"What a truly wicked idea…"
"But it's tempting, isn't it?"
"To be honest, yes."
"I felt the same."
The two looked at me and snickered as if they were looking at some great evil.
If they were going to do that, they should've done it over there. Talking so close to me, I could hear them perfectly.
Actually…
If you excluded the fact that they were looking at each other, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were talking to me.
"Good heavens, that dress… To think of making a doctor wear it, knowing it would kill a person."
"Well, it's a bit late to say this now, but he did make people drink Thames water."
"Huh?"
"No, sir. That was—"
"But thanks to that, we were able to more properly identify the nature of miasma. It's not some vapor or anything, but an actual—"
"It's not vapor?"
"Hmm."
I interrupted, but it was no use.
The act of making people drink Thames water was now attributed to me.
I'm not sure if it's something to be grateful for or not, but the police went "Huh?" in surprise and didn't seem to think of linking it to a crime.
The atmosphere was such that if you just said it was part of research, they'd let it slide.
So, what about the arsenic dress?
"Anyway, to carry out the execution like that…"
"Yes. How many are there this time, the ones to be hanged?"
"At least three this week alone."
Three…
That's few.
I wondered if public safety had improved a bit.
Or perhaps the investigative techniques of our London police had gotten better.
'No, that doesn't seem likely…'
Investigative techniques…
They do exist.
They do, but most cases are unsolved.
In 21st century South Korea, it was almost no exaggeration to say there were virtually no new unsolved cases, right?
Here, it was a miracle if the culprit was caught.
No, I heard they held a festival after catching one murderer.
It's not for nothing that Sherlock Holmes appeared in the 19th century… and gained popularity.
Anyway, the atmosphere was a bit like that for a moment, then it quickly flowed in a direction favorable to me.
"Three. Three."
Lister stroked his nose, then nodded.
Yes, like this.
Then, as if he were Solomon himself, he came to a clear conclusion.
"Let's lock one up in a room wallpapered with arsenic. A very small room."
"Ah… Yes. And?"
"Put an arsenic dress on another. And the other one… Hmm. Let's do both?"
"Both. But arsenic… that must be expensive. For prisoners… Hmm."
"Take this and use it. It was sponsored, so? The owners would be happy if it's put to good use."
"As expected… you're a renowned doctor who works day and night for our London. Thank you. I'll go and prepare right away. Then… will you watch?"
What did he mean by watch?
There was no reason to ponder.
Isn't this an era where everything is possible as long as you call it an experiment or research?
"I'll watch. To see how it goes. That way, we can see if it's really because of the arsenic or if they die for other reasons, right?"
"Exactly. You're a true doctor indeed. Then I'll call you as soon as it's ready. The execution… well, I'll talk to the commissioner and try to do it within today."
"Thank you! You're a true policeman!"
As a true doctor and a true policeman, they couldn't refuse to make condemned prisoners, who were destined to die anyway, contribute to humanity in their final moments.
Although I wondered if this meant hastening the death of someone who was supposed to die on a different day…
"Ah, but why are they being executed?"
Lister, being human, seemed a bit uneasy and asked for the reason.
In this era, death row inmates might all seem like scum who deserve to die, but…
In reality, that wasn't always the case.
Most were killed locally and didn't come here, but there were also political prisoners or colonial independence activists.
"Ah… They're all rapists and murderers."
"My mind is completely at ease now."
"Yes. Their families will all come to watch too. Ah."
"Why 'ah'?"
"Inspector Jamie will probably come to watch too… so we might have to coordinate the time. Anyway, I'll send for you once it's decided. Depending on the process, the families might like it even more. There's been talk that hanging is too humane, you know. It's over too quickly."
"Ahh. Yes. That could be. Please contact me then."
"Understood."
It ended well.
The bobby police officers took away the arsenic dresses and wallpaper and such.
Lister watched them go and then went to amputate limbs…
Me?
I slept a bit.
Even though I was with the IV squad, I had stayed up almost all night.
'Now that I think about it, this is… a university hospital, but is it okay to sleep like this during work hours?'
Lying in the lab, I had such thoughts, but they felt futile, so I closed my eyes.
A university hospital, you say…
This?
Ughhhhh.
Even if I didn't strain to listen, I could hear the screams.
Anesthetics existed, but this was general anesthesia, wasn't it?
Was it safe, then?
No, it wasn't.
Even I believed it was better not to use it unless absolutely necessary.
I had to look into local anesthetics.
If there was something like lidocaine…
'With that, you could perform most major surgeries.'
In the 21st century, unless there were unavoidable circumstances, general anesthesia was used.
It was much easier not only for the patient but also for the surgeon.
However, given the advanced age of many patients and the fact that some had been suffering from serious illnesses like cancer for a long time, even the much-improved general anesthesia could be hard to tolerate, so there were cases where local anesthesia was necessary.
How major were the surgeries performed under it?
What was it called…
Ah, yes, we even did muscle flap repairs for chest walls.
"Hmm."
Before I knew it, it was evening, lost in such thoughts.
No one dared to wake the professor who had stayed up all night and was sleeping soundly.
In contrast, students were often exploited regardless of whether they had slept or not, or whether they had paid their fees or not.
Colin was like that.
Wait, he had been poisoned by arsenic…
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, well… Professor Lister told me to hold the arm."
"It wasn't amputated?"
"I was nervous, but it turned out fine. And… there's a tonic."
"A tonic? That kind of…"
"That thing."
"No, no way."
I had a really bad feeling.
Especially since it was that bastard Colin.
He looked like the epitome of a white aristocrat who would be racist, but his actions…
He was a savage.
If nothing special had happened today, it might be different, but that wasn't the case.
If my mind gets more complicated here now, huh?
I don't think that's going to work…
"Later. But are you going too?"
"Of course I'm going."
"Alright. How's your body?"
"I'm fine. I'm sturdy."
I know that.
There's no way he took a proper tonic, right?
It would be a miracle if it didn't sap his energy instead…
Anyway, I got into the carriage with Colin, whom I'd run into by chance, and Lister, who was covered in blood from amputating limbs.
"Ugh, this is sticky. Joseph, give me that."
"Yes, sir!"
Lister made a disgusted face, his features smeared with blood.
It was genuinely terrifying, really.
Even pedestrians quite far away started and nearly fell over in surprise.
"Ugh… It hurts."
"Wouldn't a little pain be better than dying?"
"Yes, certainly better than catching cholera."
Anyway, Lister scrunched his face even more and wiped his face, neck, forearms, and hands with a pure white cloth soaked in phenol.
The strong smell of bleach soon filled the carriage.
It was enough to make you vomit, exaggerating just a little, but Joseph was there, sniffing conspicuously.
"Ah, the smell of life."
No wonder…
Everyone else avoided him, calling him a madman.
But it was still okay.
For one, Joseph was a giant himself and was classified as part of the Lister line, so that was that.
If you messed with him, you'd rather just get your hand hurt and be done with it, thinking dealing with the aftermath wouldn't be worth it.
"Huu, good."
Wasn't it Lister who promoted phenol?
At first, the iodine I brought was used about as often, but now phenol had absolute dominance.
Even I… Iodine is a bit problematic.
It hurts like hell if it touches a wound, and the problem was that it stains things yellow.
Those who hated me ranted that this yellow substance was part of a conspiracy to stain white people.
It was so unfair I considered saying I got it from France, but I held back.
-If you say that, even I won't be able to protect you. They'll say you're a Qing gangster receiving orders from France… You'd be killed on the spot.
Lister stopped me.
Hearing that, it seemed like it would really happen, so I did.
"Ugh, what is this smell?"
Anyway, for that reason, phenol maintained its position as the number one disinfectant despite this terrible smell.
"The smell of life. It's good to get used to it, if you want to live."
We passed by policemen standing guard at the front and went inside.
The old-fashioned police station always looked cool.
Of course, it wasn't all just cool appearances.
The basement had a space that made you think hell might be better.
"This way."
Today?
Today would probably be worse.
The faces of the policemen, illuminated by the faintly glowing gaslight next to the stairs leading down, were literally ghost-like.
No, really.
"Are these gentlemen alright?"
"Ah… They said they felt a bit dizzy after work. I was actually going to ask the doctor to take a look at them since he's here."
"Dizzy? They have no color at all…?"
Ugh.
"He's vomiting!"
"My apologies. For London policemen to show such a shameful sight."
"No, it's not that!"
It's poisoning!
Now that I think about it, aside from being narrow and dark, the basement ventilation is terrible.
Well, even if you ventilate it, London air would rush in, but it's still better than arsenic.
"IV fluid, ready!"
"No. 1!"
"No. 2!"
"No. 3! Move out!"
At my command, Alfred, Joseph, and Alfred the 3rd (likely a nickname or error) sprang into action.
It took barely 10 minutes to find suitable containers, boil water, start sterilizing, and distilling.
They were truly insane.
With these guys, I could easily hook up IVs for 30 people without breaking a sweat.
Moreover, since they were conscious now, it was much easier; I could just roughly mix salt and have them drink it.
"A rare sight indeed."
The police officer watched his subordinates, whose color was returning bit by bit, and smiled contentedly.
Lister patted the officer on the shoulder.
"Won't we see an even rarer spectacle downstairs?"
"Haha. Indeed. There has never been an execution so filled with green in human history."
"A luxurious execution, wouldn't you say?"
"Indeed. The dress was too small, so we had to cut it a bit. Is that alright?"
"It's sponsored, so it's fine."
I was about to say that sponsored items should be returned, but I stopped myself.
I had no intention of returning it either.
What good would giving it back do?
It'd just kill people.
"They should be fine now. Don't even set foot in the basement. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Phew."
Anyway, after saving the policemen, I headed downstairs.
Perhaps because they had been working hard and had ventilated it more, the basement didn't feel completely saturated with arsenic.
Of course, I couldn't be sure.
Arsenic has no smell.
"If anyone feels unwell, tell each other."
"Yes."
So, after setting up our own safety measures amongst ourselves, we sat on the prepared chairs.
In front of us were three small cells, two of which were slathered with gaudy green wallpaper.
They were the cells soon to be occupied by the condemned men.