Chapter 338: A Foot-Long, Demon-Hunting Fish
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The medical facility was just a stone's throw away. It catered to any medical operation on any type of life form except Lil Pea. She was too tiny. There was no pocket-sized chamber for her. So, they had to use whatever they had at hand and improvise.
Hao Ren rushed his fish-daughter to the medical facility as the hiccup flung Lil Pea away each time. The four ascetics followed, but they were clueless about what Hao Ren and the rest were doing. However, they could see that the little girl, who looked like a foot-long fish was affected by the Sacred Relic. Hence, they wanted to find out more. The medical facility was not a restricted zone and they were not prevented from entering.
Before the physical examination started, they first figured out the pattern of her involuntary teleportation. Firstly, it had something to do with the hiccups, as a hiccup would cause an involuntary teleportation; secondly, the direction and distance of each involuntary teleportation was dependent on her line of sight, but how far she would go was still unknown; lastly and most importantly, Lil Pea could not penetrate solid surfaces. If something was in her way, she would hit right into it with a bam. Any obstables could stop her, such as walls and Y'zaks' head. But in this case, it could be a blessing in disguise; the fear of every first-timer was to get stuck in something during teleportation. Every year in The Plane of Dreams, there were dozens of deaths, because novice sorcerers would get themselves stuck in various objects. But, there was no such fear for Lil Pea; she derived her ability from the Sacred Relic of Origins and it must have given her a "safety lock" when it blessed her with the ability.
The MDT switched one of the medical pods on and Hao Ren carefully placed Lil Pea inside. She had no idea what was happening. She looked around curiously, but also nervously. She cried quietly and flapped her tail. She appeared reluctant when Hao Ren set her down. He comforted her, "Don't worry, it's just a photo shoot. You can lie down here, take a nap if you want. Daddy is by your side..."
Lil Pea could already understand human language, so she quited down, staring at the shiny crystal panel in amazement. She moved around the pod, exploring. Nangong Wuyue could not help muttering, "Don't you think the medical pod is a little too big for her?"
Just barely a foot long, the little mermaid could run freely inside the medical pod. Relatively speaking, it was as big as a hall to a human. The MDT started to fiddle with the control panels and said, "No worries, it will still work like a charm even if you throw a mosquito in there."
The medical pod slowly closed. Hao Ren was worried that Lil Pea would be flung out of the pod when she hiccupped. But before he knew it, Lil Pea had fallen into deep sleep. Barely a few seconds later, the scan returned the results on the medical pod's display unit. The MDT used Lil Pea's existing medical records and compared them to the results. It then made an extrapolation, simulating what was going to happen in her body if her condition persisted. Except the MDT, eveyone at the scene knew nuts about medical stuff. They could only wait.
Nangong Wuyue looked at Lil Pea's MRI scan. The little mermaid was sleeping soundly in the "casket", curling herself up in a posture similar to a question mark. But, the image of her bones caught the siren's eyes. She took a closer look and scratched her chin in thought. "Hmm, there really is a fish bone. Do I haved it too?"
Glancing at Nangong Wuyue, Hao Ren had cold sweat trickling down his forehead. He wondered when the maiden would stop worrying about bones.
"Everything looks fine. She is in perfect health." The MDT broke the good news after a long examination. "She's as fit as a fiddle with no tissue deterioration. Anyway, it seems that her body has had some positive changes. She's a lot healthier than before. Her body is producing some new, but harmless hormones, probably an adaptive reaction to the earlier incident."
Nangong Wuyue remembered Raven 12345 had once said that Lil Pea came from a harsh planet where its sun was unstable. The cosmic ray there was too strong and the volatile environment gave the mermaid race super vitality as well as adaptability.
So, Lil Pea had inherited the best genes of her ancestors. The reactant may have been harmful to other races, but Lil Pea was not affected at all—instead, she grew even stronger.
Nonetheless, Hao Ren was not so sure. He asked, "What causes the involuntary teleportation when she hiccups?"
"Some kind of magic marker," the MDT said as it fluttered a little. "Perhaps, demon hunters got their talent this way—via direct injection. The mermaid race, like Lil Pea have a high level of affinity towards magic. We don't know how to teach her. She was just directly injected with a supernatural power. We need time to analyse how it works; as mysterious as the Sacred Relic of Origins is, there has to be a set of laws that's behind all this. The injection process may be related to Lil Pea's brain structure, or maybe something of a higher realm, like the soul. The previous civilisation in The Plane of Dreams must have possessed the ability to study the secrets of the soul."
As mommy of Lil Pea, Nangong Wuyue only cared about the girl's health. Knowing Lil Pea was fine, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "No matter what, she is safe at least. But, we would like to know why hiccups cause the involuntary teleportation."
The MDT played a funny background music and said, "Some people turn into a husky when eating spicy sticks; but what does a husky have to do with spicy sticks?"
Lily was all ears. "Say what you want, but don't drag me into this. Some people even experience super evolution just by eating spinach..."
Vivian glanced at Lily and said, "Do you really think that turning into a husky is called super evolution? Have you ever heard of people transforming into superhero by just eating spicy sticks?"
The two of them started arguing; the bone of contention was why spicy sticks could and could not turn anyone into a superhero, as well as why large tails were and were not a result of super evolution—although no one knew why the argument had gone sideways to be about the tail. Arguments about spicy sticks were not going to help explain what happened to Lil Pea. Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue spent a long time scratching their heads, but they were none the wiser. They decided it was just a conditioned reflex from the hiccup.
"She just acquired the teleportation ability of a demon hunter. If I'm not mistaken, Lil Pea will slowly be 'demon-hunterised' and start to have exorcism powers in her blood as well as the ability to sniff out otherworldlings. She'll be able to read Letta Runes and stuff like that." the MDT opined. "Just watch out."
Something seemed to bother Hao Ren all of a sudden. "Wait a second! If that happens, how is she going to control all these abilities? None of us know how to train a demon hunter!"
Y'zaks peered at Nangong Wuyue and said, "Maybe it's time to get a teacher. Do you think you could contact your brother?"
Nangong Wuyue shook her head. "He's moving from place to place all the time. He only contacts me once he puts up at some place."
Hao Ren was baffled. He said, "It's not the Stone Age. Can't he just get a mobile phone?"
Nangong Wuyue spread her hands. "But, you still gotta wait. You know how it is when a demon hunter goes hunting. You're hiding in some castle or place infested with monsters. Imagine what would happen if your phone rings in moments like this?"
Hao Ren pouted. It looked like Nangong Sanba was out of the question. So, what was he to do then?
The MDT pondered about it for a long time before coming up with a wild idea. "I'm going to play music to scare the hell out of her when she gets out."
Curious, Hao Ren asked, "So that she won't teleport involuntarily again?"
"No. She'll stop having hiccups again."
"..."
A lousy idea was better than no idea, so everyone agreed.
When the medical pod opened, Lil Pea stepped out. The MDT blasted The Imperial March right in her face. She was stunned and her hiccups stopped. She was a happy bunny now. Hao Ren was wishing that her other abilities would not surface before he could find a way to train her. She had to master self-control first. So, he held her and said, "Remember this: try not to have hiccups. If you really have to, try do it in a safe place..."
It had been a hell of a moment, but Lil Pea was fine. Hao Ren could now depart to The Plane of Dreams.