Interstellar Empress

Chapter 3

Chu Xiao was born into a single-parent family and she and her mother relied on each other for survival. Her mother was an unlicensed doctor with no formal education or qualifications, running a small clinic based solely on her basic medical certificate. She treated the local community for minor ailments such as headaches, fevers, and stitches.

During extreme weather conditions like the recent hurricane, more than half of the city's healthcare workers were called upon by the government to provide humanitarian aid to citizens seeking refuge. As a result, Chu's mother had been working shifts at City Hall for several days and had closed down their clinic.

Chu carried the patient onto the operating table in their makeshift surgery room. The man lying there barely moved; his chest barely rising and falling with each breath he took. Chu sat down next to him feeling exhausted.

"Yumi," she said.

In response, Yumi - a robot stationed in one corner of the room - lit up its eyes and began moving its mechanical arms before rolling out from its hiding place: "Patient is ready for treatment. Please give instructions."

Chu took a deep breath before responding: "Cleanse and disinfect his entire body."

"Understood."

In today's era of imperial technology development, medical assistant robots have replaced most of the nurses' work. The Corn model is an older type of military robot that has been retired from service. Although it may not be very intelligent, it is immune to electromagnetic interference and can execute commands in a simple and crude manner.

For example, let's take cleaning and disinfecting as an example. First, it extends two mechanical arms to lift the patient off the operating table and move them to a dedicated sterilization station. Depending on the location of the wound, it removes all clothing including underwear.

Then following a predetermined procedure, it washes the man with water once before washing him again with disinfectant solution. After cleaning and disinfection are complete, stop bleeding spray is applied followed by drying using hot air.

Finally, depending on where their wounds are located; they flip over onto their back so that their back faces up then return them to their original position on the operating table.

All this takes just one minute or less: A man covered in bloodstains lies clean on his stomach on top of an operating table revealing clear images of his numerous cuts caused mostly by sharp objects with two severe ones being at his lower left shoulder blade diagonally cutting down towards his waistline while another was stabbed into his lower back which had been twisted maliciously causing half-inch deep cuts despite having basic first aid plastered over them still oozing fresh blood from within.

Chu Xiao lowered her head and glanced at the standard military boots that were thrown in the trash can by corn. She stood still, wearing civilian clothes that didn't fit properly and with injuries on her back. It was most likely a deserter who appeared in District 13 during wartime. Should she save him or not? Corn didn't know what her owner was thinking, so after completing her task, she rolled to Chu Xiao's side and said: "The patient has been cleaned and disinfected. Please prepare for surgery." Seeing that Chu Xiao did not answer, Corn rolled to her other side again and repeated herself. After repeating it for the third time, Chu Xiao turned around and said: "I'll go prepare." The disinfection room was next door.

Chu Xiao looked at herself in the mirror - her white shirt had been stained with blood, making it look like half of a bloody shirt; she looked pale. Perhaps it was because of all the garbage along the way that scraped against her face, neck, and arms leaving deep or shallow wounds everywhere. Neither physically nor mentally suited for such strenuous work as surgery.