Chinese Murim

“So there was a parasite like this inside our mother's head⋯?”

“To be precise, it's called a gu worm.”

I said, looking down at the specimen container.

“A forbidden biological toxin that originated in the Chinese Murim world. Officially, it's a life-form believed to have gone extinct long ago.”

The gu worm had been removed.

We also cleaned out as much of the contaminated tissue around the dura mater where it had attached itself as possible, then fixed the opened skull back in place.

Only after suturing the scalp layer by layer could I finally take my hands off the surgical instruments.

But that wasn't the end of everything.

Brain surgery wasn't the kind of procedure that ended once the skin was closed.

Level of consciousness, pupillary responses, movement of the limbs, language function, emotional changes, and so on...