A Hospital in Another World? Chapter 1079: Dissection! Microscopy! The True Nature of the Pollution in the Elven Secret Realm!

Cirilla followed Garrett closely, assisting him with numerous experiments. They had worked with brains often… and eaten them just as frequently.

Grilled brains!

Stewed brains!

Hot pot brains!

Especially the hot pot brains—fresh brains tossed into the pot, simmered in the spicy broth until tender, the rich aroma wafting through the air, making it impossible to stand still with anticipation.

Even though Miss Cirilla wasn’t particularly good with spicy food, she would still dive in, exclaiming "Ah! Ah!" while secretly inhaling a mouthful of Frost Dragon Breath, desperately trying to get her share...

After eating so much, she became quite familiar with the appearance of brains. A fresh brain—plump, tender, with its convolutions clearly defined, encapsulated by the delicate membrane, shaking gently when held.

However, the brain of the unicorn before her was different, despite being dead for some time, and despite its surface being stained with a dark, grayish hue. Cirilla could immediately tell something was off.

What kind of brain was this? The left hemisphere had shrunk, while the right was grotesquely enlarged, bulging outwards, pressing the brain to shift entirely to the left, with the right side deeply indented.

The lifeless brain was dry and withered, except for the swollen mass that seemed ready to burst out of the membrane. It twisted and turned, almost as if it was still moving, deeply embedded into the unicorn's brain, with its edges blurring into the surrounding tissue.

“This is… this is…”

Cirilla's face grew increasingly pale. As a Silver Dragon, she instinctively repelled these dark, foul energies. If she weren’t helping Garrett with the examination, she would have blasted the horrid thing into icy shards with a breath of dragon frost.

Even so, she wrinkled her nose and waved a hand in front of her face. A stream of cold air descended, forming an icy curtain before her, effectively blocking out the foul stench while allowing her to observe the situation.

Garrett glanced at her in surprise. Impressive! She learned this on her own! I didn’t even tell her, and she made a screen for herself!

He usually used a bubble spell to filter harmful gases during surgery, sometimes adding a layer of Mage Armor. But looking at this unicorn's brain, who knows what’s inside? Even two layers of defense might not be enough...

“Cirilla, make one for me too!”

He called out, pointing to his forehead. From across the surgical table, the Silver Dragon girl responded crisply:

“Alright!”

The cold air surged downwards, condensing into a curtain. Cirilla’s control over the cold had become quite refined—the top of the curtain formed two semi-circular headbands that gently clasped onto Garrett’s forehead, without making him feel the slightest chill.

Garrett smiled at her and nodded slightly. He then gripped the scissors in his right hand and began cutting through the brain membrane, gradually exposing the brain tissue beneath. It wasn’t long before Garrett clicked his tongue:

“The optic nerve is compressed… This unicorn was probably blind in its right eye before it died…”

As he continued the dissection, the blackened, swollen mass extended deep into the brain, with blood vessels snaking into it, as if they were being sucked into the mass, draining nutrients from the brain.

Garrett focused, using the Mage Hand to transform into tissue forceps, carefully separating the mass from the membrane bit by bit. It took over half an hour of meticulous work to finally isolate the mass and set it aside.

His mental energy penetrated into it, carefully "feeling" around. Cirilla, standing anxiously beside him, asked:

“How is it? How is it? Is that thing alive?”

“It’s not alive… or rather, there’s no living creature inside.” Garrett slowly shook his head.

He had speculated earlier about parasites like Taenia solium, brain cysticercosis, Toxoplasma, or even alien parasites. But upon examination, while this mass did possess some strange vitality, it did not contain a living organism:

“This… it feels a bit like a necromantic ‘Rotten Cyst,’ but it’s not quite the same. In any case, it parasitized the unicorn’s brain while it was still alive, growing larger and larger…”

As he spoke, he began dissecting the mass, separating it into different sections. He then sliced off a piece and handed it to Cirilla:

“Cirilla, quick freeze it!”

“Got it!”

The Silver Dragon girl expertly pursed her lips and blew out a gust of cold wind. In an instant, the tissue was covered in a layer of frost, freezing solid. Without needing further instruction, Cirilla placed the frozen tissue into a specially designed box and turned the knob:

Click!

Click!

Click!

Invisible, razor-sharp blades descended silently, slicing the brain tissue into fine sections. Garrett took each slice, stained them, and examined them under the microscope:

“The structure doesn’t resemble normal brain cells… it’s more chaotic…”

“These cells are larger than normal… especially the nuclei, which are significantly larger…”

“The mitochondria are also much larger…”

“The entire cell structure looks disordered… Could this be a cancerous cell…? Brain cancer? But it doesn’t quite look like that either…”

The entire night, Garrett continued dissecting, slicing, staining, and observing. Dissecting, slicing, staining, observing. He examined with the naked eye, under the microscope, with detection magic, and even sent in a tiny snake to investigate…

From after dinner until three or four hours later, he had only managed to process the unicorn’s brain and the mass growing on it. When it was time to sleep, he cleaned up the operating room, cast a Cleansing Spell on himself, and collapsed silently beside the fire.

“What’s wrong?”

Aishe Moon Song, who had waited patiently for hours the day before, and again today, still hadn’t received a definitive answer. Seeing Garrett lying on his back, hands under his head, with a deep frown, she couldn’t help but lean in and ask:

“Is it serious?”

“…It’s hard to say. I’m still not sure, I… I’ll take another look tomorrow…”

The next day, the third day, the fourth day. Garrett dissected the unicorn inch by inch, from its internal organs—liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, heart, lungs, stomach, intestines—to its bone marrow, leaving nothing unexamined.

As for the charred, blackened skin of the lower abdomen and the surrounding area tinged with dark patches, he scrutinized it layer by layer, from the epidermis to the dermis, and down to the subcutaneous tissue.

“It’s troublesome.” Finally, Garrett approached Aishe Moon Song, seriously asking:

“Sister Moon Song, what exactly happened in the Elven Secret Realm? The unicorn’s body, her body, it’s more than just injuries…”

“You tell me first, what exactly is wrong.” Aishe Moon Song insisted. Garrett sighed, shaking his head:

“It’s much more complicated than I initially thought… I originally believed that with my current abilities, I could cure it…”

When he first saw the charred wound, Garrett suspected anthrax. If it were anthrax, it would have been simple—high doses of penicillin would have been enough to treat it.

Even if he couldn’t produce enough on his own, with so many elves around, someone should have the ability to communicate with nature and help him cultivate penicillin.

However, after dissection, no anthrax bacteria were found in the unicorn’s body. Even if anthrax bacteria were naturally eradicated within the Sky Knight’s spatial equipment, the pathological findings did not match the symptoms of anthrax.

If it wasn’t anthrax, it wasn’t any infectious disease Garrett had learned about in his previous life, nor did it match any known parasitic or bacterial infections. It was a pity—if it had been one of these, he might have been able to save her.

Garrett also speculated that the unicorn might have been affected by a spell, one that had never fully healed. Necromantic spells, such as Wither or Putrefaction, could cause such injuries.

But Garrett found similar fluctuations around the skin of the unicorn’s lower abdomen, as well as in the intestines, stomach, brain, and even at the base of its horn. Necromantic spell damage wouldn’t spread so extensively—

Especially at the base of the horn and within the unicorn’s bone marrow, where there were similar magical fluctuations and abnormal tissue cells. Excluding the factors of an otherworldly origin and spell-related factors, Garrett was left with only one diagnosis:

Late-stage cancer, with bone metastasis and multiple organ involvement.

But this didn’t match the abdominal wound either…

He gestured and described in detail, even using Silent Illusion to illustrate everything he had seen. To his surprise, Aishe Moon Song didn’t seem overly shocked. She simply lowered her head, tears silently dripping onto the ground:

“I knew it, I knew it. Nanna was a brave child… She must have ventured into the Elven Secret Realm with her predecessor…”

“So that realm is still accessible?” Garrett asked in surprise. Aishe Moon Song shook her head, tears scattering with the motion:

“It’s usually forbidden to enter. But when the seal leaks, someone always needs to go in and reinforce it. Typically, every ten, twenty, fifty years, someone has to risk going in…”

“Moreover, in the polluted areas, cultivation progresses particularly quickly. But the risk of losing control or contracting strange illnesses is also very high… There are always those who, for various reasons, seek to enter…”

“No one is allowed to go!” In a distant forest, a

 tall, silver-haired elf blocked her companions, her gaze sharp:

“It’s too dangerous! No one is allowed in!”

“But Sister Delara, the pollution is leaking more severely! Two unicorns have already been injured, and one has gone missing! We can’t just stand by and watch!”

“You’re too weak! I’ll go in!”

“Sister Delara!”

“Let’s wait a little longer.” During the standoff, an elderly elf with long silver hair and a sparse head of hair slowly emerged from a treehouse:

“A letter came from the Moon Song family’s child. She said she brought reliable companions this time… and two young ones with our bloodline. Let’s wait until they all arrive and get acquainted. With more people, we can think of more solutions…”

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