.
He Zhiran seemed oblivious to the blood, cautiously cutting deeper to prevent killing the gu worm outright.
About five minutes later, He Zhiran spoke solemnly.
"Get ready to catch the gu worm."
Mo Jiuye's senses heightened, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the incision site.
Using forceps in one hand and hemostatic forceps in the other, He Zhiran gently peeled back Mo Chuhan's skin and flesh a little.
An eight to nine millimeter long black worm then entered their line of sight.
As if sensing the surrounding danger, the puppet gu spread its wings, preparing to escape its host's body.
With quick reflexes, Mo Jiuye positioned the bottle opening in the gu worm's path, guiding it directly inside. He then sealed the cap tightly.
Their great task accomplished, He Zhiran immediately stitched up Mo Chuhan's wound.
Only then did Mo Jiuye realize this was how He Zhiran had treated his wounds previously.
While the treatment method was unfamiliar to him, he knew such treated wounds would heal several times faster than conventional methods.
After treating Mo Chuhan’s wound, He Zhiran hooked him up to an IV drip with anti-inflammatory medication.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and took off the surgical gown, then opened the TaoBaoBao shopping app intending to buy some blood plasma.
Upon opening the TaoBaoBao app on her phone, the notice she saw gave her a huge, pleasant surprise.
Sales of goods from her store today were extremely impressive, earning 10.9 million yuan.
Checking further, the big buyer was none other than the small collector who hadn’t appeared for a long time.
The small collector had also left her a message, but He Zhiran was currently busy buying blood plasma and dealing with Mo Chuhan. She decided to reply when time allowed later.
Once separated from its host, the gu larva could survive at most ten days.
In other words, if the larva could not successfully return to the mother gu within those ten days, it would certainly perish.
Her reasoning behind going through such effort to keep the larva alive was the hope that, given the opportunity, she could use this clue to find the one who had used gu worms on Mo Chuhan.
The Gu Worm Compendium stated that to enable gu larvae expelled from a human body to live for an extended period, they needed nourishment from fresh human blood.
Therefore, He Zhiran intended to feed the larva blood as soon as it left the host, to avoid any accidents.
However, Mo Jiuye didn’t understand any of this. He had assumed they would remove and burn the larva outright.
Who would have thought He Zhiran would add so much blood to the bottle?
"What is your intention in doing so?"
He Zhiran explained her rationale.
Hearing her explanation, Mo Jiuye sincerely gave her a big thumbs up.
"Fortunately your thinking is meticulous. Otherwise, even if Eighth Brother knew who used the gu on him, we still might not be able to find them."
Mo Jiuye had heard some legends about gu raisers in southern Xinjiang.
Elusive when seen by others, they appeared as ordinary people. But reveal their true nature, they were terrifying gu raisers who struck fear by reputation alone.
After filling half the plasma bottle, He Zhiran carefully stored away the bottle containing the larva.
Pointing at the still unconscious Mo Chuhan, Mo Jiuye asked,
"Now that the gu worm has been removed, I wonder when Eighth Brother will awaken?"
He Zhiran glanced at the large clock on the wall then said,
"His vitals have all stabilized. He should regain consciousness within the hour. When that IV bag finishes, we need to take him out quickly."
Mo Jiuye’s mood was still somewhat low, but it didn’t affect his thinking.
Seeing that Mo Jiuye remained silent for some time, He Zhiran asked,
“Are you thinking about the one behind the scenes manipulating Eighth Brother?”
Mo Jiuye nodded.
“Eighth Brother being afflicted with gu worms can’t be unrelated to the southern Xinjiang people.
While it's understandable for the southern Xinjiang people to bitterly detest the Mo Family, over the years the Mo Family’s existence has thwarted their invasion attempts on Da Shun time and time again, forcing them to retreat defeated and suffer devastating losses each time.
However, those black clothed men’s martial arts were entirely from the Central Plains, bearing no traces of the southern Xinjiang people.”
Based on this point alone, Mo Jiuye could eliminate the possibility that those people had been sent by the southern Xinjiang side.
Both of them sank into contemplative silence at the same time.
Originally, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye had believed the mastermind behind the assassination attempt was Nan Rui.
But judging from Mo Chuhan’s situation, that mastermind had clearly colluded with the southern Xinjiang people.
In that case, they could no longer pinpoint Nan Rui alone as the mastermind behind the scenes.
Especially He Zhiran, with her deeper historical knowledge, many ambitious people would choose to collude with foreign enemies to expand their own power.
In short, at present the two of them could not conclusively determine the true mastermind’s identity. They could only wait for Mo Chuhan to regain consciousness and inquire further, hoping to obtain useful information from him.
Unable to find the real answer for now, they both tacitly avoided continuing the topic.
