Chapter 164

164. The Cat Hanyou (3)

****

I still felt uneasy about confidently treating Daisy. There were just too many differences compared to humans. To fill in the gaps…

I needed to consult someone who might know.

Other professors might have encountered hanyous – they’ve been around this world longer. So I headed to Professor Klaus’s lab.

“Professor Asterix. Hello.”

“Take a look at this.”

“What is it?”

I placed the medical record on Klaus’s desk. He squinted, then put on his glasses to read the tiny handwriting.

“Sorry, my grad student writes so small – must be all the nervousness.”

“Young eyes are a blessing.”

As the pages flipped…

“So, we recently admitted a young cat hanyou. Since she’s different from humans, I was wondering if you’ve ever treated a hanyou before.”

“Hanyous?”

“Yes.”

The old professor paused thoughtfully.

“To be honest, I’ve hardly ever treated hanyou patients. They don’t interact much with mainstream society. Even in the Academy Hospital, hanyou cases are rare.”

“Hmm, didn’t get that vibe from her. She seemed like any other kid who grew up normally.”

“Some do manage to integrate into human society successfully.”

Getting back to the point…

“Do you know anything about hanyou physiology? I gave her a small dose of opiate painkiller and she froze like a corpse – quite alarming.”

“Seems there are differences.”

“My hypothesis is this: cat hanyous share feline traits. Faster metabolism, doesn’t blink much, avoids food harmful to cats…”

Klaus nodded slowly, smiling faintly as if amused.

“Though I wonder why you’re asking me when Professor Asterix should be explaining these things.”

Fair point.

It seemed Klaus didn’t know much about hanyous either. In fact, having seen her firsthand, I probably knew more than him.

“I was curious about your opinion. Documenting population differences could help treatment – they’re more significant than I expected.”

“But… what did you mean about inserting a chest tube? Does that really help breathing?”

Everyone seems fascinated by that part.

“The lungs are in the chest cavity, right? When the diaphragm moves down, the lungs expand. But if blood fills the cavity, breathing becomes impossible. That needs to be drained first.”

“A hole came in through injury, and you fix it by making another hole in the side?”

Klaus chuckled.

“Location matters.”

I had briefly considered it.

Since there was already a wound in the side, why not just insert the chest tube there?

Of course, that wouldn’t work.

“The patient is lucky.”

“In what way?”

“Most healers would have given up after administering painkillers. A punctured lung isn’t an easy injury to survive.”

“It’s not about being a cat hanyou. Your understanding of lung structure and function seems… lacking, to put it kindly.”

“Huh?”

Klaus set his glasses on the desk and stared at me blankly.

“I don’t understand why creating one hole makes breathing impossible but another somehow helps. Your explanation feels disjointed.”

That’s the problem.

“Oh, right. Understanding how lungs work is essential to knowing where and why to insert a chest tube…”

The process of breathing.

Like the negative pressure in the chest cavity, or respiratory muscles. It might seem intuitive – movement equals breathing, right?

But everything needs theoretical grounding.

Without proper theory, you can’t justify picking up a scalpel.

“Then let me prepare a special lecture on the breathing process soon.”

I need to review.

Check how far current theories have developed, what people already know, and organize it into a proper paper later.

Until now, I hadn’t given it much thought. Breathing seems straightforward, intuitive, something you just do.

That was my mistake.

Theoretical foundation is necessary.

You need to properly cite sources like “According to [so-and-so]’s paper, negative pressure in the chest cavity is key to respiration…” to base treatments on solid ground.

“Is this a new discovery?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

****

Morning rounds. The hospital room was surrounded by numerous cat hanyous. Probably Daisy’s family from yesterday.

Murmuring voices.

Seven members of Daisy’s family had gathered outside the room. They were chatting among themselves, twitching their ears, exchanging glances, whispering.

Approaching the forest of cat ears…

Squiggly, twitchy, twitchy.

It was an odd sight.

Hearing my footsteps, all the cat ears swiveled toward me. I stopped in front of the group.

“Here for a visit?”

“Oh, are you the professor?”

I nodded.

“Oh my! We’re so grateful. We thought she was doomed, but miraculously survived… truly, thank you so much…”

The mother figure grabbed my hand and knelt slightly. I helped her stand up.

“There’s no need for that.”

“We just couldn’t imagine how anyone could survive an arrow wound to the side.”

“Hospitals are meant for saving lives. No need to worry so much.”

It’s getting chaotic with so many people. The moving cat ears are distracting too – more so than with humans.

“Will our child be okay?”

“Yes. For now.”

“What’s injured?”

“Please step aside.”

Let’s clear the area around the room. After herding the family to one side, I began explaining.

“The patient was shot in the side, puncturing a lung. I stitched the wound and drained the collected blood to restore breathing. She’s stable currently.”

“Will she be fine?”

“Yes. However, she’ll be very tired and shouldn’t talk much. Please don’t make her speak excessively.”

The mother nodded.

“Then… let me check on the patient’s condition. Please step aside, too many people can get overwhelming.”

Alright. I gestured for the cat hanyou family to move away. It took some time to clear the area near the room.

“Please wait outside for a moment.”

****

Daisy’s condition was good.

There was no swelling around the chest tube site. No signs of infection, and she was breathing normally. Though she did complain about various aches – honestly, not feeling pain would be strange.

I returned to the lab.

“Istina, this case made me think – how well do you understand the breathing process? Do you know how lungs move?”

“Not sure… muscles make them move, right?”

I shook my head.

Partially correct. Lungs don’t have internal muscles to facilitate breathing – they’re too delicate for that.

What happens if you tie rubber bands around a balloon? Would it work properly?

Lungs have almost no internal muscle. Moving the lungs is handled by respiratory muscles, with the diaphragm being the largest and most important.

In pork terms, the tenderloin area.

“Look.”

I roughly drew a rectangle on the clipboard.

The thoracic cavity where the lungs reside.

“First, you know the thoracic cavity contains air instead of liquid, right? That’s why lungs can freely expand.”

“Ah, yes.”

Istina nodded. Trying to inflate a balloon underwater would be difficult. Air is much better for lung function.

“Think about it, Istina. How do thoracic muscles move the lungs?”

“Um… not sure.”

“Think. Lungs have no muscles yet keep moving constantly.”

“Hold on. Lungs have no muscles?”

“Yeah.”

Istina tilted her head.

“Through other muscles moving?”

“Exactly. The thoracic cavity is sealed, so when the rib cage expands, pressure decreases inside the cavity, forcing the lungs to expand.”

“Oh…”

“What did you think until now?”

That’s the key.

What misconceptions existed in academic circles?

Istina pondered the diagram for a while.

“I vaguely thought body muscles moved independently for breathing since we can consciously control it…”

“There’s a specific principle.”

She drew a red line under one oval in the respiratory system schematic.

“Ah, that was the issue… Blood taking up space makes it hard for lungs to expand, so fluid must be drained from the thoracic cavity to enable breathing.”

Now she gets it.

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