America: The Cremator

The ward door was closed again, shutting out the noise from the outside world.

Su Long leaned against the headboard, watching the nurse gurgle as she pushed the medical equipment to the bedside.

This is a very old dialysis machine; its off-white plastic casing is covered with scratches and pale yellow stains.

The nurse glanced down at the record board in her hand and read out his name in a calm tone.

"Leon Sue".

After receiving Su Long's response and verifying the information, she reached out and gently touched his arm: "Is anything bothering you?"

"It's alright," Su Long replied.

"While you were unconscious, we performed a head CT scan and blood tests on you," the nurse said, taking a brand-new set of tubing supplies from the side of the machine and tearing open the sterile packaging. "Your head is fine, just a mild concussion, but your blood test results are a bit strange."

Su Long became a little nervous: "What do you mean?"

"Your blood indicators are not as bad as they were before. Your creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels have decreased significantly, which indicates that your kidney function is showing some signs of recovery."

"If you continue to cooperate with the treatment and take your medication on time, there may be a chance to reduce your condition to stage two, or even stage one."

Upon hearing this, an indescribable joy quietly spread through Su Long's veins.

It must have been those 4 points of physical attributes that came into play.

With just four insignificant experience points, uremia, which modern medicine cannot cure, showed visible improvement.

This made Su Long even more convinced that he had to stay in the job of cremator for a long time!

If I keep accumulating experience points and get all dimensions to 100 points, what will I be like then?

While Su Long was lost in thought, the nurse began her preparations. She laid a blue sterile medical towel on the edge of the bed and then wrapped a dark blue tourniquet around his left arm. The tightening of the tourniquet made the veins containing the fistula more prominent.

The cotton ball soaked in iodine wiped across my skin, bringing a slight stinging sensation and that familiar, slightly pungent smell.

The nurse then precisely inserted two large needles into the blood vessels and connected the other end of the tubing to the dialysis machine.

She set the parameters on the instrument's control panel. With the beeping of the buttons, the instrument screen emitted a pale blue cold light, and the dialysis procedure began.

Su Long leaned against the pillow, watching his dark red blood being drawn out of his body and slowly flowing through the translucent plastic tube.

The moment the blood entered his field of vision, the whole world changed instantly.

Everything around faded in color, turning into varying shades of gray. The steady hum of the dialysis machine and all the noise in the air vanished in an instant.

It seemed as if only this pipe, and the single vibrant, flowing dark red within it, remained in the world.

The flow of blood became incredibly clear in his vision; the rolling of every blood cell and the pulsation of every pulse were crystal clear.

Su Long could even feel a strange pulling sensation, as if the blood in the tubes was an extension of his arm.

His gaze was fixed on the blood in the tube, and a strange thought popped into his mind.

"Slow down."

This thought contains no clear instructions, nor does it mobilize any muscles; it is merely a vague intention.

The next second, the dark red liquid in the pipe actually slowed down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It's as if an invisible finger gently pinches one end of the hose, changing its flow rate without any physical contact.

A tiny bubble was suspended in the blood. It should have floated upwards with the flow of the liquid, but now it seemed to be held up by something and remained still at the corner of the tube.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

The instrument emitted a sharp alarm due to the abnormal flow rate, jolting Su Long out of his psychedelic state.

He abruptly looked away, and that faint sense of control over his blood vanished instantly.

The blood in the tubes resumed its original flow, the suspended bubble continued to float upwards, and the machine's alarm stopped, leaving only a steady hum.

The nurse, holding a heparin syringe, turned around and studied the instrument's panel with some confusion.

"That's strange, why did the flow rate suddenly slow down just now?"

She checked the tubing and examined the puncture site on Su Long's arm, but found nothing unusual, ultimately concluding it was just an occasional malfunction of the machine.

Only Surong knew that this was not an anomaly, but rather the blood obeying its master's will—he had mastered the method of manipulating blood!

It's obviously not appropriate to keep messing with the alarm-prone equipment, but perhaps we could try something even more daring?

Su Long closed his eyes and began to try to establish that subtle connection with the blood in his body.

After several attempts, he finally felt a surge of arterial blood flowing to his brain and experienced a faint resonance with it.

Su Long concentrated his mind, controlling the flow of more blood to his brain.

The next moment, an unprecedented sense of clarity exploded in his mind.

A subtle yet powerful throbbing sensation came from my temples, instantly dispelling the dizziness and weakness I had experienced from dialysis.

My five senses seemed to have been reset; my vision became bright and sharp, my hearing could detect footsteps in the distance in the corridor outside the ward, and my sense of smell could detect the faint salty smell of the heparin solution from the needle.

Even the speed at which his brain was processing information increased many times over, with countless chaotic thoughts and ideas bursting out of his mind at the same time, leaving him somewhat overwhelmed.

But this feeling lasted for less than three seconds. Immediately afterwards, the sense of control over the blood quickly faded, and a slight dizziness arose, like the exhaustion after a brief period of excitement.

Surong was pleasantly surprised by the use of this power, while also assessing its potential in his mind.

The ability is still very weak, and it comes at a cost, but it is very useful.

Furthermore, since blood flowing upwards has this effect, what if it flows downwards...?

He glanced subconsciously at the nurse who was bending over to tidy up medicines at the foot of the bed. Her plump figure, wrapped in a blue uniform, made him think that now might not be a good time to test his "unfailing prowess".

Just then, the door to the ward was pushed open, and Wells walked in carrying a can of chilled sugar-free cola.

"Su, I'm here!"

Why are you so slow?

"Don't blame me, brother," Wells said with a smug smile. "I ran into a female exorcist in the lobby. She was really beautiful. I went up and chatted with her for a bit, and we had a great time."

Sulong recalled Elena's cold and aloof face.

"Given her unapproachable aura, you coward probably wouldn't even have the courage to step forward."

Wells' smile froze for a moment. He was about to make an excuse when he realized, "Wait a minute! How do you know her temperament?"

"She came to the hospital to see me, to gather some strange information," Su Long said, leaning back on the pillow, his calm tone tinged with a hint of smugness. "She talked to me for a long time, and we seemed to have a good time."

Wells' expression instantly turned one of deep anguish.

"Oh, damn it! Sue, I wish I had been right next to you!"

As he spoke, he handed the can of sugar-free cola to Su Long.

The nurse straightened up, saw this, immediately frowned, and glared at Wells: "Hey! Don't give this kind of stuff to the patient!"

Su Long took the cola, pointed at the innocent-looking Wells, and sighed to the nurse.

"Sigh, it's not his fault."

"I am his stepfather and very rich. He can't wait to kill me so he can inherit all my wealth."

Wells' eyes widened.

"Su, FUCK YOU!"

Su Long immediately retorted.

"FUCK YOU, Wells!"

The nurse, too lazy to pay attention to the two rascals' bickering, shook her head and left the ward with her tool cart.

Su Long pulled the tab on the can, making a crisp "hiss" sound.

He looked at the black liquid bubbling inside the jar, feeling somewhat uneasy.

According to the entry for "Aversion to Rain," he only experiences a burning sensation when in contact with pure water, drinking water, and natural rainwater.

In theory, this should not include other liquids containing pure water.

After all, blood, sweat, and saliva in the human body also contain components of pure water. If these could also trigger a curse, he would have been tormented to death by the water in his body long ago.

Following this logic, Coca-Cola, with its complex composition, is clearly not within the scope of the curse's trigger.

Su Long carefully brought the jar to his lips and took a small sip.

The cool, sweet liquid slid down my throat without any unusual burning sensation.

He finally felt relieved, tilted his head back, and gulped down the icy liquid.

When a person is truly thirsty, all kinds of drinks become extremely unpalatable—water becomes the only precious thing.

Tea might be a better alternative to cola for quenching thirst, but for a uremia patient, pure water is ultimately the most suitable for his health.

Drinking other liquids instead of water in the long run is not a solution. Right now, there are only two options.

Alternatively, I could improve my physical attributes as soon as possible to completely cure this damn uremia.

Either find that rain girl as soon as possible, burn her completely, and get rid of this damn curse.