Upon seeing Darnell’s arrival, Luca smiled and spoke with difficulty, “Mr. Halford, nice to see you again…”
He wanted to struggle to sit up, but only coughed and fell back onto the bed. Darnell quickly sat by the bedside and reached out to grab his wrist.
“Luca, you’re not feeling well. Don’t move. Let me check your pulse.”
Luca stopped coughing and smiled in response, “Thank you, Mr. Halford.”
Darnell quickly checked Luca’s condition, his brows unconsciously furrowing and his expression turning serious.
Callum and Gisselle had never seen Darnell like this before, and their hearts couldn’t help but tighten. “Mr. Halford, what’s wrong with the boss’s health?”
Darnell didn’t answer directly but instead stared at Luca and asked, “Have you been experiencing frequent headaches and dizziness, along with symptoms like visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting?”
Luca’s eyes brightened as he replied, “Yes, you’re absolutely right.”
He added, “The doctor said it’s the food poisoning, causing discomfort in my gastrointestinal system. It should improve with half a month of rest and care.”
Darnell then placed his fingers on Luca’s waist and quickly pressed it seven or eight times before asking again, “Do you also experience weakness on one side of your limbs or have difficulty moving or holding objects, accompanied by muscle spasms and soreness? For example, waking up with half of your body numb?”
Luca grabbed Darnell’s hand and asked, “Mr. Halford, how do you know?”
Callum and Gisselle were also shocked. This was something they didn’t know about. “Boss, do you experience numbness in your limbs?”
Luca nodded, “Sometimes I do. I initially thought it was just lying in bed for too long, causing sleep paralysis, so I didn’t tell you.”
He turned his head to look at Darnell and asked, “Mr. Halford, you’re even better than the doctor. You got everything right. What kind of illness is this? Can it be cured?”
Darnell pondered for a moment before smiling faintly. “There are only two people who can cure this illness, and one of them is me.”
With that said, he burst into laughter and evaded answering what kind of illness it was. He waved his hand and said,
“Callum, prepare a set of silver needles and alcohol for me.”
“I’m going to give Luca acupuncture immediately.”
“Gisselle, while you’re at it, buy some medical herbs and brew them into a medicine.”
He issued a series of commands rapidly. “Remember, all of you must handle these things personally.”
Callum and Gisselle nodded in unison. “Yes!”
Darnell immediately wrote down the specifications for the silver needles as well as the prescription for each person. Callum and Gisselle promptly went to make preparations.
During this interval, Darnell reexamined Luca and reviewed the doctor’s diagnosis report and medication.
“Mr. Halford, the items are ready.”
Half an hour later, Callum and Gisselle returned one after another. Darnell instructed Gisselle to brew the herbs inside the room. Soon enough, a strong medicinal fragrance filled the air.
Darnell took out the silver needles purchased by Callum and sterilized them before picking up a thin needle. He began treating Luca with precise movements.
Seeing Darnell’s technique, Callum and Gisselle became even more convinced.
With one hand holding the needle firmly, Darnell skillfully pierced it into Luca’s fingertips while gently squeezing to draw out blood.
After finishing with the left hand, he moved on to the right hand. When all ten fingers had been punctured and blood droplets the size of soybeans had been squeezed out from each finger, Darnell finally stopped.
Callum and Gisselle thought it would be very painful. However, Luca only made a muffled sound, showing little expression of pain. This made them admire Darnell even more.
Without excellent skills, how could such results be achieved?
After finishing with all ten fingers, Darnell then inserted needles into Luca’s earlobes and soles of his feet while extracting approximately ten milliliters of blood from each location.
After nearly two hours of continuous treatment, Darnell removed the silver needles and placed them in alcohol for disinfection.
Callum and Gisselle were astonished to see that the alcohol initially turned red with bloodstains but gradually turned pale black before dissipating completely with a faint fishy smell.
Both of them instinctively exclaimed, “Poison?”
Luca also looked serious. “How could this happen?”
“Bring over the medicine.”
Darnell instructed someone to bring the brewed herbal medicine, urging Luca, “Drink it all in one go, don’t stop, and don’t worry about it being hot.”
Luca frowned at the dark black herbal medicine with its unpleasant odor but understood that Darnell wouldn’t do anything reckless. Without hesitation, he lifted it up and drank it all in one go.
His throat gurgled as he finished drinking a large bowl of herbal medicine in less than half a minute.
Luca placed the bowl on the table and wiped his lips as he smiled at Darnell. “Mr. Halford, I finished drinking it. What’s the next step…”
Before he could finish speaking, Luca’s face suddenly changed. His abdomen tightened as he closed his lips while his throat convulsed as if he had drunk too much alcohol.
He instinctively covered his stomach and mouth, looking as if he were a pregnant woman experiencing morning sickness.
Callum and Gisselle hurriedly approached him. “Boss, what’s wrong?”
Darnell forcefully stopped them from getting closer.
Almost as soon as he spoke those words, Luca opened his mouth wide and couldn’t control himself anymore as a black jet of water sprayed out from his throat.
This jet of water shot out at least three meters, leaving a long, dark streak on the ground. Since Luca hadn’t eaten for days, what came out was nothing but the herbal concoction he had just consumed.
After finishing one round of vomiting, Luca quickly straightened his abdomen before starting another round…
“Blaaargh!”
Luca vomited seven times in total until everything inside his stomach was emptied completely. Then he leaned back on the bed, gasping for breath as if he were a dying fish.
At the places where he had been pierced by silver needles were small black beads seeping through.
“Boss!”
Callum and Gisselle supported Luca while expressing their concern. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that he was fine before turning their gaze towards Darnell.
“Mr. Halford, what is happening?”
Darnell didn’t speak but had someone bring over a pair of long tweezers to scrape around on the ground for a while before picking up a small black insect with his tweezers while saying lightly,
“Graveknocker.”
Callum and Gisselle were both exclaimed in shock, “Graveknocker?”
“Also known to many as the maggots,” Darnell clarified.
He had someone bring over a transparent glass jar to contain this small insect that resembled an inchworm in length.
The black insect inside the jar wasn’t wilted at all. Instead, it was lively as it crawled around with its centipede-like legs-this sight sent shivers down Gisselle’s spine.
If she didn’t think it still had some value for use later on, Gisselle really wanted to stomp on it with her foot. “Does it eat corpses?”
“But… aren’t the maggots supposed to eat corpses?” Gisselle asked in confusion.
Callum called over a few servants to clean up the scene. One middle-aged woman caught Darnell’s attention, noticing something unique about her demeanor.
However, Darnell didn’t pay her too much mind. His focus was primarily on Graveknocker and Luca.
The servants quickly tidied up, mopping the floor twice before respectfully retreating.
The middle-aged woman cast one last sharp look at Darnell’s back, her gaze holding an indescribable intensity.