The tension in the courtyard had dissipated, replaced by a palpable sense of awe.
The soldiers, previously ready to fill Ernst with lead, now looked at him with the reverence usually reserved for temple statues.
Ernst adjusted his cuffs, his silver-grey suit miraculously unwrinkled despite the high-velocity combat.
He walked over to where Zhao Guohua was sitting, propped up by two of his men.
The Captain's face was pale, beads of sweat standing out on his forehead, but his eyes were burning with a feverish intensity.
He had broken the bottleneck. He had entered the realm of Mastery, where strength is no longer brute force, but a living, changing energy.
"Captain Zhao," Ernst said, his voice calm.
"You fought well. You found the door."
"I... I found it," Zhao rasped, clutching his chest.
"But the price was high. My ribs... I think three are broken."
Ernst waved the supporting soldiers away.
"Let me see."
The soldiers hesitated, then stepped back. Ernst knelt.
He didn't need X-rays. His enhanced vision scanned the Captain's torso.
He saw the hairline fractures in the fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs. He saw the bruising on the lung tissue.
"Minor damage," Ernst stated clinically.
"Your internal energy protected the organs. The bones will knit."
He placed his right hand on Zhao's chest.
"Close your eyes. Breathe in."
Zhao obeyed.
Ernst focused. He didn't use Qi in the traditional sense.
He tapped into the reserve energy of the Tesseract batteries he carried, channeling a microscopic amount through his own bio-matrix.
He converted the raw cosmic energy into bio-electric stimulation.
His hand glowed with a faint, warm light, amber and soft, disguised to look like the manifestation of profound internal martial arts.
"Guide the warmth," Ernst whispered.
"Use your body to accept it."
Zhao gasped. He felt a surge of heat enter his chest.
It wasn't the stinging heat of fire, but the soothing heat of a hot spring.
He felt the pain recede, replaced by a tingling sensation as his cells were supercharged to accelerate repair.
To the soldiers watching, this was a miracle. This was the legendary Healing Qi of the ancient masters.
After a minute, Ernst pulled his hand away.
"The pain should be gone," Ernst said, standing up and wiping his hands on a handkerchief.
"Do not exert yourself for three days. Your body needs to calibrate to its new level of power."
Zhao took a deep breath. The sharp stabbing pain was gone, replaced by a dull ache. He stood up, unassisted, and bowed deeply.
"Master Ernst," Zhao said, his voice trembling with emotion.
"You gave me the breakthrough, and now you heal my wounds. My life is yours."
"I don't need your life, Captain," Ernst said, putting his glasses back on.
"I need your access."
"Access?"
"To the archives," Ernst said, his eyes gleaming behind the lenses.
Zhao blinked, confused. "Folklore? Superstition? But Dr. Ernst, you are a man of science."
"There is no such thing as superstition," Ernst replied, turning toward his guest quarters.
"There is only science we do not understand. I intend to understand it."
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