Chapter 360

"No anesthesia?" The medical team gasped.

The operating room plunged into eerie silence. Everyone understood the implications—a cesarean without pain relief would be pure torture.

Dr. Green's fingers trembled slightly. She'd witnessed too many mothers writhing in agony during childbirth. Now she was expected to make an incision while the patient remained fully conscious?

"Should we proceed?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered. Several young nurses had tears in their eyes. They'd trained to save lives, not inflict suffering.

In the corner, the laboring woman's husband paced frantically. Though he couldn't understand the medical jargon, the tension was palpable.

"Doctor! Please!" The man suddenly dropped to his knees, forehead thudding against the floor. "My wife's dying! The baby too!"

His thick dialect confused most present, but his desperation needed no translation.

Dr. Green closed her eyes. Last month's stillborn delivery flashed through her mind—another woman who'd arrived too late. Would history repeat itself today?

"I can't do it." Her voice cracked. "The pain would kill her before we finished."

Luna White stepped forward. "I can use acupuncture for pain relief."

"Are you insane?" Dr. Green whirled around. "This is major abdominal surgery!"

"I'll keep her stable through the procedure." Luna's gaze never wavered from the barely conscious woman whose swollen belly still rose faintly with each shallow breath.

Two lives at stake.

After a charged silence, Dr. Green snapped into action. "Get the director! Now!"

As a nurse sprinted away, the delivery room filled only with the mother's ragged moans. Luna already held silver needles, her fingertips growing warm. How much of her supernatural ability would this drain?

Then she met the husband's bloodshot eyes. All hesitation vanished.

"Prep for surgery," she murmured, the needles glinting coldly under surgical lights.