Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 165 Casting a Net to Fish
Treating such patients is an easy task for him.

To improve efficiency, Chen Xuan had the Beitian Hospital gather the patients in an indoor gymnasium. Then, he erected a one-way transparent glass mirror in the center of the gymnasium. He stood inside and used a megaphone to address all the patients. Then, he openly scanned them with a barcode scanner and removed the curse.

The judgment of the Hokuten Institute was largely correct.

Over 90% of these patients are burdened with a "curse: cursed by misfortune." Moreover, these curses seem to be identical, disappearing one after another when transferred to the inventory. No matter how many curses are added, only the original one remains in the inventory.

As for abilities like "deficiency of both qi and blood" and "weakness of respiration," it's a different story. Even if they are all grayed-out LV1 abilities, there can be more than a dozen of them. Moreover, there seems to be no upper limit to the inventory. No matter how many abilities he drags in, the empty slots below remain unchanged.

Even so, Chen Xuan still tried to keep these acquired gray abilities at the bottom of the inventory list, so that he could at least keep them out of sight and out of mind. Otherwise, every time he opened his inventory, a whole bunch of negative effects would greet him, and he would feel like he was half a chosen one of Nurgle.

Looking back now, it seems that the government might not have been able to remove these negative states using the same methods.

Because these things are not considered a capability by the other party at all.

"I...feel much better! Thank you, Dr. Zhou!"

"My body is finally pain-free! This magnetic therapy really works!"

"You are my savior, Director Li!"

As the curses were removed one by one, more and more people found that the treatment seemed to have been completed without them even realizing it. This long-lost sense of relief allowed them to finally breathe a sigh of relief, as if a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders. The doctors who had brought the patients over all advised them to rest well after returning home and not to go out for a while.

The patient was naturally very grateful and said that he would definitely follow the doctor's advice.

To avoid causing panic, all of this was carried out under a information blackout. The influence of Beitian Hospital was greater than Chen Xuan had imagined; they didn't handle the matter personally, but relied solely on their network of connections to link the disease control department and major hospitals. For the patients, they only knew they were about to receive a new treatment called infrared magnetic therapy, and because the equipment was enormous and the number of patients was large, they had to all gather at the Jiangcheng Gymnasium. This wasn't anything new; after all, the gymnasium had been converted into an isolation hospital during the height of the pandemic.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I simply wouldn't have believed it... Is this the power of spiritual energy?" Yue Beifeng said with deep emotion from the second-floor stands of the stadium.

To be honest, he envied that talent from the bottom of his heart.

With a wave of his hand, he could eliminate the ailment; his surgical skills, which he had painstakingly practiced for over ten years, suddenly seemed to have lost their meaning.

"Hehe, don't you understand what's going on?" Sun Suigong, standing with his hands behind his back in front of the railing, shook his head. "I can also absorb spiritual energy, and I know some alchemy and magic. You've seen it all. So why can't I cure them? Is it possible that the power I've accumulated over the decades is inferior to that young lad?"

Yue Beifeng was slightly taken aback. "Does Master mean... that he isn't actually treating the illness?"

"Do you think this is like treating an illness? A patient who was just weak enough to lie down can stand up and walk around in the blink of an eye. Time travel is no better than this." Sun Suigong thought his disciple was good in every way, and he was indeed masculine and upright, but he lacked a bit of wit. "Young friend Chen must possess some kind of ability that can suppress this kind of negative state. Similarly, this kind of state has nothing to do with whether you are sick or not, so it is perfectly normal that the Northern Heaven Academy is powerless. You don't need to belittle yourself."

"But didn't he say before that he possessed healing spiritual energy?"

"You believed everything he said?" Dean Sun sighed. "He was clearly just trying to fool you!"

"What?" Yue Beifeng was extremely dissatisfied. "This kid! He clearly said the same thing to you!"

"Then why wasn't I fooled? So you have to blame yourself for this." Sun Suigong said dismissively, "It's normal that he didn't want to reveal his trump cards when he first met Beitianyuan. As long as it genuinely helps people get better, I don't care what methods he used." "So he's actually an ability user..."

"The line between doctors and those with special abilities may not be so clear. If I were to attend the recruitment fair of the Limitless Organization, I would most likely pass their first test." He glanced at his apprentice. "Now that people with special abilities are appearing in the world, the Northern Heaven Academy should also take proactive measures to avoid being eliminated by the times. It seems that our first step has been quite good, and we have gained a talented person like young friend Chen."

"Disciple understands," Yue Beifeng said, bowing his head.

“But even if he can cure many more people, it won’t work if he doesn’t find the source.” Sun Suigong then turned his gaze to the center of the arena. “I hope the operation on Yuheng Star goes smoothly.”

……

At this moment, You Chi was sitting in a modified long-distance bus, directing the actions of more than a hundred outer disciples through walkie-talkies and monitors. These people also nominally belonged to the Northern Heaven Academy, and were generally family members who had inherited the inner sect tradition. They were not responsible for treating patients, but they all had considerable medical skills and were quite loyal to the Medicine Sect, so letting them find the source was the most suitable choice.

Every thirty minutes, a group of disciples would enter the airport through multiple entrances, heading to the departure hall, waiting area, arrival hall, and various lounges. They would also stay for only ten minutes before leaving the airport terminal and heading to the parking area.

Not only was the bus carrying the swimming pool located in the airport parking area, but the Northern Heaven Academy also arranged for five other buses, each with a different paint job, to be stationed there. After returning, outer disciples would board the buses according to their assigned numbers, rest for two hours, and quietly assess their physical condition. During this time, new disciples would take over their duties.

"How many people are currently feeling unwell or experiencing weakness in their limbs?" You Chi asked his assistant while staring at the computer screen.

"Four people, and they were traveling through the domestic arrivals and international departures areas."

Yesterday, there was only one person in charge of the restaurant on the A1 floor, and it turned out that he really had a cold.

"Hmm... Let these four people stay on the bus, and use another group for a control test."

The method for tracing the source that Beitianyuan came up with was very straightforward: a real-world manhunt! Since so many patients have one thing in common: they have all been to the airport recently, if it is a crime of capability, the perpetrator should most likely be a regular at the airport terminal.

The outer disciples, disguised as travelers, traveled to and from specific areas in batches, making them far more likely to be infected than ordinary people.

If multiple groups of people become ill in the same area, it is highly suspicious that the prisoner is in that area.

Of course, the biggest premise of this search tactic is that their illness can be effectively cured; otherwise, Beitian Hospital will only lose more people.

You Chi clearly understood that human perception was prone to error, and the onset of illness could not be consistently precise. Even the existence of that "capable criminal" was still uncertain. This battle might last for several days, or even a month or two, and only after obtaining sufficient data could he make a judgment.

However, he was confident that he would be able to catch the other party red-handed.

Because both Master and that mysterious man named Chen Xuan made the same judgment, this matter must have been done maliciously by someone!
On the third day, the situation suddenly changed.

The morning was calm and everything was normal, but in the afternoon, fifteen "cases" suddenly emerged. The areas they had traveled through over the three days were remarkably similar: they all entered the domestic arrivals hall from the lower level of Building A2, and then some went to the pick-up area while others went to the taxi stand.

The suspicious area was instantly narrowed down to just one floor!
(End of this chapter)