I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 540: Chapter 537: The Definition of Disease

Outside the valley, Xi stood in the pouring rain, gazing at the devastated Red Spirit Flower Valley, his heart filling with guilt.

This arid land couldn’t be saved by a single downpour.

A single drought could turn a beautiful sea of flowers into a barren wasteland, but to make that wasteland lush with growth again required far more than just this one rain.

”Wait for me,” Xi said, looking at the dead land.

He would definitely return to restore Hundred Flowers Island to its former glory, but right now, there were more important things to do.

”Come with me. I know a hidden route that will get us to the Central Island quickly...”

”Alright.”

...

The route Xi chose was indeed different from the optimal one Li Luo had seen on her map. Instead of crossing Hundred Flowers Island to reach the next island, he found a mountain range and, within it, a barely perceptible cave.

”We go through here.”

Xi’s glowing orb illuminated the gloomy cavern. It appeared to be a stalactite cave, filled with broken stalactites. The long-awaited rain brought fresh moisture, which dripped down from the rock walls.

”We should be able to get through this cave before the underground river re-forms.”

Xi explained the shortcut to Li Luo as he led her into the cave.

The cave had once contained a raging underground river. Because Hundred Flowers Island usually had abundant rainfall, this river’s water supply was plentiful. Normally, it would be overflowing and completely impassable.

The river flowed to the lower half of Hundred Flowers Island, then over a waterfall and onto another Sky Island.

But due to the long drought on Hundred Flowers Island, the river had dried up, leaving only its original channel. Following this channel was a quick way to the next Sky Island.

That’s why this path wasn’t on Li Luo’s map; only the Healers, natives of the Hua Sheng Islands, knew of it.

”In the past, during emergencies, we would take small boats through this cave. But we don’t need boats now.”

Water trickled down the rock walls. A small stream was already forming in the riverbed, and droplets constantly fell from the stalactites on the cave ceiling, splashing into the dry channel.

”The river here used to be ferocious. Even in a boat, we’d often get injured. But getting hurt is a simple matter for us; we just need to heal ourselves right away.”

As they walked, some wooden wreckage appeared in the riverbed. This must have been the boats Xi mentioned, but they were so broken they no longer looked like boats at all—just splinters.

Moreover, as they went deeper, Li Luo spotted some broken bones on either side of the channel.

”Those are Healer bones,” Xi explained. ”Our bodies are very fragile. When passing through here, we would often crash into the rock walls, and our limbs would get broken off.”

”Like this...”

As he spoke, Xi gave a hard twist and pulled off his own withered left hand.

”Because the river was so fierce, any severed limbs would be swept away immediately. We couldn’t retrieve them under those conditions.”

Xi casually tossed the detached left hand to the side of the riverbed.

”We could only wait until we were through the channel to heal. Anyway, it’s just a hand or a foot. Nothing fatal.”

As he spoke, a new left hand grew back where the old one had been. He had clearly used his healing ability on himself.

However, what Xi treated so casually was, to Li Luo, like something out of a horror movie. It was absolutely terrifying.

Li Luo froze on the spot, staring at Xi’s left hand.

”What is it?” Xi asked, a little confused.

”Doesn’t that hurt?” Li Luo asked, extremely curious.

”Of course it hurts. Healers are living beings, too. Our bodies are structured very similarly to humans—almost identical, except for the head. The pain we feel is also similar to yours,” Xi explained seriously.

”But...” Li Luo pointed at Xi’s left arm. ”You just... twisted it right off?”

It dawned on Xi; he finally understood what Li Luo meant.

”Well... of course it hurts. We’ve just gotten used to it.”

”As you know, we are Healers. We often experiment on ourselves. Only by personally experiencing sickness and injury can we understand what a patient is going through and better determine the cause of their ailment. Over time, we’ve become rather numb to pain. A severed limb isn’t what we’d consider severe pain.”

”After pain crosses a certain threshold, the nerves go numb and stop transmitting signals. So, it’s more of a psychological effect.”

”Compared to a momentary flash of pain, chronic illnesses are far more agonizing. They slowly torture the patient, making life a living hell.”

As soon as the topic turned to sickness and pain, it was like a floodgate opened for Xi. The Healer began talking nonstop about the suffering caused by various diseases.

”I’ve studied the human medical system. Humans have an illness called trigeminal neuralgia. Have you heard of it?”

”When it flares up, excruciating pain radiates from a point on the face, in the mouth, or on the jaw, spreading along one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve. Unprovoked, severe pain appears in the areas of the head and face supplied by the nerve, so agonizing the patient wishes for death...”

”It’s a neurological disorder. There’s no actual wound, but the pain is more terrifying than any illness that has one, keeping the patient in a constant state of torment and fear, a life worse than death.”

”Pure pain...” The glowing orb on Xi’s head trembled slightly. ”Sickness brings pain, but pain itself is also a sickness.”

”The human nervous system transmits the sensation of pain to warn of the existence of disease. But disease, in turn, exploits this very system, making the nerves themselves sick to inflict the purest pain, the most extreme harm.”

”Don’t you find that terrifying?” Xi stopped and said to Li Luo.

Li Luo nodded. It was indeed terrifying. She touched her own face; listening to Xi’s rambling lecture was making her feel a phantom pain there.

Having gotten a response, Xi started rambling again. He had been asleep for so long and had finally found someone to talk to—and unlike the naive Red Spirit Flowers, Li Luo could understand him. He clearly didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

”The Elder Council, and the entire Healer collective, have always been exploring one question: what is sickness?”

”Because our ability stems from how we define sickness. Whatever we consider a sickness, we can cure. This even applies to some very absurd things.”

As he spoke, Xi picked up a broken piece of stalactite from the ground.

”I believe this stone shouldn’t be a stalactite. It’s sick. It should actually be a piece of gold.”

As Xi spoke, the surface of the stalactite fragment actually began to glitter with flecks of gold.

”See?”

Xi handed the piece of gold to Li Luo.

”Isn’t it... absurd?”