Journey to the West: The Mysterious Doctor - Starting with a Heart Transplant for Princess Sizi

Zhang Zhao followed Xuanzang into the palace.

The Ganlu Hall of Taiji Palace was darker inside than outside, and the candlelight cast flickering light on everyone's faces.

Li Shimin sat on the edge of the bed, his back ramrod straight, his shoulders taut as if carrying an unseen weight. He heard footsteps, but without turning around, he simply said, "They're all here."

Jiang Jizhang stood in the corner, his complexion even worse than when Zhang Zhao last saw him, with obvious bruises under his eyes. When he saw Zhang Zhao come in, his lips moved but he didn't say anything.

Xuanzang clasped his hands in a gesture of respect: "Your Majesty."

Zhang Zhao also bowed, saying, "This humble subject, Zhang Zhao, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

"Get up." Li Shimin then turned around, his gaze first falling on Xuanzang, then shifting to Zhang Zhao, looking him up and down, saying nothing, before turning back.

There was a child lying on the bed.

Zhang Zhao walked to the bedside and glanced down at it.

This is a rhinoceros.

At five or six years old, her face was almost translucent with pale white skin, and her features were small and delicate. She lay there as still as a jade sculpture. Her eyelashes were long and drooping, her eyes were closed, and her chest rose and fell very little, as if she were having a very long dream.

Her breathing was shallow, but her breathing was relatively steady, not like she was about to disappear at any moment.

But that layer of white wasn't a healthy white; it was a morbid, fragile white, like paper, like snow, like anything that could be easily blown away.

Zhang Zhao reached out to take his pulse.

The pulse was weak and almost imperceptible, like a thread about to burn out, barely maintaining its last bit of warmth. But beneath that faint warmth, there was another rhythm—unlike the one with Du Zhong, there were no insects or evil parasites on Si Zi's body, but there was something indescribable mixed in with that pulse, neither alive nor dead, more like... dissolving.

He chopped for a while, then released his grip and looked at Jiang Jizhang: "How long can Master Sun's medicinal pills last?"

Jiang Jizhang lowered his voice: "There's about six hours' worth left."

Six hours. Even more urgent than Du Zhong's time.

Zhang Zhao paused for a moment, then looked at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin was also looking at him, his gaze deep and unwavering. He neither urged nor expected anything; he simply waited.

Zhang Zhao closed his eyes and silently recited a sentence in his mind:

"Insight, activated."

-----------------

The world before us remains unchanged.

But some things have become extra.

He opened his eyes again and looked at Sizi on the bed.

This is true insight.

He saw a normal heart.

It is three-dimensional, full, with blood vessels, muscles, valves, atria and ventricles, and all the structures a complete heart should have.

Then, he noticed the abnormal part.

On the lower left side of the heart, there is an area whose structure is different from that of a normal heart.

It's not that something has become more abundant, but rather that some normal things have become less abundant.

The three-dimensional structure of that area is being "deconstructed".

The once tightly packed myocardial fibers are being broken down and decomposed into individual lines, their color fading from deep red to light pink, and then to an indescribable gray. Those lines haven't disappeared, but they are no longer "part of the heart." They are just lines, suspended there, barely maintaining their respective positions, but they are no longer "structures."

It's like a house; the bricks are still the same bricks, but the walls are no longer walls, the roof is no longer a roof, and the house is about to collapse.

Fortunately, the area to be deconstructed is very small.

In terms of area, it only accounts for about one-seventh of the entire heart, less than that. The remaining six-sevenths are still intact, still functioning, still maintaining blood circulation, and still keeping the child alive.

But Zhang Zhao saw something else.

The edge of that deconstructed area is still spreading outwards.

The process is very slow, and the changes are almost invisible to the naked eye. However, if the time frame is extended to one day, two days, three days, and so on, the boundary will slowly spread, gradually eroding normal heart tissue until the last bit of intact structure is also destroyed, and the heart completely loses its function.

That's not an illness; it means your heart is disappearing.

It disappeared from the inside.

Zhang Zhao withdrew his insight and opened his eyes.

Xuanzang glanced at him.

"What did Dr. Zhang find?"

"I can see some of it," Zhang Zhao said. "Where is the monk?"

Xuanzang said, "This humble monk used my divine eye to examine the princess's heart meridian, and there were indeed unusual phenomena there. However, it was not due to the invasion of evil spirits or demons, nor was she possessed by ghosts."

"What is it?"

"Yes... her heart is dissipating." Xuanzang's voice was soft. "This humble monk's cultivation is still shallow; I cannot see through the root cause, I can only observe the surface. The princess's heart is slowly dissolving from within, not due to external forces, but because of a problem within herself."

Zhang Zhao nodded.

Xuanzang's account was largely consistent with what he saw. The heart was dissolving, but how did this "dissolving" occur? Was it an illness, or something else?

he does not know.

But he knew one thing: this dissolution couldn't be cured by acupuncture or herbal medicine. It wasn't something that could be solved by "treating the problem at its root"; it was a problem with the underlying structure of the entire heart, a systemic collapse.

Just like the insect plague in Eucommia ulmoides, the insects are the symptom, the real problem is that the insects "activate" the elements in the human body - after activation, the elements are no longer part of the body.

Is it possible that Sizi's problem is similar? Is there something that "dissolved" certain elements of her heart? Or more accurately—deconstructed it?

He recalled the line from the "Insight" skill description: "To see things that are invisible to ordinary people."

Perhaps there are things in this world that he cannot see yet. The medical text has given him the ability to diagnose, but diagnostic ability has its limits. His current level of "insight" is not high enough; he can only see the "results" but not the "causes."

He needs more information.

But there's no time right now for him to study it slowly.

-----------------

After hearing the two diagnoses, Li Shimin remained silent for a long time.

No one spoke in the hall, except for the occasional soft popping of the candlelight.

Finally, Li Shimin spoke, his voice low: "Can it be cured?"

This question was asked of two people.

Xuanzang replied first: "This humble monk can only temporarily seal the rift with Buddhist teachings, extending the princess's life for three more days. But it is only an extension, not a cure. After three days, if there is no way to eradicate it completely..."

He didn't finish speaking, but his meaning was clear.

Three days, which simply means postponing the death date by three days.

All eyes turned to Zhang Zhao.

Zhang Zhao paused for a moment.

His mind was racing.

Analysis based on insights:

First, the heart of the rhinoceros is dissolving, and the area of ​​deconstruction is slowly expanding;

Second, the decomposition is slow but continuous, and without intervention, it will eventually affect the entire heart.

Third, less than one-seventh of the area is currently damaged, and the remaining part can still maintain basic functions, which means that the child can still be saved—but the window of time is very narrow.

Fourth, conventional treatments are ineffective. Dissolution is not due to external invasion or evil spirit possession; it is the collapse of the structure itself. Exorcism, acupuncture, and herbal medicine are all ineffective.

So, what would be acceptable?