A quarter of an hour later, Asclepius covered his bruised left eye socket, a rare look of astonishment appearing on his face, which usually lacked emotional expression.
"Why did you hit me?"
"Resisting arrest!"
"I committed a crime?"
The physician who saved lives and healed the wounded pointed at himself in confusion, his face full of bewilderment.
"That's right. The crime of causing trouble with illegal substances!"
Lorne straightened his chest and answered righteously.
"Illegally manufacturing, selling, and distributing toxic and harmful substances, endangering public safety. The sentence is three to ten years in prison.
In particularly serious cases, it will be more than ten years of hard labor, permanent exile, or even the death penalty! Considering your illegal actions, I now formally file charges against you in the name of the Magistrate of Athens and place you under arrest!"
"Wait. Causing trouble with illegal substances? Why have I never heard of that crime?"
"Because I haven't had time to write it into the legal code yet."
"..."
Faced with this shameless law enforcer who acted as both judge and player, Asclepius's face darkened in silence and he could not help complaining in his heart.
'If you want to hit me, just say it directly. You even fabricated a crime for me. I've never seen someone this shameless!'
"But then again, the law hasn't truly been implemented yet, and your medical practice comes from good intentions."
Lorne suddenly changed his tone, and the tense expression on his face softened.
"Considering all of the above, if you are willing to cooperate with the investigation, this time I will only confiscate the dangerous items in your possession."
However, hearing this, Asclepius felt he had been slandered and immediately refuted him with righteous indignation.
"Dangerous items? Where? They are all good medicines used to save lives!"
Lorne glanced at the shelves in front of him, which were filled with jars and bottles containing strange tissues and colorful liquids, then walked forward and picked up a bottle that emitted the smell of rats and asked suspiciously.
"What is this?"
"Hemlock mixed extract."
Asclepius answered without hesitation.
Lorne's face darkened.
"Coniine? One bottle of this could knock down hundreds of people, right? And you say it's not dangerous?"
In 399 BC, when the great philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death, he chose to drink a mixture of hemlock containing coniine and die.
This thing was extremely poisonous.
Asclepius tried to argue.
"It is only used to remove toxins, eliminate bruising, and kill parasites..."
Lorne did not respond.
He simply pointed to another row of bottles in front of him.
"What about these?"
"Belladonna roots..."
"Mandrake..."
"Ergot I cultivated myself..."
"Dragon saliva from the giant dragon of Colchis..."
"Stop!"
After only a few steps, Lorne could not bear it any longer and quickly raised his hand to stop Asclepius from continuing his self-exposure.
There was even a trace of grievance in his eyes.
"Don't say any more. If you continue, I won't even be able to protect you..."
Almost everything on the shelf was poisonous, and some even belonged to mythical species.
Although medicine could also be poison and poison could also be medicine, the courage of the future God of Medicine was simply too great.
If all these dangerous substances were piled together and something went wrong one day, the entire city of Athens would suffer.
Finally, after searching for quite a while, Lorne spotted two small bottles of familiar pink potion hidden in a corner and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Are these the same ones you gave to Stheno and Euryale?"
"Uh, yes..."
"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"
Lorne showed an expression of deep pain and indignation, then righteously stuffed the two pink bottles into his pocket. "How can something this dangerous be casually given to children to play with? I'm confiscating all of it!"
This is a tonic...
Asclepius opened his mouth, originally intending to tell the truth.
However, when he looked at the pile of extremely poisonous contraband in the room and the expression on the face of the so called magistrate, he ultimately nodded silently and accepted the punishment.
At the same time, he added a thoughtful piece of medical advice.
"It is best to dilute it before using it. The effect of this medicine is quite strong.
Especially for Gorgons who possess Gorgon blood, the effect is even more obvious, because it was specifically formulated as snake medicine for them.
If a god like you who carries human blood uses it, the effect should probably be reduced by half..."
As he spoke, Asclepius seemed to think of something and looked faintly at the magistrate who had come to his door.
"You stayed inside for three days?"
"Stop!"
Lorne rushed forward and covered Asclepius's mouth, cautiously glancing around.
Well, just as this guy had guessed, the effect of that medicine on him had not lasted three days at all.
After about one day, he had already regained his clarity.
After all, since childhood he had been fed a large number of potions by Circe.
His poison resistance had long been maxed out.
As for the remaining time...
Of course it was to bravely sacrifice himself for the innocent victims.
Sacrifice is a virtue.
Lorne immediately coughed lightly and shifted the topic with a wandering gaze.
"What were we talking about just now?"
"The experience of taking the medicine..."
"..."
"Then shall we continue discussing the medicinal effects?"
"Let's talk about the experience of taking it instead..."
Looking at the future God of Medicine who had seriously taken out a small notebook, Lorne helplessly raised both hands.
He had not expected that beneath Asclepius's thirst for knowledge and spirit of practice was actually a hidden black heart.
"Don't worry. Protecting patient privacy is the standard behavior of a physician. Whatever I see or hear, whether related to business or not, if I believe it should remain secret, I will keep it confidential..."
After hearing Asclepius's repeated assurances, and knowing he had been caught with evidence, Lorne could only pinch his nose and sit down.
Then briefly described the general pharmacological reactions.
Asclepius enthusiastically opened a piece of parchment and made detailed records.
However, before the doctor patient discussion meeting could reach halfway, urgent knocking suddenly sounded outside the door.
"Teacher Asclepius, this is bad!
There is a patient in critical condition!"
Hearing the shout outside, Asclepius immediately stopped the questioning and rushed out of the medical room at high speed.
He arrived at the open area outside to examine and rescue the patient who had been brought in.
Three medical students from the Academy of Athens gathered nearby and explained the situation noisily.
It was a pair of father and son hunters who had gone into the mountains to hunt.
They had only intended to catch some ordinary prey to support their family, but unexpectedly they encountered a rampaging magical boar on the way.
By the time the rescue team found them, they had already become like this.
At this moment, Lorne, who had walked out after hearing the commotion, glanced at the two wounded men lying on the ground with their necks and chests torn open, shaking his head slightly.
The main artery had ruptured, the myocardium was damaged, the heart had stopped beating, and even the pupils had dilated.
They could not be saved.
More precisely, they were now two corpses that had not completely cooled yet.
"Everyone move aside!"
However, Asclepius simply waved his hand seriously.
Then he took out two light purple potions from his satchel, removed the cork stoppers, and poured them into the mouths of the two corpses.
As the potion flowed down their throats, the wounds on the two hunters that were deep enough to expose bone began to heal rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Even more incredible was that after only a few breaths, Lorne actually heard a heartbeat gradually growing stronger from inside the patients' chests.
And when the hunter father and son, whom he had defined as corpses, opened their confused eyes and climbed up from the ground, the shock in his heart was beyond words.
A terrible thought instantly flooded into his mind.
The Elixir of Immortality.
"You lost too much blood. During this time, it is best not to move around too much. Stay at home and rest patiently. Later I will prescribe two potions to replenish your blood and vitality. Remember to take them on time and come back for another checkup after one week..."
Under Asclepius's patient instructions, the hunter father and son received the prescription with endless gratitude.
Only then were they carried away with hearts full of thanks.
Watching the two patients he had brought back from death safely descend the mountain, a faint trace of relief and satisfaction appeared on Asclepius's cold face.
For a physician, there was no greater pleasure than overcoming stubborn illness and saving lives.
Life was beautiful, yet also fragile.
Many times, once the body reached death, the distance between life and death became an insurmountable gulf.
All kinds of regrets would remain with relatives and friends for the rest of their lives.
For example, the mother who gave him life but whom he had never met had always been an unresolved knot in Asclepius's heart.
At this moment, a sudden voice from behind interrupted his thoughts.
"You developed that thing?"
"What?"
"The Elixir of Immortality."
Lorne's face was solemn, and his voice was low.
(End of Chapter)