The Doctor's Beast Tamer System: Apocalyptic Survival

Ch 5 Debt And Choking

But that curse didn't last long, because Bast saw his Tamer point bar didn't drop! His points remained completely intact despite the deduction from Jarek.

'Wait... System! Did my beast-taming balance not get cut?!' Bast wondered internally.

[Answering Host: Tamer Point balance will not decrease due to negative sentiment. However, Reputation Point Deductions will reduce your 100-point progress, keeping the Host away from the Exclusive Reward Box.]

"Thank goodness..." Bast muttered, rather loudly, because he felt genuinely relieved. Weighing the pros and cons, he considered the tamer points far more important.

"What do you mean 'thank goodness'?" Marta raised an eyebrow. "You're happy I came to collect a debt?"

Bast immediately shook his head hard, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, Elara stepped forward to plead.

"Marta, we don't have the money yet," Elara said sorrowfully. "We haven't sold this chicken and rabbit."

"Not a problem! I accept barters!" Marta immediately pointed at the remaining rabbit on the table. "That whole rabbit belongs to me, and it clears your debt."

Bast frowned. Relying on Rotten Bast's memories, he knew the exact market price. Half a sack of musty wheat held absolutely no value compared to four kilograms of fresh, mutated rabbit meat. This woman was robbing them in broad daylight.

"No way!" Bast interrupted firmly, stepping forward. "This rabbit is worth at least three sacks of fresh wheat. We'll pay our debt this afternoon after I sell some of this meat at the market."

Marta's face flushed red—she obviously came before Bast could sell the rabbit precisely because she wanted to squeeze out far more than the debt's actual worth.

"You ungrateful family! If I hadn't lent you wheat last month, all of you would have starved to death because of this bastard's antics! Now you dare act stingy with me?!"

"It's not like that, Marta," Elara tried to explain, but Marta refused to listen. She deliberately caused a scene because her true intention from the very beginning was to turn a massive profit.

Several neighbors around the house started popping up, wanting to see what was happening.

"Look at these people!" Marta shouted, absolutely thrilled to escalate the problem.

"This family has no shame! I helped them when they were starving, but they refuse to pay off their debt. How much kinder can I be? I lent them wheat when my family barely had enough!"

Bast rolled his eyes—an activity he found himself doing way too often since appearing in Rotten Bast's body—because he experienced far too many nauseating situations.

"We aren't refusing to pay!" Bast snapped, stepping forward to block Elara—protecting his mother as she clearly looked ready to cry again.

"Didn't you hear me? I'll pay you after I sell this game in the city!" Bast insisted. He desperately needed to build his reputation, and Marta currently did an active job of destroying it.

"You think I'll believe that? Once you take it to the city, you'll blow all the money at the gambling tables or the tavern!"

Bast threw his hands up in the air—completely unable to argue with that flawless logic.

"See! Since you understand, hand that rabbit over to me!" Marta pushed her son aside, ready to charge at the sack.

But in her over-excitement, her son tripped and fell hard. Nobody really paid it much mind, brushing it off as a typical clumsy kid falling, until a strange noise echoed.

“Khhh... Hkhhh!”

Everyone turned their heads. Marta's son clutched his throat, his eyes bulging wide. The boy's face flushed a violent red before slowly turning blue. His body staggered, gasping for air.

The kid had choked on a walnut, and it completely blocked his airway.

"Tobi?! Tobi, what's wrong?!" Marta screamed hysterically, dropping to the ground to hug her son, who had started convulsing from hypoxia.

Bast's doctor instincts exploded at that exact second. The signs of cyanosis (bluish discoloration due to lack of oxygen) appeared incredibly fast. That kid would suffer brain death in three minutes if he didn't clear the blockage!

Bast shot forward, reaching his hands out to grab the boy's back to perform the Heimlich Maneuver.

"Move! Let me help him!" Bast yelled.

However, before Bast's hands could even touch Tobi, Marta shoved Bast's chest so hard that he staggered backward.

"DON'T TOUCH MY SON, YOU DAMN DRUNKARD!" Marta screamed, her eyes bulging wildly like a ferocious beast.

"YOU DEFINITELY WANT TO KILL HIM, DON'T YOU?! KEEP YOUR DIRTY HANDS AWAY!"

However, for a doctor who had dedicated decades of his past life to the practice, a panicked mother's threatening screams provided no excuse to let a patient die.

"Sorry, but your kid needs air, not a hug!" Bast snapped coldly.

Ignoring his own weak body, Bast violently swatted Marta's hands away, pushing the plump woman until she fell flat on her rear in the dirt.

Marta shrieked hysterically, "HELP! HE WANTS TO KILL TOBI!"

The neighbors behind the fence started shouting in panic; a few men even prepared to jump the fence to stop Bast.

Bast moved faster, though. He pulled Tobi's limp body into his embrace from behind, balled his right fist right above the boy's navel, and wrapped it with his left hand.

One upward thrust! Two thrusts! Three!

Bast executed the Heimlich Maneuver with absolute precision. On the third thrust, which drained every ounce of strength from his scrawny body, a small popping sound echoed.

Plop!

A chunk of walnut coated in saliva shot out of Tobi's throat, rolling onto the dusty dirt.

Silence fell for a moment. Then, Tobi took a strong, deep breath and erupted into incredibly loud wails. The toddler's cries deafened the ears, but to Bast, they sounded like the most melodious song of life.

The villagers' commotion stopped instantly. The hands of the men holding rocks or wooden clubs to beat Bast slowly lowered, their faces replaced by sheer shock.

[Ding!]

[Critical Rescue Successful! Public sentiment reversed drastically!]

[Villager A +2, Villager B +2.5, Villager C +1.8...]

[Tamer Point Balance skyrocketed: 48.5 Points!]

Seeing the rows of green notifications flooding his screen like a waterfall, the corner of Bast's lips twitched. A number approaching fifty points represented absolute wealth!

Marta, who still sat on the ground, immediately crawled forward, snatched Tobi, and hugged him tightly. The woman sobbed as she checked her son's neck and mouth.

She knew Bast had just saved Tobi's life, but her pride and loan-shark ego tied her tongue. Not a single word of gratitude left her mouth.

Bast straightened his wrinkled shirt, looking down at Marta with a flat, condescending expression.

"The price for my service of saving your son's life costs much more than half a sack of musty wheat, Marta," Bast said calmly, his voice loud enough for all the neighbors to hear.

Marta looked up, her face flushing bright red between shame and anger. She just opened her mouth to protest, but Bast cut her off mercilessly.

"But relax, I won't dodge my debt. I'll still pay it." Bast pointed right at Marta's face.

"So, the compensation for your son's life comes very cheap: shut your mouth, and wait until I return from the city this afternoon after I sell my rabbit."

Marta froze. She glanced around, seeing the neighbors now glaring at her with demanding looks.

They might not fully believe Bast wouldn't gamble in the city, but none of them could deny that the drunkard's hands had just pulled Tobi back from the brink of death.

Cornered by social pressure, Marta finally picked Tobi up, snorted softly, and turned to head home without daring to meet Elara or Jarek's eyes.

The moment Marta disappeared from sight, Elara lunged at Bast and hugged her son tightly.

"Oh, Sweetheart... since when did you become so smart?" Elara cried proudly, patting Bast's back. "My son has truly grown up!"

[Ding!]

[Elara's Meter +5 (Total: 43/100)]

[Jarek's Meter +8 (Total: 23/100)]

Jarek, who had stood frozen like a statue, now walked closer. The bearded man looked awkward, but his eyes no longer radiated hatred. Jarek's meter even increased by a margin larger than the negative value he gave earlier.

"Where... where did you learn to press on a stomach like that?" Jarek asked, his voice clumsy.

"From a merchant in the city," Bast lied with an innocent face. "When I got drunk at the tavern, someone told a story about how to help a choking person. Turns out my memory is quite useful."

That stupid excuse surprisingly made perfect sense to Jarek.

"I'm heading to the city now," Bast excused himself, grabbing the burlap sack filled with his rabbit meat.

Elara hurriedly ran to the kitchen and returned carrying a banana leaf bundle and an animal skin waterskin.

"Take this, Son. It's leftover hard scallion bread from last night." Elara looked at Bast with worry. "Are you sure you want to go? You just vomited blood this morning! Your body hasn't healed yet."

"I already drank a medicinal herb potion in the forest last night, Mother. I'm perfectly fine," Bast answered gently, accepting the provisions.

Jarek cleared his throat softly, patting Bast's shoulder with his rough, calloused hand. No hugs, no tears, just the gaze of a worn but hopeful father.

"Be careful on the road," Jarek advised heavily. "And... don't disappoint your mother again."

Jarek truly wanted to believe Bast this time, especially since the young man returned his machete and flint perfectly intact.

Looking at Jarek and Elara, Bast suddenly felt a warmth in his chest.

In his original life, Bast grew up as an orphan raised in a harsh shelter. No one ever adopted him, forcing him to grow tough and survive alone in a cruel world until he reached his forties.

Now, seeing these two middle-aged people who possessed no blood relation yet loved him this much... Bast felt Jarek and Elara truly acted like his real parents.

'I won't let you down,' Bast promised internally.