After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 860

Alterra General Hospital

Victor walked to and fro the door of the operating room. Vanessa didn’t leave in the end, though primarily to make a point against her brother who seemed to believe she was there superficially—possibly due to Garan.

While she had a habit of looking for the man, she really did want Juni to survive. Whether it was for basic morality or just to avoid the guilt and liability, she didn’t really dwell on it for now.

It took another hour or so before the doctors came out. Victor immediately met Volohov and a few assistants. Betty was also there, and her task was to heal Juni as needed. After all, the operation was on critical internal organs and they didn’t have the machines in order to keep patients alive during operations. At least not yet.

"Her situation is temporarily stable, but we’re still studying how to completely heal her," the doctor said, heaving a deep breath. "His metal was rust in and on itself. Now Juni has a very bad case of tetanus."

Victor’s hands clenched into a fist, but he loosened it to calm himself down. "The Research Lab is already working on its cure."

Volohov nodded, "Well, I trust in the team."

"Is the rust unusual?"

"Rust itself can’t cause tetanus, but the rust attracts the spores of a bacteria called Clostridium tetani. In Terran, there would be an incubation period, but here…"

This meant that this world’s version of this bacteria was much more potent and dangerous. Further, it was from an elementalist, which had known capabilities to have much more potent effects than anything else.

Victor heaved a deep breath while Vanessa stood beside him, acting like a concerned relative. "What… could happen to her?"

"Tetanus causes severe muscle spasms, seizures, and difficulty in breathing. If left untreated, she just wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore."

"What?"

"We implanted a tube on her," Volohov said, "The lack of oxygen in her brain would cause her to remain unconscious for a long time."

Although they didn’t have synthetic material usually used to make such tubes and medical tools, they did have rubber which was a decent alternative.

"She would likely remain in a vegetative state, at least for a while."

"Even in the hospital?"

"She’s still breathing thanks to her being here," the doctor explained. However, the look of the doctor on him shifted a bit, and it made Victor even more nervous.

"And… there’s something else you would want to know."

Volohov then looked at Betty who nodded before stepping forward. Vanessa also gave this one a bad look. Betty—the beautiful aborigine blonde who was also a healer. They had the same elements and occupations, and it was natural for Vanessa to feel a sense of competition with her.

"I have awakened a new skill the past few days, it’s called Bodily Assessment Skill," she said. "The skill would help me see the basic status of a person’s health, though it consumes a bit of mana."

The story of how it awakened was a bit… unusual.

That man named Tom came to her, saying his chest hurts, asking for her help and she did heal him.

She knew this man as her eyes always gravitated towards him when he was around. He was not very handsome, but he had a very kind heart. She also saw him cook for the kids during their picnics and she thought how great a father he would be.

Also, seeing healers consumed contribution points so she just did as she was asked. She thought, no one would be willing to waste precious contribution points if there was really no issue, right?

However, the ’illness’ just didn’t seem to get better. She felt very very worried, so she healed and tried to understand what was going on, and this went on for many days.

She was shocked to trigger the skill in the end.

This was a skill that would’ve awoken in Betty sooner or later but, with Tom’s help, it came much sooner.

Betty looked at Vincent to state her findings, "When she was healing, I used the skill to make a preliminary check on her," she said. "It’s still in the early stages but the skill managed to register it. In her, I found a little thing."

It was very little because it was very, very, young. Perhaps it was only a few days old, or a week at the oldest.

Victor’s eyebrows furrowed, confused. "What?"

"Miss Juni is pregnant."