"Chen, can you wait a moment?"
Wash seemed to remember something and quickly ran out of the room.
She returned a moment later, followed by a group of doctors.
Judging by their age, they had to be residents.
Chen Yu couldn't help but take a second look.
'Residents at Mayo,' he thought. 'I applied here myself back in the day, but I didn't get in.'
'To be frank, anyone who can stand here is a true academic superstar. They're not even human!'
"Hilo, all of you, watch closely," Wash said, pointing to Chen Yu. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is Acupuncture, an ancient medical art from China."
There were five residents. The sharper ones had already quietly taken out notebooks to take notes.
Just then, another middle-aged white doctor in a blue uniform walked in.
'Probably an attending physician.'
It had taken Chen Yu five hard years to earn the right to wear that same deep blue uniform.
"Chief," Wash said with a nod.
Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat. He now realized this doctor was the Chief of Orthopedics.
'Anyone who can become a chief at Mayo must be a giant in their field.'
Quietly sizing up the doctor for a moment, Chen Yu recognized him.
'Alon Svenson!'
When Chen Yu was at UCSF, he had used a textbook, *Spinal Surgery*, written by this very man.
The man himself was a top expert in spinal therapy.
Svenson curiously eyed the silver needles in front of Chen Yu, then waved his hand, signaling for Chen Yu to ignore them and continue.
Chen Yu nodded, finished sterilizing the last silver needle, and smiled at Hill. "Relax. It won't hurt."
"Are you sure?"
Hill asked reflexively.
And in the instant he spoke, Chen Yu had already jabbed a silver needle into Hill's Yangchi Acupoint with lightning speed.
Hill's expression changed.
'You sneak-attacked me!'
'My ankle is the part that's injured! Why are you sticking a needle in my hand?'
"Relax."
Chen Yu was still smiling cheerfully. While Hill's attention was on his hand, he took another needle and quickly inserted it into the Xuanzhong Acupoint, Qiuxu, and other points.
His technique was precise, as fast as lightning.
A gasp came from behind him.
It was one of the residents, who had gasped out of sheer shock.
Wash quickly shot the residents a glare, signaling for them to be quiet.
Svenson, however, nudged Wash with his elbow and pointed at the spot on the back of the hand where Chen Yu had placed the needle, giving her a questioning look.
He couldn't understand. The injury was clearly on the ankle, so why needle the back of the hand?
Wash was just as baffled. When her neck had been hurting earlier, Chen Yu had needled her hand, too.
"It doesn't hurt, does it?"
Chen Yu asked Hill, twirling the needle in his Xuanzhong Acupoint.
Hill's eye twitched, and he managed to squeeze out a smile.
But he had to admit, it really didn't hurt. Instead, there was an indescribable feeling, a mix of pressure and numbness.
Chen Yu paid no mind to the others' reactions and quietly continued applying the needles.
'This time, my needle placement is very accurate, far beyond my usual standard. It's probably because of the Gold Level treatment effect.'
Acupuncture fell under the [Sports Rehabilitation] category, so Chen Yu directly used his most precious Gold Level treatment effect.
'My vision is penetrating his skin, giving me even more precise control over twirling the needle.'
A moment later, Chen Yu took another needle and inserted it into Hill's outer left ankle.
This was needling the Ah Shi Acupoint.
The so-called Ah Shi Acupoint has no fixed location. Wherever there is pain, that is the Ah Shi Acupoint—just as Wash had said before, it was a trigger point.
He rapidly pricked the area, drawing small beads of blood.
Chen Yu immediately took out a Fire Cupping jar.
'This stuff is much easier to buy. The massage parlors in any Chinatown are full of them.'
He lit the fire stick, heated the cup, and silently activated a Bronze Level treatment effect before placing it over the swollen area in a flash.
Svenson and Wash were so mesmerized by Chen Yu's actions that they even forgot the rule about not having open flames in a hospital room.
Behind them, some of the residents were already writing furiously, recording his every move.
Hill grimaced, his body so stiff he didn't dare to move a muscle.
As for Billings, his eyebrows had furrowed into caterpillars. Everything Chen Yu was doing looked to him like some kind of mysterious Eastern sorcery.
Gabriel quietly wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead. 'First needles, now fire... this is terrifying.'
Chen Yu ignored their reactions. Using his Eye of All-Seeing to observe every change in the ankle, he began to remove the needles.
As he removed the needles, it was clear that the blood flow in the vessels around the swollen part of the ankle—large and small alike—had quickened significantly.
This was enough to prove the Acupuncture was working.
Dark red blood began to seep from the pricked spots.
After a moment, Chen Yu removed the cup.
"Is it over?" Hill asked nervously.
Chen Yu grinned. "Nope. This is just the beginning."
Hill's expression changed again, and he fell silent.
Wiping away the blood with an alcohol swab, Chen Yu took out a moxa stick.
To reduce the swelling as quickly as possible, Chen Yu was pulling out all the stops.
From the [Sports Rehabilitation] category, Chen Yu had saved up one Gold Level treatment effect and three Bronze Level ones.
'The Gold Level for the Acupuncture, and I'll use up all three Bronze Level effects.'
'Cupping, Moxibustion, and acupoint massage.'
'And finally, the plaster I prepared to improve circulation and disperse blood stasis.'
'This belongs to the [Sports Medicine] category. I happen to have saved up one Bronze Level treatment effect for it, so I'll use that too.'
'One Gold Level and four Bronze Level effects. If this doesn't work, then I'm really out of tricks.'
Under everyone's incredulous gazes, Chen Yu lit the moxa stick and began to slowly stimulate the Zhaohai, Shuiquan, and other acupoints.
In truth, with his Eye of All-Seeing, performing moxibustion was much more intuitive. There was no risk of leaving it too long or the temperature getting too high and causing a burn.
Hill tensed his left leg again.
But he soon felt a warm current in his left foot, moving along with Chen Yu's actions.
After the injury and the continuous ice treatments, his left ankle had been numb and cold. Now, not only did it feel warm, but the previous stabbing pain had also almost completely vanished.
"Chen, I can feel the heat, and it doesn't hurt anymore."
Hill's face was full of disbelief.
Although Chen Yu's treatment methods were strange, they were definitely effective.
Even painkillers didn't work this fast.
Behind them, Svenson could no longer hold back. He leaned in and asked quietly, "Doctor Chen, what is this, and how does it produce a therapeutic effect?"
Chen Yu first signaled for Gabriel to open the window, to avoid setting off the fire suppression system.
"The principle is actually similar to infrared therapy," Chen Yu explained. "But it targets specific locations, what Chinese medicine calls acupoints. The goal is also to promote blood circulation and accelerate the self-healing of the affected area."
Svenson nodded repeatedly and gave Chen Yu a thumbs-up.
Infrared light therapy did have the effect of promoting wound healing, but it was nowhere near as fast-acting as what Chen Yu was doing.
Standing in the back, Billings perked up his ears and listened in, only to realize it was just common infrared light therapy. That was a treatment method he also used.
'All smoke and mirrors.'
Billings muttered, somewhat unconvinced.
But then he suddenly noticed Hill's blissful expression under Chen Yu's Moxibustion treatment.
'Is it really that effective?'
Billings's brow furrowed tightly.
Watched by everyone, Chen Yu then completed the acupoint massage. Finally, he took out a medicinal plaster, heated it until it softened, and applied it directly to Hill's ankle.
"How does it feel?"
Chen Yu finally stopped and stood up to ask Hill.
Hill looked at his own left foot and murmured, "It feels... like it was never injured."
He looked up at Chen Yu, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.
He'd been playing ball for so many years that sore and sprained ankles were commonplace for him, and he often received massage therapy from physical therapists.
But he had never experienced a treatment like Chen Yu's that was so fast-acting and so effective.