Chapter 61
Ashe picked up the towel covering his face and sat up, supporting himself with his hand.
His first reaction was to feel his neck, but he didn't find any scars.
"Strange, you didn't use me as an experimental material and operate on me."
"I already did it," the medic [222] said without looking up, flipping through a book with his crow-like beak.
"The surgery was very successful. You're a handsome guy now."
"What!"
Ashe hurried to find a mirror to look at himself, but there were no mirrors around. The medic chuckled, "Just kidding. Repairing your throat was too simple and didn't take much time. So I took the chance to do a few minor surgeries on you while you were unconscious. No major remodeling."
Ashe breathed a sigh of relief.
"What minor surgeries did you do then?"
"Dafi-style eye corner opening, Ebo-style brow bone adjustment, Loja-style chin reshaping, Ailas-style natural curling of eyelashes,..."
Ashe was more and more confused as he listened.
"How much of the old me is still left?"
"Should be quite similar. You still have two eyes, a mouth, and a nose after all."
"You call this 'no major remodeling'? What would count as major then? Changing my whole head?"
"Not that extreme. Brain transplants are still quite risky. For major surgeries popular among sorcerers, at most they would change all your facial features. For example, replacing your eyes with hawk eyes, teeth with shark teeth, nose with wolf nose, ears with bat ears... It's also common to replace limbs and internal organs. Mechanical prosthetics are a very hot trend in enhancements recently."
Wow, so sorcerers have already unlocked the tech tree for biological augmentations?
No wonder Ashe saw a prisoner with rabbit ears and boar fangs. At that time he thought, how could a rabbit and boar cross species barriers to mate?
Turns out it wasn't the wild kind, but the sorcerer kind of wild.
Ashe looked curiously at the medic, "Have you done such major remodeling on yourself?"
The medic hesitated for a moment, "I guess you could say so."
"Oh~" Ashe stared at the medic's crow mask, "I see..."
The medic knew what Ashe was thinking and said indignantly, "I'm not as ugly as you. My face has always been perfect, no need for replacements."
"Oh, so you didn't replace your face." Ashe glanced over the medic's body, but the medic's loose robes hid any telling contours.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'm checking if your fingers can extend into philips screwdrivers."
"No screwdrivers, but I can lend you an ear pick if you want to try."
"I do."
"Enough nonsense. Here."
The medic took out ten silver coins from his pouch and placed them on the bedside table, waving his hand.
Ashe pointed at the pile of coins, "Why?"
"Didn't we agree? You let me practice surgeries on you, and I pay you. I practiced ten surgical techniques, so ten silver coins. Very reasonable."
"No, I meant why not gold coins like before?"
"I asked other medics about this. They all said no one pays gold coins for practice surgeries! At most some silver coins."
"You're too easily swayed by others. Never just blindly follow the crowd. If others eat shit, does that mean you should too?"
"You make a good point. I actually still don't want to pay you. I can't fall for your tricks again-"
"But occasionally listening to others' advice is also a good quality." Ashe quickly pocketed the silver coins.
The medic had to smile at that, but the smile soon faded. "You've truly become famous this time. In the history of Caimon City, you're the only criminal ever injured but survived the Blood Moon Tribunal."
"The only one? No death row convict has ever been hurt by mistake during the tribunal before?"
"There were some, but they couldn't be saved and were directly torn apart by the executioners. A case like you, killed by another death row convict but with wounds shallow enough to be saved, that would be equivalent to violating the Life Saving Act. It's unheard of."
Ashe still couldn't get used to how this world classified injuries. A head nearly decapitated was seen as a minor wound that could be healed with just a bandage.
"When you get out, remember to earn more contribution points somehow. Don't get picked for the next Blood Moon Tribunal. There won't be an elf blocking for you next time."
Ashe looked at the medic curiously, "Why do you care so much? Did healing me make you emotionally attached?"
"You come to the infirmary almost every day. If the prison had a few more model inmates like you, I might be able to leave this place after a grueling month or two."
The medic shrugged. "Thanks to you, I've gotten quite proficient at many techniques."
"When you leave, can you take me with you? At most I promise to be your experiment subject for three years, that's a good deal right?"
"Sure."
"Really?"
"If you're willing to be packed in three different boxes and taken out that way, I have no problems. The prison would be happy to let you go too."
Ashe clicked his tongue, "Can you piece me back together after taking me out?"
"If I was a legendary four-winged sorcerer, I could probably manage that and even install some plugins for you."
"Are you one then?"
"If I was, I wouldn't have time to chat about this crap with you."
The medic put his hands on his hips. "And you're still thinking about escaping? Tsk tsk, even after experiencing the Blood Moon Tribunal, you haven't given up on such childish ideas?"
"What fine young man doesn't dream of escaping at night? And after seeing the tribunal firsthand, who can stay here any longer?" Ashe clenched his fist. "This prison, I'm more determined than ever to break out!"
"Go for it, just remember to stay safe when escaping. Best if you can keep your corpse intact."
Ashe leaned in close to the medic. "Do you have any good escape ideas?"
The medic glared at him with his beak. "Don't think I'll go easy on reporting you just because I made you a bit more handsome."
"No need to be so tense. We're just having a post-op chat since you've already done your work on me." Ashe waved it off casually. "Think of it as a decryption game. Pretend you were falsely charged as the leader of the Four Pillars heretics. The Inquisition doesn't dare search your memories. You're locked in Shattered Lake Prison. How would you plan to escape?"
"Are you really falsely charged... Nevermind, just a thought game! But I've heard medics aren't that great at logical thinking. Is this game too hard for you?"
"You think I'd fall for such childish provocation? What am I, a kid?" The medic huffed and turned his head away. "The path to escape is obvious anyway. It's just that someone like you wouldn't realize it."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel