Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Administering Medicine

Su Qing listened to Meng Yanjing and made short work of the steep slope, leaving Meng Yanjing utterly dumbfounded. She never imagined the girl could be so capable—scaling such a steep incline with her bare hands.

"You..." Meng Yanjing was still struggling to process what she’d seen.

"Let me get you up first, then you can take me to your teacher and classmates," Su Qing said to Meng Yanjing.

"Oh, oh, okay. Thank you, thank you." Meng Yanjing snapped back to her senses and hurriedly thanked Su Qing. "Thank you so, so much."

"It’s nothing. Everyone runs into trouble when they’re away from home." Su Qing smiled and shook her head, then helped Meng Yanjing up the slope.

Once they were on top of the slope, Meng Yanjing’s heart finally settled. Heaven knew how panicked she had been, clinging tightly to that tree trunk just moments before.

"I’ll take you there." After calming her nerves, Meng Yanjing quickly said to Su Qing.

"Okay."

Meng Yanjing led Su Qing back to their campsite, where Su Qing saw two gray tents. Meng Yanjing explained, "My teacher and one of my classmates are in that tent. A female classmate and I share this one. They’ve all been bitten by something unknown and have fevers that are getting progressively worse. Could you possibly watch over them for me? I need to carry them out of the mountains one by one."

They weren’t far from the outskirts of Da Hu Mountain. The group of four—a teacher and three students—had originally planned to leave the mountain that morning. But who could have known something like this would happen?

"I have some medicine for snake and insect bites. I can take a look at them first. If it’s something I can treat, it’s better to do it as soon as possible," Su Qing told Meng Yanjing.

"Ah, you have medicine for snake and insect bites?" Meng Yanjing’s heart leaped with joy at Su Qing’s words. Seeing that Su Qing was alone, she hadn’t expected her to be able to treat her teacher and classmates. She had only been hoping for someone to help watch them so she could get them out of the mountain faster.

"Yes." Su Qing nodded. "There’s no time to lose. Let me take a look at them right away."

"Oh, okay! Thank you so much." Meng Yanjing quickly led Su Qing to the nearest tent.

Su Qing entered the tent and saw a middle-aged man and a young man in his early twenties lying inside. Both were flushed red with fever. The middle-aged man, in particular, was already unconscious. The younger man, however, was still awake but clearly very weak. When he saw Meng Yanjing enter with Su Qing, he asked feebly, "Meng Yanjing, who is this...?"

Meng Yanjing quickly said, "Qiao Mulin, I ran into this lady in the mountains. She says she has some medicine for snake and insect bites and offered to see if it could help."

"Really?!" Qiao Mulin’s face lit up. He quickly looked at Su Qing and said weakly, "Miss, thank you so, so much. Please, check on my teacher first. He’s already unconscious, and I’m worried his condition is severe."

Qiao Mulin knew full well what was happening. They had been bitten by some unknown insect yesterday, triggering a persistent high fever. The medicine they had on hand did nothing; their temperatures only continued to climb. In his current state, he didn’t even have the strength to stand without support, let alone help his unconscious teacher. He was terrified his teacher wouldn’t even make it out of the mountains.

"Okay, don’t worry. Let me take a look." Su Qing nodded at Qiao Mulin and went to check on the teacher. She saw that the back of his hands and his arms were covered in red dots. She pulled back his collar and found more red dots scattered across his neck. The bite itself was on his right wrist.

After examining the teacher, Su Qing turned to Qiao Mulin. "Let me see you as well."

"Okay." Qiao Mulin nodded.

Su Qing checked him over. Qiao Mulin’s condition was better. The bite was also on his wrist, but the red dots only covered the back of his hands and arms; they hadn’t yet appeared on his neck.

Su Qing frowned slightly. ’It seems the insects that bit them were venomous. The teacher is older and has a weaker immune system than a young person, so the venom spread faster, causing him to fall unconscious.’

"Do you remember what kind of insect bit you?" Su Qing asked. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Qiao Mulin replied, "I don’t recognize it. It was a blue, beetle-like insect with white spots on its shell. But it had a sharp stinger on its tail, like a hornet. To be honest, I’m not even sure if we were bitten or stung."

They were geology students, not biology experts, so they couldn’t identify the insect that had attacked them.

Su Qing nodded. "I vaguely remember seeing the insect you described. Judging by your wounds, you were likely both bitten and stung."

"Ah!" Meng Yanjing, who was standing by, quickly asked, "Miss, will your medicine be effective against their injuries?"

"This medicine is for general snake and insect bites, so it might not be the perfect antidote, but it should alleviate your symptoms. After you get out of the mountains, you should still go to a hospital for a full check-up." Su Qing took out a medicinal powder and a liquid for treating bites. She looked at Meng Yanjing and the others. "Do you want to give it a try?"

"Let’s try it," Qiao Mulin said. "Regardless of the effect, thank you."

"Don’t mention it." Su Qing smiled and applied the powder and liquid to Qiao Mulin and the teacher. At the same time, she silently sent some of her green mist into their bodies.

’Truthfully, with my current Fourth Rank Wood Ability, I could have healed both of them in minutes. But I don’t want to cause a sensation, and I definitely don’t want to be taken away and dissected for research. Besides, in the eyes of everyone who knows me, I don’t know the first thing about medicine. I can’t break character.’

’As for the medicinal powder, I can just attribute it to Mr. Gong.’

After treating Qiao Mulin and the teacher, Su Qing went to the other tent and administered the medicine to the girl inside. The girl’s constitution was weaker, and she had already fallen into a semi-conscious state by the time they got to her. Seeing this, Su Qing sent a little extra green mist her way.

Meng Yanjing was extremely nervous, wringing her hands anxiously. She was terrified this medicine would be just as useless as what they had tried before. If that were the case, she worried her teacher wouldn’t be able to hold on.

Her heart pounding with anxiety, she returned to the tent with Qiao Mulin and the teacher to check on their condition. The moment she entered, she saw the teacher’s open eyes.

Meng Yanjing was overjoyed. "Mr. Chen, you’re awake!"