A Hospital in Another World? C.291

"Put on your hats!"

"Put on your masks!"

"Line up and watch me wash my hands! —You! Pull up your mask! Cover your nose bridge! I’m talking to you!"

Garrett kept issuing orders. Cough... Managing 24 hairy kids all at once is not easy; as soon as you push one down, another pops up. We haven’t even reached the seven-step handwashing technique; just putting on hats and masks correctly requires correcting them seven or eight times.

There’s no other way. Garrett muttered to himself, these are ordinary folks, you can’t treat them like well-trained medical students. They have no concept of aseptic technique, I have to start from scratch, patiently, patiently...

Even on a crowded subway, out of ten people wearing masks, two or three would pull theirs down, and upon closer inspection, another three or four masks aren’t sealed properly. Even during an epidemic, healthcare workers putting on and taking off protective clothing require urgent training!

After finally teaching them the seven-step handwashing technique, one by one they passed the assessment, and then completed the training on putting on and taking off protective clothing, the whole morning had passed. And in the afternoon, when everyone had put on their protective gear, ready to officially enter the P4 lab, another obstacle arose... freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"Meow~~~"

A black cat beside Andrew Lynn walked with graceful steps, silently to the door, sitting quietly. Turning its head, its golden pupils stared unblinkingly at Garrett, its snow-white whiskers twitching. The message was very clear:

I want to go in too!

"Um... Mr. Troka, you can’t go in." Garrett raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, bent down, and negotiated with the black cat. Luckily, this black cat was intelligent, could speak human language, and could be reasoned with, so there was no need for him to chase cats around...

"Meow..."

The black cat turned to look at the airtight door, then back at Garrett, its tail thumping against the floor rhythmically. After a standoff, seeing Garrett’s uncompromising stance, it suddenly burst into a black glow, its body swelling rapidly!

"Ouch!"

The students exclaimed in surprise. Garrett instinctively stepped back, only to see Mr. Troka transform from a small black cat, about twenty to thirty centimeters tall and weighing just a few pounds, into a panther. Its imposing aura advanced, and a deep roaring sound continuously rolled from its chest.

Garrett: "..."

You dare bite me? You dare bite me?! And that roar isn’t right at all, cheetahs, leopards, snow leopards, they don’t sound like this. I’ve heard the sound of leopards, it’s particularly delicate!

"Troka!" Andrew Lynn scolded from behind. The panther looked up at its owner, paused in its steps, and then its body shrank back. In an instant, what appeared before everyone was a tiny, delicate kitten.

"Wow..."

Behind Garrett, the boys and girls couldn’t help but let out sounds of being charmed. The black cat’s body was only the size of a palm, one hand could hold it up, its eyes watery and almost covering half of its face. Its four short legs moved, walking a bit wobbly, looking even more pitiful and adorable.

Seeing the students crowding and stretching their necks to look over, it rolled on the floor, exposing its white belly and four pink paws. Behind Garrett, the sound of inhaling air was continuous, with students tentatively trying to plead:

"Sir..."

Garrett: "...Don’t try to be cute, being cute won’t get you in! You haven’t been disinfected! You’re not wearing protective gear! No entry means no entry! Out! Mr. Lynn!"

Next to the black cat, a bony hand suddenly descended, grabbing towards it.

The black cat darted up, jumping onto high platforms, under tables, diving around faucets, turning into a streak of lightning at the lab door. However, the bony hand was obviously experienced, relentlessly pursuing, and after a few rounds, it actually managed to grab the back of the black cat’s neck, lifting it into the air.

Behind the bony hand, pieces of bone clicked and clacked, flying over, and soon assembled into a golden skeleton. Stepping out the door, it swung its arm around and threw the black cat out forcefully:

"Meow ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

The black cat’s pitiful cries gradually faded. Garrett sighed in relief and quickly ordered:

"MOSS, close the door!"

The lab’s main door quietly closed. Andrew Lynn came over apologetically:

"Um... sorry about that, cats are always like

this. Although Troka is a magical pet, when it turns into a cat form, it picks up a cat’s temperament. By the way, can the skeleton come in?"

"...It can, right? Skeletons are easier to wash..."

Ah, if a necromancer could remotely control skeletons for precise operations, magicians really wouldn’t need to enter and exit the P4 lab personally, wearing protective clothing, taking off protective clothing, taking chemical showers, changing and washing. In that case, necromancers and dangerous biological experiments are actually a perfect match?

Unfortunately, remote control of skeletons is still a future prospect. Garrett’s current job still relies on magicians—and magic apprentices, to personally do it. For several days in a row, Garrett walked around the lab, correcting the apprentices’ various incorrect behaviors:

"Beef paste

"Don’t pick up the Petri dishes with your hands! Put them back with the dirty ones, ready to be disinfected again! Bacteria on your hands will contaminate the Petri dishes, and the results will be inaccurate!"

"Use a pipette to transfer the culture medium! Who told you to pour it directly into the Petri dish! Get a new Petri dish, start over! You even touched the culture medium bottle to the mouth of the Petri dish, do you want more bacteria?!"

"Hands! Hands! Don’t touch the operating table! Have you forgotten sterile operations?!"

"Opened the lid of the Petri dish to look under the microscope? Who taught you that?! Bacteria have gotten in! —Too many contaminants, the results are ruined! It will also contaminate the lens!"

Ah—I’m just a clinical doctor, not a biologist! I’m not even from the laboratory department!

Why do I have to bear so much that shouldn’t be my burden... I haven’t done bacterial culture experiments in my previous life too often...

Garrett looked up in agony. However, lament as he might, teaching must go on. Only by teaching them can he use them as tools, right?

Just to be safe, Garrett did not choose those deadly infectious bacteria. He didn’t even choose Staphylococcus aureus, to prevent any student from accidentally cutting themselves and getting infected. Instead, he carefully moved a small bottle of E. coli from his refrigerator, to culture, propagate, and distribute to the students:

Come on! Let’s do bacterial culture, propagation, and staining experiments!

This bacterium is not very lethal, even if the protection is not in place, at worst, just make sure the students wash their hands before leaving, and again before meals!

The students learned till they were upside down. After training in bacterial culture, bacterial staining, and microscopic examination, Garrett continued non-stop, training them to make culture media:

"Remove the fat from the beef thoroughly! Make sure it’s completely removed! Not a bit can remain!"

"Wash the agar thoroughly! Don’t skimp on the water! Which temple are you from, make sure to wash it carefully, there are oyster shells stuck to it!"

"Add sulfuric acid! Pour it slowly, watch your hands! Remember to test the pH, the test strips and the reference chart are all provided for you!"

A group of mage apprentices and priest apprentices rolled up their sleeves, removing beef fat, boiling beef, washing agar. Every day, they carried a smell of salt, blood, and strange fragrance, working so hard they felt lifeless...

"I say, are we working in a restaurant?"

"Maybe? ...I’ve never done this in the mage tower..."

"I haven’t in the temple either..."

"Uh... in our temple, when we add meals, killing chickens and ducks, we apprentices help out... But, it’s a pity to remove the fat from such good beef..."

A few boys from the Temple of the God of War quietly answered. Such beautiful marbled beef, in their temple, only high-ranking knights and bishops and above could eat! Brought to the mage tower, not only could they not eat it, but they had to remove the fat first!

The four apprentices from the God of Nature’s congregation kept their heads down, silent. They had done a lot of work: turning the soil, fertilizing, weeding, caring for poultry and livestock, cleaning up manure... They hadn’t missed out on any farm work. Are temple priests more noble than others?

Non-existent!

After half a month of such toil, the students’ operations finally went from clumsy to proficient, the waste decreased, and Garrett’s scolding became less frequent. Finally, Garrett announced the start of the first phase of the exam:

"Let’s test what we’ve learned! —Starting from making culture media, each person independently carries out the whole process, completing the culture, separation, and microscopic examination of fecal E. coli!"

"Ah..."

24 students moaned in various pitches. They looked exactly like students who had skipped classes for half a month and were suddenly informed of a

test by the teacher. Garrett watched their bitter faces with amusement, clapping his hands:

"There’s a reward if you do it right~~~"

"What if we don’t?"

A weak voice came from the back of the crowd. Garrett smiled:

"If you don’t, you can retake the test, but after failing the retake three times, you’ll have to go back where you came from..."

This threat not only made all the students nervous but also Andrew Lynn the mage felt overwhelmed. He prepared a set of equipment himself, washing agar, boiling beef, adding acid and base, filtering the residue, meticulously following each step. Beside him, the golden skeleton also prepared a set of equipment, performing exactly the same operations, seemingly wanting to have a backup plan.

However, even so, Mage Lynn was not the first to finish. He was still adjusting the dye, preparing to stain the bacteria, when a student in the crowd already raised a hand high:

"Master Nordmark, I’m done!"

Garrett quickly walked over. Under the microscope, the thick, short appearance of E. coli, with its flagella, was clear and distinct. He smiled in satisfaction, wanting to pat the student on the shoulder, but restrained himself halfway and instead patted him with Mage Hand:

"Not bad, not bad, you did it right! What’s your name? Which organization are you from?"

"My name is Leon Carlos, from the Black Crow Swamp, sir." The apprentice bowed respectfully, his voice clear. Through the protective suit and face shield, Garrett couldn’t see his expression, but he could hear the full joy in his voice, almost a bit of leap. Garrett’s mood also lifted:

"Great! Starting tomorrow night — ah, no, starting tomorrow, you’ll be my assistant, let’s start a new project!"