Chapter Nine: Recovery

September 16, 2016.

“This is truly a miracle…”

At the University of East Empire Hospital, Dr. Maido Unknown marveled as she looked at Kuro Shiraishi, who had completely recovered.

When he was first transferred here, due to his sensitive status and severe injuries, the hospital faced a dilemma regarding his treatment. From the director to the head of surgery, no one wanted to take the risk. But at that time, Maido, already a freelance doctor, took the initiative, driven by her passion for surgery.

As the lead surgeon, Maido extracted over forty bullets from Kuro Shiraishi’s body. Known for her “never-fail” and “rapid” surgeries, she surprisingly spent an entire day reconnecting blood vessels, repairing nerves, and stitching wounds. Moreover, she had to return multiple times over the following week for follow-up procedures.

“It’s all thanks to Dr. Maido’s skill,” Kuro expressed his gratitude.

During the critical first 24 hours at Level 11, his vitality and regenerative abilities were also at Level 11, allowing him to survive the most dangerous day. He maintained near Level 10 afterward, but such injuries were not something that could simply heal on their own.

Indeed, it was the extraordinary expertise of this female surgeon that made the difference.

“No, I really don’t fail, but... honestly, I thought you’d at best recover enough to walk,” Maido said candidly.

“After all, your injuries were... over forty gunshot wounds, more than twenty stab wounds, eight of which were piercing injuries, and countless blunt force traumas. When I was removing the bullets, I kept thinking about a phrase to describe your condition... Ah! It’s ‘grass, boat, borrow, arrow!’” Maido came up with a fitting idiom.

Kuro Shiraishi: ...

“Fortunately, those guns seemed faulty—the bullets were mostly lodged in muscle tissue, and your muscles were thick enough to prevent direct damage to vital organs. Even so, many of your nerves were severed,” Maido recalled the difficulties she had faced.

She had prior experience as a battlefield doctor in the Caribbean, specializing in gunshot wounds, and immediately recognized that the bullets lacked power.

Of course, the quality of 3D-printed pistols was one factor, but also, after Kuro reached Level 11 in his physique, his muscles underwent a qualitative transformation. He could tense them at will, achieving a state akin to a “low-grade bulletproof vest, stab-resistant armor, and shock-absorbing suit” when motionless, which is why the bullets were all stuck in muscle.

Still...

Even so, Kuro didn’t look like someone who should have survived.

Besides Maido’s superb surgical skill, it was also his extraordinarily strong vitality at Level 11 that helped him endure the initial rescue.

In fact, nearly twenty hours after the transfer, his vital signs became critical.

Yet, despite these dangers, he ultimately pulled through and regained consciousness three days later.

When he first woke up, everyone in the hospital besides Maido breathed a sigh of relief—because he had multiple bone fractures and several nerve injuries from both stab and gunshot wounds. Normally, they could only comfort the patient with “work hard on rehabilitation; there’s a chance you’ll regain mobility.”

At that time, the case involving the Minister of Justice had already been settled. Regardless of what some thought privately, officially, Kuro was a “great hero,” which increased pressure on the hospital.

In the end, it was Maido who dared to take charge.

On one hand, Kuro’s nerves seemed to regenerate almost autonomously and with guidance; on the other, Maido performed several autologous nerve grafts—transplanting healthy nerves from one part of his body to places that had lost function.

Combined with his self-healing and rehabilitation, Kuro miraculously regained his motor skills rapidly.

Now...

On the twenty-eighth day of hospitalization, apart from numerous scars, his motor abilities were fully restored, and all his vital signs were excellent.

“Thank you so much for all your help these days, Dr. Maido,” Kuro expressed his gratitude.

Today was his official discharge day, and he had already changed into his new uniform.

In fact, purely physically, he could have been discharged earlier—it’s obvious no one needs to recover to the strength of being able to kill a bull with one punch to leave the hospital!

But because his injuries were so severe, they kept him under mandatory observation until yesterday afternoon’s check-up showed no further issues, allowing his release.

“If you really want to thank me, next time you get seriously injured, remember to come find me!” Dr. Maido said bluntly.

Kuro Shiraishi: ...

“That... shouldn’t be so easy!” Kuro replied helplessly—wasn’t that a bit too grand a way to express thanks?

Still, he finally added, “If that ever happens, I’d certainly want to find you again.”

Kuro understood the severity of his previous injuries.

Though Maido was just a freelance doctor, effectively a temporary hospital worker, he estimated her surgical skill would rank at Level 10.

The key abilities for surgical technique were Insight and Control; Kuro had maxed Insight and, thanks to his high physique, good Control as well.

Moreover...

Although operating on living patients was difficult, Kuro was already adept at surgery on cadavers—he held a master’s degree in forensic medicine from East Empire University and had passed the forensic exam.

In that regard, switching to surgical skill development would be relatively easy for him, though with limited points, he hadn’t yet considered self-study.

Kuro’s system allowed direct point allocation to basic attributes but required initial exposure and mastery before points could be assigned to skills.

Usually, Kuro earned points by leveraging his already high basic attributes to learn suitable skills, then adding points while simultaneously earning certificates or completing achievements to gain more points—thus achieving “point generation from points.”

However, this time he had spent all his points at once, leaving no capital and making future point gains more challenging.

“Well then... see you next time!” Maido’s gaze was intense as she looked at Kuro—such a rare living body fascinated her deeply.

Kuro Shiraishi: ...

Could this be a hopeful sign?

...

After agreeing to “come find her if injured again,” Kuro completed his discharge.

With no luggage, he immediately boarded the car sent by the Metropolitan Police Department to pick him up.

On the second day of his hospitalization, when the bullets hadn’t yet all been removed, Director Hakuba and the Police Commissioner had already signed an extraordinary promotion order—elevating Kuro’s police rank two levels from Inspector to Senior Inspector, skipping the intermediate rank.

Today, Director Hakuba was also to officially commend Kuro.

Just as Kuro stepped out of the hospital...

[Achievement Unlocked: S-Rank “Unyielding” — Sustained over 20 fatal wounds and remained near death for 24 hours before fully recovering. Reward: 10,000 points.]

————

Note: Police rank and position differ. Examples of ranks from low to high include: Patrol Officer (bicycle patrol) — Patrol Chief (Takagi) — Assistant Inspector (Sato) — Inspector (Megure) — Senior Inspector (before Matsumoto’s promotion) — Senior Inspector (after Matsumoto’s promotion) — Chief Inspector (Tooyama’s father) — Superintendent (Hattori Heiji’s father) — Commissioner (Hakuba’s father).