Chapter 154: Doctor Eleanor’s Presentation
Krisha was surprised.
She stared at Felix and noticed he seemed troubled.
She asked, "Why? I might have no use for it."
Felix shrugged. "Just in case."
Krisha narrowed her gaze. She discerned Felix and understood that he was serious.
In the end, she nodded. "Let’s go look tomorrow, then."
Felix nodded. He did not reject her invitation.
After their brief conversation, they continued practicing.
Finally, Doctor Henry told them that Doctor Eleanor was now about to present.
They didn’t dilly-dally and returned to their seats.
They watched on the presentation display, where Doctor Eleanor finally appeared. The chamber was deathly silent. They could even hear Doctor Eleanor’s racing heartbeat.
Doctor closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled for a while.
The moment she opened her eyes, her disposition suddenly changed. She appeared serious and professional than before—the timid Doctor Eleanor disappeared.
She slowly walked in different direction.
She said, "I’m here for today not merely to report a successful treatment.
My thesis attempts to establish four major conclusions."
She stopped, faced the audience, and raised her fingers one by one.
"First, Meridians are real anatomical-spiritual structures.
Second, human and beasts both possess meridian networks.
Third, Sleeping Hollow Disease is caused by progressive meridian degradation and soul destabilization.
Fourth, The Four-Beast Meridian Reforging Ritual is a viable cure.
With all these conclusions, I propose to rename the disease from Sleeping Hollow Disease to Spirit Meridian Withering Syndrome."
She paused, allowing the attendees to process what she had just said. Most of them had their countenance being deathly serious that she almost laughed.
However, seeing the familiar distinguished figures, including the Chief Medical Officer in the National Beast Medical Council. Her heart rate shot up. She gulped and began trembling.
The Chief Medical Officer wore a very serious expression while staring at her. What he was thinking was unknown.
Doctor Eleanor managed to pull her gaze away from him and summoned a bottle of soothing water from her storage ring.
It was effective, it simmered down her agitated nerves somewhat.
However, just recalling that tens of thousands hospital directors, senior researchers, beast medicine specialists, NBMC high-ranking officials, and other Lord Beast Tamer specializing in medical support were present agitated her.
She had to drink quite a mouthful of soothing water just to settle down her anxiousness.
She finally continued as the display finally showed Chapter 1 of her thesis.
Doctor Eleanor simply summarized the contents of her Chapter 1.
It focused on earliest documented cases, statistical analysis of victims, common symptoms, fatality rates, and failure of existing treatments.
She presented records collected from multiple cities.
She said, "This demonstrates a pattern. Most victims were children. Most possess unusually high beast affinity, as some theories claimed. Existing treatments had near-zero success.
In other words, the current medical model cannot explain the disease."
She paused and suddenly raised her fist.
She said in a serious tone, "But! There’s a single young man who introduced a cure. But before that, let’s understand his cure."
The display then showed the second Chapter of her thesis.
She introduced the concept that modern medicine abandoned centuries ago. She presented the ancient medical manuscripts, meridian diagrams discovered in historical archives, and early observations ignored by modern researchers.
She said, "His cure was very traditional and worth to invest on researching. And as I researched about it, I argue that ancient medicine described a real phenomenon but lacked the technology to verify it."
Her argument prevented her thesis from sounding mystical as some doctors had such similar impression after reading her thesis.
She then continued with Chapter 3, with the huge title displayed in the presentation display, "Verification of Human and Beast Meridian Networks."
In other words, she was now providing evidence.
She elucidated meridian scans, beast-energy imaging, and comparative anatomical charts. Her elucidation was enhanced with the presentation display she showed.
She demonstrated that humans possess meridians and more importantly beast possess meridians as well.
There were several medical beasts were used for study and the findings revealed similar structural layouts, shared circulation principles, and predictable energy pathways.
Until now, meridians were considered as speculations. But Doctor Eleanor’s thesis continued to prove and solidify their existence.
The next Chapter, Chapter 4, had the title "Meridian Integrity and Consciousness Stability", which was Doctor Eleanor’s controversial argument.
She claimed that meridians could be connected to consciousness.
She showed her evidence, with the findings revealing that when meridians deteriorate, the energy circulation became unstable, cognitive functions decline, consciousness weakens, and soul anchoring deteriorates, as well.
She said, "The final stage results in coma. This is something you must know.
Consciousness is not maintained by the brain alone. It requires a stable meridian network capable of sustaining soul integration."
She paused. Her action was unusual from her previous pause. She seemed to be preparing for something.
When she finally appeared to be ready, she said, "If you have any questions, speak now."
Immediately, everyone pushed the "question" button. The faster one was Doctor Viktor from Clark City.
He said, "Your scans demonstrate meridian deterioration, but how do you establish causation rather than correlation? Could meridian damage simply be a symptom of coma rather than its cause?"
Doctor Eleanor was glad that she instantly had answer to his question. But instead of replying, she controlled the presentation display from the object in her hand and showed a part at the cases where meridian deterioration appeared before loss of consciousness.
She then elucidated deeply for Doctor Viktor to understand.
Doctor Viktor still has more question, but he was allowed once. However, the next individual, introducing herself as Doctor Emily, questioned what he had in mind.
"If consciousness depends upon meridians, why do patients with severe brain trauma remain conscious while some victims of Sleeping Hollow Disease enter irreversible coma without detectable neurological injury?"
When Doctor Eleanor heard the question, her eyes lit up. It actually supported her theory.
She immediately argued, "Disease attacks a different system than conventional neurological injuries. Like I said, the disease is highly different than the others..."
Doctor continued to argue and entertain more questions fearlessly...
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