Chapter 84

"Thud!"

Seeing the seemingly very sharp knife in John's hand, Pick felt his throat tighten, and he couldn't help but swallow hard, taking a small step backward.

"What's wrong?"

Noticing Pick's expression and actions, John was first taken aback, then rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "I just need to draw a little blood... Come on, be a man, come over here quickly!"

After saying that, John waved the shiny knife around.

This movement made the chill in Pick's heart even stronger, and this time he took a big step back!

Lud, who was also startled by the gleaming blade, asked with a bitter smile, "John, it's no problem for us to contribute a few milliliters of blood, but what kind of experiment do you really need to cut our fingers? And all these beakers and test tubes in the room... even a microscope?! Do you really plan to turn your home into a laboratory?!"

At this moment, Lud and Pick both deeply regretted so readily agreeing to help John upstairs!

Not long after the gathering ended, the other classmates left, but John enthusiastically invited them to stay, saying he wanted to show them his half-built laboratory at home. Out of curiosity, the two followed him up, and they saw the experimental equipment John had just purchased, and to their greater surprise, there was even a microscope on the table!

This discovery stunned them both!

It was a microscope!

A microscope that they could only occasionally see in the university laboratory was now in their classmate's home. How could Pick and Lud not be amazed?

While they were still in shock, John took the opportunity to propose that he wanted to conduct a blood experiment and asked for their help. As John's best friends, Pick and Lud, partly out of friendship and partly still in a state of shock, agreed in a daze.

Then...

When they saw John pull out a long knife from the drawer and find two thick test tubes, asking them to contribute some blood, they were all startled! However, since they had already agreed in a daze, and after John explained that only a few milliliters were needed, they reluctantly agreed. After all, they were medical students at Berlin University and knew that a little blood loss was no big deal.

But when John picked up the knife he had prepared and called Pick over to be the first, the latter cowardly backed down...

John, with his mind on the experiment, waved the knife impatiently and said, "I'm just bored at home, and I had an idea, so I decided to do an experiment... Come on, Pick!"

Under John's repeated urging, Pick reluctantly stood up and moved over.

Lighting a kerosene lamp on the table, John heated the tip of the knife in the flame. This strange action immediately made Pick and Lud forget their fear of bleeding and stare wide-eyed.

"John, what are you doing?"

After a few seconds, Pick couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"Disinfecting."

John gazed calmly at the center of the flame and said nonchalantly, "You should have learned some bacteriology by now, right? I found that burning can kill most bacteria, so heating the knife before drawing blood can ensure greater safety."

"Disinfecting with fire?"

Pick and Lud were stunned for a moment, and after a while, Pick blinked and asked in surprise, "John, where did you learn this method?"

"I thought of it myself."

After a casual response, John felt the time was right and grabbed his friend's right hand, grinning, "Pick, sorry, I should have disinfected your hand too, but I don't have any good disinfectant..."

As he spoke, John raised the knife he had just heated and, under Pick's somewhat fearful gaze, cut his right finger...

...

"John, this microscope looks brand new... Did you just buy it?"

After being bled, Pick forgot the pain in his hand and busily worked at the microscope. Microscopes were high-precision equipment in this era, and it was not easy to use one at school. Sometimes, many students had to share one, so Pick naturally wouldn't miss this chance to indulge himself.

"Yeah, I bought it two weeks ago."

John was busy at another table and casually responded to Pick's question.

Lud, who didn't fiddle with the microscope like Pick, frowned and asked, "John, what are you doing? Why are you mixing our blood? What kind of experiment are you conducting?"

Hearing Lud's series of questions, Pick also put down the microscope and looked over curiously.

John had said he only needed a few milliliters, but in reality, each of them had lost at least twenty milliliters, which he had placed in two test tubes. Then John found another test tube, poured half of each of their blood into it, and mixed them together!

Lud really couldn't understand what John was trying to do!

Under the gaze of his two friends, John hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Lud, have you heard of blood transfusions?"

"Blood transfusions?"

Lud was taken aback and immediately frowned, thinking. He had only been in medical school for a little over a year and had learned some basic knowledge about blood, but he had never heard of blood transfusions.

Beside him, Pick, who was looking closely at the blood in the test tube, suddenly looked up and grinned, "I haven't heard of blood transfusions, but I know a lot about bloodletting... I was always sick as a child, and three different doctors have bled me!"

"Uh..."

Hearing this, John couldn't help but roll his eyes.

In Western medical history, bloodletting, along with emetics and enemas, was one of the most important treatments. A physician once humorously wrote: When the poor go to the doctor, they either see a knife for cutting veins or a funnel for the rectum...

To make bloodletting more effective, physicians even invented biological methods—leeches! At one point, France imported millions of leeches annually for medical use, and John had seen this fifty-cent surgical technique in the United States, especially in rural areas, where it was still common. Even in the 20th century, bloodletting still had a market, causing many soldiers to die in World War I.

While Pick was joking, Lud, who had been thinking, suddenly asked, "John, what do you mean by blood transfusions? What does mixing our blood have to do with it?"

John blinked and smiled, "Blood transfusions involve giving a patient blood from another person after they have lost a lot of blood. This treatment has been around for a long time, but as far as I know, some people have been saved by it, while many others have died after receiving a transfusion. So I have a hypothesis that there might be some unknown relationship between different people's blood, either compatibility or incompatibility..."

"So you want to study this relationship?"

Before John could finish, Pick impatiently asked.

Tilting his head and pondering for a moment, John smiled and nodded, "In a sense... yes."

"By mixing our blood?"

Lud frowned and asked skeptically.

"Of course, not just that!"

John glanced at Pick and suddenly grinned, "In fact, besides mixing your blood to see the reaction, I need to draw your blood again to see what happens when it's mixed with the previous sample... Pick, can you help me one more time?"

"Again?!"

Hearing that he needed to be bled again, Pick immediately forgot his curiosity about John's idea and let out a loud cry...

...

Comrades, I have something to do tomorrow, so there will be at most two updates.