"Suction…?"
No one would know what that meant.
After all, this is a world where suction machines don't exist.
Of course, the act itself does exist…
But no one here, at least, would associate it with surgery.
Yet, the faces of Alfred, Joseph, and Colin darkened.
They seemed to sense something ominous.
'Interesting.'
I watched them for a moment.
Actually…
It was also because I couldn't think of any other method besides suction.
For other areas, like the nasal cavity or abdominal cavity, we could just rinse with water and wipe with gauze, as we're doing now.
A perfect cleaning would be impossible, of course…
'But it's really strange to suddenly insist on proper suction when we've been cutting corners everywhere else…'
We had to boldly give up on some things.
Otherwise, I'd go crazy first.
"Yes, suction. It literally means sucking it out."
"How?"
Anyway, Liston continued without hesitation, his face impassive.
If you only listened to his tone and not his face, it felt like he was narrating a children's story.
It was 'kind.'
Of course, if you looked at his face, you'd never think he was being kind.
Even when he greets you, his face makes you think he's plotting something.
And right now, he actually was plotting something.
"Think about it. To remove this blood clot without damaging the brain… wiping won't work."
"Hmm."
Joseph sighed at the mention that wiping wouldn't work.
Liston continued regardless.
Joseph being strange wasn't a new thing.
He was relatively normal when he was in Upton, but I don't know what happened—maybe he got too into disinfection—and ended up like this.
"What if we suck it out?"
"But even if you say that, it's hard to understand…"
This time, Alfred stepped in.
Normally, he'd be too busy adjusting the anesthesia gas to join the conversation, but since we were working on a corpse, he jumped right in.
Liston looked at Alfred and said it was perfect timing.
Then he started rummaging through the surgical table.
Nothing would come out of it, though.
Suction… I'd only thought about it and never made any concrete plans.
It would literally have to be manual labor… but how could we even do that?
"Right, here it is."
"Huh?"
Oh, he means me.
I had no idea what he was talking about, so I accidentally let out a "Huh?"
The others probably felt the same way, even if they didn't say it—their faces were full of doubt.
It was inevitable.
They had no idea what suction was, and now Liston was holding up a rubber glove.
Rustle.
It was still new.
Even though it's rubber, constantly rubbing it with phenol and other things would wear it out.
It's not like we're short on money, so we each kept a few new gloves on hand.
But we never cut them up like this.
"Why are you…?"
"That's mine, Professor… Ah."
Colin complained.
But his complaint was short-lived.
Because Liston cut the rubber glove into a rough straw shape, put it to his mouth, and sucked hard.
The surrounding air rushed in with such strong suction that even Colin's hair, which was nearby, was pulled in.
"This is the suction I was thinking of. What do you think, Ping?"
"Well… that's correct."
I couldn't help but be impressed.
At this rate, we might not even need a machine.
Seriously…
If we utilize Liston properly, we might be able to pull off some techniques that were only possible in the 21st century.
"Right, this is it. I just sucked in Colin's hair, but what if I sucked blood like this?"
"The blood would… come out."
"Exactly."
"Oh… Let me try."
Colin's hair was still partly inside Liston's rubber tube.
I don't know if it was despite that or because of it, but he seemed even more impressed…
Anyway, he stepped forward again.
Even though he now understood disinfection…
This was still the 19th century.
Colin put the end Liston had been holding in his mouth.
And placed the other end of the tube on the blood clot.
What he would do next was obvious.
He would suck.
Then…
"Suck!"
Slurp.
I foresaw a bad future.
So I immediately blocked the middle of the tube.
'You crazy bastard.'
Who knows what's in that blood…
And it's not just blood—it's blood that was inside a dead person.
Germs and stuff must have grown like crazy.
You might say there might not be any germs?
If you believe that… I really want to invite you here.
I want to show you how people live in the 19th century!
'90% chance of STDs.'
Syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, etc.
When I was in medical school, I honestly wondered why we had to learn this stuff.
Aren't STDs pretty unfamiliar diseases?
At least in the 21st century, they are.
There are plenty of ways to prevent and treat them.
Of course, I learned after becoming a doctor that there are still people who don't listen…
'But not as bad as here.'
In the 19th century, STDs are basically the GOTY (Game of the Year) of infectious diseases.
They've been around for so long… almost throughout human history, so many of them have perfectly adapted and can spread without even killing the host.
This person was probably no exception.
There's no way… they didn't have diseases.
"Why…?"
Colin asked, not understanding my thoughtful concern.
Liston smacked the back of Colin's head.
"You crazy bastard, what do you think is in there? Sucking directly?"
"Ugh."
I was surprised too.
I mean… didn't he just demonstrate by sucking directly?
The Liston I know would do that and more.
He's a very experimental person.
He's made people drink sewage, urine…
Well, I helped him with that.
'He's still doing it, though.'
Ah, he pays them to drink it.
The prisoner we caught earlier even received a special pardon.
Though "pardon" isn't quite right—he wasn't in prison but confined here…
Anyway, his life became much more livable.
'He still doesn't know it's urine, though.'
Hehe.
While I was unknowingly smiling sinisterly, Liston continued.
For some reason, he made a disgusted face at me before speaking.
"How much… damn miasma do you think is in here? It's a corpse, a corpse! If it were a living person, maybe, but not this!"
"Ah… I see. I didn't think of that."
It was just a scolding, really.
But Liston's words are always like that… anyway.
For now, it was roughly correct, so I let it slide.
"So we suck it out… but it'd be good if we could transfer the force without the blood actually entering the mouth."
"Is that… possible?"
"How should I know? Where is that guy?"
"That guy?"
I was the one who asked.
No particular reason—it was just because Liston was looking at me when he said it.
He had a terrifying expression on his face. If this were the old me, I would've fainted by now.
But now I'm used to it, and I can even read Liston's expressions amid his scary face, so I'm fine.
"The chemists. They built a lab outside, right?"
"Ah… the Condom King?"
"Yeah, yeah. He kept saying he wanted to loaf around, but he ended up going to the lab."
"That's right. But why him?"
I don't know if he fried his brain from inhaling too much laughing gas…
But anyway, he's a guy who could live comfortably if he gave up his greed, yet he's still trying hard to work.
I'm glad for that.
I don't know about his skills, but having even one chemist we can communicate with is a relief.
Ah, lab personnel management is handled by Alfred's father.
He might not listen to me…
Besides, his father is the best at managing people.
I don't know how he does it, but he gets everyone to do their best.
"Let's ask him how to do this. Suck without letting it enter the mouth. If it works, we can even make a machine."
"Ah… alright. He'll come if we call him. He probably doesn't have much to do anyway."
"Right, right."
Contrary to what I said, he didn't come immediately when I called.
But as soon as I delivered Liston's letter, the messenger came back with him right away.
And as soon as he heard the situation, he laughed heartily.
"I guess we can do it like this."
"If you're lying, it's trouble. It's trouble for us, and it'll be trouble for you too."
I pointed at Liston.
The Condom King seemed to understand his situation immediately and nodded vigorously.
Then he laughed heartily again.
Only then could I relax.
A fraud who could still laugh after seeing Liston's face…
They might exist, but they're probably very rare.
In other words, our Condom King was quite… confident.
"Here, wouldn't this work?"
A moment later, we could see a sketch the Condom King had drawn.
A rubber hose was connected to the head like a suction device… and the other end went into a glass bottle.
Another rubber hose was inserted into the bottle through a different hole.
The other end of that hose had a person's face drawn on it—probably meaning you suck from there.
It didn't look exactly like what I'd seen in 21st-century operating rooms, but it was very similar.
'Aha. So this is… basically like a machine?'
Now that I think about it…
Suction machines are machines, so there's no risk of infection, but if they get clogged, you can't suction, right?
So they probably designed a defense mechanism like this.
"Will this work?"
"It should work."
Thanks to that, unlike Liston, who was full of doubt, I could nod immediately.
"How long until you can make it?"
"If you just give me money… I can make this right away. I'm really good at handling rubber now. The key is to make it firm enough not to collapse when suctioning… and I already have a sample."
"Then make it and bring it right away."
"That's easier said than done, right away…"
"Make it and bring it right away. We have a patient. A very important patient."
"Ah… Yes! I understand!"
The Condom King bolted outside as soon as Liston pressured him and returned around sunset.
He had the device he mentioned earlier in his hand.
We tested it. It works.
It's a bit weak… but it works.
So we immediately called the doctor.
"So… you're saying there's something inside my head…?"
For some reason, the doctor came with the police.