SWNOVELS Chapter 2
With Natalie in his arms, Matthew ran to the nearest Carlson Pharmacy, the biggest pharmacy chain in Eastcliff. The owner, Stanley Carlson, was a significant figure in the medical business in Eastcliff. The largest part of the Cunningham's sales was so dependent on the Carlson Group that the latter controlled and supported the financial lifeline of the Cunninghams. Every one of Carlson Group's pharmacies had a highly skilled in-house doctor.
When Matthew went into the store with a girl in his arms covered in blood, everyone inside was stunned. "Hey, there's no use bringing her with that sort of injury into a pharmacy. You better send her to a hospital quickly!" said a young shop assistant who was stopping Matthew from going forward. "We don't have the facilities like a hospital and we can't save her!"
"There's no need for that!" Matthew shook his head and said in a low voice, "I need to buy a set of silver needles!"
"Silver needles?" The shop assistant was startled as there were not many people looking for such an item.
"Why do you want to buy silver needles?" asked an old man with white beard, out of the blue.
When the young assistant saw the man, he quickly greeted him respectfully, "Mr. Harrison!"
This elderly person was Joseph Harrison, a genius doctor of Carlson Pharmacy with remarkable medical skills that placed him amongst the top three in the whole of Eastcliff. The prestige which Carlson Pharmacy enjoyed now had a direct connection with Joseph's influence in the field.
However, Matthew didn't pay any attention to him and repeated in a low growl, "I need to buy a set of silver needles!"
With a mix of adulation and anger in his voice, the young assistant replied, "Hey, didn't you hear Mr. Harrison speaking to you?"
"I want to buy a set of silver needles!" Matthew yelled suddenly.
"What are you yelling for?" the shop assistant bellowed angrily. "Do you know where this is? Why are you making a scene here? You-"
With a wave of Joseph's hand, the shop assistant immediately stopped speaking. While glancing once at Natalie who was in Matthew's arms, Joseph said with a sigh, "Young man, this little girl has passed away. Why don't you give her a proper burial instead?"
"She's not dead yet!" Matthew shouted.
"How dare you speak to Mr. Harrison like that—" The young assistant wanted to blow his top at Matthew but was once again stopped by Joseph, who could tell that Matthew was in deep sorrow, and it was only normal for him to have such a reaction.
"Young man, I've been practicing medicine for more than forty years, and I'm able to tell from just a glance. It is indeed true that this little girl had no life force left."
"I'll say it again that she's not dead!" Matthew shouted in rage. "I need silver needles. Do you have silver needles?"
With a frown, Joseph asked, "Why do you want the silver needles?"
"I want to save her!" he said loudly.
"Save her?" Joseph looked at Matthew with a dubious look, wondering if this young man had lost his mind.
A dead person could never start breathing again. Even with superior medical skills, there was no way of bringing a dead person back to life! Despite that, Matthew appeared calm and gleamed with confidence in his eyes. This surprised Joseph, who began softly, "The shop doesn't have any silver needles."
Matthew then turned around and was about to leave before Joseph continued after a pause, "However, I do have a set of silver needles. I can lend it to you for a while."
Stopping in his tracks, Matthew spun around and nodded slowly. "Thank you!"
"Bring me my silver needles and prepare the room at the back," Joseph ordered.
The young assistant looked puzzled. "Mr. Harrison, she's already dead. If anything happens-"
"If anything happens, I'll be responsible for it!" Joseph cut him off calmly.
Not daring to speak anymore, the shop assistant rushed away immediately as instructed, while Matthew carried Natalie into the room under Joseph's lead. There was a hospital bed in sight, so Matthew placed Natalie on it. At the same time, Joseph brought a set of silver needles over.
In a fierce tone, the shop assistant barked at him, "These are the needles for Mr. Harrison's use, of which he had saved countless lives with them throughout the years. It's your greatest honor that he is lending them to you now. Yet, you're actually using it on a dead person. This is utterly an insult to Mr. Harrison!"
As he ran his fingers across the silver needles, Matthew had an inexplicable sense of familiarity and his face was brimming with confidence.
The shop assistant pouted his lips and sneered, "Hmph, what a waste of effort. I've never seen the dead coming back to life!"
"Alright, leave the room now!" Joseph waved his hand and gestured for him to leave.
"I..." The shop assistant was taken aback, but still left the room grudgingly.
"Do you need my help?" Joseph asked softly. Though he knew it was a futile effort, perhaps he could alleviate some of Matthew's sadness by doing so. Being in the medicine field for so many years, he had always been kind-hearted with a respectable reputation in Eastcliff. Even toward a stranger, he still carried some pity and compassion, which mainly contributed to his highly honored and esteemed name. Matthew looked at him and said softly, "Please hold on to the two pressure points here!"
The points he meant were GV20 which was situated on the top of the head, while KI1 was at the bottom of the foot. The GV20 was a meeting point for all veins and it ran throughout the whole body. The head was the meeting point of Yang as well as the center for all the pulses, and GV20 was the point where the energy of the meridians converged. The nature of this pressure point was Yang, but it also held Yin within. Hence, it could reach all of the veins of Yin and Yang while connecting all of the pressure points around it. As for the KI1 situated at the sole of the foot, it was where liquid from the kidney flowed out to the surface.
Even though he had his doubts, Joseph still did as he was asked and applied pressure on those two points.
Holding the needles in his hand, Matthew took a deep breath and suddenly placed three needles simultaneously on Natalie's face.
Joseph's eyes almost popped out of its sockets when he saw that the three needles had been placed accurately onto the three pressure points without the slightest mistake. Even after decades of practicing medicine and was highly experienced, he was not able to place them so precisely at the same time. Now, how could this young man have such profound skills?
Despite that, even with these extraordinary capabilities, he couldn't bring the dead back to life! While Joseph was deep in his thoughts, Matthew had already inserted twenty-three needles at different pressure points all over Natalie's body.
Joseph's face turned from solemn to surprised when he saw the layout of those metal prickles. Until Matthew had inserted his last needle, the look on Joseph's face was completely frozen.
It was at this moment that Natalie, who was supposed to be dead, let out a small breath and her fingers twitched a little. Shocked, Joseph recovered from his frozen state and stammered, "Young man, t-the technique you just used, d-does it have a name?" In fact, he already had a guess in his heart but it was too hard for him to believe it, so he had to ask.
"It's the Divine Acupuncture Skill!" Matthew answered with a straight face.
"Just as I thought!" Joseph gushed. "My grandmaster once said that only the Divine Acupuncture Skill could bring the dead back to life in this world," he said, still shaking. "However, this technique has been los for centuries. I didn't expect that I would have the chance to witness it even today! The Heavens have been kind to me!" When he finished speaking, he placed his hands together and bowed down to Matthew, saying, "Young man, pardon my ignorance and do forgive me if I have offended you earlier!"
"Please don't say that!" Matthew paused and said in a low voice, "And please tell no one about this!" It was better to keep the jade pendant on the hush for now. After all, his family was annihilated because of it Startled at first, Joseph immediately understood why. This was an extraordinary technique and nobody knew what would happen if it became news to the public! "Don't worry, young man. I definitely wouldn't tell it to another soul!" he promised.
Just then, a commotion came from outside the door. "It's right here, Mr. Williams. I have no idea what trick that man is pulling, but Mr. Harrison actually allowed him to bring the dead girl inside. It's such a bad omen, don't you think?"
The door swung open and the shop assistant returned into the room with the store manager. When Mr. Williams saw Joseph, he put on a pleasing smile and asked respectfully, "Mr. Harrison, why don't you take a break and let me take care of the situation here?"
However, Joseph paid no attention to him as he was still gazing at Matthew with respect. Unbothered by it, Mr. Williams took a look around the room and said coldly, "Throw this dead body out of here!" "How dare you!" Joseph shouted in anger.
Mr. Willimas jumped in surprise and spoke in a quiet voice, "Mr. Harrison, this person is dead. If we keep her here, isn't it—"
"Who says that she's dead?" he interjected in rage. "Can't you see that this young, no, this gentleman had-" Joseph wanted to explain how Matthew had saved Natalie's life, but abruptly stopped himself. If he had continued, wouldn't he be leaking out Matthew's secret?
"This young girl was just hurt very badly!" he said instead, and told them off coldly, "Get out of here. I have to treat her!"
"Huh?" Mr. Williams was shocked. "Mr. Harrison, didn't you say that she was dead earlier?
"I made a mistake and misjudged her condition." With a snort, he asked, "Are you going to make fun of me now for my failing eyesight?"
In an instant, cold sweat started to break out on Mr. William's forehead. As the pillar of strength for Carlson Pharmacy, even the owner himself had to be respectful to Joseph. Mr. Williams thought, How could I offend a person like him?
"Get out of here!" Joseph yelled again.
"Y-Yes, o-of course!" Mr. Williams nodded and bowed deeply before dragging the shop assistant out of the room with him.
Once they were outside, the angry voice of Mr. Williams could be heard lecturing the shop assistant, "Is this what you mean by a dead person? Damn it, are you trying to get me into trouble?"